Good thing about summer vacation: a lot of free time and you can stay till 4 a.m. until you can't keep your eyes open any longer. That's how I was able to write this chapter in less than 72 hours. Thank you for all the reviews, adding me to favorites, putting me on alert, the whole nine-yards! I'm glad to know that I keep you guys interested. ;) I appreciate all feedback you've given me.

Okay, we're finally at the part of the story that I've been dying to write since I thought of the plot. Updates should be constant for the next few weeks unless I get writer's block (ugh!) or something like that happens. Read, review, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own . . . dang, I forgot the name . . . Degrassi! That's it!

Chapter Twenty-One

Heaven's Calling

All Adam wanted to know at this point was when Clare was going to talk to Eli about what they saw at the Dot yesterday. He drove Han Solo to Degrassi and he saw Morty and Eli park next to him a few seconds later. He emerged from the car at the same time Eli got out of his hearse.

"Hey Adam," Eli greeted as they made their way towards the school.

"Hey," he replied. He tried to keep the bitterness in his voice to a minimum, but the anger leaked through the less than friendly greeting. He was so angry at his best friend that he couldn't even look him in the eye.

"What's up with you?" Eli asked as he noticed Adam's odd behavior.

"I just have a feeling that it's going to be a long week," he said as they entered the school.

"Why do you think that?"

Adam resisted temptation to roll his eyes; the only thing that was keeping him from exploding right now was Clare's promise to talk to Eli so he could be brought back to reality.

"No idea," he lied.

They walked down the hall and it wasn't long until they saw Clare sitting on a bench along the wall. She was trying to think of how she could explain her concerns to Eli. She was up thinking about it all night, but she still couldn't figure out what to say.

Adam figured that Clare wanted this conversation to be private, so he made up some excuse to leave Eli alone. As Adam left, Eli walked towards Clare and took a seat next to her.

"Good morning," he greeted her casually.

She merely grinned at him before looking at the ground again.

"Are you alright?" he asked caringly.

It was now or never; she had to tell him what was bothering her whether or not she knew how she was going to say it.

"What were you doing yesterday?" she asked. "When you said we couldn't hang-out, you said it was because you were busy, and I would like to know where you were."

Although Eli didn't see how this was relevant, he decided to tell her.

"I went by the Dot to meet this tenth grader who I tutor in English . . . although the little bastard never showed up," he added to himself.

Convenient, she sneered in her mind.

"Did you agree to meet Kate there?" she spat-out.

"What?" he asked being taken aback.

Clare took a breath and tried not to yell at him, but the anger that she kept inside her this whole time was finally emerging out of her.

"Adam and I saw the two of you yesterday. We were hanging-out and we went by the Dot. We saw you and it looked like you were on a date or something."

"A date?" he repeated, being taken aback that that thought crossed her mind.

"Yes," she nodded.

"Clare, I was waiting for that guy to show up and Kate just came in and we started talking and hanging-out. We were just hanging-out."

She was stunned. What he said was not only logical, but also probable. What was she thinking for even considering the idea that he went on a date with another girl? Eli wouldn't do that; he was kind, sweet, considerate, and, although he was somewhat dim-witted for not seeing what Kate was doing, she knew that he would always remain faithful. She felt so guilty for considering those thoughts.

"I am such a bitch," she muttered to herself, but Eli heard her.

"No you're not," he tried to reassure.

"Yes, I really am."

"You are the kindest person I know. Why would you think of yourself that way?"

She turned to him and hoped that nothing she said would result in a heated argument. They hadn't fought in a long time and she didn't want to start it up again today.

"Please don't get mad, but . . . yesterday I saw you and Kate . . . and I thought that you were . . . cheating on me," she choked out.

Eli wasn't sure how to feel now. The first thing he felt was solace; he had yet to experience jealousy or suspicion when it came to Clare cheating, but he knew that it must've hurt to even consider the slightest possibility so he felt bad that she had to feel that kind of pain.

But he was also curious at the same time. Clare was fine with him going over to Kate's house a few weeks ago; she didn't feel threatened or jealous at all. What changed between now and then to make her suspect anything?

"Why would you think that? Was it just because of what you thought you saw yesterday?"

"Partly," she admitted. "But never mind; I'm sure I'm just overreacting."

She stood-up and began to walk away as she tried to hide her confusion and heartache. Eli saw how secluded and forlorn she was and this caused him to feel immediate worry for her.

"Babe wait," he called before she got too far away from him.

Clare froze in her tracks, but not just because he was calling to her. He referenced her as something that no one called ever called her before. She would've usually been overjoyed to hear him call her this, but today she was just too lost in her own thoughts to be flattered.

She turned around and saw him coming towards her.

"Clare, what's going on with you? Is everything okay?" he asked.

"No, it's not," she replied without meeting his eye.

"What's wrong?"

He gently moved a strand of hair behind her ear to give her a form of comfort. She took a deep breath and prepared to tell him what was on her mind. She was about to open her mouth and explain why she felt so distraught when . . .

Ring!

The students began to scatter through the halls as they began to make their way to class.

"Can we talk later?" he asked.

Clare simply nodded. She felt a mixture of relief and annoyance when that bell rang. She was now able to think of a better way to explain what was on her mind, but now she had to deal with this frustration for another few hours.

Eli gently kissed her cheek and muttered an "I love you" before he walked down the hall to get to his class. As he made his way to Calculus, he began to feel a boatload of sympathy for Clare. She held on to pain that he didn't even know she had . . . or maybe he was just blind to see it. Either way, Eli knew he had to be there for her and he was going to do all he could to be sure all her inner torture was eliminated.

()()

Clare was able to finish her poem for English the night before. She was able to let out her emotions, but it hardly eased her. Miss Dawes called on her to read her poem aloud to the class after three others went. She stood by her desk and stared down at her paper. She avoided Eli's eyes because she knew that she would probably begin to cry once she started reading.

"What kind of poem did you write, Clare?" Miss Dawes asked.

"I did a quatrain titled Afraid," she answered.

"Alright, you may begin."

Clare cleared her throat and began the poem.

"I'm afraid of what's happening

Do you see me slowly drifting away out of fear and sadness?

It feels like all we've overcome is falling

Please tell me this isn't the beginning of the end for us".

"Very nice," Miss Dawes acknowledged.

Clare sat down at her desk as Miss Dawes called on another student to read their poem. As she placed herself in her seat, she saw Adam give her a small nod of approval and she saw Kate completing an eye-roll. However, she didn't once glance at Eli. She was sure that he caught on that the poem was about him and their current situation.

She stared down at the lines on the paper that didn't contain the four lines she'd written. She wanted to look at Eli to see if she could read the emotions on his face, but she was slightly worried her heart would break if she did. She was so close to her breaking-point and so afraid that merely looking at her boyfriend would cause her to snap and she didn't want to start crying in the middle of class.

"Eli," Miss Dawes called a few minutes later.

He stood up from his seat and turned to Clare. She was continuing to look down at the desk. He continued to feel sympathetic for her and he hoped that the poem he wrote last night would give her some kind of comfort.

"I wrote an acrostic poem called Always," he informed the class before he began to recite the poem.

"Another moment we share that I wish could last an eternity

Let our two hearts beat as one

We have something special

And I'll never let it go

You have my heart

So please never give it back".

After he finished reading, he turned back to Clare. She was looking at him at this point, but she had to fight to keep the tears inside her. She saw the truth and love in his eyes and she began to feel even worse about considering the idea that he was cheating on her. But she knew she couldn't cave in to her guilt and walk away from this. She had to tell him that she was uncomfortable with Kate; if she didn't, she knew this rollercoaster would start again.

Since it was Tuesday, the Drama Club had to meet during morning study period. Kate went straight to the auditorium while Adam, Clare, and Eli made their way to the Art room and where they found the other eighteen students who worked on props, setting, and costumes.

Clare stood by a table and started painting one of the masks that some of the cast members would have to wear during the play while everyone else did their own thing. A few minutes later, however, Eli came over to her and started painting another mask.

"Can we talk?" she asked. She still wasn't completely certain of what she was going to say, so she decided to just improvise.

"Of course," he said kindly.

Clare took a breath before answering. She wasn't sure how this was going to end, but she knew she was going to find out soon.

"We promised to be honest with each other and I need to be honest with you," she began. "Remember how upset I was on Halloween just before we left the carnival?"

"Yeah," he recalled.

"Well, I wasn't upset about homework and stress like I told you; I didn't want to ruin the night, so I kept my mouth shut about it, but something has been on my mind."

Clare took another shuddering breath before looking up at him. Eli saw tears forming in her eyes.

"At the carnival K.C mentioned something about Kate acting a certain way around you and he said some things about you not really caring and she's going to steal you away from me like Jenna did with him."

"Clare, you know I care about you and I promised that I would be with you forever; I want to be with you forever and that's not going to change."

"I know and I believe you, but . . . I kind of understand why he'd think that."

"What do you mean?" Eli asked.

Clare inhaled and exhaled as she prepared to say what Adam had been preaching all along and what she should've said weeks ago. She had no idea how he would react or if he would believe her, but she knew nothing was going to be resolved by keeping quiet.

"Kate likes you as more than a friend. I see the way she looks at you and the way she acts around you at times."

Eli was slightly surprised by Clare's allegation. She and Kate always seemed to get along, so he didn't expect this at all.

"Adam," he growled under his breath. "I knew he said something to you when you asked if I was attracted to anyone else a few weeks ago."

"He didn't tell me anything; I saw it for myself. I didn't even know that he suspected something until I told him what I saw."

"I thought you liked Kate," he stated.

"I did at first," Clare replied. "But I've been seeing her flirt with you a lot lately and it's just making so angry and I don't know how to deal with that."

She felt a tear fall down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away.

"But you're also letting her do all of it. She's flirting with you and every time we try to hang-out as a group, she doesn't even take notice of Adam and I and it isn't long until you do the same thing. It happens when we're at the Dot, lunch, English sometimes, and it happened during the carnival."

Eli reflected on the times Clare spoke of and he realized that she was absolutely right. He felt rotten. He neglected both her and Adam and he couldn't believe that he was so clueless to not notice it. He wished that he noticed this sooner and that it didn't continue for as long as it did.

"Why are you just now coming to me about this?" he asked.

"I hoped that it was in my head. But when I saw that it wasn't, I thought you'd realize and you'd tell her to back off. I told myself that if I ever dated a guy who let a different girl flirt with him constantly I'd break-up with him because I don't want anything that happened with K.C to happen again, but I don't want to leave you. I don't want to risk getting left behind like that again, but the reason I've been around this long is because I love you and I trust you and I've hoped that you would realize what was going on."

Clare's voice was getting more and more hysteric the longer she continued.

"But now history is repeating right in front of me and I can't go through that for a second time, especially if you're the person who's going to leave me. But if you're going to dump me for her, please just go ahead and get it over with!"

"Clare, I'm not interested in Kate. She's a friend and I don't see her in any other way than that."

"You don't believe me, do you?" she scoffed as she placed her brush down on the table.

Eli rolled his lips before putting down his paintbrush and turning to Clare.

"It's not that I don't believe you, I just don't see it."

"How can you not see it?"

"Because no matter how many people try and flirt with me, I'm not going to take it into account or let it affect my feelings for them or you. I'm still going to have more feelings for you and the people who flirted with me in the first place will remain the way they are in my mind. And even if Kate is flirting with me, I won't flirt back or allow her to come between us. If she tries anything to break us up, I'll draw the line. You're the most important person in my life, Clare, and I don't want to do anything to jeopardize what we have so if that means me keeping my distance from Kate, I will."

Clare absorbed his words and calmed down. He made a few good points and he was willing to do anything to make her happy. Although she wasn't really fond of Kate, she was still a good friend of Eli's and he didn't want him sacrificing his friends for her sake.

"But I don't want to control who you hang-out with," Clare told him. "Just keep your eyes open, okay?"

"I will," he promised before he wrapped his arm around her waist. "I love you; don't forget that."

"I won't; I love you too."

He gave her a peck on her lips and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry I made you feel left out all those times. I never meant to do that to you."

"I know," she reassured him. "So you're not mad that I accused you of cheating?"

"No," he answered. "I probably would've thought the same thing if I saw you with another guy. But I see why you thought that and I swear that I'll try my best to not hurt you like this again."

Clare held him tighter. She knew she shouldn't feel threatened; Eli wasn't going to leave her because of a racy Halloween costume and a few flirts and as long as he was careful around her, she knew she could handle it.

They stopped the hug and began to work again before some of their fellow classmates got on their case. As Clare and Eli started painting again, they were no longer confused, hurt, or concerned. Everything was finally back to the way it was before and they were both content with it.

"So . . . you called me 'babe' earlier today," she reminded; she blushed at the memory and finally felt the happiness that had been delayed.

"If you don't want me to call you that –," he began; he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable by giving her this name.

"No, it's fine," Clare piped in. "I'm actually flattered; no one's ever called me that before."

"I never called anyone it before," he told her and it was true. He never called Julia that name because he didn't have the same feelings for her as he did for Clare.

As he told her this, confessed his love, and vowed to not let anything happen between them because of Kate, Clare knew that everything could just get better from here and she saw it as a sign that it was time to take the next step in their relationship.

"Are you doing anything on Thursday?" she asked.

"Depends," Eli replied with a smirk. "Are you asking me to do something with you?"

"Yes I am. Will you come over to my house around four?"

"I'll be there," he promised, although he had no clue of Clare's intentions for the upcoming Thursday.

"Sink in anger

Fountains forming

Spill like thunder to what we're holding

Sleep forever now my darling"

~"Heaven's Calling" by Black Veil Brides

I know what some of you guys are thinking: "Okay, everything's getting better and this story is going to end on a happy note soon." Well, for those who want this story to be completed in the next few chapters, I'm sorry to disappoint you but I still have a ton more ideas I want to put in. And I can't end the story here anyway; I still haven't put in Eli and Kate's promise from many years ago (you didn't really think I'd forget that, did you?).
Anyway, I can't wait to write and publish the next chapter! I'm getting excited just thinking about it! If all goes well, it should be up before Saturday, but it will be up by Monday at the latest. REVIEWS PLEASE!