ECLARE FAN FOREVER BABY! (Even though I'm not affected by the show b/c I still EClare together in my mind, I'm going to put this in every chapter until they get back together on the show, which hopefully they will. And if not, that's not going to stop me from being my favorite Degrassi couple of ALL TIME!)

YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST! Seriously, I love all of you who review, add me to favorites, everything! I send you all a lot of love! Keep reading dedicated readers! Like Chapter 22, this chapter is going to be shorter than usual but the magnitude makes up for that.

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi, and I also got a Physics answer from the Web since I'm a science numbskull.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Come Right Out and Say It

Clare hardly got any sleep for the rest of the weekend. Her mind was too focused on what Alli told her at the mall. The need to know what Eli and Kate promised each other in grade one was driving her crazy and she couldn't concentrate on anything for very long.

She was going to take Alli's advice and ask Eli what happened between him and Kate long ago. She didn't want to talk to him about it over the phone or by text, so she waited to talk to him about it on Monday.

That day arrived and Clare was at Eli's house for another study session once they got out of school. She had so many opportunities to ask him during the day while they were at Degrassi, but she always got interrupted or she chickened-out because a part of her was worried he would get mad or that the answer was going to kill her. She was constantly unfocused on the world and it was a miracle that she was able to finish the day without losing her mind since she kept thinking of Eli and Kate every ten seconds.

Eli noticed that she was highly distracted all day, but every time he tried to ask her what was on her mind, she would just tell him that it was nothing and she'd quickly change the subject. He knew Clare better than anyone, so he understood that when she didn't want to talk about something on her mind, she would immediately start talking about a random subject. She did this constantly today, so there was definitely something on her mind. But, of course, she never told him despite how much he tried to get her to open up to him.

They were now in his room as Clare helped Eli study for his Physics test on Wednesday.

She was sitting on his bed reading from the textbook as he paced his room. He was doing well thus far and he'd been improving every day.

"An expression of the amount of rotation that a spinning object undergoes per unit of time," Eli quoted when Clare asked him what angular velocity was. She didn't answer him and he saw that her mind was somewhere else once again.

"Clare?" he asked her gently.

"Oh, yeah," she said once her mind turned back on. "That's right. Okay, what are the six types of –?"

"Wait," Eli said before she could continue. He sat next to her on the bed and put a comforting hand on her back. "You've been distracted all day and you've avoided talking about it. If it's making you lose focus like this, you know you can talk to me if you want to, right?"

Clare realized that nothing was going to change unless she told him what was bugging her. He was asking her to open up to him and this gave her a bit of comfort. She understood that their relationship was just as important to him as it was to her, so she knew that he was more than willing to listen to her problems and help her try to fix them; she just hoped he wouldn't get upset when she asked him to reveal a childhood secret.

Clare sighed, closed the book, and put it to the side. She had to ask Eli once and for all what happened between him Kate when they were kids. Whatever it was must have been extremely important if they still discussed it even if though it occurred eleven years ago.

"What happened between you and Kate in grade one?" she asked bluntly.

"Nothing," Eli said, slightly surprised she brought this up. "We were best friends; that's all."

"I'm not an idiot, Eli," Clare stated. "I know that there was something more."

"Why would you think that?" he interrogated as he continued to keep his hand on her back.

"At the mall on Saturday, Alli heard you and Kate say something about making some sort of promise as kids and she was flattered that you remembered it," she explained. "And that led me to believe that there was more than a simple friendship between you guys."

"It's not important," Eli told her calmly. "It was years ago and it's in the past. It doesn't matter to me at all."

"So I guess there's no harm in telling me."

She had him cornered. If he didn't tell her, she would definitely know that something happened and she would start to believe he was hiding something that was worse than what it really was. However, if he told her now, he would be able to explain that what really did occur and he could tell her that it meant, and means, nothing to him.

Eli exhaled and he took his hand off Clare's back before looking straight in her eyes.

"Kate and I were six. We had been best friends since day one and we always played and spent time together. We were really close and . . . there were a few times that we had little crushes on each other."

Clare tried to keep her cool and reminded herself that this was when they were at an age when everything was new and their world consisted of school, home, and friends, but the fact that he actually had some feelings for Kate made her a bit uneasy.

"It was nothing major," Eli pressed on. "It was one of those things that adults think is cute and they know it's not going to last. That's the kind of thing we had. My crushes on her only lasted a few days and they didn't come around often. Remember what she told you at the party a few months back? I had a fear of cooties ergo I didn't want a girlfriend. And now that I'm thinking about it, it's kind of weird thinking that I kind of had those feelings despite how naïve they were."

"That's the big secret? You guys just had crushes on each other?" Clare asked, hoping that was going to be the worst thing she was going to hear.

"Not really," Eli continued. "Um . . . remember that I was six and this doesn't mean anything to me today . . . she was my first kiss."

"I knew it!" she exclaimed. She wasn't sure why, but the idea of one of her least favorite people touching her boyfriend's lips made her skin crawl. She didn't care that they were only kids when this happened; Clare still felt slightly disgusted.

"Again, it wasn't anything major. It wasn't even a real kiss; it was a peck on the lips that we did on a dare and we ran away from each other and we didn't talk for a bit after that. It was weird and I definitely didn't, and don't, want to experience it with her again."

"Is that all?" Clare asked again.

"Not exactly," he continued onward. This was the part that he avoided Clare finding out about for the longest time. "There was a moment when we were kids and we were almost inseparable. We did almost everything together and we actually thought it would be cool if . . . remember we were kids and we had no idea what we were talking about and what we were potentially getting ourselves into."

"Spit it out Eli."

"We were going to get married," he confessed.

At these words, Clare wasn't sure if she should be enraged, sad, jealous, or just empty.

"You were engaged to her?" she confirmed dryly.

"In the technical sense, but it wasn't real. You can't even classify it as an actual engagement when we didn't even have a relationship."

"You liked her, you kissed her, and you guys agreed to get married?"

"We were kids! We didn't know anything about anything!"

"You were going to marry her?" she restated.

"It's means nothing to me now."

"Well, it obviously meant something to you as a kid."

"Yeah, as a kid!" he repeated. "I got older and I grew out of it."

"How long did it take for you to forget that promise?"

"After Kate moved away and as time went on, I just didn't see the point because I didn't think I was ever going to see her again."

"Wait, as time went on?" she echoed. "So you actually held on to it even after she moved?"

Eli had the sinking feeling this conversation was going to go down on a more unpleasant road. This was exactly why he didn't tell her in the first place, plus he didn't think it was necessary to talk about.

"Only for a year or two afterwards."

"Wow," she said with a less-than-amused chuckle. "You must've had some strong feelings for her if you waited two years to forget about it. And how long did it take for you to get over Julia? A few months?"

"I didn't have many friends as a kid, and the small so-called 'engagement' was the only proof that I did, indeed, have a really good friend. I eventually left behind the idea of marrying her, but I thought about it at times. I thought about what would happen if she didn't move away; would we still be friends, would things happen, or would we just continue on as usual? Then I met Julia and I decided I didn't want to be with Kate anymore and I never thought about her since then. I met you not long afterwards and I decided I didn't want to be with anyone else."

"Cut the crap!" she snapped. She wasn't in the mood to hear one of his devotion speeches right now; she was too angry and devastated.

"I'm being serious," he promised. "I was just a kid who knew nothing about love; but now I do and I can never, ever, ever have those kinds of feelings for Kate past, present, or future."

"Eli, what happened to us promising to be honest?"

"That doesn't mean we have to tell each other every single aspect of our lives," he retorted. "And we agreed to only talk about these kinds of things if they affect our relationship. This doesn't affect anything."

"You told me she was just a friend! It's obvious that she was much more than that!"

"I was six! Everyone over exaggerates when they'll that age. Sure, when I was six I thought she was more than a friend, but looking back on it she was just my best friend."

"Who you wanted to marry!" she reminded as she stood off the bed.

"I can't believe you're getting upset about this!" Eli shouted as he got up as well. "It's not a big deal."

"If it was such a big deal, why didn't you tell me?" Clare demanded. "It's when you pull stunts like this that make me aggravated with you."

"What did you want me to say? 'Clare, this is Kate. I thought I was going to marry her when we were six, I kissed her, and I had an immature crush on her. Let's be friends'? If I did that you would've hated her since she got here."

"Congratulations!" Clare flared sarcastically. "You gave her a month of not being on my bad side!"

"But now you hate her more than ever, don't you?"

"I'll get over the fact that you guys had a history, but you didn't tell me –."

"There was no good time to tell you! But now you know and you also know that everything we said way back when means zilch to me! It could be erased from history right now I wouldn't care!"

"But Kate would! It's obvious that she's still affected by it! I even bet she thought that she had a chance with you once you guys met again!"

"You think she expected me to be waiting for her after all these years?"

"It's possible!"

"Clare, I talked to Kate and she said that she had many boyfriends over the past decade, so that proves that she moved on!"

"Then she's definitely interested in starting up something new with you!"

"I thought we settled the Kate supposedly liking me situation!"

"We never settled anything! You just told me that I had nothing to worry about, but we never really sorted anything out!"

"Clare, this is crazy! I love you and you know that! Why should she even matter?"

"Have you ever thought that maybe she might try something to steal you away?" Clare demanded.

"No, because she doesn't – like – me!" he stated for the umpteenth time.

Clare rolled her eyes.

"It sometimes amazes me how blind you can be!"

"I thought we agreed that we weren't going to fight anymore!" Eli reminded harshly.

"Evidently that isn't gonna happen!"

"I guess not!"

"Fine!" she yelled. She picked her bag before storming out of his room and out of his house. He shook his head in anger and collapsed onto the bed.

"Why don't you come right out and say it?

Even if the words are probably gonna hurt

I'd rather have the truth

Than something insincere"

~"Come Right Out and Say It" by Relient K

Okay, there you go! Are you guys happy now that you know the secret? Obviously some of you were on the right track with it, but I hope it was still unexpected to a certain extent. I hope you guys are enjoying the constant updates (seriously guys! I've added approximately thirteen chapters in eight weeks). Once school starts back up in a few weeks, I'm not sure how often I'll be updating, but I'm aiming to publish once every one to two weeks. Reviews (but please don't eat me)!