A/N
The first, freshly rewritten chapter of my story ´Neigbors´!
I just hated the story, I have written it years ago and it made me cringe so hard.
Now I´m older and my writing got better, so I want to give the story a new life.
Enjoy!
- ECLARExSHIPPER
Disclaimer: I don´t own Degrassi.
Clare´s POV
´That´s it for today folks! Don´t forget the homework, I´ll see you all on friday!´
I closed my book and cleared my table. Everyone around me sped out of the classroom, but I wasn´t in a rush. I walked up to Ms Dawes, my English teacher.
´Ms Dawes, I have thought about it, and I would very much like to transfer to Advanced English if I still can.´
She smiled from behind her desk. ´Of course that offer still stands Clare, i´m glad you have decided to take it. I think it´s a great move. I´ll take care of it this week.´ She smiled. She offered to transfer me a week ago, but I wasn´t sure. I felt a little insecure, like I would not be good enough or fail the class. After I told my parents about it, they were so proud. My parents opinion means a lot to me, so I decided to take the offer.
´Just get your parents to sign this form and give it to me before friday, I´ll let you know when you can start!" She said, handing me a form. I smiled and took it. ´Thank you, I will.¨
¨Hey.¨ I looked up from my locker to see K.C there, my boyfriend.
My parents met his at the church, and they have been friends since. My mom and dad kept going about the Guthrie´s nice son and that he was going to the same school and that we could get to know each other. I guess his parents felt that way too, because at our yearly church barbecue, they introduced us and made up a stupid excuse to leave us alone. We did have a great time, so we decided to go on a date and to see were things would go.
Honestly, I have never seen my parents so happy with me going out with a boy. We went out a few times and I guess we are together, but if I ask him about it, he just comes up with excuses. I guess he´s not really the type to instantly label something, so I don´t want to push him. I´m sure he loves me, he just shows it in different ways.
´Hey!´ I hugged him. ´How was your class?´
He pulled out of the hug ´Clare, please. You know i´m not into that lovey dovey stuff at school.¨
I stepped back. ¨Oh yeah, sorry.. I should have thought about that.¨
¨Whatever. What are you doing tomorrow night?¨ He asked. ¨I don´t know yet.. I guess nothing special, why?¨
¨My parents are out for the weekend, so I figured we could have some fun. You could stay over.¨ He said with a smirk. ¨I don´t know if my parents would approve me staying over.¨ I said, twisting the purity ring on my finger. ¨Come on Clare, you always do this. Making up excuses so you don´t have to stay over. Don´t you want to be with me?¨ He sounded irritated. I didn´t want to lose him, I know I have been avoiding it. I just think he wants to take the next step if I stay over. But maybe I am just imagening things. I didn´t want to lose him, so I gave in.
¨K.C, I do! You know I do. I´ll see, maybe I could tell them i´m staying over at Alli´s.¨
He smiled ¨I knew you would come around.¨ The bell rang. ¨Hey Guthrie, let´s move! Armstrong will lose it when we are late for practice!.¨ His teammate Drew shouted from a distance.
K.C looked as Drew looked at me and then back to him, wigling his eyebrows. ¨Gotta go. I´ll see you.¨ He pulled me against him and kissed me. He tried to slip some tongue but I pulled back and cleared my throat. ¨H-have a good practice.¨ I stuttered. He rolled his eyes and walked away.
I looked at the ground for a moment and pressed my lips together. He confused me. He did not want to hug or hold hands, but he did want to make out in front of his teammates. It felt uncomfortable. I should bring it up when I see him friday night. It´s not really something I want to discuss in school, more of a private thing.
While walking home, I kept thinking about how different K.C. treated me at school. He was my first boyfriend, so I suppose it was normal for guys to act like that. Maybe I was making a big deal out of nothing. I made a mental note to call Alli later, she was my best friend and she got more experience with guys then I did. She always knew what to do.
When I walked up to my house and dug into my pocket for the key, I noticed a moving truck standing in front of the house next door. The house had been sold for a while, but I hadn´t seen the new neighbors yet. Maybe today they would move in. I shrugged and unlocked the front door, getting in.
¨I´m home!¨ I hung up my coat as my mom came downstairs.
¨Hey honey, how was school?¨ My mom asked.
¨It was great. I asked Ms Dawes about the transfer to Advanced English. She gave me a form for you guys to sign, for the transfer.¨ I said, dugging the form out of my bag and handing it to her. ¨Sure, your dad and I will have a look at this when he gets home from work. I´m proud of you.¨ She smiled.
We sat down and chatted for a bit, and after that I went upstair. The English assigment wasn´t going to finish itself.
While in the middle of the assigment, I heard noises from outside. I curiously peaked out of my window. A blonde haired woman was walking inside the house with some boxes, followed by a man with a denim sleeveless jacked with a band shirt. A hearse opened and a dark haired boy stepped out with a bag. Well, this family seemed.. interesting. Deffinitely something else then the neighbors we had before, an old couple.
While I was staring and a bit lost in thought, I suddenly noticed the boy staring back at me. He nodded at me and smirked. I dropped down on the floor, with my back against the wall. I felt my heart pounding in my chest.
I slowly got up to look again, but there was no one there anymore. I was about to go back to my desk when my mom called me.
¨Clare, dinner is ready!¨
¨So how is school Clare? I heard from your mom that you´ve decided to take up Advanced English classes?¨ My dad said, while taking a sip of his water.
I swallowed my food. ¨Yes, you guys just have to sign a form and hopefully I´ll be able to start next week!¨I said with a smile.
A loud noise came from outside.
My dad looked up. ¨Are that the new neigbors?¨
¨Yeah, I saw them moving when I got home from school.¨ I said, taking another bite of food.
¨I saw the woman next door this morning when I left to get groceries.¨ My mom looked at the window and back to us. ¨They look so.. scruffy. I heard from Sarah across the street that a family moved in. A man, woman and their son.¨
¨I wonder what they do for a living.¨ My dad said, scraping his plate clean.
My mom scoffed. ¨Well, not something they have to look presentable for, apparently.¨ She muttered.
I kept quiet. I don´t want to judge them, I hardly know those people. I´ve seen them once from my window.
My mom interrupted my thoughts.
¨I believe he´s the same age as Clare.¨ My mom said
¨Who is?¨ I asked
¨The son of the new neigbors. Maybe that´s the worst of them. He drives a hearse. I mean, who does that?¨ My mom said with disgust.
¨Oh I don´t know, I haven´t seen him at school or something, maybe he´s in college already?¨
¨College? Clare, boys like that don´t go to college. I wonder if he finished high school. Maybe he´s one of those troublemakers who skips school all the time.¨ My dad said.
¨How do you know that?¨ I asked him.
¨Trust me, I know his type. I see guys like that all the time at work. They´re up to no good. They only care about themselves, always causing trouble. Disrespectfull with women.¨
I twisted my purity ring and nodded. I wasn´t sure what to say. I didn´t want to go against my dad. I guess he knows what he´s talking about.
¨But don´t worry honey, he won´t do anything. If he does, i´ll take care of it.¨ My dad stood up from his chair and kissed my head.
¨Are you going already?¨ My mom asked.
¨Yes, I have a meeting to prepare. I´ll be back tonight.¨ My dad assured, giving my mom a peck.
¨Bye dad.¨ I said while he opened the door. ¨Bye Clarebear, i´ll see you tonight Helen.¨ My dad said, walking out the door and closing it.
My mom stood up too and started collecting the empty plates. ¨So how is K.C Clare? Are you guys still dating?¨
¨Yeah.. we are.¨ I handed my plate to my mom.
¨You should invite him to dinner tomorrow, we haven´t seen him in a while. Such a nice boy.¨ My mom put the plates in the sink and filled it with water.
¨I´ll ask tomorrow.¨ I said with a forced smile, while getting up and taking the empty glasses with me.
¨Is something wrong Clare? You don´t seem very happy. Are you two having problemens?¨ My mom looked at me, taking the glasses from me and sliding them into the water.
¨No mom, don´t worry. Everything is alright. Have you heard from Darcy lately?¨ I asked, changing the subject.
Luckily, my mom fell for it. ¨She told me she would send some photos later.¨ She said, washing the dishes.
¨Are they still working on the school?¨ My sister went to Kenya after graduation, to volunteer and work on several building projects there. My parents were really proud of her.
¨I believe they are, it´s starting to get together nicely.¨ My mom smiled.
¨I should get up, my assigment is waiting. Or do I need to help?¨ I said, pointing at the dishes.
My mom shook her head. ¨It´s not that much, you can go finish your school work.¨
And with that, I went upstairs.
