Chapter 2! Sorry this is up so late – I just couldn't find the time. Oh, and as I said before, everyone is a little out of character. This episode has a scene from Degrassi season 8 uptown girl (2). I don't really want to bore you guys with the details so let's just get started with the story.

"I've got a surprise for K.C" Clare babbled on the phone to Adam and Alli, who were in the middle of a movie date, "I'm gonna come home early and cook him something special"

"Okay, Clare. You know we love you, but we were kinda in the middle of something here" Alli replied.

"But I wanted to tell you about how I'm going to…"

The phone line had cut off – meaning that someone had hung up. Clare was annoyed with the two but she knew that was one of the downsides of your two best friends dating and she would have to deal – she loved them both to bits anyway. At least she has a wonderful boyfriend who would have her back whatever, she told herself. Smiling, she got out the cab and removed her keys from her bag.

"Helloo? I came home early!" she said, taking off her red, button up duffel coat to reveal a 1950s outfit. K.C had told her he'd had a dream like this before and she always struggled to please him, it was becoming harder and harder each day and she had thought maybe, just maybe, this would make him fall back in love with her. K.C came out of the bedroom and looked confused, scared even.

"Oh, umm." K.C's face was becoming redder by the minute. He couldn't look at her face so his eyes darted to the floor.

"Who's this, Hun?" dressed in one of K.C's favourite shirts was a blonde, petite girl who looked at Clare like she was an intruder.

Clare felt faint, she grabbed the table for support and shut her eyes as tight as she could.

"Clare, are you okay?" she heard Adam's voice and she snapped back into reality.

"Uh, yeah." She stuttered, looking up at her best friend.

"So, this is Eli" he said.

A boy with dark hair that swept over his face smirked at her. He was in all black attire and had a chain that hung low from his neck. He nodded at Clare, who felt her whole body tingle as he did so.

"Damnit, Clare." She thought to herself, "You've just broken up with your boyfriend of 2 years, you are not going to be falling in love again this year, if not ever."

"Oh, and here's Marco" Adam said to Clare, gesturing to a brown eyed boy who had just entered the apartment.

"Hey!" Marco said cheerfully, "It'll be great once you move in, I won't have to keep working extra shifts which means I can see Dylan at the weekends,"

Seeing Clare's confused face, Adam added, "Dylan's Marco's boyfriend, but I he goes to school out of town so they don't have much time together."

"No offence Clare," Eli said sourly, "but we need to talk to Adam a bit before you just come barging in here like you own the place,"

"Oh sure! Sorry." Clare replied guiltily.

"Don't mind him, Clare. He's just bitter that Julia dumped him," Marco said as the three left the room.

oOo

"Come on, Eli!" Adam moaned, "She's my best friend, please give her a chance."

"No." the dark haired boy answered stubbornly.

"It'll be fun to have a girl around, Goldsworthy, you are the one who keeps telling us that you need a change. Clare is a change."

"Actually, Adam can't really say no to her. She's homeless and heartbroken – isn't it like the bestie code?" Marco joked.

"Yeah. And Alli would kill me, I would lose my bff and my gf!" Adam said in mock fear.

"But what about the roommate code?" Eli groaned, exasperated.

"Eli, she's in." Marco and Adam said together.

Eli sighed, defeated, knowing they'd probably have planned that the whole day, "Fine. If she ruins anything. And I mean anything, then she's out."

"Thanks, Eli," Adam said sincerely, "that does mean a lot."

oOo

Clare sat on the couch, Dirty Dancing coming from her laptop screen.

"Yes, Mum. They're treating me fine." Clare said into her phone.

"I told you – I'm with Adam, who's been my best friend since I was 15 and I trust."

"I don't think…" turning to Eli she asked, "Hey, Eli. Are you going to murder me?"

"Most definitely." Eli replied.

"He says no. Bye, Mum, love you!" Clare said, hanging up.

Just then, Adam and Marco walked into the apartment, gushing about someone or other's new something or other.

"So, Elijah," Adam said, "We may need your ex to get us into that party I was telling you about."

Eli glared at Adam and pushed his hair away from his eyes (probably so Adam knew he was glaring at him), "I'm not calling Julia."

"Okay," Marco chipped in, "Just hear us out, okay?"

"No I will not hear you out. I am not ringing up my ex being all like 'hey, I was wondering if you could get my roommates into a stupid party!'"

"I had the time of my life," Clare sang along with Dirty Dancing from the middle of the room, spooning Ben & Jerry's into her mouth.

"Ugh, It's her fault any of this is happening anyway," Eli said, pointing an accusing finger at Clare, who had begun to punch the couch cushions and wailing about how she hated K.C.

"God, Adam, even I'm starting to get annoyed," Marco covered his ears with his hands, "I know how important it is to support your best friends – I wouldn't be in such a good place if it wasn't for Paige and Ellie – but please just shut her up."

Adam walked over to his best friend's laptop and shut it, letting her cry on his shoulder.

"Alright, shh, it's gonna be okay," he whispered comfortingly, "Hey, Clare, you need to come out with us tonight, what you really need is a rebound."

"Seriously, Adam?" Clare had begun to laugh, she knew he could always make her feel better.

"Uh huh," he said smiling as she stood up from the couch, "Booyah!"

"Booyah? Didn't we abandon that at graduation?" Clare asked.

"Well, yeah but sometimes I can't help myself."

oOo

"Two beers and a Champagne" Eli said, "Little Miss Clare sure does have expensive tastes."

Eli Goldsworthy had gotten his job as a bartender a few weeks before his breakup with Julia. His ex had been the one who had got him the job in the first place and for that he was grateful. However, since she left him, it hadn't been his favourite place to be. On top of that, since the day Adam had decided to find Clare a rebound, his roommates and Alli had become frequent customers – deciding this would be their new hangout spot ("The Dot is full of high schoolers" Adam had complained).

"Okay Clarebear, this is how we are going to do this," Adam gestured to a boy leaning against the bar, "You're going to go over there and you're gonna stand next to him and you're gonna smile."

"I got this, I got this" Clare repeated to herself.

She was known for being socially awkward and both Adam and Alli shared a nervous glance as she walked up to the boy.

"Hey, Sailor" Clare squeaked, looking down at the floor.

"No, honey, no no no!" Alli muttered.

"Oh God" Eli put his palm to his face.

"Clare what have you done" Adam groaned.

"Maybe he didn't hear?" Marco cringed, attempting to be optimistic.

oOo

Clare sat at the Bar, eating dinner while Eli wiped down the surface.

"Well, I guess I can't keep my crazy bottled up then." She sighed.

"Maybe you just need to look at it another way." Eli suggested.

"No, I've been bad at these things my entire life. No reason to change now."

"It can't seriously be that bad?" questioned Eli.

Fourteen-year-old Clare sat with her new friends from the grade nine gifted class – Alli and Connor.

"Eating with the brains?" K.C Guthrie pulled up a chair next to Alli and sat down, "Sounds… comfortable."

"That's right." Clare said matter-of-factly.

"Well okay then, Miss I don't care what anyone else thinks." K.C smirked.

"I told you, I don't" Clare insisted.

Connor and Clare looked down at their sandwiches, trying not to get involved in the argument between their peers.

"How about this?" K.C challenged, "If you really don't care what anyone else thinks, get up in front of everyone and display a talent."

Clare looked nervously at the stage where Derek, a senior, was trying to find someone else for his popup talent show. K.C looked at her doubtfully. She gave him a small smile and stood up, making her way over the platform, in front of everyone in the caf.

"Niner, Niner." Derek mused, "Alright!"

Taking a deep breath, she spoke into the microphone, "I'd like to perform a hym."

K.C's mouth formed an 'o' shape and Alli exchanged a glance with Connor and put her hand to her face. They were trying not to laugh.

Clare began to sing, "Who so beset him round with dismal stories."

Alli's brother, Sav Bhandari looked around at his friends laughing.

"Boo!" Someone shouted from the crowd.

Holly J Sinclair sniggered as she watched Derek make fun of the niner. Clare was on the verge of tears as people from all around the caf began to throw food at her. K.C looked at Alli and Connor, feeling bad. Alli was laughing and Connor looked like he wasn't sure what to think. All of a sudden, Derek, grabbed his net he'd been using as a prop and put it over Clare's head. The ninth grader ran out in tears.

"I guess we're both losers though. We both go dumped, didn't we?" Clare said to Eli, sipping some of her drink.

Eli shook his head adamantly, "I'm fine. It was a few weeks ago"

"It still must've hurt you though? Do you know? Why she did it, I mean." Clare said, sympathy in her voice.

"It didn't matter for me," Eli admitted, "All I wanted to do was key her car or set her trash cans on fire."

"Well you need to talk to someone about it. Don't people who keep it all in turn into those grumpy old people that scream at children to get off their lawn?"

"Or, Clare. I could be more like you and take part in socially awkward Clare activities."

"That could work, you know."

"No, I was being mean. I am not going to do that Clare."

Just then, one of Adam's friends (who also happened to work with Eli), Dave Turner walked over to Clare and said, "Hey, I'm Dave. Whatcha drinking?"

"I'll have another pink champagne," she smiled.

oOo

Adam and Marco were sitting at a table in the campus bar with a plate of chicken wings and two pints, Marco moping over the fact they couldn't go to the party and Adam watching Clare and Dave chatting and laughing.

"They're hitting it off." Marco remarked, trying to get his mind off the party.

Adam agreed and Marco went back to feeling sorry for himself and moaning about Eli.

Eli then walked up to the two, "Marco, relax. I texted Julia and we're going to the party."

"You actually texted Julia?" Adam said, amazed at his roommate's sudden change of attitude. He had a feeling it was something to do with the little talk he had had with Clare, which pleased him.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I love you!" Marco exclaimed.

"Don't tell Dylan!" laughed Adam.

He looked up as Clare returned to the table of her roommates, a grin on her face.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Sailor." Dave called out as he left, causing the girl to laugh delightedly.

"So what's happening tomorrow, Sailor?" asked Eli

"Yeah, Clarebear, enlighten us." Adam agreed.

"You guys were totally right! I talked in small sentences with a few cutesy laughs and he asked me out for dinner… with food!"

"You got it, girl!" Marco high fived his new roommate.

"I'm so proud of you!" Adam hugged Clare.

oOo

Alli and Adam sat on the couch giggling with each other. Eli and Marco watched with amusement as they leaned in for another kiss.

"We can come back to this later," Allia Bhandari said affectionately, tapping her boyfriend on the nose as he stood up, "Clare, do the shoes fit?"

"Want some tea, sweets?" Adam asked Alli from the kitchen.

"Herbal would be lovely, Honeybee!" Alli called out.

She heard a moan from Clare's room and stepped inside. Adam dropped the tea bag and followed behind her. Eli couldn't help but be a little jealous at the strength of their friendship. He'd never been good at that kind of thing.

"I fell of my heels." Clare groaned laying down on the floor.

"Okay, no, alright come on," Adam said, kneeling down to pull Clare back onto her feet, "Get up!"

"Oh, what am I doing?" the newest roommate questioned, "I can't go on a date. What if it's terrible? What if we have nothing to talk about?"

"Then you go to the bathroom, call me up and tell me about it." Alli chipped in.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Clare said nervously.

"Babe, just because you got hurt doesn't mean you stop trying. I mean, I found my Prince Charming," Alli smiled at Clare and pecked Adam on the lips.

oOo

"Wow, this party is amazing," Adam exclaimed, "Thanks so much for getting us in, Eli, really."

Marco nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it's no problem, thanks to Clare, Julia and I might be on speaking terms!" As he spoke, Eli noticed Dave talking to his buddy, Wesley, "One minute, Adam, I have to go speak to someone quickly."

Eli walked over to Dave, "Hey, where's Clare?"

"Oh, she kept sending me these texts about how excited she was," Dave smirked, "She's such a bore!"

"So, you called her?"

"Oh yeah! That's what I did, I called her." Dave began to laugh with Wesley.

Eli shook his head and tapped Adam on the shoulder, "It's Clare, we gotta go!"

Adam nodded, dragging Marco along with him.

oOo

Clare sat in the restaurant, trying to keep her table, even though the waitress was telling her she had to give it up. Dave would turn up, she told herself.

"Clare?" Adam said, running through the door, "Oh my god, when Eli worked out you had gotten stood up we came right here."

"Hey, Clare." Eli said, his dark fringe covering his eyes, "That guy was a jerk. He didn't deserve someone awesome like you anyway."

"Aww" Marco and Adam said at the same time.

"Shut up guys!" Eli faking being annoyed.

Clare began to cry, Adam brought her into a side hug, resting his head on her shoulder.

"No, don't cry, Clare!" Eli said, worried, "For I've had the time of my life"

"Wait, what?" Marco said, as Adam and Clare looked up at their roommate.

"And I've never felt this way before" Eli continued nudging Adam and Marco to sing along. Adam seemed to love the idea but Marco looked sceptical.

"Yes it's true." Adam and Eli sung, Adam nodded to Clare to join in.

"I've had the time of my life," Adam, Eli, Clare and Marco continued, "And I owe it all to you!"

The four of them walked out the room, singing loudly the whole way home.

Whew! That felt really long! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I worked pretty hard on it. Have I ever mentioned how much I loovee Adam. Also, I added a little Adam and Alli fluff into it, which may seem super random but I'm really falling in love with this crackship. It just feels so RIGHT! Please review, I'd love you feedback. New chapter up tomorrow (Wednesday 19th) but it may be up a little later as that's PLL day in the UK! Did you guys like the Dirty Dancing song at the end? That's from the actual New Girl but I couldn't help thinking about it was like in Eli's grad in season 12! Anyway I'm going to stop blabbering on now because this chapter is pretty lengthy!

- Edie