Eli's POV

I sped down the street. I knew I was way over the speed limit but at this point it didn't matter to me if I got a ticket or not. I was angry; why I was angry I didn't know. It was better that I stayed away from her and better yet, she stayed away from me. Maybe this was the right thing for us. She being angry and not talking to me is better than me hurting her.

I pulled the car into the dark driveway, I saw my dad standing on the porch smoking. That was obviously new, he usually just smoked inside. He never cared about my risk for second hand smoke…. Well he never cared about anything. I pulled myself out of the car and I heard him mumbling.

"Where you been boy?" He growled, "It's almost 10:30"

A red flashing light went off in my head that told me is angry. I tried to play it cool.

"I was just over at Adam's. We have this huge test on Monday and we were studying for it." I said as I passed by him, and entering the house. He followed me like stink on shit.

"didn't I tell you to be home by 9?"

I started to walk up the stairs and he grabbed me by the shoulder, with a strong grasp.

"Don't you walk away when I'm talking you!"

I tried to shake him off but he tightened his grasp and pulled my whole body back, causing me to fall to the floor. My head hit the wall. I felt pain rushing down from my head to my body. My dad stood there looking down at me with a scowl.

"You're just like your mother, you know that. You just can't follow the rules"

He gave me this disgusted look as if I was filth and I was. I slowly pulled myself up and limped up the stairs.

"You come home by 9'oclock now! You hear!" I heard him yell as I got to the top of the stairs. I got into my room and sprawled myself on my bed.

"You're filth Eli" I whispered to myself, "You don't deserve anything, not even the girl you like"

I thought about Clare and how she was upset when I dropped her off. She wouldn't understand. No one would. My life was just too complicated.

Clare's POV

The morning after was one of the hardest mornings I had ever had in my life. I cried myself to sleep. I thought about just calling Eli and apologizing for being a complete idiot but I didn't. I woke up around 10 and when I came down stairs into the kitchen my mom and dad were arguing about something, again.

"It's Saturday, and you're going to work!"

"If I don't get this paper in it will affect my job performance and then who will support our family?"

My dad grabbed his brief case off the counter and zoomed past me. My mom looked upset. I gave her a pat on the back.

"Don't worry mom, it will be okay"

She gave me a little hopefully smile, "Yeah" She pulled me out a bowl and I poor some frosted cheerios in the bowl then I filled it with milk. She quietly sipped her coffee

"So how was Friday night?"

I really didn't want to answer that question. I knew it would make me think about Eli and what happened. "It was fine" I replied. She got the hint I didn't want to talk about it. "Okay Clare, I have errands to do today so I'm going to go get dressed" she said while walking up the stairs. I heard my phone buzz. It was incoming text. It was Adam.

"Have u seen Eli?" It read.

I didn't reply. I just placed my phone down on the counter. "I'm done with him" I told myself. My phone started to ring. I looked at the caller ID and it was Adam…again.

"UGH! WHAT!" I answered a little angry. I didn't mean for it to sound that way.

"Whoa! Dude! Chill! Have you seen Eli today? You were the last to see him last night. He won't answer any of my calls or texts. I even went to his house. He's not there"

"I don't know Adam, sorry'

"Why am I getting the feeling that you don't care where Eli is?"

"Adam, honestly, I don't right now. I have to deal with other things"

There was silence for a couple seconds.

"Oh well, alright. I guess I will see you on Monday" He sounded shocked.

I ended the call. I knew I sounded harsh but I wasn't in the mood to worry about Eli. That was probably exactly what Eli wanted me to do; one of his twisted games. He was a big boy and he could take care of himself. There was doubt about it.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful. I did nothing except do my homework and hang out with my mom. On Saturday night, we watched sappy chick flicks. It was nice to spend time with my mom. I have felt so bad about her and my dad fighting. She was always depressed.

Monday came around almost too quick. I walked to school that morning and as I was climbing the front steps of Degrassi I heard Ali call my name from behind, "Clare! Wait up!" Ali was having a hard time walking in those high heels of her's. When she finally caught up to me, I noticed Jenna was following her.

"Hey, Clare" Jenna smiled. I greeted her with a nod. "So Clare, what about Eli" Ali said as we walked up the steps, arms linked. Ugh Eli. Thanks for reminding me Ali.

"There is no Eli"

"Didn't you talk to him?"

"I did and now we're in a fight"

"I'm sorry, Clare. I'm sure you guys will figure it out. Don't worry. Who needs boys anyways" I waved them goodbye and walked to advanced English. I was defiantly dreading it. Seeing Eli's face would probably make me break out in tears but I was going to be the strong girl I knew I was. When I entered the class, my eyes automatically scanned over to Eli's seat. Of course it was empty. Who would have known? The bell rang and as everyone was taking their seat, Eli rushed in and sat in his seat. Ms. Dawes shook her head with disappointment, "Eli try to be in your seat when the bell rang. Thank you!" Eli was digging through his bag to get his materials out and when he turned his body to face the front I was a little shocked at what I saw

On the back of his neck, a little below the lower part of his skull was a huge purple bruise. It looked horrible painful. What happened to him? It looked serious. That was when all the things that happened between us on that Friday night disappeared from my thoughts.

Eli's POV

Going to school was probably a bad thing. First off, I had the worst headache anyone could ever have. Second, I was late and I was sure Ms. Dawes hold that against me and third Clare was there and she looked extremely pretty. I wanted to talk to her. Maybe tell her what I was feeling. No. Can't do that. That would just get her involved in my life.

At lunch Adam and I sat at our usual table. We were playing Would You Rather. It was Adam's favorite game, probably because of the fact that he could come up with insane scenarios where it would be impossible to choose.

"Would you rather die by suffocating or die by drowning"

"Eli, come on, seriously stop with the death stuff" Adam laughed.

We both laughed together. It was the first time in a while I actually had a good laugh. Adam stopped laughing when Clare came up to our table. It was silent among us. She looked at Adam and then stared at me and began to speak, "Adam can you give Eli and me some privacy". She spoke without even taking an eye off me. Adam nodded his head, "Um yeah sure" and left. She sat down in the chair across from me. I was nervous. I had no idea what she was going to say to me neither did I know what I would say to her.

"Look Eli, I like you a lot and I want to be your friend but I feel like you hiding something or maybe keeping something from me. It worries me because whatever you're going through I want to help you because… I care about you"

Wow. Well Eli, what are you going to say to that? I saw her hand placed on the table and I gently placed mine over her's.

"Clare. I'm sorry I acted the way I did on Friday night. I just don't want you to get hurt trying to get close to me. I'm afraid if I let more people into my life they will be at more risk of getting hurt.

"You're not going to hurt me, there's no possible way."

We smiled at each other. Clare got a little red in the cheeks. It was so cute. She pulled her hands away from mine and started digging something out of her bag, "Hey so um, in class I saw that huge bruise you have on your neck. What happen?" She asked

Shit. What would I tell her? Yeah my dad is an abusive bastard and beats me up on a daily basis?

"Oh Yeah I uh felt back on a chair"

She looked up at me with unconvinced eyes, "Well here I'm sure this will make it feel better" she pulled out an ice pack and a bottle of aspirin, "The nurse gave me the ice pack and I got the aspirin from my medicine cabinet."

"What would I do without you, Clare?" I asked sarcastically