Author's Note: I originally wrote this on my other FF account. But didn't like where it was going, so I deleted it off that account and am revamping it on this account. This is the account I love most and use anyway. And also, I am so excited to take this story in a different direction than before. It'll be fun! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! I do not own Degrassi! Quote from "Beautiful Disaster" by Kelly Clarkson.

He's soft to the touch
But frayed at the end he breaks
He's never enough
And still he's more than I can take
And if I could hold on
Through the tears and the laughter
Would it be beautiful?
Or just a beautiful disaster

CHAPTER FOUR

The next day, Clare was surprised to find that she still felt sick to her stomach. She'd thought Day Two would be at least a little easier than Day One with Eli back. But it wasn't. If anything, it was harder. She got dressed and picked at her breakfast. Her mind wandered to Eli. He'd probably be eating breakfast right now too. And then he'd have to swallow his medicine. Everything was so scheduled for him. It must be driving him crazy. Well, crazier.

Jake drove them to school that morning, and she was grateful it wasn't her mother. She wasn't sure how many more lectures she could stand. Everything with her mother lately had been 'see, this is what happens when you date 'bad boys.'' and 'maybe you'll meet a nice guy at youth group.' Clare had wanted to vomit at that. She couldn't stand the boys at youth group. She always felt like they were judging her. Eli never judged her. If anything, he encouraged her to be more free in herself.

"You okay?" Jake asked.

Clare pulled herself from her thoughts, "Yeah...why?"

"Well, we're at school and you haven't made any effort to get out of the truck."

"Oh."

"Sure you're okay?" Jake asked again, "I mean, I know you're going through a lot right now. If you ever need to talk to someone, I'm here."

"Thanks," Clare knew he was just trying to be helpful. Everyone was always just trying to be helpful. She grabbed her backpack from the backseat and headed into the school.

When she got to English, she pulled out the outlines she'd made for the English project. She'd told herself to just focus on the project. Throw herself full heartedly into the project. It'd at least keep her mind off of other things. So all night, she'd sat up and worked on the project, making outlines and rereading three quarters of The Great Gatsby. She couldn't sleep anyway. A little before class began, Adam and Eli came in. Eli took his seat, and Adam handed him his backpack. This time was different from yesterday though. This time, Eli actually turned around in his chair, facing her.

"Hey," he said, before turning back around. Clare was so surprised by what had just happened, she forgot to say anything in reply. Had that really just happened? Did he actually make an effort to acknowledge her and say hi? Don't do that to yourself, Clare scolded. Don't go and make things out of nothing. Don't get your hopes up. If you don't get your hopes up, no one can crush them. Mrs. Dawes called the class to order and told everyone to get into their groups. Eli turned his chair around, facing her desk.

"Hey," Clare finally said, a shy smile totally betraying any previous pep talks she had given herself about Eli Goldsworthy.

"I did what you said about the outlines," Eli pulled out a stack of papers from his backpack, "I couldn't really sleep last night so I kind of spent all night working on it."

"Same," Clare showed him her stack of papers, "Great minds, right?"

"I guess," they exchanged papers, "Looks like we're going to have a lot to go over."

"Yeah. At least if we can't sleep again tonight, we'll have something to read over," Clare tried her best to quip.

"You know..." Eli drummed his fingers on the back of his chair, "...if you ever can't sleep, I'm usually up on my computer. You could IM me or something. Just to have someone to talk to."

" I'd like that," Clare said, forgetting all caution. She knew she was treading in dangerous waters. But honestly, she'd rather have the danger than nothing at all. Eli being totally absent from her life was absolute misery. Maybe they could at least just talk and maybe find their way back to being something. Rather that was friends, or something more she just wanted to be something.

"Me too. So...do you think Adam and Jordan have even begun their project yet?"

Clare turned to see Adam over by Jordan's desk. He was leaning in close to her and they were both laughing. "From the looks of it, probably not," Clare couldn't help but giggle. Adam had had a thing for Jordan for awhile now.

"I keep telling him to just ask her out already," Eli rolled his eyes, "But of course, he probably won't."

"He should though!" Clare agreed, "Why won't he?"

"He says if he's going to go on a date, he wants to double with someone."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Clare bit her bottom lip as the cogs turned in her head. It wouldn't exactly be a date per say. They'd just be helping out a friend. That'd be it. Just helping out Adam. And it'd be a good step for his transition to go out on a date. It'd be helping him. There was nothing wrong with helping a friend. Especially Adam.

Clare finally said, "Well you know, it doesn't have to be a date per say." Eli's eyebrows furrowed as he tried to follow where she was going with this. Clare herself didn't really know. "I mean...if anything, it'd be just us helping out Adam."

"You want to double date with Adam and Jordan?" Eli raised an eyebrow. Surely this was not a good idea. He tried to remind himself about keeping his distance from Clare. After all, going on a date together wasn't exactly keeping their distance. But the thought of a date with Clare sounded too good for words. He couldn't help but be interested.

"Well, they'd be the ones on the date. We'd just be there as support for our friend. That way he and Jordan can spend some time together, and if he needs anything we will be right there to help. Don't get that look on your face. It's not a date," Clare emphasized.

"What look?" Eli feigned a look of shock, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"It's not a date, Eli. Please repeat that. Just so I know that you understand."

"It's not a date," Eli repeated, "Are you sure it's such a good idea though? I mean...with our history and all..."

"Eli," Clare sighed, "we can't just avoid each other. The whole avoidance thing doesn't work out for either one of us. Adam is our friend. We are mutually connected to him. So we need to be there for him. I am not saying I'm ready to really be friends again so don't think that I just...I don't know. Let's just see what happens. But this is not a date. It's not."

"Who are you trying to convince, Edwards?" a smirk tugged at Eli's lips and Clare actually saw Eli Goldsworthy sitting across from her, "Me or you?"

"Oh shut up," Clare leaned back slightly in her chair, cherishing this whatever it was moment. It was almost like old times. Almost. A little voice in the back of Clare's mind kept telling her not to get too carried away. Not to get her hopes up. To not let Eli too close. But this was so natural. It came so easily to them. And Eli he had actually smirked and his eyes had that flicker in them. He wasn't a stranger. This was Eli. The Eli Clare had first fallen for. Maybe the medicine was working. Maybe Eli was better. Maybe he was fixed. And maybe things could go back to the way they once were. That was how it worked, right? Sick people took medicine, and they were better. Maybe there was a chance...

"Alright," Eli leaned forward, resting his chin in his palm, "So, I'll try to get Adam on board for this weekend? Does that work for you?"

"Sure," Clare shrugged. She had suddenly found herself with way too much free time as a matter of fact. To actually have plans would be a nice change of pace, "Should we do dinner and a movie?"

"Sounds good. I'll talk to Adam about it today at lunch? Or did you want to work more on our project?"

"I think what we have right now is good. Let's just each review each other's outlines tonight and we can talk about it more tomorrow. Try, try, try to get Adam on board though. No more of this pining after her and not doing anything about it nonsense."

"I'll see what I can do."

The bell rang, and Clare gathered up the papers Eli had given her, and he did the same with the papers she had given him. Adam came over and said to both of them and said, "I think things are going really well between Jordan and me."

"Oh, you two started on your project?" Clare asked jokingly.

"No," Adam rolled his eyes, "but I really think she likes me. What do you guys think?"

"I think you and I need to have a talk at lunch today about our plans for this weekend," Eli grinned, handing his backpack to Adam who also helped him out of his seat.

"We have plans for this weekend?" Adam turned to Clare, confused. Just yesterday things had been so tense between Clare and Eli. Now the three of them had plans? And it was the two of them that actually made the plans? Adam felt like he was in an alternate universe compared to where he'd been the past few weeks.

"Yup," Eli turned around to Clare and winked, "All four of us."

"I'll catch you guys later," Clare waved. She excused herself from Eli and Adam and hurried to her locker.

Her head was spinning and her heart was racing. What had she just done? Had she really just made a date with Eli? No...it wasn't a date though. It wasn't. It was just the two of them being there to support Adam. Nothing more. Just friends being there for another friend. Nothing more. Nothing romantic.

It was not going to be a date.