Disclaimer: I don't own degrassi.

Clare

At exactly 11:00 O' clock at night, Eli calls.

Several hours after the deadline that she gave him.

Clare knew that he was trying to push her limits, and while he was doing a great job at it, she couldn't help but not care. And she couldn't explain why, but she had a giddy smile on her face when she went to pick up the phone.

"It's 11:00." Clare answers, her tone aggravated.

"Oh, would you look at that? It is!" Eli said mockingly, a smirk was detected in his voice. Clare felt a giggle bubbling up in her throat, but she quickly swallowed it down and cleared her throat.

"Lucky for you, I knew you'd do something like this, so I lied about how you had to call me by six," Her tone was smug and she let a victorious smile grace her lips, "Can we talk? I'm having trouble with this assignment."

"Can't get enough of me, can you, Edwards?" And before Clare could fire back a comment, Eli rushed in, "Don't worry, I understand," Clare heard a faint rustling from the other end and she waited for him to finish his sentence, "I'll pick you up in twenty."

"Alright. That sounds-wait, no! Why can't we just talk on the phone?"

Eli ignored her question and she heard a zipping of a bag, "Pick you up in twenty, Edwards."

"But-."

But the dial tone was the only sound that filled Clare's ear.

.

.

.

"Get in."

Clare gave him a scoffing look and stepped into the hearse. Eli had obviously cleared away cds and books, giving Clare some room to move her feet around. Clare placed her book bag on the hearse floor and glanced at the skull that was on the dashboard. It had a creepy smile and had a gray-ish tint to it.

"You're handling the hearse pretty well." Eli commented, and stared to drive.

"Yeah, well, my dad has a fire truck." Clare shot back, mocking him, with a smirk on her face. Eli glanced her way and smiled once he realized that she was kidding.

"My, oh my, Edwards. You're just being hilarious tonight."

Clare felt herself smile and closed her eyes slightly. The hearse smelled like oranges, due to the three oranges that were next to the skull.

"Where are we going?" She asked, eyeing the outside world fly by.

"A little coffee shop that's a few miles from here. They have the best fucking-sorry-scones. I'm not even kidding. I can't even begin to tell you how good these scones are. They're buttery and warm and just so…ugh. They are so good."

"Are they good?" Clare asked, a hidden smirk wormed its way onto her mouth.

"Yes! They are so-," Eli turned her head slightly to her, taking in her shaking shoulders, and slowly, the corner of his lips turn up.

They were silent for a while, keeping to their selves. Clare looked out the window, wondering if her parents heard her walking down the stairs. And if they did, would they care.

"You alright?" Eli asked, his tone soft. He glanced at Clare, hoping that the frown on her lips would disappear.

"I'm fine," Clare responded, her voice distant, "It's just that-"

But before she could finish her sentence, Morty sputtered and coughed, making the car lurch, and then go still. Both sat still for a couple of moments. Morty had decided to stop in the middle of the road, in a small town about twenty minutes from where Clare lived.

"Well, this is convenient." Eli muttered finally, tapping his nails on the steering wheel. Clare watched his black nails move up and down as she tried not to panic. It's 11 in the evening. She was with a boy that she had only known for a couple of weeks.

It was scary.

But it was almost...exciting.

"What do we do now?" She asked softly, her gaze distant. She heard Eli sigh loudly and she glanced at him in concern. He ran his fingers through his hair and squinted his eyes.

"We walk." Eli said finally, his tone firm. And with that, he opened the car door swiftly, not giving Clare time to protest. Clare stayed in the car, her body still. But when she glanced out the window, Eli was already paces ahead. And it looked like he wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Opening the door, Clare jumped out and ran to Eli, her hair flowing behind her.

Once she caught up to him, Eli smiled and turned to her, "I was wondering when you were going to come. I wasn't kidding when I was talking about the scones"

"But what about our books and schoolwork?" Clare fretted, still walking at his pace.

"Shhh."

And with a smirk, he started to run.

.

.

"You can learn a lot from looking through someone's trash. Like, this for an example," Eli grabbed a dirty rag from the nearby trashcan and held it up to a wincing Clare, "You can obviously tell by this cloth that the person was a messy eater...or painter." The rag with odd colors and Clare backed away from it.

"You don't know where that's been!"

Eli had insisted that going through the alleys were the fastest way to the bakery. Because Clare knew little of this area, she trusted his judgment. And hey, even if it wasn't shorter, she was still having fun. Between Eli's odd impersonations of famous people (And Ms. Dawes) and his weird ideas, Clare couldn't help but feel comfortable. Even though they were in an alley. Miles away from people.

"All I'm saying is that trash can show you so much about people. Some people, their bags of trash contain a bottle of shampoo and toilet paper rolls and maybe they'll have paper plates. And then others, they'll have bags filled up to the brim. And it'll be filled with everything under the sun."

"Is this what you do in your spare time?" Clare teased, stepping over the rag, "Do you pick through garbage and decide what kind of people put it there?"

"Don't judge." Eli said mockingly, leaning his head back to look at the open sky.

"God, you're weird." Clare sighed, a little giggle coming out of her throat.

"Really, Edwards? What makes you say that?" Eli looked at her curiously.

"Well, I don't know...some people say that you're obsessed with death." She said matter-of-factly and he smirked.

"I'm pretty sure that that's not the only thing that idiots say." Eli murmured bitterly and hid his eyes from Clare.

"Why do you expect the worst from people?" She asked, her voice a bit sharp, and she asked it as a challenge.

"It's better," Eli explained, jumping over a trash bag, "It's logical. Why expect good things from people who are idiots?"

"That's not the reason, that's a bull reply, and you know it." Clare scoffed, and turned to look at him, her eyes holding a bit of understanding.

"Oh, really? Then tell me, why do I do it?" He asked and turned to face her, "because you seem to know everything. So tell me. Why do I expect the worst from people?" This time, he gave her a challenge.

"You're afraid," She blurted out, and then blushed, "I mean, come on. It's typical. That whole way of thinking. The 'Why expect anything good? Life's just going to screw me up. Why bother?' type of thinking. That's just an excuse. You're afraid that in the end, you'll be left with nothing."

Eli stayed silent for a moment and took in her words. A part of him was angry that she was telling him this and that she was even talking to him in this way, but then another part, of equal size, knew that she was right.

"It's okay to be scared, sometimes." She murmured, a tone softer than the one she used before.

"I don't get scared." He muttered and started walking again, his shoulders were slumped.

"Sure you do. It makes you human." Clare spoke quietly and knowingly.

Eli sighed and felt a sinking feeling in his stomach before answering, "Then I don't want to be human."

.

.

.

"It's good, isn't it?"

"Mh-hmfghfgh."

"That's what I thought."

And as much as she wanted to tell him that it was the worst thing that she had ever tried in her life, she couldn't. Because that would be the biggest lie of her life. The scone practically melted into mouth.

After walking back to Morty, Clare ate the scone. Eli had explained that Morty had just needed some time to cool off and he'd work. So, as Eli pulled away into the night, Clare enjoyed her scone. And she couldn't help but wonder if Eli was some sort of wizard. I mean, Morty had been in the middle of the road for two hours and no one called a tow truck? But that was Eli. He was the walking mystery.

The ride home was silent. But it was comfortable. The hum of a song on the radio played and Eli's fingers kept the beat on the steering wheel. Clare just looked out the window and thought of the night that had just taken place. She felt different. Maybe because it was almost two in the morning , but Clare didn't think so. It was something bigger.

Clare let out a yawn and Eli glanced at her, a smile apparent on his face. Turning back to the road, he turned left, and soon, much to Clare's disappointment, they were at her house.

Letting out a small groan, Clare grabbed her stuff and put in on her lap. Smiling at him, she opened the door and stepped out, quietly closing the door behind her. Before she could say anything, Eli spoke.

"I had a good time tonight, Clare." He said, rolling down his window.

"You called me Clare." She pointed out, a bit shocked. That's the only thing that she could think to say.

"Don't get used to it, Edwards."

And he drove off, leaving the girl to watch the hearse slowly fade into the darkness of the night.

I am so sorry that this took so long. My computer crashed and 3 chapters of this story got deleted. So, once I stopped feeling sorry for myself, I wrote this. ;)

...this isn't the best chapter.

Review, please?