Disclaimer: Honestly, if I was going to claim that I owned something, I'm going to say that I own a car right now, and not Morty. It would be Principal Simpson's Mini Cooper, even with Chantay's Post-Its all over it.

The suitcase was on the bed, opened but hardly anything in it, just some flip-flops and one of Eli's shirts. Her class schedule sat in the cradle of the printer on the desk, barely touched since finalizing it a month ago. The orientation guide was doing a great job collecting dust, a picture from Sav's party tucked inside for safe keeping. All the trophies and awards that littered the walls didn't seem to matter anymore since they had been packed away to be put in storage. How was she supposed to pack up her life in one suitcase?

Eli hadn't called last night, and admittedly, Holly J was breathing a sigh of relief. She had spent the night really thinking about him, and them, and everything about this summer. She was leaving for school in 72 hours.

"Knock knock. You're mom let me in…" Eli said softly as he stood in the doorway. His eyes spilled over her room, how bare the walls and bookshelves looked, the big suitcase on her bed. The scene was more horrifying to him than any Wes Craven film. She was really leaving for school in 72 hours, the evidence right in front of him. It chilled him to the bone. "Are you ready to go? I thought that we could go to the statue…"

"Yeah, that sounds nice," Holly J softly replied, standing from the piles of clothes that surrounded her. They hadn't been to the statue in a long time and being surrounded by a private piece of beauty would help clear her head and calm her. Holly J had cried last night. Heather said that she was going to start crying a lot. Eli nodded and smiled a little, holding out his hand to her. She took it and held tight, afraid of what letting go would mean.

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"I can't tell you how happy I am to be finished with cow print vests and whiney demands for more napkins," Holly J sighed as Eli led them down the familiar path in the woods. The trees opened up on the weatherworn marble, the rock seeming more aged than Holly J remembered. Her heart sank a little with the thought that the next time she would see this place it would be covered in snow. Four months felt like a lifetime away.

"Yeah, I'll be done with the radio station on Friday, then it's a week off, and then back to Degrassi one last time," he said, pulling her down to sit with him in the palm of the hand, "But you are definitely coming back for winter break?" Holly J swallowed a bit. She knew what he was really asking.

"I mean, I think so. I told Juan that I would let him know by mid-November so that I could be put on the schedule, but I'm not sure what my plans are. My mom has been throwing around the idea of going to stay with Heather for Christmas."

"Would you have to go?"

"Eli, I don't know…" she said softly but firmly. He was pushing for some sort of indication on their future. Blinking, Eli sat back against the marble. He didn't want to have the talk that had been hanging in the air between them all afternoon, but when she asked how things had gone with Clare the day before, he knew he couldn't avoid it.

"Not, uh… not well. She returned my headphones and, well, she thought that our relationship, between you and me, was just a rumor that Alli and the rest of them had spread, that people were just assuming things. She wasn't too happy to actually see us together," he explained slowly.

"That's ridiculous. Why would people make up something like that?"

"I know, and I told her that," he said, his voice more confident since Holly J also saw how odd the conversation was, "She apologized for cheating on me at camp though, but then she said that she had hoped once school started again, that she wanted to get back together," and he chuckled at the absurdity of the situation.

"Excuse me?" Holly J replied, chewing on the inside of her lip. It hurt her more than she had thought it would to hear Eli talk about being with another girl, which only served to make her second guess her decision.

"She wants us to get back together, in a full-blown relationship again. I told her that I'm with you and that I lo-"

"Maybe you should."

The silence pressed on their ears; Eli's chest feeling like it was caving in. This wasn't happening. It couldn't happen. Holly J wouldn't do this to him. He shook his head and let go of her hand, clenching his jaw.

"You don't mean that." It was soft but tense. When he said that he wasn't going to let her go, he meant it.

"Maybe you should get back with her when school starts," Holly J said a little louder but her voice still wavered. She was scared to look at him, to see his heart break in front of her. This wasn't what she wanted to do, but it had to be done. It wasn't fair to him to keep him.

"What are you talking about? I'm with you, Holly J. I want to be with you. Clare doesn't matter to me anymore," he said, trying to control his anger and steady his breathing. The air was escaping from his lungs at an alarming rate. He was dying from the inside out.

"It's not about what Clare means to you. Eli, I leave for university in a different country in less than three days. I can't even tell you if I'm going to be back in time for Christmas. I've done the long distance thing and I just can't do it again. That's makes me sound horrible but it's true. Distance ruins people, and I don't want to ruin you," she tried to explain, wiping the tear from her cheek. It was either break this to him now or break this to him over Skype in a few months. It just wasn't possible to stay with him.

"You won't ruin me!" he begged, "We can do this. I've never cheated and I completely trust you!"

"It's not just cheating. It's the being apart, the not being able to touch the other one, the sound of their voice being the only thing to get you through the day..."

"I'll come visit. I have money from this summer and days off from school. I'll come down and see you and when you come up, we'll spend every moment together."

"It's not enough, Eli! Please, I've already done this before, I can't do it again!" she cried.

"Not with me! You haven't done this with me! Don't I get a say in this?"

Their eyes met; Holly J's full of tears, Eli's full of hurt. This couldn't be happening. They were supposed to be together. After everything they had been through together… it was going to end at the same place it had started.

"We can make it work, Holly J," Eli said, his voice just barely above a whisper. It was one last plea, his heart making one final prayer.

"Eli, please believe me, it's better this way," Holly J responded in equally hushed tones. This was by far the hardest thing she had ever had to do. Eli had picked her up out of the darkness and misunderstandings of the beginning of the summer, had shown her that it does get better, that one can still have a life while remembering and respecting those who had passed. He made her let go of her fears, held her accountable for her actions, laughed, danced, talked, and kept silence when it was needed. With him, she knew she was wanted and that she wasn't just fulfilling a role. Eli had changed her and now she was repaying him by breaking him. If she honestly didn't think that this was the best thing for them, she wouldn't be able to live with herself.

"You're wrong," he said darkly, tearing his eyes away from hers. He needed her more than she even knew. She made an effort to understand him when others didn't, showed him beauty in the chaos, allowed him to open up at his own pace. Without her in his life, all that was going to be left of him would be an empty shell. He had given her everything he could, his mind, body, and soul, and she was going to take them with her to Yale. Holly J would always have him.

"So, this is it." Not a question. A statement that fell from Eli's lips.

Holly J nodded slowly, hugging her knees. She wanted so badly to reach out and comfort him, to have him hold her, but that couldn't happen. "I leave Thursday morning and… I would really like to see you before I go to the airport."

"I'll see what I can do," and he sniffed, looking away from the girl who was no longer his.

A/N: I had this scene in my head for the longest time, but I just couldn't bring myself to write it and you can guess why. Next week is the final chapter in Cannonball.