Thank you everyone for your reviews! I'm really glad you guys are enjoying this! Here's the newest chapter. Read, review, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi or Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
Chapter Six
"Good morning, ladies," Jake greeted as he walked towards Fiona and Imogen the next morning.
"Hello, accomplice," Imogen greeted as she closed her locker. "Did Clare get her diary back?"
"She did," he nodded, shuddering at the memory. "I told her that I accidentally picked it up when I was in her room since it was with a few of my books."
"So she doesn't know we took it?" Fiona clarified.
"Not even a little. But . . . I think she's mad at me."
"Sorry," Imogen said, not wanting Jake to get into any trouble.
"No worries," he shrugged. "As long as we get her back together with Eli, everything will be cool."
"That's the spirit," Imogen smiled.
"So, what do we do next?"
"We have no idea," Fiona confessed.
"You guys are just going with the flow, aren't you?" he assumed, seeing that they never really did have a solid plan.
"Well . . . we wanted to find out if they still have feelings for each other," Imogen reviewed.
"And you guys think Clare still likes Eli because of what was in her diary," Jake said. "What about Eli?"
"He says that he doesn't have feelings for her, but I think he's in denial about it," Fiona explained.
"Okay, so what are you guys thinking of doing after he finally admits it?"
"Not quite sure. Maybe we'll set them up or get them talking or something."
"But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Imogen said.
"So, do you have any ideas on what we should do in the meantime?"
"We might want to act normal and keep this on the DL," Jake suggested.
"How so?"
"Imogen, you should go hang out with Clare; it'll be suspicious if you suddenly stop hanging out with her the day after her diary went missing."
Imogen nodded and left, leaving Fiona behind without a word; she did not even say goodbye like she usually would have. Fiona would not admit it aloud, but she felt heartbroken; she knew that she and Imogen were together and that they cared for each other, but why would she run away to Clare without a single word? If she had to be honest with herself, she felt a bit neglected; it kind of hurt to see her girlfriend run off to be with another girl she was not particularly close to. Now the two of them would be laughing, talking, and going down the halls together. Fiona thought she would never live to see that day when she would be jealous of Clare Edwards.
"What are we going to do?" Fiona asked Jake.
"Well, I'm going to get to class and plan ahead for our next step."
"Alright," she accepted, too disheartened to care about what Jake did. "I'll try talking to Eli once he gets here."
"Cool," he said. "I'll see you around."
Jake walked away, leaving Fiona to stand there all by herself. She understood why Imogen and Jake had to leave, but why did it still upset her so? She knew Imogen could not spend all the time in the world by her side, but why did she still feel abandoned? She wondered if Imogen even knew that she was hurting. She would never ask her, for she did not want to turn Imogen into the bad guy when she could not resolve her feelings. She sighed, wishing for the unnecessary ache to go away.
"Why so glum, chum?" Eli asked, suddenly appearing next to her. "Girlfriend trouble?"
"No . . . just . . ."
"She's hanging out with Clare again?" Eli assumed; he had noticed Imogen sitting with Clare at lunch, although he did not know why. At first he thought it was because she and Fiona had a fight, but they were always lovey-dovey in class, so he knew that was not a possibility. He asked Fiona why Imogen suddenly started hanging out with Clare; he did not have an easy feeling about it, considering Imogen's history with Clare. Fiona assured him that Imogen was just trying to stitch up old wounds; of course, she did not include the part how Imogen was trying to acquire information from Clare about her feelings for Eli.
"Yeah, but . . . no big deal," she said as she began walking down the hallway, Eli right by her side.
"Oh no," he sighed. "I recognize that tone anywhere."
"What tone?"
"That tone you get when you feel like you've been neglected, hurt, betrayed even though nothing was really done, and you feel like someone you care about stabbed you in the back while the little green monster known as jealously takes shotgun on your shoulder."
Fiona was surprised. He had described her feelings perfectly even though he was just overlooking.
"You're good."
"I'm experienced," he shrugged as they stepped into their classroom.
"Oh yeah," she said, recalling how much agony Eli felt when he saw Clare with Jake and when she did not want anything to do with him. "How did you get over it?"
"Time, mostly," he shrugged. "You know what they say: time heals everything."
As the two of them sat down, Fiona began thinking about what Eli said. Did he mean that once she got used to seeing Imogen spending time with Clare she would feel better? Did he mean that the feeling would pass if she kept her mouth shut? It was not until she had been sitting for five minutes did she realize the underlying truth in Eli's statement. He had time and it was because of that time that he was healed.
He was not in denial. He was not lying to Fiona. He was telling the complete truth.
"You're really over Clare, aren't you?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "I've been telling you that for weeks."
"I really thought . . ."
"That I still liked her?"
She nodded.
"Last year you said part of you would always love her."
He shrugged.
"Deep down, I probably do; I just can't afford to have that in my head all the time."
"I don't get you; if you're choosing not to like her, why don't you go out with someone else?"
"I don't like rebounding; plus, after what happened with Imogen, I don't think I'll be asking any girls out any time soon."
Although Fiona was disappointed that she was wrong about his feelings towards Clare, she felt more pain for Eli. He was really that low on hope to maintain a relationship that he was not willing to take a chance with anyone.
"Eli, do you want to be with anyone?"
"I don't know," he shrugged. "I mean, I liked the feeling I had when I was with Julia, Clare, even Imo, but . . . I'm not so sure if they're worth all the heartache, you know?"
"That's part of life, Eli. You're going to get hurt, but one day you will find that girl who is right for you and you will be happy."
"And how many more heartbreaks and possible meltdowns do I have to go through until that happens?" he asked, looking right at her.
Fiona did not respond, although she understood why he felt that way. With one of his girlfriend's dying, the other shattering his heart, and the recent one seeing him at his worst for so long, she could comprehend why he did not wish to jump back in to dating. Once she came to this realization, she instantly felt guilty about going behind his back to get him back with Clare. If he was not ready, he was not ready; it was even more wrong for her to do this to him if he was not interested in the girl he was with not long ago.
"Can I ask you something?" he suddenly asked, bringing her out of her thoughts.
"Sure," she shrugged, wondering which road this question would lead them down.
"Do you love her? Imogen?"
Fiona did not answer immediately. In truth, she was not a hundred percent certain how to feel about Imogen. She loved being in her company, she loved spending time with her, and she loved talking to her, but she was not sure if she loved her girlfriend or not.
"Why do you want to know?"
"You guys are my best friends and I just don't want to see one of you get hurt."
"What do you mean?" she asked, turning to Eli.
Eli rolled his lips and looked down at his hands, wishing that he did not bring up this question.
"When Clare and I broke up, I still loved her for a long time and it took me forever to get over her. Once I figured out she would not feel the same way about me as I felt about her, I knew it was time for me to move on. I don't . . . I don't want one of you to feel that way if something happens to you two."
Fiona swallowed a growing lump in her throat, having an idea as to what Eli was implying but not wanting it to be true.
"Eli . . . are you saying Imogen loves me?"
"I'm not saying that," he said, turning his head to his textbook.
"Goldsworthy," she said, grabbing his shoulder until he had no choice but to look at her. "Did Imogen tell you that she loves me?"
"Not directly, but I can tell."
"So she does?"
"I don't know! I'm just saying, if she tells you and you don't feel the same . . . just be gentle when you tell her."
"You know I'm the last person who would ever want to hurt Imogen."
"I know that," Eli argued. "I just don't want one of you going through what I went through."
All through homeroom, Fiona kept dwelling on Eli's words. She knew that he meant well, but ever since he hinted the Imogen loved her, she felt quite uneasy. She did care for Imogen, but she could not be sure if she her feelings could be classified as love. It was complicated to figure out, considering she had been brokenhearted many times and she was a bit timid to risk letting the L word slip.
What scared her, however, was how she would tell Imogen that if she ever revealed her feelings to Fiona. She did not want to hurt her, but the only way she would not be hurt was if Fiona reciprocated the same feelings. She did not want to lie to Imogen, but she could not break her heart like that. This was not something that she could push to the side until the time came to figure it out; she had to give this thought, so she had to let one certain part of her life go.
She knew that she could not help Eli with his relationships if she was feeling so anxious with her own; besides, Eli did not want to be helped, so she felt it was better if she simply leave Clare and Eli's relationship to fate and try her best to manage her relationship with Imogen.
"Hey!" a happy voice yelped as Fiona began walking down the hall. She turned around and saw Imogen running towards her, a smile on her face. "I have something to tell you."
"I have something to tell you too," Fiona said.
"You go first."
"I've been thinking, maybe we should ease off on this plan to get Eli and Clare back together."
"Why?" Imogen asked.
"Because I talked to Eli during homeroom; he doesn't want to get hurt again and he knows that it will probably happen when he's with Clare."
"Maybe he just –."
"No, no maybes," Fiona said bluntly. "It's over. We can't meddle in his life when he's finally doing okay; if he wants to be with her again, he'll take care of it."
"But Fi –."
"It's not our place," she finalized.
Fiona expected Imogen to sigh and accept that this was the end. Unfortunately, that was not what occurred.
"Well, I wish you told me that sooner," Imogen said, a guilty glint in her eye.
"What do you mean?" Fiona asked, slightly panicked.
"Um . . . Jake and I kind of put a small plan into action."
Fiona's eyes widened, dreading to think what kind of plan those could have concocted.
"What kind of plan?"
"We kind of . . . put a note in her locker from a secret admirer who wants to have dinner with her this Friday."
"Imogen!" Fiona nearly screamed.
"I'm sorry," Imogen squeaked. "Clare told me that things like that are romantic, so I thought that maybe we could arrange Eli to be there and then –."
"That stuff does not work! You should know that!" she snapped, recalling how she made the attempt to set up Imogen and Eli.
"I'm sorry," she repeated.
"I can't believe you!"
"Fiona –."
"And why did you and Jake do this without me? You and I started this; Jake wasn't even on our side twenty-four hours ago."
"I just thought that maybe this would help."
Fiona was furious. She was already on edge because she had to walk on eggshells for Imogen so she would not break her heart if she told her she loved her, but now that she pulled this stunt, she completely lost it.
"Has she seen the note?"
Imogen nodded, her heart hurting as tears stung her eyes.
"Perfect," Fiona barked sarcastically. "Now what are we going to do?"
"Maybe if we talk to Eli and tell him –."
"Imogen, there's no 'we'."
Without another word, Fiona moved passed her and walked down the hall.
Reviews, please?