Thank you everyone for your amazing reviews, your feedback, everything! Thank you so much for it! So sorry it took so long for me to update; I've been busy and had a really bad block with this fic for a while. Here is the newest chapter! Read, review, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi or Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

Chapter Eight

Clare stood at her locker at the end of the end of the day, continuing to be fazed by what had happened that day. She was unable to focus on any of her schoolwork for the rest of the day because her fury was raging so much that she could not think straight. She stuffed all her books in her locker, furious that Imogen and Fiona did this to her; since she trusted Imogen and opened up to her, she was a bit more resentful towards her. On top of the anger, she felt hurt and empty. Although she knew it was unlikely due to their breakup and history, Clare always hoped that she and Eli would have gotten together again someday; today, however, her fears were confirmed when Eli announced to most of the student body that we was over her.

She was able to hold back her tears all day until she was going through her locker to retrieve her textbook when something caught her eye. Swallowing hard, she reached into the back of her locker and found her copy of Fight Club. She brought it with her a few days ago to have a good read, but now she wished that she put it in a box under her bed like she did with all her other reminders of Eli. This was her signed copy that Palahniuk left his mark on when she and Eli had their first date.

Enraged that the memory still affected her and that she still liked the boy who now resented her, she threw it back inside the locker and slammed its door. As soon as the book was out of sight, the tears finally came out of Clare's eyes; they poured out on to her face as so many emotions hit her in the heart.

She cried, not caring how many onlookers saw her. She heard a few remarks and sniggers, but it wasn't until someone put her hand on her shoulder until she really took notice of the world around her. She turned around, relieved to see that it was Jake; he looked at her with sympathetic eyes, pained to see his stepsister so upset.

"I heard about what happened it the caf. How are you feeling?"

She merely shook her head, not wanting to talk about it.

"Let's just go home."

Clare moved passed him, desperate to get as far away from Degrassi as possible. She dried her tears so neither Helen nor Glen would ask questions when she got home. By the time they were both in Jake's truck, the tears were no longer on her face, just in her heart.

"So . . . it's true then? You still like Eli?" Jake asked as they pulled off campus.

Clare felt the car become a bit uncomfortable, considering Jake was her ex-boyfriend and she was not quite sure how she felt about discussing other relationships with him. She was thankful when Jake did not ask again, but she did not quite appreciate it when he brought up another topic.

"Imogen and Fiona were just trying to help."

"Yeah, deceiving someone is a great way to do that," Clare scoffed sarcastically.

"Okay, maybe they could have gone about it a different way, but they were trying to make you and Eli happy."

"And how did this help anything? Eli and I could have been more when were both ready to be friends again, but now that can't happen."

"They thought that Eli still liked you. We thought that we were doing the right –."

"Whoa! Wait!" Clare interjected. "We?"

Jake cursed himself for slipping up like that and using the wrong pronoun, ergo giving his stepsibling a reason to be suspicious.

"Jake, what did you mean by 'we'?" she demanded.

He was silent, trying to weasel his way out of this predicament. He drove a bit farther down the road, attempting to ignore the glare his stepsister was giving him.

"Jake!"

He rolled his lips, wishing that he did not have to come clean while she was so heartbroken.

"Okay . . . Imogen and Fiona told me that they were trying to get you and Eli back together. You haven't been yourself lately, so . . . I thought that I would be good if I helped them out."

Clare's jaw dropped, astonished that he would go behind her back like Imogen and Fiona.

"Why did you do that?" she asked, blood curdling with rage.

"We wanted you to be happy."

"It was none of your business."

"Look, we didn't do that much."

"They stole my diary and put a phony love note in my locker."

"In their defense, Fiona wasn't involved with the note; Imogen only helped me with that a little."

Clare honestly thought she could not receive any more shocking news today, but it just kept on rolling in to her life. Not only was Jake involved with this plan, but he actually wrote a fake note for her? She could not believe that the people she trusted actually went to that extreme to meddle with her nonexistent relationship.

"So you and Imogen put the note in my locker and thought that it was okay?"

"We thought that you having dinner with Eli would be good for you."

Clare huffed, not seeing how this would be good for her or Eli. She was disgusted, she was enraged, and, overall, she was disappointed for an endless list of reasons. Although everything was so disarrayed in her head, she knew that she would not be able to stay in the company of those who betrayed her trust for one more second.

"Stop the car!" she ordered.

"Clare," he groaned.

"Stop the car!"

Rolling his eyes, Jake pulled over to the side of the road and turned to Clare as she began unbuckling her seatbelt.

"Come on, you're being ridiculous."

"I'm not the one playing matchmaker for two people who were better off alone."

She hastily climbed out of the car, slammed the door, and grabbed her books out of the bed of the truck before stomping onto the sidewalk. Jake began driving after her, going as slow as possible so he could talk to her as she walked and hopefully convince her not walk the rest of the way home.

"Listen, you have not been happy the last couple of months and we knew that you liked Eli, so we thought that this would help you be happy again."

"Yeah, finding out for sure that I'm not liked by someone I like is a great way to put a smile on my face," she said with acrimony.

"I'm sorry," he said to her. "I just hate seeing you upset."

"This didn't make things any better."

"I know, but please try to see where we were coming from; our hearts were in the right place."

Clare scoffed, trying to focus on the sidewalk instead of the car beside her.

"You and Imogen put that note in my locker and it got my hopes up!"

"We were just trying to help."

"I'm tired of you guys saying that! The fact of the matter is that it didn't help anyone! These things never help anyone and now Eli and I are probably never going to be able to talk again because we would be too embarrassed! Thanks for the help!"

Wanting those to be the final words she said to Jake for some time, she began moving down the street as fast as she could. Her feet carried her down the street, determined not to look over her shoulder to see how far Jake was behind her. The thoughts began rolling through her head and all the memories of that day traveled to her heart. Everyone seemed to be plotting against her and did not seem to feel any guilt in invading her privacy. It hurt her and she felt deceived beyond words. By the time she got home, tears were threatening to spill out of her eyes. Although Jake was not home yet and Glen and Helen weren't there, she did not want to cry until she was in the comfort and security in her room.

Once in her room, she threw her stuff down before going straight to her bed. She lied there, finally being able to cry away all the pain inside her. Her tears stained her pillow as she realized that she was fooling herself all this time. For a while had been living on the small hope that she and Eli would get back together, but every dream she had about that was shattered.

For many minutes, she shook, cried, and thought. She was becoming lost in it all when she suddenly heard a knock on her door, which aggravated her. She simply wanted to be alone and get all this pain out of her system, but not even that could happen.

"Go away!" she snapped, not caring who was outside her door.

"Clare," the voice of Jake said from outside the door.

"Leave me alone!"

"There's someone here who wants to see you."

"I don't care. I want to be alone," she cried.

But Jake did not heed her wishes; seconds later, Clare heard the door open. She groaned and sat up, determined to get it through Jake's skull that she did not want anyone disturbing her. When she did, however, it was not only her stepbrother at the door, but another ex-boyfriend.

Eli was there, looking slightly out of place as he stood by Jake. Seeing him there made Clare's heart pound while her stomach did an unpleasant dance insider her. She was flustered and embarrassed, wishing that he did not have to see her crying or hear her yelling.

"Oh," Clare said, sitting up and trying to clear away her tears. "Hi."

"Hey," he greeted, a pit forming in his stomach at the sight of her tears.

"I'll just let you two talk," Jake said, backing away from the scene. "See you around, Eli."

"Jake," he replied as his acquaintance left them alone. He turned to Clare, who was still attempting to dry her eyes. "Is this a bad time?"

"No," she responded, not wanting to pass up this chance she had to talk to Eli. "Come on in."

Eli stepped into her room, only taking a second to look around so she could quickly compose herself. She took a breath once she was certain her tears had stopped and looked up at him.

"Um . . . what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I owe you an apology," he said, getting to the point.

"For what? You didn't do anything."

"For once," he said with a light chuckle. Although the atmosphere was somber and slightly unsettling, Clare cracked a smile. "I'm sorry about what Fiona and Imogen did. I must have given them some idea that . . ."

"That you still had feelings for me," she finished for him, the words tasting like acid on her tongue.

Eli nodded, feeling guilty that his friends had put her through this.

"I'm sorry," he repeated.

"It's okay," Clare said, her throat seeming to be strangling itself. She thought it was impossible for her to feel any more pain than she did five minutes ago, but she could not be more wrong. Eli implying that he did not like her made her reach a new level of low. "Did they . . . say anything to you about . . . us?"

"No," he said. "They just acted the same they always have. Why?"

"No reason," she answered untruthfully. She was actually hoping, much to her surprise, that they had told him about having feelings for him again just so she could know if there was some sort of possibility of being with him again no matter how small.

"Is there anything I could do to cheer you up?" he offered. "You look a bit down."

"I'm fine," she assured, attempting to live this lie. "It was just . . . crazy, that's all."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I can understand that they were just trying to help, but . . ."

"They went about it the wrong way," she concluded.

"Exactly," he agreed. "But, if you think about it, maybe what they did was not complete disaster."

"What do you mean?" she asked, the smallest bit of unexplainable hope lighting inside her.

"Well, now that we both know that neither of us have romantic feelings for each other, maybe we can be friends again and it won't be weird."

Clare forced a smile onto her face and nodded, not wanting to ruin whatever was starting to happen between her and Eli. He may not have had feelings for her, but they were speaking again, so she was determined to not mess it up.

"Right," she said, trying to keep her voice strong.

"Great," he grinned, pleased with this small amount of progress they were making. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Uh-hu," she nodded, wishing that she was not lying.

Eli was not buying her act at all, but he knew that pushing her would not help because he crowding her was a reason she left him in the first place.

"Okay, but . . . if you ever want to talk about stuff or if you just want a new person to talk to, you can do that."

"Thanks," she said, trying her best not to cry again.

"No problem."

She sat there and looked at him, her mind beginning to wander to the possibilities. What if Eli did know about her feelings? What if, deep down, he was still interested in her? What if she asked him out on a date? The list of "what ifs" was endless and she desperately wanted it to become shorter. The curiosity was gnawing away at her, but she did not want to cross the line that he had drawn. That line was friendship and she did not want to mess that up . . . she just prayed that she would be able to keep it all inside herself for as long as she could.

"Well . . . this has been exceptionally awkward," Eli said kiddingly, trying to lighten the mood. Clare grinned, trying to fight the pain and need to know. "I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"Yeah," she said, holding her tongue.

"Okay. See you around then."

As relieved as he was that he and Clare were on speaking terms again, he was honestly hoping that they would exchange more words and clear the air a bit more. He had said all he needed to say and he wanted Clare to bring something to the table. Unfortunately, he was once again misled by his own thoughts and decided not to push.

As he turned and began to make way towards the bedroom door, Clare knew that pain and then recovery would be a lot easier than dealing with the uncertainty inside her. Swallowing her pride and prepared for humility, she gathered air in her lungs.

"Eli," she said, standing up from her bed. He stopped and turned around, which suddenly caused her voice to get stuck in her throat.

"Yeah?" he asked, encouraging her to continue.

Clare stood there for a second, hoping that she would find a way to word this without making him feeling embarrassed, awkward, angry, or guilty.

"Um . . . so you really don't think that . . . that we should have a second chance?"

Eli was taken aback by what she said; he did not know how to answer, but he hoped that speaking with his gut would not offend her in any way.

"It's nothing personal, but . . . the last time we did go out, we sort of didn't talk for a long time and . . . this is the first conversation we had in months and I don't want us to go out again just so we could all the way back to square one."

"You think that will really happen if we date again?"

"Yeah, but why do you ask that if we don't . . . oh . . ." Eli said, the realization hitting him.

"Yeah," Clare said, embarrassed and sitting down on the bed again as her nerve faded away. She found herself wishing that she lived with the pain, or at least gave this more thought.

Eli rolled his lips, beginning to feel rotten about what he had said minutes ago. He was certain that telling her that he did not have feelings for her anymore could not have been easy for her. Last year, he was the one who still had feelings while she moved on and he remembered how much that hurt. He stared at Clare while she looked down at her knees, clearly embarrassed.

He desperately wanted to say that he did not mean what he said to make Clare feel better, but he could not lead her on like that. It was not so afraid of falling in love and then getting hurt again, he would not mind re-exploring their relationship for the second time. But there was too much at stake and putting his heart on the line like that so soon after getting better would not be a risk he was willing to take.

He just had to say this to Clare. She had not been aware of what was happening in his head for so long and he knew that not giving her explanation as to why he wanted to keep their relationship platonic would be unfair to her. He took a breath and moved towards her bed before sitting next to her, hoping that he would not say anything to make the situation worse.

"Look, Clare, it's not that I don't care about you. It's just . . . last time we went out . . . it did not exactly end well."

"I know, but . . . I thought that maybe we could . . . eventually try again someday."

"You're the one who said that we would not get back together," he reminded her.

"That was a while ago," she snapped, not wanting him to bring that up. "But . . . we've both changed since that point and . . . maybe dating again wouldn't be so bad?"

Eli sat there, completely abashed while still searching for a way to let her down easy.

"It would probably not be the best idea for us to go from nothing to a couple," he said.

"Then could we try to be friends again and see where it goes from there?" she suggested, turning to him and letting her eyes do the pleading.

Eli sighed, not seeing how he would be able to do this without hurting her feelings.

"I would like us to be friends, but . . . I can't guarantee that it could ever be more than that."

Clare rolled her lips, trying to ignore the sting this put to her heart.

"It's not personal," he assured, noticing her reaction.

"I understand," Clare said.

"I mean . . . maybe someday when there's nothing holding us back and when we're both ready for it, then we can probably give it another shot, but . . . just not right now or any time in the near future."

Despite the negative points he added at the end of his phrase, Clare felt her heart come alive. Even though there would not be any possibilities of them getting back together now, there was a window of opportunity in front of her and she prayed that it would remain open until he was ready to be with her again.

"Would you call me crazy if I told you that I would probably wait for you?"

Eli smirked and took her hand.

"I would actually love that."

Clare genuinely smiled for the first time since that afternoon.

"I guess Fiona and Imogen's plan worked; we're talking again."

"Just not exactly in the way they imagined it," Eli said.

Clare chuckled in agreement, knowing that they had expected this situation to play out in a completely different way. She grinned at Eli and she was pleased to see that he was grinning back while he continued to hold her hand.

"Do you want to go to the Dot or something?" he offered. "My treat."

Clare smiled wider, slightly touched that he was inviting her out with him although they were only going as friends.

"Let's go."

()()

Clare was surprisingly comfortable walking with Eli to the Dot. They did a lot of catching up, considering they have not talked in months. He sounded as if he had been doing this a lot better and he was enjoying life. She was pleased that he was happy, despite the fact that he did not have feelings for her on the surface.

The arrived at the Dot, smiles on their faces, and were ready to sit at a table when they saw Imogen waiting for an order. Surprised, they both looked at each other. They had both shouted at Imogen at lunch that day and they had begun to feel guilty about what they had said to her. She and Fiona were already in a disagreement, so yelling at her must not have helped.

"I need to go talk to Imogen real quick," Clare told him.

"I'll go with you; I have something to say to her."

The two of them made their way towards Imogen, who had just received her drink to go and was now turning around. She was surprised to see Eli and Clare there coming toward her . . . together. She stood there like a deer in the headlights, but she was too distracted by her own personal issues to care about what they could say.

"Hey, Imogen," Clare began.

"Hi," she replied. "Hi, Eli."

"Hey," he accosted, hoping that this would be the last uncomfortable situation he would be put in that day. "Imogen, I'm sorry about yelling at you today. I know you were just trying to help."

"Me too," Clare said.

"It's fine," Imogen said, her voice cracking.

"No, listen," Clare interjected. "I know I came down a bit hard on you at lunch, but I still want us to be friends. And Eli and I are talking again, so maybe the three of us and Fiona can all hang out sometime."

"No," Imogen said, tears swelling in her eyes at the sound of Fiona's name.

"Please," Eli stepped in. "We know that it's because of this plan that you two have been fighting, so if we tell her that –."

"No! Don't talk to her about anything!"

"Why not?"

"It's over between Fiona and I, okay?" she snapped. "She doesn't want to talk to me, she hasn't returned my calls, and she avoided me for the rest of the day."

"That doesn't mean that you guys are over," Clare reassured her.

"Then tell me what it means!" she demanded, wanting to have another explanation. To her dismay, Clare did not answer and simply turned her eyes down to the floor.

"I'm so sorry, Imo," Eli said.

"Well, I guess this is what I get. I went behind my friends' backs and I meddled where I didn't belong. I guess this was just karma coming back to get me."

"Imogen . . ." Clare said sympathetically, wishing there was something she could say to make the girl feel better.

"I'll see you guys at school," Imogen said before maneuvering passed them and exiting the café. As she did, Eli and Clare turned to each other again.

"This is terrible," Clare stated, feeling unreasonably guilty that this happened.

"Yeah," he agreed, shocked that his two friends had fallen apart after such a short time together. They sat down at the table, trying to let this sink in.

"Imogen always talked about Fiona," she told him. "How could they have just . . . ended over something that didn't have to do with them?"

"I don't know," Eli said. "Yesterday they were inseparable and now . . ."

Clare sighed in frustration, wishing that this could have ended differently for them.

"They were just trying to help us and their relationship suffered because of it. That is not right."

"No . . . no, it isn't," he then said as the wheels began to turn in his head. After a moment of consideration, his lips turned upward.

"What are you smiling about?" Clare asked him, seeing the grin on his face.

"They were only trying to help."

"Yes. We established that fact," she nodded, not seeing why Eli felt the need to point out the obvious.

"And . . . it is kind of our fault that they broke up . . ."

"Yeah, it is kind of," she agreed, wishing to know what was up his sleeve.

"So maybe we should return the favor."

Clare saw Eli's eyes, and she could tell that he had a thought going through his head. He smirked wider; the wider he smirked, the wilder his eyes became.

"Where are you going with this Eli?"

A true smile of happiness on his face, he turned his head to Clare.

"Miss Edwards, have you ever been in the matchmaking business?"

I know there was more Eli/Clare interaction in this chapter when this is supposed to be a Fimogen story, but trust me on this! Reviews please!