Eli's eyebrows furrowed. "Julia Hamilton?"

Clare nodded.

Eli chuckled. "Julia was the girl that every guy wanted. She was beautiful and smart and just…perfect. And I fell hard for her. But she didn't know I existed." He shrugged. "But you know, that was when I was 16, a little kid."

Clare didn't think he was telling her everything about Julia. But she didn't want to push it. Clare scribbled on the paper. You are technically still 16.

Eli rolled his eyes. "Technically I'm 71."

Gross. You're old. Clare smirked.

Before Eli could respond, he was interrupted by Clare's teacher.

"Ms. Edwards, would you please stop smiling at the air and start answering questions 1 to 8 on page 65?" Clare's teacher questioned. The class snickered. Clare blushed. Eli laughed.

Clare opened her textbook.

You have to get off my desk, Eli. She wrote. Eli jumped down from her desk and sat on the floor next to her desk. She quickly opened her notebook and started the questions. She quickly tried to answer the questions. She didn't want Eli to become bored and leave. She glanced at Eli. He was looking around the class, taking in his surroundings.

It was probably new to him. Clare thought. Public school was new to him. Boys and girls in the same class, the same school. Kids not wearing uniforms. He'd probably never seen anything like it before, well if you don't count a few days ago when he followed her to school.

Eli leaned over and scanned Clare's textbook.

"March in Washington." He said. "I watched that on TV."

He saw Clare roll her eyes. She scribbled on a piece of paper and placed it on the side of her desk.

Ooooooo. Did you personally know Mr. Martin Luther King Jr.? Now THAT would be cool.

"Shut up and do your work, Edwards."

Clare softly chuckled.

.

.

.

After social studies ended, Adam told Clare he would be leaving early to go to a dentist appointment. So he wouldn't be able to ride home with her on the bus. Clare said it was okay.

She picked up her books and put them in her bag. She looked over at Eli, who was standing next to her with his hands in his pockets. She wasn't sure what he was planning on doing.

"Mind if I hang with you for a bit? I have nothing to do today." He asked.

Clare nodded her head in response.

The two exited the class room and entered the hallway. Clare bit her lip as they walked down the hallway. His slightly transparent hand swung next to her pale, white one. What if someone walked through him? Could someone walk through him? These questions ran through her head.

Walking through the crowed hallways didn't seem to bother Eli. Clare watched as he gracefully made his way down the hall, scooting by people, avoiding people. He seemed so comfortable. It surprised Clare.

Clare wasn't a very social person. She mostly kept to herself. Making friends did not come easy to her. That was a characteristic that the two shared. Another one they shared would have to their stubbornness. Clare knew she wasn't going to back down. She was going to get Eli to talk about his death. To talk about everything that bothered him. If he did, if he trusted her, Clare could help him. She could help him figure out why he was here. Why he was stuck. Why he can't escape.

Clare led him into her next class. It was study hall. She was planning on reading his journal. But she wasn't so sure she was going to read it with Eli with her. It was easier to read his personal thoughts, when he wasn't with her.

She sat down in her assigned seat.

"You can sit there." Clare whispered as she pointed to the chair in front of her. She tucked her hair behind her ear as Eli sat down.

"What class are we in?" He asked.

"Study hall." She whispered.

"What are you supposed to do?" He asked.

"It's a free period. You can pretty much do anything. Well anything that you can do while sitting in your seat. They didn't have study hall in private school." Her voice was still low. No one was in the class yet, but she didn't want someone to walk in and hear her talking to nothing. That would be rather embarrassing.

Eli shook his head. "We never had a free period. We didn't even have a lunch period. We ate during one of our classes."

"Clare!" Clare looked at the door. KC smiled and waved. Clare waved back. He walked towards her and stood in front of her desk.

"Do you have your science book with you? I need to finish my homework." He asked.

Clare nodded and bent over to search her bag. KC fixed his hair and straightened his t-shirt when Clare wasn't looking. Eli's eyes narrowed at the dirty blonde.

Stupid boy, trying to impress her. Eli thought.

Clare sat up strait in her chair and handed KC the textbook.

"Thank you, Clare. And I forgot to tell you this morning but, that dress looks very beautiful on you." KC said.

Clare smiled. Eli made a gagging sound. Clare wanted to shoot him a glare, but KC was still there.

"Thank you KC." She said.

"You're welcome. I'll give you this back after class." He smiled and walked over to his seat.

"So what's pretty boy's name?" He asked.

Clare pulled out paper and a pen.

KC.

"Does he play football or something? He looks like a jock." Eli watched the tall boy flipped through Clare's textbook.

Basketball. Why do you care?

Eli shrugged.

"Just making conversation."

The truth was, he didn't like this KC character. He didn't know why. He just did.

He noticed his notebook his notebook in Clare's bag.

"You brought my journal to school?" He questioned.

I was going to read it during study hall. But, my plans change. She smiled, looking up at Eli. She saw something she never saw before, a small scar that stretched from the bottom of his left cheek to a little under his jaw line.

How did you get the scar on your cheek? Clare wrote.

Eli's hand immediately covered his scar. He pushed on hit slightly and closed his eyes. He was silent for what seem liked forever.

Clare wished she hadn't asked. She was about to change the subject when Eli spoke.

"The day at the book store, when I saw Julia. I got up the courage to go over and talk to her. I told her who I was and she said that she knew. He grandmother lived a little down the street. She saw me reading in my front yard sometimes. We talked about how much we loved the book store. We talked about the poem project her English teacher gave her. To me, it was like heaven. The girl I dreamed about was talking to me. I was just…amazing." Eli paused and ran his fingers over his scar. He looked as though he was lost in the memory.

Clare looked down at the paper in front of her. She didn't want to look at Eli to long. People might wonder what she was looking at.

"The next day I went to school. Tyler, Julia's older brother was waiting outside the school for me with a bunch of his moron friends. He said that he heard I was talking to his sister. He told me to keep my weird ass away from her. I said that she could talk to anyone she wanted to. Including weird asses. Tyler got pissed and him and his friends grabbed me and brought me to an alley by the school. They beat me up. They kicked me. Punched me. Broke me." He touched his scar again.

" When I could stand, couldn't breathe, one of Tyler's friends took a broken glass bottle and cut me, deep. He told me if I ever talked to Julia again, I'd be sorry. They left me there. I thought about Julia, how I really wanted to get to know her, to be her friend. That was all gone. I stayed there for a while and then crawled home. My mom was upset. I had a black eye and we were supposed have dinner with the mayor that night. She yelled at me for getting into a fight. She didn't even left me explain. God she was such a bitch." Eli's voice was angry yet hurt. His eyes turn cold.

"Eli?' Clare whispered.

"I have to go. See you later." Before Clare could do any, he was gone.