"Well…" Clare played with the blue blankets that rested on her lap. She didn't know what to tell Eli. She wished that she had something exciting to share with him, but couldn't think of anything worth sharing.

"I've always been a nerd." She laughed slightly. "School and learning…those two things are what I'm best at. I've never been the kind of person that went out to parties and had a lot of friends…I'm kind of a loner."

Eli smiled. "Hey, there's nothing wrong with being a loner."

"I never said there was." Clare smiled back.

A silence fell between them. Clare looked down at her lap as her hands continued to play with the blanket. She absentmindedly bit her bottom lip.

"You look like you want to say something Edwards." Eli stated. Clare looked up and her lip slipped out from between her teeth.

"I'm here to listen, Clare." Eli said. His green eyes locked onto her blue ones, sending a small shiver down her spine. Clare inwardly sighed. Eli was so honest and open with her about his life and everything that happened to him. She decided that she would do that same.

"I know how you felt, Eli. When Tyler and those kids made fun of you, and hurt you. I know how you felt. When I was younger, I used to have these ugly glasses. I mean they were horrible. And I had really bad skin. People at my old schools, they never talked to me. They talked about me, but never to me. It was hard sometimes, listening to what they said about me. They called me names and made rude remarks about me. I was never comfortable in my own skin. And the fact that my mom and I moved around a lot, never really helped. Schools after school, the people were all the same. So I just blocked everyone out. I decided that if I had no friends everything would be better. If you don't let people in, you don't get hurt right? That's what I thought…I mean I've gotten better at making friends and talking to people, seen as I have Adam. But I'm still not fully…there." Clare looked away from Eli shortly to brush a tiny tear that had appeared in the corner of her eye.

She couldn't believe that she was crying over such a little thing. Clare didn't think it was right to be crying over getting bullied. Eli didn't get emotional while telling his story. She didn't know why she couldn't be more like Eli.

"Clare, its okay to cry. Bullying is a hard topic. It hurts to be bullied, I know." Eli's voice was soft. He tried his best to sooth Clare, to reassure her.

Clare nodded her head, but didn't meet Eli's eyes. "I guess you're right. I just wish I didn't cry over every little thing. It kind of gets embarrassing."

"Crying is only natural. If you didn't cry about emotional things, I would be concerned." Eli said. A small smirk appeared on his face.

"But you didn't cry when you were telling me about what happened to you. And your story is far more emotional that mine." Clare said

Eli shook his head. "Trust me Clare. If I was only and I was thinking about the night I died. I would be bawling like a little baby. I'm not as strong as you think I am. Actually I'm not strong at all. I'm a weak person who pushes people away."

Clare finally looked back at Eli. "Well, I guess we have a lot more in common than I thought."

"A semi-dead 16 year old boy and a beautiful 15 year old girl. Both have been bullied and are anti-social. Gee, we should have an HBO special." Eli and Clare both laughed, their voices echoed throughout the bedroom. Clare smiled to herself. Eli's laugh was smooth and deep. It reminded her of her father's laugh.

"I don't think I should be so loud." Clare said, her voice lower than before. "My mom might think I'm talking to myself."

Eli chuckled. "Well that sucks…because I must say, you have a beautiful laugh."

"Why thank you Mr. Goldsworthy."

"You are welcome, Ms. Edwards."

The room fell silent once again and the two teens stared at each other.

Eli cleared his throat and stood up from Clare's bed. "I should probably leave. Its 9:30 already…and you need some sleep."

"Ah, yes I have school bright and early tomorrow morning." Clare rolled her eyes.

Eli smirks. "I would hate to be you."

Clare smiled. "Goodnight Elijah."

"Sleep tight Clare."

Clare watched as Eli disappeared. She fell back onto her bed. Her head hit the pillow and bounced genially. She ran a hand through her hair. She pulled at the roots and let out a small sigh.

She, Clare Diane Edwards, had an undeniable crush on a ghost.

.

.

.

"Good morning Clare."

Clare looked up from her book that she was reading and saw the eyes of K.C. Hamilton. K.C. smiled and sat down in the seat in front of her. Since it was homeroom, the teacher didn't care where they sat, as long as they stayed in their seats.

Clare smiled kindly. "Good morning to you too, K.C."

"Well I didn't get a call from you last night, so I'm guessing that you talked to your friend that you were having a problem with?" K.C. asked.

Clare had almost forgotten that she had told K.C. that she was nervous about Eli. She nodded her head. "Oh, yes. I-uh…I talked to him last night, we have everything figured out."

Clare saw a flicker of saddest in K.C.'s eye when she said him. Did K.C. think she was having trouble with a boyfriend? Was he jealous? Did he like her? Clare wondered all those questions.

"But thank you for checking up on me…it means a lot." Clare placed a hand on K.C's forearm and gave it a friendly squeeze. K.C. smiled in response.

"You're welcome, Clare." He pushed his bangs out of his face and looked Clare in the eye. "So I was wondering…would you want to maybe go out of lunch today? There's this place called The Dot. A bunch of us usually go there to get something to eat."

Clare blushed slightly. "I-uh don't have any money or anything."

"I'll pay for you!" K.C. smiled.

"I couldn't let you do-"

"Please?" K.C. asked.

Clare debated with herself for a few seconds. K.C. was a seemed like a good person and Clare promised herself a long time ago that she was going to make new friends at Degrassi. Going out to lunch with him seemed like a good opportunity to make some friends.

"Sure K.C., I'll go to lunch with you." Clare said.

K.C. instantly smiled. "Thank you. So I'll meet you by the front doors 5th period. Okay?"

Clare nodded her head. "It sounds like a plan."

"Plans? What plans?"

Clare jumped in her seat at the sound of Eli's voice. She really hated when he pops out of no where like that. K.C's eyebrows furrowed.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Clare nodded her head. "Yes I'm fine." Clare assured K.C.

He smiled and turned around in his seat. Clare glanced to her right and saw Eli standing there with his hands in the pockets on his dark jeans and a smirk plastered on his face.

"Did I scare you, again?" Eli asked.

Clare rolled her eyes playfully and looked back at the front of the room. Eli took that as his cue to jump up onto her desk.

"You know I think I might make this an everyday thing. Come to your school, scare you shitless, and annoy you till you try to strangle me." Eli chuckled. "You could probably call that a haunting."

Clare rolled her eyes again and crossed her arms a cross her chest.

Eli couldn't help but think about how cute Clare looked when she was trying to act pissed. She tried to keep a straight face but a small smile kept creeping onto her mouth. It was only a madder of second before a full smile appeared on Clare face. It was the kind of smile that made the butterflies in Eli's stomach go haywire. His insides melted and he felt like putty when Clare smiled that smile. Her smile caused Eli to smile as well. Not a smirk, but a full on smile. There was something about being with Clare that made him feel happy, that made him feel alive.

Eli's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of K.C.'s voice.

"Oh I might take me a little longer to get to the front door to meet you before lunch. I have to drop some books off at my locker, but I'll try my best to go fast."

Clare looked through Eli's body and looked at K.C. "That's okay, you don't have to rush."

"Okay." K.C. smiled and took one last glance at Clare before turning back around in his seat.

Eli scoffed. You'd have to be blind to not see how much that K.C wanted Clare. He thought. He peered over K.C. shoulder and read the name that was scribbled across the top of his paper. Eli bit the inside of his cheek when he saw what K.C's last name was.

Hamilton.

There was no way in hell Clare was going to lunch with anyone with the last name of Hamilton.

Eli turned back and looked at Clare, his eye brow shot up.

He

"So you made lunch plans with that guy?" Eli asked.

Clare softly nodded her head yes.

"He's a Hamilton, Clare."

Clare blinked. She bit her bottom lip and softly nodded her head again.

"But you already knew that…didn't you?" Eli asked. His eyes grew darker.

Clare hesitated but shook her head softly again. She was fully aware that K.C. was a Hamilton.