You're out of luck - can't get a piece of me. It's all blown up. Don't even fuck with me. - Seether

Holly J sighed as she closed her locker. School was over for the day and she had absolutely no plans. Fiona had therapy and Anya was doing swim training for her lifeguard thing. She didn't even have work or dialysis. Yeah, things are pretty bad if I would even welcome dialysis as a distraction, she thought rolling her eyes.

She had less than six months before could leave for Yale. Six months before she could shake things up and really start to make things happen, instead of being in this incredibly boring holding pattern. She felt like she was stuck on a treadmill, constantly circling a loop of school, work, homework and friends – all the same, nothing romantic or exciting or different. Ever.

Holly J had been feeling this discontent ever since she had been discharged from the hospital. She felt like she had had an epiphany while she was there. Life was so short, she should be living, not just existing until August. That had bee the real reason that she had broken up with Sav. That relationship had been going nowhere, and she simply couldn't lie about it anymore. It was like having a really great friend that you kissed sometimes. Holly J needed more; she just didn't know how to go about getting it.

So here she was. In exactly the same place, going nowhere. Her time at Degrassi was almost over. She should be having a blast, living each day to the fullest, making memories that would last the rest of her life. Doing…something.

Her introspective thoughts were suddenly interrupted as she felt someone bump into her from behind. She whipped around to glare at the unlucky klutz and saw it was that gothy guy Eli. He didn't even stop to apologize, just kept going.

"Hey!" Holly J shouted after him. He kept right on walking, oblivious to her presence. She narrowed her eyes. No one ignored Holly J, no one.

Holly J threw her bag over her shoulder and took off after him. "Hey! Hey, you!" She followed him toward the auditorium and watched as he flung the door open and stomped inside. She huffed out a breath and caught the door before it closed and flung it open herself before racing down the aisle after him and up onto the stage.

Eli threw his bag down so hard it slid half way across the stage floor before it stopped. Holly J dropped her own bag down and grabbed his arm from behind. He spun around, snarling out "What the hell!" If she hadn't been so angry herself, the glare on his face might have taken her aback, but by now she was too furious to care.

"Um, hello!" Holly J summoned up her snottiest voice. "Were you raised in a barn? Where I come from, people apologize when they practically run you down for no reason." She glared right back at him.

Eli ripped his arm from her grip, his dark green eyes never leaving hers for a second. "Oh, excuse me princess. And where exactly would you be from? Planet Snotty Stuck Up Bitch?" His voice was smooth and dark and dangerous.

Holly J felt herself flush, partially because of the insult and partially from the dark, edgy sound of his voice. But she quickly pulled herself together again; she was not one to back down from a challenge. She stepped even closer and glared up at him again. "Yeah, that's exactly where I'm from. It's the planet that's right next to your home world. You know, Giant Weirdo Looser."

"Well, I'd rather be a weirdo looser than have a stick shoved so far up my ass that I need to have it surgically removed," Eli was leaned down so that he was right in her face.

As pissed as she was, Holly J was almost enjoying herself. Most people would have backed down by now; it wasn't often that she got to engage in battle with someone who gave just as good as they got. "You better watch yourself before I call INS and have you deported back to Transylvania, Dracula." She reached out to poke him in the chest just as his hand came up and grabbed her wrist. She wasn't sure exactly how it happened, because she didn't remember moving and was sure that he hadn't moved either, but their lips suddenly came crashing down on each other.

It was amazing, like grabbing a live wire. Holly J could have sworn that she felt a jolt of electricity start at her toes and shoot through the top of her head. She gasped against his lips in shock and excitement and felt his tongue slide past her lips caressing the inside of her mouth. He dropped her wrist and snaked his arms behind her back crushing her body to his. She ran her hands up his chest and neck to tangle in his hair and pull him even closer to her.

She felt the muscles in his chest and stomach quivering, and just knowing that she was having that effect on him had heat pooling between her legs. She could feel his hands moving down her back and gripping her hips. When he pulled her hard against him and she could feel the very pronounced effect she was having on him, she reflexively rolled her hips against his suggestively and felt him moan against her lips.

She felt like she couldn't get close enough to him, she wanted to crawl inside of him. Her whole body tingled and it felt like her skin was on fire everywhere he touched her. He was driving her crazy, she wanted to feel his hands running over her bare skin. She wanted him to throw her down and strip her clothes off and his and take her, right on the auditorium floor. God, she never wanted him to stop touching her.

They might have stayed like that for minutes or hours, Holly J had no idea. When they finally broke apart, they just stood there staring into each others eyes trying to make sense of what had just happened. She was still pressed up against Eli's incredibly hard body, both of them breathless and disheveled. Before she could even form a coherent thought, Eli dropped his arms from her as if he had been burned. He turned from her without a word, grabbed his bag and ran up the aisle and out of the auditorium leaving her to stare stupidly after him.

Her knees started to shake; she was fairly certain that he had effectively managed to turn them, along with the rest of her body into jelly. She eased herself down to the floor before her legs gave out completely and tried to catch her breath. She could easily say that kissing Eli had been one of the most intense and erotic moments of her life, even more than the times that she had made love to Declan. That one kind of stung to admit. Holly J pressed her hands to her flushed cheeks and let out a shaky breath.

Well, wasn't I just wishing for excitement and romance, she asked herself. Looks like it just found me. Eli wouldn't have been her first choice for either, but there it was. She was not going to just let that boy walk away. Elijah Goldsworthy was about to go under siege.