Hello all! Sorry I haven't updated in a bit. I've been busy with roller derby. Plus, now the season is over and I'm going through Degrassi withdrawals. BTW, anyone else think that Eli and Clare are totally going to get back together during the grad episode? But I was still really proud of her for not taking him back after her was such a dick. I'm almost always team Clare. Anyway, this was one of the hardest chapters to write, but I think it says what I intended it to. As always, thanks for reading!

Chapter 6

The alarm sounded the next morning and while Clare's eyes weren't completely bloodshot from crying, she still somehow felt weak. Perhaps that feeling never went away when you had an experience like the one she had. Or maybe she was tough enough that it would just take time. Either way, she was just as nervous about seeing Eli today, not to mention having to explain her disappearance to Jenna and Alli. Still, she got up and put on her make-up the same way as every morning before picking out her clothes.

She made it to her locker early that morning, grabbing her books when she suddenly felt a pair of arms around her waist.

"Hey," Eli said, but then stepped back when she very nearly jumped out of her skin. "Whoa."

"Sorry, I think I'm just a little nervous today, about seeing him."

"Oh right," and he mentally cursed himself for being so stupid and not thinking of that. "Well did everything go okay last night with your mom?"

"Yeah, actually. I told her about you." Eli raised his eyebrow. "Well, I told her that we were working on a project together. So she can expect you to be around and stuff."

"Cool. You know, I'm directing the school play this year. You should sign up for something. Then we could hang out after school and have some fun," Eli suggested.

"You're directing the play? I do props remember? I won the award last year."

He smiled. "Oh yeah! Then I guess I'll be seeing you Thursday after all."

"I guess so." Clare could see Jenna and Alli vibrantly whispering to each other while they stared intently at her. She and Eli continued to converse.

"So did you want to eat lunch with me and some of the guys today?" he asked.

"I guess so. We'll probably have a lot of explaining to do though."

Eli shrugged. "I don't care if you don't." She smiled until suddenly her face completely dropped. Mike Dallas was headed straight for her.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"That's never gonna happen," Eli stepped up, his chest out in an attempt to intimidate.

"Why don't you back off Emoboy. I'm not talking to you."

"I wasn't planning on saying much," Eli responded as he began to ball his fist.

Dallas looked at Clare, "What, so are you telling me that you're with this guy now?"

"Maybe she is," Eli said, still not backing down.

Clare stepped between the two raising her arms. "Alright, stop it, both of you! I belong to no one but myself." She turned on Dallas. "You are a creep and what you did was wrong and unforgivable." The power somehow erupted through her out of nowhere, while she continued to face her antagonist.

"I know. I just need to talk to you about it for a minute."

Eli took another step. "It's okay, Eli. I can talk to him." He glared for a moment, then raised his hands in surrender and began to pace backwards around the corner.

She turned back to Dallas, fiercer than she expected herself to be, "You better talk fast."

"Look, Clare, I'm sorry."

She dug deep and found the strength she had been grasping for since that night, "You're sorry? For what? Attacking me? Making me feel weak and useless? For being a complete misogynistic asshole?" she shouted.

"Yes! Okay?" he yelled back. "Look, I was drunk and stupid and didn't know what I was doing."

"Oh, well that's a good excuse. All is forgiven," she responded sarcastically.

"Baby, you know I would never do anything like that if I were sober. And I promise I'm never going to get that drunk again. I just got messed up because… because I've missed you," he said and slowly started rubbing his finger on the side of her hand.

She pulled her arm away. "Dallas, we barely even dated before you stopped calling me. But that was long enough because now I never want to see you again. You see me in the hallway, you turn the other way. You see me talking to someone you know, you ignore us and wait your turn. Got it?"

"Clare, you're being ridiculous."

"I'm being ridiculous?"

"Look, the reason I stopped calling is because, you're not like the girls I used to date. You're so serious and I'm used to puck bunnies who just want to get with a hockey player."

"Gee, I'm becoming more impressed by the second," sarcasm had always been Clare's best friend.

"I'm trying to tell you that you're not like other girls. I freaked. But I really liked you. When I saw you sitting all alone, I thought maybe you felt the same way."

"You thought wrong."

"I know that now, but I really thought we were good together. And I hope you can forgive me."

She stared at him for a long time and then turned her face, not wanting to meet his eyes. The tears were puddling in her bottom eyelids, but she refused to surrender.

"Come on, you're going to have to see me here. We at least need to be able to work together during classes." She let out a long, slow sigh and still refused to look at him. Then she closed her eyes tight and shook her head.

"You really with Eli now?" he asked.

"That's none of your business," she said in a low tone. "I'll see you around, Mike," and without another word or waiting for his response, she turned and walked away. Trying desperately to get away, and not entirely sure where she was heading, she marched down the halls of Degrassi in an attempt to regain her composure. Faster and faster she rounded the corner and walked right into a brick wall. No, it was Eli. She walked right into his arms without even realizing it. As he held her tight, she attempted to keep the waterworks in but it was inevitable. They started with a slow roll down her cheeks while he held her and began to flow like a waterfall as he pulled her into the janitor's closet nearby.

"What did he do?"

"Made me feel stupid like I was silly for even blaming him for everything. And then I felt even worse because I started to forgive him like Rihanna did and now everyone thinks she's lame for taking back Chris Brown. And I started contemplating forgiving him because I felt sorry for him and I don't know whether or not he deserves it!" At least that's what she tried to say, but what really came out was a high pitched squeal through her wet tears while she continued to babble nonsense.

Eli tried his hardest, but he couldn't keep himself from laughing. "I'm so sorry, Clare, but I really have no clue what you said just now. Something about Chris Brown and you don't want to be like Rihanna. But you could have just said that you liked one of their songs."

To Clare's surprise, she found herself chuckling while she tried to dry her tears. "Why do boys have to be so stupid?"

"Because girls have to drive us crazy," he smiled.

"Oh great! So everything is back to being my fault."

He put his hands on either side of her face. "Clare, listen to me. None of this is your fault." She nodded but closed her eyes in disbelief. He continued to calm her down until she stopped crying. "Now I'm walking you to class." She wiped her face and followed him out the door. When they reached her classroom he said 'goodbye' and told her he'd meet her for lunch.

Clare sat down ready for her history class while Jenna and Alli attempted to get her attention. "Okay, Edwards. Start talking," Alli demanded.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice still a little squeaky.

"Are you kidding me?" Jenna piped in. "First, you disappear at Drew's party Saturday night. Then we don't hear from you for two days and now you're hanging out with your arch nemesis. What is going on?"

"Nothing."

The girls stared at her in shock.

"Spit it out," Alli said, with a stern look on her face that meant she wasn't taking no for an answer.

"Look, I ended up hanging out with Eli on Saturday. He gave me a ride home and we're kind of friends now," Clare carefully explained.

They both had furrowed brows. "Then why do you look like you've been crying your eyes out for days?" Alli rationalized.

She sighed deeply. There was no getting around it, but she didn't have to tell them everything. "I got into a fight with Dallas."

"OMG! What happened? Tell me everything!" Alli encouraged.

"Nothing really," she lied. "He just said he missed me and that was it. And I guess he got a little jealous that Eli and I were hanging out, but it was mostly because of this stupid English project."

"You poor thing," Jenna put a hand on her arm.

"It's no big. But there is one more thing." Deep breath. "I'm having lunch with Eli today."

Jenna and Alli shared a glance. "He has hot friends, right?"

A/N: I don't think Dallas is a bad person in this story, I just think he did a bad thing. Well, I made him do a bad thing. Mostly I wanted to introduce something to really challenge Clare and to help bring her and Eli together. Which I think this chapter succeeds at doing. Although, I don't know if Clare is capable of forgiving Dallas. We'll see!