T W O.

Time to Wake Up.

clare.

I'm a little shy but wait till you know me.

Take me for a ride it wont take you long.

Look in my eyes is there something you see.

If you want me let me know.

Or let me go...

'Eyes. Pretty-'

"Eli." the name danced across my lips before I even registered that I should try to hold it back.

"Clare Elizabeth Edwards, do you mean to tell me that this has all been because of a boy?" Gram's words were chastising, but her tone was teasing. I blushed a deeper shade of red and felt the icy facade I'd been wearing begin to melt away. I looked down at my hands.

"Kind of. It's sort of a long, tragic story." I muttered. Gram laughed.

"We've got time dear, I'm not about to keel over and die just yet, you know." I met her eyes for the first time that week.

"There are parts of it that I'm not proud of." I explained slowly. Gram gave me a warm smile and patted my foot comfortingly.

"Clare, if we were all proud of everything we've done in our lives, we wouldn't be living very much would we? Now go on and start, God only knows I could do with a good story. Especially a love story if this goes the way I think it does." She winked at me.

I waited for that feeling of hesitation to set in, but it never came. I took a deep breath and began to speak.

I started with the day my glasses were crushed to pieces alongside my view of the world, and told her everything from there. I explained my parents' fighting, Adam and Gracie, the war with Fitz, Vegas Night, and Eli. Stubborn, cynical, sarcastic Eli that had almost lost everything because of his stupid pride. It was weird though, each time I started to explain a new event or subject I kept telling myself that I wouldn't tell her everything. But everything just kept coming out. It felt good too, therapeutic even, as cliche as it sounded.

By the time I had explained everything up to the present, my grandmother looked like she was about to pass out in anticipation of the fairytale happy ending. I was almost afraid to tell her that there wasn't one. That there probably wasn't going to be one.

"...and then he drove me home and told me that maybe we just needed to wait a little bit more. That maybe it just wasn't the right time for us."

There was a ringing silence that hung in the air once I'd finished.

"Well, you've certainly spun yourself quite a web there, Miss Clare. Are you sure this isn't West Side Story?" Gram asked, amused.

"No. And yeah, I know." I admitted quietly.

"I can't even imagine." she said in a faraway voice, "Watching your grandfather die in a hospital bed was horrible enough, to think I was about to watch him die at the hands of another human being..." Gram trailed off for a moment.

I nodded wordlessly, watching Fitz's knife fly towards Eli in my mind's eye. Gram's face softened and she rubbed my foot again.

"You're going to be okay, Clare. You've dealt with much worse, and you've only become stronger." she said gently

"I might have believed that a month ago." I answered bitterly, "Ever since I met Eli, I feel like my life has just been one rollercoaster after another. I'm not sure I can deal with it anymore." I sighed defeatedly and rested my head in my hands. I felt my grandmother get up from the bed.

"Clare. I know you can handle this. I think your mistake has been thinking that you can get through this mess alone." she said sternly.

"That's not true." I bit back denfensively, "I have to do it alone. Everybody else abandons me."

It was the first time I'd admitted it out loud, but I'd been thinking about it for a long time. I hadn't known one person that hadn't left me at some point in time. KC, Darcy, my parents, even Alli.

"Clare Elizabeth, I have not abandoned you, and I'm sure that that boy didn't do so intentionally. Didn't he tell you why he hadn't backed down?" Gram's voice was stern, but at that moment I didn't want to hear it.

"He did, but that's not the point! He should have been able to get over it." I felt tears threatening to fall again, and desperately blinked them away.

I looked up at my grandmother, ashamed. Her face immediately softened.

"I'm sorry dear. But it seems to me that you holing yourself up here is abandoning them." she informed me gently.

And then it all came crashing down on me. I had abandoned them Alli both had needed someone that night, and I had been so wrapped up in my own darkness that I hadn't even bothered to help them. Even then, I hadn't bothered responding to any of their facerange chats, emails, or texts since break had started.

"I did abandon them." I whispered in disbelief, "This is all my fault." Gram gathered me into her arms.

"Oh, honey. I don't believe that this is all your fault. I think you've all just made some mistakes." she said carefully, "But that doesn't mean they can't be fixed. Maybe not easily, but certainly not irreparable."

I looked up at her, and wiped my eyes again.

"What if I'm not quite ready to forgive Eli for the things he did?" I asked nervously. Even though I could sympathize with him, I still wasn't ready to deal with the whole range of emotions that came with being around Eli all the time. Gram pursed her lips.

"I don't think you have to be ready to fix everything at one time, Clare. Start with one person at a time." she suggested before pulling something out of her pocket and holding it out to me. I looked down at my cell phone. I smiled up at her sheepishly.

"You left this on the kitchen table the day you got here. Damn thing won't stop buzzing. Adam keeps texting to make sure you aren't dead yet."

ELI.

I'm a little rough around the edges.

Takes me a while to admit when im wrong.

Some people say im lost; im searching for something.

If you find it let me know

Or let me go..."So where exactly are we going?" Adam asked as he slammed the Morty's passenger door shut. I shrugged and pulled out of the Torres' driveway.

"Wherever you want to go." I responded nonchalantly. Adam sighed and looked out the window for a minute before looking back at me.

"Look. Eli, I get that you're upset about Clare, but I'm seriously worried about your mental state. You spent all this week completely shut off and then suddenly everything's okay? I mean, I'm all for hanging out, man, but you can't just bottle it all up. It's not healthy. I would know." he said quietly.

I felt my hands tense on the steering wheel and struggled to keep my eyes on the road. Figures that Adam would be the one person to see through everything.

"The school called my house." I admitted, glancing over at him, "Apparently they will be taking disciplinary action against me and Clare when break is over. Anyways, because me and my father are just so close, he wanted to know what I did that was so terrible." Adam looked over at me again with wide eyes.

"Did you actually tell him?" he asked in disbelief. I scoffed and felt my self give a coundescending laugh.

"Yeah. I did." I said harshly, "And you know what he said? He told me I should know better than to taunt people with anger management problems. He mentioned Julia and I kind of lost it." Adam exhaled sharply.

"That's rough. I'm sorry, man." I shook my head.

"Don't be. He was going to find out anyways. Anyways, I'll probably end up with two week's detenion max. With Clare if I'm lucky." I responded, trying to keep my voice from displaying the hopeful tone that I felt inside. Adam cleared his throat nervously as we pulled up outside the Dot.

"Eli. There's something you should know." he stated seriously. I raised an eyebrow at him before killing Morty's engine and getting out, Adam following me.

"Right. Can you see dead people now or something?" I teased as we entered the cafe and sat down at a table. Adam scowled at my sarcasm before continuing.

"No. Look, I'm serious. You know how my mom's on the school board?" he began, fiddling with the napkin on the table. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah...and this is relevant because...?" I said impatiently, "Adam just spit it out already. What happened to 'it's better to rip the bandage off'?"

I couldn't remember Adam ever acting this jumpy, aside from when he, for lack of a better term, came out to Clare and me. He looked like the rabbit that had been cornered by the fox.

"Simpson wasn't kidding when he said things were going to change. He and my mom have been working on installing a whole new code of conduct. Eli, it's going to be bad." he said quickly, his eyes looking down at his feet. I quirked an eyebrow.

"How bad?" I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer. Adam shook his head.

"They're not finished yet, but so far they've definitely finalized metal detectors, photo IDs, and uniforms." I flinched. Wonderful.

"Lovely. I've always wanted to go to school in a prison." I remarked bitterly. Adam gave a strangled sort of laugh.

"Tell me about it. This term is going to suck." he groaned, putting his head on the table in defeat. I patted his arm in mock sympathy, and felt his phone buzz on the table. He sat up quickly and snatched it up, looking at the screen hopefully.

"Ugh. It's Drew." he said sounding slightly deflated, "He wants me to text Alli again. Apparently she won't respond to his texts." I rolled my eyes.

"Considering she found him in the boiler room with Bianca, I'm not surprised." I informed him sardonically, "Who did you think it was anyways?" He looked sheepish.

"Oh, just you know, because you decided to come out and face the light today, I thought maybe Clare might too." he admitted, "You know, because you two were just about connected at the mind last week." he added as though it were obvious. I sighed heavily and ran my hands through my hair.

"Sorry. That 'connection' was severed by Fitz's knife last weekend." I snapped. I was beginning to regret going out with Adam. Talking to Adam inadvertently meant talking about Clare, which was something I'd been trying to avoid all week.

"So?" Adam countered, "Eli, Clare probably feels the same way you do. She hasn't answered any of my texts either, except in her case, she's stuck all alone at her grandmother's house with nobody to help her get over it. You both made mistakes that night. Why can't you both just get over your own stupid problems and call eachother."

I scowled at him.

"It's not that simple Adam. She said she didn't know if she could still be with me." I said softly. Adam shook his head defiantly.

"Only because you were being an ass! She called me before the dance and said-" He was interrupted by his phone buzzing again. He rolled his eyes before looking at it.

"No Drew, I will not-" Adam's eyes widened, "It's Clare."

I felt my heart immediately leap in my chest. It was automatic; just hearing her name made me lose any train of thought that I'd had. It all came flying back- her hair, her lips, her eyes, everything.

"What did she say?" I asked, sharper than intended. Adam wordlessly handed me the phone, and I looked down at it, trying fruitlessly to hide the eagerness from my face.

Adam. I'm sorry I haven't texted you back. I've just been really lost. But I'm ready to talk now. I just really need a friend right now. -C

"We have to go see her." I declared. Adam gave me a strange look.

"Eli, are you sure you want to-" I nodded. I'd already made so many mistakes with Clare, I couldn't bear to make another one.

"Where does her grandmother live?" I asked desperately. Adam quickly averted his eyes from mine.

"Uh, yeah, I have no idea. That really-" I rolled my eyes.

"Adam, come on. I know you know." I gave him a hard look, and he shook his head emphatically.

"I have absolutely no clue where-"

"Adam, did you not tell Clare where I lived when I expressly told you not to?" I inquired. Adam gave me a pained look.

"Yeah, but she threatened my-" I plowed on over his protests, I almost had him.

"So wouldn't you conclude that you owe me this one favor?" I wheedled. Adam gave a long groan and I knew he had given in.

"Kingston! Her grandmother lives in Kingston!" With a tremendous sigh, he threw his head back down on the table in complete failure.

In my mind I was already computing how fast we could get there. Kingston was only about three hours away. We could be there and back by ten tonight. I stood up and glanced at Adam.

"So I take it you're coming?" I asked cheerfully, grabbing Morty's keys off of the table. Adam sat up and glared at me before standing up and following me out the door.

"I want your's and Clare's firstborn once this is all over." He announced as we settled into Morty, "And a lifetime supply of Comics and Mountain Dew." he added as an afterthought.

I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah. I'll get right on that." I muttered sarcastically before setting out onto the open road.

I dont know which way to go,

And I wont ever know what the future holds.

Now staying here i got to know.

I'm leaving so tell me goodbye.

Take my time cause i got to find if its right

Cause I'm dreaming my life away

And its time to wake up

A/N- This one took me forever to write. I really was trying hard to get the emotions just right without being completely over-dramatic :) So just a couple of things-

1. Song for this chapter is Time to Wake Up by Carly Patterson. I decided to incorporate the lyrics as the quotes before each of their POVs & at the end. Did you like/dislike, would you rather I just use them at the end, not at all, etc.

2. OOC-ness. This is one of my hugest pet-peeves when I read stories, so please let me know if you see it, feel like I'm doing a terrible job (I had a little bit of trouble with Adam during his & Eli's conversation)

3. Thank you to all of my reviewers/subscribers/favoriters! It is very much appreciatiated!

4. Am I getting too dramatic? I really really want this story to be completely plausible as a follow-up to the boiling point as far and Clare and Eli's relationship goes.

Again, I won't hold Chapter Three hostage, but reviews make me work a lot faster & and they make me very happy :D

Sydney

PS. sorry for those of you that got alerted for this chapter twice...I accidentally uploaded it by mistake and had to delete it so I could finish editing...my bad...