Disclaimer: I still don't own Degrassi.

As promised, a new chapter. Read on,

Lunch Table of Isolation Day 6

"You gonna eat that?" Eli said, glancing at my sandwich.

"Nope. I lost my appetite." I said. Alli ignoring me and my parents fighting all the time was really starting to get to me.

"Are you okay?" Eli asked. I wondered if Eli actually cared or if he just felt that he had to ask that.

"No." I said grumpily.

"Oh. Sorry." Eli said. He actually sounded sympathetic and I was beginning to think that he really wouldn't be too bad of a friend.

"So can I have your sandwich or what?" he asked after a few minutes.

I stand corrected.

Lunch Table of Isolation Day 7

"Hey, Goth boy!"

"Clare why are you hanging out with people who wear more eyeliner than you do?"

"That freak drives a hearse, did you know that?"

Fitz and his friends shouted at us as they walked by. I was starting to get really annoyed. Okay, so maybe Eli isn't perfect, but he still doesn't deserve to be shouted at and made fun of like that.

I stood up to start yelling at the to back of, when something grabbed my hand and pulled me back down.

I came face to face with Eli, "Don't bother." He said quietly.

He turned back around, so I grabbed his hand and jerked him back to being face-to-face with me.

"What do you mean, don't bother!" I whisper shouted, "You shouldn't be treated like that. No one should be treated like that."

"It's no big," he shrugged.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Unbelievable.

Eli shrugged. "Let it go, Edwards. You care too much about what other people think."

"What? No I don't!"

"Defensive, much?" He smirked.

Right about then, I noticed we were still holding hands. Whoops. I don't think Eli had realized either, because when he looked down to see what I was looking at, his face turned red. Bright red. If I hadn't been so embarrassed myself, I would've cracked up.

We quickly let go of each other's hands and stared off in different directions. It was…quite awkward.

After a few minutes of silence, Eli spoke again. "Like I said, you care too much about what other people think."

I guess he decided to pretend the whole hand holding thing never happened, which was fine by me.

"No I don't!" I exclaimed.

He smirked. Great. He had a plan. I was screwed.

"Start a food fight."

What?

"Um, how about…NO!" I said.

"Prove you don't care what other people think by starting a food fight." He said, triumphantly. He knew that he had me now.

"Um, how about I just scream really loud instead?" I asked hopefully.

He shook his head, still smirking.

Agh! He was so frustrating.

"I don't care what other people think!" I said forcefully. He raised his eyebrows. I continued, "I just don't want to get detention."

"You care." He said.

"What? No I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No I don't." I said glaring at him.

"Do."

"Don't"

"Do."

"Don't."

"Do."

This conversation was getting nowhere. On the bright side, this is probably the most Eli has ever spoken to me, but I didn't feel like looking on the bright side. Today, I was all about the dark side.

"You know what Eli?" I said, frustrated, "I don't care what other people think. And I don't have to prove that to you." I glared at Eli, waiting for him to challenge me.

He looked at me for a second. Then turned away. I swear I heard him utter, "What a disappointment," Under his breath.

All right, that was it. No one calls me a disappointment.

I stood up and marched over to Alli and Drew's table.

"Clare. Go away. If you haven't noticed, we don't want you here." Alli sneered.

"I did notice, thank you Alli," I snarled right back, "but things aren't always about you."

I straightened out my clothes and picked up a handful of mashed potatoes.

What was I doing? Trying to prove myself to some random guy I didn't know? I was going crazy. Then I looked over at Eli's and my table to see Eli looking over. His eyes were shining.

Here goes nothing, "FOOD FIGHT!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, making Alli and Drew jump. Then I chucked the mash potatoes somewhere into the cafeteria. I heard someone scream and curse, so I knew it had hit a person.

There were a few minutes of shocked silence.

I closed my eyes and winced. This could either make me the weird kid that everyone ignores, or the school legend that actually started a food fight.

I hoped it would be the latter, but judging by the way things were going it looked like it was going to be the former.

"YEAH!" some random kid screamed, "FOOD FIGHT!"

And then the cafeteria became a warzone. Kids were screaming, laughing, and cursing all at the same time. Most people looked like it was the most fun they had in years, and others, well, they were glaring at me. Probably blaming me for ruining their outfits.

I dashed back over to Eli. He had turned the table over to serve as a cover and was throwing bits of food out into the crowd.

I ducked under the table, joining him, and then helped him throw ammo into the screaming masses.

We looked at each other and cracked up.

The food fight was still raging on around us, but we just sat with our backs against the table.

"See!" I said raising my eye and smirking,

"Fine. I'll admit it Edwards. I was wrong." He laughed.

"Yes, yes you were." I said proudly. "So what are you going to do to prove that you don't care?"

He looked surprised. Guess he hadn't thought of that. "I don't need to prove it. I'm not doing anything." He grinned at me.

Oh. My. God. He was so going to die.

"What? You made do all of that? And you're just not going to do anything? Are you kidding me?" I shouted at him, being half angry half kidding. In between words I was throwing bits of sandwiches and macaroni at him. He was backing away laughing and I was chasing after him, trying to attack.

I ran out of ammo. Uh oh. Now I was left just trying to attack him with my fists, which was not working out.

We were both laughing so hard we were almost crying, by now.

I moved in for one final pitiful jab, when he caught both of me wrists.

He was pinned between the table and the wall. I had cornered him. We were staring at each other.

"You have to-" I forgot what I was about to say, He had to what? He was staring at me intensely and I was staring at him almost as intensely.

He started leaning in. Whoa, wait. Why was I leaning in too? Stop leaning in Clare! It's a bad idea. You barely know this guy! But I couldn't stop myself. We were both so close. Our lips were barely an inch apart, when the Principle Simmons screamed, "CLARE EDWARDS!"

We broke out of our trance. Eli let go of my wrists and we both looked away. What the hell had just happened?

"There you are Clare." The principle said. Ducking into our makeshift cover.

"Um…hello." I said, going for the innocent look. Eli snickered. Apparently the innocent look didn't work.

"Yes hello there." The principle glared at me. "You have detention, Ms. Edwards."

"What?" I exclaimed.

"Well we have many teachers saying they saw you instigate the food fight, so two weeks of detention for you."

"But-" I started.

"It was me." Eli stated.

Huh? I turned around. He was glaring at me; I think he was trying to get me to keep my mouth shut.

"Really? Is that so?" The principle asked.

"Yes. Yes it is," Eli replied confidently.

The principle paused for a moment. "Well in that case you can both have detention."

What?

The principle caught my surprised look. He glared at me, "and you will be cleaning the cafeteria."

He left.

"Well," Eli said slowly, "that was interesting."

That was the understatement of the year.

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