Chapter 4! ANYONE ELSE EXCITED BOUT DEGRASSI COMING BACK ON? I WAS SO MAD ABOUT ELI NOT BEING ON THER TONIGHT! BUT DID ANYONE SEE THE PROMO FOR NEXT WEEK? MY MOUTH DROPPED OPEN! ECLARE FOREVER!

Clare -

I was still mad with how Eli handled the situation with KC back at school, but he sure knew how to make up for it. The day was perfect. It was too cold to go into the water, but it was just warm enough to take a nice long walk on the sand.

We held hands as we walked along the beach, taking in the beautiful view.

"It's almost as beautiful as you," Eli said, gently kissing the top of my head. "You're eyes are as deep as the ocean, and your skin is as fair as the sand."

Ok this can't get anymore perfect, Clare thought.

"You know just what to say to make a girl blush." And that's exactly what I was doing. I couldn't hide it from him. A cold wind passed and I started to shiver. He put his jacket on me and wrapped me up in his arm. How I loved his warm embrace.

He grabbed my waist and leaned in for long, wonderful kiss.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too." This couldn't get any more perfect.

"Then you'll forgive me...for this!" Wait...what? He picked me up over the threshhold, and I soon realized what he was planning. He was going towards the water.

"Eli! No! Stop!" I squirmed and wiggled and did everything I could to escape. But it was no use. He kicked off his shoes and then pulled mine off for me, since I was still trying to get away.

"You said we weren't going in the water!" Now I was upset again.

"Yeah, don't you just love how spontaneous I can be?" He smirked the smirk that sent chills down my back. Or was that just the wind again?

"C'mon, Eli! Don't do this!" By now the water was halfway up to his legs.

"Fine, I'll get out." But something was wrong. I could feel his grip...loosening. He was gonna drop me in the water!

"Don't you dare-"

"Dare what?" But before I could finish he let go. I screamed, but I never hit the water. He faked it. He'd picked me up as soon as he let me go.

"I hate you!" I screamed, slapping his shoulder as hard as I could.

"Aw, love you too!" There was that smirk again. The smirk that drove me crazy everytime I saw it. I gave him a kiss and he began to walk out of the water, never letting me go. I felt so safe when I was around him. I felt like nothing bad could ever happen when I was with him. I never wanted to let him go.

We continued our walk along the beach until it started to get dark. We found Morty and headed home. I was so tired though, I fell asleep in the car on the way back. Eli gently shook me awake when we arrived at my house.

"Today was amazing," I said, sad that the perfect day had come to an end. I thanked him for the day and kissed him goodbye.

"Love you," I said as I stepped out of the car.

"Love you, too."

I waved goodbye and stepped inside my house, only to find my parents sitting in the living room. They'd probably been waiting for me to come home.

"Clare, honey," my mom started. I didn't like the tone in her voice. "We need to talk."

"Talk? About what?" I asked, confused about what was going on.

"About Eli," she said, a serious look on her face. "We know you like him, honey, but your father and I think he might be a bad influence on you."

Was she saying what I think she was saying?

"Principal Simspon called today. He told us what happened with you and the other boy, KC."

Oh no. Busted.

"It's nothing. KC wouldn't leave me alone and Eli was just trying to help. He just wanted me to be safe," I said, doing my best to defend Eli.

"We think it's best if you stopped seeing Eli for a while," my dad said.

I can't believe this. How could they possibly think that they were in a place to give me advice about love. They've been fighting for months. Sure, they'd calmed down a little, but it hadn't stopped completely. I still woke up in the middle of the night because they were screaming so loud from downstairs when they thought I was asleep.

"You can't make me do that," I protested.

"We know we can't tell you how to feel," my mom started. "We're just asking that you take a step back and look at what you're getting yourself into."

Maybe you should've done that before you married Dad, I thought, but I couldn't say that out loud.

"We're not doing anything wrong!"

"Maybe not, but it's not just the skipping school and getting into fights. Your grades have been slipping too."

Ok, so my A average went down to a B-. It's not like I was failing. That's no reason to keep me from seeing the love of my life.

"You're wrong. You can't do this to me."

"Oh, we can't? Then what about the fact that, instead of facing his consequences, he ran away and took you to who-knows-where for hours!" She was getting very angry with me now.

"That has nothing to do with this-"

"It has everything to do with this, Clare," my dad yelled. It was the same way he yelled at my mom when they fought.

I couldn't take it anymore. I ran up to my room and locked the door, trying to fight back my tears as best I could. I reached for my cell phone and a large duffel bag.

"Hey," Eli answered.

"Can you come pick up in 10 minutes?" I asked, packing some clothes into the duffel.

"Yeah, sure. Are you ok?" He noticed how I was trying to fight back the tears while talking to him. I didn't want him to know I was crying.

"Never better. Oh, and one more thing. Don't park in front of my house."

"Ok?" He was obviously confused. He'd just have to wait until he got here for me to explain.

Eli -

I didn't like the way Clare sounded when she called me. She sounded like she was hurt or something was bothering her. I got to her house as fast as I could, parking a few houses down from hers. Why didn't she want me parking in front of her house?

I texted her to let her know I was there. I saw her window open. She looked up and down the street to find me. Once she caught sight of me, she gestured for me to get out of her car and come to the window. I was still confused. But she warned me to be quiet, so I couldn't ask her what was going on. She went back into her room and grabbed a huge duffel bag. She threw it down to me and told me to catch it. I was even more confused.

Then I spotted what she about to do next. She was carefully trying to grab onto the tree outside her window.

"Clare! Are you crazy?" I whispered. But she made it onto the tree safely, so I assumed she'd done this before.

"Oh, you're good," I said, very impressed, when she came down without any problems.

"Helps to have an older sister who used to do the same thing to go see her boyfriends."

I smirked. She grabbed the duffel bag and ran to Morty, hopping into the passengers seat.

"Where to?" I asked, still confused.

"Anywhere but here."

I took off.

We'd been driving for 5 minutes when I asked what the bag was for.

"I can't go back there tonight, Eli. I can't face them."

"Face who?"

"My parents."

"Did they start fighting more?"

"Yeah, but not with each other."

I turned to look at her. She looked like she'd been crying. Her eyes were puffy and red, and her makeup was running down her face. She still looked beautiful to me, though. That would never change.

"What happened?" I hoped she wouldn't start crying.

"Simpson called and told my parents about what happened today at school. They overreacted and they told me they wanted me to take a break from you.

Well, there are two people who aren't on my nice list anymore, I thought.

"Why would they say that?" I asked

"They said you're a 'bad influence' on me. Like they know what's best for me! They're the one who are probably getting a divorce. What do they know about love?" She was angry. And you don't wanna be around Clare when she's angry. Sure, I think it's kinda hot, but I'm her boyfriend. It's different.

"What'd your parents say about the whole KC thing."

"I was gonna stay at my moms this weekend but she's away and my dad's too busy to be concerned with school stuff, so they didn't find out." I let out a smirk. I had the whole weekend to spend with Clare. I just wished she was in a better mood. I remembered when I got into fights with my folks. The worst.

"So you're alone all this weekend?"

"Yup. Unless, you wanna keep me company. You did say you didn't wanna go home."

"You don't mind?" Is she serious?

"No, because I don't want my gorgeous girlfriend staying at my place all weekend." I smiled because I saw that made her blush.

"Look, my mom gets back Sunday night, so I'll just bring you back by Sunday afternoon."

"I could just tell my parents I'm staying at Alli's and ask her to cover for me."

"It's a plan. But first, dinner? All that yelling must've made you hungry."

"Sounds good."

"Looks like it's just you and me against the world, Blue Eyes," I said, putting a hand on her shoulder and smiling.

She smiled back.

We headed for "The DOT" and found a table near the window. It was the same table that Clare was sitting at the day I ran over her glasses. Fate was, once again, with me. Clare didn't metion the table, but it didn't matter. I knew, deep down, she realized the significance of it.

We ordered dinner and talked. I paid for everything and we left. Clare had offered to pay for her food, but I wasn't going to let her do that.

"I asked you out, so I'm going to pay," I told her. I didn't want her to feel like she needed to pay for the date that I asked her out on. Even when she tried paying me back I refused. I didn't care about the money. I just wanted her to be happy.

Clare -

My mom called me as soon as we walked into Eli's house. It was like she knew I was going to be there at that exact moment.

"Clare? Where are you?" She sounded frantic.

"Mom, I'm sorry I left, but I think it'll be good for the both of us if I just stayed at Alli's for the weekend. I'll see you on Sunday." I hung up without letting her say anything else. Then I speed dialed Alli, hoping she would pick up soon enough.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Alli, I need you to cover for me this weekend. If my mom calls, please tell her I'm at your house. I'm begging you!"

"Uhm. Ok? Why, where are you?" she asked, obviously confused with the conversation.

"It's a long story, but the point is, I'm staying at Eli's this weekend and I can't let my mom find out! Please Alli!"

She let out an "EEEPPP" loud enough for Eli to hear on the other side of the room.

"Absolutely Clare! Have fun with Eli." I was blushing and I hoped Eli hadn't noticed. But I saw him smirk when Alli yelled after I told her I was staying at his place. This weekend was going to be very interesting.

It was Saturday evening. Eli and I were watching a horror movie marathon, since tomorrow would be Halloween. We were sitting on the couch; Eli had his arm around me and I rested my head on his chest. My mind was off of my parents and completely on Eli.

We had spent the night before lying in his bed, talking all night. We watched the sun rise from the roof of the building and then went to sleep. When we woke up, he had made me breakfast (surprisingly good breakfast) and I did the laundry. He assured me I didn't have to do it, but I wanted to. I figured it would keep me busy while he was cooking.

"Where'd you learn how to cook like this," I had asked.

"When my parents first started fighting, they were always too busy yelling to remember I was even in the house. I needed to get fed somehow." There was a short silence. His story just brought me back to my parents fighting.

"Look," he said, placing a hand over mine, "I know it's hard now; but, whatever happens, you have realize it's not your fault. I blamed myself for their divorce for years."

"What changed?" I asked

"One day I just woke up and realized that I had no reason to blame myself. I didn't see any possible reason why their divorce would include me."

I took that in for a minute, remembering all the times I sat in my room, listening to my parents fighting outside my door. At some times I did blame myself for it. After everything that Eli had said, I too, realized I had nothing to do with the fighting. Their problems were their problems, and I had nothing to do with them.

"Thank you," I said, giving him a kiss.

~...~

After the movie marathon was over, we got ready for bed. I couldn't help but stare when I walked in Eli's room and he had his shirt off.

"Checking me out, Edwards?" He noticed me staring and I started to blush. We laid in bed and fell asleep.

"Good night, Clare."

"Good night, Eli."

AWW POOR CLARE :'(! I DON'T THINK SHE MINDS THOUGH, SINCE SHE GETS TO SLEEP IN THE SAME BED AS ELI ;D HAHA WELL PLEASE REVIEW AND ILL PROMISE THE STORY WILL ONLY GET BETTER :) I MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO UPDATE TOMORROW BUT ILL TRY MY BEST :)