A/N: Thanks for the review, we appreciate it! Lol. Read and Review pleasee? We worked really hard on this!

DISCLAIMER: We do not own Degrassi or any of it's characters, we're simply borrowing them.

SUMMARY

Elijah yearns for any way out; a trapped door that allows him to dodge the scorching knives whipped at his heart. But when she enters his world, that escape slips through his fingers, and the complicated story of his life begins to unfold. Little does Elijah know that there will be more than just ripped pages detracting from his tattered book.

WHITE SPACE:

I kept my head down as I walked. I watched Piper swing her slender arms back and forth as she kept a safe distance away from me. It was my responsibility to make sure she got to school every morning. The elementary school was on the way to the high school, so it was kind of a given that I'd have to drop her off first.

I felt uncomfortable walking next to Piper, not one word being shared between us. It was too quiet. You could literally cut the tension the atmosphere around us held with a butter knife. It bugged me that I scared the crap out of my own little sister. It was never like this before. When we she was three and I was twelve, we were close; really close.

I told her everything. She was the first to know about Julia and I, and the things that we had done together. She knew about all the fights I would get into with the older kids when they'd tease me. We'd laugh and play together, and I'd protect her with everything I had. I trusted her, and she trusted me. Then again, she was three, and could barely walk straight; let alone understand what I was telling her.

Then, somewhere along the line, we disconnected. I feel like there's something I should remember, like I'm forgetting a blow up between us or something. You know, we actually stopped talk after…

I shook from my thoughts. I hated thinking about him. He was just like Julia. He left me, stupid and alone to fend for myself. He didn't care. He never cared.

I glanced down at Piper, her floral dress bouncing as she skipped down the sidewalk. Her chocolate curls were teased up and pinned back with a pink clip. I smirked at her. She was so young, and naïve. She thought the world was beautiful, and everything inside of it was good. I scoffed; if only I could live in the mind of my six year old sister. Then, my life would be semi-okay, and I wouldn't be this huge, pansy-ass disappointment. Yeah, that'd be nice.

"What are you laughing at?" My head snapped to the voice, and my face fell blank. Piper had stopped walking and she looked straight at me, her big blue eyes wide and full of curiosity. She talked…to me.

"What?" I blurted, not knowing what to say.

She cocked her head to the side and squinted. "You were laughing at me."

"I wasn't laughing at you, I was just smiling. Is that wrong, Piper? Should I not be able to smile?" I snapped at her and she cowered below me.

"Yes. I-I mean no, I don't-I don't know." She whispered, her voice shaking.

I hooked my thumbs into the belt loops of my black, acid wash skinny jeans and sighed.

We walked the two remaining blocks to Degrassi Elementary in silence, occasionally I heard Piper hum a small tune.

I handed Piper her backpack and lunchbox as we neared the entrance of the brick building. "I'll see you after school." I murmured. She shot me a nervous smile and walked up the concrete steps.

I turned to walk but was stopped by a small voice. "I'm sorry, Eli. I didn't mean to make you mad." Piper said; her voice barely loud enough to hear.

I turned on my heels and narrowed my eyes at her. She hid half her face behind her purple lunch box. "I-I miss you." She stuttered, and turned around; scurrying into the large, double door entrance.

I stood there like an idiot, stunned by her words. Piper missed me?

I turned back and headed to the high school, preparing myself for what was about to come. My unwilling feet dragged me to what used to be my sanctuary; Degrassi Community High School. I couldn't be safe there anymore, not without Julia.

I walked past the glass double doors and shoved my way through the crowded hallways. The school was overstuffed with students; I hated it. I didn't like people, especially people my own age. My thoughts flashed back to yesterday; they were right, I had no social skills.

I managed my way to my locker and sighed in relief. My hallway was vacant, only a few kids had lockers in the E-wing. I felt like I could actually breathe again. I quickly spun in my combination and pulled the metal clasp, my locker springing open. My heart sank. A bunch of Julia's things were collected on the top shelf. I obliviously grabbed my books for my first few classes without taking my eyes off her various knickknacks.

"Are you okay, man?" Adam, my best and only friend, asked from somewhere behind me, causing me to jump.

I glanced over my shoulder and rolled my eyes. Adam stood there in red skinny jeans and a bright yellow shirt, an apple clenched in his hand and a dark blue beanie pulled over his head. His wardrobe was definitely…colorful. And every much unlike mine.

"Perfect." I grumbled, slamming my locker simultaneously. I couldn't deal with his personality right now.

He nodded. "Just making sure. I'm here, if you want to talk." He half smiled and scratched underneath his beanie, nervously.

I walked away from him, obviously leaving him a bit burnt. I was the first person in my homeroom; Honors English. English was my best subject, but I guess that's not really saying anything because it is my own language.

I took my usual seat; second row from the windows, last seat. Julia had sat in front of me, and Adam sat to the right of me. My head fell to my desk. I really did not want to be there. I didn't want to be around all of the painful reminders.

One by one, my classmates made their way into the room, each taking a seat near their friends. Three girls sat in the seats next to me, giggling and batting their eyes at some guy across the room. I scoffed, the sight disgusting me.

I pulled out a sharpie and started coloring my fingernails to pass time. I jumped when I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked up to see Adam sitting next to me and giving a 'thumbs up'. "It'll be okay dude, I promise."

Oh Adam, if only it were that simple.

"Enough, enough. Quiet down." I immediately turned my head as Mrs. Dawes strolled into the classroom, trailing a girl behind her. "We have a new student, this is Clare Edwards, and she'll be joining us for the remainder of the school year." Edwards… her last name sounded familiar.

Mrs. Dawes gestured for Clare to sit in the seat in front of me. My heart pounded in my chest. That's Julia's seat! I felt like I was about to pass out. The walls ran laps around me as the rest of the class stared.

"Mr. Goldsworthy, would you like to step out in the hallway?" Apparently, my little meltdown was being portrayed all over my face. Mrs. Dawes gave me a look of pity as I slowly stood up from my desk and walked out of the stuffy classroom.

I started maniacally pacing back and forth, tugging on fistfuls of my dark hair. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my classmates gawking at me through the windows. I couldn't give a shit. Let them stare.

How could she give away Julia's seat? She had just died on Friday! This was all happening way too soon. Everything was colliding like cars on the highway and I couldn't take it.

At least I wasn't…

I suppressed the thought. I wasn't doing it in the first place. It was all in my head… all in my screwed up head.

I casually walked back into the classroom. I wouldn't give those arrogant kids the satisfaction. I earned a few odd looks as I slid back into my desk and tried my best not to continuously glare at the auburn haired girl named Clare, who sat in Julia's seat.

Mrs. Dawes was scribbling some nonsense on the chalkboard in her spidery cursive. "Get with your partners and work on the assignment on the board." She said without turning.

"Mrs. Dawes, should I just write an autobiography?" Peeped a high-pitched voice in front of me. Is that what we were supposed to write? Biographies?

Mrs. Dawes finally turned around and stared at the both of us. "No, Clare you can work with Eli. He doesn't have a partner either." She's dead.

My eyes instantly met with a pair of deep blue ones. Her pink lips curled into a shy smile as she placed her purple notebook down on the very edge of my desk. "You don't mind, do you?" She asked timidly.

Kind of. "No." I murmured. She gave me a strange look, like there was something on my face. I mentally rolled my eyes. This was going to be a long year.

"Do you want to go first?" She flipped her notebook open to a fresh page, I cringed. The image of the short story fell before my eyes.

"No, you can go first." I sighed, ripping a piece of notebook paper out of my three-ringed binder.

"Okay, where should I start?"

"How about with your name?" I wasn't planning on being very nice to her. I was never very nice to anybody, so why should I have started then? I didn't even want to be talking to her. If Julia were still alive, we would have been playing tick-tack-toe on scrap paper while the rest of them worked, but since she's dead, and I have a 'new English partner', I'm taking notes on some stranger's life.

"My name is Clare Diane Edwards. C-L-A-R-E D-I-A-N-E E-D-W-A-R-D-S. I'm fifteen, almost sixteen. I live with both of my parents and my older sister. I have a cat, her name is Nellie. My family is not very big; I don't even think my parents have spoken to anybody except my mom's parents since they got married.

"I've been homeschooled for my entire life, today is my first day in a public school. My sister went through a lot of crap in this school; I had to practically beg them to allow me to come here.

"I've grown up in my sister's shadow; she's pretty, and popular, and has a nice boyfriend. I, well, I'm just little Saint Clare. I'm smart, and boring. That's pretty much where the line ends.

"My favorite color is yellow. My favorite food is pizza. My favorite place is the beach. I'm terrified of bugs. I talk a lot when I'm nervous… Am I going too fast?" I lifted my eyes to meet hers.

"I think I got it." I glanced at the piece of paper and had to do a double take. My eyes nearly jumped out of my head. The paper had random sentence fragments and words scribbled all over, barely leaving any white area.

I threw my arm over the edge of the paper, trying to keep it out of her view. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. Her confused looks were making me extremely nervous.

"Are you okay?" She asked. I kept my head down, analyzing the terrifying paper in front of me.

"F-Fine." I stuttered. No one could see this… this… this monstrosity.

"The bell is going to ring, class. I need all of your rough drafts." Good, old Dawes. I mentally cursed myself. Why did I have to do this now?

"Clare, Eli? Your drafts?" She demanded. A pile of papers sat comfortably in her palm.

"Uhm, we only got to my biography, is that okay?" Clare asked in her high, squeaky voice. Her hand grabbed at the paper that I so desperately tried to hide. I should have thrown it in my binder while I had the chance.

She lifted the paper off the desk. The world seemed to drop into slow motion. "No!" Someone yelled. Before I knew it, I held half of the crumpled piece of loose-leaf, and Clare held the other. Clare and Mrs. Dawes stared at me in disbelief. I'm sure the rest of the class did too.

Clare scanned her half and as she did so, her mouth dropped open. Mrs. Dawes ripped both halves from our hands. "I'll see both lf you at the end of the day, for detention."

My clenched fists shoved themselves into my pockets as I walked back to my desk. It was going to be a long day.