I don't own Degrassi

"Just try it."

"No. God, no. That's just disgusting."

"It won't kill you! The white part tastes good alone!"

"That should be illegal."

"Just trust me..."

"But I don't want to."

And even though Elijah Goldsworthy didn't want to take apart the Oreo, he slowly did so with his face in a grimace. He sighed when the two parts were finally separated. Taking the tip of his tongue, Eli slowly licked up the white, sugary cream on the one half on the chocolate part. But when his pink muscle touched the cream, he recoiled and shivered.

"Eli, it's a cookie. I'm not forcing you to drink poison." Clare laughed and poked fun at his discomfort.

"Easy for you to say," Eli snapped and smirked, taking a whole cookie out of the crinkly, plastic case, "Eat the whole thing, Edwards. Tell me how it feels. Tell me if it feels like your childhood is being stripped away with every passing second and if it feels like-"

"Done."

Eli closed his yapping mouth and looked at Clare as she chewed the whole cookie with ease. He curled his lip in disgust and she just chewed the cookie with smug amusement.

"...We should finish our essays, Edwards." Eli muttered, and she just cackled and pointed her finger at him.

"Sure, get back to work after I proved you wrong-"

"No!"

"Yes."

"I'm just saying that because you have to leave...now, actually, and all we've done it eat Oreos," Eli shook his head in mock disappointment, "We're slackers, Clare."

"We're becoming the kids that our parents warned about." Clare mocked back, adding a smirk onto Eli's features, "But you're right, I do have to go. Would you like to get together tomorrow? Or...it's okay if not...if you have plans already..."

"No!" Eli almost yelped and Clare smiled shyly, "I mean, tomorrow is totally cool...meet me here...same time?"

Clare nodded and started to pack up her bag. When she was done, Eli sighed with satisfaction. He had missed their old ways, their old conversations, and honestly, he had just missed Clare. He loved how she almost always proved him wrong. And he felt a cheesy smile fall into place on his lips, but he quickly made it fade away, because he knew that the smile was just the start...

While packing his stuff up, he picked up the piece of paper that he had thought was his essay, but when he saw that his name wasn't on top, he knew that he had to bring it to the girl.

Immediately.

.

.

.

His heart was trying to fly out of his chest as he rang the doorbell. The annoying and generic ring echoed in his ears and he shivered at the memories that it brought back. After ringing the bell for a second time, he leaned closer to the door and began to make out the yelling from the other side. He recognized Clare's voice and her mother's, but Eli couldn't pinpoint the other two. Though, they were both men and just when Eli was going to back away to pretend that he was never there, the door flew open to reveal an angry looking Jake Martin.

"God, it's you again." Jake sighed and Eli began to retort, but before he did, Clare popped up from behind Jake's shoulder.

"Eli! What are you doing here?" Clare asked with a fake smile on her face, obviously trying to hide the tears welling up in her eyes. Eli felt his heart twang and he handed her the essay.

"Instead of taking your essay, you took mine, and I knew that you'd probably be freaking out by this time...so, I brought it over..."

"Well, I didn't notice, but you know me too well. You should have given it a while and I would have been throwing a fit."

"I'm intrigued, Edwards!"

As you should be, Golds-"

"Actually," Jake coughed out, and Eli almost jumped because he had completely forgotten that Jake was there. But when Eli looked up at Jake, his stomach growled in distaste. Jake's mouth was pulled into an evil smirk, "You can't call her Edwards anymore...she'll be a Martin in a couple of months."

Eli's quirked his eyebrow up in confusion and his stomach went cold. ...Were Clare and Jake...getting married? And Eli glanced at Clare, who was glaring at Jake with anger, but if you looked deeper, you could see the bitter pain that picked at her eyes.

"Let's go, Eli." Clare murmured and took his hand, letting her essay drop to the ground.

Eli simply followed, because in the back of his mind, he noticed her vulnerability.

And he could hear Imogen's voice run through his brain.

"You need to..."Care" for her. Show her that you're "there" for her. Comfort her; make her vulnerable. But, the point of this step is to make her weak, Elijah Goldsworthy. Make her melt into the palm of your hands."

This was his chance.

.

.

.

They stayed silent for a while, just letting the wind whistle fondle their hair and clothes. Eli wanted to desperately ask why tears were flowing down her cheek and making its way onto the pavement. He wanted to pull her close and take away every single bruise that had found home on her soft skin. He wanted to hush away the pain and tell her that it was going to be okay.

"My mom and Jake's dad is getting married."

At first, Eli was just surprised that she had spoken, but then, her words sunk in. Her words danced around his mind mockingly and he watched Clare hug her knees to her chest.

"My mom and dad just got a divorce, and here she is, getting married! To...Glen! Who marries a guy named Glen, anyway? It's such an awkward name. 'Hey, Glen, how's it going?' 'Oh, Glen, thanks for fixing the sink.' 'Have a good day at work, Glen!'" Clare rambled and waved her hands around, trying not to let the tears escape.

"It'll work out, Clare." Eli murmured, not sure of what else to say.

Clare scoffed, and shook her curls out of her face. "Yeah, but when? People tell me that, but when?"

"Someday," Eli muttered softly, but when Clare made a noise in the back of her throat, he put his hands up, "I know that it's vague, but no one knows. No one knows when things are going to change for the best, but when it does, everything will be...clearer. I swear, Edwards. Everything will be okay someday. Just give it time."

Clare nodded, but her head drooped down and her shoulders began to shake. Her head fell into he hands. "I just...I miss my dad. But I hate him for cheating on my mom and I just want them to be happy, but when they are, I'm not. I just don't know what to do." She sniffed, letting her sobs out with each passing moment. And Eli finally decided enough was enough, and he pulled the sobbing girl into his arms.

But even as he held her, Imogen's words still ran through his mind.

Is this shitty? Yes. I just feel so bad for not updating, so I promise that the next chapters will be much better!

Review, please? It would be lovely if you could!