Title: Never say never.

Characters: Eli Goldsworthy and Clare Edwards.

Brief Summary: Eli has no reason to believe in love. He has no influence. Clare's family is starting to fall apart. Every principle she had, is disappearing one by one. Could Eli change that? Not giving the story away in a brief summary =P .Story is written from both Eli and Clare's POVs. Enjoy. (=

A/N: I will be uploading a new chapter daily. Reviews and feedback are amazing, and keep my inspired to keep writing! =) Enjoy Chapter 1!

Eli's POV.

Dammit. The first day of school and I can't even make it out the door without hearing someone yell, along with something, or someone, breaking. I practically run down the stairs in my black, long sleeved shirt, under my signature blazer and of course my black skinny jeans. I already hear my dad arguing with his hooker from last night. Ha. Always the same every Monday morning: Dad gets with a hooker the night before, and the hooker always wants to have some type of relationship with my dad in the morning. Pathetic. But, hey, I shouldn't judge my dad. I'll probably be like that one day. Never been in love. More than likely never will.

Oh, who am I kidding. I'm never going to experience love, because it doesn't exist. It's all a silly mind game.

My parents got married while my mom was pregnant with me, and divorced when I was 12 years old. 12 years of marriage. Not bad, although I should say five years of an actual marriage. Five years after they got married, is when my mom started cheating on my dad, and when my dad became an alcoholic. I learned to take care of myself, with no help of any siblings, since I have none. When they finally split, it didn't make my life any better. I use to have to go back and forth between my mom's and my dad's house, but last year my mom took off. Haven't seen her since. I've missed her, yes. But I've already cried enough tears about it. Now, I just live with my dad. Pure hell. I can't wait until I can move out when I'm 18. I don't see why my dad bothers to keep me around here; punching bags are cheaper.

I walk out the door, and get into my beloved car, Morty. Now, if "love" really did exist, it's between me and my hearse. I don't know what I would do without him. It's the same hearse that drove my grandmother to her funeral two years ago. She was probably the only person on this Earth that I cared for most, and that cared for me. This car is the piece I have left of her. Morty breaks down at least once a week, but I can't help but feel I get a little closer every time I repair him. Wow, I'm thinking about the love I share with my car. I'm a freak.

I pull up to the school parking lot, and park under the space that is shadowed from a tree. I get out, and start walking up to my new school, Degrassi. Sounds like a type of grass remover, if you ask me.

I go to my first class of the day: Algebra 2. Boring, and confusing. 1 +1 = 2. Why couldn't we just leave it at that?

Second class: World history. People did something cool, and died. Move on.

Third class: Art. Why make a complex, hard to understand drawing, when you can write something with a subtle message? Not my style.

Fourth class: Lunch. I eat by myself at the table in the far corner of the cafeteria. It's not like people would want to eat with me, anyway.

Fifth class: Biology. I'm just waiting until we get to dissect a frog. That'll be exciting.

And my last class: Advanced English. A whole class about a language we already know. And I thought America couldn't be any more disappointing. But, it does give me a chance to express myself, through writing and poetry. I walk into the English class. I sit at the seat in the far right corner, where I get a good view of the outdoors from the window. That'll make a nice distraction. The bell rings, and some red-haired chick with pretty - real pretty - eyes stumbles through the door quickly, as if she were just being chased by a murderer. "Sorry I'm late." she says, her voice shaking, sounding as if she were just crying. Oh for the love of God, just sit down, and stop making a scene. She takes the seat right in front of me. As Ms. Dawes, our teacher, starts to lecture us on the rules that we have heard every period earlier, I get lost in the scent of the red-head's hair. Cocoa butter? Mmm. Another nice distraction.

"So, Eli, what's rule number three?" the teacher unexpectedly calls on me. I quickly shift my attention over to her, and think of something quick.

"The third rule of the list of rules for English class." I said, with a smirk. The class broke out in chuckles, as the teacher gave me a glare. I winked at her, and her cheeks went through shades of red as she read aloud the rest of the rules.

The first girl I hit on at Degrassi is my English teacher. Nice, Eli. Nice.

"Okay, since this is Advanced English, you will be receiving your first assignment today, due Friday. I'll be putting you in pairs of two. Don't complain, or I'll make the assignment due Thursday. Comprende?"

"I thought this was English class." I mumble. The red-head overhears me, and giggles. Ms. Dawes turns to her.

"Detention, Ms. Edwards." The red-head's mouth drops.

"I'm getting detention for reacting to something funny?" She questions.

"Well, what were you reacting to?" Ms. Dawes asks. Oh no.

"The kid behind me said something comical." Oh hell no.

"Ok, then you both can laugh during detention after school, and probably get started on your English assignment as well. Clare, you and Eli are partners." Damn. First day of school, and I have detention. With my English partner, of all people. Great.

The bell rings, and I stay where I am, as does Clare. Ms. Dawes leaves, and an old fart walks in and sits in the chair. "NO TALKING. STAY IN YOUR SEATS!" he yells, as if we were miles away. His head then falls onto the desk, with a loud 'thump.'

"You don't think he's dead, do you?" Clare asks, concern written all over her face.

"I'm not sure. Why don't you hand me that yard stick over there and I'll poke him with it to find out." I scoff. She turns her head towards me, and glares.

Her eyes are beautiful. They're like two crystal oceans sitting next to each other. I think I can stare at th- wait, what the hell am I saying? They're eyeballs, Eli. Get a hold of yourself.

"What do you want?" She snaps quietly. I didn't realize I was staring into her eyes this whole time.

"You're the one that's turned around and looking at me. What do you want?" I snarled, in a hushed tone. She turns around quickly, and stares out the window. Her eyes could've been mistaken for glitter, as they twinkled with the sunlight beaming at them. But then I realized they were twinkling so much because she had tears in her eyes. Did I upset her? I couldn't be the reason for her being sad... Right?

"Are you okay?" I ask, sincerely. Most of the time, I could give two shits less if someone was sad or not. But I felt this weird type of caring, towards her. I haven't even known her a whole day!

"I will be. It's nothing to do with you, don't worry about it." She replied. Now, I'm going to worry about it. There has to be some way to cheer her up, or something. I can't just sit here for the rest of the hour watching her cry.

"Hey, how about we get out of here and have some fun?" She turns her head again, her eyebrows giving away a stern look.

"This is detention. I don't want to get into any more trouble as it is."

"The guy is either dead, or taking a long nap. I'm sure we will be fine." I reply, giving her half a laugh. She looks into my eyes for at least 5 seconds, before she picks up her book bag off the ground, and makes her way to the door. My eyes follow her. She turns, and looks at me.

"Well... You coming?" She asks, with a smile. That was the first time I've really seen her smile. She had such a genuine, beautiful smile... Oh my damn. What am I, Clare Edwards' number one admirer? I exchange a smile with her, and hop up from my desk, and walked out the door with Clare. This should be interesting.