Chapter 1

Clare's Point of View

"Be right back," Eli said, leaving me alone in his room. Ms. Dawes had assigned us another essay, and we were working at Eli's house since his parent's weren't home at the moment. As soon as Eli left, I started walking around his large black room. Eli was so mysterious, and there was so much I don't know about him. I ran my fingertips over the CD collection spilled across his dresser. Heavy metal, rock, really no surprise to me.

I sat down on his bed, bored. Really? Nothing interesting? A thick red photo album wedged between his bedside table and his bed caught my attention. With a little pulling, I got the photo album. The cover was worn and dusty. The binding of the book had the words 'ELIJAH GOLDSWORTHY' inscribed in gold paint. I opened it and smiled. The first page was a photo of Eli as a baby. Glowing green eyes, a shiny head with tiny sprigs of light hair sticking out, and big chubby cheeks. "Aww," I said quietly.

I heard Eli's house phone ring. "Hello?" he answered. "Oh hi Mom." He was busy, she continued flipping through the photo album. There were tons of baby pictures, from just born to being brought home from the hospital. "Yeah, see you in a few, love you too," he mumbled before hanging up the phone. I heard his footsteps thud up the stairs. I turned the page in the photo album and was baffled by the picture.

"Snooping around, Edwards?" he laughed from the doorway. I looked up at him quickly, blushing. "Find any skeletons in my closet?" he asked with a smirk, plopping down beside me on his black comforter. "Who's this?" I asked. The photo was of a boy with spiky blond hair, big green eyes and a huge smile, with his arm around a tan girl with long brown hair. She was wearing a dress and he was wearing a tux, and they both had crowns on their heads. A banner in the background read HOMECOMING 09. I pointed to the blond boy. He looked at me, right eyebrow arched, as if the answer
was obvious.

"That's you?" I asked, shocked. "Surprised?" he asked with his famous half smile. "Uh, yeah," I laughed. He smirked. I looked over at him, then back at the picture. "Is that...Julia?" I asked softly. "Yeah." he answered shortly. "We won Homecoming King and Queen," he added a quiet laugh. I smiled slightly. "And...You had blond hair?" I asked, trying hard not to laugh. "Yes, Clare, I did," he said, rolling his eyes, and still smiling. "Blondie," I teased quickly. "Go ahead, Blue Eyes, laugh it up," he said. I smiled at him, and he smirked back.

"Why'd you dye your hair?" I asked. He leaned back on his bed, holding himself up with his elbows. "It's kind of a long story..." I turned towards him and batted my eyelashes. "I've got time," I answered. He pursed his lips wryly. "Alrighty then. So back at Harrison High, Julia and I were, like, the golden couple of the school. She was the head cheerleader, and I was the class clown, so we were pretty popular,"
he half smiled to himself. I nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"Julia..." his voice trailed off. "She loved my blonde hair. And she always told me how- er- cute it was that I was so outgoing and funny." he looked away from me, tracing his fingers across the stitching of his bed. "A week after Julia... Died, a counselor at school said it might be good for me to rid myself of anything that reminded me of her for awhile, so that mourning could be easier." he glanced up at me, and then back down at his hands.

"I got a little... Theatrical with it," he said. "When don't you?" I teased. He smirked up at me. "True," he laughed. "Anyway, I ripped down all the pictures of us in my room, resigned from Homecoming King duties, and-" I cut Eli off. "Homecoming King duties?" I asked, smiling. He smirked. "Well, yeah. At Harrison High, the Homecoming couple would cut the ribbon at store openings, make speeches, say the morning announcements, stuff like that," he explained.

"Anyways, Julia's mother found the last diary entry she'd written and brought it to my house for me, and she had written something about one of our last dates, and in it, she called me Blondie," Eli's voice was quiet, but even so, you could hear his muted sadness. "The second her mom left my house, I got in Morty, drove to the drugstore on the corner and bought black hair dye." he paused, and smirked to himself. "You should've seen my mom's face when I came out of the bathroom with black hair. She nearly had a heart attack," he laughed.

I half-smiled at him, still fully involved in his story. "The kids at school were pretty surprised, too. After being absent for 2 weeks, and then showing up with black hair, and dressed in all black, they kind of did a double take," he laughed freely, like it was no big deal. "And, that's my story," he said grandly, waving his hands. He glanced up at me anxiously.

"What's wrong?" he asked urgently. "N-nothing. It's just- that was so... Sad," I frowned. "Don't be sad," he said softly, placing his hand on the hand I'd been resting on the bed. "Everything bad happened to you," I frowned even harder. "Not really. I came to Degrassi, I met you," he smirked. I blushed and he laughed.

"Why did you come to Degrassi?" I asked, smiling. He reached across my lap to the photo album and turned to the page. The next picture was a holiday card. Eli, with semi-long black hair and a frown, in all black, stood between a smiling but stressed looking man and woman, his parents. "I was miserable at Harrison. Julia had been in all my classes, her locker was next to mine, and we sat together at lunch... Everywhere I went, there was an empty space," he said, his voice just above a whisper. "I was depressed, failing every class except English, and-" I cut him off again.

"Why not English?" I asked. "We were doing a poetry unit, and all my poems about death got A's." I nodded understandingly. His poems were pretty heart wrenching, and his writing had a sad eloquence to it. I flipped the page slowly, and on the page was a piece of paper, the diary entry Eli mentioned. I turned the page quickly, hoping he hadn't noticed.

The next picture was of Eli and his mother in front of a 'for sale' sign on the lawn of his old house. His mom's arms were wrapped around him tightly, as if trying to hold together her son's broken soul. In this picture, Eli's hair was slightly longer, and he was kind of smiling. "Mom tried everything to make me happy again," he laughed, looking at the photo. "Bought me CDs from bands I used to like, tickets to concerts I'd wanted to go to, chips, fancy phones, iPods, all the things I'd bugged her for before Julia died," he laughed.

"And, now you're happy, right? And not depressed?" I asked, concerned. A smirk spread across his face. "Of course I'm happy. How could I possibly be depressed when I have you in my life?" I blushed and smiled at Eli's words. Eli's mom walked by the door, holding a laundry bin. "Hi kids," she greeted. "Hey Mom," Eli grinned. "Hi Mrs. Goldsworthy," I smiled at the tall, slender blond woman. She had the same glowing green eyes and pale skin.

"Elijah, did you put away the dishes?" she asked. "Uh, yes," he said slowly. She arched her right eyebrow, the same way Eli does. "Go do it," she told him. "Fine," he groaned, standing up. "Be right back!" he called to me, dashing down the hallway. Mrs. Goldsworthy laughed and placed the laundry bin in the corner of the Eli's room, across from me. She glanced at the photo in the album as she stood.

"Ah, yes. I remember the day we took that picture," she frowned slightly. "He was so... Broken. It was like when she died, a part of him died, too," I looked up at her with wide eyes. "I'm so glad he met you, Clare," she grinned. "You have no idea how much you've helped him," I grinned back at her. "He's a great guy," I told her honestly. She continued to grin. "Well, if you need anything, just let me know." she smiled, leaving the room. Eli appeared at the doorway at the same moment his mom was leaving.

"Oh, Elijah," she sighed happily, pulling him in for a hug. Eli had a confused look on his face, but hugged her anyway. She kissed his forehead and left the room. "What was that about?" Eli pondered aloud, sitting down beside me on the bed. "Oh, nothing," I smiled up at him. He smirked back. I closed the photo album, placed it on the bedside table, and looked over at him.

"No more pictures?" Eli joked. "I'd rather do this," I said. Then, I leaned towards him and pressed my lips against his softly. The kiss was long, sweet, and absolutely perfect. After we parted, Eli asked, "What was that for?" I grinned and shrugged. He smirked at me, staring into my blue eyes with his green ones. "Hey, you know what we should do?" Eli asked. I looked up at him. "Let's go look
at your old photos," he suggested. "Sure," I answered. He picked up his keys from his dresser and we headed out.