Chapter 1

I stared at the calendar in pure irritation and anger. There it was, last Saturday was the marriage of Helen Edwards and Glen Martin. I dreaded for this summer to end. There was only 2 days left and on Monday, school's back in. I've done serious thinking over the summer while I was in my room half the time, and I thought about how I missed the ways things used to be. Glen seriously wants me to write my name down as Clare Martin. Writing that down only makes me think what would of happened if Jake and I got married, not a pretty thought.

As the minutes turned into hours, I stared at Eli's latest tweet. "Bout to hang out with Adam and Fiona. Warning Adam: I'm gonna beat you in Zombie Wars 2!" Eli and I are becoming good friends, but not to the point where we hangout off school grounds.

Around 7:00, I felt desperate and stupid. I've been reading Eli and Jake's tweets over the weekend. Jake just wrote down things like "Going to watch a movie with my dad and new step-mom" or "Clare, if you're out there, come down and spend time with mom and dad ;)" Desperate to not feel tempted to talk to Jake, I went to Eli's page. At least I didn't feel as bad as I did on Jake's page. He wrote things like "Senior Year! Fiona's already got me the spot for the play writer this year!" and "How does this sound: Clara has been emotionally devastated since Ari's meltdown. Can Jack bring her up?" I felt like replying but that would lead to an awkward moment.

Monday Morning

I got up in the morning feeling the happiest I have been in weeks. School took up 9 hours and Glen would be at work when I get home and mom would be in her office working. Jake would be out doing whatever Jake would do. I put on my new apple red polo shirt with a Degrassi sweater and a skirt (new year, new things) and my hair was now should length. I put on my makeup and skipped (stupidly) downstairs as I saw Jake wearing a blue polo.

"Morning Jakey!" I said as I kissed his cheek. Jake just stared at me confused. "What? Can't a girl kiss her brother good morning?" I said immediately after Jake was about to say something. "Hey Clare. Ready for your Junior year?" Jake said, trying to change the subject, obviously. "Yeah! I can't wait to see my friends again. It felt like 3 whole months since I've seen them!" I replied, pouring cereal into a bowl.

"It was almost 3 months if you don't count my party at the cabin. You could've seen them if you weren't in your room all day." Jake retorted, wanting to see what I would come up for this one. "Well, I've been busy, busy, busy!" I said in my mind, but since I was chewing it came out as "Wull, I've bune buhee, buhee, buhee!" Jake stared at me and I shrugged. Once I was done chewing, I said, "What? Geez! Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." And I grabbed my car keys, yes, car keys (thanks to Eli's lessons) and I walked out the door. I heard Jake murmur something while I started the car.

At school I asked for my schedule and I read it. I was in the in the Grade 11 Gifted Program. The one class that interested me was Grade 12 English. Ms. Dawes told us she would be moving up a grade so she's my English teacher once again. I was putting my things into my locker as Adam approached my locker.

"Locker neighbor!" Adam yelled, causing a few glances towards us. "Hey! Locker neighbor?" I asked as Adam started opening his locker. "Locker 289! And Eli's 287! He's right next to yours! Isn't that great?" Adam cheered looking out for Eli to approach. "Goodie. This year's gonna be great." I said sarcastically as Eli smirked coming down the hallway.