Listen to Her
A/N: Set between after Touch of Gray and during Danger Zone before KC and Clare got together--although there is a slight mention of them getting together at the very end. It's from Alli's view point. Alli has had enough of KC's attitude and tries to get him to talk and listen to Clare. My answer as to why Alli didn't try and get Clare and KC to stop ignoring one another.
Alli Bhundari growled in annoyance at her friend's behavior. "Honestly KC! Did you ever stop to listen to Clare? How do you know she is scared of you and doesn't want to be around you if you either ignore her or behave like a jerk?"
"I know what people like her think of people like me. I don't want to be around that." He said to her stubbornly.
"Now your lumping her in with the stereotypical Christians. She's not judgemental! Believe me on that!" Alli yelled at him, remembering how her friend was just there for her after she slept with Johnny and regretted it. Remembering what Clare had told her about Darcy.
KC didn't say anything, just stared ahead.
Her temper flared then. He was such an idiot boy! "You know what? FINE! If you want to be a jerk and never speak to Clare again and end up alone and miserable then it's your own fault!" She brushed past him then with her head held high. She knew she shouldn't've yelled but her two friends were being so annoying.. They'd either ignore eachother and mope or they'd whine and complain. It was enough to drive she and Connor and any other unlucky person caught in the crossfires to go insane.
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KC stood still where Alli had left him. She didn't get it! Clare was good and perfect and beautiful and she was so innocent! She didn't need a guy like him in her life, corrupting her. He didn't want to ruin her.
Guys like him----didn't deserve girls like her, and so perhaps he'd been trying to push her away. To make her angry at him. Maybe, subconsciously, that was why he was being such a jerk.
Everything had been going fine until Connor visited the group home and had told Reese, thinking it would get the jerk to leave KC alone. Of course he'd been wrong. His dirty laundry had been aired out for Clare to hear. He'd seen the fear that had been in her blue eyes when she heard it and he went after Reese as if he were going to him. She'd feared him. She'd feared him.
There was still things she didn't know. She knew about him stealing the car but she probably didn't think that what Reese had said about busting kneecaps was true, though it was. She didn't know that he'd drank and he'd been wild with the girls. He hadn't minded dating them, sleeping with them. They were like him, but Clare was special. He couldn't taint her.
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"I don't know what to do Spinner." Alli was whispering to Spinner desperately as she sat at the counter of The Dot, speaking to him while Holly J brought walked around, bringing people food and drinks and taking orders. "Clare and KC won't talk to eachother." She didn't know why she was telling Spinner Mason this, except for the fact that Clare had told her that she thought of Spinner as an older brother and the feeling seemed mutual. "KC seems convinced tht Clare is judging him and he's been such a jerk. They are both so mopey." She added as she took a sip of her chocolate milkshake.
"Dude, KC probably thinks that Clare is better off without a guy like him." Spinner stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Alli furrowed her dark eyebrows in confusion. "A guy like him?" She asked.
The man nodded and threw the dish towel he'd been drying the counter with over one shoulder. "Yeah. A guy like him. You know---with a past."
"But that past doesn't matter to Clare." She stated firmly, shaking out her dark hair with a sigh. "I mean...her sister, you, Peter, me. She loves us all." Her voice was strained with frustration.
"Well...she does but you have to see it from KC's point of view. She got to know him as a good guy and that was all she saw. She didn't know the things he'd done. Now suddenly it's all out there and he's afraid that her perception of him has changed." Spinner answered as he turned to hand Holly J a tray of food.
Alli lowered her eyes to the counter and thought about it for a minute before she leaned over the counter and embraced Spinner in a loose hug. "Thanks. I should go. I need to meet Johnny. I should probably call Connor and see if he was able to make any headway, trying to get KC and Clare to talk to one another, too."
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"It didn't work." Conner said into the phone, listlessly. "They both walked out seperately."
Alli groaned. "They are too stubborn for their own good! She complained as she painted her toenails.
"What should I do?" Connor asked her, lost.
"You take Clare to the dance tomorrow. Get her drinks and food without her having to ask. Smile alot and make sure she enjoys herself." She told him carefully.
"What will that do?" He wondered aloud.
"They are in like with eacother, Connor! It will make KC angry and jealous enough that he will have to go and talk to her. Trust me on this Connor." Alli told him before she clicked off her phone and turned her attention to the outfit she was planning on wearing for her date with Johnny.
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Connor smiled as he handed Clare a cup of punch. He was doing just as Alli had said that he should. He only hoped that it worked and that she was proud.
"Why is he such an idiot?" Clare asked in frustration as she looked at KC who was leaning against the gym wall wearing black pants, a black tee-shirt, and an unzipped black and white checkered hoodie as well as a hat. His arms were crossed infront of his chest and he was glaring out at the dance floor.
"Because he's in like with you!" Connor told her cheerfully.
Clare's face registered shock and then determination as she looked away from KC and said to Connor, "Will you help me with something?"
Her ever so loyal friend grinned boyishly at her and nodded his head, complying.
"I'm going to go into the storage room. You use an excuse to get KC in there for me. Lock us in, but when you hear us begin to talk, unlock it." She said before she turned and walked torwards the storage room, stepping inside.
Connor grinned and headed over to KC only to be stopped by Alli who was pulling Johnny along behind her. "What are you doing Connor? Why did Clare go into the storage room?" She asked in confusion.
"Because, she needs to talk to KC. She asked me to get him to go in there so she could talk to him." Connor replied before he continued his destination, leaving Alli and Johnny staring after him.
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When KC and Clare finally stepped out of the storage room almost ten minutes later, Alli could see that they were holding hands. She was in Johnny's arms but for once her attention wasn't on him. It was on her best friend and her friend. They had finally made up with alot of help from she and Connor. She would need to call and ask Clare what had transpired in that room.
The End.