Clara Oswald rested her hand on the strap of red satchel, exhaling a deep breath. She stared at the building in front of her, a large sign reading 'East Dulwich High School'. She straightened her skirt and brushed her hand over her head, making sure her hair was in a ponytail. This is when her mother would say something to her that would make her feel better, but her mother wasn't there anymore. Clara had to do it on her own.
After her mum had died, she and her dad decided that they needed a change of scene. They moved from Lancashire to London, her dad taking up a job at the local butchers. There wasn't much money, but it was enough to go by.
Clara walked towards the main entrance where hundreds of teenagers were crowding into, yelling across the crowd at each other and laughing. Clara felt extremely alone and chewed on her bottom lip as she tried to manoeuvre her way through the crowd. She made it through the entrance into the hallway where the years were separating out to make their way to their respective form rooms. Clara turned right, following the group of teenagers that seemed to be her age. She spotted a ginger girl who must have at least been six foot. She was MADE of legs! Still, she looked friendly.
"Excuse me," Clara asked, stopping the ginger girl in her tracks
"You alright?" the girl asked, brushing her fringe out of her eyes.
"Sorry, I'm new. Could you tell me where the office is?" Clara asked and the girl smiled
"'Course. I'm Amy. I take it you're not from London?" Amy asked as she started to walk alongside Clara.
"No, Lancashire. Neither are you," Clara retorted
"Inverness. What was your name again?" Amy asked as they reached the office.
"Clara Oswald," Clara replied
"Well, Clara Oswald, here's the office. See you round!" Amy waved before yelling "Rory!" and chasing after a lanky boy. Clara smiled to herself, glad that there was at least one friendly face. It took a lot of weight off her shoulders. She walked up to the desk where an old woman was reading a document with glasses perched at the end of her nose.
"Ah! Hello, dear. How can I help?" The woman asked, placing the document on the desk.
"I'm Clara Oswald, I'm new," Clara explained and the woman smiled
"Yes! Let me just get your timetable, hold on a tic," She said, walking into a side room. Clara sat down onto one of the chairs at the side, taking a minute to breath in this hectic day. The woman came back a few moments later brandishing a folder.
"Here you go. Timetable, Map, Teachers and any extra information," The Woman said, handing Clara the folder.
"Thank you!" Clara smiled, putting the folder in her bag.
"Not again! It's been 10 minutes!" The woman groaned, and Clara looked up in confusion. She quickly noticed that her eyes weren't focused on her, but instead behind her. Clara turned around and a lanky, floppy haired boy was standing at the office door looking sheepish holding a hand to his forehead.
"Sorry, Mrs Pullin. I must have grown over the summer, I always clear that branch," he explained and Mrs Pullin laughed.
"Clara, this is John. He's in your class. He also seems to attract trouble," Mrs Pullin explained, trying to look sternly at him.
"Clara! What a brilliant name. You should definitely keep it," John grinned and Clara laughed
"I will. What happened to your head?" Clara asked, gesturing to his forehead.
"My friend Amelia dared me to skateboard down a path, and I hit my head on a branch," He replied, chuckling at the memory.
"Again? John Smith, you will be the death of me," Mrs Pullin laughed, walking towards him holding a tube of Arnica.
"I'm sorry," John pouted, causing Clara to laugh again. He smiled at her, their eyes locking for a second. Clara awkwardly opened her bag and glanced over her timetable. Registration was in five minutes in Room 25. She flicked to the map and tried to find Room 25. It was on the third floor, but the map was so pixelated, it was hard to tell.
"What form are you in?" John asked while Mrs Pullin was rubbing the cream onto his forehead.
"Um…11D," Clara replied, packing the folder away again.
"Ah, me too! I'll introduce you to everyone. Don't worry, they're all lovely. Mad, but lovely. Oh, watch out for Strax. He tends to be violent," John explained and Clara's eyes widened.
"Right. I'll bear that in mind," Clara smiled
"OK, done. Don't go bumping into anything else today, mind you," Mrs Pullin warned, wagging the Arnica. She had a friendly glint in her eye and Clara warmed to the old woman.
"I promise. C'mon, Clara, we don't want to be late. We have Mr Lux," John said, walking out of the office. Clara followed him and he slowed down so she could walk beside him.
"Where are you from?" John asked, looking at her inquisitively.
"Lancashire," Clara answered and John nodded, "What about you, John?"
"Oh, please don't call me John. John is such a boring name. Everyone calls me The Doctor," he grinned, rubbing his hands together.
"OK. Why do they call you The Doctor?" Clara asked, pulling her hair out from underneath her bag strap.
"I'm not really sure. It just always stuck. Ah! Here we are, Room 25," The Doctor grinned, opening the door for Clara. Clara smiled and then walked in.
"CLARA! Ha! I had a feeling you'd be in my class! C'mon, let me introduce you to everyone," Clara heard someone yell and soon she was thrust forward by an impatient ginger.
"This is Rory, River, Donna, Strax, Jenny Blonde, Jenny Not Blonde, Martha, Mickey the Idiot, Captain Jack, Reinette, Nine, Ten and Twelve," Amy introduced, bouncing up and down.
"Hello," Clara said meekly, hating her social awkwardness.
"These are the best people in the world. Over there…," Amy pointed, and Clara followed her eyeline, "Is Rose, Shareen, Jackie and Jimmy," In the corner, three peroxide blonde girls were giggling and flirting with a pompous teenage boy who was currently flexing his muscles.
"Right…," Clara trailed off.
"Yes, they always do that. And over there-," Amy pointed to the last group of people, "Is Kaitlin, Elizabeth, Georgina, Sophie and Felix. They're nice enough, but they're normal. And normal's boring. You're not normal, are you?" Amy asked
"No, I guess not," Clara laughed
"You'll fit in fine!" Amy grinned, shoving Clara into a seat between Captain Jack and Reinette. Amy went off and started poking fun of the Doctor, so Clara was left with a slight feeling of hopelessness as she was now faced with making conversation with the two people. Luckily, Captain Jack turned to face her with an a million-pound smile.
"Hello. I'm Captain Jack Harkness, and who are you?" Jack asked, winking at her.
"Don't start!" Ten groaned, hopping off the table and walking over to them. "I'm John, but everyone calls me Ten. Watch out for him," Ten winked, flicking Jack on the head before going back and finishing off the conversation with Twelve.
"I'm Clara," Clara grinned, happy that there was a group of friendly and slightly mad people.
"Nice to meet you, Clara. Don't mind me, I'm going to go speak to Donna. I think she fancies me," Jack whispered, winked at her and then walked off to another ginger girl.
"So, you're new?" Clara heard, so she turned around. Rose was standing in front of her, one hand on her hip and the other one resting by her side.
"Yes," Clara smiled, standing up.
"Come over here," Rose smiled, beckoning her over to the other side of the room. She looked to Amy who was tickling The Doctor, so Clara just shrugged and walked over.
"Who are you?" Shareen asked, catching a piece of gum in her teeth and stretching it out with her forefinger.
"She's new," Rose replied, smiling sweetly at Clara. Clara immediately felt uncomfortable, and wanted to go back and join the banter with Amy, The Doctor, Ten and Captain Jack.
"Nice to meet you. I should probably be seeing what I have next…," Clara trailed, trying to move back.
"Wha', are you a swo' or summin?" Shareen asked, folding her arms.
"I don't know, I really should be-," Clara tried to get away but Rose just caught her wrist.
"We haven't even had a chat yet!" Rose said, pouting
"Oh, I'd love to, later, yeah?" Clara asked, trying to get her wrist out of Rose's grip.
"No time like the present," Rose smiled sickly and Clara was about to give in.
"OI! PEROXIDE! Unless you want me to come over there and bleach you where the sun don't shine, I recommend that you let her go!" Donna threatened from the other side of the room. Clara felt relieved and almost started laughing along with the rest of the room. Rose went bright red and let Clara go.
"We were only having a chat," Rose complained
"Yeah? You might have been writing up the Declaration of Independence for all I know, Clara didn't look like she wanted to," Donna retorted and Clara quickly hid back into the sea of people, slightly embarrassed.
"What, you think she'd rather hang out with you?" Rose asked as Donna and she met in the middle of the room.
"I really wouldn't mess with me, blondie," Donna replied
"Really, don't," Ten piped up from across the room. Rose looked between Donna, the group of people surrounding Clara and back to her 'friends' who appeared to be embarrassed looking at her. She burst out into tears and fled from the room.
"You OK?" Donna asked, rubbing Clara's shoulder
"Fine. Thank you," Clara smiled, and Donna grinned.
"It's nothing. People like Rose need to be shown what's what," Donna replied. She looked over Clara's shoulder to her timetable, her eyes stopping on Monday, first period. "Oh! You have Geography with me,"
"Great! Room…15," Clara read off the timetable.
"We have Mrs Smith. You'll love her!" Donna said, sitting down. Clara was about to say something when Mr Lux came sweeping in.
"There will be no wand waving or silly incantations in this class!" Mr Lux said, focusing his eyes on Clara who shifted herself, uncomfortable.
"He's a Potter fan," Martha whispered into Clara's ear.
"Got there, thanks. Bless you though," Clara whispered and Martha laughed. Registration flew by and after timetables, homework, school rules and so forth were sorted out, the bell went and everyone got up.
"Here, come with me," Donna smiled, linking her arm through Clara's. The walked out of the classroom and then to the left, entering the crowded locker room.
"Which one's mine?" Clara asked, standing behind Donna as she deposited text books she had used to revise over the summer.
"I guess that one there. It's free," Donna replied, tapping on the locker. Clara smiled gratefully and then set her code on the locker, sliding her phone and coat into it. She stood up and Donna shut her locker, holding her Geography folder from Year 10.
"Am I meant to copy all that up?" Clara asked, pointing to the folder
"Nah, doubt it. I'm sure you learnt it," Donna replied and then made her way out of the sea of teenagers in the locker room, Clara close behind.
"Do you know who else is in our class?" Clara asked as Donna and she made their way down the stairs.
"I'm not sure. I hope Jack is, though," Donna said and Clara smiled to herself.
"So, you and Jack…do you have a thing?" Clara asked and Donna looked back to her
"Do you think we're a couple?" Donna asked
"Well, I, Um-" Clara started
"Do you think he likes me?" Donna asked, persisting with the questions
"I don't really know him, sorry," Clara answered and Donna nodded, blowing air from her cheek.
"Sorry. Here we are," Donna smiled and opened the door. There were a few people in the front rows and Donna quickly situated herself near the back. Clara sat down next to her, slightly glad at their positioning so that she didn't feel that everyone was looking at her.
"Hello. I saw you earlier! I'm Twelve," Twelve said, his Glasgow accent seeping through.
"Why do you all have numbers?" Clara asked and he half smiled
"Ah! Well, we're all called John Smith, so we decided on The Doctor, Ten, Nine and Twelve. Can't remember why," Twelve explained and Clara laughed
"You're all called John Smith? How is that possible?" Clara asked
"It is very unlikely, isn't it?" Twelve mused. Jenny Blonde took her place next to Twelve, her long blonde hair swaying to the side as she swung herself down, out of breath.
"Late again, are we?" Twelve poked and Jenny smiled
"Mrs Smith's on her way. I had to climb out of the window and swing into the one opposite to overtake her," Jenny explained nonchalantly.
"Ha! I bet you didn't have to, Jenny. You're like a bloody Tarzana!" Donna noted and Jenny and Twelve laughed
"OK, I admit it. I did need to stretch my legs a little," Jenny smiled, her eyes twinkling. Silence fell over the class as the door opened. A brunette woman in her early fifties walked in, a smile on her face .
"Hello! Welcome back! Oh, Clara, I'm Sarah-Jane Smith,"