SKINS – GEN 4 – SERIES 7 – 7.07: CLAIRE
Yes I'm back, 'twas a pretty good trip, it actually made me realize my friend group isn't far off a Skins like group o-o. So there are 3 things I really want right now: 1. To play the new Mario Kart cause that game looks awesome. 2. To have the horrifying next few days over and done with particularly my auditions. 3. To get things sorted, i.e. Christmas house, party, get a job, etc. Yeah I'm feeling kind of crap at the moment just because of all these huge daunting things :S But then fanfiction is always there for me :) and I reckon these next few stories are going to be brilliant, so here it is! Episode 7: Claire!
The ceiling twinkled as the shapes of autumn leave silhouettes doused the room, a cool breezy air blew through the room as a warm, winter morning sun cleansed the room, lined with various quotes, drawings, and other things from the world that never quite made it into somebody's home.
Claire's eyes gracefully slid open as she looked across the room. She placed her right elbow on the bed holding her head up and smiled at her blissful room.
Whenever she was at home she resided in either her room or the living room, but often would find herself being distracted in the living room, but found herself there more often in the winter due to two things: the fireplace and her love of Christmas.
When she meant her love of Christmas, she didn't really mean the gift and family side to things, because it was time she had to spend with her family, and that was possibly her least favourite pastime.
She loved the winter wonderland, the quiet yet glowing city in the North Pole lined with various bakeries and toy factories, and made a part of her glimmer inside and she smiled with glee.
She had been hoping to spend Christmas with Gemma, but Gemma's idea of Christmas was going out and getting so smashed that she didn't get up the entire day her parents wanted to spend with her.
Claire sighed at the thought of Gemma, her face bloomed across Claire's wall, never in photos only in thousands upon thousands of drawings, each one raised her smile just that little more.
She was with Gemma, but she couldn't help feeling a million miles away from Gemma, it was as if neither of them understood each other, Claire felt the relationship for what it really was, but tried to shut the thought out of her brain.
Claire gracefully slid her feet across her bed and delicately touched them upon the ground standing to her feet. She rubbed her hair as she made her way to the bathroom, down the side of the mirror, two words were written in black marker and repeated many times.
Tell them, tell them, tell them, tell them.
Claire looked at the notes and then into her reflection in the mirror, "No," she said, "because they will hate you more."
She walked back into her room and looked at a picture of Gemma again, "Good morning sweetie," she said as she kissed the picture hanging upon the wall.
She swung back and forth calmly in her room, before heading to the draw to get clothes out. She bent down and pulled open the 3rd draw before slamming it shut again while quickly shutting her eyes.
"Wrong draw," she whispered to herself.
She opened the second draw to pull out her undergarments before heading over to the wardrobe to get her dress.
Claire closed the back door quietly; the rest of her family was most likely still asleep as the sun was only just settling over Bristol.
Behind Claire's somewhat enormous house which most considered a mansion, yet she found somewhat unnecessary; was a large open field with a trail leading off to the right, which Claire took her fist steps on.
She spread her arms out wide like a bird and began to tread carefully down the path as the wind blew through her hair.
As she furthered her journey into a forest, the woodland creatures began to chatter in her direction to which she smiled and said in a friendly tone, "Good Morning Hansel, it's good to see you this morning."
She continued her tread along the path until she came across a soft meadow. In the middle stood a lone yet colorful oak, which had many engravings in it.
She loves me, she loves me. I find her so beautiful. I want to feel your soft lips on mine. Hold me until the sun sets upon the forest.
Claire smiled as she stroked the tree before spreading out among the flowers, she gracefully open her eyes to the glistening sky above her, a friendly mix of pink, blue and white.
Claire softly closed her eyes and listened to the noises in her head, as her arms moved calmly among blades of grass.
Her teeth began to shine, as she heard a playful voice and a laugh as the river below her began to trickle louder.
Claire raised her torso and crawled down to the river. She placed her left hand upon a rock and her right hand dipped gently into the flowing water as a round orange fish came along and nibbled at the tip of her pointer finger and Claire bit her lips and giggled at the fish.
Behind her, her phone buzzed as she received a message. Claire stood up and walked over turning on her phone to see a message from her Mum, 'Home, Now.'
Claire's smile dropped to a plain look before she lifted her head up one more time, to feel the wind and began her journey back along the path.
Claire quietly slid the door shut as footsteps came in her direction. "Claire!" a shrill voice immediately shouted, "Where have you been?"
Claire put on her usual smile, "Same place as every morning Mum, down in the meadow."
"What have you been doing down in the meadow then?" she said narrowing her eyes.
Claire smirked, "Just normal stuff Mum, embracing nature, enjoying my surroundings… relaxing."
"With illegal substances?"
"No!" said Claire, "Just... relaxing."
"Claire I'm not in the mood for your little games this morning, it's a big day, there is a lot to do, the whole family has to get ready to go away and I can't help you pack for your trip, you have to do that yourself, so instead of going off with the fairies down in the forest you can go pack so you don't get hypothermia."
"Mum, why are you always so angry with me?" she asked sadly.
"Because you never do what you're told." She said.
"But I do Mum, I'm just a teenager, but I do what you tell me to, you're never happy with me Mum, not even on Christmas, not even on my Birthday Mum, if you saw some of the stuff my friends did…"
"If you listened to me Claire," she interrupted, "Then for a starters you wouldn't be hanging around those bunch of drunks, and junkies and homosexuals and criminals and sex addicts."
"But they aren't like that Mum," she said, "…they're lovely."
"Well I suppose you'd know all about lovely," she said nodding her head.
"But I do Mum," she said, "I really do, you're the one who isn't lovely to me."
"Claire, when you start behaving like your siblings do, then you can tell me the definition of lovely, they may muck up sometimes, but at least I can safely search their room."
Claire stared right on through her mother, "Do you know what you'd find if you searched my room?"
"I could take a few guesses, cigarettes, condoms, alcohol bottles, needles, pictures of naked men, that's what I'd find in there."
Claire shook her head, "No Mum," She said, "none of those things are in there, shows how well you know me."
"I don't have time for this Claire! This is just more of your trouble! Pack!" She shouted pointing towards the stairs.
Claire walked out of the room, with her head tilted trying to push back tears.
"Claire!" came an excited voice as Claire walked into the room.
A small figure ran up to Claire hugging her leg.
Claire smiled down at her, "Good morning Bonnie, how are you doing?"
"I'm bored Clairy, all my toys are packed up, so I don't have anything to do!" she gripped Claire's leg tight, "Will you play with me Claire?"
"I got to go get ready sugarcake," she said ruffling Bonnie's hair, "I haven't packed yet."
"Claire please come on our holiday, all the boys do is play soccer and video games, they never want to play pet store with me, but you do, please come with me."
"You'll have Jean down there to play with, she's lovely." Said Claire with a smile.
"But all she does is play soccer and talk about how boys are losers and girls rule, but that's not true because we are all the same aren't we Claire?"
Claire smirked to herself; "Yeah, but I got my own camp Bonnie, with my own friends."
"Mummy said your friends are bad people and that if you kept playing with them you'd turn bad too, but I met your friends and they were good people, is Mummy talking about different friends? Cause I don't want you to turn bad…"
Claire bent down and smiled at Bonnie, "I'm not gonna turn bad Bonnie, Mummy can be wrong sometimes to, and Mummy can be mean sometimes too. It's important to remember that Mummy makes mistakes but she still loves you… and me too… I'll see you in 2 weeks when you get back cupcake." Claire leaned over and kissed Bonnie on the forehead before standing back up and smiling at her and then walking out of the room.
A bit of a short chapter, but it's just another introductory one, I think the names of the siblings might be rather different when I mentioned them in 7.02 so I have to go back and change that… I will keep writing 7.07 the coming days, but keep in mind I am feeling a bit crap and overworked so forgive me, if I'm late or something like that, this time next week I'll be fine with nothing left to worry about… well… mostly. Also remember to head over to my user profile for a link to the character page which will be updated for 7.07. Chapter 2, up soon.
