Summary: A head injury causes K.C to become convinced that he and Clare are still together.
Disclaimer: Don't own Degrassi. 'Nuff said.
Author's Note: The LONG overdo story request that I promised necklace months ago. I know it's late, but I hope you enjoy. It's going to either be a twoshot or a threeshot.
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Blank Slate
Part I
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"K.C! Get your head out of the clouds!"
The sound of Armstrong's voice jerked the teenager in question out of his stupor. He shot an apologetic glance in his coach's general direction. "Sorry! It won't happen again — promise!"
Armstrong just rolled his eyes. He'd heard that one before, but it wasn't as if K.C was doing it on purpose. He had a lot on his mind! Surely the coach had to understand, considering…
His thoughts drifted back to his girlfriend. He'd been thinking about Jenna all day — for the past couple of days, in fact. She'd finally had the baby a week ago, after her water broke in the middle of class and she had been rushed to the hospital to deliver their child. It had been hectic and complicated, and she'd spent a good eight or nine hours in labour before finally giving birth to a baby girl.
Their baby girl — Hailey Middleton.
K.C wasn't going to lie. There was a part of him that was bitter that his daughter, his own flesh and blood, didn't get his last name. But he understood why. He hadn't exactly been supportive at first, and he certainly couldn't promise that he wasn't going to royally screw up. He hadn't planned to be a dad at fifteen — it just happened that way, and now he was whether he liked it or not, just like Jenna was now a mom.
Only while he was at school playing football and still acting like a teenager, Jenna was at home, being a mother. His own mom was checking up on her and the baby between her shifts in order to let Jenna get some sleep, but he had only seen the baby once so far, right after she was born. He hadn't stayed long; it'd been too overwhelming. He didn't even hold her, because he knew that if he had, it would've become that much more real — that he was a father. K.C wasn't sure if he could handle that — not yet.
"YO! HEAD'S UP!"
Maybe not ever…
"K.C, WATCH OUT!"
Before K.C could react, his entire world went black.
.
.
.
When K.C regained consciousness, all he saw were blurs. Everything was spinning uncontrollably, and if he didn't know any better, he could have sworn that there were tiny, chirping birds circling his head. But of course, that was just absurd, and so he squeezed his eyes shut and counted to ten before reopening them once more, and waiting for his surroundings to come into focus.
It didn't take long for the blurs to shape into people. Three, to be exact — Coach Armstrong, the school nurse, and a spiky-haired boy wearing a Degrassi football jersey, sans the shoulder pads, who he didn't recognize.
K.C tried to sit up, only to groan in discomfort when his head began to throb painfully, and fall back down.
"Where am I?" He managed through gritted teeth.
"Nurse's office." The spiky-haired teenager replied. "You've been out for like fifteen minutes, man! The whole team thought you were dead at first — it was insane!" He let out a nervous laugh, and K.C furrowed his brow in confusion.
"Do I know you?" He asked.
The boy stopped laughing immediately and gave him an incredulous look, but the corner of his mouth remained quirked upward.
"You're kidding, right?" When K.C didn't say anything, the rest of his smile fell. "C'mon, man… quit jerking me around. It's me, Drew. Drew Torres? Ring any bells?"
The name didn't register in K.C's mind at all. The boy standing next to him was a complete stranger.
"That ball must've hit you harder than we thought," said Armstrong with a frown. "Maybe we should take him to the hospital. He might have a concussion or -"
K.C's eyes widened and he shot up, waving his hands frantically. "I'm fine!" He protested, quickly turning to 'Drew' and smirking. "Dude, I was just messing with you. But you should've seen the look on your face — priceless!"
Drew rolled his eyes, seemingly torn between being amused and pissed off. "Whatever. I knew you were lying."
"K.C… are you sure you're alright?" K.C glanced over at Armstrong, who clearly wasn't convinced.
"Yeah, totally!" K.C lied, nodding vigorously. "I mean, apart from the headache, I've never felt better!"
Armstrong still didn't seem to be buying into his fib, but he wasn't calling his bluff either. The older man crossed his arms and gave K.C a hard look. "If you're sure…"
"Positive, Coach."
Armstrong sighed in defeat.
"Okay. But I'm going to dismiss you from today's practice, just to be safe. If you want to go home, you can do that too."
K.C grinned. "I'm fine, Coach. Really. There's nothing to worry about."
.
.
.
He could feel a bruise coming on. Luckily, his hair would cover it, but that still didn't change the fact that it hurt.
'Nothing a kiss from my girlfriend can't fix.' He mused as he wandered aimlessly in search for her.
The lunch bell went off, flooding the halls with students, and he knew one of them was bound to be his girlfriend. They always ate lunch together.
But she was nowhere in sight.
He scanned the ocean of students, trying to find her, but luck just wasn't on his side. He quickly grew irritated and was about to simply give up and head straight to the cafeteria when he heard her laugh. His prayers had been answered, it seemed, and relief washed over him as K.C whirled around and zeroed in on the source.
There, standing just a few feet away from him, was Clare.
Only… not the Clare that he knew.
In fact, it took him a minute of simply gaping at her to realize that it was actually his girlfriend. It was as if she had transformed into a whole new person over night. Her hair was shorter, leaving tousled curls to frame her face which seemed to practically glow. He also couldn't help but notice her figure, which she'd been apparently hiding until now, and despite his better judgment, he found himself unable to stop himself from sparing a brief glance at her chest. Neither of those things mattered, however, when he looked back up at her face, only to have his breath taken away.
He'd never realized just how big and blue her eyes were without her glasses, and made a quick mental note to tell her that the next time they were alone.
K.C didn't know how long he stood there, waiting for Clare to acknowledge his presence at the very least. Usually she'd stop what she was doing and run over to him, fling her arms around his neck and ask him about his day so far — but it was like she didn't even see him. Was she mad? Had he done something to upset her?
He continued to watch her talk to her companion like he didn't exist, all the while growing more and more agitated.
Fed up, K.C was about to stalk over and voice his concern when the boy suddenly said something to Clare that made her blush and avert her gaze.
What the hell was going on?
Was Clare actually flirting with another guy?
No! K.C shook his head angrily. There had to be some kind of mistake. Clare wasn't that type of girl. She would never do that. Infidelity went against her moral code — everything she believed in! Clare wouldn't…
Clare was grabbing the boy by the back of the neck. Clare was pulling him closer to her. Clare was kissing him deeply, without a care in the world.
That's all it took for K.C to snap.
He stormed over to the pair just as the boy's hand disappeared under Clare's skirt, eliciting a muffled moan from his girlfriend. Beyond furious, he grabbed the dark-haired boy's shoulder roughly, tearing him away from Clare.
"What the -!"
K.C didn't give him a chance to finish. He slammed the boy against a nearby locker.
"What are you doing!" He heard Clare shriek, but he didn't pay her any attention, too busy trying to make the boy he had pinned spontaneously combust with the intensity of his glare.
"Where do you think you get off, kissing my girlfriend?"
The scrawny punk let out an obnoxious laugh.
"Your girlfriend?" He retorted with a sneer. "Clearly you're delusional. Last I checked, I was her boyfriend."
"You're the one who's delusional!" K.C snarled, raising a fist.
He was fully prepared to punch the boy — preferably in the jaw, to shut him up and wipe the annoying smirk off his overly smug face.
He heard Clare scream, and before his fist could make contact, K.C was suddenly being dragged away from the boy by none other than Mark Fitzgerald.
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… and that's the end of chapter one.
This is my first time writing K.C (and Drew, for that matter)... I hope they're IC.
Okay, so originally this was going to be one really long oneshot, but… I decided to split it into parts. Don't worry, the updates will be very quick. In fact, I'll probably have the next chapter up sometime tomorrow.
necklace - I hope you like it so far, and I apologize for taking so long to get started on this. Hopefully it's worth the wait.
Anyway, with that said… please REVIEW and tell me what you think so far!