A/N: I was reading Starcrossed again and suddenly feeling a one-shot urge of Claire/Jason. Short, sweet, and generally painless- just something I cooked up in my spare time while I was procrastinating a Spanish project, so it's not beta-read or anything. Please, please, read and review. Enjoy!
Rating: T (brief swearing)
Trouble
Since the day that she was born, Claire Aoki had always been told that she was trouble.
It had been told to her by everybody and everyone who had ever had the pleasure (or displeasure, depending on the experience) of meeting Claire. It had gone from the odd neighbor who lived two blocks down to Claire's stiff, kimono-wearing, permanently frowning grandmother. They took one look at her bouncy, bubbly, overbearing personality and adorned the mild expression that Claire had so often seen: a look of carefully constructed blankness and cool politeness after the initial expression of shock. Family stereotypes plagued Claire, and from her conservative, uptight family, outsiders might assume that she was much the same. In fact, the uncommon new kid at school always had a quizzical expression on their face, as if expecting Claire to be wearing a kimono.
Over the years, Claire had acquired the ability to ignore the dubious looks and her grandmother's pinched expressions. Her 'troubling' personality was a part of who she was. Either people got it- and her- and liked it, or they didn't. Claire wasn't about to change for the odd person with a scoffing expression on their face. Life was full of stereotypes, she knew. She wasn't trouble. She preferred to think of herself as exuberant, or eccentric. Though it meant much the same, in the world of crazy people, it had a better ring to it. Claire had never been sorry, or the least bit concerned about her reputation for her overly sharp tongue, intimidating five feet, two inches, or brains.
That was, until the day that she met Jason Delos.
It wasn't so much an instant hatred. It was more of a cool, casual dislike. Claire had always strived for valedictorian. In a small school full of elitists, it was important to assign herself a trait so that she wouldn't fade into the crowd. Claire wanted to be remembered; not just a fuzzy recollection and a smiling photo in the yearbook. Being smart- and being one of the top competitors for valedictorian- was a large part of who she was. Without it, Claire wasn't entirely sure that there was any personality left in her.
Unsurprisingly, her over-achiever status didn't like being questioned. The moment she heard about the Delos family, she didn't mind them so much. In a small island like Nantucket, news traveled fast, and the same gossip stories got old fast. It was a pleasant change to have a legitimate piece of news to share and giggle about. Of course, the façade of the family was, as Claire had slowly been finding out, often more pleasant than the actual reality. The Delos family was nothing but competition for her fragilely constructed personality. Without Claire's smarts, she didn't know where she stood, and the Delos family was most certainly smarter.
Of course, when she met Jason Delos, she had no idea of any of this. All she saw was a picture-perfect Adonis, complete down to the last button on his polo shirt. He had looked pleasant enough, Claire had thought, unaware that beautiful boys were toxic. It was similar to poison dart frogs- their markings were beautiful, with the spindly, interchanging, brightly colored décor, but also deadly. In that moment, Claire probably should have seen and recognized the flashing lights that clearly read: 'STAY AWAY! RUN FOR THE HILLS! NOW!' but, predictably, she had seen nothing but his cryptic glance. He had been sitting in the seat to her left, in the second to last back row of the classroom, and Claire had naturally tried to make conversation with him. She had known who he was at the time- the Delos family was legendary in the small island. Nevertheless, she let common courtesies be common courtesies.
"Hello," she had said, sticking out her hand. "You're new here, yeah?" She had grinned so bright that she was fairly certain that Christmas lights had nothing on her flashing, blindingly white smile at that point. By the time he replied, apparently finished studying her skeptically, the corners of her mouth were starting to hurt.
"Yeah," he said, ignoring her hand and turning back to shuffle around his binders, which weren't even slightly askew. Claire furrowed her eyebrows, her prickly, hedgehog personality starting to perk up.
She frowned at him. "That's not very nice, you know," she said. "Pretending as if I'm not here. Nantucket's a small island. One bad rumor, and people avoid you like the Black Death." Claire said this matter-of-factly, in a coolly manufactured, plain tone.
Jason turned back to her, a resigned expression on his face. Arching an eyebrow, he said, "Somehow, I doubt that." She slitted her eyes at him. In the whole of the conversation, she had gotten all of five words out of him, one of which wasn't even a complete sentences. It wasn't going as Claire had hoped.
"Doubt it now. When you're being compared with the biggest epidemic in the world, you'll be sorry," she said noncommittally, turning back to her desk. Her spine was rigid. People did not ignore Claire Aoki. They might glance at her dubiously and back off a bit, hoping to escape the encounter alive, but they didn't ignore her. Not if they wanted to live to see the next day.
Jason smirked, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "Hmm. Yes, you know, you're right. I actually kind of prefer being prepared to the Spanish epidemic. Far more entertaining." His eyes glittered with mirth.
"Ha, ha," Claire said dryly. "Look, you don't have to be an ass. I was just trying to be nice. There's this thing called a conversation, you know. It doesn't usually include muttered sentence fragments and comparing oneself to the plague."
His smile disappeared. "I'm not being an ass. I'm trying to help."
At that, Claire let out a derisive snort. Ticking off each adjective on her fingers, she said, "Oh, sure. Please, tell me: how, exactly, is being pompous, grandiose, overbearing, presumptuous, supercilious, conceited, bombastic-"
An unidentifiable expression flitted across Jason's face before he defended himself. "Quite the lexicon you've got there, Aoki," he said, looking straight into her eyes. Holding up a hand as she opened her mouth to expound upon the words, he said, "I know you've more to say. You strike me as a person that's not afraid to speak their mind." Jason looked over her cryptically. "That's why I'm not about to let you get your way in everything."
Claire looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Jason said, looking her directly in the eyes, "that you were right about Nantucket being a small island. You know exactly who I am. I'm Jason Delos, new kid on the block. I also know exactly who you are. Claire Aoki, a.k.a. 'Giggles'-" At this, an angry grumbling noise erupted from her. He continued on, unperturbed. "The smart-mouthed, sharp-tongued, witty, intimidating brains on campus. Am I right?"
Claire clamped her mouth shut. Jason had just perfectly summed up her carefully constructed personality in one sentence. She wasn't exactly sure how she felt about that, but he continued on, not waiting for an answer. Apparently, it was a rhetorical question. "I'm not about to let that happen. In your pure, terrifying state," he said, his eyes raking her up and down, making Claire feel as if she was standing in the middle of the classroom naked, "I'm sure that you've never been challenged a day in your life. I'm here to give you this challenge. Everybody's way too scared to even challenge you in a debate." He spread his arms out wide, grinning like a maniac. "Well, you've got yourself a worthy adversary."
Claire stared at him, her mouth hanging wide open. Then, twisting her features into a scowl, she gathered her things up into her arms, swinging her long, dark ponytail behind her. She ignored his chuckles, storming across to the only empty chair in the room: first row, directly in front of Hergesheimer. At that point, she wanted to smack the grin right off his smug face, but with Hergie's stern, no-nonsense expression, she settled for a scathing expression. He would never get that chance. Claire would make sure of it.
That was the only time she had ever regarded her 'trouble' personality as a disadvantage. And, up until the moment that she was standing in the front yard of Nantucket High School, she thought it would be the last. That was, of course, up until Jason strode up with her, completely alone- a complete surprise; usually he was flanked by some groupie, football buddy, or, at the very least, his family- with a worrying expression on his face.
Claire adjusted the strap on her rucksack, shifting uncomfortably in her high platforms. One of her life mottos had long been 'beauty is pain', but that didn't stop her from wanting to soak her feet in warm water for three hours after a long day in heels. She was eager to get home, and most definitely not eager to talk to Jason Delos. After enduring a minute of his pensive stare, she cracked. "What?" she snapped. He was close enough that she could have pushed him away if she tried- which, at the moment, was a very entertaining fact.
Jason shook his head. "I'm sorry. It's just- my family-" He grimaced. "Everyone in AP classes that I know is busy, and you're kind of the only person left I can ask to study for the test tomorrow. Can you please just- I don't know- spare some time in the library?"
Claire raised her eyebrows. "Are you seriously asking me this?"
"Yes," Jason said sheepishly, scratching his head. "I know it's kind of a sorry thing to ask, but I really need to call in a favor." His eyes pleaded with her. "I swear, I won't be as much of an asshole."
She remembered the day in the classroom and shook her head. "No way. I've got- stuff," she said lamely, feeling an unexplainable pang of guilt in her stomach. "Sorry."
Jason groaned. "Look, I'm really, really sorry for what I did to you the first day of school, but I'm groveling for a favor here. Can't you just open up a little bit of your heart? I swear to God, I will fail this test if you don't assist me."
"I'm sure," Claire said with a snort. "Delos, I said no. N-O, as in no. Same thing in Spanish. Dunno what it is in other languages. Seriously, please, go."
He slumped, looking defeated. Scratching the nape of his neck, he said, "Yeah. I figured you'd say that." Attempting a smile, still pulling it off with flashing white teeth, he continued, "Well. Anyway. If you can forgive me in the next hour or so, please, please, please inform me."
"Yes, I'll inform Phidippides," Claire said with a roll of her eyes. "Honestly, boy, you're going to have to give me your number," she relented. He perked up visibly. "Not," Claire said, "that this is a guaranteed yes. But I will think about it."
Jason immediately began rummaging for a scrap of paper and a pen in his backpack. Claire watched his struggle, laughing inwardly for a few minutes before she relaxed, pulling out her planner and pen. "Just write it here," she said, laughing a bit.
"Huh?" he said, stopping his frantic search. His expression was so comical that Claire had to laugh. His expression changed, becoming unreadable.
"What?" Claire said self-consciously, rubbing her arms and wishing that she had remembered to bring her cardigan- which was, no doubt, lying on the back of her desk chair at home. "Why are you staring at me like that?"
Jason shook his head. "It's just… you have a really nice laugh, Claire."
The mention of her name startled her. For the two weeks since school had started, it had always been Aoki this and Aoki that, with a few Giggles spattered in-between in a lame attempt to satirize her. It felt nice to hear her name from his mouth, though she couldn't say why.
Claire felt her cheeks burn. "Yeah- well- thanks," she said, snatching back the planner from where Jason finished writing. Squinting at the untidy scrawl, she looked at him dubiously. "You know, for someone so smart, your handwriting is like chicken scratch," she remarked.
"Well, your handwriting is like every other girl's I know," Jason said. "You all spend your time on those perfect little curlicues. Ari and Cass both do it. It drives me mad. I'm sure that you don't even catch half of the notes."
She grinned. "Mastering shorthand is everything, Jason," she said, not realizing that she was using his first name until she said it out loud. His shocked expression said as much as she stuffed the planner back in her bag. "Well, I'd better go," she said, seeing her mom's car pull up in front of the school.
Staring at him, she saw both the pontifical boy that she had met the first day as well as a different boy- one that she wanted to get to know better. Claire smiled at him, the first real lift of her lips that she had directed towards him since the first day.
"Well," she said evenly with a wink, "I might keep your phone close, if I were you. I've been known to be very inconsistent." She turned on her heel, leaving Jason to his wide-eyed expression.
People had always said that Claire Aoki was trouble.
To a certain extent, Claire was trouble. She was also other things- a good friend, a terrible cook, and, on special cases, a forgiving adversary. She was just starting to learn that there was more than one side to a person. Claire might do well to apply that lesson to Jason Delos.
Maybe- just maybe- he was trouble too.
A/N: Let me know what you thought!
- jilyjackson ;)