Have you missed me on this story?

Sorry I do have the ideas for this but not necessarily the time. I started writing this one a while ago but I am just trying to spread my time over everything that I want to do as evenly as possible.

Not entirely sure how I wanted this one go but this is the way that I have gone.

For some background:

Pop Master is a music quiz on BBC Radio 2, hosted by Ken Bruce. The contestant answers 10 questions, 7 questions are worth 3 points while 3 are worth 6 points, if you get 39 then you are placed into Champions league and battle it out around Christmas time to be the Champion of Champions. If you win, but don't get 39, then the player plays 3 in 10. The contestant has to give 3 top 40 UK single titles for a singer or band in 10 seconds.

Music Blaster is on KMFM and is sort of explained in this story. I like playing along when I hear it.

So on with this little one shot.

The Radio

After a couple of days of silence, Clara asks whether she can put on the radio. Somehow it leads to a competition that they both aren't sure about.

Word count: 2,113

For Clara, the only options were to stay in the weird awkward silence that she and the Doctor had fallen into or to build up the courage to ask for the radio to be put on. She couldn't believe that he didn't even have it on. She had spent the first two days just thinking that the sound was down too low for her to hear but she had looked at the display and she was certain that it was off.

She took a deep breath as he pulled up. She smiled at him as she placed her bags into the footwell and got in herself.

"Morning." She said.

"Morning."

Clara knew that if she didn't say anything else, then that was all she was going to get out of him. Even if they had come to some sort of understanding, it didn't mean that they were friends yet.

"Could we possibly have the radio on? I don't get to listen to it as I use to."

The Doctor huffed. "Just not radio 1 or that one that just plays the same songs on repeat."

Clara excitingly leant forward and push the button to turn it on. "Don't worry I have the perfect station. They play all sorts of music."

She could tell that he was moaning about it to himself as she tuned into the right station. She turned the volume to a reasonable level so that they could still have a conversation if they wanted to. The presenter started to talk about something that he had seen on his facebook feed earlier. It was just nice for Clara just to hear something, even if she didn't particularly like the presenter. She smiled as the first song came on and knew instantly that the Doctor would turn to her.

"Really? You think this is good."

"Mmmbop is a classic."

"A classic?! What is your taste in music if you think that this is a classic? Calling it a classic is just an insult."

"This will be a classic."

"So you will put this up with the proper classics? With the likes of Bohemian Rhapsody and Hey Jude? Really?"

"This new generation seems to like the cheesy pop of the 90s and noughties. This is also the music that I grew up with. We weren't all lucky enough to grow up with Queen and the Beatles."

"You didn't grow up on Queen or the Beatles? What music did you parents listen to?"

Clara found herself laughing. "I was only four when the 90s hit. Literally growing up has been with this sort of stuff being played. This was the music I chose to like. Of course, my parents introduced me to Queen and the Beatles. They do have taste. But that was the sort of music I chose and everyone else was listening to. By the time I was in secondary school, the charts when from Killing Me Softly to Wannabe and Mysterious Girl."

She thought that she saw the Doctor shudder. Even if they were still slightly arguing and the song that they were talking about had ended a while ago, she was glad that they were talking.

"Now this is going to be a classic." The Doctor said as Take Me Out started playing.

She was about to agree with him but stopped when he started to mouth the word and nod his head to beat. She knew the school wasn't far away and was glad for every red traffic light. There was only really one reason that she listened to this station and she hoped that they were going to hear it. She knew that the Doctor would like it. It seemed like he was really into his music.

They pulled into the school car park just as Yellow by Coldplay was finishing. The presenter started talking as the Doctor pulled up the handbrake.

"Wait." She said.

He gave her a look and she placed her finger on her lips to stop him from saying anything.

"Now for the next hour, we are going to be playing songs from a certain year. I only hope that you aren't having a Manic Monday. In this year the show Catchphrase started with Roy Walker and introduced Mr Chips to the nation and Prince Andrew got engaged to Fergie. And Top Gun was taking our breath away but can you guess the year?"

"1986," Both Clara and the Doctor said together as The Final Countdown by Europe came on.

"Year I was born." She added when the Doctor looked impressed that she had got it.

"Manic Monday gave it away." He said. "Let's hope that we don't have a manic Monday."

She could hear the bell go for the five-minute warning. She hoped he was right. She felt like she could do with an easy week.

Each morning, Clara would get into the car and even if they were still not really talking, it was just nice to have the background music from the radio as company. Every morning, they would wait in the car until the Guess the Year was on. With the Doctor's more extensive music knowledge, and maybe just having 30 odd years on her, he mainly got them right, allowing her to answer first to smugly tell her the year when she got it wrong.

So Clara was glad when on the way home, she could beat him in the game that was played on the way home. Music Blaster was her game.

"Why don't you call up and play?" The Doctor asked her one evening.

"Because it is easy doing it here. It is easy to scream at the radio than do it yourself."

"Probably the same reason why I have never done pop master."

"You would be amazing at pop master. You would at least get the year."

"The only problem is that it is on at ten. School starts at nine."

"Wednesday you have a free period in the morning."

"To which I do marking."

"Just this once."

She watched him as he thought over it.

"I will play pop master if you play music blaster."

"Okay, deal." She smiled widely. "Now I wish that I have Wednesday morning off."

Clara didn't expect to get through on the first try, or the second. She knew that it could take a number of days to get through to actually play. She knew that the same would be with the Doctor.

"Got through today?" She asked as she waited for the phone to ring.

"Yeah, I did."

"How did you do?"

"I have a digital radio being sent to me."

"Your score?"

The Doctor didn't give her an answer as her phone rang. She picked it up and was surprised to hear the radio producer speaking to her. She answered his questions before they put her through to the presenter.

"And playing music blaster tonight is Clara Oswald. Hello Clara."

She knew that the Doctor was stifling a laugh.

"Hi."

"How are you?"

"I'm good thanks, you?"

"Yeah, I am good. Now Clara, have you heard music blaster before?"

"I have."

"Good. Just in case we have anyone new listening, you will have 60 seconds to name as many artists to the songs that I play as you can. I will only move on once you have got the artist right. As always, I will try and help you out if you get stuck. The score that you have to beat is currently 11. If you score more than 11 and stay at the top of the leaderboard until the end of the month, you could be looking at winning £500. Are you ready Clara?"

"I am."

Clara was right about one thing. It was easier to shout the answers at the radio than to actually do it herself. She felt like she was doing well but had lost count on how many she had got right. There was a part of her hoped that she had done enough to top the leaderboard. She could think of a few things that she could spend the £500 on.

"And that is time up. How do you think that you did?"

"It is definitely easier just shouting at the radio."

The presenter laughed and Clara turned and shrugged at the Doctor.

"So Clara, I can now confirm that you answered an amazing… 13 right. You are now top of the leaderboard."

"Oh wow."

"All you have to do now Clara is stay at the top. Hopefully, in ten days time, I will be ringing you up again to tell you that you have won the money. Hopefully, that has brightened your week.

"It has, thank you."

"Have a nice evening." The presenter said before he hung up.

Clara squealed as she came off the phone, to the Doctor not looking too happy.

"What was your score?"

"33 with 3 in 10."

"The bonus round?"

"I had to listen to the person before me umm and ahh his way through the questions. He had no clue and picked the easier of the bonus round questions. So I was left with Around the World and Get your jig on as my bonus round. There was no way that I was going to get the answer to the question I got wrong. Even Ken admitted that he wouldn't have known the answer if he didn't have it in front of him."

"Around the world?"

"Would you have chosen get your jig on?"

"They are just rather unspecific categories aren't they?"

"You are telling me."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"What was the whole thing about us doing these competitions for?" Clara asked.

"I don't actually know."

"I suppose you have a new radio and I could be £500 richer."

"What need do I have for a radio? If I listen to the radio, I listen to it through the TV."

Clara started laughing and she was glad when the Doctor joined in with her.

"Rivalry?" The Doctor said. "I would say that we shouldn't allow our competitiveness get to us again but I think it is going to."

"Is that why you never join in those games? The teacher vs students games?"

"If I did them, like the rounders, I would knock someone out with the ball."

"You are that competitive?"

"That competitive. I would use more than skill to win."

She shook her head as they pulled up to her block of flats. "Are you a sore loser as well?"

"The worst."

She opened the car door. "You will have to let me know how your digital radio is."

"I might actually bring it in and have it in the staff room." He paused. "Is this the moment when we say that we won't do anything like this again?"

"I don't think so. But maybe we will have a different type of competition. Oh and just so you know, you are so on my team this year for the quiz. I need your music knowledge."

"Depends. What will you bring to the table?"

"TV is my strength."

"And you don't think that I watch TV."

"My strength is the trash TV that the students that will be writing the questions watch. I am sure you can help out with whatever weird Sci-Fi question that they throw in."

"That is only two categories."

"Danny is on sport and Adrian is on literature. Each year, Adrian and I have found out who are writing the questions and the sort of things that they are in to, to try and work out what the questions will be. Dan Jones is writing the music round questions."

"He is really into his 60s rock."

"Which is why you will be perfect. Emilia Hills is writing the TV round and all we have spoken about is all the reality shows. I just hope that she doesn't throw us some curveball."

"I am in."

"Good. Because we have to beat the other teacher team. They laugh at us for being young and apparently only knowing modern stuff. Plus Adrian bet me a tenner that you wouldn't do it."

"Clara Oswald. Are you always like this?"

"You are the one that calls me a control freak."

"I suppose. See you in the morning."

"See you in the morning."

Clara squealed again as the Doctor left. This year they were going to win the quiz. From now on, they just needed to be competitive but on the same team.