The next days morning routine was nearly the same as the day before except John and Clara had slept in their separate beds this time. John made breakfast for them both, much to Clara's surprise and before she had to leave for work she received a call. John got the job at Coal Hill. He grinned and hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.
"I got the job! Thank you thank you thank you Clara!"
With that, John hurried to change into his usual tweed jacket outfit and they left just on time.
It was a long and boring process to get him settled into the school and he couldn't have Clara at his side since she had to go teach right away. They gave him all the paperwork that he needed and then off he went to teach his first class.
Coal Hill. They were a rowdy bunch of kids and if it weren't for the fact that he made history sound like stories then he probably wouldn't have made it through the day. That was quite laughable now that he thought about it. Him, just like the Doctor, barely able to get through to a bunch of kids. But he had and he'd told Clara so when they met at the day.
"That's a lot better than what I did," Clara said to him. He raised an eyebrow. Clara Oswald couldn't get through those kids on her first day?
"They fought with me. No, not physically fought, but they wouldn't listen and I very nearly quit on the first day. But I reminded myself that I needed to keep going. I wasn't going to quit after all that I'd been through."
"No wonder he's had you as a companion," John said with a small smile.
Clara looked at him and smiled back. "That and he calls me the boss." There was a raise of an eyebrow from the copy.
"He calls you the boss, does he? Hmm...no wonder he was acting like he was jealous of us. He likes you." John knew that it was true. If he felt this way for Clara then his original must feel the same way for her. Maybe he should back off while he could, but he had this week with her, he could make the most of it.
"And yet you keep getting closer to me. Shouldn't you keep your distance?" It was like she'd read his mind.
"I'm not the only one getting closer Clara. So are you."
She drifted her gaze from his. He was right. She hadn't stopped herself from getting closer. And now that she'd been spending more time with him, well...somehow this felt right, being around him.
"Maybe we should be keeping our distance from each other. Last night...last night was amazing, but I know that if he knew that if we went on a sort of date then he'd be upset. He's my friend, I care for him and I...I care for you too. But I can't..."
He rested a hand on her shoulder. "I understand Clara." Though his eyes were sad, he understood. "It's for the best."
Besides, he could just focus on working at Coal Hill and they could just be friends. He should have known that nothing would have worked out between them anyway. Not really. He gave her a small smile and she smiled back.
"Come on. Let's go home. I need to catch up on grading papers and you need to plan for tomorrow's class."
"Yeah yeah, I work now. Don't remind me."
Clara set to work on grading students papers as soon as she got home. John was working across from her, history books piled in front of him as he made notes for tomorrows class. She could feel the distance between them now and while she knew that she'd agreed on it, she didn't exactly like it. She cared for him, she cared for the Doctor. Should she have to choose? She didn't want to.
She'd glance over at him every now and then and wonder what he was thinking. Was he upset with her? She didn't think so.
John allowed his mind to become distracted with the history in front of him. Much if it he could remember going back to see as the Doctor. It helped to have the memories because he knew that he could make the classes more realistic and more interesting for the kids. Though would it matter? Would he continue to stay here after this week or would he continue traveling with the Doctor? He didn't know and he wasn't sure if he wanted answers to his own questions.
What to do about Clara? He could feel her gaze on him every now and then and while it didn't bother him, he too wondered what was going through her mind. Did she regret saying that she just wanted to be friends with him? He regretted even bringing up the Doctor at all. He shouldn't have done that because where would they be now? Certainly not here with this awful silence between them. Hours seemed to pass and when he was finally done with classes organized for the next couple of days, he stood and said, "I'm going to make some tea. Do you want any?"
Clara's brown eyes looked at him as she turned her head in his direction and he saw her nod. "Yes please. And could you add a spoonful of sugar to mine?" He nodded as well and went into her kitchen. He still didn't know where everything was, but he was learning.
Soon enough, he had the tea on the stove and was waiting for the whistle to blow. John let out a sigh and leaned against one of the kitchen counters.
This life was one that the Doctor always thought that he couldn't do and yet he was doing okay with it so far. If things didn't work out with him and Clara, if they always remained friends and he had to go get his own flat somewhere and live on his own, could he do it? Or would the Doctor take him back? Would there be less tension between the two of them if the Doctor knew that him and Clara had stopped their flirting? Maybe.
The tea whistled and he prepared him and Clara each a glass, hers as she wanted it. Before taking it out to her, he grabbed some jammie dodgers that he'd seen in her cabinet and took it all out where she was.
Clara was putting her things away when the ganger appeared. He had two cups of tea and she wasn't really surprised to see the package of Jammie dodgers.
"I see that you and the Doctor have the same tastes," Clara said as she accepted her cup of tea from him with a thank you.
"Of course we do. We're the same, remember?" John sipped at his tea after sitting down and then grabbed one of the jammie dodgers.
Taking a jammie dodger out of the package as well, Clara said, "At least I know what to make you then. Though he's always so picky. Maybe the more you stay here the more you won't be as picky as him."
He shrugged. She made that sound like she wanted him to stay there. Did she? And could he? John didn't ask. He didn't feel that it was had to right then.
"You know, this weekend I have a family thing with my dad. You'll have the place to yourself. Can I trust you alone here?"
Raising an eyebrow at her, John asked, "Yeah you can trust me. Though what's this thing you have with your dad?"
"Oh, it's just a family reunion thing. You wouldn't like it. It's dreadfully boring. And my dad's bringing her so he'll be showing her off to everyone."
"Who's her?" John asked after swallowing a bite of jammie dodger.
Clara sighed softly. "Linda. My future step mother. Well, he'll expect me to try to treat her as that, but I've told him no. I don't even like her. How could he think that I could treat her as a mother. Besides, my mother was my mother and no one will replace her. He can try to, but I won't."
"Clara, I doubt that he's replacing her. He's probably just...lonely. A lot of people are that way after they lose someone that they loved so much."
"I know...I know. It'd be easier to accept if she wasn't so horrible. She's no...nagging and she purposefully tries to act motherly but in a horrible way like...you'd have to see her to know what I mean."
Hmm...maybe he could get her to let him go to this reunion. Besides, it'd be nice to meet some of Clara's family even if she didn't like them all much. "I could go with you. Make the day less dreadful. Who knows, I might even make the event better."
She laughed. "That's nice of you John, but I don't want to drag you along to this with me. You wouldn't like it." Besides, they would think that he was her boyfriend and he wasn't her boyfriend. That was also something that they always bothered her about, Clara thought.
"Please Clara? I'll dress up nice and everything. It'll be fun if I go. We could put on music and I can teach everyone how to dance."
Now it was Clara's turn to raise an eyebrow. "You? Teach everyone to dance? Now that is a sight that would be interesting to see. Okay then, family reunion. You're going."
John grinned. If he could win her family over, maybe he could finally win Clara over like he really wanted to. Besides, if they liked him well enough they might try to make some suggestions for Clara to date him.
He tried not to get his hopes up too much as he said, "Excellent. It's a date then."
Clara's cheeks turned pink, though he didn't notice because he'd gotten another jammie dodger out of the package.
"John! What did we say? We're not dating? We're not together. And if they ask if we are you say no."
"Blimey Clara, it's just a word. You don't have to take it so seriously. Fine. It's not a date date, but we're going to this thing on a certain day. There. Is that better?"
He looked over at her and was glad to see her nod. "That's a lot better."
"A not date day thing it is then. Which day was it exactly?"
"Saturday. So we better get you to the mall before then so that you're not wearing that or one of my dad's outfits."
John gave her an offended look. "What's wrong with this? I always wear this and so does the Doctor."
"There's nothing wrong with it. I just...you should get more outfits than that one. You can even wear a bow tie if you want to," Clara said.
He grinned. "Alright. As long as I can wear a bow tie. Let's go shopping tomorrow, that's Friday right? After work is done with?"
"Friday is good. Besides, it's our last day to actually go shopping before the day anyway."
John smiled and leaned back. If things worked according to plan then he and Clara would be together in no time at all, at least he hoped so anyway.