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Chapter 10

The next day passed very slowly. Clara had decided not to accompany the class on their trip to the castle, feeling that she should still rest her ankle even though it was better already. In retrospect she regretted the decision and when her boredom was too overwhelming to even read her book she decided to take a nap.

Clara was woken in the evening and knew that she had made a mistake not setting an alarm. It was already dinner time and when she emerged from her room she immediately ran into Martha.

"Hey, how was the trip?" she asked.

"It was good," Martha confirmed with a smile, "No need to lock Courtney up in a dungeon. Surprisingly. But she did try to buy liquor from the supermarket we passed. Luckily they wouldn't trust her when she told them she was 18."

Clara groaned. "She already brought a bottle but the Doctor confiscated it on the first day."

"The Doctor?" her colleague raised a eyebrow, "Since when are you calling him by his nickname? I thought you hated each other."

"Yeah, well," Clara hesitated, "I apologized and after a bit of a. . . quarrel. . . he accepted it."

"Good," Martha concluded, "Cause he is really nice."

"I wouldn't go as far as to say that."

They had pasta for dinner and Clara ate her portion hungrily, having slept through lunch and tea time and the children seemed starved as well after today's excursion. However when Clara assumed they were tired, she was so, so wrong. After having eaten they all darted off into different directions. Some went downstairs to the basement to play games, others retreated to their rooms.

"Some of the kids want to play football. We thought a girl team against a boy team. Want to come?" Danny, who had appeared next to their seats, asked Martha.

"Sure," she replied and then turned towards Clara, "Wanna come, too?"

"And sit on the sideline?" she raised her eyebrows, "Nah, you go. I have a book to finish."

"Alright, see you later then," Martha said, "And don't worry about the kids. Danny and I are gonna take the watch tonight."

As Clara made her way back upstairs she was soon joined by the Doctor, who seemed happy after the trip to the castle.

"Hey, how's the ankle?" he asked her.

"Better," she replied sincerely, "Not yet ready for a game of football but enough for a walk, I guess."

"That's good."

"Thank you, by the way," Clara added, only now realizing that she hadn't even remotely thanked him for helping her back to the hostel and bandaging her foot, "I haven't really said that yet, have I?"

He chuckled in response. "Nope. You were busy accusing me of being a lousy parent."

"Sorry," she repeated, "I really-"

Suddenly they were interrupted by shouting and cheering coming from upstairs and Clara raised her head.

"What is that?" she asked.

"I don't know, let's have a look at what the kids are up to," the Doctor suggested and when they had walked upstairs they soon realized that it was coming from the room that held the more quiet and reasonable girls so Clara was surprised to hear so much racket coming from there.

She opened the door without knocking to surprise the students at whatever they were doing and the Doctor and Clara walked in just in time to watch Logan kiss Melina on the lips while the rest of the girls cheered and the two other boys present covered their faces in disgust. Once the children realized that they had been spotted they jumped apart immediately and when Clara looked at the Doctor she noticed that he seemed even more shocked than the children caught in the act.

"Sorry," Clara mumbled in the direction of the kids, not really knowing what else to say until she remembered that she was their teacher and supposed to keep them from doing what they shouldn't, "Boys! Back to your own room! Now!"

They quickly hurried out of the room and Clara couldn't help but notice how Logan and his father both avoided looking at each other. The Doctor still seemed in shock over what he had witnessed and so Clara gently took his arm and led him back downstairs to their own corridor.

"Are you okay?" she asked him carefully when he still hadn't said anything by the time they had reached his room.

"Logan kissed a girl," the Doctor stammered and now slowly seemed to wake up from his trance. The confusion was replaced by panic. "Logan kissed a girl!"

"I know, I've seen it, too," Clara said casually, "But that's okay. He's 13 and Melina is a sweet girl."

"He's 13!" the Doctor repeated, "What am I supposed to do now?"

She was a little taken aback by his question, assuming that he would know what to do. Clara hadn't expected him to panic about what they had just seen.

"Clara, what do I do?" he asked frantically, "Do I forbid it? Do I give him the talk about the birds and the bees? Should I tell him to invite the girl over? What should I do? I knew this day would come but I wasn't prepared! My son just got his first kiss!"

Clara couldn't help but laugh about his outburst. "Doctor, above all, stop panicking! It was only a kiss!"

"What if he comes to me for advice? I don't know a thing about love or girls!"

"Well, you know a few things," she paused, frowning, "But I wouldn't necessarily tell him those just yet."

"This Melina," the Doctor began, "She's a nice girl, right? She doesn't drink or does drugs or-"

"Doctor," Clara interrupted him, "These kids are 13. None of them are hooked on heroin yet and none of them have tattoos. Don't worry. They were only experimenting. I got my first kiss on a class trip, too, that's completely normal."

"I was 19," he admitted, staring blankly at her.

Clara frowned at him. "What? 19? Seriously?"

"But what do I do now? I've seen him kiss this girl and Logan knows I've seen it. Do I talk to him about it? Do I act like nothing ever happened? Oh, why can't he still be five years old? Everything was easier when he was five."

Clara rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, dragging him into her room. Once inside she produced the confiscated vodka bottle from her wardrobe and handed it to him.

"Here," she told him, "Drink!"

Reluctantly, as if to judge whether she was testing him, he took the bottle from her and after the Doctor had apparently determined that Clara was being sincere in her offer he opened the bottle and took a large lip.

"Better now?" she asked him, cocking her eyebrows.

He seemed to consider his answer for a moment and, after taking another gulp from the bottle, he screwed the cap back on and finally nodded before he sank down on her bed.

"I really wasn't prepared for this," the Doctor admitted once more.

With a sigh Clara sat down next to him, placing her hand on his thigh in a comforting gesture. "You'll figure out what to do, don't worry. Just tell Logan you're sorry that you walked in on it and tell him and if he wants to talk about it he can come to you. Trust me, eventually he will."

"I guess you're right," he replied absent-mindedly but after a moment he began smiling, "My son just got his first kiss."

Clara laughed. "Ah, there comes the pride. Been waiting for that."

He turned to look at her. "Is it wrong to be proud of that? I mean, Melina is a pretty girl and you said yourself that she's nice – so that's good for Logan, right?"

She smiled at him reassuringly and nodded. "Yeah, it's good for Logan. Now that I come to think of it, I think they've liked each other for a while. They've done some group projects together in my class when they were allowed to select a partner."

"I guess it is time for the talk about the birds and the bees then."

"Don't worry about it too much. They had that all in school already, they know how it works. And I don't think they'll do much more than hand holding and kissing for a while. You've still got some time," Clara told him reassuringly.

Suddenly the Doctor frowned at her, giving her a distrustful look. "You seem awfully nice all of a sudden."

"Oh, excuse me, I forgot to switch on the bitch mode," she said sarcastically, "I'm gonna do that right now."

The Doctor smiled at her. "No," he said and reached out to cup her face in his hand, "Don't. I quite like you when you're like this."

And before Clara could protest the Doctor leaned forward and brushed their lips together.