The paramedics were there when she woke up. Clara sat up quickly in panic, not immediately recognising her surroundings.
"Hey, you're alright Clara." She looked to her left and saw Chris. "How you feeling?"
She took a few deep breaths, calming herself down a little. "Okay I think, just shaky and tired."
"Well we've determined you weren't fitting for long so we don't need to take you in if you think you're okay?"
"I'm okay, I've wasted enough hospital time recently. I'm sorry you had to come out for a short seizure, it's all new to them here," she glanced up at Hannah who was stood by the door looking rather concerned.
Chris grabbed his bag, "nonsense, it's always lovely to see you even if it's not the best of circumstances. You look after yourself alright?" Clara nodded, "now in the nicest way I hope I don't see you again soon," she chuckled at his comment.
"Bye Chris, thank you," she smiled as he went, but the smile dropped once he was gone. "Didn't read all of my file then."
Hannah sighed, "I'm sorry Clara, but you did do wrong. I appreciate in your situation I should've taken a different approach but that doesn't excuse your punishment now. Phone please, 24 hours." Clara knew there was no point in arguing and took it from the side, handing it to her. "Thank you. Now the paramedic said you'd probably need to sleep for awhile now so I'll leave you be. Any problems you come and find me." Hannah left the room, shutting the door behind her.
Once Clara knew she was gone she went over to her wardrobe and opened it, pulling out the bag she'd left in the bottom and reached in for the spare phone Danny had given her. Thankfully she'd been keeping it charged in case of emergency so she soon had it turned on and she dialled his number.
"Why are you on this phone?" he asked when answering.
"Took my other one for 24 hours," Clara sighed. "Only fair I guess, I shouldn't have hit her."
"No, but are they doing anything about Jackie?" Danny asked.
"I doubt it. I can't be bothered with it all anymore to be honest," she sighed. "I just want this week done. The sooner I can be back with you the better," she told him, lying down and looking up at the ceiling. "I feel out of control."
"You can do this, just remember everything we talked about. Focus on yourself, there's plenty for you to do," he told her. "If it's any consolation my parents have got me working all hours at the cafe this week. I'm gonna lose the will to live."
Clara chuckled at his voice as he complained to her, "I'm sure you'll survive. Just be nice to the customers this time."
"That was one time and she was really rude!" Danny replied.
"Still," Clara said to him sternly.
"Yeah yeah I know. I'll be good," he groaned. "Speaking of which, I'd better go. I'll call you later okay? Look after yourself."
"I will, I love you," she replied and hung up, hiding the phone and shutting her eyes.
#-#-#-#
She woke up to a knock on the door and sat up, looking at the time - she'd been asleep for about 3 hours. Clara made her way to the door and opened it slowly, peeking round. She recognised the girl as the one who tried to stop Jackie earlier so she opened the door further. "Hi," she opened the door a little nervously.
"Hey, I was hoping we could start a fresh? I'm Kate and for what it's worth I think Jackie was in the wrong earlier. You go to her school?" She nodded. "Mind if I come in? Something tells me you might talk better in private." Clara moved out of the way to allow her in and shut the door. "Hannah didn't tell us a lot about you really, but I'd like to understand."
Clara sat back down on her bed. "Thank you, I'm sorry for the mess I caused, is Jackie okay?"
"No idea, but I expect so. I always had a feeling she wasn't the nice girl she's always made herself out to be," Hannah sat down on her desk chair.
"Mmm she has a lot of people fooled. How long has she been here?" Clara asked, crossing her legs and starting to relax a little.
"Years, since she was 3. I've been here longer though. She's grown up here but her parents left money for her to go to the private school, it's all a little weird. I don't know she's always seemed too nice all her life and anytime they tried to get her adopted she'd come back and just claim they weren't good enough. Always seems to get her way with everything, I don't quite know how she does it," Kate replied.
"Yeah, pretty much the same at school. Her and her friends are the 'popular girls' and they act exactly like that - anyone who isn't good enough knows about it but the teachers just think she's perfect material. It's stupid, because she doesn't work anywhere near hard enough and all her friends suffer for it too. Her boyfriend is so clever but she's the one stopping him. I mean, he's a jerk too but I'd place bets on that being her fault. We've been forced to work together on this maths project and honestly it's very hard when he has got used to being a lazy arse," she sighed.
"Oh wow you poor thing, I'm really sorry you've ended up here. Do you… mind me asking why?" Kate asked hesitantly.
"My dad's in hospital and my Mum died a year ago so there's nobody to look after me over the holidays. He's gonna be in the hospital for months," Clara looked down. Kate moved to sit beside her but didn't touch her.
"That's hard. I never knew my parents so I've never known any better but I always feel like it's worse to lose parents later in life. Your Dad will get better though right?" she asked.
"Yes he will, just has to have a lot of surgery and rehab. I wish I could do more, I can't even help my Gran from here," she sighed. "I know this is for the best but it really doesn't feel it."
"Well be assured you have at least one friend here," Kate smiled. "It's dinner now, you coming down?"
Clara returned the smile a little and stood up, "sure. Thank you."
Dinner wasn't so bad. Hannah was in the room so Jackie generally played nice other than the odd glare. Kate and Clara went back up to Clara's room afterwards and talked a little more about the simpler things like their interests and hobbies. They talked for so long that Clara had forgotten Danny was going to ring and their conversation was interrupted by the vibration from her drawer. She silently cursed herself for not turning that off, but then she hadn't expected company either.
"I thought Hannah took your phone?" Kate asked.
"She did…" Clara bit her lip a little. "I have a spare. It's complicated," she pulled it out of the drawer. "Just a cheap one. I can't really explain it." She rejected the call but quickly text Danny to say she was fine and would call later before putting it away. "Please don't say anything."
"Why would I? Consider my mouth zipped," Kate performed the motion with her mouth and hands to which Clara chuckled.
"Thanks, it's nice to have a friend," she smiled.
"You have friends at school right? Jackie hasn't ruined that?" Kate suddenly asked.
"Oh yeah my roommates are amazing, we get on so well. Infact they'll be panicking that I'm not replying to them but I'll smooth that out tomorrow," she explained.
"Wait but you have a spare phone?" Kate pointed out.
"Only has 1 number in it," Clara told her. "And that is a secret."
"Duly noted," Kate grinned. "But you know you've made me very intrigued now?"
"Yep," Clara shrugged and smiled, "and long may it continue."
"Oh you are a cheeky one. I like it. I should probably get some work done now, got some awful maths stuff. Honestly GCSEs are a bitch and maths is the worst," she complained.
"Want me to take a look?" Clara asked. Kate looked a little unconvinced, "maths is something I can do. Bring it in here I can do some of my stuff too."
Kate decided to give her a try and disappeared to get her work. Clara went into the cupboard and found where she had put her folder and grabbed it out. Kate reappeared and sat down with her, getting out her homework. "I don't know if you'll be able to help, you won't have even covered this yet."
"I have a lot of spare time and do a lot of reading," Clara told her and looked over. "Oh fun, so what don't you get?"
Kate explained and no sooner had she done so Clara grabbed a bit of paper and started going through the equation with her. "That's the way I always find easiest anyway."
"That makes so much more sense than the way they tried to teach us at school. How on earth do you know that?" Kate asked, looking over what she'd written.
"A lot of time hiding in the library with nothing but curriculum based books to entertain myself. Let's just say I didn't enjoy my previous school a lot," she shrugged.
"So you turned yourself into a little genius?" Kate asked and Clara blushed. "There's nothing wrong with that. Good for you. Don't expect me not to take advantage," she winked.
"Everyone does don't worry," she chuckled. "Anyway have a go with that and let me know if it's an issue."
#-#-#-#
By Monday she felt a little more comfortable. Kate looked after her and she helped with her work, it seemed like a fair deal. Clara was lying on her bed after lunch when Danny phoned, he must have just gone on lunch. "Hey you, got your phone back then?"
"Thank goodness, I had about 20 messages from Jess and Faye panicking. I didn't tell them a lot about what happened though, they don't need to worry. Are you okay?" she asked.
"Knackered, it's so busy in there today. But I want to hear more about this friend of yours," Danny asked her. She could hear him eating on the other end and for some reason that made her smile.
"Kate? She's so lovely. She's in year 10 and I've been helping her a little with her maths-"
"Geek," Danny interrupted and Clara rolled her eyes.
"Cheeky sod," Clara told him, "it's been nice having a working partner and she dislikes Jackie just as much as I do."
"Well that's a bonus," he grinned, "I'm glad you're a little happier. Has she said anything else?"
"Nah, I've dodged that bullet. I'm just hanging on for Wednesday, I miss Dad," she sighed, her mood dropping slightly as she thought of him.
"Oh that's what I was meant to ask you. Mum said if you like we could take your Gran in to see him?"
"That would be so good, she'll be worried sick about the both of us but I don't want your parents to go out of their-"
"Shush, they're more than happy to. Text me the address and we will go round after work," he told her. "I wish we could take you."
Clara sighed, "I wish you could too. I miss you," she sat up and walked to the window looking out. "There's a nice view here."
"I'm sure you're a nicer view," Danny grinned down the phone.
"You are SO cheesy. That was shocking. If you were here I would send you out the room," she rolled her eyes.
"I can hear the eye rolling from here," Danny commented, "I do love you."
"Luckily I love you too," she smiled.
"Well well well," Clara spun round and saw Kate at the door. She came in and shut the door, "You didn't shut the door properly. Lucky it was just me. So who's on the phone?"
"Um… my Gran…" Clara tried.
"Really?!" She got down her ear, "couldn't have been your Dad? You went for Gran?!"
"Well Dad wasn't a very plausible answer," she replied, momentarily and stupidly forgetting why she'd lied in the first place.
"Nor is your Gran, you told me her phone was broken on Sunday that's why you couldn't get in contact," Kate pointed out. Clara shut her eyes tight and pinched her nose a little.
"I'll call you back," she sighed and threw the phone down on the bed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to lie, it's complicated it's-"
"A boy, I got that. The question is why do you look so mortified that I found out?" Kate asked, going over to the window where she was still stood. "I mean you look actually terrified."
"It's-"
"If you tell me it's complicated one more time I'll throw you on that bed. What is it?"
Clara moved from the window and picked her phone back up. She unlocked it and went through a series of folders to reach the ones with photos of her and Danny. When she found a suitable picture she handed the phone to Kate. "Aww that's lovely- wait, isn't that Danny?" Clara nodded. "What the hell?!"
"Please, don't, I know it's awful and how it must look but there's so much more to it than that," she nervously played with her hands. Kate started flicking through the holiday photos.
"You guys look… serious. I mean, I'm not sure I've ever seen kids your age look at each other like that. That's like how people in films look at each other I mean really how much more sickeningly romantic could this photo be?" she turned the phone to Clara. It was one they'd taken on the beach as the sun was going down, Danny was holding her close as the temperature started to cool and Gina had snapped it when they weren't looking. "I never understood him and Jackie. He always seemed too good for her, like she was dragging him down. I mean, I've only met him a couple of times when he's visited but it never felt right."
"They're together because everyone thinks they should be, not because they do. Danny can barely stand her," she sighed and sat down on the bed, "but it can't end. If it does it'd be catastrophic for them both, and then there's me..."
"School politics huh?" Kate sat down beside her. "It's okay, I get it."
"Really? Most people don't. Well, everyone that knows now kinda does but… I don't know. I can't see Jackie seeing it that way, or most of the kids at school. It took my own Dad long enough."
"I may have only known you a couple of days but it's pretty clear to me you don't mess about when it comes to friendships and feelings, and you're rather more mature than your age would suggest," Kate explained how she saw it.
"I get that a lot," Clara shrugged, "I learnt to grow up fast, didn't get much choice in it. It's fine though," she sighed. "Danny is the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. He gets me, all my little stupid quirks and messed up reactions to stuff, but he treats me like a human being and that's all I can ever ask. I love him."
Kate handed the phone back to her, "I can see that. Consider your secret just that - as long as you keep me up to date with all the gossip."
Clara chuckled, "deal. There isn't actually that much gossip to share right now, but I will."
"Wonderful, I'll leave you to it then," Kate stood up, "come find me when you're done."
Once she'd gone Clara phoned Danny back and lay back down, relieved at how that went.
#-#-#-#
On Tuesday she finally ventured out of the safety of her room again - something she hadn't done (apart from meals and the odd visit to Kate's room) since she arrived on Saturday. Kate was out with friends this morning, Danny was working and she's already done all the work she could do so in the end it was boredom that forced her exit from the safety of her bedroom.
She knew there was a library room somewhere downstairs - the saving grace of this home - and books were the place for her to turn to. Thankfully she found it easily and went in, smiling at the amount of books. There were hundreds to look through and she started scanning the shelves to find something she hadn't yet read.
"Jackie said you were a geek," Clara turned round and saw one of the other kids had followed her in. He was called Peter, maybe a year older than her if she remembered what Kate had said.
"I like to read," she shrugged and turned back round, pulling out one of the books and reading the blurb. "It's relaxing and you learn a lot."
"There are far more interesting things to do with your life. I mean you haven't been in the TV room once since you arrived and that's just weird," Peter commented.
"You know what's weird? The fact you followed me in here just to tell me I'm weird," Clara replied, something which actually seemed to shock him a little. "What? The weirdo fights back? Weren't you there on Saturday?" Clara rolled her eyes. "I'm not 'weird' Peter, I'm just me. I love reading and I find a lot of subjects fascinating. I do watch TV but I'm not a big fan of sitting in a room full of other people so I've stayed upstairs a lot, I can catch up another time. I appreciate to some people I'm not 'normal', but what exactly is normal? Think on that and get back to me." She walked by him and opened the door to leave the room.
Jackie was stood outside. Of course she was, Peter didn't come in off his own back why would he? Clara avoided eye contact and went to walk off. "Thought you were never going to leave."
"What are you trying to do Jackie? Because you're not getting another reaction like you did before, I'm not falling for that again. I don't understand all this, what have you got against me?" Clara asked, a weird burst of confidence coming over her.
"You don't belong here," Jackie replied.
"Correct, I don't, but I'm just putting up with it until my Dad is better so if you don't mind I'm going to get away from all your ridiculous glares. Goodness knows what crap you've made up about me," she started to walk off but Jackie ran after her and grabbed her arm. Clara stiffened but took deep breaths to try and avoid anything worse. "Please let go. I can't answer for my actions if you don't, and everyone knows that."
Jackie did let go, but she also had Clara corneded. "I can't believe I have to put up with you now. Hannah said you might be here at Christmas too?! Do you know how ridiculously annoying that is?"
"Yes. I really do. What exactly is the point of this conversation? I'm here, there's nothing that can be done about that. We both just need to put up with it." Clara was becoming less and less affected by her scare tactics and it was obviously frustrating Jackie who after a brief period of silence made some sort of growl at her before disappearing. With that done Clara made her way back to her room and settled down, opening the book.
It was a couple of hours later that there was a knock on her window. Clara sat up and walked over, opening the curtain slowly and was more than surprised to see Danny there. She opened the window so he could climb in.
"Jackie invited me over," he sighed as Clara shut the window behind him.
"I still don't quite understand why you just climbed in my window?" Clara asked.
"I wanted to see you. I'm not supposed to be here till 1," he replied and pulled her in for a hug.
"Oh great you're here for lunch, that's not going to be awkward at all," Clara rolled her eyes. "You know she tried to get me again earlier."
Danny sighed, "what is wrong with her?"
"That's what I asked. Shocked her a bit that did," Clara stepped back and smirked a little.
"I'm very proud," Danny chuckled, "not that you should have to deal with it, but I'm proud you're coping."
Clara took his hand, "it feels like I'm getting better at this stuff. All thanks to you of course," she smiled. Danny out his spare hand on her back and pulled her a little closer.
"No my love, it's all your work," he smiled and kissed her softly. "I've missed you."
"Missed you too," she replied, resting their foreheads together and shutting her eyes briefly. "I lo-" she started speaking but the door burst open and they jumped apart - there was no time for Danny to hide.
"Oi," oh good, it was Jackie. Thank goodness the window was slightly round the corner so she hadn't seen them a second earlier. "What the hell are you doing in here?!" she spotted Danny stood in the corner. Clara turned away and brushed her hair back to compose herself.
"I arrived early, you weren't around and I needed to speak to Clara about the project. Thought I should get it over and done with so I popped in," he replied.
Clara turned around again, "we're done, you can go," she told Danny.
"I don't need your permission," Danny replied. Clara knew he never meant what he said when he was with Jackie, they'd covered that a long time ago. "Let's go Jackie," he grabbed her hand and they left. Clara breathed a sigh of relief and lay down on the bed, shutting her eyes.
Not long after there was a knock on the door next. Clara opened her eyes again and groaned a little, why couldn't she get any peace today? She stood up and walked over, opening the door to see Hannah there. "Lunch is ready."
"I'm not hungry, it's fine," Clara replied.
"It's still lunchtime and I'm supposed to be making sure you eat every meal so I need you to come down now," Hannah pointed out - of course she'd read that bit. Clara sighed and nodded, dreading this meal more than most. Hannah opened the door further and moved for Clara to come out which she did and then made her way downstairs.
Danny had been to the home a few times, that much she knew, and everyone seemed to know him given the conversations that were occuring. She sat down in her usual place with the seat to her right empty as Kate was still out. Everyone started eating and Clara tried to keep her eyes down, but she couldn't help but hear what was going on around her. The younger kids were asking Danny plenty of questions which he was more than happy to answer, he was good with them. Jackie was more than happy to show off 'her man' as well.
"...yeah, he's even putting up with her for a project," Jackie gestured towards Clara as she spoke.
"It's alright, I'm clever enough to do it all myself," Clara spoke up much to Jackie's shock.
"You've got a mouth on you today!" Jackie fought back. Hannah and Glenn - the other care worker on duty - had left the room to deal with another incident. "I suggest you rethink your words." Clara shrugged and continued to eat, looking back down. "Aren't you going to apologise?" She couldn't help but let out a little laugh. "Oh you've got a nerve." Jackie stood up, walking round to her and grabbing her arm again. Clara saw Danny stand up instinctively but she managed to catch his eye and give him a look to tell him to keep away before turning her attention back to the situation in hand where she was being pulled up from her chair. "You're not as clever as you think Oswald," she forced her towards the wall. There were mutters behind them of people getting behind Jackie. "You need to learn where the line is. This is our home, you're just invading and you need to get out." Clara tried to pull her arm away but she couldn't and the longer the contact lasted the more she felt herself losing control. There was too much noise, too many people staring at her. Her breathing rate started to rise and there was a pain in her chest. "Aww are you scared now? Poor little Clara-"
"Get off her!" Kate's voice came from the back of the room and she walked over. "Grow up Jackie, you're really showing yourself in a new light this week."
"Yeah well she makes me angry," Jackie tutted, finally stepping back.
"Clara's literally done nothing to you, it's just ridiculous," Kate replied and then looked to Clara. "Let's go," she told her, guiding Clara out. As she left she turned back to the table where the rest of the kids sat, "you all need to have a think about what just happened." She followed Clara upstairs and into her room where she curled up on her bed. "Deep breaths."
"Yeah, I'll be alright," Clara shut her eyes and tried to settle her breathing. "Sorry."
"Don't you dare apologise, this wasn't your fault," she told her. There was a knock on the door and Kate got up to answer it. Danny was at the door. She let him in and quickly shut the door behind him. "Don't worry, I know the score," Kate told him. "I'm just gonna go change," she smiled back at Clara and left the room quickly.
Danny walked over and crouched beside the bed, "I'm sorry, I should never have come."
"She'd have still found an excuse," Clara replied, taking his hand and squeezing it. "She knows how to get me in ways I can't avoid and it's harder to get away than it is at school."
Danny nodded, "you're doing so well. You've definitely made a huge improvement and that's scaring Jackie. Plus you've got the best person on side, all the kids looks up to Kate - Jackie included - so stick with that one." Clara smiled and thanked him. "I do need to go, I only pretended to need the loo so I can't be long. I'll see you tomorrow though yeah? I'll come down the hospital."
Clara watched as he left and then sat up, feeling a lot calmer by the time Kate arrived back. "How you doing?"
"Okay yeah, I think I'll be just fine."