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So, sorry about that little hiatus, I've been rather busy lately, with school and "work" and babysitting my evil little brothers. But here it is, yet another chapter for me to torture poor Clear in; I know exactly how Clear feels, no joke, it's rather pathetic. Also, I'm going to go off on a tangent and acknowledge of few things: first off, please read my "F.D.3" story, I'm working really hard on it. Also, my favorite author on ff.net at the moment is ScribbleDribble, please read her stories, they're very funny. And, everyone who hasn't already seen the movie "10 Things I Hate About You," shame because you should go see it right now. It's so funny and Heath Ledger is in it *and* is "educational" because it's based off Shakespeare so when you take Brit Lit in whatever grade you can understand "Taming of the Shrew." Well, now that the madness has ended, please review and read! :) And once again, the title of this chapter sucks but, I couldn't think of anything better.

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Chapter Nine

Pity

The person Clear absolutely didn't want to see at the moment was Tod Wagner. Yet, here he was, headed her way, appearing very much like a man on a mission. She knew that "mission" was to talk to her and knew what was coming and attempted to look for a way out of the inevitable conversation. So, turning on her heel, Clear bolted down the hallway, only to run right into Carter Horton, his bubbly air-head girlfriend and his gang of jock friends.

Caught off guard and balance, the brunette stumbled to the floor, crashing into Tod, who had easily caught up with her. Carter's laughter rung in her ears as she shook her head, attempting to get her senses back; as if her day wasn't bad enough, it was just her luck to crash into the guy who already had a grudge against her.

Tod got to his feet, gathered his and Clear's books and helped the brunette to her feet, only to pale when he noticed that the Asshole Patrol had gathered. "Great, just what I need." He mumbled to himself, handing Clear her stuff and making frantic motions to signal an escape. He still needed to talk to the brunette and he didn't see how he could do such a thing if they both got killed by Carter and his buddies.

"Well if it isn't Queer and Wanker, the two people I hate most in the school. Right now." Carter added the last two words as an afterthought, knowing that the statement would surely change, perhaps even by the end of the day.

"Love to stay and chat Horton but-" Tod didn't even bother to finish, taking off down the hallway, not in the mood to freshen up yesterday's black eye. Clear took the hint and bolted as well, following after Alex's best friend, trying not to stumble over her slightly baggy pants.

Carter frowned as he watched them disappear, glaring after them. His friends and fellow football players made cracks about Tod and Clear but Carter was in no mood to join in at the moment. He was too busy picturing beating the crap out of both of them, and Alex Browning, for that matter, for somehow scoring the most beautiful girl in school. Sure he had Terry but Adrienne Grant was a completely different sort of woman all together.

* * *

Clear finally stopped running when she realized that she had long since past her fifth period and that no one was chasing her. Tod had stopped a few yards ahead of her, dropping his books to the floor, bent over, attempting to catch his breathe. Clear frowned when she noticed him, pursing her lips; she had managed to outrun Carter Horton but there was no escaping the false pity-talk that she was about to get from Tod.

Gathering his stuff again, Tod turned around and headed back to her, a boyish smile on his face. "What did you do to him anyway?" He asked breathlessly, referring to Carter's never-ending grudge against the brunette.

Clear shrugged, frown deepening. "I spilled his coke, on accident, this morning and then in fourth he called me 'Queer Rivers' so I gave him the finger." She explained, unable to smile even when Tod did. She wasn't in the mood to smile at the moment and didn't feel like smiling ever again, for that matter; all she had to do was picture Alex and Adrienne together and all happy-thoughts seemed to vanish instantly.

"Well, that's slightly more mature then calling him a butt-head." Tod remarked, sagely nodding his head once. There was a long pause and Clear shifted uncomfortably, knowing the inevitable was about to happen.

"Look," Tod began, unable to look the brunette in the face, "I'm really sorry about what happened in French, I had no idea that Adrienne Grant was going to be there. But, Alex never should have done that to you, I really am sorry."

Shrugging again, Clear forced herself to put on the guise of a teenage girl that hadn't just had her heart broken into a million pieces. It was a appearance that she had managed to perfect over the years. "Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway." She told him, shifting again. "I've really got to get to class." She said, and without another word, turned and headed down the hallway.

She could feel Tod's eyes burning into her back but she pretended not to notice, and forced herself to ignore the tears that were pricking her eyelids. With a sigh, Clear forgot all about getting to her next period and ducked into the nearest bathroom, tossing her books into the empty seat next to her and glared at her reflection in the mirror in front of her.

Pursing her lips, she attempted to figure out what made her less appealing then Adrienne Grant; she had always thought of herself as a pretty teenager, not drop-dead gorgeous but she definitely wasn't ugly. She just never could compliment her figure and her looks like other girls could, and was never assertive and rarely ever noticed. Clear tried to blink away the tears that had welled in her eyes, frowning when she realized that Alex had probably never thought she was pretty at all, judging as how easily he had forgotten her when Adrienne had entered the room.

Unable to stop herself, she wished that her mother was around, to talk to her and help her be the assertive girl that Alex obvious had wanted all along. But her mother would never be around, too busy starting her brand-new life with her new husband, leaving her daughter alone to salvage whatever she could.

Hot tears trickled down her cheeks and Clear grabbed a handful of coarse paper towels out of the dispenser, pressing them against her face. When she closed her eyes, the only thing she saw was Alex and Adrienne, walking hand-in-hand out of French class together.

That thought made her cry even harder, unable to contain her tears any longer. Face buried in a mass of already wet paper towels, Clear didn't even look up when the bathroom door opened.



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Short little note "Wanker" is Carter's nickname for Tod in ScribbleDribble's fics, so thanks to her for that little word. :)