AN: Sorry it's been a while, life got in the way and writing took a backseat but with some free time I decided to finally pick up fic writing again! So, here we are and we're officially writing our own story, folks! As I said before some plots from s12 might pop up in here but also know that everything is fair game and I'm working on my own playbook now and we're trying to figure it all out.
Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi, or its characters. I own this idea for this story.
Chapter Four: Family Togetherness
Being home for break was new to Clare. Usually she would go to either her mother's family or her father's family homes, but never stay at the house for break. It was unheard of in the Edwards family, but this was the Edwards-Martin family and it was in fact completely different. Or so, that's what Helen and Glen continue to tell Clare and Jake and every family member that they're greeting.
It's what seems like a never ending cycle of grandparents, uncles and aunts, and cousins coming through the door. Family members Clare hasn't seen since the wedding in the summer, or family members that Clare hasn't even met at all thanks to the wedding feeling so "last minute" that it was all thrown together and not every family member had the opportunity to get away and join them on the "special day".
Clare continues to make eye contact with Jake from across the room, they're rolling their eyes at each other and sending texts back and forth about family members. Both as warnings and as guides. It's a helpful tool, being able to text with someone who knows the family so well and offer advice on which cousin you shouldn't talk to about sports and which aunt is going to try and kiss you on the cheeks four times instead of just once.
Clare: So…how long do we have to deal with this?
Clare: They're not all staying here tonight, right? Like, you and Glen did renovations but…this place is still small…
Jake: I hope not. With our luck you and I would be stuck sleeping in the truck outside.
Clare: TAKE THAT BACK! KNOCK ON WOOD! DON'T SAY THAT!
Clare may be laughing at the thought, but it's also serious and she doesn't even want to think about being stuck outside with Jake. She's sure that everyone else is staying at a hotel, since that's the only thing that makes sense. Besides, her mom hasn't asked her to give up her room for one of her cousins…which is usually what might happen if everyone would be staying in the house. Clare catches Jake snickering on the other side of the room and she rolls her eyes at him, sticking her tongue out at him before sending him another text.
Clare: Can't believe this. I'm hanging out with the kids, they're less annoying than you.
Jake: Wow, Clare. I'm soooo offended.
Clare sighs and tucks her phone into her pocket before heading over to where the younger cousins have been playing in the living room. She takes a seat beside them and spends time with them. She hasn't seen them since they were the flower girl and ring bearer at Helen and Glen's wedding, and Clare's always been good with kids. She definitely wishes that things were different. It feels like the summer all over again, when her mom got married and Clare was forced to stay with the family and only the family.
Break is supposed to be a time to relax, but Clare feels a ton more stress of everything with meeting all of these new family members and seeing them again since the wedding. It's been so long since she's seen some of them in some cases.
Helen and Glen want to project that they're all one big happy family, and while Clare has moved past everything it still feels like they're putting on a show. Like everything feels calculated to put their best faces forward in front of the new joint Edwards-Martin family fronts. Which is totally understandable, and yet Clare wishes that she could run out of the house and call Alli or Jenna or even KC and get out of the house.
"Lunch will be ready in a couple of minutes. Can I get some help with getting drinks for everybody?" Helen pops her head inside the house from the backyard, looking around and spotting Clare with a smile. "Clare, sweetheart. Why don't you grab the glasses from the cabinet, and the plates too please. Bring them outside. I think it's nice enough now and we can all eat out in the back."
Clare knows there's no saying no to her mother, so she nods her head. "Sure mom." Helen grins brightly, closing the door behind her and heading back outside while Clare gets up from where she'd been playing with the kids, putting the toys she'd been holding back on the floor and going into the kitchen and gathering everything she was asked to grab.
On her way outside Clare hears her mother gushing to the other adults outside, "Well, Clare just put together the whole school newspaper on her own!"
"Really?"
"Our little Clarebear did all that by herself?"
Clare puts the stuff down and sighs, turning around. "I mean, not all by myself. I had my friends who helped me out with the articles. It was Connor and KC who even picked the layout idea."
"Oh, don't be so modest, sweetheart." Helen says, standing up and putting her hand on her daughter's shoulders with a grin and turning to look back at the family that's all sitting around now. She's clearly showing off, and Clare's letting her mother talk about it even though she feels like it was definitely more of a group effort. "Clare took over as the editor of the newspaper under such short notice! I don't even think they were going to do anything for the holiday edition and my daughter stepped up and said no way and put it all together in, what was it Clarebear, two days?"
"Two days, basically." Clare's never been good being the center of attention, and she's really the center of it all now with everyone outside looking at her now with her mother talking about her and the Daily holiday edition she's just put out.
"We're very proud of Clare." Glen says from the grill, barely looking up but Clare's heard this all before. When she came home after the Daily was published and she showed her mom and Glen the issue after the frostival, everybody at home was excited. She didn't need more reassurance that everyone was proud, she knows that her mom is doing this to prove something to the family now.
"Oh, Clare, don't you still have a copy? I'm sure everybody would love to see your first edition as editor! Maybe it's even the first of many." Helen gushes, giving Clare's shoulders a squeeze with a grin and patting her daughter's arms when she's finished speaking. "Go upstairs and grab the issue."
"Mom, please. I'm sure everyone doesn't want to see this right now." Clare says quietly, sidestepping to be out of her mother's embrace and looking at everyone. "Plus, I'm not even next in line to be editor, technically. Mr. Simpson says he's going to think about it, since he's the one who has final say about the paper's staff anyway. He's the faculty advisor."
"Well, you're a shoe in. But, anyway, I would like you to go and get the copy you brought home." Helen says lightly, but Clare knows that her mother means it for real this time and there's no real arguing with her. But Clare wants to argue with her because she doesn't want to be the center of attention any longer.
So, Clare decides to play it simple with a comment directed towards what they'll be doing soon, lunch. "Well, I wouldn't want to get the copy messy. With lunch being so soon and all. Plus, we have all week to talk about school with everybody, right? Maybe we can talk about the Daily later on tomorrow or another day and I'll even pull out other articles I've written if you want me to."
Helen seems to weigh the option for a moment and finally nods her head. "Alright. That's reasonable, why don't you and Jake gather everybody and bring them outside for lunch now? Not much longer, right Glen?"
Glen glances up and shakes his head, "A minute or two and everything should be done."
Clare turns to go back inside but before she can Helen's calling her back and reminding her to grab the salad that she left in the fridge and the other sides they might need to. Clare nods her head, biting the inside of her cheek to keep herself calm from saying anything back to her mother.
"Hey guys, head outside, time to eat!" Clare claps to get everyone's attention, though she and Jake are the oldest of the cousins everyone's been doing their own thing inside the house including having the tv on and devices playing. Then Clare turns to look at Jake and points at him, "Except Jake, I apparently need help grabbing a bunch more stuff from the kitchen."
Jake gets up and once the two of them are alone in the house he looks at Clare and sighs, "How many days are we stuck with everybody?"
Clare turns to look at the family gathered outside and then looks back at Jake, "How many days until Christmas?"
"Wrong, I think some of them are staying through Boxing Day." Jake corrects her and Clare groans as she rummages through the fridge to get the sides out, passing them to Jake. "Sorry, I thought you knew."
"Just because I knew doesn't mean I didn't forget." Clare explains, tugging the salad bowl out of the fridge and making sure she got everything else out before closing it and looking at her step-brother. "Or that I didn't wish that it wasn't true. Any chance we can fake sick or something?"
"Oh, didn't you say something about Eli poisoning somebody once? Think he could come by and give us something for the salad before we bring it out there?" Jake taps the top of the salad dish with a grin.
Clare knows he's joking with her but she grimaces and sighs, "It was ipecac, and I think if that happened we'd be stuck with everybody here instead of at the hotels." Clare points out with a shrug of her shoulders.
"We could sneak out and just not come back?" Jake suggests.
"Oh, with all the sides too?" Clare laughs lightly, shaking her head. "I think my mom would notice the missing food. And Glen would miss the truck."
Jake sighs and nods his head, "Fair point. Fine, I guess we're stuck here then. But if you think of a way out you'll take me with you?"
"Only if you take me with you, too." Clare responds.
"Deal."
"Okay, now lets go out there before mom thinks you've eaten all the side dishes she worked hard on." Clare says, shuffling the salad in her hands and heading toward the backyard door.
"First of all, this potato salad I'm holding is absolutely store bought." Jake points out with a laugh. "Second, what's to say you wouldn't steal the sides too?"
"Cause we've all seen how much you crowd onto your plate at meal time?" Clare replies, shaking her head as she opens the door and gestures for Jake to head out before she does.
Jake hums at Clare's response before nodding, "Also a fair point." He answers her before heading outside and putting the sides down on the table that's been set up for everyone to take food from. Clare follows behind and puts the salad down after him and takes a seat, shaking her head at his comment.
It's not bad when you think about it, all the family togetherness. Eating lunch and chatting with everybody, relaxing together and catching up is simple and easy going. It's not stressful and Clare feels no pressure from her mother to be part of this picture perfect family unit that she wants to project to everybody here.
As much as Clare wants to leave and spend break with her friends and on her own (her ideal break would be spent reading the large pile of books she's got on her "to be read" section of her desk upstairs in her bedroom) she's not entirely unhappy to spend it with the family either.
She just wishes it wasn't so much togetherness.
The only good thing about spending so much time with her family is that she can get away with spending time on her phone as well. She's been texting her friends during the break and keeping up with everybody else's breaks. Every day she feels like she's sending at least one version of a text telling everybody to "have some fun for me".
A whole day of taking the family around the city was exhausting so Clare was finally relaxing for the night in her bedroom. She's got a book open in her lap that she's been reading for some time with music playing from her phone when a call interrupts everything. Seeing that it's Alli, Clare picks up.
Before Clare can say anything she's cut off with some squealing on the other end of the phone and a quick, "Oh my God, Clare! You won't believe it!"
Clare pulls the phone away from her ear and giggles, "Believe what? My ears? Your volume? Give me some warning next time!"
"Sorry, sorry! Sorry! I'm just," Alli cuts herself off with another excited squeal. "Okay, hold on."
"Alli, I'm literally on the edge of my seat waiting. Are you going to tell me what's happening or are you going to keep squealing in my ear until I hang up and you wind up texting me it instead?"
Clare hears Alli taking a couple of deep breaths before she hears her friend speaking again, "Okay, I'm calm! I'm calm now, I promise."
"So, what's got you so excited?" Clare asks, half paying attention to her friend and half reading the book she's got open in her lap.
"Mom and dad have given me full permission to go to a concert of my choosing this year." Alli finally says. "Which is huge considering the last concert I remember going to was, like…Sav's concerts. And Sav was basically detained when he went to that Dead Hand concert one time."
"With Eli and Adam, I remember hearing all about that." Clare nods her head along with Alli's words as she looks down at her book. "So, why are you telling me this?"
"Uh, duh! Girls night out? You, me and Jenna!" Alli gasps as she talks, as if she can't believe Clare didn't think this when she said the word concert.
"Uh, hello. Total family lockdown remember." Clare reminds Alli with a sigh, flipping the page of her book and strumming her hand on the page.
"I'm not talking about tomorrow or this week, Clare! But we've got to start looking at shows we want to see."
"Did you hear the total family lockdown part of my statement, Alli?" Clare repeats.
Clare can practically see Alli waving a hand and shrugging as she hears her friend's reply of, "We can easily find a work around for that."
"You have…met my mother, right?"
"Okay, fine. Stay locked up in that tower Rapunzel. Wait for Prince Charming to climb up your long locks of hair and rescue you from the tower." Alli sighs, laughing lightly at the thought of it all.
Clare rolls her eyes at her friend's tone. "Alli, please."
"We can figure it out. You've got to go shopping for presents still, right?" Alli questions.
"I think so. Mom said it was going to be just the two of us, but I highly doubt it given how many people we've got visiting in town."
"Perfect! We'll casually bump into you and your mom at the mall and see if she'll allow you to break off from there. It's not like you'd want to buy her present in front of her anyway, right?" Alli suggests.
Clare shrugs her shoulders, sighing. In theory, the plan Alli just suggested sounds like it will work. But she's already coming up with how much her mother will loathe the idea of it all. Still, she knows in the end Alli's right. "It can't hurt to try, I guess."
"Exactly! I mean…you don't want to ruin her Christmas present. And that's exactly how you should phrase it when we see you. Just, like, remember to text me so we can be at the mall when you get there too."
"Oh, yes, silly me. I'm so forgetful." Clare can't help but laugh, shaking her head at the thought of it all.
"Weirder things have happened! I mean, you like KC again." Alli retorts back, causing Clare to sigh. "Speaking of, how's that going? Have you talked to him during break yet? Oh, wait! Better yet. Let me grab Jenna." There's some rustling on Alli's end of the phone and muffled sounds which Clare suspects is Alli trying to get Jenna's attention. "I wanna hear what happened when he chased after you during the frostival."
"Oh, is that Clare? Hi Clare! How's the family bonding going?" Jenna's voice comes through perfectly.
"Hey Jenna. It's…going. It's definitely better than I thought it would be, honestly. I mean we're not…"
Clare's cut off by Alli's voice, "Okay, we can so hear about this tomorrow at the mall. Important things first! What happened at the frostival with KC?"
"Did something happen at the frostival with KC?" Jenna asks.
Clare sighs, "Nothing really happened. Alli's making a big deal out of nothing, seriously. I mean…we kind of, maybe made plans to hang out over break? But who knows if that'll even happen anyway."
"Uh…it's happening if I have anything to say about it!" Alli exclaims, gasping. "You left that out of the text messages we've exchanged. What else have you left out?"
Clare rolls her eyes, "Nothing else."
"I'm not convinced. Are you convinced Jenna?"
"I dunno." Jenna singsongs, making Clare wince at the thought of it all. "Come on Clarebear, spill."
"There's nothing to spill! We had pizza while we got everything to print and then we went our separate ways. Seriously, that's it." Clare insists.
"And? What's this about hanging out with him over break?" Alli inquires impatiently, sighing.
"Just that we haven't really seen each other in a while and that I should meet his mom and we should hang out again. Simple stuff, honest. But it's not gonna happen, not with everything that's going on here." Clare explains, a bit of sadness in her tone at the thought. While she's spoken to KC a couple of times thus far over break neither had brought up seeing each other. Clare's been worried to mention it because she's afraid to have to cancel on any upcoming plans.
"What? Clare, come on. Your mom's not keeping you locked in that house. She'll let you out for dinner with friends." Jenna comments.
Before Clare can react, Alli gasps, "Jenna that's it! That's perfect! When we see you at the mall we casually mention that we were going to hang out that night with some friends and that we were wondering if you could come too and bam. Helen can't say no!"
"I mean…she can." Clare butts in, shrugging her shoulders.
Alli sighs, "Nope. Don't think that. Text KC and ask him about tomorrow night and dinner and we will see you at the mall. Love ya."
With that, Alli's hung up and Clare listens to the dial tone on her phone for a split second before it closes out on her. She's truly in shock in this moment. She's gone from having no social life this break other than the constant barrage of family events to now having two non family engagements in one day? It seems surreal.
Clare puts her bookmark into her book and picks up her phone again and thumbs through her messages to KC's name.
Clare: Hey, I know it's totally last minute but I have some free time from this family stuff tomorrow night and was wondering if maybe I could take you up on that dinner offer with your mom? I can bring dessert. Mom's been baking up a storm this week. You have the pick of brownies, cupcakes, berry pie, or apple tarts.
With her luck, KC's going to be working anyway. She thinks nothing of it and puts her phone back down on her bed and picks her book back up to keep reading.
As she's getting ready to go to bed that night a text comes in and Clare flips over her phone to look at it.
KC: Sorry, just got off work. Tomorrow works for us, though! Mom likes apple tarts, but maybe also a couple brownies or cupcakes if you can snag those too? Text me when you're heading here.
KC: Oh, mom also wants to know if you're allergic to anything.
KC: I said nothing food wise. But worst case we can always order pizza since I know what you like.
The weight that's been on her shoulders since she sent him that text earlier finally elevates and she can breathe again. Maybe Alli's plan will work out after all, she just hopes that her mom sees nothing wrong with the idea of her going off with her friends.
Clare: Nope! No food allergies. I'm sure whatever she makes will be great. I'm excited to finally meet her, too. I should be at the mall with my mom for holiday stuff until the afternoon so if there's a specific time that works best let me know, okay!
Clare makes sure to go back to Alli's name too to send her friend a text as well.
Clare: Mission accomplished.
Her text to Alli is met with one back with a whole bunch of excited emojis and a hint of a few "i told you so" emojis as well, which leaves Clare laughing.
All in all, she's looking forward to tomorrow.
Hopefully it works out how they're all thinking it will.
AN: Thanks for reading! I hope you like this chapter, I promise there will be more KC in the next one haha.