Chapter Twenty-Two: "James…please."
"For this assignment you will need to partner up." Mr. Green, my biology teacher bellows. I felt James grab my hand under the lab table, earning ourselves a couple of whistles and giggles. I turn to see him staring blankly ahead, his grip on my hand not loosening.
"James?" I say. "Earth calling James." I say, waving my other hand in from of his face. He is suddenly brought back down to Earth, from wherever he was. He looks down at our hands.
"Your hands are beautiful Clara." He said, letting go of my hand and placing his back on the table.
"You know you could have just asked me like "hey Clara, you wanna be partners" like a normal person." I say.
"Well I am not a normal person Clara, and neither are you." He spoke, attaching his smile, which could probably melt the polar ice caps.
"Clara and James have you chosen your partners?" Mr. Green asked, he had walked over to our table with the task sheet, which he had been handing out to everyone.
"Yes, we are partners for this assignment." I say.
"Not the only thing you guys are partners in." I hear Sophie snicker. I turn around to face her, giving her a scowl. "We saw what you two did." She added.
"Clara ignore her." James whispered. I turn back around to face the front of the classroom, packing up my stuff and shoving it angrily into my bag. Thank God it was the last lesson of the day. As if it was by pure luck, the shrill of the bell echoed through the building.
"Okay class, draft is due along with all your research in 3 weeks. Class dismissed. Before he even finished his sentence, students hurried out the door, James and I were last to leave, not wanting to have to face everyone else.
"Are you upset with me Clara?" James asked, trying to keep up with me.
"You should have just let me hit her." I say, we have reached our lockers. I shove all my unwanted books into the locker and slam the door shut. I was about to walk away when James caught me by my waist.
"Talk to me. I have known you for what? A couple of months now? You have barely told me anything about yourself. You haven't told me the truth I know that much. I am your only friend Clara, so I can't help you unless you tell me what the hell is going on with you." James said, not letting go of me.
"Meet me at 221B Baker Street at 4:00, we can work on our assignment, then I might tell you. Now hurry up and put your shit away because we are already late." I say.
I asked my homeroom teacher if I could leave early, so I would be there for JJ and Ollie. I arrive just as the boys are being let out of class.
"I am just going to have a chat to your teacher and then we will go, go and get your bags and wait by the door." I tell them. I stroll into the classroom to find Miss King at her desk.
"Oh good afternoon Clara." Miss King said, looking up from her diary.
"Afternoon Miss, I was just wondering how the boys were today?"
"Oh they were very well behaved. They said to the other kids that you were there big sister." I giggled a little.
"No I am just a family friend. Well I better get these two home to their father. I will see you tomorrow Miss."
"Okay, have a good afternoon Clara." She says, turning straight back to work. I walk out of the bright classroom into the dull hallway to find the boys standing side-by-side waiting.
"Told you we would be good." JJ giggled.
"I know, you two are cheeky though." I say, holding out my hands for them to grab. "Time to go home and see Daddy hey?"
"Yeah!" They both say."
"Well them lets get going, I have to be home by four o'clock." I say. They grab my hands on either side of me and we walk out of the school grounds and into the busy street.
"Clara, thank you so much for looking after them today." Greg says, handing me a glass of water.
"It was my pleasure Greg, apparently they see me as their older sister, Miss King said they have been telling all their friends." I giggle.
"They need that though, now they have someone to look up to." He said.
"I'm flattered Greg." I look at the clock on the wall and my eyes widen.
"Shit it's 3:30, I have to go Greg, I am meeting a friend."
"Alright, but before you go, here are my contact details, so that if you need anything, just give me a call." Greg hands me a card with his mobile, landline and work numbers and his email. I slip it into my blazer pocket.
"Thanks, I shall see you bright and early tomorrow morning."
"See you tomorrow Clara." I hear little feet running down the stairs.
"BYE CLARA!" They say in unison.
"Bye JJ. Bye Ollie." I say, waving to them as I walk out the door. As soon as I walk out the door, I feel a buzzing sensation on my thigh. I pull my phone out of my pocket, only to see a text from James.
"Come by the shop, I will meet you down." He said. I don't bother replying. I begin to walk towards James's shop, my tights are just keeping out the chilling breeze. I adjust my skirt and continue walking, weaving my way through a sea of strangers.
I reach James's 10 minutes later. He is standing outside, still in uniform and still with his bag on his back. He waves off his father and begins to walk with me. We talk about school and how we should plan our assignment. We arrived home to Baker Street at around 4:00.
"Clara! How was your day?" Mrs. Hudson chirps up as she hears me come through the door. "And who is this handsome young man?" She adds.
"Mrs. Hudson, this i-"
"James Wilson." He says, putting his hand out to shake, which Mrs. Hudson takes. "It's lovely to meet you, Clara is always raving on about how good your lunches are." He adds.
"Oh dear, she is always such a beautiful girl." Mrs. Hudson said, letting go of his hand.
"No denying that." He said, smiling.
"Well I'm gonna head up stairs, since you two are now the best of friends." I say, plodding my way up the creaky stairs.
"It was lovely to meet you Mrs. Hudson." James said, following me up.
"And you James. Clara can you come down once you have put your bag down?!" Mrs. Hudson yelled. I acknowledge it and dump my bag at the door.
"Just, umm, make yourself at home, just don't touch anything in the kitchen." I say, before running down stairs.
"Yes, Mrs. Hudson?" I say. She comes out of her kitchen with a tray with some biscuits, fruit and two glasses of juice.
"Thought you would want something to eat." She says, handing me the tray.
"Thank you." I say.
"He seems really nice Clara." She adds. "Do Molly and Sherlock know about him?"
"No, that's what I'm afraid of." I say, walking quickly back up the stairs before she could ask me any more questions. I come back upstairs to find James nowhere in sight. "James?" I say, gingerly placing the tray on the coffee table.
"Back here Clara." He said, his voice coming from my room. I take off my shoes and leave them near the door, tip-toeing towards the dark corridor. I come to the door and push it open. I spot James sitting on the edge of my bed, holding my notebook.
"What's this Clara?" He said, waving it around.
"That is none of your business." I growl. I storm towards him, but he stands up, his tall muscular frame towering over me. He holds his hands behind his back, with that my notebook. "Give it back James."
"Not until you tell me who you are, because from what I can tell, you are far from being the Clara I know." He said.
"Give. It. Back." I say. I reach around him, but he places it above his head, far out of my reach. "Why do you want to know, you have obviously read it."
"But I want you to tell me what it is." He says. I tired to reach it by standing on my toes, but even then I was only just past his shoulders.
"Fine, I will tell you. I will tell you everything. But promise me one thing." I say.
"Anything." He said, lowering his arm.
"You can't tell anyone, absolutely no one. Molly and Sherlock can't know I have said anything to you either, Sherlock would kill you if he found out you knew."
"Okay I promise." He handed me back my journal.
"Go and take you shoes off and leave them by the door, I need to go and find something." I say. I walk out of my room, trying not to slip with my tights on. I walk into the lounge room and rummage through Sherlock's stack of papers. I come across a folder labeled "Clara Eloise Holmes", I knew this was it. I waltzed back into my room, finding James sitting on the bed comfortably.
"If you cared about me, you would read this without me around, so I am going to go and study in the living room whilst you read this." I say, quickly leaving before he could hold me back. I shut the door behind me and walk briskly out into the living room. I set myself down and begin studying, hoping and praying to God that he will still care after he finishes reading that folder.
It was about 15 minutes later when I heard a loud bang come from my room. Oh fuck what have I done. I jump up and run down the hallway.
"James!" I wail, "open the door." I say. I know he is leaning up against the door. "James…please." After what seemed like minutes, he opened the door.