John saw her on Monday morning. It was bright and early, but extremely cold, and it was the earliest time he had been at school since last year when he was told he would be expelled if he didn't make it to his homeroom every day for a week.

He told himself he wasn't early just because of her. He was early because he couldn't sleep. It was as simple as that. He couldn't sleep and there was no definitive proof that Claire had anything to do with that, just because he had spent a great portion of the time while awake thinking about her. That didn't mean anything. John Bender didn't stay up all night thinking about girls, especially just some stupid girl that had kissed him at a party while drunk.

He told himself again that he couldn't have been early because of her, because he didn't even know he would see her right there, talking to a girl at the other end of the hall. He also told himself that he definitely wasn't checking her out right now as she wore her high waisted jeans that showed off how tiny her waist was, the waist that his arms had once been wrapped around as his tongue was in her mouth, because she was just some stupid girl. Who just happened to interest him way more than the other girls he knew. Who also just happened to look really good in those jeans.

Shut up, Bender.

He decided to turn around and walk in the other direction to his class. It was the safest option.

Claire had gym class every third period on a Monday. She shared the class with Benny and Steff, and they were in the middle of a conversation about how awful it was that they still had to wear shorts in such crappy weather as they walked out onto the field behind the school.

Today's lesson was long distance running, and soon after the girls were being split up and forced to run one by one so, in theory, they couldn't run side by side and talk to each other, even though it always happened anyway.

When the whistle was blown, they all began the standard of running behind each other around the field, until after a while they began to clump together as the athletic difference between the group became clear. Claire and her friends had the ability to run and still hold a conversation, and they used that to their advantage as they kept up the pace of their jog while all next to each other. Their gym teacher didn't seem to care too much that all of the girls up front were all grouping together, because she was too busy jogging along with the girls all the way in the back, the ones that found running extremely difficult, forcing them to not stop. And coming up behind everyone else was Megan Langdon, who was the size of two Claire's put together.

"Check it out," Benny said, turning back to watch her struggling. The other girls also looked.

"Hey, leave it, Ben," Stef said, her cheeks bright red from the brisk jog they were all doing.

"Yeah, I'm just as bad at running as she is," Claire said.

"Sorry, forgot you and Stef were both saints," Benny said.

"No need to be so defensive. Just because we called you out on being a bitch," Steff said, which made Claire giggle.

"I'm not a bitch, you guys are the bitches!" she said.

"Looks like someone can't handle the truth," Steff said.

"Oh my god, guys, it was a joke."

"Not a funny one," Claire said.

"Hey, you used to join in with me whenever I laughed at Megan, so don't act like such a princess, Claire."

"I'll say it again, Ben, don't be so defensive," Steff said.

"Whatever," she said, then turned around and began to storm off in the other direction. The gym teacher blew the whistle.

"Bernadette Curtis, you're going in the wrong direction!" she yelled, as she began following after the angry Benny, who now looked as if she was heading back inside the school building in her huff.

The girls all began to slow down and stopped running as their teacher disappeared after her. Claire bent at her side, gripping onto her stomach just under her ribcage where she felt a strong burning sensation.

"I'm so out of shape," she said.

"Me too. I wonder how long Benny's fit is gonna last today?" Steff said.

"I don't know, but I wish I could watch it. Maybe she'll get detention," Claire said.

"Serves her right for being so mean about Megan Langdon," Steff agreed.

A short while after their teacher reappeared, minus Benny, and they all were instructed to run again.

The clouds in the sky had begun to clear up and it was getting a bit warmer now, but that only made Claire sweat more as she ran in silence next to Steff.

She almost couldn't tell if it was a mirage, due to the amount of heat she was producing from her body, or the real deal when she scanned over the bleachers as she ran past and saw John Bender standing beneath them, catching his eyes with her own through the spaces between the rows. It was one of those things where you wouldn't have noticed him, no less the other guys he was with, unless you'd been looking to find them. Claire just hadn't realised she'd been looking, but he was looking back and then she stopped abruptly in her tracks, causing Steff to run into the back of her.

"Watch it, Claire!"

"Sorry… Sorry, I lost my footing there," she said, forcing herself to look away from John so no-one else would notice him. She glanced at her teacher, who was now back focusing on keeping Megan Langdon moving, so she hadn't seen either of the girls stop.

"Come on, no point quitting now," Steff said, and began jogging again. Claire nodded and watched her friend jog away. She turned back to look at John, who smirked at her and raised two fingers to his forehead as if to salute her. Her cheeks burned as she smiled back, then she forced herself to turn away and carry on running.

How easy it would have been to just skip the rest of the lesson to go and see him.

She shook the thoughts away and picked up her pace again, aware suddenly of the eyes that were on her. Her skin felt prickly and her face was still hot from the embarrassment of him seeing her while she was wearing her ugly gym outfit. It was typical, especially when she had worn her best jeans today in the hope that she would have seen him again.

When their teacher blew her whistle and called for the girls to go back and shower, Claire didn't even glance back at the bleachers, feeling mortified at the whole situation she'd found herself in. She knew she'd promised him that she would speak to him again, but there was no way she would do it while her back was so sweaty, and she hoped he'd understand that.