AN: Surprise! I wanted to give a treat as a thanks for those of you that reviewed. Hope you enjoy this one! We're finally getting to see some of Clara's personality. Also, just wanted to clarify that Claire/Clara is a nickname, her full name will be shown in the next chapter! Remember to review :)
It wasn't until I was at home, heating up some slices of pizza from the night before that I realized Erica still hadn't called me. I wasn't upset at all, I mean she was probably still in the hospital. She probably wasn't even allowed to use her phone. I called her anyways, letting it go to voicemail before hanging up and sending her a quick text to call me back.
I vegged out in front of the tv for a few hours, my impatience growing while I waited for any word from her.
The instant my phone rang, I picked it up without looking away from the tv.
"Erica?" I asked instantly.
"Err. . No. Finn." I sighed and slouched down again as my brother asked once again if I had dropped the rent off.
"Yes, yes. It's in her drop box." I assured.
"So you're not hanging out with Erica?" He asked, the sound of construction going on behind him. "I thought you guys were having a movie marathon."
"No, she actually had a seizure at school. I think she's still in the hospital."
"Aww, that sucks kiddo." He grew staticky for a minute as I heard him talking to someone in the background. "Listen, I gotta go. I'm getting off at 10 tonight, so I'll see you tonight or tomorrow morning, okay?"
"Okay." I replied. "Wait, are you coming to the game tomorrow night?" He groaned, and I grew just a bit dejected.
"Sorry, I picked up a shift." I sighed, knowing that it was important for him to work, but also resenting him just a little. "Tell Erica I hope she feels better, I'll see you later. Love you."
"You too." I answered before tossing my phone away and turning my focus back to the tv show. This sucked.
Erica hadn't shown up in any of our classes, and I sent her repeated texts asking what happened. I never got any reply though. I had been standing just outside the doors of the cafeteria when Adam invited me to sit with him. I had intended on sitting outside, but when he offered the seat in front of him, I'd immediately agreed.
"Are you ready for the game tonight?" Adam asked as we sat opposite. I grinned and nodded, more excited at what we'd be doing after the game than the actual game.
"So what's the plan for tonight?" I asked, tearing into my trail mix.
"Well, a few of us are going out to the clearing tonight to celebrate." He replied with a mischievous smile.
"Celebrate what?" I asked jokingly, though a knowing smile was on my face.
"Well, I just so happen to know that our star sophomore is going to kick ass tonight." He had been leaning forward to me, but when a hand came between us, he leaned back and stared at the intruder.
I followed the arm up to a blonde girl leaning seductively over the table. "Erica?" I practically spat out. She was wearing a leather jacket with a way too short skirt, a white tank top barely covering her chest. She looked at me while she grabbed Adam's apple from his tray, taking a bite of it as she leaned up, wiping the edges of her bright red lipstick as she looked behind me.
"Where the fuck have you been?" I hissed quietly, anger growing inside me as Adam just stared at her. I couldn't blame him, she looked gorgeous, balancing precariously on the edge of slutty.
She didn't answer me, instead she raised her eyebrows with a smirk before turning to make her way out of the cafeteria. I stood from the table to follow her, smoothing my maroon dress out. The shoes I was wearing, a black ankle boot with a chunky ankle, allowed me to follow her quickly, smashing the doors open and chasing her down the hall.
"What the fuck, Erica?" I called out. She was walking quickly, purposefully ignoring me. "What the fuck happened to you?" I hissed, suddenly feeling desperate for chasing after her. She was like an entirely new person, completely confident and apparently not caring about my feelings at all.
She smirked at me and tossed the bitten apple into the trash can without even looking. I shot a look back at the trash can before focusing all of my attention on Erica.
"Seriously, why didn't you call me last night? I was worried!" I grabbed her by the elbow, trying to get her to face me, but she shoved me into the wall, brushing me off. I was more in shock that she had pushed me than I was angry at her for the moment. When Stiles and Scott fumbled past me and after Erica, I followed them out the double doors, only to see Erica climbing into a shiny black Camaro. Some guy with black hair in the drivers seat turned to look at me, Stiles, and Scott, and shot us a wide grin as Erica buckled in beside him.
"Who the fuck is that?" I asked as Erica and the mystery man drove off. I saw Scott and Stiles exchange a look before looking back at me. They looked back at each other before shrugging. I glared daggers at them as they headed back inside while I stood in the cold, more confused than I had been before.
Was something going on? What the fuck was Erica taking to make her like this? Steroids? Could steroids do that to a person? I mean, the change was literally overnight. How is that even possible? Why were Scott and Stiles chasing Erica down? Maybe they had been chasing after me, to make sure I was alright. Well, if that had been the reason they did a pretty terrible job of it. They hadn't even stopped to ask me if I was okay. Maybe it wasn't me they were after. . . Maybe they knew something that I didn't? But apart from yesterday, had they ever even talked to her? I mean I knew Erica had had a crush on Stiles for the longest time, but apart from a handful of carefully dissected conversations she'd had with him, there was nothing. I couldn't even remember her saying anything about Scott.
I was forced to bite back my questions and finish out my school day. I had received several "good luck!" wishes from classmates, but it wasn't until I was on the field in my maroon jersey with 12 printed on the back that I was even feeling remotely better. Although I had done good playing offensive midfielder, Coach had put me as left midfielder to keep me near the action, but allowed Lauren to keep near the middle.
We got first kick, and Lauren kicked the ball towards me to make my way down the field. I wasted no time in sprinting away from the opposing team members, trying to pull them away from my teammates so I could pass it off.
The game forced me to take my mind off of my frustrations with Erica, allowing me and my team members to dominate the field. During a break between quarters, I looked to the stands to scan for my friend. Scott and Stiles were waving a sign back and forth with my number drawn on, and I shot them a grin and a wave to acknowledge it before continuing my scan. Adam was sitting towards the top with a few of the other lacrosse players, absorbed in a conversation. I was glad that he had come. I was even more glad when he looked down for a second, catching my eye and waving.
I shot a wave back before continuing my search, scanning the stands for my best friend. When I didn't see her the first time around, I scanned again. Erica never missed my games. Was she seriously that mad? I shook off my frustration as the whistle blew, letting all the players congregate to the field.
During the last half, I managed to score a goal, right before one of the opposing players tripped me as I was walking backwards. She shrugged at me while I sat on the ground, glaring daggers at the girl. When the game resumed, I made sure to stay on her, not allowing anyone to pass the ball to her. I could feel the waves of anger growing towards me.
"Back the fuck off bitch!" She hissed at me as I kept her guarded. I smirked as she got riled up, someone making the mistake of kicking a ball in her direction. I may be tiny, but that does not mean I can't beat someone to a ball. She took off sideways, thinking that she got away from me, but I shot after her and jumped in front of her, sliding in front of her. I was able to kick the ball towards my team mates, her own kick narrowly missing my head. I jumped back up and turned to face her. The girl rounded on me, her face red with anger. I smirked when she suddenly swung an arm out, her hand hitting just underneath my right eye. I fell backwards, one hand covering my eye, the other pushing me up from the grass. I heard the whistle blow, but it sounded far away as anger built up inside me.
"You want to fight?!" I yelled, launching myself towards her. A few pairs of arms suddenly hauled me backwards, my punches landing on nothing.
"Calm down, Claire!" I took a deep breath and turned away from the girl, instead looking at my teammates. Jessica, Lauren, and even Tally stood around me, inspecting my eye. Ensuring that there would be no lasting damage as the referee made the announcement for a penalty kick. I saw the other girls teammates yelling at the girl, pissed for giving me a chance to score. When she looked over her shoulder at me, I flipped her off. I took great enjoyment from the fact that she had to be restrained by her teammates while I strode up to the penalty line, the ref placing the ball in front of me. As soon as I was allowed, I kicked it to the right of the goalie, nailing the edge of the post so that it went in right behind her. The crowd cheered and I pumped a fist in triumph. This put us at 3 goals ahead of the opposing team, and with just two minutes left in the game, all we had to do was run the time down.
I didn't have to do much the last few minutes, mostly just run back and forth in case a ball was passed my way. When time was up, the entire team and the bystanders ran onto the field to celebrate, the opponents sulking off to the locker rooms.
"Congratulations, Clara!" I heard Stiles greet. I spun in a circle to see him with Scott. Scott gave me a high five while Stiles clumsily threw his arms around me, making me laugh and pat him on the back.
"Come on, you don't want to smell like sweat!" I joked, pushing him off.
"But it's winning sweat!" He protested, reaching out towards me again. I smacked his arms down as one of the girls on my team congratulated me on getting punched. Stiles and Scott both leaned in to look at it, where there was barely a bruise forming. I grinned at them as Scott suddenly stood straight up, looking around. Stiles, however, poked at it, making me smack his hand away from my face.
"It's my victory bruise, don't touch it!" I joked, holding a hand over the tender skin. He grinned and shouldered my bag for me, catching me slightly off guard.
"Allow me to carry your winning duffle bag, milady." I rolled my eyes, but made no move to take it back as we began to head towards the locker room. "So, a few of us are breaking into the ice skating rink later." Stiles commented. "Well, breaking in is taking it a bit far- Boyd is letting us use his keys for a very high price, although I'm sure it would be worth it. Everyone loves ice skating. Not breaking into places. Do you? Like ice skating, I mean." He spewed as we reached the parking lot. I was heading into the school to change, but my mind was about two steps behind what he was saying.
"What?" I asked, suddenly turning to face him with a smile on my face. Was he really asking me out? I mean, we'd barely talked. I looked him over for a minute, taking in the way his cheeks were rapidly becoming splotched with red. His normally easy to see brown eyes were barely visible in the dark of the night. He was cute, he was definitely cute. I remembered the way Erica used to talk about him, as though the light of the day shot out of his goofy grin. Right now his goofy grin was nowhere in sight, and he seemed to be pursing his lips and gulping down his hesitation.
He immediately dropped his head as he caught me staring, before lifting it back to look at me under his lashes. "Did you want to, I don't know. . ." He scratched behind his neck for a second looking over my shoulder with only occasional glances to my face.
This time it was my turn to hesitate, thinking of Adam and the long awaited and anticipated date tonight.
"N-not like a date!" Stiles added when he noticed my hesitation. "As friends!" He shook his head adamantly, throwing his hands in front of him. "It's going to be a date for Allison and Scott, and Lydia is coming too so definitely not like a date-date." I looked over his shoulder, back to the soccer field, where I spotted Adam and his friends just climbing down the bleachers. "Like a friendly gathering, you could say."
"I'm sorry, Stiles." I told him honestly, gently taking back my bag. "I've already got plans tonight." I felt horrible saying it, as Stiles really was a nice person, but I'd already made my obligations for the night. I felt more rushed now that Adam was making his way towards the parking lot. "Rain check?" I asked as I backed towards the school as slowly as I could.
"No, yes!" Stiles shot me thumbs up, a cheesy grin taking over his face. "Absolutely, a rain check!" He turned away from me to walk back towards the soccer field, and I sighed before turning back to the school to jog through the parking lot. With every pounding of my feet, I was overcome with thoughts of Stiles. I had never thought of him in any light other than the boy Erica had a crush on. But right now, where was Erica? Was she even my friend right now? If Erica and I were friends, did that mean that Stiles was no longer off limits to me? Did I want to do off limits things with him?
When I emerged a few minutes later, I'd done everything I could to improve my post-game look. I was wearing a pair of loose jeans that were rolled up a few inches, the same pair of shoes from this morning, with a loose sweatshirt that tied into a knot on the corner of my stomach, exposing just a bit of skin. My hair was tied into a messy bun at the top of my head. I was also wearing a black moto jacket that was left opened, allowing a chill to run against my skin.
Adam was waiting beside my car, our predetermined meet up spot, playing with his phone before he caught sight of me. "Cute." He called out, and I fought back the blush that was creeping across my face, instead twirling with one arm out to give him a better view.
"Not so bad yourself, Adam." He grinned at me, and I threw my stuff in the back seat before climbing in, Adam hopping in the passenger side to direct me.
In about fifteen minutes, we made it to the campgrounds, which was mostly used by teenagers looking for a place to drink.
And, that's exactly what we did. I knew most of the guys as lacrosse players, but the girls were a mix between my fellow soccer players and a few girls that were just plain popular. When the drinks started flowing, someone started a bonfire, and we sat around it talking as someone used a Bluetooth speaker to play some chill music.
"So, I saw you talking with Stilinski earlier." Adam said, an arm thrown casually around my shoulders. I, however, was very casually trying to keep it there. I took a sip of the cheap beer someone had handed me, praying that it didn't look like I was nervous.
"Yeah he's a friend." I finally answered, wondering suddenly if he was jealous. He had nothing to be jealous of, of course. I mean, apart from Stiles' little act of asking me to hang out with him and Scott, we hadn't hung out outside of school.
"Just a friend?" Adam asked, leaning a bit closer to my face. I grinned and leaned forward too.
"Just a friend." I promised, Adam's eyes closing as he pressed his lips to mine. I leaned into his, one of my hands resting on his neck as he kissed me. His lips pressed into mine a bit harder, the arm that had been around my shoulders sliding so that I was pressed closer to him. My mind drifted. Vaguely, I recalled that we'd been discussing Stiles just before we kissed. It was cold here, and sitting around a bonfire was fun. Even as I kissed Adam, I kind of wished I had gone ice skating.
"Claiireeee." I heard my name being drug out, and I pulled apart from Adam to look across the fire to see Erica, a red cup in one of her hands, the other on her hip as she gestured for me to come towards her.
I felt anger flare up in me, and I apologized to Adam before I stood up. He let one hand slide down my arm before tugging me down to kiss him again, this time to the cheers of the boys.
I grinned and walked over to Erica, who grabbed my wrist before pulling me away from the throng of people. "What?" I hissed when we were out of hearing distance.
"What?" Erica asked innocently. "I wanted to talk to my best friend." She shrugged.
I rolled my eyes, but my heart was battling itself. Did I want to stick around and hear what she had to say? Or did I want to forget about her and move on? I mean, Adam was waiting for me. Yet I found myself leaning against a tree, waiting for Erica to give herself a chance for redemption.
"So what happened?" I asked, trying not to seem too eager.
She took a step closer, her blue eyes staring into mine. I didn't look away, instead I stood taller. I was not going to back down.
"I met someone." She finally whispered as if it were a delicate secret.
"Oh you mean the guy in the black Camaro?" I asked innocently. "The one that you ran to after you tried to seduce Adam?" I asked, my anger rising in my throat once again.
She narrowed her eyes at me, taking another step to trap me against the tree. She stayed like that for a moment before grinning and taking a step back. I refused to let her see me cower although I felt my heart jumping into my throat with every beat.
"He gave me something." She began, twirling in front of me. Drugs? I thought instantly. "Look at how awesome I am now!" She held her hands up, trying to get me to see how great she felt. "I mean, I'm stronger, prettier, just better!" I narrowed my eyes, trying to see to her point.
"What did he give you? Cocaine?" I asked snarkily. She rolled her eyes.
"I can't tell you." She strode back up to me, holding both of my shoulders again. "But you can get it too." I recoiled against the tree.
Erica knew how I felt about drugs. They'd ruin my chances to get into a good college. "I don't want your drugs." I commented.
Erica laughed at me for a moment in disbelief. "You can't get this from something so simple like drugs." She waved at her body up and down.
My eyebrows scrunched together in thought. If it wasn't drugs, what had this guy she was dating done to her? I stepped closer to her, setting one hand on her shoulder. "Whatever is going on with you. . ." I started, and I used my free hand to smooth down her hair. "Whatever it is, it is not a good enough reason to turn on your friends." I gave her shoulder a squeeze, intent on going back to the party to try and salvage my night.
"Clara, please wait!" She called out, grabbing one of my wrists. I didn't fight it, instead allowing her to spin me around without resistance. "Look, I'll make up how shitty I have been towards you. I'm sorry, okay?" She began to sound sincere, and I sighed. My lips pursed, but I reached out to pull her into a hug. "We never got to have our movie marathon." I smiled into her hair, my anger like ice just beginning to melt. But, it was still one hell of an iceberg to thaw.
"Fine. Be at my house tomorrow afternoon, okay?" She nodded and squeezed me before pulling away.
"You won't regret this, I promise." She looked me up and down again, a smile crossing her face. She spun me back around to face the party, her hands still on my shoulders. "Plus, we can finally compare notes on our boyfriends!" She let slip, giving me a final squeeze on my shoulder before pushing me back to the party. I turned over my shoulder to flash a grin, but she had already scampered off. Even just a quick scan of the trees around me showed no signs of her even being with me.
I shook off the weird feeling of being watched and headed back to the large group, the buzz I had been working on completely gone.
Dun dun duuuun! Erica is being a manipulative jerk and Claire is falling for it! What will happen next for our poor protagonist? If there's anything you guys want me to write, like a certain scene, let me know and I will do my best to oblige! Reviews inspire me to keep working :)
