Chapter 2 - Halloween
Halloween had really never been a huge holiday when Clara was a child. It was some American holiday started from Pagans or Christians or whoever hit the Colonies first and started celebrating the fall harvest. Nowadays it was simply a day for costumes and candy in the States, which had slowly put a parasite on the UK and let the idea of Halloween flourish.
So there Clara Oswald was, dressed head-to-toe in a witch costume. She had bought it online, and expected a black sheet and pointy hat. Instead she stood in a slightly sultry but completely school-appropriate robe, with tulle underneath with an emerald skirt with a traditional black overskirt, a leathery corset-like vest covering her abdomen, with long sleeves draped over his arms. Her hair was slightly curled, and wore her black pointy hat. A plastic cauldron of various candies sat on her desk, while paper bats and pumpkins hung from the ceiling. Most of the older students at Coal Hill just wore gory makeup and whatnot, but her students were still young enough to truly enjoy the holiday that had just become popular in their country.
Her students came into the room in countless different costumes, such as pirates, superheroes, zombies, and witches. Courtney Woods came to class in her old Coal Hill uniform from past years, but it was torn and doused in fake blood, her decaying skin looking so real it sent a chill up Clara's spine and led to her later winning the grade's costume contest. Clara had overheard some comment about Courtney's cousin being a makeup artist, and boasted that her special effects were top-of-the-line material. The Doctor had complained a few weeks prior of such costume-boasting. He went on a tangent about how Halloween was like a low-key human mating ritual- showing off in gaudy costumes and makeup to impress others. Clara, however, had simply shrugged it off and left him to go buy her costume.
Little did Clara realize that the mating ritual side of Halloween would come to her very soon, in the form of The Doctor himself. About thirty minutes into the party itself, there was a knock at the door. "Courtney, could you grab that?" Clara asked, supervising the bobbing-for-apples game and handing out towels. The kids were laughing and smiling, as Clara assumed the knock on the door was yet another student coming in from the restrooms.
She didn't expect the familiar riff of "Pretty Woman".
The entire party went silent and wide-eyed in awe, staring at the familiar staff member in the doorway. Instead of his usual modern work garb, he wore his regular get-up: plaid pants, black Dr Martens, an old grey band shirt, and his hoodie-jacket combo. His hair was extra unkempt and floofy, his sonic sunglasses covering his blue-green eyes. The kids applauded at his handiwork on his classic black-and-white Fender before he broke into another song, playing the intro to ACDC's "Back In Black", receiving yet another roar of applause from the class, and a polite clap from a blushing Clara. "I never knew Mr. Smith could shred!" Gasped one student, gaping in awe at a fellow peer. "You like that?" the Time Lord asked aloud, like a true musician at a real concert. The kids rejoiced happily as he shredded "Crazy Train" as some of the kids tapped along on the desks, familiar with the classic American rock song. Clara grinned at his alien equivalent to a peacock strutting his stuff with his train of feathers. He moved his head down as he finished the song, looking over his glasses at Clara as he strummed a faster-paced rock song, moving towards Clara as he began to strum The White Stripes.
"Fell in love with a girl,
fell in love once and almost completely
she's in love with the world,
but sometimes these feelings can be so misleading,
she turns and says are you alright?
I said I must be fine cause my heart's still beating-
come and kiss me by the riverside,
bobby says it's fine he don't consider it cheating."
He sang, causing a hum of murmurs as he looked towards Clara, before making a final riff in heading towards the door, calling out "Happy Halloween!" to the class before waltzing out of the room, leaving the class abuzz and Ms. Clara Oswald in studded silence with her face blushing bright red.