Clara was indeed let out the next morning. Frankie picked her up as Danny was dealing with the group's morning activity.
"We switched things around a bit so they'll go swimming this afternoon. I'm told you're determined to stick around which is absolutely fine, but I'm watching what you're doing like a hawk. So essentially you can sunbathe this afternoon if you wish, but nothing else. I heard what the doctor said – nothing strenuous. As for the rest of the morning, bed rest," Clara went to protest, "read a book, draw a picture, whatever you wish but you look shattered, hospital beds aren't that comfy." Frankie pulled up outside her building, "I need to go check something out so I'll leave you here, but you call Danny or me if you need anything alright? He'll come wake you for lunch." Clara nodded, knowing there was little point in arguing.
Frankie didn't leave until she was inside the building and Clara smiled a little at her concern, she was actually pretty tired and the sleep wouldn't do her any harm. She unlocked her room and smiled when she found flowers in a jar on the table and a box of maltesers on her pillow with a note reading 'better than any hospital food x' sitting on top. She moved the maltesers so she could lie down carefully and pulled her phone out of her pocket.
'Breaking in to my room now are we?' she text Danny, not expecting a reply but one came almost instantly.
'Frankie went in to get your clothes; I may have stuck my foot in to the door when she left. How are you feeling?' he replied.
'Good, better than I thought I would. Will try and sleep for a bit now, see you later and thank you for the flowers, they're lovely x' she quickly locked her phone and put it on silent, shutting her eyes and soon enough she drifted off.
The knock on the door came at 12:45, at least she was pretty sure that's what the clock said when she looked at it with blurry eyes. Clara stood up carefully and made her way to the door, opening it to see a smiling Danny stood the other side. She moved away to allow him in before allowing the door to drop shut and sitting back down, rubbing her head a little.
"Is it sore?" he asked and she gave him a look.
"Yesterday I bashed it against a huge rock at goodness knows what speed, of course it's sore," she snapped a little before looking apologetic, "sorry, headaches do bad things to me. Painkillers have worn off; I'll take more with lunch. How was your morning?" she asked, putting on a happier face.
"Not bad, rounders is quite an entertaining sport. Looking forward to lying by the pool this afternoon though I must say," he smiled and sat down beside her.
"Aren't you going in?" she asked, leaning over so her head lay on his shoulder. It shocked her a little how instinctive that felt, but it was comfy so she stuck with it.
"Someone's got to keep you company," he smiled, "speaking of which, I'm a little hungry." Clara sighed.
"You're gonna make me get up aren't you?" she asked and he quickly stood up, grabbing her hand. "Come on, dinner time," he told her and pulled her up gently. "There are 8 very concerned teenagers waiting in there for you." Clara nodded a little, not quite sure if she wanted to handle all the questions but it was going to happen sooner or later.
He wasn't wrong either. The moment she got in the dining hall Courtney and Karlie ran over l with slightly worried looks on their faces, Courtney especially so.
"Miss I'm so sorry I didn't mean for any of this to happen, I was being stupid and I…" Clara shook her head.
"It's fine, we all do silly things, and it's still Clara while we're here. How are you feeling? Were you injured?" Clara asked, half looking her over for any signs.
"No, I was just really cold. Does your head hurt?" she asked. Clara was pretty sure she'd never seen the girl so worried about a teacher.
"A little, but to be expected, I'll be fine. Now are you two going to fetch us lunch or not?" she asked and they quickly nodded and ran off. Danny looked at her, Clara smirked back, "got to make the most of it," she commented before walking off to sit at the table with the others.
"Yeah but he kissed Clara!" she heard Toby's voice as they reached the table. Everyone else went quiet and he must have looked rather confused.
"Oh did he now?" Clara stood behind Toby and spoke which made him both jump and suddenly go bright red. "I think you'll find he was just helping me breathe again kiddo, nothing to gossip about I'm afraid," she sat down beside Alice and Danny immediately sat the other side of her, not commenting at all. "Ready to swim this afternoon? I hope you're all going to impress me with your diving moves."
"I can't wait, it's been so warm today," Alice piped up as Karlie and Courtney appeared with plates of food for them.
"How hungry do you think I am?!" Clara laugh as she saw all the food in front of her. Courtney shrugged, sitting back down. "Cheers love, I'll eat what I can. You look tired did you sleep okay?" she asked, biting in to her food.
"She was worried," Karlie said, "we all were." Clara looked round at them all and then smiled.
"You're all sweethearts, thank you. Make sure you all get an early night tonight." They all looked up before bursting in to laughter. "Alright it was worth a try. Come on now, let's finish eating and get out to the pool."
They made their way out, the teens all rushing off to collect their swimming bags and Clara eventually persuaded Danny to take his with him. Once they'd arrived, the campers made their way to change and Clara found a sun lounger, pulling her top layer of clothing off to reveal the bikini below. She looked up at Danny and smirked.
"Never seen a woman in a bikini before?" she asked, his jaw had dropped well and truly. She laughed as he quickly composed himself.
"Of… of course I have. Just um, wasn't expecting that," he told her. Clara shrugged, smiling and laying down on the sun lounger.
"Well go and change then, you can't be the only one here in normal clothes," she told him and he obediently left.
One by one the teens reappeared and jumped in to the pool, laughing and joking around. Alice and Jonah were swimming lengths, seemingly racing each other, while Courtney, Karlie, Toby and Ben were all having some sort of water fight. Danny came back over after a few minutes and lay down on the lounger beside her. "See was that so bad?" Clara asked as she turned her head to look at him, quickly having to cover her shock at how toned his chest was.
"I suppose not. Are you alright there? Can I get you anything?" he asked, suddenly sitting up again.
"Just lie back and relax for goodness sake, I'm absolutely fine," she replied, eventually persuading him to return back to his position on the sun lounger. "Any reason you keep looking at me?" she asked after a few minutes of him glancing over and then looking away.
"No, no I just…" Danny sighed, "I just think you're far too gorgeous to be a teacher," he admitted, grinning sheepishly.
"Is there a scale that I missed somewhere then?" Clara asked and he looked quickly as though he said something wrong, "oh don't worry, I'm flattered, and flattery can get you many places. You know you could probably be on that list yourself?"
"How exactly did you deduce that?" he asked.
"There aren't many teachers in the world with a chest that toned," she pointed out, "I assume that's army formed?" Danny nodded.
"Well it's not all bad then, and hey, at least you'll be good at laser quest this evening," Clara joked, but Danny didn't seem to get it, "you know because of the guns and stuff?"
"Yeah I know what you meant," he snapped and quickly looked away.
"Danny it's just a joke, you were in the army you use guns it's just-"
"It's just nothing, that's not something you joke about! There's more to the army than shooting people you know?" he stood up and started to walk off.
"Danny come on," she went to stand up but felt a little dizzy so had to stop, sighing as she watched him go and turning to see all the campers had stopped in the pool and were staring at them, or just her now. "Alright you lot show's over, get back to what you were doing. I'll be back," she told them and stood up slower, nodding to the lifeguards who were thankfully there which allowed her to leave.
After checking the staff area and the dining room Clara eventually tried his room, knocking on the door. There was no answer initially but she tried again, this time prompting him to tell her to come in although maybe reluctantly. She opened the door and walked in, hands raised.
"You shouldn't be walking alone," he grumbled, having glanced over but now looking back away and out the window.
"Danny I'm sorry," she apologised, ignoring his comment, "I didn't mean to upset you, I realise this is a difficult part of your life I should never have pushed that." Clara walked over and sat down beside him on the windowsill. There was silence for a moment before he spoke.
"We've both had difficult pasts, I shouldn't expect you to have known how I was going to react to that like I would never have known about Tom," Clara winced a little at the mention of his name, "oh gosh I'm sorry…" he quickly apologised and pulled her in to a hug which took her a little by surprise, not that she was going to complain. "There's a lot we don't know about each other I guess." Clara nodded as she sat up.
"You have no idea…" she replied, looking back out the window and wiping at her eyes.
"Tell me?" he asked, reaching a hand out and taking hers. "If you want to that is, please tell me."
"It's just been hard, since he died. I've not been myself since, everyone has noticed. Adrian, he's probably the only reason I'm still here, you're not the only one who saved my life," Clara sighed, "I've buried myself in work, I hated being home. Some days I'd stay there till 9 or 10 to mark or plan lessons just as an excuse not to leave. The idea of the holidays have haunted me, especially the summer. I can't keep hanging out at Adrian's, he has his own family to think about. My Dad is great and all but he just keeps comparing it to my Mum and that really doesn't help, and then my Gran is doing her best but she doesn't need me there all the time either. It's like losing him has lost me my whole world and I don't know how to cope alone," she spoke truthfully. As she finished Danny pulled out his phone, "what are you doing?" she asked.
"Texting Frankie to ask her to collect the group at 5, you need to stay here and I'm not leaving you," he told her, standing up and leading her over to his bed where he made her lay down. "We'll see them at dinner," Danny told her, sitting on the edge of the bed beside her.
"Lie down?" she asked him quietly, shuffling over a little, "please, I'm just tired of being alone," she reached out and took his hand, putting on her best puppy dog eyes which worked a treat and he finally gave in and turned around, lying down beside her. Clara was quick to move her head to rest on him, resting her right arm over his abdomen and shutting her eyes. Danny found himself lying completely still, looking at Clara who was already falling asleep. She hadn't got dressed to leave the pool, she was still in her bikini and it was getting a little chilly in this room thanks to the very effective air conditioning. He reached down and grabbed the blanket he'd thrown down the previous night, pulling it up over her and tucking her hair back carefully when he noticed it had fallen down in front of her face.
"I'm not going to let you be alone again," he whispered, leaning back and listening to her gently breathing as she slept.