Darkling

13| Steal

Chapter 13: Steal (Clara's POV)

We were all ordered to go into the gymnasium, so we all went there once the emergency lights switched on. Everyone scattered around the room, sitting on the floor, leaning against the mats and walls, exhausted. I couldn't find Daisy anywhere, nor did I want to risk losing Callum in the crowd too, so I stuck with him and we both settled down, leaning against the wall, planting our asses on the floor. 

"I'm very tired," I said, mostly to myself. "How long will this blackout be?" I looked at him. 

"I don't know. It could be over the next second or it might last for a few hours," he sighed, leaning his head back on the wall. 

"I really want to sleep," I whined, putting my head on his shoulder. 

The emergency lights in the entire room flickered and then slowly brightened up again. 

"Can these lights go out too?" 

"Not usually, no," he cleared his throat. 

"Can I ask you something? It's kind of personal, so you don't have to answer if you don't want to." 

"Okay," he agreed. 

"Why do you and Atticus hate each other so much?" 

He thought for a minute. "My ex-girlfriend cheated on me. With him." 

My eyes widened, "Why would she do that?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean, why would she cheat on you?" He turned to look at me and I lifted my head from his shoulder. "That sounds like a pretty stupid decision to me. What happened to her?" 

"She left," he answered quickly. 

"It sounds like she was playing you both." 

"I don't know if she was playing him. But she was definitely playing me," he scoffed, rolling his eyes and softly shaking his head, staring straight ahead of him. 

I put my head back down, ignoring the people that kept looking our way. "She sounds pretty stupid to me." 

"And why is that?" 

"Because you're telling me that she cheated on you. Of course, that makes her stupid. What else do you call someone who has something so great and blows it?" 

"And what makes you think I'm so great?" 

"I was talking about your relationship. Assuming that it was great," I said, trying not to smile. "But yeah, I think you're pretty great." 

"Why?" 

"All you've done since I got here was help me. You were a little dickish at first but..." I trailed off with a shrug. 

"I was dickish? You were clumsy and very unobservant of your surroundings. You never watched where you were going." 

I scoffed, pulling back to look at him. "You bumped into me too. And I saved your can of coke." 

He turned to me, amusement swirling in his eyes. "Did you? Funny how I don't remember that." I gave his arm a push and he chuckled, not even budging. 

"Clara." 

I looked up, my smile faltering but I kept it up. "Hey," I smiled. 

"Can I steal you for a minute?" Atticus asked. 

"Of course you want to steal her," Callum mumbled. 

I elbowed his ribs before standing up. "What's up?"