Adopted by Scarlett Johansson

18.

Today Clara had her first day of school. Fortunately, it was only a short day. Colin had installed Clara's laptop so that everything was on it. Last night when she came home after her pleasant day at Lizzie's he had explained everything to her.

"Are you ready? Scarlett asked. She could see from Clara's face that she was nervous. Clara nodded. 'You'll be fine. Just be yourself and do your best.' She reassured the girl. 'Thank you Scarlett. I'm going to do my best.' Replied Clara.

'I'm going to my study in a minute. I have to take care of some things for my work.' Said Scarlett, 'Is good. I'll just go to my room. My classes are about to start.' Clara walked to her room.

In five minutes her class started. She had an introductory meeting with her class for the first hour and then she had math and English. Quickly Clara turned on her laptop and she logged in. She found herself in a meeting that only her teacher was still in. Clara chatted with the teacher until the other classmates arrived and after waiting three minutes, class began.

The first hour went by quickly. Everyone introduced themselves and told where they were from. After that class they had a fifteen minute break and math followed. Clara hated math. She didn't understand a thing about it. After the teacher's explanation, she went with it anyway.

She skipped the questions she didn't understand and before she knew it she had arrived at the last sum. With great difficulty she figured it out and wrote down the answer. She looked at her notebook with disapproval. She had skipped almost all the assignments. There were question marks everywhere. She sighed. The schools in America were much harder than in England.

Clara turned on her phone and looked at the time. She still had over two hours to go. Still, Clara got a smile on her face. Her background picture was a picture of her, Lizzie, Ashley and Mary-Kate. Yesterday they had taken a picture of the four of them just before Scarlett came to pick her up.

The day passed slowly and Clara had a hard time concentrating. She didn't understand anything about the lessons. She got distracted all the time. She was glad when the lessons were over and she could close her laptop. Sighing, she turned off her laptop and plopped down on her bed.

She hated herself. She was worthless. A tear ran down her cheek. She was disappointing everyone. Clara got up and she walked downstairs. She put on her shoes and coat. "Hey sweetie, are you done with school yet? Scarlett asked. She came walking downstairs. Clara zipped up her coat. 'Yes.' She answered gruffly.

'How did school go?' Asked Scarlett, 'I don't want to talk about it.' Clara opened the door and she walked out. 'Clara, what are you going to do?' Scarlett came running up behind Clara. 'Away.' Said Clara. 'What? Scarlett didn't understand. 'Clara, you don't even dare walk the streets alone. Stay here and we'll talk about it.' She tried to change the girl's mind. 'It's already too late for that.'

Clara ran away. Scarlett ran after her but Clara was much faster. When Scarlett got to the end of the street she gave up. Clara was gone and she had no idea why. She grabbed her phone from her pocket and she called Chris.

'Hey, it's Chris.' Said Chris as he picked up the phone. 'Clara ran away.' Said Scarlett, "What, why? He asked. 'I don't know. She just had online school.' Told Scarlett, 'Maybe something nasty happened in class? Kids can be really mean to each other.'

'Chris, could you please come to my house? Colin is working and Rose will be home soon. I don't want her to arrive at an empty house.' Said Scarlett, 'Yes of course. I'll get there as soon as I can.' Said Chris. 'Fine. You have the key right?' Asked Scarlett, 'Yes I do.' Answered Chris. 'Okay, then I'm off. I've got to find Clara before it gets dark. Thank you so much for taking care of Rose.' Thanked Scarlett her best friend. 'No problem. Good luck with the search.'

Scarlett hung up and she ran to her car. Quickly she got behind the wheel. Meanwhile, she called Lizzie. 'It's Lizzie.' Sounded Elizabeth's voice on the other end of the line. 'Hi, you're speaking to me. Clara has run away from home. Should she come to your door can you please call me?' Asked Scarlett. There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment. "Ran away? Asked Lizzie then.

'Yes. I don't know what's wrong myself but I'm very worried. Two days ago she didn't even dare to walk the streets alone and now she's running away. She doesn't even know the way. She doesn't know anyone here' Scarlett said. Elizabeth sighed. 'Geez. Should she ring here I'll call you but I really have to go now.' Said Elizabeth. 'I understand. Thank you so much for your help.'