I never know why. I only know who. (AU)

Chapter 3

No-one really knew how close Clara was to Mr Wind. Neither of her friends knew that she often went to study in his classroom when she was avoiding them and well she trusted him to tell him all of her troubles if she had any. He was almost like a second father.

He had been the teacher that stopped her failing in school. In year nine, she had become the girl that didn't try at all, and he had made sure she got back on path. He shouldn't care much about a random girl but for some reason he really cared that Clara continued to stay in school. It wouldn't be a lie to say that he was by far her favourite teacher and he clearly favoured her above the rest. Well, Clara and John Smith too of course. John was top of the class how could he not?

Whenever Olivia and Louise got too annoying for Clara, she often went to study in Mr Winds room. It was in one of the upstairs buildings that no-one went to at breaks or lunches, so it was the perfect hiding place. There were also spots in the room that couldn't be seen through the doorway.

She often talked to him when he was at his desk or she simply sat in silence if he wasn't. It was her way of getting away from it all.

It was a Tuesday lunch, and she had decided to get her lunch early and eat in that classroom. She often disregarded the "no eating and drinking in science labs" rule, but then, so did her teacher.

He was sat at his desk, slowly poking at his salad as Clara read a textbook. She was revising her Maths, which was her worst subject unfortunately. She was on track for an A, but she absolutely hated trigonometry. She just didn't understand why they had to use some stupid signs to get things they wouldn't even need in real life, using words that sounded like they were to do with kung-fu.

"What would you do if I moved around the seating?" Mr Wind asked, looking up from his salad, musing to Clara. She sat up straight from her desk and she shrugged.

"In my class?" She questioned, looking around as if to see someone else in the room.

"Yup." He nodded, watching her for an answer.

She shrugged again and looked back down at her textbook. "Depends who I was moved next to. I don't really know many people in there anyway." She mumbled, reading the examples of these triangles as best as she could.

"What if I moved you next to John Smith?" Mr Wind asked curiously. "As you both do so well?" He gave her that smile. He knew what he was doing...

Clara's head snapped up with a smile. "Yeah. I know him. I sit next to him in English, he's really cool."

Clara furrowed her brow as Mr Wind started slowly laughing. "What?" She asked, not understanding where his laughter was from.

"I've just never seen Clara Oswald get excited over a boy before." He chuckled, winking jokingly.

"Hey!" Clara laughed, ripping out a page from her work book at scrunching it into a ball, before throwing it at his head. They both laughed a little longer at that, Clara smiling to herself. "He's just a cool friend. You know, they're kind of rare nowadays." She teased sarcastically.

Mr Wind shrugged his shoulders slowly. "Yeah, I guess they are."

John was the kind of friend Clara could go to when she needed help with general things. He was the friend that you would want to talk to when everyone else in the world was annoying, although she felt like a pig for ignoring him whenever Olivia and Louise were around. She didn't ever blank him though. She always said hi, but she sometimes didn't talk to him properly. She knew that he understood why, but it didn't make it anymore acceptable.

She mostly got along with his friends, despite the sourness she often sensed from Amy in English. But she didn't mind that. She could be friends with who she wanted, if they wanted to be her friend too.

She had heard down the grapevine that people had said she was using John, but she tried to ignore it. They were petty rumours anyway, and they didn't really matter that much to her. She knew what she wanted and nobody else can judge her.

Clara wasn't one to listen to others opinions but she thought she'd run it by someone she trusted the most. Her mum. So when she went home that day the first thing she did was throw her bag to the ground and give her mum a big hug.

"Are you okay?" Ellie asked softly embracing Clara tightly. Clara relaxed hearing the sound of her voice. "I'm just fine" she smiled willingly. She wasn't one to smile too much but she knew when she smiled her mother usually joined her.

"Could I ask you a question?" Clara decided the best thing was the get it out in the open. Ellie gave her a rather weird look before ushering her into the large living room filled with multiple ornaments from around the world.

"Depends on the question" She tried to joke but Clara looked rather seriously at her. Even though this was one of the least serious thing her mum and her had, had a conversation about.

"Do you think I use John?" Clara did what she did when she was nervous she fiddled with her fingernails and went quiet at the end of her sentences. "John Smith I assume" Ellie grinned knowing the crush Clara held for him.

"Yes" Clara didn't want to give into the look her mother was giving her but she laughed anyway. "Of course not" Ellie finally sighed. "If anyone thinks your using that lovely young boy they must be absolutely crazy. They haven't heard the stories" Clara was one to share. She shared everything with her mum. So when she met John, Ellie was the first to know about it and about him. "Even though I've never met the boy..." Ellie gave a small smile to Clara as if to hint to her. "I'm sure as long as he doesn't think your using him your just fine" she assured Clara giving her a tight hug.

"Thanks mum" Clara hopped upstairs expecting a call from her dad, Dave to be quiet when she stomped up but there was nothing this time. Perhaps he was in a good mood.

"Clara! Dinner" Ellie called from the kitchen downstairs. "I'm coming just give me one second" Clara was currently searching through her social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr to see if she could find any links to John. But the name he had, it was pretty hard. She just wanted to text him. Now she just needed his number.

"Clara!" Dave called again. "Yes! Yes!" Clara bolted downstairs and slid into her chair at the table smiling at Ellie who didn't seem to care much that she was late to the table.

Dave gave Ellie and quick kiss before sitting down opposite Clara. What a family they were.