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

Chapter 30

John ran down the stairs, keeping his anger in for a few moments as he tried to get out of there. Diana saw him almost instantly and ran over to her son. She could see he looked distressed, but she couldn't see Clara anywhere.

"You okay?" Diana asked quickly, shocked as John grabbed her hand and suddenly dragged her to the door.

"We're going. Now." John snapped, making Diana's eyes widen in shock. Something had definitely happened because she'd never seen him so angry before.

"At least let me say goodbye to..." She started, looking back.

"No. Now." John said seriously, turning to face Diana with some sort of plea for help. The moment she saw the look on his face, she knew that they had to get out of there. She didn't try to push him further than that on the drive home, but she knew that it was bad because he looked like he could punch a wall down. And she wouldn't be shocked if he did.

John slammed his door shut and locked it before Diana could so much as get up the stairs. He knew she would respect his request for silence from that action even so, and he slid his body down against the wood, curling up into a ball.

He let one tear fall as his mind raced over what was said. And once one had dropped, the others came in a tsunami, knocking down all the walls he'd built to avoid them and shattering him to the ground as he collapsed into a heap of waste.

The fireworks were booming outside and people were cheering for a Happy New Year, but John and Clara were both crying. If the new year was meant to bring happiness, they would have told you it was a joke, but all it was bringing for them was more pain and shit that they couldn't get out of. Happy New Year indeed.

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School started again on the fifth, and that was the first time John and Clara had so much as exchanged a message since new years eve.

And even then, their contact with each other was awful. Clara turned up to Chemistry first thing and discovered that John wasn't there. She looked around for him, despite the fact she was dreading seeing him, and felt a little relieved he wasn't. It would save a lot of awkwardness.

He eventually walked in half an hour late, much to the dismay and confusion of Mr Wind, who chose not to ask questions. Clara and John usually sat in the far corner from the door at the back of the room, so it seemed reasonable to everyone else why he had sat in the first seat by the door, but Clara knew it was for a quick escape to avoid her. And she didn't really blame him.

It had taken her seconds to realise what a shitty mistake she had made. She had felt it was the right thing to do in her mind, but the way the argument had ended up on the other hand was a new thing entirely. She should have just taken what he said and let him apologise later. But she didn't, and now they were avoiding each other like the plague.

Sir came over to Clara five minutes later once he'd set a task to do, checking she was okay. Clara simply nodded, looking up at him as if she was fine, even though they all knew she wasn't.

Clara heard the whispers of the others in the class as John stormed out of the room first, disappearing into the crowds of year eights for break. She didn't even attempt to follow him, instead walking away.

She found she had nowhere to go without John. She hadn't yet seen Olivia and Louise, but she knew that they would only have horrible things to say. She felt like she couldn't exactly stay in the classroom all day, and she refused to go to the sixth form lounge out of knowledge John would be there.

Even though it wasn't that obvious, people were still talking about "The pregnant girl" directly in front of her. She'd never really known what it was like to be a nobody before now, but she suddenly got the clue that it felt like crap.