Eyes Wide Open (Doctor Who)

Puzzle with a Piece Missing

Rose squinted at her textbook, forcing herself to finish reading the page. Unfortunately, Science 10 wasn't exactly an engaging study. What does it matter that Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell? she thought to herself. How will that knowledge get me ahead in life?

She eventually resigned herself from reading, leaned back in her chair and rubbed her hands against her face. Science wasn't her strongest class, and it certainly wasn't her most interesting. She slouched forward, her head resting in her hands, and watched Mrs. Henricks teach. Oh, poor Mrs. Hendricks. With her stressed, thin grey hair and apparent inability to speak coherently, she was one of those teachers you could tell at this point was teaching not because she wanted to, but because she had to.

Rose leaned over to her friend Clara. "You know," she whispered, "there really should be an age when retirement is mandatory". Clara quietly giggled, before placing a single finger on her lips, attempting to be serious. As soon as Rose turned away, however, her smile returned.

Rose pulled out her phone and glanced at the time. 2:58. There was twelve minutes of class left, and paying attention for the remainder of it was a lost cause.

She let her mind wander to her evening plans. Well, other than the inevitable catching up to do for this class, there was taking the transit home, making dinner for her and her mum, and watching some telly. Wasn't there something else? Rose couldn't remember.

She looked over at Clara again. She seemed to have no problem paying attention. That was Clara, though. Always attentive. The young women had met several years prior when Clara had just lost her mum. They bonded quickly over their individual grief, and though Rose's loss of her father wasn't fresh, it still stung and it was a comfort to have someone in a similar familial state. Nowadays, they're still as tight as they were back then. The only difference is they just spend less of their time in angst and more time watching Eastenders.

The sound of the bell ringing cut through Rose's thoughts. That was the end of the day. She grabbed her bag, stuffed her binder and textbook in, and yelled a thank-you to Mrs. Hendricks as she ran out the classroom door.

Rose sat on the cold seats of the transit next to Clara as it went racing off towards their buildings. "So," Clara began, "got any plans for the evening?" Rose thought for a second, still not sure what it was she could be forgetting. "Nothing, I don't think. What about you?" "I'm babysitting for the Maitlands until eight-thirty, but other than that, not too much."

Clara paused, tilting her head slightly. "Didn't you say you had a date with that Mickey bloke?" Rose's eyes widened. "Mickey! Right."That must have been what was nagging her. Clara laughed. "Blimey, did you really forget that you had a date with your boyfriend?" Unfortunately, she really did. That couldn't be good.

Clara moved on. "Hey, how's that going, by the way? The whole Mickey thing." Rose lightly sighed, and faked a small smile. "It's going fine, I guess." Clara's light-hearted mood transitioned to one of concern, and she gave Rose a worried look. "I know that tone. What's wrong, love? Is he not treating you right?" Rose backtracked."Oh no, nothing like that. It's just..." she didn't know how to finish the sentence. What was wrong? "Things just seem a bit... dull, lately." Maybe that was the right word. Dull. She looked down.

Clara gently probed her further. "With Mickey?" Rose shook her head. "No, not specifically. I'm... I'm just not feeling myself lately. Dunno why." Rose felt Clara take her hand, and she looked up at her. Clara had light, chestnut coloured eyes. Kind eyes. "Just remember that I'm always here, yeah? I'm always here for you", Clara insisted. Rose smiled and squeezed her hand. "Thanks." Though Clara could be a bit bossy and self involved at times, she was an amazing listener, and always a good friend.

Clara glanced at the window for a moment and winced. "Shoot, that's my stop coming up." Clara paused, giving Rose the same look again, before gathering her items off the floor. "We'll talk about this later though, yeah?" Rose faked a more convincing smile this time. "Yeah. Talk to you later." Clara smiled back, and walked down the aisle and off the bus.

Rose watched her dash into her building, and then leaned her head against the window as she watched London go by.

The next morning Rose walked into her first class, slung her bag under her desk and slumped back in her chair. She had just pulled out her textbook when she heard a voice coming from behind her. "Miss Tyler?" it asked.

She turned around and saw Mr. Wilson (was that his name?) standing behind her, with his hand firmly place on the shoulder of a young man, probably about her age. "Yeah?" she replied, suddenly feeling a tad nervous. She began to recount what could have possibly gotten her in trouble over the last week.

"I was hoping you could be of assistance for the day." He glanced at the boy. "I have a new student here that's looking to get to know the school, and I was hoping he could tag along with you for your classes" he continued. "Is that all right?"

Now it was Rose's turn to size him up. He was tall and properly skinny, with bright brown eyes hidden by black rectangular glasses. And great hair. Some really great hair. "Yeah, sure." she replied. He seemed nice. "Great," Mr. Wilson smiled, pleased, "I'll leave you two to it." The both of them watched him walk out of the class.

The new student turned around first. "Right," he muttered, sliding into the desk next to hers, and immediately kicking his feet up, resting his trainers on the chair in front of his desk. Rose looked at him for a minute, slightly puzzled by how quickly he made himself at home, before turning back forwards in her chair to find a page in her textbook.

"Oh, before I forget," the young man began again, startling Rose. She turned once again to face him. "I'm John Smith, by the way. What's your name?" She paused. "My name's Rose, Rose Tyler." "Well," John grinned, flashing a thousand watt smile, "nice to meet you, Rose Tyler."

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AN: Hey guys, thanks so much for reading! If you have any thoughts, ideas or constructive criticisms, if you could leave them in the comments, I would really appreciate it! Excuse my bending of canon by adding in Clara, I just thought her and Rose would be good together. I'm hoping to update this every Thursday night, but no guarantees. Have an awesome day, and allons-y :)