Mania

Lesson 2. Independence

Clemence did not manage to get away from school on time, unable to leave Erin as she clutched onto her wrist, going into animated detail about her summer fling with an Italian lifeguard, who would drive to her beach house at one in the morning and sneak her out of the house for late night rendezvous. Erin said he was a sweetheart, kind and funny and had showered her with affection. Clemence had smiled, asked if she planned to go on more dates with him. Erin had raised her eyebrows and laughed.

'No! Of course not! I mean he was nice but he was just a bit of fun. Silly stuff like that doesn't mean anything.' She dismissed her with an eye roll.

Clemence was running late for work, cursing as she pulled up beside her house sloppily, hoping none of her neighbours were around to complain again her poor parking blocking their driveways.

She barrelled through her front door, flinging her school bag across her room before changing into her work uniform, the sports shirt that her name printed on the back with her running shorts and sneakers. She grabbed a banana on her way back out the door; hurrying to her car before running back to her house to double check she had in fact locked the front door.

She managed to get to the community centre within ten minutes, half jogging across the field where she saw the children already lined up.

.

Clemence worked in an out of school club three days a week, looking after children of varying ages from the local area whose parents were unable to find friends or family to hoist their child upon whilst they were at work. It ran for a few hours and a considerable amount of children attended, meaning there were different divisions of activities to try and keep every child entertained in some shape or form. Clemence was one of the workers who managed the sports activities and she found it to be the perfect part time work to supplement her studies. It kept her active, she held a sense of responsibly and authority, but most of all, it was fun. She got on well with the children and felt like she had learnt a lot from them in just the few months she had begun working there before summer.

Some of the children spotted her approaching figure and ran up to her, throwing their selves at her legs and torso. She wobbled slightly, laughing as she tried to wrap her arms around heads and shoulders to reciprocate the hugs.

'How come none of you lot gave me that welcome?' Tim asked, pouting and pretending to cry, making some of the younger children shriek with laughter.

'Because they have good taste.' Clemence retorted, grinning at him. 'Sorry I'm a bit late by the way, first day back at school.'

'It's cool, don't worry about it. Have a good summer?' He smiled as she unwound herself from the small arms.

'Yeah! Yeah, thanks it was great. How about you?'

Tim shrugged. 'It was okay. When you're my age, summer doesn't have the same appeal as when you're a kid.'

Clemence rolled her eyes. Being one of the youngest workers, it was an on-going joke for Tim to pick fun at her age at any chance it got. Clemence gave as good as she got, often referring to him as on the brink of retirement despite him only being 25. Tim was another one of the sports coordinators, and was Clemence's senior, but she hardly felt like he was her boss. He was a very easy going guy to be around, with a mop of curly brown hair, brown eyes and lopsided smile that reminded Clemence of those puppies who cannot keep their tongue from hanging out of the side of their mouths. From her first day he had been full of jokes and wit, and established a friendship with Clemence, one she fully appreciated. It felt like she could release a big sigh around him, whilst with Erin she held her breath.