The Silence Between Us

Finding a Way

Chapter 24:

"I don't understand anything."

"Come on Clara, it's not like it's life and death."

"Like hell it isn't! I cannot believe this is happening."

"What's happening?" I asked, sliding into the familiar booth in the cafeteria. Finn was sitting next to me while Clara and Mae were across the table. Noah and Alex both haven't shown up to school for a couple days now. To say I was worried would be an understatement.

"Someone's driving me insane over here with all of her complaining. And I just got here." Finn said, leaning back in his chair.

"Yeah but complaining about what?" I asked again.

Clara spoke up, not sounding very happy at all. "You know our math test?"

"The one that we took last week? The one about the sines, and the cosines, and the tangents, and then simplifying, and then using trigonometric equations, and then-"

"Yeah you don't need to remind me, Lou, I took it too you know." Clara stated flatly.

I had to wrap my mind around what she was saying first before I responded. "Wait, Lou?"

Over the past few days, Clara and Mae and I have gotten pretty close. Like really close. After that day at the hospital, we went to Mae's house and spent the night. And then after school we went to each other's houses to do homework every day and hang out. I think some time we were going to get tired of spending so much time with each other. But honestly, I knew Mae knew I needed this. I knew she was trying to provide me with a distraction to get my mind off of them.

"Yeah Lou. Louisa's too long." Clara said, but I knew there was more to it than that.

"Aww!" I said, trying to sound as cute but annoying as possible just to make Clara suffer a little bit. "You really love me don't you, Clara?"

"Don't you dare push it."

I rolled my eyes at her. Classic Clara. "What happened to your showing your emotions? You're like a bland piece of toast." I said, while currently eating a bland piece of toast.

"Well I don't like emotions, so deal. And why the hell would you compare me to toast?" Clara asked incredulously.

"Because you're like toast."

"Girls, girls, girls." Finn interjected with that classic slightly cocky but joking tone of his. "Although it's extremely heartwarming to see that Clara actually cares for someone else other than herself, I personally would like to hear the rest of the story. The math test?"

I could hear Clara shrug. "Oh yeah, I failed it."

"You failed it?" I practically shouted. Wait, why did she sound like that that wasn't why she was upset?

Clara sighed for a very long time, admitting defeat. "Geez, Lou, you don't have to tell the whole damn school. But yeah...I failed it. Like fifty four percent failed it."

"Fifty four percent? Seriously?"

"Louisa! Quieter please!"

"Sorry..."

"Anyways," Mae said, now deciding to contribute to the conversation. "Tell them what you told me your mom said."

"Wait hold on a minute." Finn said, cutting Clara off slightly. "What in the world would possess you to tell your mom you failed? I would never do that for as long as I lived! You haven't gone soft on me, right Clara? You haven't become one of those mommy's girls?"