Clara

Chapter 6

   It's 6 o'clock and I can't sleep so I'm in the kitchen cooking breakfast for everyone but I can't stop thinking about what Jack said last night.
    "Good morning, what are you doing here?" Millie's voice wakes me up.
    "Breakfast, do you like pancakes?"
    "I love pancakes, you are the best girlfriend that Jack had!" I don't know how to answer this.
    "Yeah...I'm not...I mean we are not..."
    "Yeah...sure, you two are like two magnets who are attracted to each other, you left last night and now you are here, you slept in his bedroom last night. If you are not dating than you are into each other." I'm not into him. Or maybe I am. Am I? No, I'm not. I should wake him up.
    "Question, how do you guys wake him up?"
    "Easy, kissing him."
    "Smart girl, but I'm not gonna do it." and that is because I didn't had my first kiss.
    "Was worth to try" she laughs. "Do you want me to wake him up?"
    "That would be nice. Thanks." I say and Millie runs upstairs. I put my hair in a ponytail and go to pick what I'm going to wear today. I have a NIRVANA t-shirt and black jeans. As usual.
    "You can't wear that! Now you have me as your friend, can I pick something for you?" Jenna scares me. Maybe I can try something different.
    "Sure. But all I have are black jeans, rock bands t-shirts and black Converse."
    "Okay...come to my room, I'll give you something." So we go to her room which is SUPER. I fucking love it! She give a black high waist skirt, a top, a pair of potato bag tights and high heels boots. I put them on and I can say that I look sexy. My shoulders are not exposed so it's perfect. The black lipstick. Okay...I go to the bathroom and put it on my lips. I look fabulous. All is missing is a piercing in my nose.
    "I got you this, don't freak out, it's fake, do you want it?" Jenna appears and read my thoughts. I put it and I fell really brave.
    "Now let's go downstairs you should eat something."
   When we arrive, at the table are Mike, Jack and Millie who are staring at me. It is a loooong moment of silence until Jack says "You look different."
    "Good different?" I ask. Ask him if it's true what he said last night. Good morning Jane. No, I won't do that. He was drunk, he didn't know what he was talking about.
    "I think it's much better. Come and eat." Millie says and I go to have breakfast.
   "Clara, are you going to go at the homecoming?" Mike asks and than looks at Jack.
    "No, and not because nobody invited me, it's just not my type of event. You?"
    "I invited Violet last night and she accepted." Mike confesses.
    "I'll go with Mia, it's kind of our anniversary." Jenna blushes. That is cute. I'm happy for her.
    "I'll ask today a girl." Jack says like nothing.
    "I feel so left out." Millie cries.
    "I'll stay with you home if you want we can have a party bigger than the homecoming, what do you say?"
    "Yes, and if someone will invite you, you're gonna accept?"
    "No, I'll say that I have something much better to do. I promise." when I say this, everyone is looking at Jack who seems to be sick.
    "Jack? Are you okay? You are white." I say and he looks at me with his blue eyes.
    "Yes, let's go to school" he says and everybody gets up and go to his car.
    "Do you wanna use your car or ride with us?" Millie asks and I get in the same car.
    Next thing I know I'm at school and everyone is looking at me. Now, they are really doing it, it's not just depression, I feel uncomfortable. Please stop. STOP!! I will scream in my head forever. Now I am the one who looks like a ghost. I bet I'm like a chess table. Black and white. This hills are not helping me at all. Jack, Mike and Jenna are next to me. I run away. I just walk faster then they are and hide. I can't. I go to my locker, take all the math books and notebooks and go straight to the classroom. I sit, as usual in the back corner of the room.
    "Hi, is this taken?" Rose Young asks. She is a sunshine. The most kind person in the school. I never talk to her, or anyone for the notice, but I would like to be friends with her.
    "No." I say and sound like a complete idiot. "Do you wanna sit?" And she nods. She takes her desk closer to me and I immediately start to freak out.
    "Why are you like this?" She asks, but not with that arrogant voice "I mean you don't talk and stuff like this, I would love to be your friend."
    "I just...I'm not like you or Lara, I not happy, I don't smile, just look at me, who would want to stay with me? I eat alone, I don't have friends..."
    "Clara Jones? Your mother is here and she wants to see you" the teacher screams in class. I get up and run on the hallway to the principal's office. When I open the door, my mom hugs me. I hug her too.
    "Miss Jones, is true what your mother told us?"
    "I don't know, what did she said?"
    "You ran away with a boy. That what your father said."
    "First of all, he is not my father, second, yes, kind of, Jack Pierce came to my house because he wanted me to help him at literature. I had a shower and than Charles came and started to scream at...I got mad, I'm not that mad now, but I can't go back, they hate me."
    "Clara, we don't hate you, I love you more than anything in this world, please come home." My mom says and a tear fell of my eyes.
    "I know, mom, you love me, but do you know what Charles told me? Do you know how... miserable Violet is with me?"
    "What did he told you?" The principal asks.
    "That I am as virgin as my father alive, that I am a slut. If you don't believe me, ask Jack!" I scream and run out of the office. I don't go back to class because I can't go there looking like this. The library is right in front of me, I run into it and go straight to the back of it and start to cry for what happened yesterday. I lay in the floor.
    "Clara?" I hear a male voice calling. "Are you there? It's Mike, I can hear you, my class is wall to wall."
   "Leave me alone! I don't wanna talk about it!" I scream.
    "Look, now that I found you, can I talk to you, I need to."
    "Do I have a choice?"
    "No, look, I think you know about our situation, it was hard, but I had to be strong, for Jenna, for Millie, even for Jack. You need to be strong too, I don't know what happened, but you can get over it, you don't have to go home if you don't want to, you can stay with us, but I talked to Violet and your mom is going crazy. She told me that this morning she didn't even care about the party, she looked in your room, she took all your pictures and went to your father library and cried, she is crushed, please talk to her." He says and stops when he sees Jack in front of us, we are seating on the floor.
   "Mike, can I talk to Clara please, I have something important to ask her, but I see that it's the right moment for this, so...can you..."
   "Yes, good luck, talk to you at lunch." Mike says and leaves.
    "Look, if you are here to tell me that I should go home and talk to my mom and Charles to clear things out. You are wasting your time." I say and watch how his comes to me and sits.
   "No, I came here to tell you that I want you to stay at my place, but you are free to go home. It's your choice, but I would prefer you to stay, I really like your pizza." He say and I laugh. He is sweet. I don't like him, or I do? Do I?
    "I think I have to talk to my mom, but can you come with me?"
    "Yes, of course, but now I have a question. Fo you wanna be my date at the homecoming?"
    "What? Me? Serious? I thought you are going to ask a popular girl."
     "No, you, you are the one that I want...so...do you?"
     "Yes, but I promised Millie I will stay home with her."
    "I thought about it too, listen, I bought a dress for her and we are going to surprise her, okay?"
     "Okay."