Desirable

~38. Before I met you

Louis' head snaps to the direction of the male voice behind him, Clementine looks too with eyes wide and her heart rapidly.

"Are you guys serious? You couldn't go to the toilets or just wait until you got home?" Marlon rolls his eyes, clearly misreading the situation.

The smooth skin of Clem's cheeks were almost as red as a tomato, she had thought they were being caught by a teacher - that would've been embarrassing. A sigh of relief escapes Louis's mouth.

"You scared me, dude! We weren't doing anything, before you get all holier than thou," he explains, standing beside Clem with her hand encased in his.

"Okay, that's good. You should be grateful that I volunteered to get Miss Smy's books out the stockroom before Sophie did," he sighs, putting emphasis on the name of the girl.

Clementine winces, she knew that Sophie would've twisted the scenario and spread it around school, that was the type of person she was.

The bell rings in the hallway, signalling the end of class.

"Shit, I gotta go get these books. I'll see you guys later," he lifts his hand in a brief wave before parting, speeding down the hallway.

Louis spins her around so she's facing him again.

"What do you have now?"

"English."

"Me too," he smiles, "come on."

Students start emerging from class rooms, quickly filling the corridor with noise. The young couple make their way upstairs to their next class, which they shared. Unfortunately, they did not share a desk.

They enter the room and part with a quick kiss.

Miss Carlton taught this class; she was a very colourful person, she was always wearing extravagant clothing, big earrings and a dozen rings on her delicate fingers. Her classroom was painted like a toddler's would be, anyone who didn't know her would've thought she was an art teacher, not English.

Clem sits in her seat that was designated next to Gabe. Miss Carlton didn't like having to assign seats, however once students got wind that she was a more easygoing teacher compared to her colleagues, they took advantage of her kindness. Therefore, the headmaster enforced a seating plan.

This, of course, Gabe was thrilled with.

He beams up at her as she sits, admiring her attire.

"Hey, Clem. I feel like I never see you anymore, you okay?"

"Hi, Gabe. You don't need to worry, I'm fine." she smiles sweetly as she prepares herself for taking notes.

His eyes fall down to her hand, his stomach churning in response. Her stump of a finger was still wrapped up, the wound in the healing process. She follows his unpleasant gaze and flexes her hand.

"I heard about your hand, that must've sucked."

Clem raises an eyebrow, "Uh.. yeah, it sucked. What did you hear?"

"Lee told us that you shut it in a car door. I had a friend that did that once, but it didn't take her whole finger off. I can't imagine how much that hurt," his face cowers at the thought, making Clem cringe.

"Thanks, but if you don't mind I'd rather not talk about it."

Gabe takes the hint and closes his mouth, turning his focus elsewhere. The class filter in, all taking their assigned seats. Miss Carlton stands from her desk, indicating for the students to silence their quiet discussions.

"Thank you, everybody. In the last lesson, we were learning about analysing techniques of language. So, that's exactly what we'll be doing!" she exclaims, lifting her arms with excitement. The class remain silent, not mirroring her emotion in the slightest. She assigns a student to hand out singular pieces of paper, that had 4 different articles of text photocopied on.
"These are texts that I've taken from poems, articles, newspapers, books, and I want you all to analyse the absolute life out of them. Rhetoric questions, anaphora, secondary and primary meanings- the lot! Practice your skills and really impress me!"

Clem peers down at the paper that's placed in front of her. She knew this was not going to be fun.

"You're free to work together, so don't be afraid to help each other."

The brunette girl gets to work immediately, wanting to get the work out of the way. English was one of her least-hated subjects because it wasn't all so matter-of-fact. Miss Carlton valued each person's interpretation of pieces of writing, there wasn't usually a wrong answer.

Around half an hour and 3 pieces of completed texts later, Gabe interrupts her concentration.

"Clem? What's the word for when two words are put together to make one word? You know, like.. thumbprint."

She glances at him beside her, "Compounding."

"That's it, thanks."

"Hey, Clem!" a girl whispers behind her, she turns in her seat and smiles.

"What, Brody? You know we're allowed to talk, everyone else is."

"I know, I don't want Miss Happy-Pants to see me asking for help, she might pounce on me." Brody peers at the other end of the classroom, where Miss Carlton was stood in front of Minerva, standing awkwardly close as she explains something on the paper.

"Fair enough. What's up?"

"I wanted to ask you about the war poem, and also where you were last period?" she sneaks in the second question casually, earning a sigh of disapproval from Clem.

"And here I thought you actually needed help."

"I do! They're both valid questions," she justifies, leaning her crossed arms on the desk.

"Louis and I didn't go, we just hung out instead."

"Ahh, I see." The girl nods, her perfectly-plucked eyebrows raised. Her voice had an underlining tone to it, making Clem roll her eyes.

"No, Brody. We really did just hang out - nothing else."

"I get it, I get it. You don't gotta tell me twice," she smiles, flashing a wink.

"Brody, I'm serious-"

"What don't you have to tell her twice?" Miss Carlton appears by their side, smiling widely at the two girls with her hands clasped together. Brody practically jumps out her skin, muttering a sharp swear under her breath. For the amount of jewelry she wore, she didn't make a sound when she moved.

Clementine flashes Brody a glare before looking up at the older woman.

"I'm trying to tell Brody that the war poem does not have a hidden meaning that all newborn babies should be given guns."

Brody opens her mouth in surprise, shocked at how quickly she could make up complete bull. She quickly shuts her mouth when Miss Carlton looks at her with widened eyes.

She shrugs, "Yep, that's.. definitely what I said."

"Sometimes a person's perception.. can get carried away," the woman covers up her surprise with a warm smile. "Although your thoughts are not correct at all, I respect the thought process! Keep at it, Brody."

Clementine smiles with her face full of smug, she sticks her tongue out at her friend as she cowers down in her seat with embarrassment.

~~~

guys this was kinda short and i'm sorry - i wrote this in around 2 hours. i have mock exams next week and ugh just a lot of going on so the next chapter won't be out for maybe a little while??? i honestly have no idea. i'm really sorry but there's nothing i can really do ):

thank you for being so patient, i love all you so much xxxxxxxxxx

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