Clara's Undoing

Clara's Undoing - Chapter Nine: Something Feeling Itchy?

Clara

We were all well into a good game of soccer by the lake at Rhys’ lake house when Sidney decided to ask me about the events of last night’s double date. I told him how I had a nice time with James before he got called away by Coach Fredmaan and how I ruined Mr. Parrish and Jodie’s after dinner plans.

It gave me a slight relief knowing it was the weekend and I didn’t have to spend the morning with Mr. Parrish. After hearing him say my name last night, I didn’t know if I could look at him without feeling something. From where I stood, it felt like I was some woman he dropped off after a date and not just his student.

“How did Mr. Parrish look?” Sidney asked, sitting on the grass with her hands behind her for support.

I shrugged. “He looked okay, I guess.”

“Okay? I’m sure he looked fine as wine.” She commented. “He’s the hottest twenty five year-old I know.”

“He’s twenty five?” I confirmed. “How did he manage to swing a tenureship at Bridgeborn? Don’t they only give that out to like, really old teachers?”

This time it was Sidney’s turn to shrug. “I don’t know and I don’t care. As long as we get to see his beautiful face everyday, I’m good with that. I think it may be the only decision of my Mom that I actually approve of.”

James ran up to where we were, wearing only a pair of board shorts and flip flops, his bare upper torso served like flame to my moth. “Hey babe, come on, water’s good.”

I closed my hung-open mouth shut. “Uh, no thanks. I’m good.”

“I’m gonna go kayaking with the guys,” He bent down to give me a quick peck on the cheeks before jogging away. “I’ll see you after, okay!”

“He doesn’t know you can’t swim, does he?” Sidney asked quietly, nudging me at my side.

I let my stare linger at the fading figure of James. “Nope.”

She stood up, letting out a small groan as she offered me her hands to pick me up from the ground. “Come on, let’s go get wasted.”

We convened with the rest of our group at the table by the house. They were already three bottles deep into Jagermeister when we joined in and I decided to skip the drinking for now. It was barely five in the afternoon and half the guests were already wasted and by seven, some would’ve probably been pregnant at the rate everyone was going.

By nine, the party was still on full show without showing any signs of stopping. The speakers were blasting some pop rock song I couldn’t quite place the name of to which most of my classmates were dancing to inside the house. My friends and I and a couple other students we knew sat outside the back patio with beer and barbecue, courtesy of the chess varsity club who were all in love with Sidney and Beatrice.

I was on one of the gray patio chairs enjoying a nice glass of Cuvee when Milla called my name and plopped on the other patio chair beside me.

“So I heard James gave you his jersey,” Milla said as she began snacking on a kebab. “Does this mean our little Clara’s finally blossoming into a woman?”

“It’s just a football jersey!” I exclaimed, chuckling as I took a bite from her food after snatching it. “I don’t see the big deal about it.”

She snatched back the stick from me and took another bite. “Oh come on! You know what that means!”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “That he’s now one jersey short?”

She rolled her eyes at me as she sighed in exasperation. “It means that the entire James Evans fans club had found their latest target. Everyone heard about the small jersey-giving episode. And you know who else heard about it? Tina Hidgkins.”

“So?” I asked.

“She’s notorious for bullying girls to keep them away from James.” She replied. “It’s like she thinks she owns him or something. She’s probably thinking of some plot to ruin you by now. That woman’s ruthless like that and we don't want you getting in the line of fire.”

“I don’t care about Tina. I’m not gonna let her get to me.” I told her. “And you guys shouldn’t worry about me. I can handle myself.”

Milla put a stray strand of my hair behind my ear. “We know.”

“Clara!” Betsy cried as she jumped on us from behind. “Tina’s all over James!”

We all followed where Betsy pointed and found the cluster of students by the shore gathered around a huge bonfire. James was standing with his friends and a very eager, albeit drunk, Tina Hidgkins was practically throwing herself at him.

I stood up. The girls behind me called out cheers as I walked over to their spot and it was almost enough reason for me to back down. But I shook the anxious feeling away and carried on approaching them.

“Hey Tina.” I said. “Something feeling itchy?”

James’ face washed with relief as soon as he saw me and immediately jogged over to where I was standing. There was a proud expression plastered on his face as he put an arm over my shoulders.

I held the hand hanging over my right shoulder which he immediately took in before we left Tina and the rest of James’ friends with a shocked expression on their faces.

“That was awesome.” James whispered in my ear while we were walking over back to the patio. “Who knew it only took you to keep her away from me?”

“You looked like you were enjoying every bit of attention she was providing.” I said, slightly teasing him.

“No way.” He replied. “Did it? God, Clara, I swear I—”

I laughed, not being able to control my emotions. I was never good at lying. “Relax Evans, I was just messing with you. You looked like you were gonna s**t your pants back there before you separated Tina’s head off of her neck.”

He scoffed, chuckling before responding. “Yeah, sometimes she’s a little slow on clues.”

“What was she on about?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “She heard about me giving my jersey to you. She’s furious because she’s always wanted it.”

I bit my lip and raised an eyebrow as I looked up at him. “Why did you give it to me though? We’ve barely been together for a week.”

“Because I wanted to. I felt like it. You’re different, Clara. From Tina and from most of the girls I knew. There’s something about you that makes me feel… certain.” He said, placing a languid kiss on my temple. “Come on, I’m sure your friends are a better company than mine.”

The rest of the evening went pretty wild. I did end up getting drunk but not too much that I couldn’t get myself to bed. I even put Sidney to sleep, with the help of Beatrice of course, which was a lot more fun than seeing her table dance downstairs during the party. We may or may not have dropped her more than once on our way to one of the empty rooms.

Beatrice had put whiskers on her face and took a fair amount of photos with her in different positions. After that, we both laid down beside Sidney to sleep.

Sunday came pretty much the same for the party. There were already people partying as early as ten in the morning and some even paired alcohol with their breakfasts—which were food from The Blue Box Cafe Rhys had specially ordered so I was pretty much stuffed before I joined the party. By night, there was a stage setup by the shore and The Landing Strip played. It was pretty solid for a Trust Fund Party and I was glad I came. Once again, however insane Sidney was, she was right.

Then that night, I slept in the arms of James Evans.