"Life... It's Full of Surprises..."

Chapter 28 - "Smoke..."

Chapter 28 - "Smoke..."

Things went very much back to normal after that evening and the whole predicament.

Clara's Dad made a very good recovery being discharged back to the house for her Grandmother to help look after him.

She realised as she was helping to look after her son and granddaughter how much things had slipped into dust since the passing of one Ellie Oswald.

Ellie had always taken real pride in her home and Clara had always figured that she got the pride and OCD trait from her Mum, so her Gran wondered just why this place was such as mess.

John had gone back to school pretty soon after the surgery and if he was honest he was wondering why on earth he hadn't had the surgery in the first place.

He was in far less pain now than he was before, since all the bones had been pinned into place - they were just healing now, and whilst he still needed the assistance of the crutches he was doing better now than before.

He had high hopes of not even needing them for much longer after Christmas.

The Christmas holidays were fast approaching and with that came stress for everyone.

End of term tests were being held, as well as the rough cut of the film needed to be handed in for media, plus mock exams were on their way in early January so the stress was very much mounting faster than people could keep up with.

Plus the deadlines for sixth forms and colleges were he previous week so people were on edge waiting for responses and offers.

John got home on the day before the last day for Christmas and had a letter waiting in his name.

He was more than relieved to read that the school had given him an unconditional offer to all the subjects he wanted to study for the following years regardless of his grades - but the school know him and have done for 4 and a half years so they knew he was going to get the grades - which made his life a lot easier.

The only one he wouldn't be accepted for was Maths if he didn't get a B or above, otherwise he could fail the other subjects and still have a place - he wasn't sure why it was even like that.

He was even impressed for David when he had received his acceptance letter for the sixth form on the condition he meet his target grades, and he indeed realised he had a lot of work to do.

John had ran up to his room - as much as he could on his knee - and stared wrapping the present he had bought Clara for Christmas.

He was wrapping all his presents but he was mostly worried about Clara's present.

They had remained really good friends over the last few weeks, texting and chatting all the time.

Clara had even found that she could spend time with him at lunchtimes hiding behind the tree with him because it was better than hanging around with Bobby and his friends.

Clara didn't even like Bobby that much so John failed to really understand why she carried on talking to him - let alone date him.

It wasn't just because he was the one that wanted to hold her hand - it was more that she could do so much better than a prick like him.

- - -

'Have you seen Clara?' John asked Lilly as he approached the popular table.

'Your girlfriend is hanging out with her boyfriend. They were last seen by the school gate' Lilly scoffed rolling her eyes but truthfully felt a little bad about the whole situation.

Everyone could see how much John was pining over Clara.... Except for Clara. It was frustrating.

'John? How's it going?' Clara grinned straightening her hair and cardigan before approaching John.

She smelt of cigarettes so John knew where she had been with Bobby. 'Have you been smoking?'

'No' she lied.

She wasn't even sure why she had taken up the disgusting habit - it was just that when she was with Bobby she felt like she had to try harder to fit in.

She wasn't sure why about that either because everyone pretty much idolises her or what she does. Either way she shrugged and looked at John.

'You smell like smoke so I know you were'

'What are you? The smoking police. 16 is legal to smoke them you know. It's just illegal to buy them and considering I didn't but then - I'm doing nothing wrong' she scoffed.

She knew it was a habit that she needed to break. She was only smoking occasionally when around Bobby and if she was honest they tasted disgusting but when Bobby offered she felt like she couldn't just decline.

Peer pressure she supposed.

'What did you actually want John?' She asked tapping her foot wanting to escape him, and go back to her day.

She had heard the whispers behind her back. She was so engrossed in John these days that people suspected that she was Fucking nerd now.

'I just wanted to give you your Christmas present. Sorry for thinking this was the right time' he scoffed, turning to walk away, silver gift bag still in hand but he decided he would just put it in her locker.

He had gone to all the effort of buying and wrapping it up now do it would be stupid to just keep it too himself, plus he didn't have the initials engraved on the gift so he couldn't use it for himself.

He had been watching her carefully for weeks and so he had easily picked up her locker number, meaning that he could leave the present and a note in there.

He sighed as he left the school grounds and headed back to Ealing, wanting to get home on this half day as soon as possible.

As soon as he was home he continued wrapping other presents late into the evening and then finished on some revision for mock exams after Christmas.