(chapter two)

The brown haired girl wandered around the kitchen at crack of dawn, warming up her breakfast. She knew that she didn't have to wake up so early, her school started only at eight, but Clara couldn't sleep.

Maybe it was the stress of the finals, or her unconscious trying to avoid her mother at all costs. Whatever it was, kept her awake for almost the whole night, with only a short nap of two hours.

Her cup of chocolate milk was already cold, and she bit onto her bread. The formulas running around her head, and she tried to make sure she wasn't forgeting anything.

After finishing it, she left the dishes on the sink, grabbed her bookbag, before unlocking the backdoor that lead to the beach. It was only five in the morning, the sun still too shy to appear, but the once dark blue sky already starting to look brighter.

Clara felt the sea wind hitting her skin, and then decided that she would walk on the beach for a little while. Her shoes now discharged and on her backpack, as she made her way to the sand. It's not like someone would be awake at this hour asking the reason why the 17 year old girl was alone at the beach at this hour. Or so she thought.

Her eyes caught a figure in the distance, and with caution, she kept her pace. The boy seemed to be in deep thought, bringing the cigarette to his lips. He then looked away from the waves, until he caught sight of her. He let his hand that was holding the cigarette fall down to his side, watching the girl approach.

"Isn't it too early for you to be awake?" He asked, smoke leaving his lips and she only shrugged her shoulders, falling to a stop beside him, but still within a respectful distance.

"I could ask you the same thing." With that, Rafe rolled his eyes, taking another drag.

"I asked you first."

"What are you, five?" It was Clara's turn to roll her own eyes, hiding her hands on the pockets of her hoodie. "Couldn't sleep."

"You're on finals, right?" his eyes still taking her in, as if he was trying to make sure she was really there, and the girl nodded. "What subject?"

"Chem and physics" Rafe scrunched his nose.

"Tough ones."

And then they stood in silence, watching the waves crashing. Clara pondered if she should say anything else. Rafe didn't moved away, nor left altogether, he stayed. For the first time in years he actually stayed on the same place as her willingly.

"Why are you awake?"

Rafe sized her with his eyes again, with a shrug before answering, "Had a fight with my dad, couldn't sleep. Same as you."

Clara hummed. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really, no."

"That's okay, too." And again they stood in silence. Clara cursed herself for being extremely awkward, but can you blame her? That's the first time she actually held some sort of conversation with the Cameron after everything. And before she could stop beating herself, the words fell from her mouth again. "I do care."

"What are you on about now, Clara?" Clara. Clara, Clara. He spoke her name after such a long time. She almost forgot how it sounded like in his voice, and she felt happy.

"Yesterday when I asked if you were okay, you said 'as if you care'," realization flashed across his face, and she countinued. "I do care, honestly. I always did. Just because... just because you don't want any relation to me anymore, doesn't mean I stopped caring."

Rafe's eyes never left her, and his gaze was heavy. Clara could almost feel it crushing her down. What she didn't know was that Rafe felt a heavy burden leave his shoulders. His brain screamed at him to say it back. To say he still cared about her too, but he didn't comply. He just smiled. A shy one, and then he turned on his wheel.

"Good luck on your finals, Campbell."

And he left, leaving a upset girl behind. And he felt so stupid.

++++

Clara turned off the motor of her car, looking at Sarah beside her. They weren't really looking forward to enter the school. Numerous students walked through the gate, all of them holding papers and books, preparing themselves.

Sarah took a deep breath, nodding her head, and the two got out of the car. As they got close to the gates, the familiar braided hair girl strolled in their direction. Grace Anderson, Clara's best friend for as long as she could remember. Richard and Ella — Grace's mother — went to college together, and always pushed the girls to be friends after they were born.

Grace was an year and a few months younger than Clara, and for someone who couldn't remember almost anything of her childhood, she remembered looking at the girl in her hospital crib when she was born. Clara also loved Grace's mother. Ella was an incredible mother, and more than up to have the Campbell on her house for weeks, last summer, when her mother had to travel for work.

Clara felt she could tell Grace anything. She had no doubt that she could trust the younger girl. And she did, many, many times. Things she couldn't bare telling Sarah, or anyone for that matter.

"Thank God you're here, I swear I couldn't take Topper whining any longer," the braided haired girl huffed, walking along with them, Topper not far behind.

"Fuck you, Anderson, we were having a nice convo, you're just dramatic."

"Oh I wonder when Sarah's gonna arrive, she didn't return my text this morning, and she's late, the gates are closing in 10. Oh Sarah, Sarah-" Grace dramatized, making Topper push her shoulder, while the two girls laughed slightly. "Anyway, thank you for borrowing me your last year notes, I swear to you, Mr Andrews doesn't want anyone to pass this test."

"That's what I'm saying!" Sarah stressed, swinging around her own notes. Grace threw the blonde girl a quick glance and shook her head, almost undetectable, but Clara still noticed. Sarah's words from the day before, when she asked if Grace was mad at her, echoed in her head. She was going to ask her later.

The bell ringed, and Grace waved at them, walking to another class, while the three headed to their own. Sarah sat down behind her, Topper on the blonde's left. The students started filling up the seats, and she caught sight of John B and JJ entering after everyone else. JJ sitting on her right and John B behind him.

Here's the thing, four months before a hurricane hit the Outerbanks, but mainly the Cut, damaging almost completely the school on that side of the island. The whole roof, and a few walls where demolished. And while the school was being rebuilt it was decided that the students attending would be transfered to the Academy.

It would be an understanding that the Kooks and their parents weren't too keen to that decision, but they had to agree that it wasn't fair for the lack of education for more than half of the minors of the island, and the expensive cost they couldn't afford be ignored just because of some rivalry they had going on.

To be completely honest, Clara thought the whole Kook versus Pogue was dumb. She could understand why the people from the Cut felt aversion to the more wealthy part of the island, since their money came easy for them, while they had to work had for it, but she didn't understand why the Kooks thought they were better than everyone else. Spoiler alert: they weren't.

After her parents divorce, Richard had a hard time with money, and she still saw how much her father worked every single day. He wakes up at 5 am and arrive home at 9 pm, every day, for the last 7 years. It was rare the times that her father was able to catch a break, and it was mostly when they meet up.

He wasn't apart of the Cut, but he was far away from being apart of the Figure 8. He has a nice house on the city, big enough for himself, his wife and her half-brothers, however with no space for her, since the two boys were now using her old room. She felt for it, she wanted to be apart of that family, but she knew there was no space.

Looking at her side, she could see JJ anxiously tapping his fingers against the wood table, John B not much better. The blonde boy looked up, holding her gaze, and she looked away, suddenly her pencil and pen appeared more interesting, but Clara could still feel the burning of his gaze on the side of her face.

Mr Andrews walked in, the sealed plastic that contained their tests in hand. "Good to see everyone here today, so I'll explain how this is going to work quickly." He cleared his throat, grabbing two sheets. "One of them there's the questions and a small space if you need, and the other is going to be the list of answers to the test. Make sure you're filling the whole circle, if not, the system will not be able to read the answer. Understood?"

A chorus of "yes" and others nodding made the teacher to start handing out the papers. Clara was quick to pick up her pencil. She knew the subject, she study for it, so she was hoping it wouldn't be too difficult. And it wasn't. Her hand moved fast on the paper, annotating and circuling the right answers. After 20 minutes she was done, so she started filling the circles on other paper.

Her eyes looked up quickly, and she saw JJ, with his head in his hands, the sheet still blank. Clara pondered, looking up at the teacher, who was grading the homeworks from another class. With that, she lowered her arm and waved, gaining his attention, as his blue eyes met hers. Slowly, she hold up the list of answers, already filled, and looked at him.

Surprise took over his whole expression, but he didn't waste any other second on writing down on his own. After a minute or something, he nodded back as a thank you, and start pretending to fill the questions, but she knew he was going to pass to John B. Making sure that everything was filled, again, she got up, pulling her backpack and walking up front. The teacher gave her a small smile, taking the sheets from her hands, and she started walking out, not without looking at the blonde boy, seeing the thankful, yet curious, look in his expression.

Clara stayed outside, sitting down against the lockers, waiting for her friends.

Her eyes went away from her phone, where she watched videos, when a pair of shoes approached her. Looking up there was JJ, who didn't say anything, so she only crooked her head, signaling for him to sit beside her, and with a little hesitation, he did.

"What's the catch?" he asked, making her snap her head to look at him.

"What?"

"What's the catch?" he repeated, swinging his hand around. "'Cause there's no reason for you to help me, unless you want something in return."

Clara scoffed, looking away from him with furrowed eyebrows. "So now I can't do a nice thing that I need to have something in return?"

"I mean, there was no reason for you to."

"No reason? You were literally sulking, being all broody and shit. I know how hard it is, 'cause I spent way too many times just like you, not knowing what to do. I guess I'll let you by yourself next time. But if you're going to stay here and complain, I rather you don't, so leave." She stressed, rolling her eyes. JJ kept looking at her, seeing how annoyed over the matter he made her.

"Sorry." He said after a few seconds, resting his head against the lockers, a small frown on his face. "I guess I just got used to the fact that you people always want something in return."

"You people?"

"Yeah, y'know... the Kooks." JJ fidget with his cap, picking on the ripped tissue. "So, I'm sorry, and thank you, for trying to help."

Clara smiled, "S'fine, I helped you out 'cause it's something I would want someone to do for me, so yeah."

JJ smiled back, the thought that a kook was so nice didn't make much sense to him. Of course he has Kie, but not once he thought Clara would be just as nice. He saw movement on the door of the class, and John B walked out. JJ rushed to his feet, giving Clara a thankful nod, as the two left the hallway.

The brown haired girl hid her cheeks with her hands, hoping they would talk again.

Please, don't forget to vote and comment!