chapter FIVE

Claire slammed the door shut to her house, yawning a little and plopping down on the couch. She set her feet on the table before her and tossed the bag on to the floor. Honestly, she was done with everything. Just last month she was suspended, which seemed like it was yesterday, and today again.

Either way, she was happy about it.

The thing was about those appealing blue eyes that seemed to haunt her existence. She couldn't even look at him one last time before she could start her punishment. And that meant, not meeting up with her friends, no smoking with friends-- (she can do it in her room anyways)-- and no plausibility of introducing herself to the guy.

"Claire? Is that you?" Her mom made her way into the living room with a spoon in her hand and a cloth in other, peeking over the couch to look at her daughter already ready to grab ahold of the TV remote. Claire didn't go through the process of answering her mother. She just flipped through random channels which were pointless. "And don't you wanna go, freshen up? Don't want to just go through your study? Prepare a timetable, it might help you in future. Have you--"

"I got suspended." Claire broke in, not interested in listening to her mother ramble on about the same old things she repeated almost daily. But what she just said took her mother off guard.

"What?!" She shrieked, dropping the spoon and the cloth onto the floor, and gasping loudly. The room went quiet rather than the obnoxious sound of the television... But her broke it by screaming in a high pitch. "Did you get suspended again?!"

Claire rolled her eyes when she heard the sound of metal hitting the floor.

"Four days." She said, starting to whistle and wiggling her feet in the air. "Chill."

"Oh my good heavens graciousness! this is no good news! How can I 'chill'?! Let me call your dad and tell him what you did--wait, what did you do to get suspended?!" Her mother was next moment all over her face, and she got suffocated in seconds. Her mother seemed to worry a lot, and she just wanted to tell her... tell her to get a job in a TV show.

"I got.." She looked at her mother warily unsure of what she would do if Claire spoke the truth. She tried it anyway. "I got into a fight... beat some ass."

Her mother gasped again, and covered her mouth with her hands. "You're grounded. Grounded for until I set you off." she shook her head at Claire. Claire just rolled her eyes. "And no electronics. No phone and no car."

"What the--"

"Marcus!" and her mother was off to ringing her husband to give him this deadly news.

***

Night soon rolled in, as Claire made herself comfortable near the window pane, a straw in her hand as she huffed smoke out into the night air. The weather was cold and misty, making Claire a little happy on the inside. She always liked winter and no one could change her opinion even if they tried their best.

She loved Winter. It was always either foggy or raining.

She watched as people walked down the street, talking and laughing or walking alone on their own. Some of them were from her neighbourhood and others she didn't know. Soon, she saw her dad's car stopping right in front of the house. She took a step back and closed the windows... in case he can see her. She covered the windows with the blinds and dubbed the cigarette straw into the dustbin.

Facing her dad wouldn't be the worst but it's not the best also.

It wasn't long before she could hear some talking down stairs and how loud her parents got. Especially her mother, who shreiked at every end of the sentence. It only made Claire roll her eyes. She pulled her phone out and started logging out of the all apps in her phone. Because honestly, she knew her mother would go through each and everything.

She deleted some apps that weren't necessary and switched off the phone.

She opened her laptop that stood on her bed stand and took off the password from her desktop. As far as she knew her mother would come asking for password and she wasnt willing to give it away. And there wasn't anything in that shit anyway.

She heard a knock on the door before it opened and her father walked in.

"I got to know..." Her father started, closing the door behind him and sat on the corner of the bed. "You're suspended."

"Yes I am." She replied, sitting straighter and pushing the devices towards him."I know why you're here. So please take them." She pulled out her keys to the car and tossed on the bed towards her father. Her father sighed, shaking his head.

"I'm here to also talk,  you know."

"But what if I say I don't wanna talk?"

"I think then, you must have a good night so that we can talk tomorrow morning." Her dad pursed his lips together, getting up and gathering the things. "Make sure you hide the other under your bed from your mother."

And he was gone, giving a smile and closing the door behind him. She felt a Pang in her chest.

Her father... He was always a different story. He always seemed to startle her with every move he took. And right now, she was huffing in anger. And so, she decided to pull out her other phone she hid under the bed and snuck out the bedroom... Through window. Easy as hell and no getting caught.