Hannah and Clay: Stick With Me Kid

Chapter 8

Hannah's P.O.V

My face was damp and swollen and my wet eyelashes rested over my puffy eyelids like an umbrella. I had been back at school for all of 5 minutes and i was already back in Mr Porter's office. My eyes darted around the familiar space, homing in on photographs on his desk and the sun sliding in through the horizontal blinds hanging over the window. Mr porter was outside talking to Mrs Antilly, presumably about Clay and Bryce and Justin who he had just caught scrapping in the corridors and how to handle the situation. I sat waiting, fiddling with the bracelet around my wrist nervously. My back was to the door facing his desk when i heard him come into the room. He walked round to the back of his desk and sat down on his chair, a familiar look of pity echoing in his eyes. He pushed the box of tissues towards me and i leaned over to pull one out and dab at the redness around my eyes. "Hannah, do you want to explain to me a little bit about what i saw?" He said, patronising me from on top of his high horse. I didnt say anything. I wasn't sure what to say. I didnt really know what had happened myself. I had merely opened a door onto a fight. However that didnt mean i couldn't make a well educated guess on its cause. "Hannah, I'm going to need the full story of what happened please." He asked again, as condescending as ever. I didnt want to tell him what i saw because what i saw was Clay throwing a punch and Bryce retaliating, defending himself. I knew what kind of picture that would paint of Clay, even though i know he would have been provoked. It wasn't in Clay's nature to just punch somebody. I suppose it wasn't just somebody, it was Bryce. "Where is Clay?" I asked avoiding his question like a dodgeball in gym. Mr porter folded his arms and looked down at me sighing. "He is being spoken to Hannah, along with Bryce and Justin." My body instantly seized up. They were all together, in one room. With Bryce's extremely infuriating sense of superiority instigating a new found rage in Clay and Justin's reckless abandon in what he said, what Bryce did to me and Jessica was sure to come out, one way or another. I also knew that the only way for Clay to not come off badly from the fight, would be for the teachers to know his motivation. Mr porter had to know.  

Clay's P.O.V

My blood had cooled from a high boil to a low simmer but i still had to tap my hands on my knees to keep calm sitting in the same room as the kid that raped my girlfriend. His smug face sitting across from me was enough for me to hit the roof but Justin was next to me trying to keep me calm. Principal Bolan sat at the head of the table, staring us out, presumably to make us feel particularly uncomfortable. A few extremely awkward moments passed and Mr Bolan took out a pen and paper before addressing me. "Mr Jenson, your school record is completely clean so its hard for me to envisage you rumbling in the corridors with a pair of jocks." He gestured to the two boys either side of me. "Care to explain the circumstances?" I thought of Hannah and why I had lashed out at Bryce. Hannah's attack was personal and something that only she should have to report. What business was it of mine to dig it all up again, when she had carefully detailed the reasons she did not want to report it, to me a few weeks ago. I didnt know what to say. I wasn't fast on my feet, especially in circumstances i had never been in before like this one. I had to bite my tongue for Hannah. "I would like to apologise" It was painful to say, my blood simmering faster, a deep aching growing in my chest. "I would like to apologise to Bryce for lashing out at him." Mr Bolan looked surprised and wrote what i had said down on his paper. "Okay, i was hoping for some kind of completely understandable explanation for your actions Mr Jenson. What a disappointment." I cringed at his words, and i could feel Bryce's smirk lathered on me like mud. Justin was fidgeting next to me, i could tell he was choking words down too. Why was it that the boy who committed a heinous crime was sat comfortably at the table, whilst me and Justin squirmed. "Justin." Mr Bolan coughed, looking up from his pad. "Can you corroborate that Mr Jenson merely lashed out?" He raised his eyebrows whilst Justin picked his nails and scoffed, i knew Justin wasn't just going to lie down and take this. "No Principal Bolan I can't corroborate that" He spurted rubbing his chin with his hand. "Bryce is a psychopath and belongs in prison" I couldnt bare Hannah's secret coming out like this. Her insecurity, her personal battle about to be announced and i couldn't stop it. Mr Bolan looked extremely confused and i just wanted to run out and find Hannah. I had promised her i would be with her today and i let her down. Mr Bolan was about to further question Justin on his sudden outburst, when his office doors were opened by Mr Porter. "Principal Bolan I'm sorry to interupt  but i need to speak to you immediately." He said, a sense of panic in his voice. "Right okay. Boys you are dismissed but i need to ask you to go home, i cannot have you riled up and violent in school for the rest of the day. Come back tomorrow and we will deal with this matter. Thank you." Bolan said.  We all stood up and headed for the door but Mr Porter grabbed my arm as i passed him. "Clay, i need you to go and take Hannah home. She's outside my office. She is going to need you right now." I sped out the door panic igniting inside me like a flame. I ran through the corridors, down hall ways and bursting through heavy doors. I reached the main office entrance and threw myself in before seeing Hannah sat sobbing on the chairs outside the counceling office . She looked up, a crumpled tissue in her hand and mascara smudged down her tear flooded cheeks and caught my eye. She stood up quickly and ran towards me wrapping herself around me like a sweater. Her warmth combining with mine and her body melting into me as tied my arms around her back. She held onto me so tightly. It was like she was scared the ground would swallow her if she let go and i gently held her body against mine, taking in the smell of freshly laundered clothes and her perfume. She wept into my hoody before gasping out  "I told him Clay. I told him everything."

Hannah's P.O.V 

We had all been excused from school. The boys, for their erratic behaviour and me because of what i had just reported to Mr Porter. I couldn't breathe. The most traumatic thing i had ever experienced in my life was now probably being openly discussed between teachers and it would only be a matter of time before it wormed its way into the mouths of students in the hallways, to be twisted and manipulated to suit who ever was telling the story. Clay and i stood in the main office for a few minutes, him holding me protectively like he always did. I couldn't bare the mess i had got him into. The trouble i had caused for him and his face was a mess. A bloody nose, busted lip and a swelling eye. We broke from our embrace and Clay and i walked home, him wheeling his bike beside him along the roads and pavements to my house. We didnt talk. I couldn't talk over the sobs that kept escaping me so we walked in a comfortable silence. Thinking. Clay would occasionally look over to me and smile with his eyes rather than his mouth to let me know he was okay and that i should be okay. We got to my house and we trailed up the drive to my front door, stumbling into the hall thinking of how nervous i had been to leave this morning. I would never have gone if i had known this would happen. Clay pulled me into him again, kissing the top of my head gently and stroking my arm. I held his hand and led him into the kitchen, sitting him down at the dining room table. I walked over to the sink and filled the basin with warm water and brought it over to Clay with a cloth. "Im... I'm so sorry Clay." I choked, dipping the cloth in the water and ringing it out, gently dapping at the bleeding cuts on his face. " Don't be Hannah. Its my fault for not having any self control. Bryce deserved a beating anyway. But i feel awful that this has all come out now." He winced slightly as i moved the cloth to his blackening eye, dabbing as carefully as i could. I could feel tears pooling in my eyes and i saw Clay notice. He gently moved my arm away and wiped the tears from my face with his thumb. He leaned in, softly laying his lips onto mine and holding the back of my head, our mouths connecting seamlessly. He leaned back, and i threw my head onto his shoulder, while he traced my neck with his hands. "We are going to fix this Hannah. I promise" 

AUTHORS NOTE:

Hi, sorry this chapter is a little bit long but if i had split it up i would have two chapters that were too short. Hope you enjoy xxx