Haunted

Chapter 15: Benched

Clark followed Scott, who was adamant he could play without losing control without Clark's constant insistent not to, into the locker room. Scott was far too stubborn when it came to lacrosse for his own good and Clark had ran out of different ways to say 'don't play the game'. The locker room was loud and rowdy, filled with their fellow teammates hyping each other up as they changed and prepared themselves.

As he reached his own gear, all of which was technically Danny's, he was met by Jackson who was already dressed head to toe in his own gear, raring to go. "There you are. I've been trying to call you all day," Jackson told him as Clark dropped his bag onto the floor.

"My phone died," Clark told him and he technically wasn't lying. His phone charger had been left at his house overnight and his phone had lost its battery whilst he'd been at the sheriff's station. He did pick up his charger when he was at his house earlier that day and had charged his phone when he returned to the McCall's. He had found Jackson's missed calls shortly before leaving the house for the game.

"Don't ever skip school without me again," Jackson demanded in a tone which suggested to Clark that he'd had a hell of a day.

"What? You can't go one day without me?" Clark retorted jokingly with a genuine grin; his first one since finding out about Laura's death. He turned his attention from Jackson to his lacrosse strip as he began to get changed.

"Jamie spent the whole day raving about ghosts. He's completely out of it!" Jackson commented, obviously not convinced by Jamie's insistence that ghosts were real despite Clark's recent chat with him to shut the hell up. Clark made a note to have another chat with the guy. The lack of appearances from Cora over the last three days had convinced him that he'd allowed himself to get caught up in Jamie's crazy explanations rather than accepting Ms Morrell's logical one.

"Tell me about it," Clark muttered in agreement as he exchanged his shirt for the red Cyclones shirt complete with the white number '4' on the back.

"Lydia was on my case all day about getting that shot," Jackson continued to fill him in.

"Which, considering you're here and playing, you obvious got," Clark inferred. "Hate to break it to you, man, but she's got you whipped," he joked with a light chuckle and disapproving shake of his head.

He earned a playful punch on the arm from Jackson for that comment. Other than that, Jackson chose to completely ignore the comment. "And people have been pestering me all day about you," Jackson concluded.

"About me?" Clark played dumb as he finished changing and began to put on his protective gear. He was fairly sure he knew what they had been pestering Jackson about. In a town like Beacon Hills where many were under the impression that 'nothing happened' - Clark sure wished he had that impression - news travelled quickly.

"There's some serious rumors going about," Jackson told him. "And your no-show makes the rumors appear true."

Jackson was dancing around the topic of the rumors, showing some tact which had to be one of the first times he'd done so in his life. "That my sister's the dead girl and my brother murdered her?" Clark came out with what he was sure was the rumor floating around the school, speaking casually in a way which surprised the other players within hearing distance but also enticed them to continue to listen in.

"Bang on," Jackson confirmed with a nod as Clark returned his focus to tightening his right elbow pad. It proved a good distraction to stop him from thinking about what they were actually talking about. Unbeknownst to Clark whose attention was solely on the elbow pads, Jackson was watching him closely. "That's rough."

"It's life. I'm used to it," Clark responded dismissively as he pulled one of the straps tighter. He then turned his attention to his left elbow but hesitated when his hand touched the strap, his eyes drifting upwards from the elbow pad to meet Jackson's eyes. "He didn't do it though," Clark found himself defending his brother despite how angry he was at him. "I know he didn't do it. Even if I'm the only one who seems to think that."