Out of Step

xxiv. claire bear vs. you-know-who

It had been a while since Alana had seen Claire so when Alana heard her familiar voice drifting in from the hallway, she had to jump up.

Her shoes squeaked as she turned the corner straight out the door, jogging over to where her friend was milling about with several other band geeks.

"Claire!" She shouted, grabbing her friend around the neck. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Claire said with a small laugh, hugging Alana back. "The school days been over for a while now."

"Everybody has sectionals today but me," Alana pouted. She pointed behind her towards the band room. "So, I was just sitting in the locker room doing homework. Now you?"

"I wanted to talk to a teacher, ask her if she'd help me with a college program." Claire was grinning as she finally let go of her friend. "And I thought I'd stop in a see if anyone was still here."

"Well good thing I was still here, isn't it," Alana said, her grin widening. The other students suddenly started their goodbyes and Alana waited until they were heading away before looping her arm through Claire's.

"How long do you have?" Claire asked as they started to walk back towards the band room.

Alana shrugged, using her free hand to run through her ponytail and tug at the end. "No idea. Alex or Eli or someone will probably text me when one of them is done."

"Shall we go for a walk then?" Claire turned them around quickly heading them towards the opposite side of the school. They were a good distance away before either of them said anything again, both of them opening their mouths at the same time.

"– I'm sorry," Alana said, stumbling over her words as she tried to get them out quickly. "You go ahead, you go ahead."

"I was just going to ask what's been going on with you? How have you been feeling?"

Her feet stopped, tugging Claire to follow suit as Alana let out a long, loud sigh. "I wish people would stop asking questions like that."

"And why is that my dear?" Claire asked, tugging at Alana's arm and they started walking again.

"Because everyone who's asked, already knows the answer. And they all know I'm just going to say I'm fine and, of course, they'll know that's a lie, but won't say anything." Alana let out another large sigh, tugging her arm out of Claire's in order to pull the ponytail from her hair and run her hands through her now lose hair.

"Well, indulge me darling." Claire shot a small grin at her. "I haven't been around to see what everyone else has been able to see. What is going on in your life?"

Alana licked her lips and then sucked them in, pressing them together. Claire pulled her out of the way of several freshmen and, after one glance at her face, stopped walking and pulled her to several cafeteria tables.

"Alana, what's up?" Claire's voice was quieter, and she gave her hand a quick squeeze before dropping it. "You can tell me."

Giggling as two girls rounded the corner and stopped at the vending machine stopped Alana before she even opened her mouth. She'd eyed them until they headed towards the front office, still giggling. Only then did she finally turn back towards Claire.

"It's been a rough past couple of weeks," Alana muttered studying the table. With a finger she lightly traced some sharpie and pen marks that had faded onto the table.

"Yeah, Alex told me about you sitting out the last competition," she said, and Alana looked up in surprise. She didn't even know her brother had been in any sort of contact with Claire, at least not in the past few days. Noticing her expression Claire went on, waving a hand slightly. "He was worried about you the other week and texted me wondering if I had any advice."