TROUBLE ━━━━━━━
(shelby sister!oc x peaky blinders)
Peaky Blinders, season one - six
━━━━━━━
IN WHICH, Clara Shelby must
come to terms with the fact
that life is changing for her
and her ragtag family.
( extended summary inside )
━━━...
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☆
CLARA DIDN'T ATTEND THE CELEBRATION at the Garrison the night of the Epsom Derby. She had, had her fill of people. Instead, she had opted to go out with Will and the two had spent the night getting high down by the docks. The Epsom Derby had been less than forty-eight hours ago. It was now two pm sharp and Clara Shelby was dressed from head to toe in non-scruffy clothes of her own as she strode down Coventry Lane.
She didn't look dishevelled or dirty, in fact, she looked unusually, squeaky clean. Pol and Ada had insisted. Today was the day her future depended on. It was results day, a day which had plagued Clara since she'd sat the damn exams. She walked steadily and unafraid, quite unlike her heart which thumped rapidly in choruses of 'what if the results are bad' and 'failure isn't an option'.
Her feet crunched against the stony path leading towards the school. The school wasn't anything special but it did house copious memories (and also rats and leaks and draughty rooms and horrid teachers who liked to cane students) but, sometimes the bad doesn't outweigh the good, no matter how heavy. Students from her year were gathered in the courtyard which was enclosed by iron bars. There weren't many students who'd opted to continue the entirety of their schooling. Out of the thirty that had begun back in 1910, only twelve remained, Clara included.
People just couldn't afford to keep their children in school.
Clara leaned against the weathered bricks by the school gates, her eyes straight ahead as her hands shoved themselves into her pockets. The others talked amongst themselves, Clara had never really befriended any of them, her only friends in the school being Will and Penny, the former who had dropped out and the latter who was no longer speaking to her.
So the girl stood solemnly and alone. People sent her cautious glances every once and a while. They knew her family and now she adorned their hat, she was different now. No longer the young girl with pigtails who was caned for cursing like a sailor, for now, she lived a life of dangerous games with silly prizes.
Clara lifted her eyes as heels clattered from the steps ahead. Her eyes drifted towards the sound as she was met with the sight of Mr Carmichael, the headmaster. Mr Carmichael was just a person. He didn't really hold any significance in Clara's life, he didn't teach her, in fact, she rarely interacted with the man. He was just...there.
"Students, Students!" He called out, looking above the stack of pages he carried. "Gather round and listen up, when I call your name, you come up and collect your results. Are we clear?"
Students answered unanimously but Clara remained quiet with her head bowed. She listened as the principal ran his finger over the roll book before clearing his throat.
