Clay POV
Clay was slightly disoriented about where he was, but it was warm and extremely comfortable.
However, someone was trying to shake him awake, and he sure didn't want to wake up. But the person that was shaking him was persistent.
"C'mon Nick, just a few more minutes." The shaking stopped and Clay took the opportunity to get a few more minutes of sleep. Well, that was until a feeling of drowning spread through his body and panic erupted. He shot up and glanced around to try and figure out what had caused that horrible awakening.
"Morning, sunshine." Chestnut brown eyes examined him with amusement.
Memories from last night returned and Clay suddenly realized where he was and who he was with. "Morning, Georgie. You suck at waking people up, you know that right?"
The brit laughed. His dark locks were a mess and his eyes were puffy from sleep. But he was still as pretty as ever. "You refused to wake up, it's not my fault."
"So, what? You choose to drown people that just want their beauty sleep?" Clay stated jokingly.
George rolled his eyes. "I didn't drown you, idiot. I just pinched your nose and mouth close." The brunette said with an innocent smile. Clay glared in return. He then reached out and grabbed George's wrist, pulling him down on the bed again and wrapped his arms around the brunette so he was unable to get up.
"Clay. Clay! Let go, we need to get to school!" The objections were muffled due to George's face being buried in Clay's t shirt.
"No, school can wait."
"ClaaAy... let. Me. Go!" And George did his best to escape the his grip. The fighting weakened and George seemed to resign.
Clay grinned "Do you accept defeat, British boy?" But the victory didn't last long when two fingers were pushed into the sides of his abdomen, causing Clay to involuntarily let got. George seized the opportunity and leaped out of the bed. The loss of warmth was agonizing.
"Get up and we can return back here after school."
"Since when do you care so much about school?" George hesitated. Clay found the reaction bit out of place, but kept quiet. "Just get dressed. I'll get us some sandwiches for breakfast."
George left the room and Clay was therefore alone. George hadn't given him much of a choice, so he forced himself out of bed and into the conjoined bathroom. The bathroom was brightly lit with an expensive feel to it. It contained a mirror that nearly covered an entire wall, a luxurious bathtub as well as a shower. Someone had definitely focused on making the most out of the bathroom. Clay was stunned. George had never specified what his dad worked with, but it was clear that the man made loads of money.
Clay took a very quick shower, just to make sure no blood remained from yesterday's incident. His mom had hurt him before. Though, this had been one of the worse cases. He stared at his reflection when he got out of the shower. George had done a good job at patching him together. But his wounds wouldn't go unnoticed from the world. He sighed. He would need to come up with an excuse. Again.
The dried blood that had stained his blonde hair had washed away in the shower. It hit him how bad he must've looked when he got here yesterday. But George hadn't even flinched at the sight.
George's bed was comfortable and Clay had slept well, so his physical appearance did thankfully not match his mental one. The only thing that potentially could give him away was his eyes. They sure as hell showed sign of his exhaustion. But he knew the trick by now. Just smile and pretend. Then there's few that'll question anything.
He got dressed. The same green hoodie as yesterday combined with black jeans. It wasn't a striking outfit but good enough. He left the bathroom an saw George sitting on the bed. The brunette was dressed in cuffed black jeans, a marine blue hoodie and his black bomber jacket. The dark hair was still a mess, like George had decided to just run a hand through it and let gravity do the rest. It suited him though.
George expression was a bit strained, but Clay chose not to mention anything.
He threw Clay a cheese sandwich. "Ready to go?" Clay nodded and was about to the exit the bedroom through the door, but George stopped him. "No, we'll have to take the ladder outside my window again." Clay furrowed his brows. It felt odd. George must've noticed. "My dad's home and he will skin me alive if he knows I've company."
So, the pair climbed out and made their way to school. Clay couldn't help but notice that George was quieter than usual. He figured that it was best to just leave it alone, until he saw a bruise on the brunette's jawline.
"George, what happened to your jaw?" The brunette stiffened by his side. Clay stopped and tried to get George to look at him.
"Nothing." The answer was harsh and strongly indicated to drop the topic, but Clay wouldn't bulge. "Nothing? A bruise just happened to appear?" He fully expected George to get angry, yell or refuse to answer. However, the brunette's posture sagged. "Just a lesson from my dad. " He mumbled.
"Did he hit you?"
George seemed torn. "Well, it was more a way to show the potential consequences of my actions."
Clay furrowed his brow. "By hitting you?"
"Not exactly. But please just drop it."
And so he did. For now.
---------------------------
School was about as eventful as expected. George's manners relaxed as the day passed by.
Clay, George, Alex, Nick and Karl all sat together in their little cluster. It was the last period of the day. They'd all agreed to revisit the skatepark after they were done for today.
However, the last lesson was science with the lovely Ms. Baker and it was as if the clocks had stopped, just to further push their misery. Evolution was the current topic. Clay felt himself drifting off and Alex, Nick and Karl seemed to do the same.
George, however, was alert than ever. Registering her every move and every word for some unknown reason.
"– and if we put that in perspective, it's fair to assume that us humans were the end-goal with the thought-out plan for evolution." Ms. Baker concluded. Clay let out a breath of relief. It meant that it couldn't be much left. But George wasn't having it.
"So, you're completely disregarding natural selection from the evolutionary theory?" Clay had no idea what and why George would question that.
Ms. Baker didn't seem to appreciate it either. "Well. Mr. O'Brian. As a matter of fact, I do. The statement that evolution doesn't have a premade destination isn't something this school chooses to stand behind."
"How can a school choose to believe or not believe in empirically proven facts?" George spat.
"Mr. O'Brian! You'll address me properly and a teenager have no right to question what the school chooses to teach." The entire class went quiet. Everyone was observing the heated argument.
Although George must've had enough because he quickly stood up, took his things and stormed out of the classroom. Everyone, including Ms. Baker, looked surprised by his action. George was gone in the blink of an eye. Clay and the rest of their group was shocked. George was often very emotionally closed off. So seeing him completely loose it, was unexpected. And worrying.
The silence remained for the rest of the lesson; Clay couldn't even grasp what just happened.
They all hurried out as the bell rang. They collectively agreed that they needed to find George, not that they had any idea where he might have gone. Although, it would seem as though the question regarding where would quickly be answered.
A crowd was gathered outside of school. Clay got a bad feeling and he would be proven right when he saw the brunette cornered by three guys. George looked pissed, but he wasn't the only one. It was the same three guys that they'd fought in the skatepark during George's first day, more formally known as Dave, Noah and Luke. Clay didn't doubt that George could take care of himself, but his disadvantaged was obvious.
The trio hadn't bothered them much afterwards, until now. Clay glanced around at Nick, Alex and Karl and they must've shared his thinking, that they would've to interfere. So, that what they did.