Haunted

Chapter 17: Party Plans

Wednesday night had been... unexpectedly eye-opening.

Other than that, Clark had no idea what it was. He had awoken the next morning to find himself alone in the bed, questioning whether the entire thing had been a dream. He almost convinced himself that it had been until he realised that the four pillows he pushed to the other side of the bed - because who need six? - had been disturbed. No, it hadn't been a dream.

But Jackson had gone. Not just from the room but from the entire house over an hour earlier than he needed to for him to get to school on time. He had told his mom that he had a swim practice. that morning. Clark knew otherwise. Swim practice was Friday mornings, not Thursdays. Clark had learned that when Jackson had tried to convince him to join the swim team. The early morning meets, on a Friday no less, had put Clark off more than the fact that he was a terrible swimmer. Jackson had lied. Why? Clark had no idea but he had set off for school early determined to find out.

That ended up being a total write-off.

In fact, the whole of Thursday had been a total write-off.

His arrival at the school had been met by one of the sheriff's deputies and his social worker. At least it had gotten off school for another day.

But that was how Clark's Friday morning started off in the McCall's guest room, groaning as he was woken by bright sunlight breaking into the room four whole minutes before his alarm was due to go off. Apparently, a fire-damaged shell of a house was not a 'safe and nurturing' home environment. Living with the McCall's had suddenly started looking a lot more long-term. On the plus side, Clark reasoned as he climbed out of bed, he didn't have to deal with Derek every day.

Clark pushed Derek out of his head as he shifted through the few outfits he had at the McCall's and picked out some black jeans and a red plaid shirt. His second attempt to return to his 'normal' school life would be a Derek-free day. His mind was too preoccupied with whatever it was with Jackson to think about the whole Derek fiasco.

Clark sighed as he studied himself in the mirror which hung off-centre on the wall. No werewolf business. No weird ghost stuff. He just wanted one day where he could focus on whatever had happened on Wednesday night. "Is that too much to ask?" Clark caught himself talking to his reflection in the mirror.

­--TW:H--

The walk from Scott's house to the high school was not as long as the one from his childhood home but Clark still would rather have been able to drive it instead. Something told him, however, that he would not be getting a car anytime soon. Operation 'Get-Derek-to-Buy-Me-a-Car-For-My-Birthday' had recently hit a wall.

Walking past the high school parking lot, Clark caught sight of Jackson's sleek black truck taking centre-stage in the middle of the lot. He had evidently made the rare decision to choose his truck over his Porsche as his method of transport for the day. Clark scoffed and gave a small shake of his head. Who needed two cars? He wondered whether he could convince Jackson to give him the keys to the truck for his birthday. After all, it wasn't just his birthday. No. He shook his head to push the thought away. That was far too presumptuous.

Clark entered the school building, on auto-pilot mode as he made his way to his locker. It was there that his eyes landed on Jackson for the first time since Wednesday night. He was leaning casually against Kyle's locker surrounded by their usual herd of friends.

Clark ran a hand through his hair; a simple action but one that had caused his mind to race when Jackson had started doing it that night. He'd immediately felt a lot more relaxed, Jackson's tentative fingers running through his hair was surprisingly reassuring. Fuelled by sleep-deprived confidence, Clark had made his move, shifting closer to the other teenager, snuggling up against his warm body and resting his head on Jackson's chest. Looking back, Clark would have fully expected Jackson to shove him off. A smile crept on to his face as he realised that even though he didn't know what Wednesday night had been, it had been something.