The school bell rings

The older Clara couldn't tear her eyes away.

Slowly, almost without realizing it, they drifted closer together, each trying to reconcile the impossible. The younger Clara searched the older woman's face, noticing the confidence in her eyes alongside the exhaustion that hadn't existed yet in her own.

BRRRRRRING!

The school bell shattered the moment.

The older Clara looked around in alarm.

Within seconds, classroom doors began opening. Voices echoed through the corridors as hundreds of students poured into the courtyard.

"I can't be here, I've gotta go, sorry Clara!"

"Wait! How did you know my name?!"

Then, pulling her arms tightly around herself as she hurried to avoid the growing crowd, the older Clara darted away down a side path just as the first wave of students spilled into the courtyard.

Students go crazy.

"Streaker!!" "NAKED WOMAN!" "OH MY GOD!"

Her younger self watched her disappear around the corner, wondering if, somehow, she'd imagined the whole impossible encounter.