Chapter Text
Clementine Marsh-Everett was the new girl at school. She had tried out for so many ivy league schools in hopes that she would follow the path of the people she cares about most but as per usual life gets in the way. People die. People act out. They get sent away to a boarding school for their actions, luckily for her Ericson's has a boxing club. Maybe a fresh start is what she needed.
For the past six Violet Aldon had called the Ericson's school her home, she was sent away a long time ago but made the best of her situation, she had made so many new friends there, life-long friends that supported her through the times that were dark and abysmal.
Violet and Louis had got word that a new girl was moving into their school and, since Violet's old roommate was transferred away, all those months ago, they wondered whether she would be her next roommate or someone else.
One day after a long day at the school, they have gym last most days, Louis and Violet were walking back to the dorms, Louis' was first so Violet went along alone back to her dorm. She fished out her keys from the bottom of her gym bag and fumbled around with the lock. The blonde pulled open the door and slid inside, she looked around her room which had been her home for the last six years, she noticed a bag on the bunk bed opposite hers, some posters had been stuck to the wall.
The girl approached the bed and looked at the deep purple bed sheets and the white, red and blue bag with various badges and patches, all related to sports, mainly baseball, track and boxing sewed on the fabric. On the desk was an old, tattered, purple and white baseball cap with the letter "D" which looked like it was going to fall off.
Violet picked up the hat and inspected it closer, she heard the bathroom door open behind her, the blonde carefully place the hat back on the desk and tossed her bag on her own bed.
"Hi, my name's Clementine, Clem for short. I'm new here" The brunette said softly
Violet turned around and saw a girl, slightly shorter than herself, her brunette hair was wrapped in a white towel and another around her body. Her eyes were a deep hue of light browns and deep yellows, her amber eyes complimented her skin. She was... damn. 'come on Vi, come up with an answer already, don't say something stupid in front of you hot, new roommate... Jesus Vi get it together!"
"I err, sorry for being nosy. It's been so long since I've had a roommate. I'm Violet, nice to meet you" she said with a smile. "I saw the badges on your bag, I take it you do a lot of sports? You do boxing, right?" the blonde added.
"Yeah, I do, I've been doing it for the last few years. Why do you ask?" the brunette replied. "No way! I've been doing it here for the past couple of years. Just your luck, I'm pretty sure it's boxing in gym class tomorrow, I'll introduce to Louis tomorrow"
"Louis?" the brunette inquired, "Yeah, he's been one of my best friends since I first got here, he can be pretty annoying, he jokes around a lot. He really is a great friend, he really does care about people, especially his friends."
"I'd like that" the girl said with a smile as she walked back into the bathroom to get changed. Violet quickly got changed into her pyjamas and laid back on her bed, sore from today's training.
Clementine re-appeared wearing a vintage t-shirt and some flannel pyjama bottoms. Violet spoke up, "hey, do you want to play a game? We should get to know each other more since were going to be roommates and teammates"
"That's a nice idea, I'd like to get to know you too" she smiled "What were you thinking of?"
"Truths, so we take it in turns to ask each other whatever we want, anything from the most daring, personal questions to the mundane," Violet said as she sat up and crossed her legs to look at Clem, the brunette got up and joined the blonde on her bed, they sat facing each other. "Sounds like fun" she smirked.
"You go first," the blonde said politely, "Okay. Erm. Have you had any relationships?"
"I was with this girl called Minerva; we were together for a few months. It was a very one-sided relationship. I had put so much effort and time and love into that relationship and she just used me because she was feeling 'Bi-curious' her family took her out a few months ago. She's long gone. Thank god. What about you?"
"Well she may have been bi-curious but I'm bi-furious," she said with a chuckle, "no one deserves to be treated like that. I've never had a boyfriend, besides I'm more into girls" Clementine said with a smirk.
"Bi-furious, that's hilarious. Your turn." The blonde noted her response, 'oh? she likes girls. For fuck's sake Vi, she just got here and you're already... god get it together, this isn't the time for a gay panic' she felt heat rush to her cheeks, luckily she managed to hide her rosy cheeks from her new roommate... or so she thought.
"Why were you sent here? And how long for?" the brunette asked
"I spent a lot of time at my grandma's house growing up, what with my dad being a drunk and my mom working three jobs. But after my grandpa died, grandma just kinda... shut down. Spent all day and night rocking in her chair in the den." She paused,
"I'd sit there at her feet as we both watched TV, mostly cartoons since she never seemed to care. Sometimes I could hear her crying, but I didn't look back. I'd just feel really weird and turn up the volume, you know? Anyway, one day she left the den and came back with another chair and a .22 rifle. Set the rifle butt on the top of that chair, holding the barrel back to her chest. so, you know... she had trouble to reaching the trigger this way, but she must have known it would happen... Because she took out this really tacky wooden backscratcher, the really long kind with one end shaped like a hand and used that to pull the trigger. So yeah. Bang, right? Her body folded up and just kept... rocking." The girl paused again to swallow the lump that was forming in her throat.
"My mom came to get me five hours later. I hadn't moved. She asked, why I didn't call the police or an ambulance or anything. I shrugged and told her it wasn't like grandma was going anywhere... and besides, I just wanted to finish my cartoons. She shipped me off to Ericson's the next day. I was eleven." She looked away from the brunette, she felt a hand on her shoulder, it was comforting.
"I'm really sorry to hear that Vi. Come here" she pulled the girl into a tight, warm embrace. The way Clementine said her name made her feel happy, made her feel like she did care for practically a stranger. She broke the hug and asked, "What about you?"
"Earlier this year my parents passed in a hotel fire caused by some asshole who smoked, we were out of town for one of my boxing competitions. I went out with a couple of my mates to celebrate our victory; my parents stayed in the hotel. Some guy fell asleep with a lit cigarette in his hand, he took out the batteries in the smoke alarm just so he could have lousy smoke. The fire alarm didn't go off in time, my parents never stood a chance. My father's hat was one of the only items that survived the fire, that's why I wear it so often, that's why it looks so bad. My mother's friend, Lee, took me in and had been looking me for the last eight months, I was getting better moving on but, one day I was at school and this guy who had never met me was teasing me about my parents and I just. Snapped."
Clementine stayed quiet for a second, the blonde was focused on every word she spoke. "- I jumped on him and just kept swinging, I just blacked out. I didn't stop until I was pried off the guy, my hands were a bloody mess. The guy's face was no better, one eye was swollen shut, his nose broken, orbital bone fractured, his lip was busted. His face was black and blue with traces of red. This guy's family were going to press charges unless I moved out of town and away from my friends, from my boxing club, from what little family I had left. Lee said he was scared of what I did to that poor guy and worried that I would do it again unless I got help. I was sent here shortly after."
There was a long pause between the girls, they looked into each other's eyes both falling into a trance. They spoke for a long time, from the small details of their lives to their music taste, which was very similar. "Shit-sticks, it's late, I better getter to bed"
Violet was woken up but a strange sound coming from her room, she looked at her alarm clock, the numbers cast a red haze across the room.
4:02 AM
The blonde looked around the room and noticed that the noises were coming from Clementine, they were inaudible sounds, but she sounded scared and panicked. Suddenly Clementine jolted up from her bed, panting loudly. Violet rushed up and darted over to her bed and brought the girl into a hug. "It's okay. It's okay. You're okay, it was just a nightmare." Violet repeated until the brunette stopped sobbing. Clementine looked up at the blonde girl and stared into her emerald eyes. "I know I only met you today, but I feel like we've known each other for a thousand lifetimes. I don't want to be alone tonight; c- can I sleep in your bed?" she said softly.
"Yeah, that's okay. It's still early we can get a few more hours before class starts." She said. They clambered into Violet's bunk; Clementine rested her head on the blonde's chest. Violet hugged the brunette as they drifted off into a deep slumber.
~~~~~
It was the afternoon; the official school day had finished. Clementine was introduced to Violets friends, Ruby, Mitch, Aasim, Brody, Marlon and Louis
"So, how were your first lessons at Ericson's?" Louis asked, "They were pretty great, I'm loving it here so far, Violet seems great, I hear you two are pretty close." Her cheeks flushed a deep red colour, 'shit, Clem you've known her for a day, you can't be catching feelings now! For fuck's sake!'
"Yeah she is, by the way, I can see you're blushing." She teased, "Oh hush, I can't help it" she grimaced. "Come one the gym is this way, Violet said she'd be waiting for us outside "
They reached the gym, with uniform in hand, they quickly got changed before meeting their teacher in the field. The teenagers warmed up and stretched out on the mats before practising on the bags and in the ring. Clementine could do every move effortlessly; she was so strong.
Every time her fists struck the old canvas boxing bag with an audible thud, you could see every single one of her toned muscles flex, Violet couldn't help but look at the goddess' form and technique, she wore some old, tattered white knuckle wraps, which contrasted her tanned skin.
"Hey, Vi! I think you're drooling." Louis teased, "Fuck off," she said whilst flipping him off.
"Aldon, stop standing around and do something, go grab a skipping rope" the coach said, She walked over to the ring and grabbed a yellow plastic rope, Violet positioned herself next to the ring and started to jump up and down, slowly ramping up the speed and flicking her wrists up and down increasing the number of spins per single jump. She crisscrossed the rope every now and then to show off to Louis, who retaliated by sticking his tongue out. When she caught a glimpse Clementine talking to their coach.
Suddenly the blonde girl lost her footing on a jump, she rolled over on her ankle and the yellow rope wrapped around it, the blonde collapsed on the cold, hard floor. She ankle that was already beginning to swell. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." She swore. "VIOLET!" Clementine yelled as she sprinted over to the blonde's side, Louis quickly followed.
"I'm okay, I think. Help me up." Clem obliged and helped Violet stand up but unfortunately, she could not put her weight on it and already her ankle had ballooned double its size. Louis tried to help but Coach called him back. "Sulieman! Get back here. Everett take Aldon to the nurse."
Clementine helped a limping violet out of the hall, they slowly walked down the corridor. "Violet, you can't walk, let me carry you." She said softly.
"No, no. I'm okay. GAHH!" Violet yelled in pain, "You're not okay. Let me carry you." The brunette insisted, "Fine,"
Clementine lifted the blonde girl up in the bridal position, Violet drooped her arm around the tan girl's neck and looked up into her eyes. They slowly reached the nurse's office where Ms Martin greeted them; Clementine placed the blonde down on the bed and held her hand.
"I'm going to go and get our stuff and some clothes for you. I'll see you later Vi"
~~~~~
Violet had got changed into some pyjamas; she rested her foot up on a couple of cushions with a bag of ice on her swollen ankle. Clementine brought her a cup of warm cocoa from the cafeteria and Louis had bought some chicken nuggets from McDonald's for her too.
"Thank you, Clem, I really appreciate it."
"There's no need to thank me Vi" Clementine spoke softly, she sat up on the desk facing Violet and looked towards the window. "Beautiful," the brunette said. "It really is. I love the stars" Violet replied
"I wasn't talking about the stars Violet"