Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Sounds like you’ve had a rough time.”

“Others have had worse.”

“Not a fan of pity are you?”

“Is anyone?”

⋆˚꩜｡

“Hey, sweet pea.”

“Hey, Lee,” Clementine responded half-heartedly.

They were standing in the kitchen of their new house, a two-story (lord knows how Lee was able to afford it on a teacher’s salary). AJ was probably still asleep in his new room. 

There were boxes scattered throughout the house, and right now Lee was working on unpacking one of the many boxes labeled ‘kitchen.’ Though, he was working a little slow, but that’s what having one arm will do to you.

Clementine hadn’t bothered to touch any of the boxes in her room — not that she could for the last two weeks, with three days being spent in the hospital on psychiatric hold and the other eleven rotting in her bed. Lee had at least unpacked the box that had her sheets and blanket in it; he knew that if he didn’t, Clementine probably would’ve just ended up sleeping on the bare mattress.

She didn’t like this house. 

She missed the dent in Lee’s bedroom wall that she made, accidentally slamming his bedroom door open while preparing to wake him up on Christmas morning. She felt horrible about it when she saw Lee jump up in fear due to the noise. She got in trouble, but he wasn’t even mad — he just laughed and said they could fix it later. 

He ended up fixing it himself when preparing to sell the house. Didn’t need any flaws bringing the property value down. 

She missed the drawings that AJ had scribbled all over the wall of the living room. Lee definitely grounded him for that one. Clem thought the drawing was cute, but was finding a piece of paper to do it on that hard? Of course, AJ was four years old at the time, so the drawing was  hard to make out. But she managed to decipher it as a family portrait of them. It had a striking resemblance to the one Lee hung on the wall near the TV.

She didn’t see that picture anywhere, yet. Lee was probably still unboxing it all. 

Lee glanced at her with a hint of pity; she hated when he looked at her like that. He’s had that look in his eyes a lot more recently. Who cares about what happened two weeks ago? She didn’t want to think about it anymore.

Lee sensed her discomfort and thankfully moved on, though she wasn’t too happy about this topic, either.

“Did you look at that link I sent you? About Ericson’s?” Lee asked, bending down to put a pot in the cabinet nearest the blank, white fridge. 

Oh boy — did she mention the only reason they moved to West Virginia was because of a job Lee was offered? Bet you can’t figure out what school offered that job!

Ericson’s had reached out after Lee started applying for high school teaching jobs rather than being a professor, seeing as none of the colleges were getting back to him.

Yeah, she wasn’t looking forward to that. Not that she didn’t love and appreciate Lee! But, you know, it’s just embarrassing having your teacher also be your dad. Her reputation was practically ruined before she even got to the school. 

Clementine crossed the room towards the table that Lee had put back together the other evening. She didn’t even bother to help him, too busy feeling sorry for herself in her room. She pulled out one of the chairs and sat down, “Yeah, a little bit.”

“Define a little bit.” 

“I clicked on it.”

“Right, well maybe try to scroll through it next time,” Lee grimaced and sighed, clearly feeling slightly annoyed, “I’m trying to help you here, Clementine.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, but could you start unpacking that other box by you?”

She knew what he was doing. When she got started on a small task it snowballed into a bigger one. Once she started unpacking that box she would just keep moving onto the next until they were all empty. 

Well, a distraction would be nice. 

⋆˚꩜｡

There was blood smeared all over the white tile of their bathroom. That’s all she could look at.

She heard Lee’s frantic voice on the phone with 911, but it felt like someone was covering her ears with their hands. She could faintly make out his next words.

“AJ, just…go in the living room and when the ambulance gets here lead them to us, okay? Can you do that?”

Oh god, he saw this.

What did she do?

⋆˚꩜｡

Two days until the start of junior year, and her first day at Ericson’s.

Clementine was used to moving around schools from the ages of about nine to thirteen due to all the foster homes she had, but this was different. She wasn’t in control of those; this one was her doing.

She was finally building something worthwhile. She had friends and a family that loved her.

Damn, how was she supposed to get through this school year without everybody? During the past week, she occasionally glanced at her phone and saw messages from her friends. She gave some half-assed responses that she now regrets. She really was fucking all her relationships up.

Now, she was separated from her friends and her newfound attitude was distancing Lee and AJ from her as well.

It all could’ve been avoided so easily, but she had to lose her shit on that dude. 

Whatever, he deserved it anyway. 

She remembers sitting in the principal’s office with a plastic bag filled with ice pressed against her face. Honestly, she got off easy — the other dude ended up in the hospital. She was pretty sure she had heard the crack of his arm breaking when they were fighting.

(Well, she ended up in the hospital later, too. Though, for a far different reason. Karma’s a bitch, I guess.)

She remembers not being able to decipher the look on Lee’s face. No anger. No disappointment. It was just…neutral. It stayed that way on the drive home, and it was driving her crazy. Lee was always easy to read — to her at least. 

It wasn’t until he sat her down at the kitchen table that she was able to see it: confusion.

She had always been a good student, ever since she was a child. She had never acted out, never got detention. Hell, she never even got a ‘warning’ from any of her teachers. 

So….why?

That was Lee’s only question.

And she wasn’t even able to answer it. 

Answering it would mean revealing something she never wanted to bring to light to anyone, especially not to Lee.

She simply stared down at the table, unable to meet his eyes.

And so, Lee sighed, knowing he wouldn’t receive a response. He took away her phone, even though he knew that ‘punishment’ wouldn’t do much of anything (she scrolled social media occasionally, but she mostly used her phone for communicating with people; no one really wanted to talk to her at that time, anyway). He sent her to her room and he began restlessly scrolling on the internet for job opportunities and houses.

She stayed in her room for the rest of that day, biting her hand to muffle her sobbing so as to not draw Lee’s attention. 

At one point, she heard the loud squeak of their front door — something Lee also had to fix before selling their home. He was going to pick AJ up from school.

Clementine hesitated before moving to open the drawer of her bedside table and stared intensely at the razor she had carefully removed from a cheap pencil sharpener a few days before.

When Lee returned, Clementine had already taken care of the wounds she’d inflicted on her upper arm. She didn’t need to draw attention to this by getting an infection, and Carlos had taught her proper wound care when she got that dog bite. Hopefully Lee didn’t notice that a bit of the gauze in his bathroom had gone missing.

She glanced at her dad’s hat on the top of her bedside table.

God, what would her parents think of this?

She could feel guilt building within her. It built more and more with every scar she left. 

That guilt. It’s one of the main emotions she feels at this point. Guilt from the scars she’s left on her body. Guilt from not being able to handle the consequences of her actions. Guilt from AJ and Lee having to see her arms and legs slick with blood and the vomit on the tile beside her. 

She refuses to use the bathroom closest to her room after that whole event; she’s noticed Lee and AJ avoiding it as well. She’s willing to walk all the way down the stairs in the middle of the night and use the bathroom closest to Lee’s room rather than step into her bathroom ever again. 

She wonders if Lee was able to get all the blood off the floor.

Obviously, she knows avoiding it is just making it worse. She’s going to have to walk into that bathroom one day, but that’s a problem for future-Clementine.

⋆˚꩜｡

Every year on the last day before the start of the new school year, Lee, AJ, and Clementine make dinner together.

She doesn’t know why or how this tradition even started, but the memories of it are always nice to look back on.

All of them play a certain role. AJ reads out the directions, Clementine gathers the ingredients and utensils, and Lee is the one that actually makes the dish (with Clem and AJ helping with the small and easy parts). 

This year, it feels different.

The tension in the room is obvious, even AJ’s six-year-old brain can sense it. She can hear the hesitance in his tone as he carefully stutters through the directions. Looks like someone hasn’t been doing his summer reading.

They’re making pizza, all homemade — including the dough. 

AJ listed the ingredients for the dough: flour, water, yeast, and salt. Easy enough. 

She gathers all the ingredients into a small, orderly pile and waits for further instructions. 

“Could you open that bag of flour, Clem? Bit difficult to do with one hand, you know,” Lee asked.

So, she attempted to rip open the bag. Except this bag of flour apparently had a grudge against her or something because it refused to open for a solid 30 seconds even with all her attempts. She kept clawing at the bag until, finally, it opened.

And promptly puffed a bunch of flour right into her face.

She hears AJ giggling slightly from behind her as she slowly opens her eyes and looks down at the bag. Luckily, most of the flour is still safely in the bag. Lee has a slight, hesitant smile on his face while AJ’s giggling is getting louder.

Clem scoops a bit of flour from the bag into her hand and throws it in AJ’s direction.

“Hey!” AJ sputtered through the flour dust, wiping some of it off of his face with his sleeves.

Clementine laughed, for the first time in a while.

She could tell Lee didn’t want to break up the scene, if only to hear her laugh some more, but they did need to eat tonight. 

“Alright, alright. Flour is expensive, you know? Go wipe that off your face, Clem. You too, AJ.”

She did as he said, but not before flicking some flour towards Lee’s direction as well. Lee glared at her. Clementine smiled back.

The air felt lighter for the rest of the evening.

⋆˚꩜｡

“Clementine, you know I care about you-“

“Then why the hell are you trying to leave?”

“Clementine, please. You know why.”

Clementine remained silent, but she had a knowing look in her eye.

“I can’t be around him anymore, I would take you and AJ with me if I could, but…”

“You can’t. I know.”

There was a moment of silence before Clementine spoke up once more.

“Just go, and be safe, Mary.”

Mary smiled hesitantly before pulling Clementine into a quick hug, then promptly leaving through the front door. 

Well, he wasn’t going to be happy with this. Clementine just hoped he wouldn’t take that out on her.

Chapter Text

The Stranger’s gun was on the ground in front of her; the gun got knocked towards her in the midst of Lee and the Stranger’s current fight.

The Stranger had Lee pinned to the ground. Lee was clearly struggling to fight back due to his messed up arm.

Clementine looked at the gun and shakily picked it up, aiming it towards the Stranger.

She had shot a gun once before. She went with her dad to a small shooting range in the forest near their house and he let her try taking a shot at a red target hung on a tree. He covered her ears as she took the shot, but the gunshot still echoed loud enough to make her flinch and left a high-pitched ringing in her ears for minutes after. She didn’t like shooting at all, but her dad had told her that she was a good shot.

It came in useful in this situation, at least.

She took an uneven breath and pulled the trigger.

⋆˚꩜｡

Clementine is startled awake by the blaring alarm on her phone.

She wasn’t looking forward to this.

But regardless of how she feels, time will pass. So, she gets up and gets ready for her first day at Ericson’s. She didn’t bother to prepare an outfit the day before, so she threw together a simple outfit — one that she knew covered all her scars. Her clothing options were becoming more and more limited as more and more scars were added. 

Her makeup was limited as well, but that’s just because she didn’t care for it all too much, except for big events. It also took up way too much time; she remembers it took Mari an hour and a half to do her makeup for her 16th birthday. On days like today, Clem’s makeup routine only consisted of mascara.

Clementine finished getting ready and headed down the stairs towards the kitchen. The boxes that were previously scattered throughout the kitchen were now gone and the space looked slightly more lively. She noticed Lee had put some of their magnets on the new, pristine fridge. 

She saw AJ already scarfing down his breakfast, even though they had at least 45 minutes before they had to leave. 

Lee noticed her approaching the table and placed a plate of pancakes in her spot. Clementine smiled in appreciation and sat down at the table, grabbing a bottle and drenching her pancakes in syrup. 

“So, first day of school. How are you both feeling?” Lee asked them with a slight glance in Clem’s direction before focusing back onto his own plate.

“Fine, I guess,” Clem answered blandly. Lee was about to respond before AJ burst into dialogue.

“I’m really excited but I’m also scared because what if people don’t like me and I don’t make any friends and-“

“Goofball, who on Earth wouldn’t like you?” Clem comforted him. She knew AJ was always a little insecure. He didn’t make many friends at his old school, and he never got invited to any birthdays or anything.

Clementine did her best to take him out to have fun with each other, but she could tell he was still disappointed. 

AJ shrugged, and Lee spoke up, “I’m sure you’ll both have a good time, and I’m sure you’ll both make some friends.”

He looked towards Clementine when emphasizing the ‘both,’ clearly knowing that she wasn’t planning on socializing if not needed. 

“I already have friends,” Clem scoffed, “they’re just about five hours away now.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t make more,” Lee argued lightly, but remained quiet while AJ and Clementine continued to eat.

Lee stood from his chair, beginning to clean up some of the food on the table. 

AJ swiftly got out of his chair when he had finished his food and ran towards his room, presumably to grab his backpack.

Clementine remained in the kitchen, focused on picking up the dishes and putting them in the sink to wash after school.

She was the one that did the dishes, as Lee found it difficult to do one-handed. She figured it was the least she could do considering it was basically her fault his arm was gone, anyway.

Regardless, she could see that Lee appreciated the gesture.

After cleaning off the table, AJ returned to the kitchen with his backpack. His backpack had a small Disco Broccoli keychain hanging off of it — Clementine’s birthday present to him last year.

Clementine always kept her backpack near the front door; no reason to have it in her room, as she found it impossible to do any homework there anyway. She does all of her work at the kitchen table or in the living room, simply because she finds it easier to focus.

Lee gave them both a hug before grabbing his keys and heading out the door. Before, Lee had time to drop them both off at school seeing as his lectures started after their school day began.

Now, Lee has to take the car to Ericson’s while AJ and Clementine take their respective buses. 

It sucked. If anything, this was just adding more distance to their already drifting relationship. She couldn’t remember the last time they all had an actual, in-depth conversation together.

Clementine and AJ walked towards the bus stop together, waiting for their buses to get there. Clem lended AJ her phone to play a game, even though Lee didn’t like it when she did that. He wanted to limit AJ’s screentime as much as possible. It makes sense — Clementine used to be online a lot as a distraction when she was moving around foster homes, though she definitely lowered it as she grew older. But look how she turned out.

AJ’s bus came first, thankfully. Clementine didn’t feel comfortable leaving him alone. She developed somewhat of an attachment issue towards him when he was born. Considering the fact that Alvin and Rebecca both died while they were fostering Clementine, it’s not exactly unusual. When she and AJ were put into the foster system, she refused to be separated from him. Either someone fosters both of them or neither of them.

She made sure AJ got on his bus safely (not before hugging him and definitely embarrassing him) and watched it drive off. Her bus was supposed to arrive ten minutes after his, so she sat down on the pavement. 

After a minute or so, she noticed the shadow of an approaching person. She looked up and saw a boy who looked about her age — and wow his haircut was…interesting to say the least.

He had some faint acne scars on his face and had piercing blue eyes. Overall, he didn't really seem like the kind of dude Clementine wanted to hang around. But, you know, ‘never judge a book by its cover’ or whatever.

“Hey.”

Oh great, he was talking to her.

”Hi,” Clementine at least had the decency to respond.

There was a moment of silence. The strange boy stood awkwardly with his hands in the pockets of his letterman jacket — he was probably on the football team. Clementine remained seated on the sidewalk with her arms around her knees. 

The boy spoke up again, “Are you new? Haven’t seen you before.”

”Yeah, I moved here, like, two months ago,” Clementine informed him.

”I think I live in the house across from you,” he told her, “name’s Marlon, by the way.“

“Clementine.”

”Never heard a name like that before.”

”What’s that supposed to mean?”

”Oh, I uh- didn’t mean it like that…I just haven’t met anyone named that before, you know,” Marlon explained nervously, clearly not wanting to offend her.

”It’s fine, I get that a lot,” Clementine smiled teasingly, then frowned again, “or I get people singing that dumbass song.”

You know the song. Lee occasionally hums it when he’s cooking in the kitchen and it drives her crazy. 

Her mother used to sing it to her when she was unable to fall asleep. She hates hearing the song now because it reminds her of the fact she’ll never hear her mother’s voice again. 

“Ah — probably won’t want to meet Louis, then,” Marlon joked.

”Who?”

”He’s just a bit of an idiot, but he’s my best friend, so I’m allowed to call him that.”

As he finished his sentence, their bus began to pull up beside them, opening its doors for them to enter. 

“After you,” Marlon bowed and motioned for her to go first.

Clementine rolled her eyes slightly, but walked into the school bus. There were a few kids already on, but not so much that would cause her to have difficulty finding a seat. She sat down and moved towards the window to leave room for others. She looked up and saw Marlon walking down the aisle, sitting down next to another teenage boy, presumably a friend of his. They immediately began engaging in a conversation that Clementine tuned out. She took her headphones out of her bag and pressed play on one of her many playlists.

⋆˚꩜｡

She skipped school for a few days.

Richard had ended up taking his anger about Mary running away out on Clementine, as she had feared. He ended up leaving marks, and he didn’t want to risk her being taken away and put into a different foster home because of a ‘meddling son-of-a-bitch’ (his words), so he made her stay at the house. 

She sat in her and Mary’s previously shared room; it was all Clementine’s now. However, she always had AJ sleep in this room, even though Richard had provided him with his own. She didn’t want to risk leaving AJ alone with him.

There wasn’t much reason to worry — Richard was much more focused on Clementine and making her life a living hell. 

Well, as long as AJ was okay, she would be, too.

⋆˚꩜｡

The bus slowed to a stop as it arrived in front of the school. Clementine took off her headphones and shoved them into her backpack, proceeding to swing it over her shoulder and stand up. She saw that Marlon had already made his way off the bus and he had met up with a group of a couple other teenagers.

When she got off the bus, she stood for a moment to admire the outside of the school. She never did end up scrolling thoroughly through the website Lee had sent her about this place. It actually looked pretty nice, but she didn’t want to make any assumptions just yet. 

After a few seconds, she actually walked inside the building and started heading to the front office to pick up her schedule and a map of the school. She had missed the open house due to…that whole situation, and she didn’t know her way around the place at all. 

She entered the office and was greeted by a middle-aged woman with short, curly brown hair. 

“Hey, darling,” the woman (Mrs. Middleton, according to the desk plate) started, “I reckon you’re Mr. Everett’s daughter, aren’t you?”

Great, he already got to talking all about her to the staff. Probably showing embarrassing pictures, too. He did that a lot: brag about her to other people. It did make her feel better sometimes, knowing that he was proud of her. But other times, like now, it was just outright embarrassing. 

“Yep,” Clementine sighed, deciding to look towards the wall behind Mrs. Middleton rather than her. There was a collection of photos, some of which Mrs. Middleton appeared in, “I just need to get my schedule, and a map if you have one.” 

“Of course, just give me your full name real quick,” Mrs. Middleton smiled, turning to her computer.

”Clementine Everett. The last name might be under Crawford if Everett doesn’t work.”

A year after Lee had adopted her, she decided she officially wanted to change her last name. Her parents would always be dear to her heart, but she didn’t see the point in keeping their last name. Lee was the person who took care of her now. Of course, even after it was formally changed, it took a while for some of the systems to update. Even today, some paperwork still has her parents’ last name on it because Lee and Clem either didn’t notice it, or they didn’t have the time to fix it.

Mrs. Middleton ruffled through some of the papers on her desk and pulled out two to hand to Clementine.

“Thanks,” Clementine said, taking the papers from her hand. 

She swiftly rushed out of the office and took a moment to look at her schedule in the hallway.

1st Period - Honors American History (Mr. Everett)

2nd Period - Visual Arts (Mr. Cook)

3rd Period - Theatre (Mrs. Jones)

4th Period - AP Literature (Mrs. Moore)

5th Period - Algebra 2 (Mrs. Cliff)

6th Period - Honors Chemistry (Mrs. Harmon)

7th Period - Creative Writing (Mrs. Port)

It wasn’t the worst schedule ever. She was mostly looking forward to AP Lit; English was one of the subjects she excelled at, and it was one of her favorite subjects right after History, though that was mostly because of Lee. 

The bell rang throughout the school, signalling students to walk to their first class. Clementine studied her map to find Lee’s classroom and began heading there.

As she entered the classroom, she looked towards Lee’s desk. He was looking down, but he tossed a quick smile at her before looking back at his clipboard. Clementine took her seat and put her backpack on the floor next to her desk. She took a book out of her bag and began to read while waiting for class to begin.

After a few minutes, the tardy bell rang and Lee stood up to shut the door to his classroom while Clementine shut her book and tossed it back into her bag.

“Alright, let’s go ahead and get started by calling roll,” Lee began.

Before he could say anymore, a knock sounded at the door. Lee sighed and went to open it to let the student in. 

The student that stood behind the door was a tall boy with an obviously, dare she say obnoxiously, upbeat tone about him. 

“Sorry about that, Mr. Everett. I promise it won’t happen again,” the boy apologized, though it didn’t exactly sound truly sincere.

”I’ll hold you to that, Louis,” Lee responded. So, Lee knew this kid? He probably met Louis at the open house she had missed or something. 

Louis took the open seat to the right of Clementine, despite her slight annoyance. She could already tell that he would likely be a distraction to her during class due to his clear extrovertedness. 

“As I was saying, I’ll go ahead and call roll,” Lee continued, “Violet?”

”Here,” the voice to Clementine’s left spoke. Clem hadn’t even noticed her there before, likely because she seemed to be the exact opposite of Louis. She appeared to be more anti-social and less upbeat about everything, seeing as she was lying her head on the desk, using her arm as a sort of pillow.

“Clementine,” Lee called. Clementine perked up; she must spaced out while he was calling other people’s names.

”Here,” Clementine responded, even though she knew it wasn’t necessary. It offered a sense of normality, though. She didn’t need everyone in the class knowing that Lee was her dad, although she knew they would find out eventually. 

Clementine stared down at her desk while Lee finished calling roll. She looked to her right and noticed Louis scribbling something down on a post-it. Suddenly, he folded the post-it up and looked her way.

”Hey, can you pass this to the girl next to you?” Louis whispered as to not draw Mr. Everett's attention. 

Clementine stared at him for a moment, then hesitantly took the note after making sure Lee wasn’t looking in their direction. 

“If I get in trouble for this I’m totally ratting you out,” Clementine warned him. She wouldn’t get in trouble for something as simple as this, but she didn’t want Louis to get used to asking her to pass notes in class. 

“Understood,” Louis stated, with a small salute and a goofy smile.

Clementine rolled her eyes and glanced in Lee’s direction again to check that he was distracted before laying Louis’ note on Violet’s desk. Violet gave her an odd look, but still picked the note up and opened it. Violet groaned quietly and crumpled the note up; Clementine heard a small giggle to the right of her.

Despite Violet’s reaction, it seemed to Clementine that Louis and Violet were friends. Clementine swore she saw the glimpse of a smile on Violet’s face.

Violet lied her head back on her desk and Louis rested his chin on his hand as they listened to Mr. Everett go over the syllabus for the remainder of class.

⋆˚꩜｡

Clementine’s next class, Visual Arts, was relatively uneventful. She sat next to a girl named Sophie — she had a bit of makeup on her face, but she didn’t really need it. She looked like she was already naturally pretty, but maybe that was Clementine’s jealousy talking. Sophie asked her for a pencil in the middle of the teacher’s rant about the ‘principles of art.’ (At least, that’s what Clementine thought it was about — she wasn’t really paying all that much attention.)

Who doesn’t bring a pencil to an art class? Regardless, Clementine reached into her bag and handed Sophie what she had asked for. She started to scribble a few small drawings on the syllabus the teacher had handed out to everyone. The sketches were actually pretty good, but that’s to be expected in an art class. Clementine was never all that much of an artist; she enjoyed drawing occasionally when she was younger, but what kid didn’t? She mostly took this class as a filler for her schedule.

Her next class, Theatre, was somewhat more eventful. She wouldn’t consider herself a ‘theatre kid,’ but she did overall enjoy it. Lee had taken her to a few local showings of musicals and plays when they lived in Richmond. When she was younger (maybe 6 or 7), she recalls being in a play with a small theatre group in Atlanta. She doesn’t remember much what the play was about — it might have been about…bed bugs if she was recalling correctly. However, she does remember the joy that came from being a part of the production, even if her role was extremely small and relatively unimportant. She just wanted to have an experience like that again. 

She took a random seat because the teacher, Mrs. Jones, hadn’t bothered to assign any and leaned back in her chair. She glanced towards the door at the other students pouring in and saw a familiar face. Louis, wasn’t it? 

Louis met her eyes and made a bee-line towards her. Great…

Louis took the seat next to her, putting his backpack on the floor next to him. 

Don’t talk to me don’t talk to me don’t talk to me don’t talk-

“So, did your parents name you after that song-“ 

“If you start singing it, I swear to god I’ll hit you.”

Louis frowned, “Point taken. You probably get that a lot, huh?”

”You have no idea,” Clementine sighed. It was obvious to her now that this Louis was likely the Louis that Marlon had mentioned when he talked to her that morning. Though, so far, Louis wasn’t turning out as bad as she expected. 

The bell ringing and Mrs. Jones calling out names killed their conversation for the time being.

However, when the teacher got to her name, “Clementine Everett.”

“Here,” Clementine said reluctantly. Louis gave her a side-look, but said nothing, for now at least. Mrs. Jones finished taking role and passed out a syllabus — this is why she hated the first day of school, just all of the same introductory things in every class. Clementine spaced out for the remainder of the teacher’s lecture over the syllabus, which took up about half of the class time — how long does it take to talk about a damn syllabus?

”Are you Mr. Everett’s daughter?”

Clementine paused, Louis’ question being the thing that made her realize Mrs. Jones’ lecture was over. 

“Yeah,” Clementine answered. No point in lying about it, after all.

“Huh, I just don’t really see a resemblance, I guess,” Louis told her.

”Hm,” Clementine hummed. Sure, she was willing to tell him that Lee was her dad, mostly because it was obvious due to their shared last name. However, there was no point in telling him she was adopted; it just opened up a whole world of questions that she wasn’t ready to discuss.

Louis studied Clementine’s face and decided to change the subject, “You didn’t exactly strike me as a theatre girl.”

”I’m not, really. I’ve seen some plays and musicals, but the only time I was actually in a production was, like, ten years ago,” Clementine informed him, “so, you know, don’t expect any Oscar-worthy performances from me.”

”Well, then this class will probably come in useful for you, at least,” Louis told her, “I’m mostly taking it because you have to be in the class to audition for the plays they put on.”

”That’s weird, at my last school anyone was able to audition,” Clementine voiced. 

“Why did you switch schools, anyway?” Louis questioned.

Clementine paused, she didn’t think that anyone would ask her that, and therefore didn’t have a lie prepared. Obviously, she couldn’t just say she beat the shit out of a guy. She attempted to scrounge one up from her mind quickly.

”Lee found a better job opportunity here,” Clementine lied — Lee was making less here than he did as a history professor in Richmond.

”Lee?” Louis asked, a curious look across his face.

”Uh, Mr. Everett.”

That made Louis even more confused — people usually don’t call their parents by their first name. Clementine was so used to calling him Lee at this point; it was going to be difficult to correct herself at school. Luckily, Louis decided not to interrogate her further on that topic — not that he could, seeing as the bell rang, signalling the end of the period. 

Clementine stood up and threw her backpack over her shoulder. She started to walk out of class, but Louis followed shortly behind her.

”Hey, uh, what lunch do you have?” Louis inquired, struggling to keep up with Clementine’s hasty pace.

”First, why?”

“Oh, good! We have the same lunch. I was just wondering, since you’re new and all, would you wanna sit with me and my friends at lunch?” 

“I was kind of just planning on eating alone,” Clementine replied reluctantly. She was actually planning on going to Lee’s classroom to eat — so not really alone — as long as he was okay with it.

”Trust me, it’s basically impossible to find a table without anyone already at it,” Louis added, practically pleading. Why was he so desperate to get Clementine to sit with him?

Clementine sighed, “Fine.”

”Great! See you then,” Louis announced, a bright grin on his face. He turned to go the other direction, though not without almost bumping into another person. 

“Sorry!” Louis apologized quickly, speeding off towards his next class.

Weirdo…

Clementine couldn’t help but have a slight smile on her face as she walked to class.

⋆˚꩜｡

Clementine got through her AP Lit class without any complications, though the teacher seemed a little too passionate about teaching, but at least she actually liked her job. Many teachers Clementine had in the past were clearly not meant to be teachers at all. 

When the bell rang, Clementine headed towards the cafeteria and entered the lunch line. She noticed Marlon was in front of her. 

“Oh, hey,” Marlon greeted, grabbing a tray, “heard that Louis was in one of your classes. How did that go?”

“He’s in two of them,” Clementine informed him, “and he isn’t as bad as you made me think…just a little overzealous, is that the word?”

“Yeah, I get that. He’s a good guy though, I swear.”

”He asked me to sit with you guys, but I don’t know how I feel about eating lunch with a bunch of strangers,” Clementine contemplated, grasping a small paper tray of a burger and fries.

”Well, what did you say?” Marlon asked, raising a brow.

“I told him I would, but-“

”Yeah, there’s no getting out of it then,” Marlon laughed.

”Awesome,” Clementine muttered through her teeth.

”Hey, my friends aren’t so bad, you know,” Marlon joked, “I promise they don’t bite.”

They carried their trays of food in their hands as they made their way through the rows of tables. Eventually, Clementine set her eyes on Louis already sitting with the rest of his friends. Clementine stood awkwardly under the gaze of everyone at the table as Marlon took his seat next to a girl with short, auburn hair and bright blue eyes. 

There were three other students at the table (excluding Louis, Marlon, and the girl he was sitting next to). Clementine recognized the blonde as Violet, but she didn’t recognize the two boys sitting on either side of Violet. 

Clementine didn’t want to just stand still while they all stared at her, so she decided to sit next to the person who had invited her in the first place. This was insanely awkward — why did she agree to this? 

“Weren’t you in my AP Lit class last period? I sit behind you,” the Indian boy sitting next to Violet pondered, raising a brow. 

Clementine paused; she hadn’t really paid attention to anyone else in that class. 

“I think so,” Clementine responded, toying with a fry on her tray, “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t paying that much attention, you know.”

”Name’s Aasim, by the way,” Aasim informed her, “and I know you’re Clementine. Louis wouldn't shut the hell up about you.”

Clementine chose to ignore that last part.

“Okay…so I know you, and I obviously know Louis,” Clementine looked over to the girl Marlon was sitting beside and the other boy sitting beside Violet, “but I don’t know you or you.”

”I’m Brody,” the girl told her, “and your name’s so pretty.”

”Thanks,” Clementine flushed slightly. She was used to people complimenting her on her name, but it still made her embarrassed every time it happened. 

“The other guy beside Violet is Omar,” Louis said, “I swear he’s usually not this quiet.”

Omar gave Louis a tired look.

”Seriously, did you take a vow of silence over the weekend, or something? Are you a monk now?” Louis quipped.

”No,” Omar replied, “and monks usually only take vows of silence on retreats, anyway.”

Louis had a mock look of surprise on his face; Omar rolled his eyes as a reply. 

”There’s more of us, but they all got second lunch,” Louis sighed dramatically to Clementine, “bet Aasim’s real upset he can’t admire Ruby at lunch this year.”

”Shut the hell up, Louis,” Aasim groaned.

“Anyway, what brings you to Ericson’s, Clementine?” Brody asked, attempting to take the wheel on the conversation. 

“We moved here over the summer, and this is the closest school to the house,” Clementine replied, leaning back in her seat.

”I like how you conveniently left out the part where your dad got a job at Ericson’s,” Louis teased. Clementine tossed him an annoyed glance.

”Wait, who’s your dad?” Marlon wondered, leaning forward and setting his arm on the table.

”Isn’t it Mr. Everett,” Aasim squinted his eyes in thought, “the new history teacher, right?”

“Wait, he’s your dad?” Violet asked, her brows raising slightly.

”Oh, I have him after lunch!” Brody exclaimed. 

“I had him third period,” Omar said, studying Clementine’s face, “no offense, I don’t really see the resemblance.”

”I said that, too!” Louis told him. 

“Uh, you never said ‘no offense.’ You were kinda blunt about it, actually,” Clementine corrected, rolling her eyes. She didn’t really take any offense to it, they were right. She didn’t look like Lee at all, though people did mistake her for his daughter when she was a lot younger. It didn’t matter to her all that much, though. 

“Sorry,” Louis apologized shamefully, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It’s fine,” Clementine muttered with a dismissive tone.

Soon, the bell rang and students began throwing away their trash and walking to class. 

Louis, much like before, rushed to walk beside Clementine and talk to her.

”Well, they seemed to like you,” Louis said happily.

”Yep.”

”So, you know, you could sit with us again tomorrow. And the day after that. And the next day. And-“

”Yeah, I think I got it, thanks,” Clementine interrupted him.

Louis flashed a smile before separating from Clementine to make his way toward his own class. 

⋆˚꩜｡

The final bell of the day finally rang and Clementine rushed out of her creative writing class — Aasim turned out to be in that class with her, too. He probably shared her enthusiasm about writing. 

Clementine wished she could at least ride to the house with Lee after school, but he often had to stay at school even after the students had left, and she  and Lee didn’t want AJ to be alone at the house. So, she took her bus back to the house, unlocking the door with the spare key Lee had given to her. 

She took off her shoes and backpack, placing her shoes on the shoe rack beside the front door and her backpack on the ground. Before she could get two steps into the living room, she heard a ding come from her phone. She pulled it out of her back pocket and looked at the Instagram notification lingering on her screen.

stewwithlou

hey it’s louis

Jesus, this guy was quick wasn’t he? 

darlingclementine

how did u even find this acc so fast

stewwithlou

im a very determined man

i forgot to ask for ur number

so i had to find the next best option

darlingclementine

you couldnt have just 

waited to ask tmrw?

stewwithlou

im not that patient

darlingclementine

clearly

stewwithlou

sooooo can i get ur number or no

darlingclementine

shouldnt you at least take me

 out to dinner first

stewwithlou

ah yes how could i forget

Clementine snorted lightly and was about to type out her number to send, but she jumped at the sound of the door opening behind her. AJ was standing there wearing his backpack that was practically the same size as him. He threw the backpack off and ran towards Clem, colliding into her.

”Hey, kiddo,” Clementine laughed, wrapping her arms around him in return, “you act like you haven’t seen me for months.”

“I just missed you,” AJ told her, removing his arms from around her. Clementine smiled at him. AJ had formed more of an attachment to her after her suicide attempt, which made sense. He was likely scared she would try something like that again. Clementine felt ridiculously guilty because of it; she hadn’t thought of other people, just herself. 

Clementine and AJ went and sat on the couch together. Clementine grabbed the remote from the coffee table in front of them and turned on the TV to Disco Broccoli. Honestly, the show was somewhat of a guilty pleasure for her. 

It took a couple hours for Lee to arrive at the house, but he came bearing take-out (he was too lazy to cook that day, his words), so Clementine excused it. 

The previously tense air the house had was gone, for the most part. There was still some lingering anxiety from all sides, but they were pushing through it. They still hadn’t had a full conversation about it — just small, passing comments and attempts at conversation that Clementine purposefully ignored. 

Clementine made her way to her room at the end of the day, throwing herself into bed after changing her clothes. She checked her phone and saw a notification from Louis from about two hours ago.

stewwithlou

wait are you serious

about the dinner thing.

to get ur number.

darlingclementine

sorry sorry i got distracted

and no i was joking.

Clementine typed out her number and sent it to him.

⋆˚꩜｡

Lee took the fall for her.

She couldn’t understand why — she still didn’t.

I mean, wouldn’t the court have gone easier on a kid, anyway?

Lee had taken the gun from her hands — she realizes now that he did this in order to get his fingerprints on the weapon. 

“It’s going to be okay.”

He told her that a lot.

Chapter Text

“So, how was your first day?” Louis’ mother asked. She was a middle-aged woman with some streaks of gray running through her brown, curly hair. Her voice was smooth and soft, but it had a tired tone in it. His father wasn’t even at home, probably out on ‘business’ or whatever excuse he came up with.

Louis’ relationship with his parents was…complicated. They all loved each other, of course, but there was just something off. His relationship with his father had become especially lackluster in previous years while his relationship with his mother was more secure.

”Pretty average, you know. Nothing compared to last year,” Louis joked lightly. The first day of his sophomore year got off to a rough start.

Marlon and Justin, one of his friends on the football team, were arguing at lunch over something Louis can’t even remember now. Louis was sitting next to Marlon, who was getting exceptionally heated in the argument. He was holding a metal fork in his left hand (which was odd, considering he’s literally right-handed), and he slammed that hand onto the table…and ended up stabbing Louis’ right hand with the fork. 

The argument definitely died down after that. All Louis could do is simply stare wide-eyed at the wound, too in shock to say anything. Everyone at the lunch table was silent for a moment before Ruby rushed to go get the nurse. 

Louis ended up in an ambulance that day, seeing as there was no way a simple school nurse could handle that kind of wound. And when he returned to school, he could hardly even write! He ended up having to do physical therapy for months to get that skill back.

He continues to sit on Marlon’s right side to this day. That way, even if he does end up with another fork through the hand, at least it’ll be through his non-dominant one.

“No forks through the hand this year?” Louis’ mother teased lightly.

”Thankfully not.”

”Well, have you met anyone new?” Louis’ mother continued questioning.

Louis paused for a moment, which immediately gave him away. His mother raised a brow.

”Is that a yes?”

”Maybe,” Louis admitted to her.

His mother smiled, “Tell me about them! What’s their name? What grade are they? What—“

His mother always got like this, eager to know everything about everyone he tried to be friends with. And he knew exactly why. 

Contrary to now, when Louis was younger, he didn’t have many friends. 

Scratch that — he had none. Any ‘friendships’ he had were generally fake. He did try to actually be friends with people, but it never worked out. The kids he tried to be ‘friends’ with were the children of other rich people his parents were friendly with. The thing about rich people — almost everything is superficial. A show that they all unspokenly agree to put on together. 

However, when he met Marlon and the others during middle school, his feelings surrounding friendship changed. It finally felt real. It didn’t feel transactional, and it didn’t feel like he was desperately reaching out for something that was never there in the first place. 

He cut off his mother to answer one of her questions, “Her name is Clementine.”

”Oh, that’s such a beautiful name,” his mother admired, placing her hand over her heart. 

”Yeah,” Louis agreed. His mother had a knowing look on her face. 

“Louis…” His mother began.

”Don’t even start, Mom,” Louis sighed, rolling his eyes, “I don’t have a crush on her.”

”I never said you did!”

 ⋆˚꩜｡

Two Weeks Later

⋆˚꩜｡

“I totally have a crush on her.”

Marlon stared at Louis with a ‘no fucking shit’ look on his face while Violet crossed her arms and raised a brow. 

Louis and Violet were at Marlon’s house for the weekend. Seeing as Louis had nothing better to do at home, and Violet mostly just didn’t want to be in her own house that often. Most of the time, she was either at Minnie’s or Louis’ house.

Throughout the past two weeks, Louis had managed to gain Clementine’s number and have a few conversations with her. Very basic stuff: Favorite color? Worst fear? Things like that. Overall, her responses to him had been very straightforward and simple, no matter how much charm he put into his own messages. 

“Well, not to uh— crush your dreams here,” Marlon snickered lightly before turning serious again, “but I don’t think she’s into you, man. Everytime you talk to her she looks like she wants to run away, y’know?”

Violet sighed, “Not to get Louis’ hopes up here, but she looks like that no matter who she talks to.”

Marlon pursed his lips slightly, considering the thought, “Yeah, I guess you’re right about that.”

Louis let out a dramatic sigh, falling back onto Marlon’s bed. 

“Plenty of fish in the sea,” Marlon told him, moving to look outside his window. 

“Yeah, right,” Violet scoffed, “not a lot of options here.”

”Well, thanks for making me feel so much better, Vi,” Louis remarked.

”You’re welcome.”

Marlon was still looking outside, he had forgotten Clementine lived in the house across from him. She was currently in her front yard with a young boy, probably kindergarten age. It looked like she was working on planting something beside her front porch, while the boy played with a garden hose. 

“So, fun fact,” Marlon started, “Clementine actually lives in the house across from me.”

As soon as Marlon finished his sentence, Louis jumped up, practically yelling in a high-pitched voice, “What!”

Louis skipped over to the window Marlon was standing beside and stared at the same scene as him.

”Oh, yeah, this isn’t creepy at all, guys.” Violet commented sarcastically, leaning back in Marlon’s desk chair. 

Louis paid no mind to Violet, all his focus on Clementine. She had her hair pulled back — she should have it like that more, it was very pretty on her. She usually had it down. She was wearing shorts that went slightly above her knees and a long-sleeved fitted shirt, which Louis found slightly odd. It was in the 80s today. He didn’t ponder on that thought for too long, though. 

The little boy, perhaps a sibling, in the yard with her was messing around with the garden hose in his hands. However, he clearly got distracted and ended up spraying Clementine’s back with water.

Clementine whipped her head around and glared at the boy, her mouth slightly agape. The boy stopped and dropped the hose before quickly running back into the house, though it was obvious he was giggling while doing so. 

Clementine stood up and shouted something Louis was unable to hear, but he saw the small smile on her face, even from far away.

“Okay, man,” Marlon pulled Louis by his arm away from the window, “this is actually getting kinda weird.” 

“Jesus, you had your face against the glass like it’s a fucking aquarium,” Violet said with a small smirk.

“You’ve got it bad, man,” Marlon sighed and shook his head like a disappointed father. 

“The heart can’t help what it wants,” Louis quoted dramatically.

”This is gonna turn out real interesting,” Violet commented, rolling her eyes.

⋆˚꩜｡

Brody waltzed up to the lunch table where everyone was already sitting, placing her tray on the table. 

“The homecoming dance is in a month!” Brody announced while smiling excitedly, taking her seat, “Marlon and I already bought our tickets.”

“Yeah, I’m not going,” Violet bluntly told her, “Minnie isn’t either. I think Sophie is, though.”

”I’m not going either,” Omar added, his chin resting on his hand.

”No reason for me to go,” Aasim said.

”Oh my gosh, you all are so boring,” Brody groaned, but quickly regained her composure, “what about you Clementine? Louis?”

Louis glanced at Clementine, who looked like she was contemplating it in her mind.

Eventually, she answered, glancing to the side away from Brody, “Sorry, probably not.”

Brody sighed loudly and moved her gaze towards Louis, waiting for his answer.

Louis thought about it for a moment. Well, there was no chance of getting a date to it, anyway. Seeing as Clementine was already out of the picture — not that he would have the guts to ask her. He could hang out with Marlon at the dance, but he would probably be all up on Brody the whole time, and Louis didn’t feel like being a third wheel. 

So, he gave his answer, “Nah, I think I’m good.”

”What is with you people and having no school spirit!” Brody complained. Marlon put his hand on her shoulder as comfort. 

Louis felt a little bad for skimping out, but he didn’t really see the point of going, anyway. He glanced over to Clementine who was focused on completing her schoolwork rather than her meal. 

He noticed again — she was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt. It should make sense: the weather fluctuated a lot and it was getting a little cooler. However, he still found it odd.

Maybe he was reading too much into it.

⋆˚꩜｡

“Son of a bitch!” Louis heard Clementine yell in an annoyed tone. She rubbed her hand over her face in clear exasperation. A couple students that were hanging around outside the building stared blankly at her for a second before continuing what they were doing.

Louis was a little nervous to just walk over and bother her, but he figured she might’ve needed help. 

“Well, hello there, Clemmy,” Louis greeted.

“Don’t call me that ever again,” Clementine snapped.

Louis nodded sharply, looking down at the floor before moving his gaze to her again, “So, what seems to be the problem?”

“Now you just sound like a cop,” Clementine lightly scoffed, “I missed my bus ‘cause my last teacher had to talk to me after class.”

“Talk about what?” Louis pondered aloud.

“Doesn’t matter,” Clementine swiftly dismissed his question, “I would wait and get a ride with my dad, but I really don’t want my little brother home alone.”

Louis assumed she was talking about the little boy he had seen her with the other day when he was at Marlon’s. He figured that was her brother, but you can never be sure.

“I could give you a ride,” Louis offered, “I drive myself to school, so.”

”Are you sure?” Clementine seemed reluctant to accept his offer, “You’re not busy, or anything?”

“I can always make time for you, darling Clementine,” Louis dramatically flirted, subtly referencing the song she appeared to hate so much.

Clementine rolled her eyes, but didn’t make any comment on Louis’ reference. He led her to his car, a grey SUV. When his parents allowed him to buy his first car, he decided on something less flashy than what his father had — something that wouldn’t scream ‘Hey, I’m rich!’ 

Generally, Louis just didn’t like flaunting his wealth, even subtly, for multiple reasons. First, he didn’t want to appear as if he were bragging about it. The second is the possibility of people taking advantage of him — his mother gave him one of those long talks about that. 

Honestly, he’s never really had a problem with the latter. Growing up, he only hung around other rich kids — and now? His friends didn’t care all that much about it.

Louis unlocked the vehicle and rushed to the passenger’s side to open the door for Clementine. She rolled her eyes and entered the car. Louis crossed back to the driver’s side and started the car. 

“Give me your phone so I can type my address in,” Clementine told him, holding her hand out for him to place it in.

He handed her his phone and she typed her address in before handing the phone back. Her house was only 15 minutes away, not that far, but far enough to squeeze some conversation in.

Louis began driving and started the conversation, “So, what’s your little brother’s name?”

”AJ — it’s short for Alvin Junior,” Clementine responded absentmindedly, quickly texting someone on her phone before shutting it off and putting it in her pocket. 

“He’s named after someone, then?” Louis assumed.

”Yeah,” Clementine said, looking at the passing trees out the window, “it’s…complicated.”

Louis hummed, “What kind of complicated?”

”You ask a lot of questions.”

”I’m a curious guy.”

Clementine sighed, “He’s adopted. We both are.”

Louis paused.

“Well…that explains why you don’t look like Mr. Everett,” Louis tilted his head, “sorry about that, by the way. I never said that, did I?”

”Yeah,” Clementine raised her eyebrows.

”You know, you could’ve just said that in the first place,” Louis encouraged her.

”Whenever I tell someone I’m adopted, people always feel like they have to have a whole conversation about it with me,” Clementine rolled her eyes, “or they just look like they pity me, which honestly pisses me off more.”

“Is this you trying to tell me you don’t want to have a conversation about it?”

Clementine scoffed, “Maybe.”

She sighed again, continuing on, “I just don’t know why it matters so much to other people. I’m adopted, so what? God, and then people start asking even more personal questions, ‘oh, what happened to your birth parents?’ You’re a fucking stranger to me, why would I even tell you that? Also—“

(Despite the fact Clementine hinted to him that she didn’t want to have a conversation about it, she seemed to talk to him about it for a while.)

Louis remained silent as Clementine ranted on. She was apparently the type of person to gesture with her hands when she was passionate about a subject — that being said, Louis had to dodge her hands a few times.

“Anyway, I just don’t understand why people feel so entitled, you know,” Clementine finished her complaints, looking back towards Louis who was nodding in agreement, though he was mostly doing it out of fear. 

“You didn’t get any of that, did you?” Clementine asked.

”No, I did! I just don’t know what to say,” Louis assured, “you’re clearly very passionate about the subject.”

“I just deal with people like that a lot,” Clementine complained.

“Well, I’ll try not to be one of those people,” Louis offered, turning onto her street.

”That house is mine,” Clementine pointed for him to look.

”I forgot you live across from Marlon,” Louis noted, “no wonder the drive felt familiar.”

”Mhm, he rides the same bus as me,” Clementine told him as he parked the car, “the first day of school he told me I probably wouldn’t wanna meet you.”

”Why would he say that,” Louis asked in a faux offended voice, his hand over his heart.

Clementine opened the door and got out, “I can’t remember at this point, but thanks for the ride.”

”Yeah, you owe me!” Louis wasn’t serious, but he liked to tease.

”I don’t owe you shit,” Clementine smirked, seeing through him. She closed the car door and made her way towards her front door, though not before raising a hand as a goodbye.

Louis waved back.

Yeah. Marlon was right, he’s got it bad.

Wow, he’s so fucked.

Chapter Text

Family dinner. Not that they could be called a family — they weren’t anything remotely close.

Clementine stared down at the plate on the placemat in front of her. She pushed the food around with her plastic fork (Richard didn’t like washing dishes, so he opted for plastic utensils and paper plates). 

Richard didn’t let anyone leave the table until they finished everything on their plate. Although he was in the other room, somehow he would know if she just threw it away without finishing. 

Clementine always fed AJ his food first, seeing as Richard didn’t bother to do it, so he often left her at the table by herself. Before Mary ran away, she and Clementine would alternate feeding AJ. Now it was just her doing it.

She often wondered where Mary ended up.

A small crashing noise came from Richard’s bedroom, causing her to jump. She heard him swear sharply, and she glanced in that direction, then back to the remaining food on her plate.

On one hand, she favored the time she had alone. No risk of pissing Richard off because she looked angry, or whatever excuse he made up to get her in trouble.

On the other hand, she hated being separated from AJ in this house — or anytime, really. It heightened her anxiety about the possibility of Richard doing something to hurt AJ. 

She sighed and rushed to finish the rest of her plate.

 ⋆˚꩜｡

When she moved in with Lee, she realized the dining tables and their setup in his house and Richard’s house were similar. It made her anxious. 

They were both square, shiny wood tables. They both had four chairs surrounding it — one of them being empty when everyone sat down. When she began living with Lee, she knew she had to change something about the setup just for her own peace of mind.

She realized quickly there was not much she could do. She couldn’t change the appearance, and it would be weird to move the chairs around. So she changed where she sat.

When living with Richard, he made her sit across from him, while AJ sat to the left of him and to the right of Clementine. 

Well, AJ was able to feed himself when Lee officially adopted her, so she opted to sit to the left of Lee and to have AJ sit to the right of him. 

In retrospect, it feels silly, but it did comfort her. And as Lee would always tell her: “It’s not silly if it makes you feel better.”

She currently sat at the dining table on Saturday morning, her homework for multiple classes spread out in front of her. She held her forehead in her hands while she attempted to focus on solving the problems on her algebra paper. 

Eventually her attention was drawn by a notification sounding from her phone. Generally, when she was studying or doing homework, she kept her phone in another room so as to not get distracted. However, Lee was out of the house at the moment and wanted her to keep her phone near her in case of an emergency. 

She picked up her phone and glanced at the notification. Surprisingly, it wasn’t from Lee. Rather, it was from Luke. 

She met Luke when Rebecca and Alvin were fostering her. Luke would often look after Clementine when her foster parents were busy working. She would stay at his apartment, which he shared (and continued to share to this day) with Nick. 

Clementine entered her messages with Luke, fully reading his text.

Luke

Hey, Clem! Wanted to check

in. How’s it feel being a junior now?

Btw, I visited Rebecca and Alvin’s

graves recently. Left some flowers

there.

Luke had attached a photo of the flowers in question sitting on Rebecca and Alvin’s grave. They had one of those combined headstones; Clementine found it kind of sweet. She wasn’t able to attend their funeral, but Javi and his family had taken her and AJ to go visit their graves one time. AJ wasn’t old enough to really remember it, though.

It was just sad, really. AJ never got the chance to even meet his parents. His father was murdered before he was born and his mother never got the opportunity to hold him for even a second before the doctors were attempting to save her life. 

She hadn’t realized it until later, but she was the first family member that got to hold AJ. Honestly, she felt a little guilty over it. It should’ve been Rebecca. 

Clementine often wondered how AJ felt about his parents, as it wasn’t a topic that came up often. He knows what happened, for the most part at least (she left out a few of the more gruesome details). 

Maybe she should have another conversation with him about that.

Clementine typed out a response to Luke’s message.

Clem

things have been fine on this

end, no trouble at least

how have things w/ nick been

Luke

Haha. 🙄 He’s doing good.

Are you ever gonna stop

teasing me about that?

Clementine grinned at her phone. She found out about Luke’s ‘little’ crush on Nick years ago, not that it wasn’t obvious before then. It was also clear that Nick liked Luke as well, but when Clementine tells him that, he refuses to believe it.

Clementine’s going to graduate from college before they get together, at this point.

Clem

no ❤️

Luke

Hmm. Anyone youuu like?

Clem

oh brother

Luke

I’m not hearing a no.

Clem

well here: no

Luke

I totally believe you.

Clementine rolled her eyes and gently tossed her phone back onto the table. She wasn’t lying; she wasn’t into anyone. 

Regardless, even if she did, she didn’t know how she would feel about entering a relationship, anyway.

Clementine was torn out of her thoughts (thankfully. She didn’t want to spiral about why exactly she was so hesitant any longer than she had to) by AJ coming into the kitchen.

He had a certain look on his face, one that told Clementine he was about to ask for something. Oh boy, it was always a gamble when he had that look.

“Hey, goofball,” Clementine greeted him. AJ didn't respond, instead shuffling his feet, probably out of nervousness. He was similar to Clementine in that sense: always nervous to ask for something, “What is it?”

“Can we go somewhere together?” AJ asked her. Not exactly what she had expected, but she was open to the idea. She hasn’t had too much of an opportunity to explore the town yet. Also, she definitely needed a break from her homework, anyway.

“Anywhere specific?” Clementine asked, packing her homework back into their respective folders.

AJ looked giddy at this point, “A kid in my class said his parents take him to this ice cream place a lot.”

“Ohh, I see,” Clementine nodded, “this was all a ploy to get some ice cream, was it?”

“Maybe,” AJ admitted, still grinning.

“Well, you’re lucky I’m feeling generous today,” Clementine rolled her eyes and went to her room to get changed. She sent Lee a text to inform him of where her and AJ were going before walking with him to the bus stop. Lee was using the car today, so the bus was their only option, unless they felt like walking (which they definitely did not). 

Clementine paid the driver and her and AJ took their seats. AJ sat in the window seat, while she sat in the aisle seat. Like the bus ride to school, she put on her headphones (one ear uncovered, in case AJ said something) and stared out the window (thankfully, AJ was still short enough that she was able to see out of it). AJ occupied himself with the Disco Broccoli toy he brought practically everywhere with him.

Clementine remembers the toy that she practically had glued to her side when she was a child. It was this small stuffed kitty with a calico fur pattern. Her dad was the one that bought it, saying it looked exactly like the cat he owned before Clementine was born. He didn’t even originally buy it for her; he bought it before her mom was even pregnant. However, according to her parents, she immediately became attached to the thing her first night home.

She didn’t have the stuffed animal with her anymore, and she wasn’t sure if she even wanted to.

⋆˚꩜｡

Clementine was hiding in her closet, hands covering her mouth to block any noise that could possibly leak out.

Someone broke into the house. 

Clementine was originally sitting in the living room with Sandra, her babysitter, when they heard a window being smashed from across the house. Sandra immediately told her to hide in her room while she went to investigate the noise.

Clementine was able to hear the arguing going on between the (presumably) robber and Sandra. Though, it wasn’t long before that arguing ceased.

She decided to remain in her closet for the next hour or so, reluctant to come out even after all she could hear were the crickets chirping outside.

When she did exit her closet, she kept her footsteps light, especially on the stairs. She carefully skipped a step that was particularly creaky. She still didn’t hear anything that suggested the robber was still around.

When she stepped into the living room, she let out a sharp cry. She came upon a scene that continues to remain in her mind.

There was a knife sticking out of Sandra’s neck — which, honestly, was just stupid for the robber to leave there; made easy evidence for the police. 

Sandra wasn’t moving; Clementine couldn’t see even the slightest rise of her chest. It appeared as if the robber had stabbed Sandra in the neck multiple times — Clementine might be eight years old, but even she knows no one could survive an injury like that. 

Clementine glanced away from the part of the couch Sandra was sprawled out on, and she saw that stuffed animal: the calico. 

Her parents washed the thing every month, insistent on keeping it clean. Now, it had Sandra’s blood covering it. For a fleeting moment, Clementine feared that her parents would get mad at her for getting it dirty.

She wouldn’t have to worry about that, though. Her parents were already dead at this point, but she was blissfully unaware of that fact.

⋆˚꩜｡

The brakes of the bus squealed sharply, causing Clementine to flinch slightly. She looked up and realized it was their stop, grabbing AJ’s hand and signalling him to get up. 

They still had a little bit of a walk, but luckily, AJ didn’t complain about it.

The bell on the door to the ice cream shop rang out when Clementine pushed it open, causing one of the employees to toss out one of their automatic greetings. She motioned AJ inside, and they walked to the counter to place their orders.

No matter what shop they visited, their orders remained the same — Clementine ordered rocky road and AJ ordered chocolate chip cookie dough.

When they were waiting on their orders, Clementine perked up to the sound of her name being called from behind her. She turned her head and found Sophie waving at her. She was sitting at a booth with a laptop in front of her, as well as a boy sitting across from her.

The main thing that struck Clementine about the boy was the scar covering the side of his head; it seemed to be a burn scar, but she couldn’t be sure.

Sophie gestured for Clementine and AJ to join her at the booth. Clementine quickly collected her and AJ’s order, handing AJ his before heading towards Sophie. 

“Clementine! Come on, sit down!” Sophie moved over to give Clementine room to sit next to her. 

Clementine hesitated, but ultimately sat down. AJ jumped up onto the booth across from her, next to the boy Sophie was with. Clementine didn’t know Sophie all that well; they shared an art class, which they had a few light conversations in, but that was about it. She also knew that Sophie was friends with Louis and the others, but Clementine wasn’t extremely close with them, either. 

Sophie closed her laptop, focusing on Clementine instead, “Haven’t seen you outside of school before.”

“AJ is the one who insisted we come here,” Clementine told her, gesturing toward AJ who was balancing eating his ice cream and looking at the other boy’s paper.

“Is he your brother?” Sophie asked.

“Yeah,” Clementine answered, taking a bite of her waffle cone. 

Sophie gestured to the boy across from her, “That’s Tennessee, by the way. Tenn for short. He’s my brother.”

Tennessee raised a hand as a greeting before continuing his drawing. Clementine raised a brow.

“Adopted,” Sophie giggled softly.

“Huh.” Well, who was Clementine to judge? She was adopted herself.

“You’re so good at drawing!” AJ complimented Tenn, “Can you draw me?”

“Sure,” Tenn agreed, smiling lightly.

Tenn started drawing AJ on another piece of paper, and Clementine spoke to Sophie again, “I guess artistry runs in the family, then?”

“In a way,” Sophie started to brag about her sister, “Minnie doesn’t really draw, but she has a beautiful singing voice! She writes her own lyrics sometimes. I’ve only gotten a peek at a few of them, but the ones I saw were good!”

Clementine and Sophie continued their conversation while AJ stared over Tenn’s shoulder at his drawing. Honestly, she thought Tenn would feel uncomfortable with someone staring while he drew, but he didn’t seem to mind. 

Eventually, Clementine decided it was time to leave, Lee was likely back at the house. She got up and threw their trash away, and returned to the table. Tenn had gifted his drawing to AJ, and AJ was holding it up to show off to Clementine.

“Clem, look! He drew you, too!” AJ exclaimed excitedly.

The drawing was cute; her and AJ were holding hands in it. Tenn was objectively a good artist, especially for his age. 

“This is cute, thank you, Tenn,” Clementine smiled at him, and he gave her a small nod back.

“Bye, Clementine,” Sophie waved at her and AJ.

⋆˚꩜｡

“You guys have fun?” Lee asked when Clementine and AJ walked through the front door. 

“Yes!” AJ exclaimed. He pulled out the drawing Tenn had made to show Lee, “Look, look!”

“Wow, who made that?” Lee encouraged AJ.

“His name is Tenn, and he’s a really good drawer!” AJ told Lee.

“I think you mean artist,” Clementine corrected.

“Yeah!” AJ said, still smiling.

“Well, why don’t you go put that drawing in your room, kiddo,” Lee suggested. AJ ran off to do as he said, and Lee began talking to Clementine, “Ice cream before dinner, huh?”

“You’re telling me you would’ve said no to a face like that?” 

Lee leveled her with a glare, but didn’t comment on her statement (which Clementine took as him admitting he would, in fact, not say no), “I’m glad you’re…“

Lee trailed off, hesitating, but Clementine wasn’t about to ignore it, “Glad I’m what?”

Lee sighed, contemplating on how to phrase his words without setting Clementine off, “Clementine, we need to talk about it eventually.”

Clementine’s smile dropped.

“Oh my god,” Clementine mumbled, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms, turning away from Lee. 

“I’m worried about you—“ Lee began, getting interrupted by Clementine.

“Okay— well, you shouldn’t be,” Clementine asserted, tossing her arms to her sides and raising her voice slightly, “I’m fine.”

She could tell that Lee didn’t believe her, and honestly? She didn’t believe herself either.

Lee was getting impatient with her; he always did when this topic came up, which is why they both tended to steer away from it.

“Clementine…” Lee began.

“No! It doesn’t matter,” Clementine retorted, “I’m alive, aren’t I?”

“You almost weren’t!” Lee nearly yelled. He took in a sharp breath to regain his composure, lowering his voice with his next words, “Do you have any idea what it was like having to see my daughter covered in her own blood?”

“You’re seriously making this about you?” Clementine scoffed incredulously.

“That’s not—“

“You’re actually asking me how you felt? What about how I felt? I’m the one that tried to kill herself here.”

This was the first time she admitted it out loud.

“I didn’t mean—“

Clementine took a shaky breath, feeling tears in her eyes. She whispered in a crackly voice, “Fuck you, Lee.”

Lee took a sharp breath and his eyes widened slightly; Clementine didn’t bother to stay and listen to what he would say, marching up the stairs to her room, breathing heavily. She heard him yell something, but she couldn’t make it out even if she wanted to. 

She felt the tears start trailing down her face, quickly wiping them away with her shaking hands. That didn’t do much, seeing as the tears continued to fall.

Her and Lee’s relationship had just started to heal, but she had to fuck it up once more. He was her dad; he had a right to care about her.

God, why did she say that.

She began to eye the drawer of her bedside table. 

Lee threw away the razor blades she was hiding after her attempt, but she remembered the pencil sharpener she had in her backpack. 

She kept a screwdriver in her drawer for a reason; you never know when you might need one.

This was pathetic; she knew that. But she couldn’t stop. 

⋆˚꩜｡

Mari

clemmy!! talk to us

you havent sent a message

here in forever

Duck

oh is this why my self

esteem has been so high

no clem around to bully me

Gabe

is it bullying if she’s

telling rhe truth…

rhe

rhe

fuck

Sarah

Guys, I told you to stop

cursing. My dad checks

my messages.

Mari

ur dad is weird sarah

ur almost an adult

Duck

she’s 16.

Mari 

ok so she has two years

thats basically 18

Gabe

you sound like a creepy

old man mari

Mari

oh my god i obv didnt mean

it like that

Duck

the mariana does not concern

herself with the age of consent.

Mari

shut the fuck up actually

sorry sarah

Sarah

It’s ok. ☺️

Gabe

wait how come its ok for

her to curse???

Clementine scoffed in amusement as she read the messages. She sent the occasional message in the group chat, but she wasn’t nearly as active in it as she was before she moved.

She considered responding to ease their mind, but she decided against it. She needed to clean herself up anyway (mainly the blood on her arms).

Problem was, Lee was probably still downstairs (no way was she touching that situation right now), and she still refused to go into the upstairs bathroom. So, she was stuck in here. She should really steal some of the gauze from the downstairs bathroom and bring it to her room.

Well, the blood had dried for the most part, so it wasn’t the end of the world. She’ll just clean it off during her shower later.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by another notification from her phone. 

Louis

hey clemmy clue

Clem

how many nicknames are

you going to use for me

Louis

i just need to find one that sticks

Clem

right

why did you text me

Louis

can a guy not have some good

old fashioned conversation 

with his dear friend

Clem

not a guy like you

Louis

i dont know if i should be

offended or not

Clem

seriously what do you need

Louis

right right

ok so vi and minnie were

gonna skip hoco together

and they invited me but

i REALLY dont wanna be a

third wheel so will you please

join us……

Clem

is this you trying to ask me out

im flattered

but also idk if my dad will let me

Louis

something happen?

Clem 

small argument

ill ask after some time has

passed

Louis

well i hope he says yes :p

and i hope you guys make up

Homecoming is two weeks from now, she has time. Hopefully the awkward air around her and Lee will have passed by then.

She sighed, eyes beginning to droop. She tossed her phone across her bed and closed her eyes. 

Chapter Text

Clementine lied on Richard’s mattress, multiple thoughts running through her head that she tried to ignore.

She wasn’t sure what to do; she wasn’t sure what she could do. She wasn’t prepared for a situation like this. 

Richard was a horrible man — she knew that even before he…

She didn’t want to think about what just happened. She didn’t want to believe it happened. She wanted to suppress it until the day she died — a day she often had morbid thoughts of. How would she die? When would she die? Would she die of old age? Would she die young? Would she die with family surrounding her in an all too white and freakishly sanitary hospital? Would she die alone with only her thoughts as company, lying on the ground with no one answering her desperate calls for help? 

Maybe it would be Richard that was the death of her. That scenario was becoming more likely day by day.

Clementine wasn’t sure that she could speak, or even move; she simply didn’t have the energy nor motivation.

She doesn’t know how long she stared at the blank walls of that room, just trying to contemplate how to move forward.

As long as AJ was safe. As long as he kept his hands off of AJ, everything would be fine. She would be fine.

⋆˚꩜｡

Almost two weeks had passed since the argument, and they were still avoiding each other as much as possible. Every time they were in the same room, Clementine felt her skin crawling, desperate to escape.

She hated herself for feeling this way, and she hated herself for starting the argument in the first place. 

She avoided asking Lee if she could go out with Louis, Vi, and Minnie, and now the deadline for that was coming up. The dance was tomorrow, so either she asked Lee to go (not happening) or she just didn't go.

Well, there was a third option, but that was risky.

She could think about it later; she needed to get through the rest of the day. She was grateful that school gave her some time apart from Lee, save for history class. Though, they mostly ignored each other in that class, too. 

That day in class, Louis leaned towards her to ask her, “Have you asked Mr. Everett if you can hang out with us yet?”

It was still a little weird hearing people refer to him so formally. 

“No,” Clementine admitted, “I probably just won’t go.”

Louis had a look of disappointment, “Man, was the argument that bad?”

Clementine simply looked away, glancing in Lee’s direction. He was grading stacks of assignments, seeing as he hated doing it at home. 

“I don’t wanna prod, but—“ Louis tried to say before getting scolded.

“Louis!” Lee looked up from the papers on his desk, “Do your work.”

Violet snorted beside her, clearly finding it amusing, but continued to do her work.

“Yes, sir,” Louis looked at his desk in defeat.

Clementine noticed Lee glancing at her before returning his eyes to the paper he was grading. Though, she tried not to pay any mind to him.

She sighed, whispering to Louis, “I’ll try to figure something out.”

Louis gave her a small grin in return, not wanting to risk being yelled at again.

Clementine felt an odd sensation in her stomach, but she ignored that in favor of her assignment. She was likely just hungry, considering she skipped breakfast that morning to avoid Lee.

⋆˚꩜｡

The next day, Clementine pushed her dinner around on her ceramic plate, the metal fork scraping sharply against it. She noticed AJ cringe at the noise out of the corner of her eye.

“Stop playing with your food, Clementine,” Lee told her blankly, eating his own meal.

She stopped moving her fork, setting her elbow on the table and resting her head on her hand. She continued to stare at the plate. 

She could tell AJ felt awkward, as he did for every dinner within the past two weeks, which made her feel a little bad. Not bad enough to talk to Lee, though. 

She sighed, leaning back in the chair. Lee lightly snapped at her, “If you’re not going to eat, just put it back in the pot.”

AJ flinched slightly when Lee raised his voice at her, as it wasn’t something he did often. Lee lowered his voice and apologized to AJ.

Clementine pushed her chair back and took her plate, doing as Lee said. She muttered a soft ‘goodnight’ to both of them as she rushed upstairs to her room. 

When she shut the door to her room, she pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time: 7:02 p.m.

Louis said he, Violet, and Minnie were going out at 8, so she had little time to decide. He also told her that they were meeting at Minnie’s house (which Louis had provided the address for), which was about 20 minutes from Clem’s house if she walked. 

She sighed, fuck it. 

She changed her outfit and attempted to quietly open her window. There were a few squeaks, but she didn’t think Lee noticed. She carefully maneuvered out of the window onto the small roof in front of it, shutting the window — not without leaving a small crack — when she was outside. 

Okay… so how was she supposed to get down? She hadn’t really thought that far ahead. Straight-up jumping down was a horrible idea — she knows because Duck made that mistake once; he ended up breaking his arm. Kenny and Katjaa nearly had a heart attack, immediately following it by scolding the hell out of him.

She decided to hang onto the edge of the roof with her hands and let go; it was still a little rough on the knees, but not horrible. 

She was extremely nervous. Not even about going there, just about after. 

Shit, how was she supposed to get back onto the roof? She really didn’t think this through.

Whatever, she could worry about that later.

She began walking on the sidewalk and pulled up the directions to Minnie’s house. She also sent Louis a quick text to let him know she was coming, to which he responded with a smiley face.

Her pace was swifter than normal; the sun was setting and she wasn’t a fan of walking in the dark, especially as a teenage girl. She always carried a pocket knife in her back right pocket, just in case. Lee was the one who gifted her the knife on her 15th birthday. She found it a little sad that he even had to give her that, but she appreciated it regardless. 

Instead of the 20 minutes the map told her it would take, it actually took 15 minutes. Though, it did take a few more minutes to figure out exactly which house was Minnie’s.  The front of Minnie’s house was decorated scarcely, with just a couple of plastic, pink flamingos in the yard and a welcome mat on the porch. She made her way to the front door and knocked gently. 

She ended up face-to-face with Louis when he opened the door; she took a small step back. 

“Thank God you made it,” Louis sighed before dramatically whispering, “I’m getting a little sick of Minnie and Vi being all lovey-dovey here.”

Clementine chuckled slightly and followed him inside, maneuvering through the house towards Minnie’s room.  The hallway they passed through was decorated with younger photos of Minnie, along with younger photos of Sophie and Tenn.

When they got to the door of Minnie’s room, Louis jokingly knocked on the door and asked them, “We’re all dressed in there, right ladies?”

“Louis, shut the fuck up,” Violet shot back, snatching the door open. 

“Hey, I don’t need to walk into another Marlon and Brody situation,” Louis replied, striding into the room. Clementine entered behind him, waving to Minnie, who was sitting on her bed. Violet went to sit beside her. Clementine glanced around the room, realizing that Minnie and Sophie shared it. Their ‘aesthetics’ were clearly different. Sophie’s was generally more polished, in a sense, while Minnie’s was messier. Minnie’s side of the room had tons of posters, a few of them overlapping and crooked. However, Sophie just had a few, all of them level.

“I’m not sure I wanna ask what that ‘situation’ was,” Clementine commented, grimacing.

“It’s exactly what you’re thinking of,” Minnie told her, grinning slightly, yet also cringing at the thought. 

Violet changed the topic, “I thought you weren’t gonna be able to come, Clementine.”

“Yeah, did you end up asking your dad?” Louis asked her, tilting his head.

“…No,” Clementine admitted, looking away.

“Clementine, you little rebel,” Minerva gently poked fun, “did you sneak out?”

“Stop it,” Clementine defended herself, rolling her eyes, “I’ve only snuck out once, and it didn’t turn out well.” 

Clementine instinctively rubbed at the dog bite on her left arm, just thinking about that time made her shudder. She tried to avoid dogs since that event, and she was generally successful. There were a few times she had to cross a street in order to avoid someone walking their dog.

Minnie and the others looked curious, but didn’t push on the topic. 

“Well, are we ready to go, or…” Violet asked impatiently.

“Yeah, we’re just gonna take my car,” Minnie told them, grabbing her keys from her desk. Clementine followed the others outside.

“Shotgun!” Violet yelled out, rushing to the passenger door of the car.

“Oh, come on!” Louis groaned, “Whatever, I’ll get it on the way back.”

Clementine hummed, following Louis to the car. She crossed her arms to provide some heat; considering it was nighttime, it was colder than usual. 

Louis jogged forward to open the car door for Clementine, taking a bow as if he were a servant, “After you, m’lady.”

Clementine rolled her eyes, climbing into the seat. Louis gently shut the door and walked around to his side to get in.

“Okay, first stop: food,” Minnie declared, starting her car. 

“Thank God,” Violet groaned, “I’m fucking starving.”

Clementine remained silent throughout the car ride, staring out the window at the passing buildings. 

Her mind drifted to Lee, which was not what she wanted to think about. She tried not to worry about what would happen if he found out she snuck out. 

She decided to vaguely listen to the others’ conversation rather than add to the feeling of dread she had. 

⋆˚꩜｡

The restaurant was fairly empty; there were a couple of parents trying to get their fussy toddlers to eat, but overall, it was pretty quiet. 

Clementine sat in a red booth that squeaked when she put even the slightest pressure on it. She glanced out the window before hearing Louis’ footsteps returning. Violet and Minnie were likely still waiting for their food. 

Louis was holding a brown plastic tray that had their orders on it — Louis insisted on paying for her despite her refusals, citing that he was the one who asked her to come in the first place. 

“Your meal, madam,” Louis set the tray on the shiny — and concerningly sticky — table and handed Clementine her food and drink.

Clementine rolled her eyes, taking a sip from the straw sticking out of her drink — a Diet Coke. She generally drank water when she was at her house, but if she was out, she often opted for the former. 

Louis took a fry from his meal and popped it in his mouth, looking over to where Violet and Minnie were finally receiving their food and heading towards them.

Violet slid into the booth and complained, “You guys literally ordered after us, how did you get yours first?”

“It was probably my extravagant charm when I was talking to the cashier,” Louis boasted.

“That cashier looked like she wanted to kill herself when you talked to her,” Clementine shot back humorously. 

“I’d want to kill myself too if I got paid minimum wage,” Minnie commented, taking the wrapper off of her burger.

“…You do get paid minimum wage,” Violet told her.

“Exactly,” Minnie replied, taking a bite out of her burger. 

“At least you're making money,” Clementine sighed. She hadn’t had the chance to search for a job — or rather, she hadn’t had the motivation to — so she was stuck relying on Lee for the time being…which was made considerably difficult when she was constantly avoiding him. 

“I spend most of it on my girlfriend,” Minnie side-eyed Violet.

“Hey, I don’t ask you to do that — you do that yourself,” Violet retorted, a slightly guilty and insecure look taking over her face.

“I’m kidding, Vi,” Minnie put an arm around her girlfriend, shaking her lightly. 

“Okay, lovebirds, let’s relax here,” Louis teased the couple.

“You’re just jealous nobody wants you,” Violet leaned into Minnie’s hold on her.

“Well, damn,” Louis jumped back, an insulted look on his face. 

“I’m sure there’s somebody out there for you,” Clementine comforted.

“Well, thank you, Clem—“

“They might be an idiot, but they’re out there.”

“I revoke my thank you.”

“That ‘somebody’ might be closer than you think,” Violet mumbled under her breath behind her cup. Louis shot her a dirty look. Clementine quirked a brow.

Before she got an opportunity to ask for clarification, Louis pulled a deck of cards out of his pocket. 

“Do you usually just carry a deck of cards around with you?” Clementine asked.

“You have no idea,” Minnie gave her an exasperated look. 

“What’s the game this time?” Violet asked Louis, who was shuffling the cards on the table. 

“War — the game played by all mankind all throughout history,” Louis grinned, tapping the shuffled cards on the table to straighten them out. 

“So what’s the catch?” Minnie questioned, leaning so her back was against the back of the booth.

“Highest card gets to ask the lowest card a question.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Clementine commented. 

Louis drew the first card, passing the deck to Clementine for her to draw her own card. 

She flipped the card as soon as Violet and Minnie drew their own, being faced with a queen of hearts. A quick glance around the table revealed that Louis had drawn the lowest card: a two of clubs.

“I think you cheated.”

“You’re the one who shuffled the deck.”

Louis sighed, admitting defeat, “Alright, do your worst.”

Clementine thought for a moment, before deciding on her question, “What’s something you’re afraid to talk about?”

“Real original there,” Violet told her.

“I couldn’t think of anything else to ask,” Clementine shrugged, turning back to Louis and waiting for his response. 

Louis tilted his head, “I guess I’m…slightly hesitant to talk about my family.”

Well, Clementine could certainly relate to that.

“Any elaboration on that…?” Minnie raised a brow.

“Didn’t I just say I’m afraid to talk about them?” 

“Fair enough.” 

“Now that I think about it, I’ve known Louis for about ten years now, and I’ve only seen his parents like two times,” Violet told Clementine. 

Louis passed the deck around once more, this time Violet received the highest card, while Clementine received the lowest. 

“So, what happened last time you snuck out?” Violet asked, remembering Clementine’s words from earlier. 

Clementine sighed, deciding to show rather than tell. She rolled her left sleeve up to her elbow, showing off the ragged scar on her forearm, “That happened.”

Louis grimaced slightly, “Yeesh.”

“Yeah,” Clementine agreed, “not the best experience of my life.”

“What even did that to you?” Minnie pressed further.

“Some stray dog,” Clementine told her in a casual tone, shrugging.

“How did you not get rabies?” Violet asked, more jokingly. 

“They gave me a few shots as soon as I got to the hospital,” Clementine responded, “I don’t really remember much.” 

That was a lie. She remembered every slow, agonizing second of them slowly and precisely stitching that wound up — just thinking about that needle entering and exiting her skin made her whole body shiver — but she figured it would be best to leave that part out. 

They passed the cards around for a few more rounds before Minnie loudly declared that she was getting bored and wanted to visit the park. They piled into her car once more, Louis calling shotgun before Violet had the chance — which she immediately cussed him out for.

⋆˚꩜｡

Minnie went off with Violet somewhere in the park, while Clementine set off for the swings. Louis remained in the car, stating that he had to make a call. 

Clementine hadn’t gone to a park in a while, only really going for AJ’s sake. It felt odd at night; her visibility was low, only able to see the shape of the treeline ahead of her. 

She reminded herself of the pocket knife she brought with her. She hated to admit it, but she was terrified of being alone, especially at night. 

“Boo.”

“Jesus!” Clementine flinched sharply, jumping out of the swing and whipping her head to look behind her, “Louis, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

She was tempted to pull that knife out and stab him right then. 

Louis bent over laughing, practically snorting, clutching at his stomach.

“It’s not funny,” Clementine defended herself, “you’re lucky I didn’t punch the hell out of you.”

“I’m sorry,” Louis said, still laughing, “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t sound very sorry,” Clementine told him, her heart rate beginning to slow, though still remaining higher than normal. 

“I am sorry,” Louis finally stopped laughing, if only to catch his breath. He sat in one of the swings, kicking the ground to swing himself slightly backwards. Clementine returned to the swing she was previously sitting on, grabbing onto the chains holding it up. 

“What was that phone call about?” Clementine asked after a few moments of silence.

“Hm?” Louis hummed, raising a brow. 

“Or was that an excuse for something else?” Clementine wondered. 

“No, there was an actual phone call,” Louis answered, “It was from my parents.”

“Ah,” Clementine nodded, remembering his answer to her question during the card game. She was unsure of what to say — his parents were clearly a sensitive topic.

She didn’t have to think about it much longer; Louis spoke for her, “I don’t hate my parents, it’s just…” 

Clementine remained silent, not wanting to discourage Louis from talking.

“I mean, it’s mostly my dad,” Louis began, “he just— pisses me off sometimes. And a lot of the time my mom takes his side. Tells me that ‘he does it ‘cause he cares.’ As if.”

Clementine contemplated what to say before settling on her words, “He probably just has a shitty way of showing it.”

Louis snorted. Clementine’s heartbeat quickened again.

“I guess so,” Louis stared at the woodchips on the ground, moving some of them around with his foot, “So…what about yours?”

“My parents are dead,” Clementine awkwardly offered to the conversation.

“My problems feel smaller now,” Louis responded.

“I didn’t mean—“

“It’s fine,” Louis laughed, “I did ask, you just answered.”

“I swear I’m usually better with words than this,” Clementine sighed.

“I think you do just fine,” Louis assured her, moving his head to face her. She admired looked at his face, her eyes drifting across it. 

She could see Louis doing the same, meeting her eyes for a few moments — she was never one for prolonged eye contact, so she moved her attention to other parts of his face. His face was like a map that her eyes traveled across, stopping at various points to take them in — his eyes, the freckles on his cheeks, his lips.

“Hey losers,” Minerva suddenly popped up behind them, “I think it’s time to head back now.”

Clementine and Louis had ripped their eyes away from each other as soon as they heard Minnie’s voice. Clementine decided to ignore the flush in her face and spoke to Minnie, “Uh— can you drop me off close to my house?”

 ⋆˚꩜｡

Clementine thanked Minnie and headed back towards her own house. She remained as aware as she could, though she was getting sleepy. A few yawns escaped from her on her way.

When she made it to her house, the front light was off, a good sign so far. She knew there was no way she was making it to her window from the outside, so she had to go through the front door. 

She cautiously and slowly opened the door, hesitating when she heard even the slightest creak. Lee was a fairly light sleeper, so she attempted to keep the noise level to a minimum. 

That didn’t matter though. As soon as she shut the front door and made it to the bottom of the stairs, the lights of the living room flicked on. 

Shit.

She froze, not wanting to move — not wanting to face the consequences.

“Clementine,” Lee said in his ‘you are in so much trouble’ voice — a mix of disappointment and slightly disguised irritation, “turn around and look at me.”

Clementine followed his direction, turning to face him. Lee was standing near the light switch with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall. There was a strong look of dissatisfaction on his face.

“So, do you want to tell me where you went?” Lee asked, “Did you have fun?”

“How did you even know—“

“You share your phone location with me, Clementine. It wasn’t exactly difficult.”

Oh.

“You’re lucky I didn’t call the police to report you as missing. Only reason I didn’t was because I saw your bedroom window was cracked,” Lee continued.

“Why does it matter?” Clementine retorted, “I’m fine, aren’t I?”

“Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to go out alone like that?” Lee attempted to reason with her.

“First of all,” this made Lee raise a brow, which made Clementine hesitate slightly, “I wasn’t alone for that long. Second of all, that’s why I have my pocket knife on me.”

Lee didn’t have a defense for that, so he asked another question, “So who were you out with?”

“People from school,” Clementine shrugged.

“Just random people?”

“I mean, they’re like— my friends, I guess.”

“You guess,” Lee repeated her words in a flat tone, raising his brow once more.

“I don’t—“

“It doesn’t matter. You know you’re in trouble, right?”

“Obviously. Go ahead and take my phone, it doesn’t matter.”

“No, that doesn’t do anything. We both know that.”

“So…what are you gonna do then?”

“You’re going to therapy.”

There was a pregnant pause before Clementine spoke, “Excuse me?”

Lee sighed, “This isn’t out of nowhere. I’ve been thinking about putting you in it since…your attempt.”

Clementine flinched slightly.

“I found a therapist I think will be good for you, and if she’s not, then we’ll try another,” Lee said, “I’ll take you to as many different therapists as you need until you find one that fits.”

“I don’t need therapy,” Clementine scoffed, “I’m fine.”

“Tell that to the scars on your arms.”

Ouch. Those words cut her nearly as deep as the scars he was referring to. He was right though, wasn’t he? 

“I care about you, sweet pea. I want to believe you’re okay, but I know you’re not.”

Clementine didn’t want to hear this, “Can I go to my room now?”

“We’ll be talking more tomorrow,” Lee told her matter-of-factly, with no room for debate, “but yeah, go ahead.”

Clementine quickly turned around and dashed up the stairs towards her room. She was tired as hell, so she just wanted to sleep and forget that anything ever happened. She could deal with it all in the morning.

Chapter Text

Clementine made a break for it. 

Her heart felt like it was pounding out of her chest. She kept getting her hair in her mouth from it swinging around due to her running so fast; she couldn’t find it in herself to be annoyed about it. 

She could feel the blood running down from her neck to her chest. He never used a weapon before this. It was only ever his hands.

She wasn’t sure how, but she ended up on the Garcías’ doorstep. Likely because their address was the only one she had memorized.

As soon as the door opened, she heard a gasp.

Her consciousness went in and out — she remembered small details of that time. Kate cleaning up Clementine’s wound. The blood covering her hands from pressing into the wound while she was running away. Kate asking her what the hell happened in both an angry and concerned tone.

Clementine can’t remember exactly what she said, but it was probably along the lines of ‘Richard happened.’

That was the first time she admitted to someone that he was abusing her — even if she didn’t go into the full extent of the abuse.

Lee still wasn’t even aware of it. He knows Richard’s name, and he knows that he was fostering her for a while, but that was it.

She vaguely remembers Javi calling the police. She definitely remembers being relieved that AJ was at day care. Sometimes she wonders what would have happened if he hadn’t been there, because she knows she would never have taken the chance to escape if AJ had still been at the house with Richard.

She vaguely remembers Mari and Gabe peeking into the bathroom where Kate was fixing her wound; she vaguely remembers Javi ushering them away to give Clementine privacy. 

She vaguely remembers Kate bringing her to the police station for further questioning after Richard’s arrest. 

She remembers bursting into tears after a while, the shock and adrenaline fading away.

⋆˚꩜｡

“So, what brings you here today?”

Clementine looked up to the therapist — Jayme Navarro. She told Clementine to call her whatever she wanted: Jayme, Mrs. Navarro, it didn’t matter to her.

The room was fairly tiny, but not in a bad way. Actually, it was kind of cozy. Clementine was expecting the room to look and feel more like a hospital room, but Jayme had decorated it well. 

Clementine was sitting on the pastel yellow loveseat across from Jayme in her matching yellow chair. There were a few wall decorations, but not so many that it made her feel overwhelmed. Jayme hung her degrees on the wall, along with a few quotes that are meant to be inspirational — Clementine just finds those kinds of quotes cringy, but the thought is nice. 

“I’m sure you know.” Clementine answered Jayme’s question, “My dad is the one who put me in here, he told you why.”

“I want to hear it from you,” Jayme countered, twirling the pen she had in her hand. There was a clipboard lying on the armrest of her chair; Clementine could see a few notes already scribbled on it. 

Clementine sighed. Something about the situation kind of made her want to spill her guts. Maybe it was Jayme’s sweet and welcoming nature. Maybe it was the fact that Jayme was practically a complete stranger. 

Honestly, sometimes it’s easier to tell something you’ve been hiding from people you love to a stranger. They don’t know the whole situation, and they don’t know everyone’s perspective, so they’re almost guaranteed to take your side on it. …Not that that’s what Clementine was worried about.

Also, the stranger is usually less judgmental than someone you know. 

Still, Clementine had a few things she wanted to take to the grave.

She’ll try to stick to the things Jayme probably already knows. 

“I tried to kill myself, like,” Clementine started, “I don’t even know how long ago. Maybe two months?”

Clementine glanced at the clock Jayme hung on her office wall. 30 minutes left. She could power through this.

Jayme nodded, noting something on her clipboard.

“I assume you already knew that,” Clementine said sharply, “not sure what else you could note about it.”

Jayme looked up at her with a nice smile before turning back to her clipboard, adding a note.

Okay. Yeah. Maybe Clementine deserved that one. She’ll admit that much. 

“Is that why you think your dad put you in therapy?” Jayme asked her, crossing her legs.

“Is it not?” Clementine replied, raising a brow.

“So, that is what you think,” Jayme assumed.

“He literally told me he’s been thinking about it since my attempt,” Clementine told her with an annoyed tone. Why was this lady acting like she knew everything about Clementine already?

“From what I’ve been told, I hear you used to be in the foster system,” Jayme switched the subject, sensing Clementine’s hostility. 

“Why does that matter?” Clementine scoffed.

20 minutes left.

“I’ve had a lot of clients that were inside the foster system,” Jayme explained, “and a lot of them had trauma surrounding it, whether it be due to the system itself or a certain foster family they had.”

Clementine was not getting into this shit. Not today.

“Okay, well. I don’t,” Clementine told her bluntly, even if she knew it wasn’t true.

Judging from the look on Jayme’s face, she didn’t believe it either. She looked down once again at her clipboard and made a note.

Jesus Christ, she was totally doing this on purpose. 

The back of Clementine’s mind told her, ‘yeah that’s kind of her job!’ 

There was a reason it was the back of her mind. She didn’t want to hear that completely reasonable explanation. 

“When I mentioned foster families, you seemed especially tense,” Jayme informed her, looking back up.

Great.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Clementine told her. Maybe she could get out of this. At least for now.

Jayme seemed to realize she wouldn’t be able to get anything out of Clementine on that topic, so she moved on. Thank you, God.

“It’s noted in your file that you have a history of self-harm.” 

Nevermind, God. Fuck you.

Clementine gave Jayme a blank stare, unwilling to say anything.

Jayme continued, “I should’ve said this in the beginning, but anything you say in here is completely confidential. The only exception to that is if you are actively thinking of harming yourself or others.”

Well, now she definitely couldn’t say anything.

10 minutes left.

Jayme noticed her continued silence and jotted a note down, to which Clementine rolled her eyes. Jayme decided to switch topics once more, “Tell me about your time at school. You recently entered your junior year, correct?” 

That felt like an abrupt shift, but it was something Clementine was more willing to talk about.

“It’s been alright. It’s still school, so,” Clementine shrugged, proceeding to cross her arms, “I guess I made some friends, too.”

“That’s good. It’s important to have other people you can talk to,” Jayme smiled, “anyone you miss from your old town?”

“Yeah,” Clementine sighed, “a few friends. One of my old foster families, too.” 

“Yes, I get that,” Jayme assured her, “sometimes the change is nice, but it sucks to leave people behind.”

Clementine nodded, remaining silent. Jayme continued with a question, “You mentioned one of your old foster families. Would you mind talking more about them?”

Surprisingly, she actually didn’t mind.

“Sure, I mean. I don’t really know what to say about them,” Clementine struggled with her words, “The Garcías were my last foster family before Lee adopted me. They helped me with more than a few shitty situations.”

Jayme looked as if she wanted to ask for clarification on those ‘situations,’ but Clementine was actually talking about something, so Jayme decided to keep quiet.

“I was actually friends with their kids before they fostered me. They’re how I even met them. I went to their house a lot when I was being fostered by someone else.”

Jayme tilted her head, “Any reason you went to their house so often?”

Clementine wrung her hands together before a shrill alarm sounded from Jayme’s phone. Clementine breathed a sigh of relief, while Jayme breathed a sigh of disappointment. 

“I’ll walk you out, Clementine,” Jayme offered, standing up from her chair. 

⋆˚꩜｡

After four sessions with Jayme, Clementine began to carefully open up to her. She was hesitant to share the intricate details of her traumas, but she did address them, which was much more than she’s done in the past.

She had a session at 9 a.m. on Saturday every week. Unluckily for her, this session happened to fall on her birthday. Seriously, she couldn’t skip just this one?

On the other hand, Lee let her drive herself to the sessions now. So, that was one positive. After her first session, Lee was asking constant questions about what she and Jayme had talked about. Clementine answered none of them. 

The sessions were only 40 minutes. She could make it through this one, too. 

Jayme greeted her with a warm smile in the waiting room, inviting Clementine to follow her. 

It felt fairly routine at this point: they sat in their respective chairs, Jayme asked her questions while slightly prodding to get more information, and Clementine would quickly dodge those prods.

Jayme started the session with a question, “I know we’ve brought up a few of your foster families in the past, but I’d like to really focus on the foster family you were in before being fostered by the Garcías.”

Clementine tensed, knowing exactly who she was referring to. Her breathing quickened slightly, just enough for Jayme to notice. 

“I know it can be difficult to address this, but if you never talk about it, I can’t help you with it,” Jayme told her, leaning forward slightly in her chair. Clementine knew she was right, even if she would never admit that. 

“I mean, I don’t know what there is to say,” Clementine scoffed.

“You told me you often sought comfort in the Garcías when you were fostered by the family before them,” Jayme recalled.

“I said I went to their house a lot. That is not the same,” Clementine deadpanned.

“Why did you go to their house so often?” 

“Maybe because my friends lived there.” 

“Clementine, I’m here to help you. But again, I can’t do that if you lie to me,” Jayme repeated. 

She didn’t want to.

“You wanted this.”

She didn’t—

“Clementine?” Jayme caused Clementine to perk back up.

“Sorry,” Clementine apologized.

“It’s alright, Clementine. Take your time with this,” Jayme comforted.

She hated this. She hated that he still had so much control over her. It’s been years since she even saw his face — at least in person. There had been a few news stories about his arrest. Thankfully, none of them included Clementine’s name in them.

Clementine took a calming breath, “His name is Richard.”

Jayme nodded, signalling Clementine to continue. 

“He just—“ Clementine struggled to find her words, “He wasn’t a good man.”

Jayme nodded, showing she was listening, “And what makes you say that?”

“I don’t know how to explain it. He just wasn’t a good person,” Clementine insisted.

“Do you not know how to explain, or do you not want to?” Jayme pressed slightly, “It’s okay, Clementine. None of this is going to leave this room, I promise.”

Clementine hesitated slightly, “I’ve never talked about him with anyone, not really. Not even Lee.”

“I understand,” Jayme reassured, “but you need to talk about it with someone at the very least; it doesn’t even have to be me.”

“Can’t I just not talk about it?” Clementine groaned.

Jayme leveled her with a glare, “If you bottle it all up, then it’s all going to come out eventually.”

Clementine sighed. As always, Jayme was right. As always, Clementine hated it.

“He abused me,” Clementine finally admitted. She spent so many years skirting around talking about it, so it felt weird to say it out loud. To another person, at that. Of course, Javi and Kate knew — Mari and Gabe probably knew as well — but they knew it was a sensitive topic, therefore they never truly addressed it. 

“This is a good first step,” Jayme praised, “now we can start digging deeper into it.”

Damn, Clementine kinda forgot about that part. 

“Awesome,” Clementine responded sarcastically.

Jayme hummed in amusement, “I know, it sucks.”

“So, how am I supposed to ‘dig deeper into this’ now?” Clementine asked.

“Well, there’s different ways we could go about it,” Jayme told her, “we could simply talk about how he’s affected you, or you could tell me about some memories you have of him. It’s all up to you.”

“I don’t have the best memories of him,” Clementine told her.

“Of course, but that’s why it’s important to go through them. So you can find ways to cope with them,” Jayme reasoned.

Well, she already had a way to cope — even if it wasn’t the healthiest. At least she wasn’t doing drugs, or…whatever.

“Can you recall when he decided to foster you?” Jayme prompted, seeing that Clementine was lost on where to start.

“Yeah, I mean. I didn’t see anything wrong with him at the start. He just seemed like…some normal guy,” Clementine responded.

“Many abusers put on a nice front to get you to trust them,” Jayme informed her, “Do you remember when the abuse started?”

“Maybe a few months after he started fostering me,” Clementine said, “I remember why he did it.”

“Would you mind telling me?” Jayme asked softly.

“I just…dropped some stupid mug. It didn’t seem like a big deal, but he got so pissed off. I told him I was sorry, but he just wouldn’t accept it. He…“

grabbed her by the throat, causing Clementine to stumble backwards while dragging him along. 

Her mouth and throat suddenly felt dry. The one time she forgets to bring water to a session. 

“He choked me out,” Clementine swallowed, attempting to soothe her throat. 

Jayme nodded solemnly. Clementine continued before she could say anything, laughing slightly as she said “He had a thing for my throat, I guess.”

Ha, Jayme didn’t get the full extent of that joke. 

Clementine shivered. Jesus, why did she remind herself of that? She’s kind of an idiot. 

Her breathing began to increase its frequency. 

His hands were on her. She hated it. She didn’t have the words to describe how much she hated it — how much she hated him.

His hands felt like acid burning into her, leaving permanent marks. Except they never healed. They could never heal. No matter how much therapy she went through — how much she opened up to people — she would always have his marks on her. 

She remembers how she begged him to stop. How she tried to fight back, even though she knew she wouldn’t win. He was a grown man, and she was a twelve-year-old girl. The ending of that wrote itself.

One time, she heard AJ cry in the other room. She desperately wanted to go to him — to comfort him. She couldn’t. Tears began to roll down her face as a result. 

She just wanted a family. She wanted her parents back. She wanted Lee to hold her comfortingly. She wanted to be normal. 

She remembers the way he would say her name, as if he were disgusted by the taste of it in his mouth. 

“Clementine.”

“Clementine.”

“Clementine.”

She got sucked back into reality by Jayme’s call of her name. Her cheeks felt wet, was she crying? Her palms were sweating, and she could feel her heart pounding.

“Hey, breathe with me, okay?” Jayme guided her, taking deep breaths for Clementine to construct hers after. 

Eventually, Clementine’s breathing returned to normal — as normal as it could be, at least. The sound of Jayme’s end-of-session alarm rang out into the air. Jayme quickly pressed a button to shut it off.

“Have you had panic attacks in the past?” Jayme asked.

“That was a panic attack?” Clementine’s breathing was still heavy. 

Jayme nodded, “Do you feel alright? I still have twenty minutes before my next client.”

“I’m good, I just— I don’t know,” Clementine stuttered, “I just want to go home.”

“Alright, I’ll walk you out.”

⋆˚꩜｡

As soon as Clementine made it home, she locked herself in her room to attempt to calm down. 

She was able to control her breathing enough to drive home, but now that she was back, all the overwhelming thoughts flooded back in. 

It felt like his hands were still on her, no matter the distance between them now. She couldn’t handle it. She needed it to stop.

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. 

Stop. Stop. Stop. He didn’t listen. Stop. Stop. Stop. 

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. 

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. 

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. 

He never listened. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. 

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. You wanted this.

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. 

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. 

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. 

It was her fault. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. 

Her begging went unnoticed by him. It always did.

He always told her that she had it coming. She started to believe it.

She needed to pull herself out of her own mind. There was only one way she knew how to do that.

⋆˚꩜｡

When she exited her room — after cleaning the blood and bandaging herself up — she met Lee in the living room. 

“Hey, sweet pea,” Lee greeted happily, “didn’t get to see you before you left earlier.”

Lee engulfed her in a hug, which Clementine returned — no matter how much it made the fresh scars on her arm burn.

“Happy 17th, Clem.”

“Thanks, Lee,” Clementine responded seriously before continuing with a joke, “So, where are my presents at?”

“Be patient,” Lee rolled his eyes, “AJ isn’t even awake yet.”

“How come he gets to sleep in so much?” Clementine complained, “You always wake me up if I sleep in this late.”

“He’s six years old, Clementine,” Lee told her.

“And? His homework is basic addition, Lee. Not like he has much to stress about,” Clementine retorted, “My homework feels like deciphering hieroglyphics.”

“I think that’s a little dramatic,” Lee chuckled.

Eventually, AJ woke up, practically knocking Clementine to the ground when he saw her and wishing her a happy birthday. 

They spent most of the day watching some of Clementine’s favorite movies. Occasionally, she would receive a message from someone wishing her a happy birthday.

It sucked. She missed her friends. Her last birthday was so amazing; she was able to spend the entire day with them just doing stupid shit. 

Regardless, she was still spending the day with the two people she loved the most. 

After her birthday dinner, Lee and AJ gave her their gifts. This was always AJ’s favorite part — he was the type of person who loved giving people gifts more than receiving them.

She opened AJ’s gift first to keep him from exploding with eagerness — seriously, he was shaking like their damn decade-old washing machine. Honestly, Lee really needed to buy a new one.

Upon unwrapping AJ’s gift, she was greeted with the back of a picture frame. When she flipped it over, she saw a family portrait he had drawn of all of them. It reminded her of the one he drew on the wall at their old home, except it looked like AJ actually improved a little with his skills — and he didn’t get in trouble for this one. On the beige, wooden frame around it, he had put a few little doodles to make it more colorful. 

“Do you like it? Do you like it?” AJ eagerly, yet nervously, asked.

“I love anything you make, AJ,” she assured him, “thank you.” 

She moved on to Lee’s gifts, one of which was considerably bigger in size. Peeling back the wrapping paper of the bigger one, she saw the box of the CD player she had begged him for. Her old one was starting to get finicky and was causing the music to skip.

The smaller gifts consisted of a few CDs that she had been wanting to get her hands on. 

“Thank you, Lee,” Clementine said gratefully.

“Mhm,” Lee hummed. 

They said their goodnights soon after, heading off to their respective rooms. Clementine really just wanted to go to sleep, but of course, she found it difficult. She always had difficulty sleeping after thinking or talking about her trauma. 

She decided to distract herself with her phone for the next couple of hours, knowing she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep. After she got bored with that, she went to set up her new CD player. She put a disc in — Lungs, Florence + The Machine; one of her favorite albums since she was a child — and turned it to a low volume so as not to disturb Lee and AJ.

A few minutes after pressing play on the CD player, she heard her phone ding with a notification.

Louis

so im outside ur window rn

Clementine

definitely a message you like

to see at 10 o’clock at night.

Louis

please let me in its cold

Clementine scoffed in disbelief, but ultimately walked over to her window — making a quick detour to put on a jacket and cover her scars — and opened the curtain. Yup, he was there. And he was holding a big paper bag in his hand…for some reason.

She carefully opened the window, immediately telling Louis, “You need to be quiet. I still don’t think Lee is over me sneaking out just yet.”

Louis gave her a mock salute, handing her the bag before maneuvering inside, careful not to knock anything over.

“So, what’s with the bag?” Clementine asked, gesturing with it.

“I don’t use plastic bags,” Louis scoffed, “Save the environment, or whatever. Also, paper bags are more sturdy.”

“I mean what’s in it, dumbass,” Clementine glared at him.

“Oh, right,” Louis grinned like an idiot — which, well, he was, “a little birdie told me it was your birthday!”

Clementine raised a brow.

“I might’ve stalked your Instagram,” Louis admitted, sighing while doing so.

“Right, that still doesn’t really tell me what’s in the bag,” Clementine repeated with a slightly annoyed tone.

Louis gestured to the bag, “Well, I don’t really know what you’re into, so I kinda just settled on candy. And then I realized I also don’t know what kind of candy you like, so I just got a few different ones.”

“How much is ‘a few’ to you? This bag feels like it’s ten pounds,” Clementine said in disbelief, setting the bag on her desk to look through it, “Seriously, you didn’t need to do this.”

“I wanted to,” Louis shrugged as if he simply lent her a pencil in class.

“Thanks,” Clementine whispered. She wasn’t sure how to feel. She felt guilty that he spent so much money on her — seriously, candy was expensive as hell now — but she also felt…appreciated? Acknowledged? Loved? She decided to ignore that thought and change the topic, “How did you get up to my window, anyway?” 

“Oh, y’know,” Louis stalled, putting his hands on his hips, “I might’ve fallen on my ass a few times when trying to jump up and grab on.”

“I feel like I would’ve heard that,” Clementine doubted.

“I move in silence. Like a ninja, y’know?” He struck a ninja-like pose.

“A ninja that falls on his ass, apparently,” Clementine teased, giggling while doing so.

“I’m usually more smooth than that, okay,” Louis defended himself, dropping the pose.

There was silence for a moment, neither of them sure how to continue the conversation.

“Well, I did what I came here to do, so…” Louis trailed off, looking awkwardly around the room and avoiding her gaze.

“Stay,” Clementine told him, “at least for a little bit, y’know.”

“You really want me to?” Louis asked with an insecure tone.

“Yeah,” Clementine assured him, “I don’t think I’d be able to fall asleep anyway.”

Louis grinned, happy to stay. He noticed the music playing from the CD player, “Oh, I love Florence!”

“Yeah? I have a few more of her albums,” Clementine moved to her CD holder, searching for more albums.

“Geez, how many CDs do you have?” Louis looked in amazement, “Even I don’t have that many.”

Clementine shrugged, “I like music.”

“A lot of my CDs are just piano music ‘cause, well, I play piano,” Louis sighed, “I should really branch out more.”

“You play piano?” Clementine asked, looking back at him.

“Yup,” Louis affirmed, “I wouldn’t say I’m the best of all time…but I’m pretty good. Even if my friends say otherwise.”

“You should show me sometime,” Clementine offered, “and I’m sure the others are just teasing you.”

“Well, maybe they should stop teasing me.”

“But it’s so fun! You’re like the best person to tease about stuff.” 

Louis looked offended at that, Clementine laughed, “You’re proving my point here.”

“Whatever,” Louis groaned, he searched through the bag he brought and pulled out a bag of M&M’s.

“Didn’t you get that for me?” Clementine pointed out, “Why are you eating it?”

“Uh, I’m the one that bought it, duh,” Louis scoffed, “that gives me automatic rights to steal some.” 

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Clementine countered, walking back over to her bed and lying down. 

“It is now,” Louis carried the bag over to her bed and laid down next to her, “So…what do you usually do for fun?”

“Asking the real hard-hitting questions now, huh?” Clementine laughed, “I don’t know. I write sometimes; I have a ton of notebooks filled.”

“Can I see?”

“Hell no. Some of that shit is embarrassing.”

Not to mention, depressing. She remembers the pages she filled when Richard was still fostering her — even she didn’t want to read those.

Louis looked disappointed, “Hey, I’ve written some horrible compositions before. It’s all a part of the process.”

Clementine lessened her guard, succumbing to his disappointment, “Maybe one day. I don’t even know where the notebooks are right now. Probably buried deep in my closet. Your turn now.”

“Oh, well, you already know I play piano,” Louis pondered for options, “uhm, I don’t know, really. Either I’m playing piano, or I’m annoying my friends.”

“Seriously? You were right, you really do have to branch out more,” Clementine had an idea, “How about you try writing something?”

“Are you serious?” Louis looked at her ridiculously.

“Yeah! Come on,” Clementine insisted, “I promise I won’t judge. You can listen to me play the piano horribly sometime as a prize.”

Louis seemed to be convinced, “Fine. I can’t wait to hear how bad you are.”

Clementine opened her bedside drawer, finding an empty notebook for him to write in, and tossed it to him. She grabbed a pen for him to write with as well, tossing it and nearly hitting his face.

He opened the notebook to the first page and clicked the pen, staring blankly at it, “Okay so…what do I write about?”

“Anything. Just start writing,” Clementine answered, shrugging.

“I think you overestimate the amount of thoughts I have in my head because it’s not a lot,” Louis told her.

“Seriously, just write about whatever. The words will come to you. I’ll put on a timer for ten minutes, okay?” Clementine repeated her instructions and started the timer on her phone.

She ended up being correct (because of course she was). She saw Louis start writing, pausing a few times throughout the ten minutes to think before immediately pressing the pen onto the paper once more. He glanced in her direction a few times while doing so, but she didn’t dwell on that. 

Just before the timer ended, Clementine stopped it so as to not make any noise, “Time’s up, Piano Boy.”

“That’s the best nickname you could come up with?” Louis asked rhetorically.

“Would you prefer Be-Lou-ga?”

“I think that’s worse.”

“Whatever, let me see what you wrote!” Clementine reached her hand out to grab the notebook. Louis quickly grabbed it and held it to his chest.

“The hell? Let me read it!” Clementine insisted.

“Uh, you never said I had to show you it,” Louis retorted.

“I feel like that was kind of implied,” Clementine scoffed, “Come on! I promised that I wouldn’t judge.”

“Only if I get to read some of your writing,” Louis offered as a compromise.

“Goddamn you,” Clementine rolled her eyes.

“That’s what I thought,” Louis looked proud of himself. He looked back at the notebook, “Can I keep this?”

“I mean, yeah, I guess,” Clementine agreed, “not like I don’t already have enough notebooks.”

“Thanks,” Louis said genuinely.

“No problem,” Clementine shrugged.

He groaned quietly and stood up, still gripping the notebook, “I should probably get home now.”

“Yeah, you probably should.”

They stared at each other awkwardly, neither of them saying anything.

“So…” Louis started, “bye?”

“Bye, and thanks again. It was nice to spend my birthday with a friend again,” Clementine told him.

“Oh, I’ve been upgraded to friend status now?” 

“And I’ll take it back so fast.”

Louis lifted his hands in surrender, turning around to climb out the window. He gave her one more glance before disappearing behind the curtain.

She stared at where he had previously laid on her bed. 

Jesus, she just had a boy in her room.

Scratch that. She just had a boy. In. Her. Bed.

Lee would totally kill her if he found out — hell, he’d probably kill Louis, too.

That’s what made it a little thrilling, though. It made her heart race a little: the rebellion. 

Her phone pinged with a notification again.

Louis

btw i forgot to say were having a

party on halloween at my house. 

i wanna see u there! 

Oh boy. There was no way she was sneaking out again, so her only option was to ask Lee. Well, she could not go, but what’s the fun in that?

Also, she just wanted to be around Louis again. He honestly wasn’t that bad of a guy once you got to know him. Slightly annoying? Sure, but in a charming way. A little stupid? Not all the time, but…still a little. Actually kind of handsome? She’s not answering that one.