Chapter Text
God, Clementine was so not ready for this.
She's sitting in her father’s minivan with her little brother in the backseat, struggling to stay calm as she looked out at the very, very unfamiliar campus. How did she get here, again? It seemed like only yesterday the court was finally finalizing divorce papers.
“Sweetpea?” Lee’s voice jarred her back into reality. Her surrogate father reached a hand out and brushed her curly dark hair away from her face, smiling kindly in the way only Lee could. “You ready for this?”
“Sure,” Clementine replies, trying not to betray how unprepared she really is. Moving away from Georgia had taken a bigger toll on her than she had let on. She takes a deep breath, partially to convince her family that she was going to be okay, partially to reassure herself. “I can do this,” she says, and tries to believe it. She can do this. She's no coward.
“That’s the spirit, Clem!” Lee says, ruffling her hair.
“Good luck, Clem!” AJ pipes up from the back, strapped in with his neon orange backpack at his feet. Like her, he would be starting out in a new school this morning. She worried about him constantly. Being the new kid was going to be hard enough for her, imagining how AJ was going to survive was torturous.
“Good luck in the first grade, goofball!” She glanced over her shoulder at him, reveling in the fact that yes, she really did have the best family. She opens the door, putting firm feet onto warm pavement. “Love you both, okay? Stay safe.”
“Tacos tonight!” Lee reminds her. She nods, about to close the door, but he holds a hand out, causing her to pause. “Clem, honey...try to make some new friends, alright?”
“Uh, yeah! Yeah, Lee, I’ll try.” Clementine replies with a nod, closing the door. She watches as they drive away and only turns away when she can't see them anymore. New friends, yeah. Right. This school was tiny compared to the one she was from. Everyone already knew each other!
Christ. This year was off to a great start with thoughts like these. Shaking her head, she pulls the schedule from her pack and holds it out in front of her, squinting down at the tiny lettering. Anatomy. She could do this.
--
“Hey! Clementine, right?”
The voice makes her freeze. No one had really talked to her besides the teacher - and honestly? She wasn’t actually expecting anyone to talk to her. Clementine turned towards the voice, nodding slightly. "Yep, that’s me.”
Nailed it.
“That’s such a pretty name! I’m Brody!” said voice smiled. It belonged to a white girl, taller. Auburn haired. “New girl, right? I pride myself on knowing everyone in our graduating class, but I’ve never seen you before.”
“Yeah,” Clementine shrugs a little, leaning back into her seat and offering a hesitant smile in return. “Probably because I moved here last week.”
“Glad you came here. Delta sucks ass.” Brody sits down across from her, setting her hydroflask down gingerly on the table. She looks athletic. Popular.
“Delta as in…?"
“Our rival school. Believe me, once you’re around here long enough, you’ll get what I’m talking about.”
“Duly noted.” Clementine nods, studying Brody closer. She had piercing, serious eyes, but seemed friendly enough. Clementine relaxes a little bit. The good sort.
“Not to be weird or anything, but do you have anywhere to sit during lunch? Y'know, since you're new and all?” Brody asks some twenty minutes later. The teacher had just finished his presentation on the regular first-day kinds of things, rules and expectations. The conversation between her and Brody had lulled comfortably, and Clementine had gone back to doodling into her sketchpad. Currently she was drawing her old friends Duck and Sarah; her oldest friends who had quite literally grown up with her.
“The bathroom stall sounds good,” Clementine says sarcastically, sketching the bright smile Duck usually trained on her.
Brody giggles, light and airy. It contrasts against her sort of serious stance and quiet voice. “No, I'm serious! You can come sit with me and my friends.”
Clementine gaped, blinking up at Brody in surprise. "You're not kidding?"
“‘Course I'm not!” Brody retorts, looking offended. “Wait over by the flagpole, 'kay? I’ll come find you.”
Clementine forced herself not to smile too big as the bell rang and she walked to her next class. She couldn’t fathom what is was about herself that caught Brody’s attention, but…
Okay, maybe this school wasn't that bad.
--
“If you didn’t finish the worksheet, it’s homework!” Clementine heard her English teacher shout over the deafening cacophony of kids packing up. Slipping her finished paper into the turn-in tray, she shouldered her backpack and left her classroom. All of her classes were relatively easy so far, with her hardest class being (unsurprisingly) math. Calc was going to suck. Big time.
Her curly hair pinched precariously in her pigtails, so she hesitantly takes them down. Letting her hair brush against the nape of her neck, she adjusts her backpack and heads towards the flagpole out in the middle of the courtyard, shivering slightly in the breeze. Ericson’s was really easy to maneuver, maybe because it was so small.
“Hey, Clem!” Brody stood with her back against the flagpole, sporting an inviting smile. Clementine could've sighed in relief. Brody was actually waiting for her. “You ready for lunch?”
“Depends,” Clementine shrugs, joining her. “You guys have good lunch, yeah?”
“Nah, but Omar does! Come on, you're gonna love these idiots,” Brody beckons, heading towards another building. Clementine follows in anticipation, hoping that this Omar wouldn’t mind sparing, like, a granola bar or something.
“This is our auditorium, but we use it as a lunchroom, too. Course, you could sit outside if you wanted too, but it’s super hot outside most of the year, so we sit in here until November…” Brody rambles, glancing over to make sure the quieter girl was still listening. “Sorry. I talk a lot.”
“Don’t apologize, it’s fine. I talk a lot too.” Clementine opens the door for her, and they head inside.
“Never would’ve guessed,” Brody says playfully. Clementine places her hand over her heart, wounded.
“You guys! It's Brody!"
“Marlon?” Brody grabs Clementine’s hand and tugs her to the craziest and most diverse group of kids she'd ever seen, yet they looked like they made it work and were all very tightly knit. The kid who spoke originally, a blonde guy with an awful haircut, stands up and motions for a hug. Brody thankfully lets go of Clementine's hand and steps forward, hugging the taller boy with such ferocity she knew they had to be dating.
“Hey, Brody!” Another guy waves, dreadlocks flying loosely around his face as he beams up at her. “Vi with you?”
“Nah, she has A lunch,” Brody explains with a shrug. “So does Mitch, Sophie, and James. And Minnie.”
“Damn. I needed to yell at her for stealing my pencil.” his gaze slides from Brody to Clementine. “Who’s this?”
“This, my lovely friends, is Clementine!” Brody reveals with a toothy laugh. “She moved from Georgia. New kid.”
“Hi, Clementine! Name’s Louis,” Standing, dreadlocks gives her a smirk, kissing her hand instead of shaking it like a normal person. Clementine felt a variety of emotions pass through her in an instant, but she grins nevertheless. She’s gonna like these kids.
“That’s Marlon,” Louis points to the blonde kid from before, who raises a hand in greeting. “That’s Ruby and Aasim, they’re our friend group couple,” he continues, and the two in question roll their eyes. They sit next to eachother, Ruby a stout, motherly-looking teen with a sassy expression adorning her features - and her boyfriend, Aasim. Indian-American, Clem's guessing, with pinched eyebrows as he glares upwards at Louis. Who pays no mind, of course, introducing the last person sitting at the table. “And this is Omar, an absolute legend.”
“Hi, Clem,” Ruby’s voice is oddly Southern, but it suits her. Omar - a boy with the curliest hair she's ever seen (besides AJ, of course), and Aasim offer smiles and scoot over so she can sit down. Clementine takes a seat next to Ruby and across from Louis. Brody chooses the seat next to Marlon, leaning against him with a content beam.
“Oh, no,” Louis raises his eyebrows as he glances down the table at them. “Ruby and Aasim are getting replaced already? On the first day of school, too?”
“Oh my god, Louis, can you shut the fuck up,” Aasim groans, but his own eyes betray him as he peeks over Ruby to smirk at Marlon. “Brody, huh?”
“Hey, it’s not like the signs weren’t there,” Marlon shrugs. “You guys just never check Instagram.”
“Oh, that’s true,” Omar chuckles. “I don’t even think Aasim has Instagram. Apple, Clementine?” he asks Clementine, and she takes it gratefully with a nod of thanks, biting into it.
“I have Instagram, thank you very much.” Aasim retorts, now adamently picking at his nails. “I’m just not a phone addict like you, Marlon.”
“Anyway, moving on from my love life, we still doing the meet up at Barrow's?” Brody questions, a red tint to her cheeks. Clementine freezes, her grip on the apple becoming a bit tighter. She's seen enough teen dramas to know what came next - she'd probably be left out of this. She didn't know these people, why would they just accept her into their group? This was a bad idea, why the hell did she follow Brody over here -
“Of course we are! Same place, same time. We do this every year, why would tonight be any different? Oh, yeah, someone should add Clem to the groupchat before I forget.” Ruby responds promptly.
“I’ll do it,” Louis pulls his phone out. “Clem, you have Instagram, don’t you?”
“‘Course I do,” Relief must have palpated off her in waves. “What kind of millennial do you think I am?”
“Forgive me, thought you were another Aasim,” Louis protests, holding his hands up in defense. Aasim firmly puts his head against the table and mutters curses that Lee would have killed her for using.
Lee. Clementine almost forgot. Digging her phone out of her backpack, she finds Lee’s icon and presses ‘call’. “If I'm gonna come, do you mind if I call my Dad?”
“Go ahead,” Brody reassures.
She takes a few paces away from them, stopping only when she was out of earshot. The crowded lunchroom shenanigans draw her attention, and she almost misses the call connecting. “Lee?”
His voice is soft as he answers. He probably just got up from a nap. He didn't start work until Thursday. “Hey, Sweetpea, what’s up?”
“Made some friends. They want to go to that pizza place tonight, you know the one we passed on the way in? Arrow and Greenfield?” She steps out of the way as a gaggle of what must have been freshman walk by.
“Jesus, Clem, that was fast,” is Lee’s response. “Guess you really took my words to heart, huh?” He laughs. "Sure, honey. Have fun."
“Oh please, I’m sure AJ has, like, fifty friends already." Clementine snickers. Sobering up, she adds, "I’m sorry I’m missing taco night, Lee.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Clementine could hear his smile through the phone. “Go enjoy yourself, but be back before eleven. It is a school night.”
“Of course! Thanks, Lee.” she replied, feeling another bout of affection for her father figure. He did absolutely everything for her and AJ, it was crazy. “Tell AJ I love him?"
“Always,” Lee laughs. “Love you, Clem.”
“Love you back,” she says fondly, then hangs up, walking back to rejoin her table group and the new people she could hopefully call friends. “I can come!”
They cheer like morons, getting looks from people at other tables. Clementine can't be annoyed. She feels good, better than she’s felt in months.
She could get used to this.