spring || a violentine story

3 ༣ the new girl

Violet blinked as the gorgeous girl introduced herself. In a manner usually unknown to Violet, she gave the girl — Clementine — a smile. "U-Uh, yeah, um," she struggled to form a valid sentence, gripping the side of her desk to compose herself. "I'm Violet." She managed, still keeping her gaze locked with the darker girl.

Clementine nodded, opening her mouth to say something else before the substitute teacher from outside strolled into the classroom. The man went right to the whiteboard at the front of the class, turning to face the students before pointedly looking to some writing on the board. Mr. Everett, the board read.

"Good morning class." The man said. He clapped his hands together, doing a quick rubbing motion before continuing. "I'm your substitute teacher, Mr. Lee Everett. Though, I should warn that Mrs. Leolki will be out for an extended period of time. Possibly the rest of the school year. I am being put under consideration by administration as your possible new teacher." He offered a benevolent smile towards the class, regarding them lightly.

"Ugh, he's so cheesy." Clementine murmured, though had a contradicting grin upon her lips. Violet looked towards her still. "Do you know him?" The blonde asked. Clementine didn't turn to face Violet as she answered. "Yup. Unfortunately for me, he's my dad." She hummed matter-of-factly, opening a lime green 1-subject notebook.

"Your dad?" Violet asked curiously. "That's right. We just moved here from Georgia." The girl explained idly, using her hand to write something down slowly on the first page of her notebook. Starting with only a week left in the first semester, Violet thought, I suppose she got to skip the midterms. The blonde could only fantasize not having to bother with midterms.

"Hey, do you have a black pen I can borrow for a sec?" Clementine asked, turning to peer at Violet. A sudden clearing of a throat interrupted the two girls. They both turned to look at the source, met with the questionable gaze of Mr. Everett.

"Now, girls," Mr. Everett seemed to be eyeing Clementine in amusement, "I understand that I may be the new guy around here, but take it easy on me sweetpea, alright?" The last bit of the sentence seemed to be more aimed at Clementine, judging by his playful gaze towards the girl. Clementine's face flushed in embarrassment. "Damn you, Lee." She muttered under her breath.

Violet didn't know how to react, feeling herself redden as she realized some students had turned around to look at the two. The blonde snorted, shaking her head to herself and leaning back on her chair. "Yeah, I do." The blonde answered, reaching forward and plucking a ballpoint pen from her own desk. She handed it over to Clementine without looking. "Just give it back at the end of class." She requested quietly. She didn't want to draw Mr. Everett's attention to them again.

"Hm, alright." Clementine obliged. Violet heard a soft click as the girl next to her started to write silently in her notebook. Violet glanced back towards the front of the class, focusing on Mr. Everett. The man had picked up a stack of papers from a small table. "Today's assignment — a small packet on the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln." He announced, which earned a few murmurs of protest from the class.

"Oh, don't get so excited all at once!" Mr. Everett exclaimed, starting to individually pass out packets as he walked throughout the classroom. "I'm sure you'll find this busywork to be exceptionally better than a last-minute project. I know I would." He said with a dramatic roll of his eyes. Violet didn't respond, instead giving the substitute an intrigued look before looking back down to her desk.

Clementine, huh? The blonde thought to herself quietly. That's certainly a... unique kind of name, I guess. Not my first choice for a kid. Wonder what the story behind that is. She pondered. She was drawn out of her thoughts as a packet was dropped onto her desk. She looked up briefly to Mr. Everett, who was looking instead at his daughter.

"Now, you may have gotten lucky to miss midterms, sweetpea, but don't expect me to go easy on you in class." Mr. Everett pointedly looked down at Clementine, who responded with a dismissive mumble. "Alright, alright," she hissed through gritted teeth, a hand brought up to shield her face from some classmates glancing her way, "I get it, Dad!" the man chuckled at this, turning and walking back towards what was now his desk.

Again with that nickname. Sweetpea? That's horrible. I couldn't imagine being called something as vomit-inducing as that. Violet thought distastefully, looking down to her packet. A gritty black and white portrait photo of the late Abraham Lincoln was displayed on the front page. The quality of the picture was horribly blurred and pixelated, but Violet could only expect so much.

She lazily scribbled her name on the top of the page, following it with the date and class period. She flipped the page. She had just finished skimming the first two paragraphs of the packet when she felt something light hit her shoulder. From the corner of her eye, she saw something silver drop onto the floor next to her. Violet spared a quick look at what had been tossed to her. It was a piece of gum, still in its wrapper.

She brought her gaze up to meet the glittering eyes of Clementine again. She had a sly grin playing on her lips, giving Violet a knowing look as she gestured with her pencil to the gum on the floor. "Take it." Clementine whispered, of which was barely audible. "It's Polar Ice flavored." She added on quietly, waving a small pack of gum she had in her hand before tucking it back into her backpack's side pocket.

Violet blinked once before nodding to Clementine. "Thanks..." Violet murmured. She reached down, picked up the gum, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth.