The Long Road Ahead (Violentine high school AU)

Chapter 3

"Okay, class, I hope you had a good first class of your first day back-" The bell rang, cutting the teacher off and causing basically every student to jump out of they're chair and grab their things, not listening to anything the teacher had to say as they got up and walked out.

Clementine was the first one out of the room, practically sprinting out and into the hallway that was once again filling up with students. "Hey, Clementine!" She heard a voice call from behind her.

She turned and saw Louis running after her, waving his hands frantically in the air to get her attention. She rolled her eyes and kept walking. 

"Clementine!" He called out again, but she kept walking.

Eventually, though he caught up to her, matching her pace as he held his books to his chest. "What the fuck do you want?" She grumbled. She just wanted to be left alone, she couldn't deal with this shit today.

"What, I can't walk with my new bestie?" He asked with a smile.

"First of all, we aren't 'besties' second of all, you don't even know me so please, go away." She said, glaring at him as she pointed behind her.

"Then why not get to know you?" He asked her curiously.

"Trust me, you don't want to." After she said that she practically started sprinting down the hallway, dodging and ducking around other students. Sure it was a little, alright it was really dramatic for her to run away the way she did but she didn't want to talk to anyone, not after what happened this morning with Carver.

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Clementine stopped in front of a water fountain, bending over and drinking a little of it. Normally she wouldn't go near one, she always said she'd rather not contract some kind of disease but at the moment she was desperate.  

She stood back up, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and taking a deep breath to calm herself. She felt stupid for running, she felt like she just shouldn't have, what's that worst that could have happened if she had stayed? 

She always feels so isolated, so alone and yet when someone tries to talk to her she doesn't let them, she pushes them away or makes excuse. 'No wonder why I'm so lonely...' She thought to herself.

The bell rang again and she realized she was late for her second class. She groaned in annoyance and started running down the halls to get to the gym. When she finally got there it was empty, and she once again groaned in annoyance. "Maybe they're outside?" She thought out loud as she made her way to the exit to the field.

She walked out and sure enough, she found her coach and class. Some people were running laps or throwing javelins and shop-puts.

Her coach looked in her direction and she motioned her over. "Clementine!" She shouted over to her. She had a somewhat angry tone but also a relieved and happy one.

Clementine rolled her eyes slightly and jogged her way over. "Coach, Jane." She greeted once she was in earshot.

"Where have you been? Class started five minutes ago." She looked expectantly at her, arms crossed and a stern look on her face.

"I... you know what, I have no excuse. I am so very sorry coach Jane for my absence at the beginning of the period. It won't happen again." She said this rather sarcastically and Jane rolled her eyes at her. Clementine smirked.

Jane sighed and smirked back at her. "If you were smoking weed again you know I wouldn't tell anyone, right?"

Clementine laughed. "Oh, I know," She replied before turning and walking to the change rooms. About five minutes later she came out, she was in gym shorts and a T-shirt with the letters 'Ericson' written on the front.

Coach Jane walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's good to see you again, Clem." She told her before walking off and watching her students.

Clementine smiled to herself and walked over to the track and started jogging. She always loved running, it helped her blow off steam. When Carver got on her nerves she'd run, when school was getting too much she'd run, when she felt nothing but numbness she ran, it was one of the only things she could do to help herself. She could only go out when Carver was passed out though, she tried to leave the house once and that ended up with a handprint on her cheek.

Then there was Jane, she was like an older sister to Clementine, a strict, very adult sister who was also her teacher. She talked to her often and she was the only one that knew about Clementine's home life and how awful it was, she helped her the best she could but that wasn't much. 

Clementine jogged around the track once and gradually picked up speed, eventually, she was running as fast as she could, lapping all the other kids that were on the track. It's not like she was trying to show off, she just needed to release some stress, especially after this morning.

"Hey, show off, why don't you slow down!" She heard someone call from the sidelines of the track. She started to slow down and then came to a full stop, turning around once she did. 

Standing on the sidelines of the track was a skinny girl with blonde hair and deep green eyes, they reminded her of an ocean for some reason. The girl didn't look too happy, a frown on her face as she stalked over to Clementine. "What the fuck is your problem?!" The girl fumed, it looked as if she would punch Clementine any second.

"I- what are you talking about?" Clementine asked in pure confusion. She couldn't figure out for the life of her what she had done to make the blonde so mad.

"I was timing my friend for fifteen hundred and you fucked her up!" She stated angrily, taking a step forward. 

"Vi!" Someone shouted to her, a red-headed girl came running over with a nervous expression. "It's alright, Vi. I can just start ove-" "No." The blonde, "Vi", cut her off.

"You aren't starting over." She stated to her friend.

"I kind of have too, Vi." The Redhead said, "It's alright, it isn't that big of a deal." She assured.

"I-I'm sorry, I got a little caught up in the moment." Clementine apologized, rubbing the back of her neck and looking down.

The redhead laughed and shook her head. "It's alright, really, not a problem." She assured. She stuck her hand out for Clementine to shake. "I'm Brody, this here is Violet." She introduced.

Clementine shook her hand rather hesitantly. "Clementine. It's nice to meet you." 

"Like-wise," Brody said. She nudged Violet with her elbow, making her jump a little.

Violet sighed once seeing the look on her friend's face. "I'm sorry I freaked out on you. We've been trying to do this for days and keep getting interrupted." She apologized, she then smiled a little. "It's nice to meet you, too Clementine." 

Clementine smiled back at the both of them, and for once she didn't want to run away. 'Maybe this year will be my turning point.' Clementine thought as they began making they're way over to where Jane had called all of them.

A/N: I'm actually pretty proud of this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Anyways, Violet has finally made an appearance! Along with our dear Brody. Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments. What do you think so far?

-Mairyn