Chapter Text
The usually busy hallways of Ericson were empty, save for a few stragglers that were slow at their lockers. A few conversations could be heard while friends waited for others to stop yapping to the teachers or collect their lunches from their lockers. The vacant hallways summoned the janitors to take to the floor, clearing it of any balled-up wads of paper and discarded rubbish that never made it to the trash can.
Louis leaned on the locker with his elbow as he stared across the hall, eyes locked with a mysterious beauty. Pools of gold happened to glance his way, making him turn into a blushing mess, though she wouldn't notice. The owner of the golden eyes didn’t look for long, too busy trying to figure out how she was going to cram all her new textbooks into a tiny locker. She tucked a curly lock of brunette hair behind her ear before she ducked her head behind the metal door to rummage through the confined space.
“Shit.” A curse echoed from the locker beside him, making him remember where he was. A blonde surfaced with a scowl that seemed permanently stuck to her face. She held up a Ziploc bag containing a rotting sandwich to the boy, who recoiled at the smell, before she chucked it in the waste bin, “When I find Mitch, he’s fucking dead.”
“Why would he even put that in your locker?” The taller teen asked.
“I don’t know, because he’s an asshole?” She shrugged, “In all seriousness, he said something about needing a quick place to put it and forgetting he put it in there.”
“But it’s your locker and it’s had to have been there for what, 3 weeks? Do you even use that thing?” He knocked on the metal.
The blonde answered with another shrug before slamming the locker. She swung her bookbag over her shoulder before starting to walk towards the dining hall. She got about halfway when she realized an annoying voice wasn’t following her and telling her an unfunny joke. Instead, she heard something worse; Louis’ attempts at flirting.
“Hey new girl, having trouble with your locker?”
“Name’s not new girl. It’s Clementine.” The locker door slammed, causing the tall flirt to stumble back. “I think I’ve got it just about handled. Thanks though.”
The tall teen raked his fingers through his locs as he flashed her a bright white smile, “Pretty name for a pretty girl. Question is, are you as sweet as an actual clementine?”
She snorted, having found his flirtatious to be ludicrous, but still, she decided to play along, “I don’t know. Must have been pretty rotten to be sent here.”
“Pretty, yes. Rotten… um, still to be seen.” This time the girl snorted as she tried to hide the amusement on her face.
Clementine put her bookbag on her back, carefully grabbing her hair and placing it on the other shoulder before the straps of the bag pulled them. Once the bag was secure, she flipped the curls, causing it to fall a little past her shoulders. Now situated, she stood awkwardly for a moment while she waited for him to move or at the very least, do something other than stare. “Um, bye?" She said curtly before scootching past him.
The boy snapped out of his trance, "W-wait! Don't you wanna know my name?"
"Uh, ok...what's your name?" She asked, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
“Louis, but my friends call me Lou.” He tugged at the collar of his flannel and flashed her another award-winning smile. It dropped when he heard someone release a snide command.
“Louis, stop harassing the new girl.” Violet then appeared beside him. Looking annoyed as usual, she casually crossed her arms over her chest.
The brunette looked between the two before a smirk appeared on her face. She referenced to the newcomer as she joked, “She didn't call you Lou. I take it she’s not a friend?”
“Nope, she's actually my best friend.” He slings an arm over the blonde's shoulder.
“Yeah, not even close.” Violet grimaces and plucks his arm off. She crossed her arms again, “That honor goes to that brain dead football player who’s probably wondering where we’re at. Let's go.”
She started to walk away but the boy stopped her, “Don't be so rude, Vi. Say hello to my new friend.” He noticed the brunette’s eyebrows furrowed with skepticism but ignored it. He animatedly gestured between the two girls, “Clementine, this is Violet. I promise you she's only an asshole when she hasn't had her food.”
“Fuck off.” Violet flips him off without a second though. Seeing as Louis has already introduced her, she found no need to give Clementine a greeting and she turned on her heel to leave. “It's chicken nugget day and I'm not missing that to watch you flirt.”
Her attempts to get food had been spoiled once more by long lanky arms wrapping around her shoulder. He pulled her aside, shooting Clementine a smile before whispering in the blonde’s ear, “You can’t leave now Violet. I need you as my wingman.”
“I'm not your wingman.”
“Ok, then. Wing woman if you want to be inclusive, but I still need you.”
Violet’s arms found themselves crossed over her chest for the third time within the past five minutes. It was a new record. She let out a groan, “For what?”
“Playful banter.” Louis smiles, happy that she’s entertaining his foolishness, "You say something snarky and cynical, I respond with humor then the cute girl laughs.”
Clementine, who was totally not listening in on their conversation, stifled back a laugh. Realizing she was caught, she faked a cough and looked down towards her feet.
Louis smirked, “Point and case.”
The blonde corrects him, “Case and point, dumbass.” As the growls from her stomach grew louder, as did her anger, “Ok, I’ll be your wingman, but can we please go to the cafe.”
The boy excitedly nodded in agreement before turning back to the new girl. He bowed dramatically, “This way, Madame.”
Confusion was stuck on her face as Clementine seemed to struggle to understand the tall goof and his very theatrical personality. His smile seemed genuine, and she noticed how it grew whenever she let out any sound that resembled a laugh. Key word: seem. This Louis, seemed chill, he seemed nice, but Clementine reminded herself of one very important detail; he's a still a boy. Boys have eyes for one thing, and he made that very clear during his introduction. She'd play along for now, seeing as he was the only student that acknowledged her without snickering, but she'd still keep her guard up. Beside she's not here for friends or relationships. She's here to get better- whatever that entails and get home as soon as possible.
As the trio walked down the hallway, Clementine dared a glance at the seemingly always angry girl. Her long ashy blonde hair, that stopped at her shoulder blades, was cut into a layered shag. Her fringed bangs grew out on the sides, highlighting her strong cheek bones and bringing more attention to her prasiolite eyes, which were more prominent due to her smokey and glittery eyeshadow. Under her plump powder pink lips, were a pair of snake bite piercings that gave her face even more of an edge. The girl was admittedly very pretty, and Clementine couldn't help but blush as she felt her glance turn into a stare. Sensing the pair of brown eyes that were now burning into the side of her face, Violet's eyes narrowed, and she shot a glare towards the perpetrator. Embarrassed at being caught starring, Clementine went to slow her pace, but the sound of the blonde's husky voice stopped her, "I take it no one told you we only wear uniforms on certain days."
The group's pace slowed as the leaders looked back on the newcomer, assessing her clothing choice. Clementine then looked down at her outfit and grimaced with ever-growing embarrassment. The deep red blazer had accents of gold and white with the school emblem patched onto the chest. Her black pleated skirt fell well below her knees and damn near to her ankles.
Louis pointed at her out-of-reg footwear, "Though I love the individuality, the headmaster doesn't. You'll get in trouble if they see you traded in your loafers for chucks."
"Oh yeah." With attention now at her feet, she nervously pulled her skirt down to cover them. She eked out an excuse, "I'm still not used to the schedule, so I woke up late. My roommate wasn't there to let me know about the uniform thing."
All day she's heard whispers and snickers from the other kids and knew they were all giggling about her being in uniform. She thought she could just blend into the background and not bring too much attention to herself but there was no such luck. She looked to her classmates and checked their attire. At first glance, it looked as if Louis dressed more causally with his fern green flannel, cream cotton shirt and plain boot cut jeans but upon closer inspection, Clementine noticed that he had expensive taste. A Rolex watch that was hidden just underneath his flannel, accompanied by the Louis Vuitton belt that peaked from his partially tucked in shirt and Gucci sneakers, told her that just like his personality, his choice of clothing was also extravagant. Violet's style was a little more alternative with her dressed in a hooded jean vest with a dark purple long sleeved shirt underneath it, dark ripped jeans and a studded belt that was used as an accessory rather than for its functionality. Her shoes had seen better days, as the checkered Vans looked faded and washed out. She also wore a couple of colorful thin bracelets and rings on each arm and hand, and her dark blue nails were chipped.
Violet grabbed Clementine's attention once more and successfully stopped her analysis of the other teens' clothing. She smirked, "Apparently, she couldn't tell you about the difference in the normal uniform and the winter one."
Though it was mid-October, it had yet to get cold enough for the winter uniform; just another thing Clementine didn't account for when getting ready this morning. "Oh, I'm always covered like this...I'm, uh...I'm anemic." She sputtered out, hoping her lie wasn't obvious.
The confession caused both pair of eyes to widen and the taller of the two sent an elbow to the other. The blonde muttered out before stuffing her hands in her pants pockets, "Shit, sorry."
The trio continued to walk but it wasn’t in blissful silence like Violet had hoped. Nope, Louis was laying it on thick and to add salt to the wound, the new girl was actually laughing. Sure, some of them classified as chuckles or giggles but she still found his shenanigans amusing and it only encouraged him to continue. Violet tried her best to tune him out, but he was asking questions that she wanted to know the answers to, so sadly, she couldn’t block him out entirely. He had asked if she was single, in which she played it cool and avoided the question by asking one of her own.
“So let me guess, you're the charmer of the group?” Clementine’s once guarded wall seemed to come down slightly as she played along with the boy’s silly antics.
Violet couldn’t help but scoff and roll her eyes, “There's nothing charming about him.”
“Are you kidding?” Louis feigned offense, “I'm Prince Charming, thank you very much. I’m filled with so much charm, I've got it coming out my-”
“Yeah, that's very charming.” Violet retorts, and Clementine snorts, in turn making the blonde smirk, somewhat happy she got her to laugh. She liked the sound of her laugh, but only if it’s from her more meanspirited jokes. Violet continued at the boy’s expense, “He’s more of the group’s jester than any kind of royalty.”
Not pleased with being dissed or the fact that it made Clementine laugh, Louis cut in, “Anyways, where you from new girl?”
“Clementine and I’ve moved a couple of times but I’m originally from Georgia.”
Equipped with a heavy accent, Louis jokingly mocked, “Ooh a true southern beauty.”
Violet let out a loud groan, “If you say something about her being pretty one more time, I'm gonna throw up.”
“Oh, come on Vi, you're a lady lover. You're telling me Clementine isn't the prettiest thing to walk these halls?”
Her eyes widened at the realization of being outed to the new girl, by her loudmouthed idiotic friend. Unaware of his slip up, he turned Violet, so the two girls now faced each other.
Despite her tries to avoid those warm honey eyes, Violet locks eyes with Clementine. She expects the same disgusted looks she receives from the girls that know her "dirty" little secret but instead she's greeted with a shy smile and an awkward wave. The blonde feels the blood rush to her face, and she quickly pulls away from Louis, “I'm not saying she's not pretty.” She sputters, “I’m just tired of you constantly mentioning it. I'm sure there's more to her than just her face.”
“Oooh, so you mean like her laugh?” Clementine giggles again causing Louis' smile to grow and Violet to roll her eyes. Thankfully, the cafeteria was in reach and the chatter of teenage drivel could now drown out the obnoxious flirting.