Across From Me

Thirty One

After Clementine accepted her offer, Adrianne seemed like she didn't know what to do. The silence that followed made Clementine wonder if Adrianne really planned anything to say or was just winging it. From the looks of it, it was the latter.

Both of them moved to the side, to avoid getting in the way of anyone passing by. Both of them sat down on a patch of grass under a tree. Clementine waited for Adrianne to say anything, but she only sat there, thinking of what she might say. Curiosity was really beginning to take hold of Clementine, and she wanted Adrianne to stop the theatrics and get on with it already.

Finally, Adrianne turned towards Clementine, locking her eyes with her. Intensely enough that Clementine wanted to avert her eyes, but she wasn't going to back down. Adrianne sighed, "I'm sure you're aware of how bad things have gotten. I mean, this is all anyone talks about anymore," Adrianne ran her hand through her hair, "Everything is going to shit with you gone. All of us are fighting, and Celine is driving us apart."

"I would not have guessed this would happen," Clementine replied in a deadpan voice. Truly, she had been the peacekeeper of the group when she was friends with all of them. It was her role, which is why most of them liked her or hated her. But all Clementine really wanted was a feeling of true friendship from those people, which she never got. So she wasn't surprised they weren't getting along. Even in her last days of being their friends, she was always there, ready to resolve anything, and she got betrayed in return. So she wasn't really sad about it either.

Adrianne pulled her knees to her chest, and wrapped her arms around her thighs, "I'm sorry Clementine," She said, completely surprising Clementine, "You were right about everything. They're tearing themselves apart at this point."

Clementine sighed, rubbing her eyes, "Of course, I was," Adrianne looked over at her, bright green eyes staring into Clementine's brown ones, a hint of guilt below the surface, "I mean, what did you expect?"

"I don't know," Adrianne replied, resting her chin on the palm of her hand, "I guess I thought with what happened, we might be able to move past it but I can see I was wrong."

"Move past it?" Clementine laughed an incredulous look on her face, "Brave words coming from you. I can't move past it because no one is allowing me to!" Clementine hadn't meant to shout, She immediately calmed down, putting her head in her hands, and whispered, "Do you have any idea what this school year has been like?"

"I'm sorry..." She heard Adrianne mutter back.

"You know how long I had to go without friends? How long have I had to hear people talking about me? How long have I had to deal with people directly targeting me? All because of you, a person I thought was my friend. I don't want to sit here and see you try to apologize to me."

Clementine thought her point had been made. She got up, brushed the grass off of her, and turned to leave. But she turned one last time and saw Adrianne was still sitting and staring at her. Adrianne had nothing else to say, she only had a sad look in her eyes to communicate what she wanted to. Clementine shook her head.

"We miss you," Adrianne said, catching Clementine's attention.

"I'm sorry?"

"We miss you. We really do. Even if the others are too cowardly to admit it. I miss you a lot. You were always a lot of fun," Adrianne continued, her voice melancholic, longing for older times.

If Clementine were to admit anything, she could say those times with Adrianne's group of friends were tiring and harmful to her mental health. She could never feel enough around them as if there was always something wrong with her. That everyone was disgusted with one small thing she would do. Clementine always stretched herself too thin when she was with them, and she wasn't intending to return to them, right when she was starting to feel like she had some sort of control over her life now.