the art of being troubled || clouis

5 || the helping hand

quick authors note: hello! as i previously said in the last chapter, things have been picking up for me so i don't have much time to write : ( i'm not sure when the next chapter will be out after this, but this one was originally going to be longer until i realised i had to split it in half. about a little less than half of the next chapter has been written, so i have at least something. nonetheless, please enjoy this chapter! i'll try to update as soon as i can. <3

also: i couldn't be bothered with the spacing this chapter (as i have to do it line by line and it's very tedious), so wattpad readers will see it structured in typical fanfiction form. hopefully it's not biggy. enjoy!

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11 APRIL 2003

"Morning."

Clementine groggily shifted her head to look for the voice beside her. A P.E. uniform clad Violet sat on the edge of her bunk, grin warm and tying the laces of her Chuck Taylor's. Gleaming yellow rays shone through the barred windows and settled upon her face, illuminating the ocean green in her eyes. Above her laid Sarah sound asleep on her bunk, her rose-coloured frames sitting on the wall shelf just above her head.

She sheepishly propped herself up on her elbows, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Hey," she greeted back.

"You woke up in time for breakfast," Violet informed her, standing from her bunk. "I was going to meet Minnie over there. If you want, I can wait for you to get ready."

Violet was... brusque, to put it formally. She gave the impression that she was blunt, yet humble. She described herself to be 'not a people person' during yesterday's lunch hour. But as much as they may be true, Clementine noticed that she put in at least some effort to fix that. Of all the ways Violet characterized herself, Clementine was yet to experience it. She was yet another example of trying to correct one's self, an example she knew she had to follow.

"Sure," Clementine nodded, pulling the sheets off herself. "Give me a sec'."

Violet waited in the hall for Clementine to get dressed and brush her teeth in the bathrooms beside their dorm. Once she was finished, they trekked through the dormitories and eventually out into the courtyard.

"I, uh, hope you weren't too freaked out by what happened yesterday. With Marlon," Violet scratched the back of her head. "He's a good tour guide and stuff. We both came here in sixth grade, so as we got older, they usually paired us together to show kids around. I, uh, lost my patience with the shitty ones pretty often, but he still kept his cool with them. I guess that's why he's Head of Sophomores, huh," she sheepishly grinned, pulling open the doors to the classroom building.

"He sure did keep his cool with me," Clementine responded as they entered. "Can't say the same for Brody."

"Oh, they fight all the time. It's nothing new. It's just annoying for everyone around them," she rolled her eyes. "Brody can be snappy and Marlon can have his bad days. The two of those combined is just a bomb waiting to go off. But I guess they have their good moments too."

"Yeah..." Clementine nodded, her brows furrowing. "Sticking around someone that makes you so angry, and for so long, isn't going to end up well."

The pair then entered the quiet cafeteria. Violet peered around in search of her girlfriend, but figured she was a little late when her ginger hair was nowhere to be seen. There wasn't as many kids in the room like there was during lunch and dinner, however it was just enough to form a mild anxiousness in Clementine.