the art of being troubled || clouis

10 || bitter blues

EARLIER THAT MORNING

Sunlight cascaded across the lavish décor of the Headmaster's office. White noise bar the lonesome grey, whistling bird soaked the atmosphere. Her face throbbed towards her now dressed wounds, hand loosely grasping the receiver in her hand.

A dial tone.

"Hello?"

Clementine's forlorn features quivered at the sound of his tired voice.

"Hey Lee," her faint, drained tone spoke into the receiver.

"Sweet pea," he breathily chuckled, "it's good to hear from you."

"Yeah, it's..." she paused, denying her urge to sob, "good to hear you too. Really good."

Lee's brief silence spoke for itself; his stomach churned with pulsations of dread, anticipation prancing around in his mind. Something was horribly, horribly wrong to him, and she knew truly well he would figure it out.

He always figured it out.

"What's the matter, Clem?" he soberly asked, the bed creaking as she assumed he sat up.

Biting down on her already lacerated lip, white hot tears singed the rims of her eyes.

"I, uh... I just wanted to call. That's all," her wavering voice was no match for Lee's parental instincts.

"Are you okay?" he questioned, his tone verging on curiosity.

She huffed, shaking her head into the receiver.

"No," she swallowed. "I'm... fuck," she dropped her hand, wincing up at the ceiling as she inhaled deeply. Bringing the phone back up to her ear, she sniffled. "Something happened," she finally admitted. He held the silence for a moment.

"Who... Who did you hurt?" he nervously asked.

"No one," she quietly replied, gently shaking her head. "It happened to me."

Before Lee could utter any of his overwhelmingly concerned responses, his bedroom door swung open in haste.

"Is that Clem?!" AJ barked with enthusiasm, the bed creaking intensely as he pounced onto it.

"Yeah, it's Cle—"

"Hey, Clem!" he cheered into the receiver, giggling madly thereafter.

Clementine's tears began to fall.

"Hey, goofball," she chuckled through her sobs. "What are you doing up so early?" she sniffled again.

"The ringing woke me up! I thought, 'Man, that's gotta be Clem!' And it is!"

"Yeah, you guessed it," she replied, wiping her face.

"Uh..." he delayed for a moment. "You sound a little funny..."

"Pass the phone," Lee told him, ensuing a short scrambling for a moment before he finally got hold of the receiver again. "Clem, honey, what happened?"

Clementine sighed the tension out of her as best she could.

"I got beat up. This morning," she stiffly answered, twirling her finger around the phone call.

"By who?!" his outraged seared through the phone.

"Some... girl—"

"Jesus..." Lee shakily exhaled, quietening himself momentarily. "Where the hell did I send you—"