Across From Me

Three

Clementine did indeed talk to her the next day.

She came up to Beth during break, who had her head down, listening to music and resting her eyes. She slammed her binder down on the table in front of her. Beth jumped, not having expected the loud sound, but she smiled when she raised her head and saw Clem.

"Hey Clem, how are you?" Beth asked, pulling her earbuds out of her ear.

"Doing great!" Clem replied.

Clem looked nice today. Hair up and tied with a ribbon. Plaid dress with a sweater underneath. Slip-on shoes. She also seemed to have put on makeup. Clem's binder was thick with papers. Beth wondered what that would be like to carry around in an already full backpack.

"I made something with my mom last night," Clem started, then turned to her backpack and took something out. It was a container filled with cookies, "I hope you like them!"

Beth took the container from her, looking at it with an odd expression. She wasn't used to receiving gifts from anyone, especially not out of the blue like this. Beth was grateful though, although her face didn't show it

"Um, do you want them?" Clem asked, sounding worried.

"Huh? Oh no, I want them! Thank you!"

Beth moved to open the container right as the bell rang. Beth and Clem exchanged a disappointed look. Beth smiled, "It's alright, I'll have one at lunch," She put the container in her backpack and zipped her backpack closed.

Since the two of them shared their third period, they walked together. Clem always had a slight skip in her walk, even when she was young. Beth felt like people might have been staring at them as they passed, and that made Beth deflate a little. She wondered if compared to Clementine, did she look bad? It's not like she put much effort into her outfit this morning, much less at all.

The looks were subtle enough that Clem didn't seem to notice. She continued to talk about baking and cooking, or at least, Beth thought so, she was very distracted by the looks she was being given.

Clementine told a story about how she made the saltiest cookies in the world when Mr. Hudson walked in, told them to shut their mouths, and had them get out the assignment they had been working on. Beth couldn't help but notice how happy Clem seemed today. On the other days she remembered seeing her, she usually doesn't have a smile on her face like she did today.

Beth was always the student who got her work done early as she had a vehement hatred for working on homework. She always used her time at school to finish homework, and since she didn't have any friends, she would eat and then work on homework. She liked it that way, it was easier to have free time at home.

Which was why she was annoyed when Clem kept trying to talk to her. It was simple work, at least nothing Beth would have trouble with. But Clem liked to ask questions over and over. Which was strange as Clem was supposed to be a straight-A student. She kept trying to look at Beth's paper, and Beth would dismiss her, telling her to try and figure it out on her own. By the end of class, she had a headache.

It's not like Clem was a bad person or very very annoying, she just seemed very needy at the moment. Beth knew she knew the answers, she knew that Clem just wanted to talk to her. Which was why she wished Clem would just make conversation with her instead of bothering her with answers.

Clem continued to follow her like a lost puppy the entire day, and when they didn't have a class together, which surprisingly was only two, she would be sad and clingy. By the end of the day, Beth's energy was drained. She felt like collapsing on the floor and sleeping.

Finally, they said their goodbyes, and Beth started on the path to her house. Before she could even get out of the gates, she was stopped by a group of people.