Fruity [Walking Dead/Cry fan fiction]

Chapter Seven

Ryan stayed quiet a lot after that, only talking to Calvin quietly when he wanted to ask a question. I kept watching the other kids with fascination, but they didn’t acknowledge me. They just sat in the corner of the room and talked quietly. They didn’t even seem to talk to Ryan.

“Are you tired, Clem?” Calvin asked.

I had been watching Carson and Brooklyn again without realizing it and snapped back up to look at Calvin. “Huh?”

Calvin looked over at the kids and then back to me. “You haven’t been around a lot of kids for a while, huh?”

I peeked over at Brooklyn, who brushed light bangs out of her eyes as she whispered to Carson. “I had Duck as company for a while, and maybe Ben if you counted him….”

Calvin was quiet for a minute before saying, “I don’t really know either of those people, Clementine.”

I nodded and looked up into his eyes. “I know. They were in my last group.”

Calvin nodded slowly before holding out his hand for me to grab. I grabbed it and he pulled me up as he said, “Okay, well, why don’t we go talk to them?”

I felt shy but didn’t say no. I did want to talk to them, see what they’ve been through and hear they’re stories. We began to head toward them.

They continued to talk as we walked toward them, but it seemed that as soon as we entered earshot, they completely stopped talking and looked down at the floor.

“Hi,” Calvin said, kneeling down to get to eye level.

Carson hesitantly looked up. “Hi.”

“I’m Calvin and this is Clementine,” Calvin started, but Carson cut him off.

“I know, you already introduced yourself,” he said blankly.

Calvin sat there for a minute, dumbfounded, before he said, “Right, ahem, sorry. Anyway, Clementine wanted to come and say hi.”

Carson looked at me expectantly. I felt my cheeks burn but felt like it didn’t matter because it was so dark. “H-hi,” I managed.

Carson waved. “Hello Clementine.”

Calvin stood up and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “Uh, I’m going to let you kids talk for a bit. If you need me, I’ll be over there,” he pointed in the direction where Erica and Apple were setting up sleeping bags and lights.

I nodded and he left. I looked over to Carson, who just stared at me. I felt awkward. “Um…. How old are you guys?”

“I’m eleven,” Carson told me. His brown eyes never left mine. “And Brooklyn is seven.”

“Oh,” I responded. “I’m nine.”

Carson continued to stare at me. I hadn’t felt like somebody put me on the spot in a while, and I wasn’t sure what to do or say.

“Um,” I racked my brain for something to say.

“We are going to get some sleep,” Carson said suddenly. I nodded, looking from Brooklyn to Carson. Brooklyn was still avoiding eye contact with me.

“Okay, I’m going to go to sleep too,” I told Carson. I turned around and called, “Have a good night,” before awkwardly rushing over to the sleeping bags.

When I got to the sleeping bags only Apple was there, unzipping her sleeping bag. When she noticed me she smiled and said, “Were you talking to Carson and Brooklyn?”

I nodded and sat on the smallest sleeping bag. “Brooklyn seems very shy, but they seem nice, I guess.”

Apple nodded, saying that that was good.