It was probably the most nerve- wracking day of Clementine's life. Because of her hard work she put into her high school years, from being an honour roll student, to being the star player of almost every sports team, she got accepted into Ericson's University, one of the most prestigious universities in the country, on a scholarship to pursue medicine and physical health.
Just like her mother.
As she sat in the passenger seat of her adopted father Lee's car, with her earphones blasting melodies into her ears, she thinks back to her parents. It had been at least ten years since they passed, but the pain never goes away. She will never forget the day she was sitting in the back seat, while her father and mother were in the front seat, driving to the park after Clementine begged for hours. But they sadly never made it to the park. Clementine shakes her head and shuts her eyes to hide whatever tears that started building up as she tries to think about something else.
"You're thinking about them, aren't you?", Lee states in a hushed tone, trying to keep his voice down, as his adopted son, AJ is sleeping soundly in his car seat, with a disco broccoli plushie in his arms.
Clementine unplugs one earphone and turns to her dad, with a slight downward curve on her lips.
"I know I shouldn't, but I can't help it. I always hoped they would be here when this would happen." She says with sadness but holding herself together, to refrain from crying.
"It's not a bad thing, they were your parents, but you should know that they would be proud of you, and the young woman you've become," he says with a smile as he places a hand on her head rubbing it gently.
"I know, but I'm glad I have you, Carley and AJ, you guys are my family." Clem says with her tone slightly more cheerful. "And we always will be. No matter what." Lee says as he continues driving.
Clementine will always remember when Lee and Carley adopted her, how she would spend time sitting in her bedroom, and that she would refuse to talk to anyone. But little by little, she warmed up to them, and they love her and AJ as their own. Which they are.
Clem's heart rate goes up by a mile when her dad starts to pull up to the front gates of the new school. She starts to sweat as the car gets put into park. The 5'2 girl steps out of the car to see the huge brick building in front of her. "Ericson's University." She lowers her gaze to her eye level, to see other students and their families saying their final goodbyes. She saw it all, from annoyed teenagers anxious to leave, from emotional mothers, crying and reminding their children to call them everyday.
"Carley really wishes she could be here, but she couldn't leave her business trip early," Lee says with a sleepy AJ by his side. "
Y'know DAD, you can say your MOM, we've talked about this. You and Carley are AJ and I's mom and dad. Thats not going to change." Clementine states with a 'matter of fact' tone, with a smirk on her lips and her arms crossed.
Lee chuckles. "Damn, I'm gonna miss you're smartass," he says as he grabs the girl and brings her in for a tight hug. "I'm only a 2 hour drive away, it's not like I'm on Venus." She states as she returns the hug with the same amount of strength through her embrace.
As she releases she gets down on one knee, to get eye level with her younger brother. "You gonna miss me goofball?" she says while trying to hold on her laughter as she sees the little boys face turn from sleepy and dazed to a frown. It was hilarious to see the 11 year old boy so angry. "It's Alvin Jr. and yes I'm gonna miss you. Did you literally have to pick the furthest school ever?" He says with a hint of sadness in his voice. Clementine sighs as she pulls him in for a hug.
"I know, but this is one of the hardest schools to get into. Ever, I know it sucks but I'll only be a phone call or a text message away, okay?" She whispers as she kisses he side of his cheek.
"I know, but maybe you'll make friends here," the young boy says bluntly as Lee laughs in the back. "You know he's not wrong, you kept to yourself all throughout your high school years, and yes maybe it paid off because you got amazing grades, and a scholarship to a prestigious school, but you missed out on people who could have been life long friends. Hell, maybe you could have had a boyfriend!" Lee says while laughing, with AJ dying of laughter.
Clem just rolls her eyes as she puts her backpack on her back. "Okay I'm gonna go before you two get worse." She says as she gets ready to walk through the gates. After one final hug and kiss on the cheek, she sets off into the abyss.
And that abyss, is college.
With the perks of getting a scholarship, Clementine had visited the campus before the school year started, to get a tour, so she was familiar with the layout. She enters the girls dorms and finds her room. She enters to see two double beds and her luggage and boxes already pre-delivered. "Oh yeah, shit. I forgot I'm gonna have a roommate." She says with a sigh as she drops her bag on the side. As she sits on the bed. She reflects on what lee said before she left. She never made any friends and never once took a stab at boys. Or even girls. She was here for one reason only. To become a doctor, just like she always dreamed she'd be. She had not time to get distracted by relationships, romantic or not.
The girl sits up and plugs her headphones in as she starts to arrange her side of the room. She places her black bedsheets and pillowcases on her bed, as she throws a pale orange throw blanket on top. She places her pictures on the wall with thumb tacks, one of her, Lee, Carley and AJ at home, and one of her and her birth parents, on her 8th birthday. She places next to the photo, a tattered blue and off-white baseball cap with a "D" that was falling off , onto her bedside table. She would wear that hat every single day, but wig the fear of destroying it by wearing it any longer. She just keeps it in one place. She unpacks her clothes and folds each one neatly and placed them gently into the drawers.
"Wow, you must have a lot of patience to actually fold clothes and place them in drawers." A voice cuts through her music as Clem looks up quickly. There was a girl in the entrance, she had shoulder length red hair and blue eyes. She wore a flannel, a black vest and skinny jeans. She looked like she did not come from the city, and from her accent, that just confirms it.
"Hi, I'm Brody, I guess you're Clementine?" She says with a very cheerful tone. Clementine wasn't expecting anyone to come so soon, so she took a deep breath and walked over.
"Yeah it's nice to meet you" She says calmly, reaching out her arm to shake hands with her new roommate, but was not ready when Brody jumped in for a hug. "Oh my god this is going to be so fun! I can already tell we're going to be best friends!" She says excitedly. As Clem tries to recollect herself, she just slightly nods her head, not knowing how to act around people. "So, whats your major?". "Medicine and Physical Health, Clem replies instantly, due to her nerves of being around new people. At least to her. "Hey same! I guess we'll be seeing each other a lot!". The brunette wasn't sure to be excited or not. As Brody went to start unpacking Clementine collapsed in her bed and took a breath. She looks at the clock and sees that it's still early, just past 9:30 in the morning, the intro to physical health starts in about 20 minutes but Clementine knew how to get there so she could get their in 5. What she didn't expect was to here a shriek behind her. "OH CRAP THE INTRO STARTS IN 20 MINUTES AND WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE IT IS!" She screams while hyper-ventilating.
"Oh my god I'm going to be living with her for the next year." Is all Clem could think about, but didn't dare to say aloud. "I know how to get there, it will only take 5 minutes, she says. "Oh thank god, do you mind if we head there now? I want to be there early." Brody says with almost a slight begging tone. "Yeah of course, I wanted to go early anyways," Clem says in agreement. She grabs the mandatory doctors lab jacket she has to wear and stands next to the door. As Brody follows, she sees Clem's jacket and remembers to do the same. "God I don't know what i'd do without you." Brody says as she quickly slips the jacket on. Clem smiles gently as Brody and her head to the medical hall.
2 hours later
The girls walk out of their medical lecture and stand to the side of the door. "God that was so boring." Brody says while rubbing her neck. "You know hat was just an intro right?" Clem says while lightly laughing. "Hey that's the first time I've heard you laugh all day!" Brody says with a big smile. Clem just looks at her boots shyly. Out of nowhere a boy grabs Brody by the waist and swings her in a circle, while Brody squeals. Very loudly. " Babe! There you are." Brody says before quickly pressing her lips onto the boys.
Clementine looks up to see a tall boy with blonde hair. With an interesting haircut, and an Ericson bomber jacket. "Clem! This is my boyfriend Marlon! Marlon, this is Clementine, my new roommate!". Clem puts her hand out and the boy returns by doing the same, gently shaking her hand. "Pleasure to meet you," Clem says politely. "Same!" He says casually. As Clem starts to feel overwhelmed with all the new people she's meeting, she opens her mouth, about to tell Brody she's heading back to the dorms, but before she has he chance, Brody speaks firsts. "Where's piano boy?" She says with a curious tone as she snakes her arm around her boyfriends waist. He wraps his arm over her shoulders as he looks around. " I have no idea., I knew that idiot would get lost," he says shaking his head.
Not even 5 seconds later, Clem hears a voice behind her as she quickly turns around. "Well, looks who's talking about me when I'm not even here to defend myself.", a voice states with sarcasm. Clem pivots to face behind her.
There's a new boy. He towers over Clementine's petite figure with his 5'12 body. He has deep chocolate skin, and dozens of freckles scattered over his face. He has jaw-length dreadlocks that are a deep brown, dangling down his face and a sharp jawline that brought his whole face together. He had a slender but not to muscular body, that was dressed with a green long sleeve shirt, distressed jeans, brown lace up worn out boots, and a brown leather coat that draped his body.
Clementine stares for a few seconds before returning to reality. He was handsome. Like really handsome. But then she got her head straight. "Clem! This is Louis, aka piano boy, Louis this is Clem! My new roommate and my saviour because she helped me find the medical building!" Brody says while pointing to who she's introducing to the other. Louis puts his slender hand out to Clementines tiny hand. Clementine shakes his hand as he does the same. "It's nice to meet you Louis," she says with a gentle smile. " " you as well beautiful" , he says with a wink. Clem felt blood rush to her cheeks, as she took her hand back and shoved it in her pocket. Clearly flustered, and the other three could tell she was getting anxious, she quickly says "y'know I'm gonna head back to the dorms but it was nice to meet you all! Bye!" She says at lightning speed as she starts fast walking. Back to the dorm.
"Great job Louis, you scared my roommate," Brody says as she rolls her eyes. What she and Marlon didn't notice at first was the tint of pink that dusted his cheeks. "Bro are you blushing?", Marlon says with a shocked face while laughing. Brody follows but with more of an excited look. "Oh my Jesus he is"! Louis shakes his head as he keeps the short brunette in his gaze before she disappears into the crowd.
All he knew was that with the 30 seconds she was in his presence, was not enough. And would hope to see her again as soon as possible.
I hope you guys liked this chapter! If you guys enjoyed this and wild like me to keep going just let me know by leaving comments or messages! Have a great day❤️