The morning light is quick to fill up the small room, letting its bright fingers caress the dark shadows that were lurking in the corners. Aj stirred in his sleep, rolling over to look at me, his hair sticking up, and his blankets kicked to the bottom of the mattress. He quickly shot upright and looked at me with a grin, eyes big.

"Clem you're awake!" He giggled excitedly, rushing to my side. Ever since the incident, he's been ecstatic that I'm awake.

I scoot over to let him on my bed, he gives me a bit of an overbearing hug, "Easy there kiddo," I giggled back. "How did you sleep?" I question.

He scooted back to look at me in the face, "I think it was pretty good, no dreams."

"Better than bad dreams," I tell him. He slid off of my bed and started to slip his shoes on. "What are you up to?"

"I'm going to get you some breakfast," he explains, "And Willy wanted help keeping watch."

I smile at him and fully relax on the bed, "Will you send Ruby in here to help with my bandages?" I ask him, "Only if she's awake."

He nods, "Sure Clem, I'll be back in a few minutes." With that, Aj blasted out of the door.

I closed my eyes for a while, seeing the orange hue cascade on my inner eyelid, breathing in the musty odor of the boarding school. This place is so much different than any other camp I've seen, even with... Lee, there wasn't this much structure. There wasn't so much cooperation, there were people going without meals for days at a time. Adults seemed so much more greedy than I remembered them to be, they always had secrets and hidden agendas. Marlon was like them, getting power in all the wrong ways, turning to all the wrong people.

The door creaked open, "Knock-knock!" A southern drawl exclaimed, "I heard we needed some help in here." She smiled down at me. She pushed our desk chair to the side of my bed, I sat up and let my half leg dangle there, feeling the itch that was so familiar in my finger.

Then another figure crept from behind the door, she was carrying a mug that was steaming, "Good morning sleepyhead," Violet said. She sat next to me on the bed and handed me the cup of which is filled with coffee then gave me a peck on the cheek.

"Alright, Clem," Ruby interjected, "You're gonna have to take off your pants, otherwise I'm not going to be able to clean this."

I handed Violet the coffee and used my good leg to give me some leverage to get my pants off, Violet gave me her hand to help keep my balance. I got them kicked off, blush growing on my face as I could feel Vi's green eyes watch me. I gritted my teeth as Ruby unraveled the bandage closer to the end of my stump. I remember when Luke told me that scars were cooler than stumps, he was definitely right.

Violet offered me her hand, "Good thing I ate before this," She winced looking at the wound, then averting her eyes, I took her hand and gripped it, I let Ruby do her thing, cleaning, disinfecting and bandaging.

"How's everything going with Aasim?" I ask Ruby, hoping to release some tension between the everyone.

"Things are going good!" She exclaimed, "He's very sweet and very smart." She smiles, feeling proud of herself.

"I'm glad," Violet said.

"How about you two?" Ruby asked as if she caught us in the act.

I look at Vi, "I think we're doing as good as expected," I shrug, "It's new to me, so I would say it's going great." Violet relaxed a little as I said that, "I think it's time we start taking it easy now that we aren't fighting raiders."

Vi nodded, "That's probably a good idea."

"Well I think I'm done here," Ruby said standing up, "Send someone if you need me, otherwise I'll check back with you in the morning to clean it up again." She brushed her hands off on her pants and gathered her equipment before leaving.

"Thank you, Ruby," I called out before she closed the door.

"Of course Clem." She called back.

Violet set the now luke-warm coffee on the dresser in between the bunks. "I guess I have a pantsless Clem all to myself." She gave me a snarky grin.

She sat down close to me, her eyes looking deep into my own, "Aj will probably be here soon now that Ruby left, so don't get too excited." I mention.

"Me? Excited?" She mocked. She put her hand on my good leg, "Clem... I really want you to know that I'm happy that you're here. If you didn't come back... I don't know where I would be right now." She said with an expressed sadness.

I could see the seriousness in her face, how she seemed to look away from my eyes, I put my hand on her face and leaned into her lips. They were always so soft, especially when she kissed me back. We haven't really kissed longer than a peck, I pulled back and lingered there for a second. My fingers intertwined in her hair, urging her closer to me, and she did. She came closer to me, kissed me deeply, and lightly at the same time. Her arm slinked around my waist. My left arm went back to the mattress, the only thing keeping me in a sitting position.

Her kisses were sweet and seductive, making my stomach seem like it was on fire, warm and uncomfortable. I liked it. It was addictive, and hard to pull myself away from. She lightly pushed me on my back, and then pulled her mouth away from mine so she could look at me. Her pinky-less left hand stroked a loose strand of hair from my face.

"I could do this all day," Violet said, "Actually, I wish I could freeze this moment right here, right now, and live in it forever." Violet could really drop her hard ass attitude sometimes and become some sort of poet. I loved that.

"You and me, living in our little forever," I state. "I like the sound of that."

The door swung open again, and Aj walked in with a bowl of what I can only guess is oatmeal. He started giggling instantly, "Where are your pants?" I leaned up and he kept on laughing, "I brought you your breakfast."

"Ruby cleaned me up, and I was too tired to put my pants back on," I only half lied to him, but he doesn't need to know more than that. He handed me my bowl, "Thanks goofball."

He rolled his eyes at me but brushed it off, "Willy and I found some old sports equipment and he's gonna teach me how to play catch really good!" He exclaimed, "Violet will you come to play with us later? Pleeeeeeaaaasse?" He asked.

"If Clem is feeling up to it later, I'll come and play with you guys," Vi said, and we both watched Aj get so excited he danced out of the room.

"You didn't have to do that...," I trailed off.

She shrugged, "I want to." We both laid on our backs, looking through the cracks of the bunk above us. "Sometimes I wish I could just be a teenager, ya'know?"

I turned my head to look at her, "What do you mean?"

"Like hate my parents, and say 'fuck you' to everything." She said as if she was reminiscing on something she didn't have, "And you know just get into trouble for having sex or smoking weed." She let out a chuckle.

"I think I can kinda understand that," I tell her. "Did you and Minnie ever...?" I started.

"Ever what- Oh...," She seemed to duck away from the question.

"You don't have to tell me, I was just curious."

She shook her head, "Not really... We did things, but we didn't really get to everything, Minnie was weird when it came to sex, she didn't really talk about it, didn't really want it." Violet crossed her arms over her chest. "I know you're new to this, so I don't expect you to jump the gun right away."

That kinda made me sad for her, it made me want to show her love that nobody else has. It makes me want her to feel like an actual teenager like we're doing something wrong, but so right.

"I want to," I said, "With you I mean."

"You don't have to say that to make me feel better Clem." She spoke lightly.

I shook my head, "I'm not saying it to make you feel better," I tell her, and I could just feel an eyeroll happening, "I mean it."

She sat up, hunched over, classic Violet.

"What's wrong?" I ask sitting up now.

She leans her head on her knuckles but turns to look at me. "How did Aj manage to get you here? I heard bits and pieces... but I nobody really told me the whole story."

She expressed real concern for me, more than what the others have. "Well... from what Aj told me, he wasn't going to kill me."

"You told him to kill you?" She asked.

"He figured if Abel could survive a bite, then I could too." I looked at her expression, eyebrow raised and a slight frown. "He said I passed out after the first chop, and it took several... After that, he found some rope in the barn, and made a tourniquet." I bit my lip, the Aj was insane to take on such responsibility. I was right to trust him with the tough calls, he knew what the right choice was.

"Weren't you guys swarmed though?" Violet looked like she was solving one of the worst puzzles ever.

"They couldn't get into the barn, the wood was strong enough to hold." I shake my head, "Aj remembered that I had flint in my pocket from the cave, and he started a fire with some hay and cauterized it with the axe blade."

"Damn, he really figured out everything then, he's a smart little guy." She nodded approvingly.

"Then he figured out how to get rid of all the walkers through the fencing of the barn, and here I am." I gave her a little grin.

Violet was quiet, then she kissed me on the cheek, "If you have some time to kill, so do I."