Chapter Eight: Violet's Tears

Clementine emerged from school's front doors, quickly scanning the courtyard for any sign of Violet. When she found none, she looked to Willy and Mitch, who were talking at a nearby table.

"Willy! Mitch! How long have you guys been here?" she demanded, marching up to the two boys.

"Clementine, you okay?" Willy asked, noticing how upset she was.

"Just answer me!"

"Jeez, like fifteen minutes. Maybe. Why?"

"Have you seen Violet?"

"No," Willy said with a shake of the head.

"What's wrong with Violet now?" Mitch asked with a worried frown.

That proved Violet still had to be in the school somewhere. Her questions answered, Clementine turned and dashed away again without another word, back into the school.

"Clementine! Wait! What the hell's going on?" Mitch asked, rising from the table. When Clementine didn't answer, he shook his head in frustration and lowered himself down again. "Goddammit, I'm getting really sick of this shit."

Clementine didn't explain because there was no time to explain. The next place Clementine would check was Violet's room. It seemed obvious, but Clementine knew she felt safe there. She hurried into the dorms, racing up the stairs to the second level as quick as she could. When she reached Violet's door, she froze to the unmistakable sound of a girl's frantic cries. Clementine sighed a bit, at least she had found her. At least she hadn't resorted to anything extreme, but if Clementine didn't help her, there was still a chance she might. Clementine didn't want to believe Violet was capable of something like that, but then again she didn't want to believe any of this had happened.

"Violet?" Clementine called out, to which she received no reply. Just more crying. "Jesus," Clementine said, feeling absolutely worried sick.

She couldn't wait for Violet's say so. She had to get in there. Thankfully dorm room doors didn't have locks on them. She opened the door, immediately seeing Violet curled up on her bed with her back turned, sobbing inconsolably.

"Oh my god, Violet," Clementine closed the door, rushing up to Violet, sitting on her bed next to her. "Violet, what the hell happened in there?"

She had never seen Violet this hysterical. Up until the day before, she had never seen her cry once. Now she was a wreck, and Clementine had no idea how to handle it.

"Clementine . . ." Violet whimpered, still not turning to see her. "I'm sorry for running away like that."

"Vi, I don't give a shit about that! Just tell me what happened! What did she say to you?"

Violet tried her best to get a hold of herself as she rose up to sit next to Clementine, but she wasn't having much success. Clementine felt powerless. Violet looked awful. Like she had just lost her best friend. Again.

"She hates me, Clementine. She fucking hates me. It was a total fucking disaster," Violet hung her head, trying to wipe her tears away with her sleeve. "I've never seen her like that. She was so mad. She's never cursed like that at me before. It didn't even feel like I was talking to Minnie! I had no fucking idea who I was talking to in there!"

"I'm so sorry, Vi," Clementine comforted her as best she could, not knowing what else to say. Clementine felt like crying herself. This was a nightmare.

Violet continued, her tears not letting up even a little. "I thought that, you know, maybe if I came up with a good way to put it, if I found some way to explain it to her, maybe she'd understand!" Violet got out in-between sobs. "But she didn't! She didn't fucking care. I told her that I loved her, but I couldn't love her like that anymore, that I couldn't look at her the same way, and she said it's my fucking fault! She called me a fucking coward, Clementine! A fucking coward! I tried my best! But I fucked it up! She was my best friend! And I fucked it up!" Violet broke down yet again, crying even more furiously than before.

Clementine, not knowing what else to do, wrapped her arms around Violet and brought her close, hugging her girlfriend as tightly as she could.

"Violet, it didn't matter what you said to her. She was always gonna be upset. You did your best, you explained yourself as best as you could! If she doesn't wanna accept that, than that's her fuckup. Not yours."

Despite Clementine's encouraging words, Violet didn't seem to believe her. She was beyond rational thought. She was convinced it was all her fault. Clementine couldn't do anything but hold her until she eventually calmed down. For twenty agonizing minutes the two girls just sat in silence, other than the sound of Violet's seemingly endless sobs, her face buried in Clementine's lap. Clementine never let her go for a second. Eventually, Violet's cries thankfully devolved into much more manageable snivels, and Clementine had hoped the worst had passed.

"It's not your fault, Vi," Clementine said after a long period of silence. "Your feelings aren't your fault. What happened to Minnie sucks, it sucks a lot, but she's being selfish. Really selfish. She can't accept your feelings, so she wants to force you to love her. She tried to guilt you into loving her. And honestly? Fuck her. That's not how love works, I know. You were honest about your feelings, you walked right in there and told her up front why it couldn't work. You faced her head on. How does that make you a coward? You're strong, Vi. You're the strongest girl I've ever met," Clementine confessed as honestly as she could, desperately hoping she could make some difference in this traumatic ordeal between two lifelong friends.

Clementine felt so bad for Violet. Over the past day she had been on an emotional rollercoaster through Hell, between worrying about Minnie, Sophie's death, Brody's betrayal, and now this? Her only slight escape had been the romantic moments her and Clementine had shared the previous night. The poor girl just needed a break. For that one week between the battle and Minnie's return, things weren't easy, but they seemed perfect compared to this. Minnie being alive was still incredible news, but now everything was complicated again, and the pettiest parts of Clementine really wished that she had never shown up at all. She knew that was a horrible thought, but seeing Violet this way just killed her inside. It was a miracle for sure, but one she didn't need.

Violet said nothing in response at first, taking a few more minutes to take Clementine's words in. Clementine grew more and more worried with each passing second Violet stayed silent. Mercifully, it seemed Clementine had finally gotten through to her.

"I love you, Clementine," Violet suddenly said.

Clementine flinched, feeling like her heart had been jump started. They were the words she had dreamed about hearing every night, but neither girl had worked up the courage to say them yet. In her most vulnerable moments, Violet's fears seemed unimportant to her now. She had nothing to lose, and had dropped a gigantic bomb on Clementine. If Clementine didn't feel the same way, it would have made this awful moment even more painful, and Violet might have never recovered. Luckily, Clementine was able to tell her exactly what she needed to hear. Clementine felt like she couldn't speak the words fast enough.

"Violet, I love you too."

Violet's eyes popped open. She suddenly rose from Clementine's lap, an excited look in her tear ridden eyes.

"Holy shit, really?"

"Really."

Then, Violet finally gave Clementine what she needed from her. A smile. A small smile, but a hopeful one. Even if things with Minnie would never be the same, at least Violet knew Clementine would be with her no matter what. Clementine loved her back, and finally she thought things might be okay. For a moment they just stared at each other, as Violet was still trying to calm herself down.

"So, uh, what now?" Violet asked nervously.

Clementine answered her girlfriend with an amused giggle, before leaning in to kiss her. In that moment, all the heaviness seemed to vanish in a brief reprieve. Both girls knew the feeling wouldn't last forever, so they held onto it as long as they could. Clementine's hand crept around Violet's hip and pulled her in even closer. In a world full of walking corpses, murdering raiders, and one really mad ex-girlfriend, it was as if none of it could touch them right now. No one was around to look at them or make Violet uncomfortable, so she didn't have to hold back. Neither girl knew exactly how long they had been going for, and neither cared to think about it.

But the world never stops turning, even when it feels like it has. Sooner or later reality comes calling.

"Violet! Are you in there? Get the hell out here!" came the sudden sound of Ruby's harsh, angry voice.

Clementine and Violet broke away from each other in a fright, each one looking towards the door in irritation.

"Goddammit," Violet cursed as she rose from the bed, going to see what Ruby wanted.

Clementine thought about getting up with her, but let Violet answer the door by herself. She seemed to be okay enough to manage things on her own again. Violet opened the door to reveal the fuming Ruby. Violet had a feeling what this was about. She didn't even say hello.

"What the hell did you say to Minnie?" Ruby demanded, obviously having the wrong idea of who the real victim was. "She's not saying anything, she's not eating, she hasn't even turned around from bed! She just cries and lies there! What kind of cruel shit did you say to her?"

"For your information, she was the one who said the cruel shit, not me. Honestly, I'm not sure if I can forgive her for some of the things she said to me." Violet said, crossing her arms.

"Bullshit," Ruby spat back, not having it. That's when she spotted Clementine inside the room, sitting on Violet's bed. "Are you fucking serious?" Ruby eyes flared, looking back to Violet. "You break Minnie's heart and then you sneak in here to make out with her replacement? What the fuck is wrong with you Violet? And you Clementine! You two should be ashamed."

"Excuse you?" Clementine's eyes narrowed, rising from the bed and marching over. "This is none of your business Ruby, and you have no idea what you're fucking talking about."

"One of my best friends has been fucking traumatized, so yeah, it is my business!" Ruby shot back.

"She's traumatized?" Violet scoffed, getting more and more annoyed. "You have no idea what she said to me Ruby, and you have no idea what kind of shit I just had to go through. I tried to be as gentle and honest as possible, and she turned it into a fucking disaster! Not me!"

"Minnie would never do that! You know she wouldn't you dirty liar!" Ruby raged, unable to accept Minerva's hidden nature.

"She's not Minnie anymore! Whoever the fuck is in that room, it's anyone but the Minnie we used to know!"

Ruby lashed forward, striking Violet across the face with a powerful slap. Violet recoiled, the stinging pain almost numbing every other sense.

Clementine was outraged. Enough was enough.

She brushed by the stunned Violet, grasping Ruby by her shirt and pinning her against the wall.

"Get your hands off of me!"

"Clementine!" the shocked Violet said, realizing this was getting out of control.

"You've got some fucking nerve, Ruby. Coming in here, acting like you know the whole story, just because you saw one girl crying," Clementine warned her, tightening her grasp and pushing harder. "You don't know shit, so get your fucking facts right."

"Clementine, stop!" Violet demanded, pulling her enraged girlfriend away.

Violet held Clementine back as Ruby got a hold of herself. She hadn't expected to be the one on the ropes in this situation.

"Screw both of you!" Ruby cursed them, storming down the hall. "If you two are our leaders, then we're as good as fucked!"

Clementine and Violet watched her leave, saying nothing.

"That really wasn't necessary, or helpful," Violet said honestly, turning to Clementine. "That's gonna come back to bite us real soon."

"She was being a total bitch," Clementine defended herself. "She automatically took Minnie's side!"

"Yeah, she was, and yeah, she did, but we can't just team up on our friends like that, Clementine. They'll stop trusting us. It's not like before, when I was just some moody little girl sulking in the corner and it didn't matter who I pissed off. We run this place now. If this drama gets too out of control, this place will fall apart. And then we're fucked. We'll both end up like Marlon and Brody."

Clementine looked away. Violet brought up a great point. It was hard to believe that twenty minutes ago she was a devastated wreck, and now she was thinking this clearly.

"But it's nice to know you care that much," Violet smiled a bit.

Clementine smiled back, but they had other matters to tend to.

"You okay? She hit you pretty hard."

"I'll be fine, but shit did that hurt. She hits way harder than Louis."

Both girls shared a mutual chuckle.

"What are we gonna do about Minnie?" Clementine asked, addressing the elephant in the room.

"I don't know yet," Violet said with a sigh. "When she cools down a bit, we'll have to talk to her. She's one of us, and we have try to help her through this. She doesn't like being like that, I know she doesn't. She's . . . she's still my friend," Violet admitted. "We've got too much history for me to just abandon her. Even if she did say all those terrible things to me," Violet looked away, taking a breath.

"I'm not sure if I can forgive her for what she did to you," Clementine said.

"You're gonna have to try," Violet said back. "We both have to. And Clementine?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. Seriously. I don't know if I would have made it out of that if it weren't for you. I'm still not okay," Violet confessed, averting her eyes, still a lingering, aching emptiness inside her chest. "But I'll get there. Eventually."

"I mean, what was I supposed to do?" Clementine asked back with a smile, relieved she was able to help Violet through that struggle. "I wasn't gonna leave you like that."

"Still, I don't know what I would do if you weren't here."

"Let's hope we never have to find out."

"Definitely," Violet agreed, taking another breath of air. "As much as I would like to keep doing what we were doing, we have to get this place under control. Ruby's probably taking shit about us right now to all the boys," Violet said with an irritated tone, turning down the hall.

Clementine nodded, following after her.

"I'm right behind you."