Violet's Pov:

The next day seemed to go on as normal. I get up, I walk to school, I listen to the teacher's monologuing for about three hours, then it was just me and my friends sitting at our usual lunch table amongst the chaos and clamor that was the cafeteria. Not my favorite place to be amongst the collections of people that were dispersed throughout the large room, but I was cool with my friends there.

Nothing unusual going on. Just Brody and Ruby talking about their next baseball practice with Sophie commenting in every so often, Aasim quietly reading his book as he ignored the bickering of Mitch and Marlon who would keep daring each other to do dumb shit or other, then that left me as I quietly wrote down another exaggerated tale of one of my pictures. This time it was about some beautiful foreign lady who we ran into at the mall, now turned into a manipulative psycho who tried to kidnap one of my friends, thanks to my pencil and creative imagination.

Though now that I've really taken some time to think about it our table is a lot quieter than I remember it being. It's still loud with the constant supply of conversations taking place, but the lack of annoying jokes and off-key singing has really put a dent into the normal chaos that I'm used to. That's when I realize that we're missing a certain piano playing jokester at our table.

I must be losing it if it took me this long to misplace our theatrical comedian. Though I can't blame myself too much with the lack of sleep I received last night and pretty much every other night this week. Nothing I need to my friends to worry about. If I'm lucky no one will notice right away. I turned to the redhead next to me and tap her shoulder to get her attention.

Sophie turns to me with her naturally cheerful smile. "What's up, Vi?" She asked in her bubbly personality.

I gestured to the open seat next to me hoping to get the point across without having to speak, trying to show my concern for the lack of a person next to me. I know I saw Louis earlier and it wasn't like him to be late for our daily meet up at lunch, usually wanting to get in as much time as possible to play one of his stupid card games. Even if he can be annoying as hell to the point I want to shove pencils in my ears to drown out his nonstop talking, I really did care about him. He'd always been there for me when I needed him most.

Sophie seemed to pick up on what I was trying to ask. Having a little brother at home who also didn't talk much made it easier for her to understand my silent expressions more than the others. "Oh, Louis? He said he'd be a little late today. Apparently, he's bringing someone new with him that he wanted all of us to meet."

I gave her a confused look and jotted down a quick response. "New person?"

Sophie took a sip of her Starbucks iced coffee as she read what I wrote. "Yeah, I think she just transferred here or something. I think her dad actually got offered a job. So her family moved here from Georgia so he could teach history or something like that. You'll have to ask Louis about it. He knows more than me."

As if on cue, music man appears from the crowd of people around us. "What up my fellow Ericsinners?" He happily greets getting a groan out of almost everyone in our group. "Too much?"

Marlon shakes his head popping a chip in his mouth. "You gotta keep trying Lou."

Louis waves him off. "Fine, will work on it later, but right now I want to introduce you all to a new friend of mine. This here is Clementine." I watch him step aside as he gestures to what might be the prettiest girl I've ever seen.

She has short, dark brown curly hair, that sits under a worn-out baseball cap with the letter D on it, tan Carmel skin, and these honey gold eyes, like pools of liquid amber that I could absolutely get lost in. Hey, that was actually pretty good. I should write that one down. Then I realize I'm staring longer than I should be and quickly divert my gaze down to the notebook in front of me as a slight blush overtakes me, hoping no one caught it.

I look back up once Brody strikes up a conversation with the new girl. "Hi there, Clementine. I'm Brody. Welcome to our little group." She holds out a hand for Clementine to shake and the girl gladly does with a smile.

"Thanks. Guess it's a good thing I ran into Louis in the hallway then." She states.

I wouldn't exactly call it lucky that she happened to meet Louis first, but I'm not objecting her presence.

Louis then takes the chance to introduce everyone else since he seems like he's going to explode from the lack of patience he has. "You've met our 'mom' of the group," To which Brody rolls her eyes at. "Now for everyone else. This here is Ruby our one and only country girl."

"Howdy." Ruby greets with a nod of the head.

"Marlon and his dying hairstyle..."

"Hey, I look cool." He throws back.

"Whatever you say, man. Mitch our explosives expert, Aasim the book nerd, Sophie the nice twin..."

I see a questioning look come across Clementine's face as Louis says that. "The nice twin?"

Sophie nods. "Yeah, Minnie can be a bitch most of the time. I'm her twin sister so I can legally call her that. Don't worry she's not friends with us anymore." She playfully nudges me when she says the last part. To which I fix my glasses nervously not wanting to bring up the experience. Sophie gives Clem one of her over the top smiles that just makes you want to be friends with her instantly. Honestly, sometimes I think Sophie's smile is so sweet it's addicting.

Clem laughs at this as she takes a seat across from me, Louis sitting down at my side. "Well, I'll remember to steer clear of her then."

Then I find her gaze drift from Sophie over to me and I can feel my heart start to beat inside my chest, heavy and hard, like a bass drum. "Hi, there. I don't think we've met yet."

She sends me a smile and I want to tell her my name, but I can't. The words simply don't come or any words for that matter. I'm out of practice and feel frustrated that I can't express a simple greeting to the girl across the table. She's going to hate me once she finds out about my silent spells. She wouldn't be the first. I'm discouraged by the thought and my gaze drifts downward in a troubled look. I don't want to see the rejected look she's about to throw my way.

Louis, on the other hand, decides to speak for me. "Hello, Clementine. I'm Violet. Nice to meet you." He says trying to impersonate my voice. I respond by playfully slapping him on the shoulder, rolling my eyes at his attempt. Like that sounds like me, let alone would I'd introduce myself like that. Still, at the same time, I'm grateful that he's willing to cover for me.

Louis clears his throat going back to his regular voice. "This is Violet. She, uh doesn't talk much."

I'm worried Clem's going to think it's weird that I'm not able to introduce myself. But when I look back that's not what I receive. Instead, she just continues to smile. "That's alright. Everyone has their limit of what they're comfortable with." But even though she doesn't say so, I can see it in her eyes. Clem's intrigued to know why I won't utter a single word. It's not in a malice way, she's just generally curious.

I spare a small glance and send her a slight smile showing that I appreciate her kind words before she's sucked into another conversation with the rest of our group. I mostly occupy myself with continuing to write out the story I've put together. My pencil scribbles away, the conversation taking its own twists and turns much like my story. I look at Sophie's Starbucks cup and an idea strikes me as I write down something about drugged coffee.

Another ten minutes goes by as I hear some odds and ends about Clementine's life. Apparently, she moved here from Georgia with her foster dad and adopted brother AJ. He having adopted the two of them after Clem's parents had died in a car crash when she was eight. Her dad who I think she said was named Lee is going to start teaching American history here at our school, what with Mr. Menna retiring.

I'm pulled from my thoughts when the whole table erupts into laughter. I look up and see Marlon shaking his head and realize Clem must have commented on his hair because the next thing I hear is Ruby saying how I think it looks like a dead cat. While I'm distracted and no longer have my hands all over my journal, Louis reaches over and swiftly picks it up before I can stop him.

"Well, Vi, what adventure did you write about us this time?" I can see him squint his eyes in focus as he takes the time to read a few lines on the page. "Damn, Vi! You're getting good at this." He says as he tosses the book back down in front of me.

"What's that?" I hear Clem ask, curious to know what Louis is implying.

"Well, Clem..." I hear Louis start and immediately regret letting him open his mouth. "I'll have you know that Violet here is quite the writer." I study Clem's face to gauge her reaction to the information Louis just implanted in her brain. "She likes to use pictures of past events and rewrite their story with a twist. It's actually quite entertaining."

And before I know it everyone around the table starts naming off incidents that I've put them in.

"I was almost run over by some asshole and broke my wrist," Sophie explains.

Marlon raises his hand next. "We were at some party at someone's house and my dog chased this drunk kid over the fence after he said some terrible things about us being sent to a school for troubled youth."

I'm most surprised when Mitch speaks up. "I was assigned solving a mystery case with Sophie after some mysterious letters started appearing at the school."

I look to Clem and see her face beaming with a bright smile. "That's so cool. I'd love to read some of your work sometime. That is if you're okay with that." Clem quickly adds in the last part.

I can feel my face turn slightly red from the praise I receive from the brunette. I tuck a small strand of hair behind my ear out of nervousness, but I send her a small smile and nod. I don't really show it, but I'm freaking out on the inside as my heart decides to run a marathon. She actually wants to read something that I wrote?

That's when the sound of ringing starts up as the bell goes off signaling the end of lunch. Students jump up and start to file out of the cafeteria, but my group hangs back a bit to let the cluster of people simmer down.

"So Clem? What class do you have next?" Brody asks to pass the time.

Clem takes a quick glance at her schedule that was folded up making it look more like a tour guide pamphlet. "Hmm, looks like English 1B with Mr. Cruz."

I see Louis's eyes light up like a Christmas tree as the gears in his head start to turn. This can't be good.

"Perfect! Violet here has the same class as you. She can show you where it is." He pushes me forward so I'm standing right next to the brunette.

He winks at me as he turns to leave heading to the music room. I send him a glare in the process. I know exactly what he's doing, but I cut the look short as the girl next to me comes into view. Same bright smile as before that I'm never going to get out of my head now.

"Looks like your stuck with me." She teases. But I didn't get stuck with anything, I'd lead her all the way across the country if she asked me to. I already walk everywhere, why not make it more enjoyable. We'd run away and follow a map only I could read to take us to the corners of the universe where no one could hold us back. Wow, I need to get out of my own head.

"Lead the way." She says then grabs my hand so we wouldn't get lost in the sea of people that had turned the hallways into a maze. At the contact, I swear my heart exploded...Twice!