Clementine sighs, watching Luke and Pete approach Lee and the classic group. She folds her arms and looks back to Duck.
"Fine. Let's go decorate the tree with Sarah and that lady. What's her name again?"
"Sarita! That's my step-mom, kinda." The two walk back inside, the door closing behind them.
"Do you like her? Does Kenny seem.. Happy with her?" Clem asks, walking next to Duck.
"Dad loves Sarita, to death. I like her, she's cool and all. I used to really not like her, but now we get along fine." Duck answers.
While they walk, Christa gives Clem a look of annoyance. Clem ducks her head to avoid her wrath. Furthermore, the discussion that Luke, Pete, Lee, Christa, Ben and Kenny are having is inaudible to the kids.
Sarita is humming when Clem and Duck approach, both her and Sarita decorating the huge twelve foot Christmas Tree next to the staircase. Ornaments hang from the pricks of each side of the tree, beautiful reds and greens and whites lit up magically. Clem has to take a step back to appreciate it.
"I haven't seen one of these since…" She trails off, just admiring the beautiful decoration. Duck beams.
"What's that song you're humming?" Sarah asks, putting a little red ball on the tree.
"Good King Winceslas. It's my favorite Christmas song." Sarita replies, a warm smile on her face.
"What's it about?"
"Well.. it's about a king that brings food to a poor man. The king and his servant walk all night through a cold winter storm to bring food to the man. The storm is very strong, after a long time it gets so cold that the servant can't go on. But the king tells the servant to just step in his tracks." Sarita explains before singing, "Mark my footsteps, good my page. Tread thou in them boldly. Thou shalt find the winter's rage, freeze thy blood less coldly." Her voice is actually really nice for someone who's spent the last few years surviving the apocalypse. Light but sweet.
"I don't get it." Sarah replies, unimpressed.
"It means that doing good things for people can be good for you too."
"But the servant wouldn't have been out there in the first place if the king hadn't made him."
"Ha, good point."
Sensing the conversation was over, Clem makes herself known. "Hello, Sarita."
Sarita turns around and smiles wholesomely. "Oh, hello Clem! Duck, why so coy?"
Duck looks a bit distant, staring at a corner with less of a smile than he usually has plastered on his round face. "Huh? Oh, I'm just showing Clementine around. What's coy?"
She giggles. "Heh, it doesn't matter. Do you two want to help with the tree?"
"We'd love to." Clem smiles.
"Great, that box on the ground is filled with ornaments. We're almost done here, but please help yourselves." And so they do, getting on their knees to sort through the box of surprisingly plentiful dedads and dolls. Duck puts a bird ornament up while Clem finds a cute sparkle one and hangs it up. "Clem, you knew the boys from before, right? It must be incredible to see them again. When I met Kenny.. Well, he's so different now."
"Did he ever say anything about.. Before?"
There's a bit of an awkward pause. Sarita seems to distract herself with decorating while she thinks of a reply. "..No. He doesn't like to talk about before. Everything takes a little coaxing these days"
Clem looks down. "Oh."
The four don't talk, including Duck, who seems to be even more distant than before. He shimmies his way to the other side of the tree and begins talking to Sarah. "..Hey, um, what's your name again?"
"Oh, it's Sarah.." She pauses when she sees his face, eyes widening as she investigates his features. Her tan cheeks turn red. "Oh, wow.. A boy my age? You're a-a boy? I mean, how old are you?"
"Thirteen. You?"
"F-fifteen.."
"Cool! Clementine's eleven."
She twiddles her thumbs, looking downward. "...I know."
"Do you like drawing?"
She looks back up at him with a big, nervous smile. "Heck yeah- I mean, su-sure, but I'm not good at it." She whimpers that last part out.
"When we're done, I'll show you all about my art!"
"Okay..!"
Clem just smirks and shakes her head at the mess Sarah was. It takes everything in Sarita's power not to chuckle at the situation.
They all look up at the tree a few minutes later, proud of their work. "Perfect. Now we just need a topper." The top of the tree is missing something to really make it pop.
Sarah looks at Clem from behind the tree. "My family used to put an angel on top of the tree."
"Really? Mine too!"
"Then it's settled. Duck, why don't you put the angel on top of the tree?"
"Sure! Be right back!" Duck walks away to the staircase, climbing upward to retrieve the topper. While the two are alone, Sarita talks to Clem and Sarah.
"Matthew and Walter are amazing people. Honestly it's dangerous to be this kind, but they can't help it."
Clem nods. "Matthew's really nice. Without him, we'd be spending the night in the woods. Again."
"Oh yeah, he's a real character. The first time he met me, he called me 'Rita. So I call him Matty now."
"That's weird." Sarah shrugs.
"Isn't it?" Sarita retorts with a chuckle. Then she turns to Clem and gets more serious. "Clem.. I wanted to ask you something: Does Kenny seem different to you?" The question makes the two look over at Kenny, who seems to be in a serious discussion. "I didn't know him before, and well.. I'm curious."
"He's.. different. I didn't know him too well, he talked more to other members of our group, but he's.. Better now I think."
"Oh. Good."
"Well, you three have been busy!" Kenny enters after noticing the girls staring at him. Duck puts the topper on the tree, much to Sarah's amazement, while the girls turn to face Ken.
"Kenny! Isn't it great?" While Sarita waits for his answer, she tries to pick up a box of ornaments by herself. Kenny intercepts, putting his hands on the box.
"I got it, hun."
"I think I can manage, Ken."
"I said I got it!"
His voice echoes throughout the lodge, even rivaling the music playing softly by the foodcourt. Sarita, Sarah, Clem, Lee, Luke, Pete, Ben, Christa and Duck all look at him as he walks away with the box. Sarita quickly changes her expression from shocked to playing it off with a smile.
"Always has to play the gentleman. But I tell you, when I first met him, he couldn't lift a fly.." Sarita walks away, following her boyfriend. Duck comes back downstairs and walks off to show Sarah his art.
Lee approaches, side glaring at Kenny before looking down at Clem.
"You okay?"
Clem looks up impatiently. "Of course I am. What could possibly hurt me here?" Lee kneels down and licks his thumb before smearing something off her face. "Lee.."
"Sorry, sweet pea. Had some walker blood on your cheek." He smiles. She gives a soft smile in return.
"Thanks.. I guess. What happened with Kenny and Ben?"
"Well, I guess Luke and Pete know about our plan."
"Yeah.. that was Duck's bad."
"I could tell. We talked it out, and we decided that our best course of action is to tell the others after dinner, then get this place secure in case of an attack. Pete said we shouldn't attack Howe's, so they won't. If we want Molly, Chuck and Carley back, me, Kenny, you, Christa, Ben and Duck will have to get them back ourselves. Like we did at Crawford to get the medicine and tools for the boat."
"Lee.. This plan, it's-"
"Everyone, dinner is served! Come on, let's eat." Walt announces, cutting the girl off. Lee knows what she was going to say, an expression of disappointment on his face. It doesn't seem to be directed at Clem specifically though. He sighs, stands up and walks toward the tables, of which there are two.
Clem follows shortly afterward, with the rest of the cabin group, lodge group and main group finding somewhere to sit. Clementine watches as a swarm of hungry people collect dishes and find a place to sit. By the time she finds some food, she notices that both tables have been filled up. On one table sits Luke, Pete, Alvin, Rebecca, Nick, Sarah, Carlos and Christa. On the other table sits Lee, Kenny, Sarita, Matthew, Duck and Ben. There's one free spot on both tables.
Luke raises his hand and waves Clem over, but before he can say anything he hears Kenny's booming voice say "Right here, Clem!"
She looks between the two, the eyes of Kenny, Lee, Luke, Sarah and Duck all resting on her. Which clique will she sit with?
Choices (Clementine)
A: Sit with Luke's clique
B: Sit with Kenny's clique
Relationships
Lee: 10/10 (He doesn't blame you for Luke and Pete knowing about the drama)
Carley: 10/10
Christa: 8/10 (She doesn't blame you for Luke and Pete knowing about the drama, but she definitely blames Duck)
Molly: 8/10
Chuck: 10/10
Kenny: 10/10 (He appreciates you bonding with Duck)
Duck: 10/10 (He's happy you don't care anymore about what he blurted out!)
Ben: 8/10
Walter: 7/10
Matthew: 7/10
Sarita: 7/10 (You and Sarita got to know each other well.)
Luke: 7/10
Pete: 9/10
Nick: 9/10
Carlos: 8/10
Sarah: 10/10 (She's glad you chose to spend time with her, and overjoyed that she got to meet Duck)
Alvin: 8/10
Rebecca: 7/10
Carver: 0/10