After


"But Luke I don't wanna go!"

"Come on Clem. It won't be all that bad."

Clementine was seventeen and tomorrow was a day she'd been dreading for a while. Tomorrow the kids had to go back to school. Ever since the town had gotten back on it's feet there had been plans to create a sort of high school for the kids that had grown up in the apocalypse. And right now Clem was starting a rebellion against it.

Right now Clementine and Sarah where seated at the kitchen table with Luke talking with them.

"Come on Clem it'll be fun." Said Sarah, trying to cheer up her best friend.

"Easy for you to say, you like school." Clem fought back. She folded her arms and leaned back in her chair.

Luke picked up a bowl that was on the table and walked it over to the sink. "It's only for a year. They just want to show you things that'll help ya in life." He leaned up against the counter and folded his arms. "When was the last time you've been in school?" He asked her.

Clem thought back to when she told Lee all those years ago at Hershel's farm, when she had been talking with Katjaa. "Fist grade."

"And how was that?" Luke asked.

She shrugged. "Easy." If there was one thing she got from her parents it was learning quickly. Lee taught her how to use a gun in like...what five minutes.

"What grade where you in Sarah?" He asked.

"I was in fifth grade when everything happened, but I liked to read most of the time at home so learning came easy for me." She replied.

Clem huffed. "This is so stupid. Why do we have to learn this stuff anyway? We've done fine so far without it."

"Well for starters we don't have dead people waking around anymore." Luke joked, but his smile disappeared when he saw Clem wasn't amused. "Look...things are different now. Now a days people aren't just trying to survive, they have jobs and things to do."

" If it makes it any better you where gonna learn this stuff anyway." Sarah explained.

"How did you know that?" Clem asked.

"My dad told me." Sarah said with a smile. "He said that one day I would go to a bigger school and learn even more and that one day he hoped that I would go to college and become a doctor like him."

Clementine gave her a funny look. "Why would you want to do that?"

"To make him happy!" Sarah explained. "Although now that I think about it, I might want to become a librarian."

Clem rolled her eyes. "Whatever! I still don't want to go back. I liked the way things are now."

Luke shrugged. "Sorry kid. That's just the way things are."

Clem sighed. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw the time. "Well if this is my last day of freedom, I might as well go hang out with my friends." She stood up from the table and walked to the back door grabbing her sweat jacket and slipping it on. Then she walked out the door. She was supposed to meet Skylar and Wendy at three outside her house.

Walking off the porch she spotted them coming up the road. She walked out to meet them. "Hey guys's." She said in a sad kind of tone.

"Hey Clem!" Sky greeted. "Guess your not excited for tomorrow, but who would be."

"Sarah." Clementine flatly said.

"Huh, this is so unfair!" Shouted Wendy. "This blows." She kicked a rock that was in the road, sending it a few feet away from them.

They continued walking down the road not going anywhere particular. Clem had her hands in her sweat jacket pockets. "I just wish there was some way we could stop it from happening, or like destroy it somehow."

Wendy stopped. "Dude will totally go throw some water balloons at the windows later. Just the three of us."

Clem smiled. "Sounds like a plan!" She gave Wendy a thumbs up.

"And I'll bring the silly string!" Sky put in pointing at herself. Then the three of them laughed.

Clem looked to the ground as the road traveled under her feet and smiled. She was glad that she had great friends like them. "You know I guess it's not to bad at least will all be in the same room together."

"Whoa now! Don't go getten' all sentimental on me now." Wendy joked, playfully shoving Clem causing the three of them to laugh again.

It became silent a few seconds later as they continued to walk until Clementine spoke up. "So what are we going to do today?"

Wendy stopped them. "Look dudes this is the last day of our so called summer vacation." She made air quotes with her hands when she said that. "So we gotta make the most of it."

"Let' go out with a bang!" Said Sky.

Wendy put her finger to her chin as if she was thinking very hard about a certain decision. "Perfect! I know a place where we can get really cheap fireworks. We could light them off tonight."

"And we can get everyone together and hang out." Added Sky.

"Cool! We can meet at the clearing around eight thirty." Said Clem. "So where's this place?" She asked Wendy, referring to where they would get the fire works.

"Come on I'll show you!" She gestured with her hand for them to follow her. They turned down one of the roads and headed for the other edge of town.


"Wendy! What'er you doin' hear on a Sunday?"

" I need to call in a favor." She said.

Stan Pines owner on the Mystery Shack lived on the outer edge of town, on the complete opposite side of where Clementine lived.

"Hmm...What kind of favor are we talking about?" He asked as he rubbed his chin with his hand pondering this thought.

"We need some fireworks for tonight." Sky explained.

"Fireworks eh? That'll cost ya."

Wendy pulled out a twenty. "Thank you." He said as he put it in his front shirt pocket.

He walked over to a closet door and opened it to reveal a box of what probably where illegal fireworks. "Here you go kids! It's all right to give kids explosive items for fun right?"

"Umm..Sure!" Clem replied, not seeing the harm in a few fireworks, seeing how they did just come from the apocalypse where pretty much everyone carried some sort of gun or weapon.


Leaving the shack Wendy had told them to go tell everyone the plan while she got everything ready at her place.

Sky told Abigail and Rachel about it while Clem went to go tell Tommy and later would tell Sarah. She approached his house and saw him on the front porch reading. She walked across his yard. He looked up hearing her shoes on the grass. "Well look who it is." He got up and set his book down next to him on the table then made his way over to her.

"Hey Tommy!" She greeted. She walked up to him and leaned in close and they kissed each other.

He smiled at her and hugged her for a minute. "So what brings you here?"

"Me, Wendy, and Sky thought all of us could get together tonight and we bought some fireworks to light off." She explained.

"Sure, sounds like fun." He said.

"I guess." She said sadly.

Tommy gave her a look. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked knowing something was definitely bothering her.

"Nothing." She responded calmly.

"Clem," He spoke softly. "I know somethings bothering you. What's wrong?"

She sighed. "I'm...I'm just not excited for tomorrow." She admitted.

He gave her a comforting smile. "I know what you mean. I didn't like school either."

They sat down together on the steps of Tommy's porch. Clem spoke up. "I mean, I used to like school, but after everything that's happened, after everything that we've been through do we really have to go back. I like the way things are."

Tommy wrapped his arm around her pulling her close. "You know my mom used to be a teacher."

Clem looked at him shocked. "Really? You never told me that!"

He chuckled. "Yeah and she never let me forget it. You know during the apocalypse she made me do work like in school so I wouldn't fall behind."

She gave him a look. "Your kidding!?"

"No I'm serious, You can ask her yourself. That's why I'm so good at math." He explained. "If you want I could help you. I'm sure my mom would love to also."

She smiled at him. "You'd do that for me?"

"Of course. Where a team!" He smiled at her.

"Thanks." She told him.

"So I'll meet you there later?" He asked while they stood up.

"Yep, I'll see you later. Love you!" She said.

"Love you more!" He called after her as she started her way home.


Entering her house Clem spotted Sarah lying on the couch reading. "Hey guess what!"

Sarah looked up. "Hey Clementine, what's going on?" She put her book down and sat up.

Clem got excited. "Me, Sky, and Wendy just got our hands on some fireworks from that old shack across town."

Sarah gave her a disgusted look. "you mean that weird one, with the old guy that likes to scam everyone out of their money."
"Yeah!"

"Why'd you but them from there?" Sarah asked.

Clem shrugged. "I don't know. It was Wendy's idea. I think it's the place she was talking about working at." She shrugged it off not really caring. "Anyway where getting everyone together tonight to light them off, you know since it's our last night of freedom." She said that last part sarcastically.

"Sounds great!" Said Sarah. "I'll be there."


Later around eight thirty Tommy, Clementine, and Sarah walked into the clearing seeing Wendy, Skylar, Rachel, and Abigail already setting up. Sarah looked surprised. "Wow you really weren't kidding."

Clem gave her an offended look. "Since when have I ever joked around about something like this."

Sarah folded her arms. "Really? Just how many times have you and Wendy pranked all of us?"

"Your right." Clem said.

"Thank you." Said Sarah Pleased. That is until Clem shot back, "It was hilarious."

"Nice one!" Wendy came up and gave Clem a high five.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Alright that's enough you two." Rachel told them. "Where just about ready."

Sarah helped Abigail spread out a blanket on the ground a few yards away.

"Anyone got a lighter?" Wendy asked.

Tommy pulled one that he had brought out of his back pocket. "Here you go."

Just as he was about to hand it to her a voice spoke up. "What do you kids think your doing!"

They looked to see standing a few feet away with a disappointing look on his face. "There's no way you kids are lighting off these fireworks!" Wendy was about to protest when his look of anger turned to a smile. "Without me." He added.

Minuets later they where all having fun watching as the different colors filled the night sky as Stan light the fireworks off. Tommy was seated on the ground with Clem right next to him and his arm around her. "So you still worried about tomorrow?" He asked her.

She looked up at him and smiled. "As long as your there I think everything will be just fine." Then they leaned in and his lips met hers and they kissed as the fireworks went off around them.


The next day.

Mr. Thompson the principle stood in front of the building in front of him. "What happened to my school!?" He cried, seeing pieces of broken water balloons and dried water marks on the windows of the school.


Hey guys! Another chapter done! Honestly I really got into this chapter. It reminded me of when I wrote "Letting Her Go" Now I bet a lot of you are wondering why I had to drag them into school and that's because it corresponds with a chapter I'll be writing in the future. Otherwise without this one it would sound weird. But that's for another time. So anyway hope you liked it. And let me know what needs to be improved. I know it's not perfect.