⊱ 13 ~ ❝ the best of friends ❞ ⊰
〖season two, episode six〗

Another search for Sophia Peletier was being conducted with a map spread out over the hood of a car ⎯⎯ Shane, Rick, and Jimmy standing over the map. Clementine stood with the toes of her sneakers on the front bumper so she could see the map just as well as them . . . not that it helped much with her having no idea how to read a map.

She held onto the hood, reaching up to plug her ear with her finger when Shane let out a whistle right next to her. "Hey! Peach man." Shane shouted over to Glenn who was in what looked like a deep conversation with Lori.

"Jeez." Clem grimaced, tilting her head away from Shane dramatically. "You're gonna blow out my ear drum."

"All right . . . All right." Rick quickly cooled it down, bringing it back to what they were originally talking about. He referred to where exactly he thought they should search next by pointing at random spots on the map. "The creek flows south, past that farmhouse Daryl found. Maybe Sophia dropped the doll there, the current brought it downstream."

Perplexed, Shane pressed his fingertips to his forehead before motioning where Rick had just pointed. "So what, you think she took this road here and then she went North?"

Rick gave a weak nod, that was what he thought, but he wasn't all that sure about it anyway. "Yeah. What's up that way?" He turned to Jimmy ⎯⎯ the go-to guy for all the map knowledge when he claimed to know plenty about the surrounding area.

"A housing development. It went in maybe . . . ten years ago."

That information made Rick more sure of his assumption ⎯⎯ in a housing development, Sophia was probably more likely to be comfortable camping out in a neighborhood whether she was scared or not. "Take a run up there after gun practice." Clem looked back and forth between Rick and Shane at the mention of a gun practice ⎯⎯ an experience she did not want to be a part of . . . or anywhere within earshot of the gunfire for that matter. She would have asked about it if the discussion didn't quickly move on. "I'll hold down the fort here, but take backup. After what went down with Daryl, I don't want anyone going out alone. We stay in pairs."

Shane nodded turning to face Glenn as he finally walked up, right behind Clementine. "I'll take suggestions on a partner."

"See how they do on the range, then take your pick."

Clementine's eyes widened at the sight of peaches plucked straight from a tree. Canned fruit always made her squeamish growing up, she would only eat it straight from the fruit section at a grocery store ⎯⎯ that was about as close to fresh fruit as she could get.

These however were completely fresh, and excited would have been an understatement. "Oooh!" She exclaimed, hopping off the car's bumper and reaching her hand into the basket for one herself while Rick and Shane thanked Glenn for the breakfast.

She tossed it around in her hands, not noticing Glenn stood off to the side ⎯⎯ as awkward as ever and dragging his eyes between Rick and Lori. Not until Shane spoke up through his mouthful of peach. "My binoculars."

Glenn quickly set down the basket of fruit. "Yeah ⎯⎯ oh, yeah." He muttered, grabbing the binoculars off from where it was strapped over his shoulder and handing it to Shane. Even more hastily, he swiped up the basket and darted away without another word.

At the behavior, Rick and Shane shared confused glances, laughing quietly at Glenn.

Between them, Clem shrugged, shaking her head subtly at Glenn once again. "Ignore him, he's been growing more awkward by the day, I swear." She waved her hand in a physical gesture to brush off Glenn's demeanor which as she rightfully declared, was indeed becoming more typical of him.

Happily, she skipped away with her peach in hand, going toward the picnic table where she left her doll sitting. Once seated, she pulled out her pocket knife and started cutting the peach in half. She could have just taken a bite out of it, but honestly, ⎯⎯ she wanted to get to use the knife for once.

• ───────────────── •

Slicing her peach into wedges, and eating one by one . . . she was happy in her moment of silence just eating her small breakfast with her doll sitting with her.

Suddenly people were talking about Carl, and him having a gun ⎯⎯ and she had already finished eating so she promptly walked over to find out all the details. The adults were crowded in a circle a few feet away from where Carl sat on a different picnic table's bench, hunched over with his elbows on his knees.

"What happened?" She asked, sitting down next to him, tilting her head to look at him until he sat up straight. "You took a gun?"

He nodded, looking a tad ashamed for that revelation ⎯⎯ stealing was a strong word, but judging by the look on his face, that must have been exactly what he did. "Yeah."

Clem glanced over her shoulder at the adults, Lori did not look happy . . . and after Clem saw what a gun could do, she didn't blame Lori in the slightest for feeling any way about her son having one. "Why did you want it?" A knife was holstered on his belt buckle, he must have been given one to replace the one he let Clementine keep ⎯⎯ she mentally noted that she probably didn't have to hide the pocket knife she had from Rick or Lori because they most likely knew. "You have a knife."

A harrumph came from him at her questioning and obvious statements. He knew he had a knife when he took the gun, that much didn't stop him at all. "We should know how to use them . . . it's what's safest ⎯⎯"

"You got shot, Carl."

He got more annoyed at that comment, pressing his palms into his knees as he turned to face her. "Don't you want to be able to protect yourself? Help find Sophia?" Carl asked, demanding an answer but not giving her time to give one when he had more to say. "A little knife won't do anything for us. We're half the size of most walkers, Clementine."

The point he had achieved to make was loud and clear. Clem swiftly fell silent. Not a word said was wrong ⎯⎯ but she still couldn't find the willpower to hold a gun herself after seeing the damage it could cause firsthand. While she was churning her thoughts around, trying to come up with a reasonable response ⎯⎯ Lori's voice suddenly cut through, much louder than any of the prior hushed words neither child could make out.

"He's not mature enough to handle a gun."

Carl stood up quickly, facing his mother now. "I'm not gonna play with it, Mom. It's not a toy. I'm sorry I disappointed you, but I want to look for Sophia and I want to defend our camp. I can't do that without a gun."

From beside Lori, Rick seemed to agree with his son and helped the boy's case. "Shane's the best instructor I know. I've seen him teach kids younger than Carl."

A moment stretched on with nobody saying a word. The final decision was left to Lori and she was hesitating on whatever her first instinct was leaning toward. But, Clem wanted to scream in that moment. She could understand protection and safety and what dangers were out there that caused everyone else to want a gun attached to their hips at all times ⎯⎯ but also couldn't understand at all.

To be able to fathom a twelve-year-old knowing how to handle a firearm was something that required a level of trust in the weapon that Clementine did not have.

What Clementine wanted to do did not matter at all though, this was something for the Grimes family to figure out, and she had no place to give her opinion on the matter. Besides, Lori had already made her decision. "You will take this seriously and you will behave responsibly. And if I hear from anyone in this camp that you are not living up to our expectations ⎯⎯"

"He won't let you down." Rick firmly declared, looking at his son and raising his eyebrows. Telling Carl he better agree with that statement or he would not get what he wanted.

"Yeah."

Everyone else was gathering around in vehicles ⎯⎯ it looked like Beth, Patricia, and Jimmy were going as well. T-Dog knew how to use a gun, so he was going to oversee and help to the best of his abilities. Dale, Carol, Lori, and Glenn were the only ones left to head toward the cars, but they decided to stay.

Rick led Carl toward the car where Shane was loading up guns. "Now if you're gonna do this, you listen to Shane."

"Okay, Dad."

Rick looked back to find Clementine when she didn't show up by the car. He expected her to quickly follow in Carl's footsteps ⎯⎯ to want to learn just as badly as Carl. Regardless of those assumptions . . . Clementine had already decided what she wanted, and it was to not ever hold a gun. On the heel of her sneakers, she spun around and walked away.

What she normally would have done was resort to burying her feelings about the guns and instead, push herself to go through with learning just to avoid being the only one left out. This somehow felt different . . . she couldn't stomach it, and would rather force herself to be okay with spending her day alone.

• ───────────────── •

Alone, was exactly how she spent her day, just like she thought she would. Dale and Carol were around, but she stayed away and sat elsewhere, playing with her doll.

Her dilemma was picking a name for the doll because Beth never claimed she had one picked out. It didn't sound right to name it Clementine even though they looked alike. She was doing her hair in various ways ⎯⎯ high bun, low bun, braid, ponytail, pigtails, and settled to just let the doll's hair down flat when none of it spurred a name to mind. She put her own glasses over the doll's much smaller eyes for a moment, but that didn't help.

Dale walked over with campfire-fried spam on a plate and handed it to her. "Here, it's not as bad as it might look. Okay?" With a questioning grimace, she nodded as he sat down next to her. "How are you doin'?"

"I'm fine." She shrugged, bending her doll's legs into a sitting position and setting her down on the table next to her plate. "Hungry, for sure . . . I don't know if I'm hungry enough for this, though."

He chuckled breathily. "Well, I remember you said you didn't like mushrooms. So, I cooked your spam longer than everyone else's ⎯⎯ tried to make it more crispy for you." Dale explained, setting a fork onto her plate.

Clementine grabbed the fork, poking and prodding at the spam curiously. "Yeah, I saw you pass them out a while ago. You were talkin' to Lori . . . she looked upset."

"I was just tellin' her about my wife." He said, excusing Lori having walked away from him abruptly. "Go ahead, let me know if it tastes good."

In the distance, Clem could see Shane and Andrea return ⎯⎯ Dale and Carol meeting them as they exit the vehicle. She pressed the side of her fork into the spam, cutting off a chunk before stabbing it with the fork prongs and eating it.

It wasn't bad. Surely, seasoning could have made a huge difference, but in the light of the new world, she wasn't all that picky about that factor. But Dale's mission to make it less mushy was indeed successful.

She peaked up at the others when she saw Carol coax Andrea away from Shane and Dale ⎯⎯ what was happening? What was she missing out on? That familiar feeling of being the only one to not know something started to bubble up, and she quickly ate the rest of her food.

By the time she had finished, Shane and Dale had moved a few steps into camp and whatever was being discussed started to look much more heated. Shane stood close to Dale, up in his face ⎯⎯ so close that if it was her she probably would have been incredibly uncomfortable, but Dale's expression only showed a form of shocked confusion.

Clementine quickly approached, hearing only the very end of it all. But, the tone of voice Shane was giving one of Clem's favorite people was enough to put her off.

"What do you think?" Shane said lowly ⎯⎯ his voice raspy with an angry scowl.

"Step back." She hissed, planting her feet beside Dale and gently reaching behind her to her back pocket where the pocket knife was tucked away. With her hand resting there, she waited for him to make a move ⎯⎯ and was fairly certain that despite guns scaring the shit out of her . . . stabbing Shane in the side was definitely something she would do if he took another step toward Dale.

Shane released a scoff, breathing out a distasteful laugh and walking away whilst shaking his head at the both of them.

Clem watched the man retreat as she turned her body to face Dale and then finally looked up at him once Shane was out of hearing distance. "Dale? What's wrong?"

His teeth were gritted together but he tried his best to mask that as he pulled his attention to Clementine instead. "Nothing . . . just having a chat."

"Why's he look so mad?" She tried to pry it out of him. None of the puzzle pieces fit together in her mind.

Dale crouched down in front of her, gently grabbing her hands, and brushing his thumbs over her knuckles. "Shane just . . . we aren't the best of friends. Sometimes people don't get along."

That wasn't good enough ⎯⎯ and she didn't believe it for even a second that a simple conversation would warrant such a venomous tone to be directed toward Dale. He was the first person to care for her and not a bone in her body could believe he would ever do anything wrong.

Shane was progressively becoming someone she couldn't stand at all as the days went on. Every day it seemed he added a new reason to look at him and say, what the hell was he thinking?

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〈〈 𝐀 𝐔 𝐓 𝐇 𝐎 𝐑 𝐒 𝐍 𝐎 𝐓 𝐄 〉〉

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Did I trick you with the title?

I giggle like a maniac every time someone predicts Clementine going on a tangent and quickly cuts her off. "Clem . . ." "Okay, Clementine." "All right, All right." Like these adults are fed up with her low-key but they love her so much. (Except Shane, go fk yourself)

I also got jumpscared by the Andrea and Shane scene when finding a clip for the gif at the beginning... send prayers, I may never recover.

I expected this Chapter to be much shorter, to be honest. But without the "Author Note" this chapter only has like 200 fewer words than the last chapter.

Nothing happens that Clementine would be a part of. I thought of making a T-Dog and Clementine scene but he went to the shooting range with the others so he wasn't where she was. I also considered Clementine going to see Daryl, because she does have a newfound curiosity about him, but he's just lying in a tent reading a book so I opted for not doing that.

Spoiler Alert: Clementine's opinions on guns will change VASTLY by the end of season two for reasons I will not explain at this moment. But who can blame her for being scared of them at the current time when Carl gets shot, and Daryl gets shot? And, it's not mentioned but the fact that who shot Carl (Otis) is also dead when he even knew how to use guns and had the ability to protect himself, also plays a part.

Fanfic Editing Account: thinn.skinned.wp

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