Clementine wasn't having a very good day. Or past few weeks. Or past few months.

Clementine sat on the cushion by her window. It let her sit and peer out of it, and often on nights like this, she would walk over and sit, just looking out into the night, or what she could see of it.

Clem wasn't used to loneliness. Truly she didn't expect to start the school year the way she did. She didn't expect her friends to turn their backs on her because of one rumor.

Truth is, she didn't know if she liked girls or not. But she knew she didn't like Adrianne. Definitely not. Sure, Adrianne was nice when you knew her, and she always treated Clementine with respect and included her. And yet she spread rumors, because of what? Did Clem stare too long? Did Clem act weird to her? Or maybe she just didn't like her, so she decided to spread a false rumor.

The loneliness had been getting to her. Especially after going so long without anyone around and avoiding her family, it was a breath of fresh air to be able to have Beth as a new friend. She hoped that with Beth around, it wouldn't be so hard

She felt so excited to see her today, and at the beginning, she thought Beth was too. But through the day she couldn't help but feel that Beth was tired of her. Clem would understand if she was, her mom had always told her she went overboard sometimes.

She didn't know why she sat at her window pondering such things. Maybe she should just give up. Making friends was a mistake and she shouldn't bother to even try and make friends anymore-

She was interrupted by the soft movement of a curtain, and then the sliding open of a window.

Out came the tired-looking face of one Elizabeth Lee. Clem perked up, only to deflate once more, remembering what she was thinking about only moments before. She noticed Beth, strikingly blue eyes illuminated by the moonlight that managed to peek through. Perpetually messy blonde hair tied back from her face.

"It's a full moon tonight," Beth all but whispered, it took Clem a moment to be able to process it. She nodded, she didn't want to respond.

They sat in silence. There was a certain heaviness to the air that only late-night talks and banter could have. Finally, Clem decided to bite the bullet and ask Beth if she found her annoying. Maybe she would get an honest answer and it would hurt, maybe she would tell her a comforting lie, she didn't care, she just wanted to ask.

"Do you find me annoying?" Clem asked.

Beth was surprised, and hesitated, she sighed and then explained, "No, I don't find you annoying. I just find you a bit much at times. You seem much more sociable than me, and it's hard to keep up with conversation sometimes. It's not your fault, I just get tired when I talk to people for too long," Beth shrugged, "But I don't find you annoying, in fact, I find you quite a cool person."

Clem smiled because she felt relieved. Beth had been honest, but it didn't hurt. She felt a little embarrassed because that seemed more obvious now. And now her little bout of worry seemed meaningless now.

There was a silence, then Beth piped up, "I just wanted to ask, am I the first friend you have had in a while?"

Clem stayed silent. There was a certain amount of shame to that question. There was also the worry she would start asking more questions like everyone else seemed to do. Why don't you have friends anymore? What did you do? You used to be so popular, what happened?

Clem had been holding her breath, which she had not realized, and finally, she let a pent-up breath out into the cold night air. She leaned her head back feeling a soft tap of the wall on the back of her head.

"Yeah you are," Clem answered.

Beth didn't say anything, she only nodded, she turned her head away from Clem, which Clem felt grateful for, she already felt enough shame as is.

"You're my first friend in a while too," Beth mumbled. She was playing with her fingers again.

In the darkness of the night, the full moon shone through the trees and onto the ground below them. There was a feeling of warmth that Clem felt. Something she didn't feel when she was with any of her other friends. Her mom said once that it was like a feeling of connection, and you only have special people who make you feel like that.

Clem liked the feeling. It was comforting, it was relaxing. It told her she would be alright. She felt her eyes get heavy. Which was nice, because she really did want to get some shut-eye.

"Damn, we only met a day ago," Clem laughed, putting her arm over her eyes. But there was a certain feeling she couldn't quite replace. Maybe it was the feeling of aching loneliness that is what was making them go so quickly.

Truly, there were things they would have to learn about each other, and in order to truly connect, they had to spend more time, make more memories, and maybe that's what the both of them would be willing to do. She hoped Beth would.

She could hear Beth laugh too, it was a nice sound, "Well, you wanna hang out soon then, get to know each other better?" Beth proposed, Clem removed her arm from her eyes and looked at Beth.

She hadn't expected that.

Clem smiled because it had been so long since she had been able to hang out with someone, "Yeah, we could hang out. What would you like to do?"

Beth was smiling, more in amusement than anything, it might have been the look on Clem's face, like an excited puppy. She shrugged putting her arms behind her back, "Well, since we live so close to each other, we could just go in between houses. Like maybe watch a movie at your, or play games at mine?"

Clem scooted closer to the window, "Yeah that sounds good for me. Next time we could go to the mall, or maybe we could go exploring in the woods, or maybe we could go to a party," Clem rambled on, and she stopped herself when she realized she had been.

"We could do all of those things yeah," Beth agreed, she seemed to be writing them down. Clem fought back the urge to laugh, sometimes she did the most peculiar things, even before they had known each other.

She had noticed Beth before they started talking. She was always quiet, never got called on, always did her work, and was always at the top of the class. Once it had been infuriating, to have a student do better than you when in most of their classes they are asleep or close to it.

But she started to notice the little quirks she had. Like how she would play with her fingers when she was uncomfortable, or how she would close her eyes when things were too loud. After a while, she found those parts of her charming instead of infuriating.

Maybe it was strange to care so much about one girl. She had other friends to worry about, but Elizabeth still bothered her for some reason.  They had gone to the same schools, been neighbors for years, and even their older siblings had once been friends, yet they never exchanged a word.

She got the feeling Beth was a bit reclusive, even when she hadn't talked to her. She never saw her with any other friends, never really saw her hang out with anyone. Maybe she had faint memories in middle school of her walking with some other girls, but nothing much else.

"I just wanted to know, and you don't have to answer this, what happened to your other friends?" Beth questioned. She had a delicate look on her face like she didn't want to upset Clementine.

Clem smiled, even though she didn't want to. She was expecting this question sooner or later, best to get it out of the way. But there was a certain feeling of fear, she didn't want Beth to know why everyone had ditched her, what if she does too?

"I hung out with someone they didn't like, that's why they ditched me. Stupid right?" Clem lied. Beth didn't look particularly convinced, but she didn't question further, only nodding.

Only she did, asking a second later, "Well who was that?"

"Just two guys they didn't like," Clem answered shortly. Beth still didn't look convinced.

"And who were they?" 

"Some kid named Adrian and another called Ezekiel. I don't talk to them anymore,"

"Adrian, huh?"

And finally, Beth let it go. She seemed like she wasn't satisfied, but she didn't say anything further. There was another long silence, as the conversation seemed aplenty with those. But it was nice, it was comfortable.

Clem never felt the need to fill conversation with needless small talk. She found it mind-numbing and awkward, and on some levels, painful to engage in. She tried to fill conversation with something that had meaning, something she enjoyed talking about.

But she didn't know what Beth liked, sure they had shared their hobbies once in their third period the day before, but the thing is, that never opened the door to conversation. Like small talk, it was meaningless filler that didn't commit or open up a conversation to anything.

Maybe she would find it out when they hang out, but now, Clem felt very tired, she just wanted to go to bed.

"I'm going to head in for the night. Thanks for talking with me," Beth told her, catching Clementine off guard as she was engulfed in her thoughts.

Clem nodded, "Yeah, me too, I'm exhausted,"

"Have a good night Clem."

"You too, Beth."