Chapter One:

"I've got the worst break out. Like seriously, look at my skin. It just looks… dull. I drink like, ton of water every day, and I still look like a damn zombie"

Michonne glanced at Lori as shoved her books in her locker, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at her friend's amateur dramatics, "You look fine.."

The brunette ignored her, "Will a face mask make it worse? I want to try one but…"

"It's fine."

"My mom thinks that I'm allergic to this new soap I've been using, but I'm not breaking out anywhere else. It's literally just on my face…", She snapped the mirror shut with a huff, dropping her head against the locker door.

"There's nothing there, so stop stressing. That will make it worse", Michonne countered firmly, giving Lori an unimpressed look.

The girl pouted, smoothing her cheerleading uniform, "Alright. Fine. You're right. You're always right"

"I am", Michonne smirked, her eyes tracing over the contents of her locker.

"Well… Since you're always right…", Lori began to grin at her, "How about you help me before my English test tomorrow? Lunch time?"

Michonne cringed, giving her an apologetic look, "Field trip"

Lori's shoulders fell, "Oh yeah. I forgot. Rick's going too"

She nodded, closing her locker door.

Her friend let out a little gasp, "Then how about-"

"Hey."

Michonne didn't immediately look at the male teen that greeted them when he approached their lockers. She quite frankly, didn't want to, and she was sure the feeling was mutual.

"Hey!", Lori chirped, wearing a large smile as she beamed at her boyfriend, "We were just talking about you"

Michonne had only just been in her locker, but she needed somewhere to hide, so she opened the door again.

"Yeah?", He rasped in a questioning tone.

"You're going on that field trip tomorrow, right? You're both abandoning me here"

"Oh yeah.. to the museum or somethan'..."

Michonne began rearranging her books, purely to look as if she was busy, and not eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Well the good news is, I got my mom to reschedule my doctor's appointment so I'll be here to cheer you on, on Friday", Lori excitedly rose on her toes, bouncing like a small child.

"Oh yeah? That's great", her boyfriend didn't sound as excited, but Michonne was sure he was giving her his trademark crooked smile.

"I'm hoping a certain someone…", Lori nudged Michonne, "Will come along"

She glanced at her friend with a raised brow, "Count me out"

"Oh come on!", Lori urged, "Rick tell her, please? She thinks they're boring"

Michonne hated when Lori tried to encourage the two of them to interact with each other, "How about you go, and you have fun for the both of us"

"Just one game! I don't ask you for much…"

She looked at the other girl with disbelief, "You don't ask me for much?"

Lori rolled her eyes, "Okay, maybe I do. But just one game! You've never even seen me cheer before!"

"I don't need to. I know you're great at it-"

"One game. You stay for thirty minutes, max. You can even bring your boyfriend, what's his name-"

"He's not my boyfriend", Michonne had to close her locker door, after rearranging her books repeatedly.

"Well he might as well be", Lori nudged her again before looking to Rick, "Don't you think her and… Oh shoot, what's his name, uh… Derek?"

"Daryl", Rick corrected, his gaze following Michonne carefully.

"Daryl! That's it. Don't you think they'd make a cute couple?"

Michonne didn't dare look in Rick's direction, instead she scooped up her backpack of the floor and slung it on her shoulder.

"...Sure", He answered dryly.

"See?! We need to set that up-"

"You will not set anything up", Michonne warned as she slowly backed up, "Just call me later"

"Fine!", Lori pouted, "Bye!"

Michonne finally looked at Rick as she turned away, and sure enough, he was watching her with those piercing blue eyes that made her chest cave.

Harbouring a crush on her friend's boyfriend wasn't something Michonne intended on. Rick was everything she hated about high school. The typical, popular jock that everyone flocked to, desperate to hang out with and eager to please. The same could be said for Lori. They couldn't have been more suited if they tried. Michonne could probably count how many times she had spoken to Rick on one hand, despite Lori's obvious attempts to have them converse.

When she first joined King's High two years prior, she didn't think she would strike up a friendship with the head cheerleader. At her old school in the city, Lori was the type of girl Michonne would cross oceans to avoid, but they somehow managed to bond, despite having little to nothing in common. Michonne found enjoyment out of winding the girl up, challenging her on almost everything she done, and Lori found enjoyment in trying to make Michonne 'brighten up'. It was a strange friendship, and she was sure that Lori's other friends weren't impressed, but neither cared.

The first time Lori introduced Michonne to Rick, she was sure her friend's boyfriend thought the same. Michonne caught him looking at her oddly a few times, and there was an intensity in his eyes that made her feel uncomfortable, so she decided from that point that she wouldn't look at him. Whenever he was around, she would do everything humanly possible to look elsewhere, until one fateful day when she found herself unable to look away.

She often sat on the bleachers during in lunchtime or afterschool, reading a book in peace, and unfortunately for her, in the presence for the football team when they practiced. She usually ignored them, but for reasons unbeknownst to her, she happened to look up when she heard his laugh. Rick was with his friends, in his black and white football uniform, chuckling away at whatever antidote the teens shared, and his smile captivated her. She recorded every little line and crease on his face, feeling a flutter in her stomach as she watched him. That moment changed everything for her, and she realised that she had found a valid reason to avoid him. The boy was simply beautiful, and simply off limits.

"Where were you today?", Michonne was strolling out of the school building at the end of the day, when she caught sight of another one of her very few friends, sitting on his motorcycle by the curb.

Daryl snorted, flicking his cigarette away, "I was sick"

"That's a lie."

He gave her a pathetic attempt at a cough.

"Oh, so convincing. We need to get you to the emergency room", She quipped flatly, throwing her leg over the back seat.

"I'll live", He snickered, handing her his helmet.

She took the protective gear and pulled it on, then held onto his waist as he started the motor up.

Her friendship with Daryl was a more understanding one. They both shared the same dry sense of humour, and they both enjoyed mocking each other, and others.

When her father first informed her that they would be living in a trailer park, because that was all they could afford, it initially scared Michonne, though she understood the change of scenery. When the man's games company went bust, she knew she would have to say goodbye to the life she knew and they would have to start a new. Daryl lived with his father in the trailer not far from her own, and they greeted each other with snarls before finally becoming friendly. He would often take them home on his motorcycle, or he would pick her up, when he didn't bother to attend school. She knew that underneath his very tough exterior was a person that craved someone familiar to himself, and she liked to think that she offered him that.

The trailer park was often busy in the afternoon, with people hanging around, drinking and smoking while they watched their kids play in the dirt. Daryl parked behind Michonne's mobile home, and the trudged Inside, where the trailer was empty.

"Your pops' at work?", Daryl informed, following her back to her tiny bedroom. There was barely enough room to swing a cat amongst all the canvases and books she had, but they made it work.

"Yeah. He got a new job at the bar", She huffed, throwing her backpack down.

"So he's probably serving mine"

"Probably"

Daryl dropped himself down on the bed and kicked off his boots, "Anythan' interesting happen today?"

"I wish", She sat on the edge of the bed, pulling her own worn out boots off, "Nothing ever happens when you're not there"

"I'm the life of the party, huh?"

"You're usually the reason something's happening", She sniggered as she glanced at him over her shoulder.

Daryl's lip curled, "Pretty much"

She laid back with a huff, looking up at him, "I have a field trip tomorrow"

"Where?"

"The Civil and Human Rights centre. Know it?"

He gave a little shrug as he bit his thumb nail, "Nah."

"Well, we can go get something to eat after I'm done…"

"You have the money for that?"

"Yeah. I still have some money left from that last picture I sold…"

"...I'll make some more just in case"

"Why don't you take that job at the shop? You're pretty good at fixing cars… and you prefer doing that instead of going to so school, so you might as well"

He snorted at her for a second time, "Yeah yeah"

Hanging out with Daryl was something she had grown accustomed to. He would often stay with her all evening, and depending on how intoxicated his father was on his return home, he would stay the night. She hated that he was stuck living with the drunkard, and she knew the teen hated it too, but luckily for the both of them, his father didn't seem to care where his son was.

Michonne worried her own father would soon follow the same path. While he didn't have a problem with alcohol on a daily basis, he often used his days off to join the other men outside the trailer, drinking with them until the early hours of the morning. It didn't help that the man was an emotional drunk, who often broke down in tears when the silence hit him. She would nurse him to his bed, and never mention his confessions again.

The next day Michonne left for school as usual, waking earlier than most students so she could walk the way. She didn't mind, as she used the trek to lose herself in her thoughts. When she arrived at school, she sat outside the building, where students were told to meet for their trip. She was the first one there, so she took to reading one her favourite sci-fi thrillers while perched on the wall.

Students from her class began to arrive, and soon a small group of people formed in front of her. She would occasionally glance up from her book, for no particular reason, then continue on reading, as she didn't care to socialise with anyone.

"Okay! Glad to see you're all here!", Mrs Peletier announced, joining the group with a clipboard in hand, "I'm just going to do a quick roll call and then we'll go over the plan for today"

Michonne flicked the page of her book, only bothering to look up again when she heard her name called, and mustering a, "Here".

"Now, for the tour you'll be in groups because you will be expected to do a presentation on the topics I've assigned you. You should have all brought a notebook or at the very least some paper to take down some notes about the exhibits, because there will be a lot of information available today", Mrs Peletier began handing out sheets of papers to the students, "Groups and topics are on the back!"

Michonne took the paper from the woman and immediately turned it over, desperate to know who she was working with. She could only release a low growl when she saw it was Rick and another student named Glenn. She folded the sheet up and slipped it in the back of the book, wondering if Mrs Peletier had put her with the other teen on purpose.

She quickly stood up and stalked over to the teacher, placing herself right in front of her, "Do we have to do our presentations in groups? How necessary is that?"

The older woman sighed, "My god, it's too early for this. Yes, Michonne, you do-"

"But how necessary is it? What will I gain from working with someone else on this?", Michonne urged, squinting at her.

"Team working skills", The teacher deadpanned.

"I can work in a team, I just don't want to. I prefer to work alone, and I don't think I should be forced to endure-"

"Michonne-"

"You know what? Come to think of it, I don't understand how you can claim that it's necessary for us to work together, when we're all graded individually anyway-"

Mrs Peletier raised her hand to stop her, "Michonne. Please. We do not have time to battle about this, and even if we did, I wouldn't want to, so you are working in groups, just like everybody else, and that's final. Okay?"

The teacher swiftly stepped around her, and Michonne growled again, resisting the urge to stamp her foot in annoyance. She spun back around, ready to march over to the school bus, when she found herself face to face with Rick.

He raised a questioning eyebrow at her, "...Problem?"

She let her gaze sail away from him as she inched past him, muttering, "Something like that."

She knew that the day would come that she would eventually have to work with him, but she hoped that she would be lucky enough to not endure such a fate. The only way that she could keep him at arm's length was to make it obvious she had no time for him, and so she sat as far away as possible from him on the bus ride, keeping her head buried in her book. He sat at the back, with his partner in crime Shane, making up a high percentage of the noise.

"Uh, Michonne, right?", The Korean boy approached her cautiously when they exited the vehicle after arriving at their destination.

"Yeah", She huffed, "Glenn, right?"

"Yep. That's me", He nodded, giving her a quick, but friendly smile, before looking to his sheet of paper, "And we're working with-"

"Me.", Rick issued, popping up beside the other teen.

"Uh, yeah. Hey", Glenn gave Rick the same welcome, "So we're doing 'public education'...I think it should be easy enough…"

"Yep. Let's go", Michonne urged, already walking ahead of the two.

While she didn't doubt that Glenn was a nice person, and obviously a friendly one, she needed to figure out a way to work with Rick while avoiding him all the same.

She stayed in front of the other teens, making notes as they followed the flow of the exhibit, and answering any questions Glenn had, only when he spoke directly to her. She often stopped to read the information points, and hurried away when the other two closed in to do the same. She was sure it had come apparent to Glenn that there was some underlying tension growing between she and Rick, as he often spoke unprompted, and rambled on nervously.

"Uh, I need the bathroom", Glenn announced quietly as they stood in a large hall.

"Go ahead. We'll wait here", Rick replied easily, staring at one of the images on the wall.

"But hurry up", Michonne added, for good measure.

"Got it", The teen scurried away, his sneakers scraping the floor, causing the screeching sound to echo.

Michonne kept her eyes on the wall, looking over everyone image meticulously, when she heard Rick gruff, "So what's your problem?"

She forced her gaze to stay where it was, "Excuse me?"

"What's your problem?", He repeated a tad slower.

"...Nothing."

He narrowed his eyes at her, "I don't believe that. We have to work together, so I'd like to get this out the way. So what's your problem?"

"I don't have a problem-"

"What did I do to you?", He quizzed, tilting his head to catch her attention.

She frowned, finally tearing her gaze away from the pictures, "Excuse me?"

"You've always have this attitude on you whenever I'm around, so I want to know if I did somethan' to you?"

"No", She answered firmly.

"So you're just normally like this?"

"Yes", She lied.

His steely blue gaze studied her face, "I don't believe that either"

"Well you don't know me, so believe it", She dismissed in a tone that was much harsher than she intended.

His head jerked back, "No, I don't know you, and I'm not claiming that either, but I do need to get a good grade, so I don't have time for your games"

It was her turn to narrow her eyes at him, "I'm not playing any games-"

"You obviously have a problem with me, you have done for quite some time now, and we have an opportunity here to clear the air, but it seems like you like hiding in your locker, or playing with whatever you can to avoid talking to me…"

Michonne's heartbeat seemed to skip a beat as embarrassment washed over her.

"As I said, I need a good grade. So how about we just grin and bear it while we have to work together, and you can go back to pretending that I don't exist when we're done?"

Michonne did her best to keep her face in a stoic state, "Fine."

"Alright"

They both resumed to their tasks, starting at the exhibit with slightly annoyed expressions, clearly not ready to make good on their pact. Glenn returned after quite some time, and the trio continued on with the tour.

Michonne wanted to kick herself to say the least, and she was shocked to learn that Rick had noticed how hard she tried to keep him out of her line of sight. It wasn't as if she wanted him to realise what she was doing, as she was mostly doing it for her own sanity.

"So… how are we going to do this? We could work on this on our lunch breaks but… I don't think any one of us really want to do that", Glenn queried towards the end of their trip.

"Not really", Rick smirked, gazing at the wall behind Glenn.

"After school? We can meet up at each other's houses… take turns?"

Michonne didn't think there would even be enough space in her home for all of them, "Or… the library in town?"

Glenn nodded, "That works too. So the library, after school? We can start tomorrow-"

"I can't do straight after school...", Rick cringed, "Unless you don't mind meeting up later? Say around four?"

"...That's no good for me, I have to work in my dad's store", Glenn shook his head.

"Then it looks like you're both going to have to sacrifice your precious lunch hour", Michonne ejected dryly, "We can meet up tomorrow and go over our itineraries there"

Glenn looked defeated, but still agreed, "Yeah. Guess you're right"

Rick slowly inhaled, "Alright. Fine"

When their trip finally came to an end, the students all piled back on the bus, and the three teens returned to their friends, all accept Michonne, who sat in the same seat, reading the same book.

She didn't think her little confrontation with Rick had affected her mood, even though she hadn't stopped thinking about it, but she was made aware that she wasn't giving off her usual vibe almost immediately by Daryl.

"What's up with you?", The teen growled for a third time, with a mouth full of fries.

"Nothing", She shrugged, swirling her straw around in her thick chocolate milkshake, "What did you do today?"

"Helped Dale work on his RV."

She nodded, "Cool. You coming in tomorrow? It's Friday… you like Fridays"

He groaned, curling his lip like he always did, "Maybe."

"You don't want them calling your dad in again…"

Daryl scoffed, "If they can find the son of a bitch"

Michonne frowned at him, "What? He still hasn't come home?"

"Nope."

"How long has it been?"

"...I dunno'... a week?"

She dropped her hand from her straw, "Why didn't you tell me? I could have stayed with you-"

"It don't matter. I like having the place to myself"

She watched him for a moment before sighing, "Alright. I'll stay over tonight though"

"You don't have to-"

"But I will."

Michonne hardly ever spent time in Daryl's trailer, purely because she didn't like his father. The found the man creepy, as he was always overly friendly, grabbing her on the shoulders when he greeted her, his breath thick with the smell of alcohol. While it was worrying for her to know that Daryl had been alone, she was secretly glad the man wasn't around to bully her friend.

They arrived back at the trailer park and Michonne headed home for a change of clothes and her books for the next day. Her home was initially quiet when she walked in, but it was only when she was packing her belongings for her stay at Daryl's that she heard noise from her father's room. She stopped and sighed, knowing she had to check on him before she left.

The man was sat on the floor by his bed, a bottle of beer in his hand and wearing only a tank top and sweatpants.

"Oh hey, c-cupcake", He slurred as he looked up at her, his eyes wet with tears, "You off somewhere?"

"Come on, let's get you into bed", She insisted softly, taking him by his arm.

"You don't have to do that, I'm fine"

"No, you're not dad", She used all her strength to pull him up, perching him on the end of his bed.

"I'm so sorry, honey", He began to sob, dropping the bottle to the floor, "I promised your… your mother that I'd take care of you… I s-said I'd take care of both of us and now… and now look… look at us… look at me-"

"It's fine, dad", She huffed, trying to nudge him to lay down.

"No. No. It's not… I lost everything. We lost so much and I can't… I can't even see a way to get it all back…"

She hated having to go over the same conversation with the man, "We have each other, that's more than enough, okay? So just lay down, please"

He looked up at her, swaying, even in his seated position, "I wish you went with her. I do… you would have been better off dead than with me"

Michonne froze, surprised at the brutally honest confession. Her father had never voiced such an opinion before, and it saddened her more than she could believe, "Don't say stuff like that dad-"

"It's the truth… I'm no man, I'm no father… I haven't been a father to you. I haven't done right by you in a long time and… and I don't deserve you. I didn't- didn't deserve your mother too. She… she was an angel…", The man fell back in the bed as he started sobbing again, rolling into the foetal position.

Michonne watched him for a few moments, so used to the sight of the man crying himself to sleep. She stepped out of his room without another word, closing the door behind her.

The following day, she was able to drag Daryl to school with her, despite his protests and snarls. She didn't know why he hated school so much, but the fact that he hadn't dropped out told her that he did like having the option of going, even if it was only two or three days a week.

When they reached the school parking lot, they both climbed off his motorcycle and strolled leisurely to the building.

"I have to work on a presentation at lunch", She informed, gently swinging her backpack in her hand.

"What's that mean?", He quizzed, squinting at her.

"It means I won't be around... unless you don't mind hanging out in the library while I-"

He snorted, "Fuck that"

She expected that reaction, "Alright…"

He accompanied her to her locker, where much to her dismay, Lori and Rick, as well as two others of their friends were gathered. It was one of the pitfalls of having their lockers so close together.

"Oh look, it's your best friend, Courtney", Daryl snickered, nudging her on her arm.

"Her name is not Courtney", Michonne side eyed him.

"It might as well be. Or Amber… any one of those names would fit her… she probably has a bunch of those stuffed toys on her bed and writes in her diary every damn night with some fur ball pen"

Michonne rolled her eyes at him as a light chuckle left her lips.

"Hey!", Lori greeted when she spotted Michonne, causing Daryl to release a low growl.

"Hey", She smiled back, briefly, not missing the way the others grew quiet. While she didn't look directly at Rick, she could easily feel his gaze on her as he leant on the locker behind his girlfriend.

"Hey… Daryl? It's Daryl, right?"

The teen gave Lori the quickest little nod.

Lori eyed him swiftly, before turning her attentions back to Michonne, "The game today-"

"No.", She issued, opening up her locker, "I told you, you have fun for the both of us"

"You don't even have to stay long!"

"I don't even have to go at all! It's not compulsory here!"

"You don't even have a good reason not to come-"

"Watching a group of guys tackle each other for a ball has no appeal to me", She responded dryly.

Lori narrowed her eyes at her, "You don't even have a reason to not come and watch me-"

"You're head cheerleader, so obviously you're very good at what you do, and knowing that is more than enough for me"

Lori stared at her, clearly unimpressed, "Really? Really Michonne?"

"Really.", Michonne repeated with an innocent smile.

"We'll come.", Daryl volunteered, leading Michonne to whip her head around to look at him incredulously. The teen sniggered, "I'm sure we can find the time to stop by"

"Really?", Lori looked to Michonne with wide eyes.

"You can go if you want, Daryl", She almost bit out, giving her friend a warning glare.

"Nah. We should go together. I came here for you, after all", He shrugged.

"You can go home if you really want to-"

"Oh my god! Yes! You're coming!", Lori cheered, throwing her arms around Michonne.

Michonne almost recoiled from the action, "I didn't say I was-"

Lori ignored her, "Get there early so you have great seats".

"We'll be right on time", Daryl grinned evilly.

"Great! I'll see you later!", Lori backed away, prompting Rick and the others to follow her.

Michonne turned and punched Daryl in the arm, "What is wrong with you?!"

The teen chuckled, "I don't even wanna' go. I just said that to piss off those assholes behind her"

She squinted at him, "Who cares about them?"

"Not me, but I saw a reason to tick them off and I took it"

"She's going to expect me to go now-"

"We'll stop by for a little while… don't worry, I'll find a way to make it appealing to you"

"The only way that game would ever be appealing to me, is if they replaced the ball with a Bengal tiger and the objective of the game was to survive. That would be impressive"

Daryl stared off into the distance as he thought about it, then snickered, "Imagine that"

They went their separate ways, and Michonne couldn't help but wonder what the other teen would get up to throughout the day. He didn't even bother to turn up with anything besides his keys, and she was sure he didn't have the faintest idea of what classes he had, or when.

After enduring most of her classes, she made her way to the library to meet with Rick and Glenn. She had mentally prepared herself for an hour of interacting with Rick, but when she got there, she was surprised to learn that that wouldn't be the case.

"Glenn's at the hospital", Rick informed her when she approached him at the library doors, "He had a little accident"

She crossed her arms over her chest as she gave him a questioning look.

"He slipped and broke his wrist in biology…"

Her eyes widened a fraction.

"...He tripped over the stool… landed bad", Rick cringed, "So he won't be joining us… and neither will I. I have some thangs I need to take care of"

She exhaled through her nose, reaching for the door handle anyway.

He put his hand out to stop her, almost touching her stomach, "We can still meet up. Later? That way we can get somethan' started at least"

She took a small step back, mulling over the other option. At least with Glenn in their group, she had some sort of buffer between her and Rick, but with the third member of their group in the emergency room, she would have to work with him directly. He raised an eyebrow at her as he waited for an answer, and she nearly growled an, "Okay".

He nodded, his gaze dropping, then crawling back up her, "Library at four?"

"That's fine"

"Alright. See you then".

He moved his hand, and allowed her to enter the room, so she stepped past him with her gaze low, and only inhaled when she was out of view to him. She wished she didn't find him so attractive. She wished she didn't fantasise about brushing her fingers along his strong jaw line, or wonder how it felt to feel his soft, pink lips against hers. But she did, and the more time she spent around him, the harder it became for her to block out such visuals.