Hello everyone! This is my first Walking Dead /strongstrongfan fiction, so please be nice! This is an AU of mine, and it'll take a chapter or two to get the ball rolling, but I promise it'll be worth it! I do not own the Walking Dead characters, story, etc.

Chapter 1

Zrrpka. Zztshhhzzzz.

"Gosh darnit," Beth mumbled under her mouth as she fumbled with the tuning knob of the radio. "Why now?"

Beth gave up and tucked her white blond hair behind her ear in frustration. She had just replaced the radio last week, and now it couldn't pick up a station! She'd have to drive back down to Abraham's Shop and chew him out for it.

Beth leaned back in her seat and concentrated on the road as it rolled out in front of her. The town of Oykot was a small town, but not small enough that you could learn every person by name. Beth kind of liked that about the town; especially the old library downtown, it was fashioned after old English architecture –it seemed like Belle from Beauty and the Beast would come out with her nose stuck in a book. Beth grinned widely at the thought.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed an incoming car cutting in front of her just in time to slam the breaks as a grey Ford pickup truck slid in. She beeped her horn, causing birds on the nearby telephone line to take flight.

"Dam car," she mumbled.

A hand appeared from the driver's side and gave a wave, a silver ring glinting in the morning light. The car itself appeared to be well taken care of with it's sleek paint and rims. The hand receded back into the car and sped away, turning left and disappearing behind the foliage of the trees.

If no one is around to hear one swear, does she make a sound? Heck yeah. Beth swore deeply and glared murderously after the car as she turned right into downtown Oykot.

Downtown held a variety of bake and coffee shops, clothing outlets, and of course the town hall. But she rarely visited those, she made her own food and the clothes there didn't interest her like it did for the other girls. Downtown also held Oykot High, which was where Beth went to school.

Oykot High was originally a church, it had been renovated since then, but it continued to hold much of the same charms and structure.

Beth pulled into the parking lot and parked easily into a decent spot. She leaned to the passenger seat to grab her backpack and glanced out her windshield at the passersby. Most were wearing shorts –it was only early fall in Alabama– and hung around the Quad.

The Quad was probably the only place in the school that you could find all types of students milling around. It had enough shade to cover half it's area and had easy entrances to the school. If you were running late, you'd definitely take a shortcut through the Quad.

Beth checked her reflection in her mirror and adjusted her pink lacey crop-top to stretch a bit closer to her top of her high-waist shorts. She grinned widely and hopped out of her rusty Ram truck, slamming the door with her hip.

"Boom, clap the sound of my heart. The beat goes on and on and on. Boom clap…" Beth went on singing the song as she walked towards the Quad, though her voice died down as she stepped on the sidewalk. People bustled around her as they tried to get to their group of friends.

"Beth! Hey Beth!" Beth turned her head around, searching for the familiar voice of Tara. She spotted her and Rosita lounging on the grass in the shade of a tree. Beth jogged lightly over to them, slowing down as she reached them.

Rosita wore a dark green shorts and a chocolate brown tank-top with a bedazzled skull that had it's jewels picked off. She had her army style hat slung low over her eyes as she seemed to be taking a nap. Tara wore a red, plaid shirt open with a white cami underneath and black shorts.

"Hey guys," she breathily gasped out. "What's up?"

Rosita pointed her index finger to the sky, hat still covering her face, but not enough to miss the grin. "Clouds, atmosphere, birds, take your pick."

"You forgot the stars in the sky and planets." Tara added jokingly.

Rosita grinned, "Or the galaxies that stretch on beyond that."

Beth snorted and rolled her eyes at them as she plopped down next to Tara.

Tara took on a more serious tone. "But actually, my older sister moved back to town with her daughter and husband. I'll introduce you guys later on this week."

Rosita showed a thumbs up; Beth calpped excitedly. "Should I make a cake or something? What would she like?"

Tara thought a moment. "Double layer chocolate fudge cake."

Rosita lifted her hat from her face and looked questionably at Tara. "Isn't that your favorite?"

"Yeah? So?" Tara stuck her tongue out at Rosita, who flipped her off/

"Okay, chocolate cake it is." Beth looked out into the parking lot then back at her friends. "Hey guys? Have either of you two ever seen a grey Ford pickup truck around town?"

Rosita propped herself up on her elbows and fixed her hat on her head. "No. I'd've definitely heard about a car like that."

"Or from your guy." Tara said.

Rosita huffed. "Abraham isn't my guy."

Beth smiled, "I don't believe I heard her mention Abraham's name."

Tara and Beth smiled with a sense of success at their friend. Rosita redden a bit and leaned back on the grass, putting her hat back over her face. "You guys are impossible."

Tara held out her fist to Beth, "Impossibly amazing!"

"And gorgeous," Beth finished as she fist bumped Tara. "But seriously, that car almost had me off the road! Then the guy went and waved at me like I had waved him ahead of me! What the heck!" Beth ran her fingers through her hair and sighed, "I'm just glad he turned left out of town."

Tara's mouth fell open in a small 'O' as she listened to Beth's story. She shook her head, "I definitely don't know about a –hey Beth?"

"What?"

"Was it that car?" Tara pointed behind Beth to the left.

Beth twisted around to gaze into the parking lot. Sure enough, there was the same Ford pickup truck that had cut her off just ten minutes before. "Yeah, what's it doing here? I saw it turn left out of town."

"Then he's definitely new in town. He probably got lost," Tara looked to Beth, "What are you going to do?"

Beth looked back at the car, then down into her lap. She fiddled with a loose strand of her shorts, "Well… I don't know the guy." Beth looked up into Tara's questioning eyes, "So I guess I'll forgive, but I definitely won't be driving near him anytime soon." Tara and Beth convulsed with laughter, even Rosita laughed a bit from under her hat.

"So who's the driver then?" Tara questioned, she sat up on her knees and tried to see into the parking lot. "I don't- Oh! I see someone!"

Beth instantly looked up and spotted a guy walking fast away from the lot towards the front entrance. She couldn't see much besides the fact that he was wearing holed jeans and a sleeveless vest with angel wings on the back. The trees blocked Beth getting a better look at him as he walked into the school.

"–eth? Beth!" Tara nudged Beth with her toe. "Earth to Beth!"

Beth blinked and turned back to Tara. "What?"

"Did you get a good look? What did you see?"

Beth shrugged. "Not much, just that he's wearing jeans and he has wings on his back."

Rosita chuckled and sat up, she looked at Beth, a teasing look in her eyes. "So he's your guardian angel then?"

Tara cracked up, rocked back and forth as she gripped her sides. "He probably would be!"

Beth giggled, "Totally," she said sarcastically, "That's why my angel nearly ran me over!" Beth laid down on the grass and looked up into the leaves of the tree. "What if there was an guardian angel looking out for me?"

Tara appeared over her head, her hair tickling her cheeks. "Better late then never!"

The bell gonged overhead, making the students milling around in the Quad scatter. Tara stood up and offered a hand to Beth, which she took. Beth straightened her outfit out once more and looked to Rosita and Tara.

Rosita fluffed her pig-tails a bit as she stuffed her hat into her bag. Tara slung her backpack over her shoulder, looking at the school with distain.

The three of them all walked into Oykot High, parting ways at the overarching wooden door. Rosita headed off for wood tech while Tara and Beth headed for Acc. Intro to Cal.

"Sooooo," Tara drawled. "What's up with… your sister?"

Beth shrugged, Maggie had graduated last year and moved out to attend a big university somewhere. Maggie was going for a degree in Drama and English Literature. "She's good. She's still at college. I think she's in the middle of trying out for the play they're putting on."

"Cool, what play?" Tara's hands gripped her backpack straps and she twisted them in her hands. Beth looked at her confused, "Romeo and Juliet? I think she's trying for Rosaline or Juliet's understudy. Maybe both."

Tara nodded and changed the topic to music, which Beth instantly jumped on.

"Have you heard of Charli XCX's new song "Doing It"? It sounds nice, I think it could make the dance playlist."

Tara guffawed, "Have you seen the music video for it?"

"No…" Beth giggled, "Is it bad?"

"Remember "Booty" by J-Lo and Iggy Azela? Totally objectification for men and women! It like a joke. Even Charli and Rita can't take it seriously when these two cops rips their shirts off and start riding a bull!"

Beth clamped a hand over her mouth to stop the oncoming cackle. "What?" she gasped. "Oh my gosh! HA!" she clapped her hands together. "Oh how can a good song have such a bad video."

Tara smiled and shrugged. "I don't know, but I'd definitely at least make a with finesse. Not any of that weird shit they have going on in videos like that."

Beth raised an eyebrow and tried to look skeptical, but failed and ended up laughing. "Really now? But don't you need a song to go along with that?"

"Yeah… would you write one for me?"

Beth blinked and came to a stop a meter away from their classroom door. "You want me to?"

Tara stopped next to her and shrugged. "Well you always sing, and you're a boss at the guitar. Why not? Rosita could help too, I know she knows karate, which would be a sweat background dance."

Beth tried to imagine a background dance with karate and only came up with "Kun Fu Fighting". It wouldn't really fit in with her style of writing… She looked back into Tara's hopeful face and found herself nodding. "Give me a bit of time, I'll figure something out for a song."

Tara's face broke out into a wide grin as she jumped up and down. She practically skipped into the classroom and into her seat. Beth followed in after her and sat next to her desk.

"Do you know what happened to Tara over the weekend? Last week she went from over the moon to crashing, and now she's over the moon again." Beth sent the text to Rosita and looked up in time for the teacher to walk in and start class.

Mrs. Holden walked in, her high blond ponytail swinging as she walked. She turned around, mouth open as if expecting someone to be behind her and stopped short. She walked back to the hall and whispered softly. The class mumbled to themselves at her weird behavior.

Beth turned to Tara who was craning her neck to see beyond Mrs. Holdon into the hall. "Do you think it's that guy I saw? The one with wings?" Beth whispered softly.

"Probably." Tara whispered back. "We'll find out now I guess."

Mrs. Holden called the class to be quiet. "Now everyone, I'd like you all to meet Daryl Dixon. He's just moved here and will be joining our class for the remainder of the school year. Please treat him nicely."

Behind Mrs. Holdon entered a guy with long brown hair and broad shoulders. He wore a cut-off vest and holed jeans. Beth was more than willing to bet that he had wings on his back. He stood in the doorway, shoulders clenched together as if he didn't think his broad shoulders were narrow enough to fit through the door frame.

Daryl's mouth twitched and cemented into a frown. He mumbled under his breath, to which Mrs. Holdon almost deflated. She gestured to the classroom and walked up to the blackboard. "Alright, now take out your notes, let's talk about Dilations and Reflections of our graphs."

But no one was really paying her much attention, the class watched as Daryl made his way the farthest seat from the class. He kept his eyes towards the ground until he slumped in his chair. Beth finally turned her attention to Mrs. Holdon, wondering what color eyes Daryl had under that mass of hair.

After class, Beth gathered her books and stepped outside into the hallway with Tara. They waited off to the side and watched for Daryl, though Tara didn't know that was what they were doing. They typically waited for Rosita to meet up with them.

When Daryl came out, he looked left and right down the hall. Almost surveying them. Beth watched as his arms tensed and his feet shift uneasily. He looked straight ahead at Beth and slunked off down the hall.

Beth looked after him, engrossed in how he walked so silently down the hall when she expected for him to clomp his feet. She closed her eyes as if that could help her hear his foot falls, but she couldn't. When she opened her eyes again she saw Daryl was looking back at them.

"I wonder what his story is. Beth?" Tara waved her hand in front of Beth's nose. Beth looked at her and smiled sheepishly. Tara sighed and repeated her comment.

Beth's brows knitted together as she considered. "Whatever it is… he'll tell when he's ready to."

Tara frowned and shrugged lightly. "Ah well– Ah! Rosita!" Tara waved excitedly to Rosita down the hall. "Wait till I tell you about the new guy!" Tara walked forward, grabbing and dragging Beth behind her.

"New guy?" The three of them gathered at the side of the hallway, "You mean the one with a prosthetic arm?"

Tara and Beth gaped at Rosita and shook their heads. Tara filled them in on Merle, Daryl Dixon's brother, and they told Rosita about Daryl and how he acted in class.

"I'm pretty sure Mrs. Holden was ticked about his quiet reaction." Tara drawled. "It was kind of cool the way he did that."

Beth nodded. "So what did you say about a guy who had a prosthetic arm?"

Rosita shifted her books from one arm to another. "Yeah, so this guy –Merle was his name– just transferred with his brother, who I guess is your Daryl. He went on about how he lost the arm, but the way he described it–" Rosita shivered in disgust. "To be honest I stopped listening."

Beth wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, that doesn't sound like the best story to tell on the first day."

"So… you guys see the new Bruno Mars "Uptown Funk" video?" Tara smiled as Beth imitated Bruno under the hair dryer.

The three girls went down the hall to their physical education class, or as Tara and Rosita called it, Olympic tryouts. Tara had teased Rosita for years before Rosita called gym that herself. When Rosita rolled with that joke, the two ended up rolling with it. Beth wasn't much of an athlete like Rosita, but she had a voice loud enough to cheer for Rosita from a football field away.

They stepped out onto the field and were waved forward by Coach T-Dog. "LADIES! WE'RE STARTING EARLY! HURRY AND GET CHANGED."

Rosita broke out into a run, laughing as she left the other two behind. "Come on slowpokes." She called over her shoulder.

Tara broke out into a run; Beth laughed as Rosita faked slowing down only to outstrip Tara in a heartbeat. Beth spread her arms out wide and tilted her face to the sun. "It's a beautiful day and I can't stop myself from smiling. If we're drinking, then I'm buying, and I know there's no denying~" Beth twirled as she made her way to the locker room and Coach T-Dog. During a spin, Beth's eyes spotted a black figure standing off in the shade of the school's entrance. She stopped suddenly, trying to focus her eyes on the figure, but by the time her vision stopped spinning there was nothing there.

"BETH!" screamed Coach T-Dog. "GET IN HERE AND CHANGE!"

"Coming!" Beth called back, ripping her eyes away from the arch and jogging over to the locker rooms.

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