Carol leafed through the papers that the overly cheerful secretary handed to her. She had no idea how Tammy, which she preferred to be called, was so cheerful this early in the morning when Carol just wanted to go back to bed. Then again, that could have to do with the fact that she hadn't slept at all last night, and now here she was on her first day at her new school.

"Try and get these handed in soon, okay?" Tammy handed her some papers about contact information. 'Great, emergency contacts. I wonder if they'll notice if I don't turn it in…'

"Now here's your agenda, and your schedule," Tammy said, adding them to the stack of papers and miscellaneous items that Carol was carrying.

"Oh, there's the bell, better get going. Don't want to be late on your first day. It was nice meeting you, Carol." She kept that bubbly smile on her face the whole time, and held a plump hand out to shake Carol's.

Carol nodded, shook her hand, and quickly walked out. She stood outside the doorway and glanced at her schedule to see what her first class was, and groaned seeing that it was Calculus. Who thought it would be a good idea to have math first thing in the morning? It wasn't that she minded math, but she hated Calculus, and she felt like most people would agree that it was not a great way to start the day.

Room 118, well that was good at least; she had passed that room on her way to the main office so she already knew where it was. The school was small enough that she felt like she wouldn't have any trouble getting lost, which was good for her, meaning she wouldn't have to talk to anyone. She just wanted to get her degree and be done with school.

She walked into the room and kept her head down, noticing how it instantly went quiet and the stares of at least fifteen students eyeballs were suddenly glued to her. She quickly made her way to a seat in the back, and set her things down, ignoring everyone as much as possible.

Oh, the downfalls of small schools. Everyone has the same friends they had since kindergarten. New students were gossip, new prey for the predatory students who had spent their whole lives in the same small town.

She knew it'd be like this, but she only had to make it through a few months of school and she'd finally have her diploma. A lot of places wouldn't hire her without it, otherwise she would have seriously considered not even going back to school after her father died. It wasn't that she had taken his death hard, it had been no loss to her personally, but she had become completely alone, homeless, and without a source of income.

She looked around and saw that only one seat near hers wasn't empty. It seemed like aside from the boy, who really looked more like a man, next to her, the rest of the students were avoiding them like the plague, watching and judging from a distance. It seemed like the rest of the class got along fine as they were chatting away, causing her to wonder if the student next to her was new too.

She rolled her eyes to herself, overhearing the female students talking with each other about how their teacher, who hadn't arrived yet, was so hot.

The bell rang and an average height man with brown eyes and black hair walked in. Carol glanced down at her schedule to check his name. Calculus, Peletier, 8:03-8:46.

He smiled a wide, shit-eating grin at the room as he set his things down. Already, she wanted the day to be over.

"Good morning class, looks like we have a new student today." 'Yeah, no shit, Sherlock,' Carol thought to herself. She hated when teachers did that, pointing out the obvious when they knew that she was coming. The students already noticed her too, obviously, she stuck out like a sore thumb. She might as well have had a sign stuck to her forehead. That's the way it was with a school as small as this one; it made it harder to blend in. Never mind the fact that they were well passed the middle of the school year, and her appearance alone didn't fit in with the sea of name brand clothing.

"Why don't you come up to the front of the class and introduce yourself?" His eyes landed on Carol, never losing that shit-eating grin.

'Why?' She wondered. 'Why do teachers think this is a great idea? Sure, let's take the new kid and put her at the front of the room so she can feel even more awkward.'

She made her way to the front of the room, with Mr. Peletier's eyes on her the whole time, making her feel even more uncomfortable. A bad feeling developed in her stomach, and she just knew that she was going to hate this class even more than she had anticipated.

Standing at the front of the room, she announced her name and turned to go back to her seat when Mr. Peletier stopped her. "Not so fast, Ms. McBride. Why don't you tell us more about yourself? Interests, hobbies?" He waved his hand as a gesture for her to tell the class more.

"I'd rather not. I'm a pretty boring person," Carol shrugged. Mr. Peletier looked surprised, his smile falling for a split second. Taking advantage of that, Carol turned and walked the excruciatingly slow path back to her seat, and successfully avoided another student's foot that had suddenly jutted out into the aisle.

"Three months, three months," she chanted in her head throughout the painfully boring class. When the bell finally rang, Carol looked to see her next class and was almost out the door when she was stopped by her teacher.

"I just want to let you know since you're new, that my door is always open." His eyes roamed her body, making her feel uneasy. She didn't mind nice teachers, but there was something about this one that made her feel like she needed to take a long, hot shower with plenty of soap.

"Dixon!" He snapped suddenly, looking towards the back of the room. The boy that was sitting next to her stirred, having fallen asleep.

"Naptime's over, time to get to your next class," Mr. Peletier said as he rolled his eyes. His blue eyes blinked open as he yawned and stood up. Looking at his tattered jeans, sleeveless shirt and messy hair, she didn't feel like she stuck out so much, next to him. Not that it was a bad thing, especially with those arms of his…

Carol stood there, as the boy walked toward the front of the room. "What the hell ya starin' at?" He glared at her before walking out.

"You'll want to stay away from that one," Mr. Peletier broke her out of her thoughts. "Nothin' but trouble."

AN: I didn't really want to do a high school fic, because I feel like it's been done so much, BUT I get bored at work, ideas pop into my head, Daryl and Carol pop up into my head…and then it's just a mess and I HAVE to write it, and then the cycle continues… *facepalm*

The title is a stand-in for now…wasn't sure what to name it… suggestions are always welcome. (Suggestions of any kind, and this applies to all of my stories.)

Let me know if I should continue. Whenever I post something new, I'm not going to lie, I stalk me e-mail like a crazy woman.

Next chapters of Stay Safe and Nine Lives should be coming up soon…and by soon I mean… could be tomorrow, or within a week, at least.

Thanks for reading, hope y'all have a great day!