It was a fine Sunday evening, and Beth Greene and Daryl Dixon were astounded that they had done it; they had graduated high school.
Daryl for one never thought he would get to graduate high school, but he did, and he was the first Dixon to ever do so.
Beth, on the other hand, was grateful she got to do so in the first place. Her junior year had been a trying time for her, and if her mistakes had gone through she would have never gotten to walk the stage that morning.
Nevertheless Beth's mistakes weren't as consequential as they could've been, and Daryl proved to himself that he was capable of being more than the typical Dixon, and the best thing above everything was that Beth and Daryl got do graduate together.
That evening they sat in their spot by a meadow not far from the Greene family farm, and reminisced the time in their lives that was high school.
Sitting in the green grass in between Daryl's legs Beth giggled, "Do you remember how we officially met? Looking back at it now the whole thing is hilarious."
And hilarious it was, Daryl called Beth "prissy," and Beth mistook Daryl for a slacker.
They officially met because they became each other's anatomy partners.
"Alright!" exclaimed their teacher Mr. Tyree, "I'm going to be nice for once, and allow you guys to choose your own partners. Just remember that this project is worth fifteen percent of your grade, so choose wisely."
Rapidly everyone moved to select their partners except for Beth Greene and Daryl Dixon, who didn't look too enthused about the fact that they had to work with partners.
Scanning the room, defeated that he had to work with a partner, Daryl searched for his friend Aaron, and found that he was already taken by Eric, and that the only one partner less like him was no other than Eric's friend Beth Greene.
Seeing no choice in the matter Daryl approached Beth, and tried to give her a sympathetic smile. They both had been forgotten by their friends, who took every opportunity to be together without letting on to the reality of their relationship, so now they were forced to work with each other. And Daryl didn't mind Beth, he knew she was smart and that she would be a good partner, but Daryl preferred to work alone. Often times, when he was forced to work with partners, he was always underestimated or looked down on because he was a Dixon, therefore he just rather work alone than be judged. Mr. Tyree, however, was super strict (what he said goes) so working alone wasn't an option in his class.
"Hey," greeted Beth who he knew didn't like to work with partners either. He had two other classes with her, and he knew for a fact that when their teachers said they could work alone if they wanted too Beth would sigh with relief, and who could blame her their classmates were too preoccupied with petty drama, and gossip instead of schoolwork.
"Hey," Daryl replied as he set his books on her table, and received the projects instructions from Mr. Tyree. "So it seems like we have been assigned to make a model of the digestive system."
"The digestive system?" Beth asked as she moved closer to him to look at the instructions. "Okay, I can do that."
"We can do that," Daryl corrected as he looked down at Beth.
"Oh," she whispered. "I can do it. I don't mind doing all the work."
"Nah," Daryl answered, not liking that she thought he would let her do all the work while he sat back and took credit when the deadline arrived. "I can help."
"No, it's really no problem, Daryl," Beth answered obviously annoyed that he wouldn't back off.
"Greene," Daryl, who was starting to get irritated too, replied, "I'm going to help you. This is a group project, and I ain't letting you do this all by yourself. Plus I happen to know a lot about the digestive system."
"How do you know a lot about the digestive system?" Beth asked, curiosity getting the better of her, "We haven't discussed it much in class."
"I happen to hunt," Daryl vaguely answered, not wanting to give her the true reason why he happened to know much about the digestive system.
"Oh. So because you happen to hunt, you know a lot about the digestive system?" Beth asked clearly not impressed by his answer.
"Yeah. So stop being prissy and let's figure out how to do this," Daryl said hoping to finish the discussion, and getting to work.
"I am not prissy," Beth then replied clearly offended.
"Well, then if you're not," Daryl replied completely fed up. "Let's get to work, Greene."
Huffing Beth then did as he said.
She was clearly annoyed by him the first day they started to work together, but as time went on, and he got to show her that he actually knew about the digestive system her annoyance turned into shame. She had not given Daryl a chance, clearly believing that he would be like any other partner she ever had, who would just make her do all the work. Plus whenever she had to work with partners she was instantly irritated. However, Daryl was smart, plain and simple, he even had a better grade than her on their Anatomy class, and she was glad she got him as partner and told him so. They got an A plus on their model, and they went on to be anatomy partners for the rest of the year.
They happened to work great together.
"Admit it Greene," Daryl went on to say as he snapped back to reality and snuggled closer to his girl, "Being stuck with me as your partner was the best thing that happened to you."
"Yeah," Beth sighed, "It was. Especially after what happened the year before."
Beth Greene's junior year in high school was one for the books.
Her mother, Annette, was diagnosed with breast cancer, and Beth tried to kill herself.
People used to say that the Greene's were the "perfect family," but after that year they discovered that they were definitely not so.
The Greene's did not handle well the cancer that snuck up on the head of their house. Annette kept the Greene's together and after she was bed ridden, thanks to her chemotherapy, the household began to fall apart. The Greene's did their best to stay up right for the valiant Annette Greene, but the anxiety, despair, depression, and worry monsters slowly overcame them.
Beth, for example, was the one who was chased by the depression monster.
Any person in their school could see that Beth Greene was not the same after her mother was diagnosed; even Daryl who didn't pay attention to anyone in their school, and minded his own business noticed that the light that Beth shone was fading, and for some reason that bothered him. He didn't do anything to get the light back though, who was he to bring it back, he used to think, but thinking back after he got to know Beth he wished he got to do something. If he had helped, Beth wouldn't have a scar in her wrist or the whispers behind her back.
The whispers were the worst, Daryl concurred. The whispers behind his back he could handle, but the whispers behind Beth's back he could not.
Their classmates could be so cruel, and they definitely lacked empathy because once their senior year began they treated Beth differently. Before Annette's cancer Beth was sort of popular. She was friendly to everyone, and when one needed notes for a class, or some sort of help, the one to ask was Beth Greene. But then Beth took a mirror shard to her wrist, and Beth was not friendly anymore for some reason, or at least according to their classmates. No, once word got out that Beth Greene tried to kill herself people started to walk away from her as if her mistake was contagious, and she would suck the life out of them. Daryl discovered those beliefs after he became Anatomy partners with her.
It was on a day that he went up to her locker to talk about their plans to meet so they could work on their project. They had been discussing their plans when one girl from their class named Amy, who was showing the school to a new student, blandly pointed towards them and said,
"That over there is Daryl Dixon. Steer clear off him he's bad news. Aanndd standing next to him is Beth Greene; she tried to kill herself last spring," Amy loudly whispered, " Steer clear off her she will suck out your will to live."
Daryl was furious after he heard those words leave Amy's mouth. Beth at first thought he was mad because what Amy said about him, but in reality he was mad about Amy's words about Beth. Because, yeah Beth tried to kill herself last spring, but she chose to live, and she was there with them facing the trials of life with a smile, despite her past, and he was furious that others would belittle her for that.
"Daryl," Beth exclaimed after she saw that he was going after Amy, and took his arm, "Don't listen to her. Please."
"Don't listen to her?" Daryl growled turning around to face Beth once again, "Beth, did you not hear what she said?"
"Yes, I did hear what she said, but I don't care what she says, and you shouldn't either. Amy and the others just don't understand people who are different from them; people who don't think like they do, so just ignore her. Her words don't hurt me and you shouldn't let them hurt you either."
"Alright," Daryl replied, after a few minutes, after he got lost in Beth's honest blue eyes, and tried to forget Amy's words, "I just don't like that she said that you suck the life out of people."
"Why not?" Beth then asked curiously.
"Because you don't," whispered Daryl whose ears started to turn red after he said those words. Beth Greene didn't suck out people's lives, she made them better, he believed. And Beth whose heart started to beat wildly, after she heard him say the latter, blushed as well because their classmates words didn't matter to her at all, but Daryl's, yeah, those held a special place in her heart. Daryl Dixon had grown to be a very important person to her.
"I think having you as my partner opened my eyes a lot," Beth then said breaking the pensive silence they had going on. "For one you made me see everything is not as it seems. That our town can be toxic and that we definitely should not judge a book by its cover."
"Are you just saying that because you judged that book Mrs. Jones made us read and was surprised when I told you that it was actually good and that you should stop being prissy and read it?" Daryl asked whilst chuckling because Beth's face when he told her that she shouldn't judge a book by its cover, and that she was being nonsensical was priceless. No one called out Beth Greene.
"No, silly," Beth replied lightly slapping him on the arm he had wrapped around her, and humored by his teasing, "Well, yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about. I am talking about you, Daryl. You're the person that's always judged like a books cover and I'm just glad I got the opportunity to really read you."
And read him; really read him Beth actually did.
They were five months in their senior year and Beth and Daryl, Bethyl as Aaron and Eric like to refer them as, were inseparable.
In those short five months Beth and Daryl had solidified an amazing friendship. Not only did they partner with each other each time they had to work in groups in the three classes they shared, but Beth tutored Daryl in Trigonometry, Daryl shared Beth's locker (hers was closer to their English class than his was), they ate lunch together, did their homework and studied together, and left school together.
Beth and Daryl got to know each other so well they became each other's best friends. They could always rely on the other, and they were so in tuned with each other they could easily tell if something was wrong with them.
Like when Merle Dixon went to jail for drugs, and left Daryl to contend with Will Dixon once again.
Daryl all through high school lived with his older brother Merle. He left his neglectful and violent father as soon as he could, even resorting to living in a tent not far from the Greene farm at one point in his life.
Life with Merle was a thousand times better than life with his father. There was booze, drugs, and one or two junkie prostitutes here or there, but Daryl stayed clear of them, only staying in his room secretly doing his homework, in the shed in their backyard keeping his hands busy, or in the woods; in nature: his one true home. When Daryl told Beth the latter she went on to call him Tarzan for a while, and Daryl couldn't be bother at all because he knew that Beth meant no harm with her teasing, and he would've preferred being raised by gorillas than rednecks.
Anyways life with Merle was alright, better than being beaten every night and walking on eggshells. Daryl was somewhat happy with the life he had with his brother, but one thing about Merle was that he had no cares in the world except for the booze, drugs, and the girls. The only reason they kept the shack they lived at was because it had once belonged to their mother's parents. The shack, when their mother was alive, was a sort of safe haven, Will Dixon was strictly prohibited from going near the shack, and when their mother's parents passed away the shack had been left for them; him and Merle. Sheer dumb luck is what Daryl would call their home, because if they hadn't been lucky to have grandparents who still cared for them, despite Will Dixon and his crude behaviors, Daryl and Merle would probably be dead or in jail.
One day Merle got into a deal with a bad man and the rest, well is history. Merle lost his hand, and his liberty, and Daryl was forced to deal with his father once again, because the reason Will stayed away from the shack, even after his parents-in-law passed away, was because of Merle. Will Dixon was no fool. He knew that he was older and couldn't take Merle like he did when he was a child, plus he knew about Merle's shotgun, and he knew Merle wouldn't hesitate in using it. But the word that Merle was imprisoned reached his dirty ears, and suddenly he had no fear to go to "his" boy's home.
It was a rainy day, and on that day he beat Daryl with no mercy. Daryl tried to take him on, but Will Dixon had a baseball bat on his side. The only reason Daryl didn't die on that rainy day was because Daryl struck a lucky hit to his dad's head and ran as fast as he could into the woods.
Daryl missed school for a week afterwards. Beth was nothing but sick worry when Daryl didn't show up that week to school. She tried calling him, looking for him in all the places she could think of, even his father's trailer, and even the shack, but Daryl was being taken care of by a nice old man named Dale, who Daryl encountered on an R.V. park twenty miles from his town. Dale nursed Daryl back to health, and took care for him for that week, and Daryl was nothing but eternally grateful towards the man not only because he healed his wounds but because he talked some sense into him.
After he escaped Will, Daryl had been nothing but prepared to flee. Flee his town and never look back, but then he told Dale his whole life story and somehow Beth's name came up, and after it did Daryl knew he couldn't just flee. He believed he had nobody after Merle, but then Dale reminded him of Beth and he knew he wasn't alone, because somehow Dale knew that what Beth and Daryl had was more than what Daryl said it was so he convinced Daryl to not just flee.
"Only cowards flee," Dale had told him, and Daryl knew that he was a lot of things, but he wasn't a coward.
Daryl returned home a week after the confrontation. Though he didn't return to his shack per se; he returned to Beth. Daryl walked to the Greene farm after Dale dropped him off at his town. Beth, who had been sitting at her family porch, looked like she had seen a ghost when he got close to the house. In a small table, Daryl got ten seconds to notice the missing person fliers with his name and yearbook photo, when Beth flung herself into his arms. Beth had tears in her eyes, and hugged him more tightly than he had ever ever been hugged before.
"Where have you been?" Beth hiccupped as she slightly pulled back to look at him.
At first Daryl didn't plan on telling why he had been absent that week, but he remembered Dale's words to him, but before he got to utter a single word Beth knew with just one clear straight look into his eyes.
"It was your father, wasn't it?" she whispered tightening her hold on him even more, as if, with it, she could shield him and protect him.
"Yeah," Daryl confirmed and he wanted to ask her how she knew but one thing about Beth Greene is that she's observant. She notices people, she's good at reading them, and Daryl was a book she had read dozens of times. There was no way she could've not known his father was the reason for his absence. Who else would have left the bruises on his face that were starting to fade, or who else would have left him slightly crouched into himself because all the fractured ribs that were slowly healing; nobody but Will Dixon.
"Oh, Daryl," Beth then cried, burrowing her face into his chest and hugging him so more.
"I was so worried."
"Hey, hey," Daryl went on to say moving his hands to cup her face so she could meet his eyes. "I'm ok. I got away from him. I'm ok."
And Beth, whose tears couldn't seem to stop, believed him, because she knew Daryl, remember. Daryl probably didn't realize so, but Beth had paid attention to him way before their senior year, so Beth knew that Daryl was alright because Daryl Dixon from before would have never accepted the comfort she was giving him. Also, Daryl would've never cared if anyone was worried about him, or tried to reassure them he was fine, he would've just brushed them off or go off on them, telling them to mind their own business. No, Daryl was as he said he was. He was ok, and Beth promised herself he stayed that way for the rest of their lives.
Wiping her eyes with her forearms Beth then determinedly said, "You're not leaving my side for at least a week. Alright, Dixon? And we're going to catch you up on what you missed last week, and we're going to your shack and secure it a hundred times from your father. I don't care if we have to dig trenches to stop him from getting to you ever again; we're going to do it."
"Alright, Greene," Daryl, who knew he couldn't ever fight something Beth Greene wanted to do, agreed. And Beth smiled at him, and he was more than ok afterwards because he had Beth, she cared for him, and he was safe from his father because he knew for a fact Beth would do anything to keep that man away from him, and him from her.
In the history books of their relationship, the day he returned, would be one of the most important dates in their relationship. It was that day that the thing they had between them, their chemistry, connection, or whatever you want to call it, was solidified. It was as if him and her, plus everyone in their school and their mom, knew they transitioned from being just Beth, just Daryl to Beth and Daryl. With each other Beth's and Daryl's personal bubble, that they would uncomfortable if anyone burst, did not exist. And everything happened so smoothly that neither Beth nor Daryl could remember the exact day it all changed.
Remembering that day fondly Daryl moved to place a kiss Beth's on the cheek, "I never did ask you, but did you actually make missing person fliers for me?"
"Of course I did," Beth responded as she cocooned herself closer to him because she didn't like remembering the time he was missing. She was super miserable that whole week. Perhaps more miserable than she had been on her junior year.
"I made about a hundred fliers and hung them everywhere and anywhere. And the ones I was doing when you returned, I was going to hang those next town over."
Nodding, as Beth recounted what she did for him, Daryl then felt such a strong sentiment on his chest, because he always thought no one would care enough for him or notice that he was gone, but Beth did and that meant so much to him.
"Thanks." Daryl then said, not because he had to (because he didn't), but because he wanted to. Beth did so much for him, and she did it because she loves him, but one thing he knew was that love was something a person gave, and everyone should be thanked when they gave someone a feeling as strong and magical as that.
"You don't need to thank me Daryl. I love you remember. I would look for you until the end of the world."
"Me too," Daryl vowed, remembering all the times he had ever hear Beth Greene say "I love you" to him, because he could still not get used to the fact that she loved him.
For a long time he believed that he was unlovable. Yes, Merle loved him, but other than him no one did, so he stuck the notion that no one would ever love him into his head.
However, he established an unforeseen friendship with no other than Beth Greene, and then he was receiving more love than he had ever imagined.
Not only did Beth love him, but her parents as well.
They cared for him, and when he went missing they helped Beth hang fliers around town. When he returned they urged him to place a restraining order against his father, which he refused to do. And over everything they loved him because he was there for Beth.
Hershel and Annette were not ignorant to what was said about Beth at their school, and neither were they ignorant to the way that Beth's spirits soared after she became Daryl's partner and they became friends. Hershel and Annette knew that Daryl played a big hand in Beth's renewed light that they were eternally grateful that he was there for her. So they gave their love to him the same way they did for their children. Annette would fret if Daryl said he hadn't eaten, or whenever he accidentally choked on water. Hershel taught him many things "men" are supposed to know, and Hershel was more of a father to him than Will Dixon ever was.
Daryl loved Beth, and he also loved Hershel and Annette.
And whenever unwelcomed thoughts entered his mind all he would do was think about Beth, and Hershel, and Annette and those thoughts went away, because one thing he knew is that he would be devastated if he ever hurt those three people.
The first time Beth told him she loved him was on Thanksgiving.
She declared her love to not just him but to her whole family.
The Greene's and him were going around the table thanking God for the blessings He bestowed upon them, and when Beth's turn came along she said,
"Dear Lord, I would like to thank you for giving us another Thanksgiving to celebrate, for the food that's here on this table, and for the people that I love that are sitting here: Mama, Daddy, Maggie, Shawn, and Daryl. Amen."
Daryl had been left speechless after Beth's words. He honestly believed he heard wrong when Beth included him in the names of the people she loved, but the Beth turned to look at him and she was slightly blushing and he knew then that he heard right. Beth's eyes always gave all her feelings away, and when he looked into them he knew that she meant what she said. She loved him. He wanted to say it right back to her, but held his tongue. He couldn't say it in front of her family, but what Daryl didn't know was that the Greene's already knew that he loved Beth and vice versa. Apparently they weren't as good as they thought they were at concealing their feelings.
He told her he loved her after they ate their Thanksgiving meals. They had gone to the meadow, where they usually did their homework, to just relax in the full of food belly bliss, and he declared his love right back to her.
"I love you too." Daryl who was lying on the grass, stroking Beth's hair said.
And Beth who was lying on Daryl's belly watching the meadow turned her head to look at him, and smiled at him and said,
"I know."
And afterwards, that became their thing. Whatever little thing they did that showed them that they loved the other, they would say "I love you too" right back. Sometimes they said it for the smallest of things; things that made their friends and family question why they were saying "I love you too."
For example, whenever Daryl would go home after being with Beth after school and Beth said,
"Call me when you get home," or "Don't forget to buckle up."
Daryl would declare his love for her too.
And when Daryl would make sure Beth was comfortable whenever they were making out and he was on top of her, or when he said "I'll go for you" when prom came around.
Beth would say "I love you too," without failing.
As the sun fully sank into the horizon, Daryl began to think about the future.
He usually didn't want to dwell on it, but they had just graduated from high school. The regularity, the atypical routine that came into their lives thanks to grade school was gone, and Daryl thought about what their new liberty would arise for them.
"Are we still taking that year off school?" Daryl went on to ask Beth.
"Of course we are!" Beth exclaimed as she turned to look at him with a frown, "Did you change your mind?"
"No," Daryl replied, "I was just thinking about the future."
"Oh," Beth then said, "What about the future?"
"Well for one," Daryl listed, "I was thinking about that road trip we are going to take with Dale. Two, I was thinking about maybe getting a job." And suddenly nervous Daryl said, "And I was thinking about how now that we're out of high school we're going to fall apart, or you're going to open your eyes and see who you're really with."
"And who's that?" Beth asked completely furious that Daryl would ask himself a question like that.
"A no good redneck, who is not worthy of someone like you."
"Okay," Beth then said as she turned to face Daryl, "One you might have been raised by a redneck but you're definitely not one. Daryl Dixon the only thing "Rednecky" that you do is hunt for your food and eat pigs feet."
"Two," she added using her thin fingers, "you're SO good Daryl. I can't believe you think you're not good. You're more kind than some of the people who got to my church and who declare themselves devoted followers of God. Three, you're worth everything. I don't know how someone can value their worth, and I honestly think it's stupid for people to do so, but to me, Daryl you're worth everything. You're worth happiness. You're worth love. And even though I'm not a big deal, you're worth me. So please stop with those cruel thoughts and let's just enjoy the fact that we just finished high school, and never have to go back. Let us just enjoy right now, and later we will worry about the future, because I know that we are going to be good, and some day happily married and with at least three children running around us."
Raising to his feet then Daryl helped Beth up too, and framing her cheeks with his palms, Daryl went on to kiss Beth as hard and as sensible as he possibly could. Because one of the many things Daryl knew about Beth was that she was always right, and that whatever she said came from her heart, and no one else's words were as sincere as hers. So Daryl knew then that he was going to spend the rest of his life with Beth Greene, and honestly he did not see a fault in that. Beth was life, and she was love, and to Beth Daryl was the same things, so they both knew that they would be ok. They survived high school, a place that deeply affects people. They survived tough obstacles, and opponents, and they were certain they could face head on the other obstacles and opponents they were about to meet in the real world. They had each other, and like they learned that day they became Anatomy partners Beth and Daryl just worked great together.