High School sucks. Especially for 17 year old Carol, who's dealing with the disappearance of Sophia, her younger sister, , a science teacher who seems to have taken a special interest in her, and Daryl, the next door neighbor that she is too nervous to talk too.

Chapter one- "Welcome to Hell."

They had been next door neighbors since before they were born, and 17 years later, Carol still had never said a word to him. They had lived in the poorest part of town, right on the edge before miles of country roads. All the houses nearly looked the same; one story, simple and plain but nothing really to complain about. Houses with two bedrooms and one bathroom and a kitchen the size of a closet, but it had never really mattered to Carol. Not many kids had lived on the street, it was mostly retired folk or struggling adults, but Daryl had always lived next door. She always heard yelling coming from his house. They had ridden the same bus to school, and always were the last two to get off in the afternoon, and they had to walk down the same street to get back home, but they never spoke.

But Daryl never seemed too inviting. He was always in an angry mood, with messy hair and cuts on his face and Carol could of sworn one day in the third grade that she saw a knife in his pocket. She had ran home that day because she was afraid he was going to kill her. He was scary, but at least not as scary as his big daddy. He was terrifying, and loud as hell about the dumbest things. He used to have a scary brother too, that always tried to talk to Carol on the bus. But he had moved out or something last year, thank god.

Truth was, Daryl was so interesting to Carol. Something about him was different, a good kind of different. It had crossed her mind in the morning on the first day of senior year. She sat in her room, poking as her freckled face in a cracked mirror and he had crossed her mind. It had taken her twenty minutes to find something to wear to her last first day, but she had given up. Skirts and dresses never looked right on her body, and she eventually settled for her favorite pair of jeans and a comfy sweater. She watched her hands in her mirror has she pulled her dark brown hair into a pony tail right on the crown on her head, she had always hated hair in her face. She dropped her finger tips to her vanity, scratching at some nail polish she had spilled on it when she was in the seventh grade. She didn't want to look in the mirror, unimpressed with herself as usual.

"I'm going to school now." Carol's voice was soft and soothing and someone had told her once she should be a motivational speaker because she made people feel better. "I'll be home at 4." She scanned her watery eyes around the kitchen, catching her mother sitting at the table, placing some freshly cut Violet's into the crystal green vase sitting in the middle. It was shocking how much Carol and her mother looked alike, short and skinny with one of those empty faces. She looked up at her daughter for less than a moment, and then threw her attention back down to her arrangement. Carol Pursed her lips.

"Bye."


So, maybe Carol had left a little early to wait for the bus. She wasn't sure how long she had been standing on the street corner, but at least four songs had gone by on her iPod. She was patient though, just thinking about random things while enjoying the sun against her pink skin.

But suddenly her was next to her, and she could feel her fingers stiffen at her sides. She couldn't help but look at Daryl, looking down at his scuffed boots. His coarse locks of sandy hair hung around his empty eyes, his hand fiddling in his pockets and he acted like she wasn't there. When she first knew Daryl it had offended her, they way she didn't exist to him. But then she realized he acted that way to everyone. She took her headphones out anyway, just in case he decided to talk to her. When the bus finally came, Carol looked at all the same faces she remembered for all these years, and quickly took the only empty seat on the bus, her eyes immediately fixated out the window. But then that tense feeling crept into her hands again, when she could feel Daryl sit next to her, keeping as much space in between them as possible.


"Carol!"

The first day was always chaotic. Confused freshmen and excited Seniors and Carol was always lost. Andrea attacked her with a hug, her curly blonde locks tickling at Carol's cheeks and she smiled. "I missed you so much!" Andrea laughed, stepping back to look at Carol.

"I missed you too!" excitement rising in her voice and she immediately pulled out her class schedule to compare with her friend. "Crap, no classes together this year."

"Shit. Oh well, we still have lunch together!" Andrea shrugged, pursing her glossed lips and she grabbed Carol's little hands. "We can go get sandwiches from that Deli with the cute worker!"

"Duh," Carol laughed. "How could you survive without flirting with him?!"

"Shut up!" Andrea rolled her eyes, glancing down at her watch. "1st period's about to start!" She exclaimed as if she was excited to go to school. Carol was about to reply, but Andrea's eyes suddenly widened, her gaze moving behind Carol, the corners of her lips rising.

"What?"

"It's a fight!" Andrea screamed, clasping onto Carol's wrist and running towards where a circle was quickly forming. Andrea pushed her way through the kids, wanting to get a prime view of however was getting the shit beat out of them. Everyone was screaming and cheering on the two boys fighting, and Carol got to the front of the crowd to witness Daryl knee a kid in the gut, blood dripping down the side of his mouth. Her eyes were wide, as she watched the way Daryl attacked him, anger plastered against his face as the kid quickly recovered from the hit, attempting to punch Daryl in the face.

"Carol," Andrea said into her friends ear. "Isn't that your scary next door neighbor?"

She blinked, in awe as blood dripped to the floor and she wasn't sure whose it was. "Yeah."

"I would be terrified if he lived next to me." Andrea said, watching as two teachers finally broke through to crowd and grabbed Daryl from the back.

"I will kill you!" He screamed, spit jumping out of his mouth, struggling to break apart from the teachers. "Kill you!"

Carol's eyes were wide as they pulled him away. She wanted to tell Andrea she wasn't scared of him, but she couldn't decide if that was a lie or not.


"Daryl Dixon?"

Carol looked up from her hands against a desk in the back of Biology. She had practically knew everyone in her class, but she didn't really know anyone. She eyed the empty desk in the corner of the room. It must be for Daryl. They hadn't had a class together since freshman year.

"He kicked some kids ass this morning." One kid spoke up, and the teacher mumbled something to himself before continuing with attendance.

"Alright kids," The teacher smiled, running his chubby fingers through his stubby brown hair. His cheeks were rosy and he had some sort of sinister smile. "Welcome to hell."

"I'm Mr. Peletier."