Last night I asked if anyone was interested in another teen fix and you guys said yes, so to everyone who wanted it, here it is!

Trigger warning: mentions of suicide.

...

The pace his feet moved quickened with every step he took, the wind whisked past him whistling in his ear, the growing drops of rain fell atop his head.

His pace quickened until he was no longer walking but lightly jogging instead.

Ten minutes and he was soaking wet and practically gasping for air. Not being one for doing anything more active than opening his study book or walking the dog, he was exhausted.

Pulling the key from his pocket, he unlocked the door and dried his feet at the welcome mat.

He shivered a bit, while it wasn't necessarily cold out, being soaked had a way of giving one the shivers.

He shook his head side to side hoping to rid his dark hair of the water.

He was greeted by his dog, Bruno, who seemed to be quite eager that he was back. He smiled and kneeled in front of the dog giving him a loving pat.

Bruno truly was his best friend. The other kids at school usually avoided him, he couldn't understand why.

He really wanted to be accepted and liked by his peers. He wanted to have a group of friends to walk home with, he wanted to play at recess too but his crippling social anxiety wouldn't allow him to mingle with the other kids like he wanted.

At school, he would smile at the other kids as a form of communication but they always did the same thing, frowned and looked at him like he was some gross weirdo.

In fact, he knew they thought of him as the weird nerdy kid, he'd overheard a conversation between a group of girls and none of them had anything nice to say about him.

Actually, one of the girls Maggie Greene, who lived in his neighborhood had something good to say. *"that's not nice to say about someone, he's not bad, he's just shy."*.

Her statement was said in defense of what his crush Lori had said. *"He's So annoyingly lame, how can someone be so creepy? He smiles at me everyday. He has a pizza face and weird hair."*

All the girls except Maggie laughed at his expense.

That really hurt his feelings but be still smiled at them later that day. He just wanted to be friends. He couldn't help the way he looked and he didn't think he should be hated for it. And was his hair weird? His mom told him it was beautiful.

The 13 year old was snapped back to reality when Bruno kept whining. The kid frown at his bestfriend, he never whined unless he wanted to show him something.

He lifted from his kneeled position and followed a whining Bruno. When they reached the bathroom door, Bruno scratched at it repeatedly, almost urgently.

Not even five seconds later, he saw water spilling from under the door and began to panic. He knocked on the door while Bruno continued scratching.

There was no answer so the kid turned the knob cautiously and cracked the door.

"Mom?" He called.

He opened the door wider when there wasn't a response.

He jumped back in shock when he saw the scene before him. He stumbled and fell on the floor right outside the door.
He rubbed his eyes fervently hoping they were playing tricks on him but when he opened them once again, nothing had changed.

The young boy screamed loudly unable to take his eyes away from the horror.

Bruno barked loudly and he was frozen in place.

...

"Somebody go talk to the kid, he's been sitting in that exact spot for two whole hours."

"Did you expect anything less? He came home from school to find his mother in the tub with her wrists slit. I'd say that's pretty traumatizing."

"Yeah, I can't imagine what he's going through. Looks like an awkward kid too. " he was nudged by one of his fellow officers but he just shrugged. "C'mon look at him. He isn't even crying, just staring into space."

"Don't be a dick, let him grieve his way. He's most likely still indenial at this point. I'll go over and speak to him."

The older man walked cautiously over to where the boy was sitting in one of the chairs at the station and kneeled down so that they were face to face.

"Hey son, how are you holding up?" The officer said.

Slowly, the boys eyes met his and he asked in a shaky voice. "Am I in trouble? "
The officer's heart shattered for the kid.

He shook his head no.

"You're not in trouble son, my name is Officer Herschel Greene. I knew your mother very well."

The kid nodded. "I know you." He whispered. "Maggie's dad."

"That's right!" Herschel smiled softly. "Is my girl one of your good friends?"

"I don't have friends at school. I have one friend. Where is he? My dog Bruno?"

Herschel turned to glare at the officers behind him and they all shrugged. No one mentioned that there was a dog in the house.

"Don't worry kiddo. Bruno will be okay."

From the looks of it, the kid had reached his word limit for the day and went back to staring into space.

Officer Herschel got up and returned to his fellow officers.

"Is his father coming anytime soon?" Herschel whispered to one of them."

"Well... He says to let the system handle it."

Herschel frowned. "Just like that? He's handing his child to the system? Does he know how hard it is for those kids?"

"I guess he doesn't care. He didn't exactly sound inviting. The kid might be better off in the system."

"Have you tried any other relatives?"

"His grandparents on his mother's side live in one of those old folk homes and the other grandparents seem about as friendly as their son. Apple ain't fall far from the asshole tree."

Herschel sighed. "Try again in the morning, for now I can take him with me. His mom was a good friend of mine, she would want me to do this for her." He paused to gather his thoughts then said. "Did she leave a note?" The pain was evident in his voice.

It was no secret that Gina Hunt, formerly Gina Grimes, was severely depressed but it was still shocking when they received a call from her child claiming he found her in a very unfortunate and heartbreaking position.

Taking the boy home with him was the least officer Greene could do for both the child and his late friend.

Officer Greene took a deep breath before walking back over to the boy and said. "We can't get in touch with your father so you'll have to come with me for tonight until we can reach him. Is that okay son?"

"Can Bruno come too?" He asked while staring straight ahead.

"Of course he can. We can go get him and anything you need before we head to my house okay?"

The boy nodded.

...

Walking through the house, the found boy entered his room and stuffed some clothes and shoes into his backpack while Officer Greene lifted Bruno' s bag of dog food to the car.

The boy walked past the bathroom and stared at the closed door. Tears filled his eyes as he inched closer to the door.

As he turned the knob, Officer Greene's voice boomed from behind him. "Don't!" It was more of a panicked yell rather than an angry yell but either way, it stunned the young boy causing him to flinch and tense up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell, it's just that you shouldn't look in there, it'll remind you of what happened." He sighed

"Did she hate me?" He asked while still facing the door.

"No. She loved you, everything she did was for you."

"Then why did she leave me."

"Son... it's hard to explain, one day when you're older... maybe you'll understand."

...

The now 17 year old boy checked his backpack one final time making sure he didn't forget anything.

First days of school were always hard. After a summer of doing absolutely nothing educational, it was like you got a lot more forgetful. Amazing how only three months away could do that.

Notebooks, folders, 3 ring binder, pencils, pens, highlighters, and a calculator.

He nodded his head. Yep, this was everything, he swung the bookbag over his back and looked at his reflection in the mirror. Over the years he grew taller and his hair was less, what the mean kids would call, awkward, his face was clear of any spots and bumps unlike in the past. He started growing into his looks some time ago but over this summer was the real change.

"Wow, bro, you've gotten really handsome over the summer. Wooo look at you! I think you've officially passed your awkward phase. Took you long enough." She slapped his arm.

He smirked slightly. " You see me everyday Margaret, don't act so surprised."

She secured her arms around his neck playfully choking him. "What did I say about calling my by my full name asshole!" She said through clenched teeth.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He tapped his hand against her arm signaling he was tapping out.

"That's what I thought." She stood tall with her hands on her hips.

"What I meant to say was, Margaret Mae Green-"

He took off running when she started chasing him.

Beth watched the both of them with a smile as she fixed her bow atop her head. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror.

Unlike her older sister Maggie, she loved that uniforms were , as of this year, mandatory. Maggie said uniforms were lame but Beth thought they were cute- she'd always wanted to wear one and she loved the way it made her look.

"Who wants to wear a skirt everyday? Why do we *have * to wear a skirt? Because we're girls? Last year we couldn't even wear leggings because they would *"distract the male students."* That's so sexist but now we're being forced to wear these tiny ass thot skirts? Damn they're lucky my legs are flawless. " Maggie ranted when she found out they would be wearing uniforms.

Beth laughed as she thought of her older sister.

"Bethy, it's time to go. Get your brother and sister. I'll be in the car."

"Ok daddy."

Beth put both her hands around her mouth imitating a megaphone and shouted. "Margaret! Richard! Time to go!"

Her siblings were still chasing each other around but froze when they heard her call.

"Don't call me that!" They both said in annoyed tones.

"Oh whatever, daddy's ready to go. Let's go kids."

"Beth you're the youngest one." Maggie said with a teasing smirk.

"Yeah, freshman." Rick joined in on the teasing.

"Hey I'm excited for my first day of high school. Look how cute I am in this uniform!" She did a little twirl. Maggie stared at her in disgust of her cuteness, Rick just snorted.

...

They walked into the school and saw a bunch of familiar faces. Of course they'd expected it. Pretty much everyone knew everyone.

Maggie saw her friends and smiled then happily waved to them.

She rested her arms over both Rick and Beth's shoulders and said. "Listen up guys, I want both of you to do something for me ok? Rick, please get a girlfriend or for the love of God try and make some friends okay? There's a lot of nice people here. And Beth..." Maggie closed her eyes while she sighed. "Just don't cry on your first day, people will remember it. Now my friends are coming over here, don't do anything to embarrass me."

"Hi Maggie." Lori waved observing the two with Maggie. "Wow Beth! Is that you? You've gotten so big, you're all grown up. Beth gave her signature southern bell soft giggle with a smile that melted hearts.

"And wow... Rick..." her cheeks tinted to a pinkish hue. She bit her bottom lip looking down at her feet whist pushing a lose piece of hair behind her ear. "It's nice to see you Rick."

Rick looked her up and down with a confused expression on his face. Lori rarely spoke to him. In fact, she was rather mean to him. He always thought she was really pretty- he had the biggest crush on her for the longest time, but he always heard her mocking him behind his back. Calling him tumbleweed or pizza face. Ever since he moved in with the Greenes she would always make sure to say these things when Maggie wasn't around so she thought the insults and teasing had stopped long ago, it had not.

Rick just scoffed.

Maggie nudged him.

"What?"

"Lori is flirting with you can't you tell?" She whispered in his ear.

"Catch you later sis." He said to Maggie with a playful shove.

"Later sis." He said to Beth giving her a kiss on the forehead. He didn't horse play with Beth like he did with maggie. Both he and Maggie were overprotective of her.

Beth waved sweetly. "See you at home."

"Bye Richard!" Maggie yelled down the hall when he was a decent distance away.

He just snickered as he walked away shaking his head.

"Classic Maggie. " he laughed to himself.

"Excuse me."

He turned to see a girl he'd never seen before.

"Hi, I don't mean to bother you but do you know where this is?" She said pointing to a room 204 that was listed on her schedule.

"Yeah, I'm headed there now."

"Oh, then um... can I just follow you there?"

He didn't know who this girl was, she had to be new. She couldn't be a freshman based on the classes listed on her schedule. Maybe a transfer student.

She wore thigh high socks with her uniform skirt and a graphic tee under her uniform shirt which was opened and her curly fro was impressive to say the least. She had multiple bangles on each arm and a spiked choker.

Clearly this girl wasn't from around here. She was too flashy but in a cute, charming way.

Compared to her, everyone else looked bland and boring.

Rick smiked to himself.

"Can I?"

"Huh?" He said coming back to his senses.

"Walk with you?" She reminded.

"Oh! Right... sure. Follow me."

...

So there will be glimpses of the past to show more of what happened when Rick first started living with the Greene's and how he became more comfortable socializing. Dont expect those flashbacks in c2 tho. He'll still be awkward but he has grown a lot and the future chapters will show that.

Also, as you know, I have a few stories I am currently updating that are almost complete and the updates for this one won't be as frequent as those until I finish those first. Again, thank you for the support!