Genevieve 10 years old

"Gen! Time to get ready for school!", my dad yelled up the stairs at me.

I yawned and rolled over pulling the blankets with me. I hated waking up for school in the morning. This morning it was worse than normal. It was my first day in a new school.

My family had recently moved back to my dad's hometown. Mom and dad seemed to think that it would be better for me to go to school here than in the city. They were worried about the rise in violence that was happening in the bigger towns. So they packed us up and moved us to the middle of nowhere.

I was not happy about the move. I had very few friends at my old school, mostly because I didn't like to be around too many people. It isn't that I am overly shy or anything. In fact it is the opposite, I am really talkative and outgoing. I just don't like small talk or new people. So, the idea of going to a new school and being surrounded by a ton of kids that I didn't know was going to kill me.

"Genevieve Rose Harris! Get up now or you are going to be late!" My dad yelled.

"Okay, okay! I'm up!"

Deciding that it was pointless to wait any longer, I got ready for the day. After getting dressed, and brushing my hair and teeth, I headed downstairs so that I could eat breakfast.

My mom was rushing around the kitchen trying to get the pancakes and stuff on the table. This was a recent idea of hers. She thought that we should start eating breakfast as a family. I personally thought that it was a dumb idea. Both of my parents had full time jobs and I had school. This was just going to make things even more hectic in the morning, but if she wanted to, I sure wasn't going to argue with her.

"Gen, honey, could you please grab the syrup from the fridge?"

I grabbed the syrup and sat down at the table just as my mom had finished getting all the food on the table. My dad soon sat down and joined us. We almost immediately started eating. It was about time for us to leave. I hurried and scarfed down my plate full of food. This earned me a disapproving look from my mom, but I just grinned and got up from the table. I put my plate in the sink and grabbed my backpack.

"Bye Mom! Bye Dad!" I yelled as I was getting ready to walk out the door.

"Hang on a minute and I will give you a ride." My dad said. "There is some paperwork I have to drop off at the school."

"Class, this is Genevieve Harris. She just moved here from Savannah." my new teacher, Mrs. Ammon, announced.

After the oh so glorious and embarrassing introduction, I looked down and made my way to the back of the classroom. I sat down at a desk in the back row next to a boy who seemed to be more in his shoes than what the teacher was saying.

I turned towards the front and listened to Mrs. Ammon as she gave us a lesson on sentence structure. Having already learned all of this at my previous school, I soon found myself drowning out her voice and observing my surroundings. I found the boy next to me to be quite interesting.

He was wearing a torn plaid shirt and dirty jeans. His messy hair was a sandy blond color. He wasn't paying attention to the teacher either. Instead he seemed to be scratching at his desk with a small pocketknife. It was when he looked up and caught me staring at him that I noticed he had really pretty blue eyes. I know you aren't supposed to call boys pretty, but he was. He wasn't pretty in a girly way by any means, but he wasn't ugly either.

"Daryl Dixon! Is that a knife?" The Mrs. Ammon yelled, managing to startle us both. "Go to the principles office right this instant."

With one last look at me, the boy, Daryl, I guess his name is, got up and walked out of the classroom. As soon as he was out the door, Mrs. Ammon went right back to teaching.

Lunchtime rolled around and I found myself looking for somewhere to sit. A couple of kids had asked me to join them, but I was too uncomfortable with the idea of sitting with people I didn't know. I glanced around the lunchroom and finally noticed a table off to the side with no one sitting at it. I quickly made a beeline for the table and hoped that no one would decide to sit with me.

As I sat there and ate my lunch, I zoned out and started thinking about my friends Reed and Jackson. My parents didn't quite like the idea that I my only two friends were boys, but they eventually realized that I didn't care. The three of us were constantly getting in trouble at my old school. We were smart kids, too smart according to some people. I remember one day in third grade, when we managed to sneak into the storage room in the gym. We stole a bunch of the rubber balls used in PE and started a game of doge ball in the cafeteria. We were given detention for two weeks. It was worth it though. I really did miss those two. Maybe I could talk my parents into having them come and visit this summer, or maybe I could go and visit them.

I was interrupted from my thinking, when someone pulled out a chair and sat across from me. It was Daryl.

"You are sitting at my table." He said.

"Sorry." I said. "I didn't know where else to sit." I don't know why but I was already comfortable talking with him. Daryl didn't exactly remind me of Reed and Jackson, but I could tell he didn't beat around the bush.

"Why didn't ya sit with the other kids?" He asked me.

"I don't like very many people." I replied back honestly. " I only had two friends, Jackson and Reed, at my old school."

Daryl looked me over before replying. "Ya ain't like most girls are ya?"

I just shook my head before going back to eating. Daryl stared at me for a few more seconds before he ate as well.

Over the next few weeks, Daryl and I developed an odd sort of friendship. We would eat lunch together everyday. At first there wasn't a lot of talking, but eventually we both began to open up to one another. I told him about getting into trouble with Reed and Jackson. He told me stories about hunting and stuff with his older brother Merle. I talked about my parents and their weird habits. He didn't talk about his parents very often, but I didn't push him for information. If he didn't want to tell me, I was okay with it.

One week Daryl didn't show up to school. I was starting to get worried about him, so I asked my dad if he knew anything about the Dixon family. My dad gave me a strange look and asked me why I wanted to know. I told him about Daryl and that I was worried because he hadn't been to school in a long time. My dad sighed and put down his newspaper. Then he proceeded to tell me that Daryl's momma died in a fire earlier that week.

Daryl showed up to school the next week. We didn't talk in class and at lunch he didn't go into the cafeteria. Instead he stayed in the classroom while everyone else left. I decided to stay behind with him.

Neither of us talked for a while and finally I looked at him. "I heard about your momma, Daryl. I'm sorry it happened."

Daryl stood up quickly almost tipping his desk over in the process. "Why do ya even care, huh? Ya just dumb and stupid. Why do I even hang out with ya? Ya don't even have any friends! Instead ya follow me around the school like some dumb dog. Just go away."

I knew he didn't really mean it and was just upset. I knew that sometimes people got angry and took it out on others. It hurt to hear him say these things, but I didn't leave. I sat there quietly as he calmed down. Daryl continued to glare and me and breath roughly from all the yelling he had just done, but eventually I could see his anger start to turn to sadness. I stood up then and wrapped my arms around him. Daryl tensed up for a little bit. After a while, he relaxed and returned my hug. He put his head on my shoulder and was really quiet, but I knew he was actually crying. He shoulders shook a bit and my shirt got slightly damp. I just stood there hugging him.

When Daryl stopped crying, he looked at me and asked if I was hungry. I nodded and we left to go get lunch.