My head buzzed a little bit as I opened my eyes. Instantly, I closed them again, bright yellow light streaming in from between the slats on the treehouse. As soon as the words tree house registered in my mind, my eyes shot open in a panic. It was far past dawn.

"Oh, fuck…" I grumbled, sitting up quickly and rubbing my eyes. Carl lay beside me with nothing but his jeans on, and at that moment, I realized that my ass was extremely cold. This was probably due to the fact I was wearing only my shirt. I searched the room quickly and noticed that our clothes were discarded in a very loose manner, strewn all across the room. I snatched my underwear from the couch and quickly returned them to my body before shaking Carl awake.

He woke with a start, nearly smacking me in the face. However, he went through the realization process much quicker than I, and within a few seconds, gave me a look of utter horror.

"…Andy…" He said in a bit of a questioning tone, forcing himself to a sitting position. I shook my head and thrust his shirt at him. As we both began to dress ourselves again, I couldn't help but wonder if anyone noticed our absence.

"We're fucking screwed…" Carl moaned, covering his face with his hands. I shot him a look of sympathy that he didn't see before saying,

"Look, we, uh… We did something last night, definitely." I didn't want to say it aloud, despite the fact that my memory was pretty clear and I figured his was too. "But now isn't exactly the time to talk about it; we really need to get back."

He didn't argue, only reached under the couch and tossed my other boot at me. I mumbled a thanks and shoved both shoes on, then put on my jacket. I grabbed his hat from its precarious position, balancing on the open windowsill, and settled it on my head. Carl glanced at me and cracked a smile. I winked and shouldered my bag.

"Alright, come on. We'll talk on the way back, if you can talk while running." I made a hasty check in my bag to make sure I wasn't missing anything as I left the treehouse. I pretended to wave at the hanged walker before approaching the huge white oak.

"I'll go first." Carl offered from behind me. I gave him a surprised look and he shrugged a bit. I threw my arms out slightly.

"Go for it, man." I gestured towards the tree, leaning against the outside of the treehouse. Carl flicked the brim of his hat, making me grab onto it to keep it on my head and shoot him a dirty look, then disappeared down through the expanse of branches. Once I heard his feet hit the ground, I made to follow.

My hands found the branches apparently most slippery with morning dew and I had a hell of a time trying to maneuver my way back onto the ground without breaking a limb. About ten feet above the ground, my hand slipped, and as I went to grab for a different branch, I heard a loud crack and felt a deep terror as I began to fall.

Surprisingly, I landed on all fours. The wind was knocked out of me, sure, but I hadn't broken anything. A check of my palms guaranteed a few dirty scrapes, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with Neosporin and bandages. As I got to my feet, I glanced up and saw Carl's face turn red.

"I tried to catch you…" He mumbled, apparently embarrassed. I snorted.

"Don't worry about it. I did that yesterday too, and ended up doing worse than these," I showed him my palms and he winced. I shrugged it off. "Anyway, we really have to get going now or I have a feeling your dad will literally shoot me."

We set off at almost a run, but after about a minute, it was obvious neither of us really cared that much, and we ended up walking instead. We didn't hold hands like yesterday, but I didn't mind. I did get him high and make him stay out all night, so no hard feelings.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked softly, keeping myself alert for any movement around us. A squirrel nearly gave me a heart attack just a few minutes before and I didn't want a repeat of it.

"I… don't know." He sounded embarrassed again and I couldn't help a smile.

"It wasn't my first rodeo, if you know what I mean," I tilted the brim of his hat up to look at him and he rolled his eyes.

"So you've told me… a couple times. But uh…" His face flushed pink momentarily. "It was mine."

"I know." I grinned. "Don't be embarrassed or anything. We've had different experiences, and this is just another one of those experiences. A story to tell later on. But hey, when you've got a hot girlfriend and she wants to know when you first fucked a chick, please leave my name outta it? Thanks."

"Honestly, Andy, this was more than just a story to tell."

Was he flirting with me? I kept my head down enough so he couldn't see my eyes over the hat. "I have a feeling you remember more than I do."

"Vividly."

"…I only remember the first part, I think I either blocked it out, or I passed out."

"Both. Right after we… finished… you just kinda feel asleep instantly."

I giggled. "Wow, you must've exhausted me, then."

"…Shut up." He kicked my heel and I tripped forward, then shot him a look.

"But not enough, hm?" Carl gave me a curious look. I returned it with a mischievous grin before bolting off towards Alexandria. He didn't yell after me, but I heard him on my tail. I tried to weave around trees to give the illusion of trying to throw him off, but I really didn't want to. He didn't know his way back from here; I did.

I glanced behind me to see how close he was, only for me to lose my footing on a tree root and fall, sprawling forward on the ground. My already scraped-up hands were bleeding now, and as I held them out to inspect them, I felt arms wrap around my torso and pull me up.

My first instinct, of course, was to grab my fire axe that I dropped when I fell, but as I scrambled to a regular standing position, I saw Carl staring down at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Clumsy today, huh?" I smacked his arm and he recoiled. Our chase scene had brought us to just outside Alexandria. I looked up at the wall, then back at him.

"Okay, so before you can make fun of me more, I'm just going to…" I turned my back to him and made my way up the supports, disappearing over the wall. My feet hit the ground rather hard on the other side and I had to put my arms out to steady myself. I glanced behind me and saw Sasha, one hand on her hip, the other on her rifle, as she gave me a disappointed glower. At that moment, Carl dropped down beside me.

"Um… hi."

Sasha didn't look amused. "Were you out there all night?"

"Well, not all night, technically, since we didn't leave until midnight, but—" At the look on her face, I decided to cut it short. "Yeah, basically."

Sasha shook her head with a disbelieving expression. She stared at me levelly. "I would expect this from you, but…" Her gaze shifted to Carl, who was beginning to look like he'd rather be just about anywhere else.

"I'm a terrible influence, honestly. Grimes didn't do anything, he just—he saw me going over the wall and went after me." I lied, holding my hand up.

"And that whole endeavor took seven hours?" Oh, shit… We were gone for seven hours?

"Exactly." Carl cut in, but I shot him a glare and he shut up.

"Come with me, kids." I was going to protest, but Sasha kinda scared me, as well as the fact that she was holding her rifle still, I reluctantly followed her. I knew exactly where she was heading: baaaack to the house.

I avoided looking back at Carl as we approached the house. Inside, I could see Maggie talking to Rick, and at the sight of Sasha coming up the steps with us in tow, she opened the door. Maggie gave me the regular greeting: "What were you thinking?"

"Sorry, mom." I said with a grin, leaning against the wooden post of the porch. Sasha said something in a low tone to Rick, then pushed past Carl and I, no doubt heading back to the watchtower.

"Don't get smart with me." Man, she really was my mom. Meanwhile, Rick was straight up giving me a cold glare.

"…What? Is it against the law to go outside?" I knew I was crossing the line, but I really didn't care at this point. I have no filter, apparently!

Carl grabbed my sleeve and mumbled, "Andy, just leave it alone…"

I put my hand on my hip and winced as the scratched flesh touched the leather of my jacket, but I didn't react verbally. I was still preparing for the lecture I was going to get.

"You shouldn't have been going over the wall at all. It's there for a reason, and both of you know that." Maggie was still the only one talking; Carl was probably going to get a strict talking-to from his dad later.

"It's not really a 'both of you' situation. We both decided this on our own, but since I'm a bad influence, it was more of my decision and this dumbass followed." Maggie opened her mouth to speak again, but I continued. "Plus, there's really not a punishment you can do. My parents are both dead, and neither of you are stand-ins."

I turned to Carl. "Sorry, honey, but you're screwed."

Then, I walked past both of them and sprinted up the stairs. I headed for the top floor to the unfinished room, then climbed out of the window onto the room. Nobody came after me. I could hear Carl and his dad arguing on the porch and saw Maggie walking in an agitated fashion towards Deanna's. I sighed heavily as I sat down above Carl's bedroom window.

Good morning, society.

By the time Rick left to do… whatever it is he does during the day, it was almost 10. Carl was still inside and I stayed on the roof until early afternoon. I was laying on a nice sun spot, my eyes closed and listening to people in Alexandria talk when a rock hit me hard in the leg.

Scowling, I sat up and rubbed my leg, looking down. Carl was throwing another rock from one hand to another, staring up at me with one eye closed. I groaned and laid back down.

The other rock soon pelted me on the other leg and I decided to hear what he had to say.

"What do you want?" I yelled down at him, sitting dangerously close to the edge. I figured he probably wanted his hat back.

"School!" He yelled back, and I gave him a dull look.

"No."

"Get down here, damnit!" He threw another rock, but this time he undershot it and it went into his bedroom. I snorted and laid back down.

"Andy!"

I flipped him off. I heard a frustrated groan.

"I'll tell Maggie!" He really thought that would make me move? Dumbass.

"Fine! How can I get you down here?"

I grinned and sat up, then looked down at him. Carl threw his hands out in an exasperated expression. I put my middle and pointer finger each on one side of my mouth and flicked my tongue through the opening. Carl groaned.

"Just get down here!"

I rolled my eyes, but made my way back to the hole in the house regardless. I tromped through the house and met him outside, having stashed my fire axe and messenger bag in his room for the time being.

"So? You'll come, then?"

I chuckled. "Oh, no. I just wanted to come down here and enjoy your company."

"Give me my hat back, then," He made a grab for it and I ducked away, sticking my tongue out playfully. Carl made another grab for it and I ducked again.

"Come on, man, we survived years of some weird fuckin' apocalypse and to do what? Go to school? No."

Carl crossed his arms. "Andy, you can't avoid people forever."

"Bullshit." I pointed at him, then set my jaw. "People don't like me, I don't like people. Plus, school's unnecessary at this point and I'd rather not spend that much time i—"

Before I could finish my sentence, Carl grabbed me by my jaw and kissed me. I shoved him away quickly. He looked smug. "Comin' now?"

"Carl! Don't… do that here." I scolded, a little lost for words as my cheeks flared red.

"Sorry." From the look on his face, I could tell he was not sorry at all. I scowled.

"You know what, fuck you. I'll go with you, but if you make me do any—" I pretended to shudder as I said the word, "—schoolwork, then I am out of there and I will hate you forever."

"Fine," He shrugged casually, still grinning. "We don't usually get much done anyways, considering there isn't more than like an hour each day, and it gets put off a lot."

I groaned halfheartedly and began to wander after him as he set off towards… actually, I had no clue where the schoolbuilding was, or if it was even a… it doesn't matter.

It didn't take very long to get there, and soon, I was sitting at an old plastic table next to Carl as one of Alexandria's adults (I didn't recognise her, but she looked to be in her early 40's, a bit of a white suburban soccer mom type) pointed to whatever she had written on the beat-up chalkboard nailed haphazardly into the concrete of a dim garage. Even with the sunlight filtering in through the windows above the garage door, it was still pretty dark and kind of stuffy. I put my chin in my hand and zoned out, staring at a girl a few feet away.

She was really cute. She didn't look too interested in the shitty lecture either (I think it was about plants/agriculture), and instead was staring at the knife in her hands, concealed behind the chair of the kid in front of her so the teacher couldn't see her. Next to her, a boy with a denim jacket and what looked like resting bitch face caught notice and tapped her arm, mumbling something to her before turning his attention back to Linda there at the front of the room. She rolled her eyes partially, gave a dirty look to the wall, and slipped it into her boot.

I glanced over at Carl. He had a composition notebook in front of him, but nothing was written in it. I picked up his pencil and pulled the notebook a bit closer to me to scrawl (in my admittedly terrible handwriting), "Who's that?".

I pushed the notebook back to Carl and touched his hand to get his attention. He looked at me, then down at the paper. After scanning it, he scanned the room before mouthing, "Who?"

I pointed to the girl. Then, after no response, picked up the pencil again.

"Brown hair, doe eyes, kind of a pout. Was messing with a knife before Denim Boy made her stop. Looks kind of bored."

Carl read it, then took my offer of his pencil back and wrote his response. Granted, his handwriting wasn't good either, but it was definitely worse than mine. I could still read it for the most part, though. "That's Enid, and the one next to her is Ron."

As I went to grab the pencil to reply, I watched Carl re-read what I'd written, then whisper, "Denim Boy?"

I grinned and nodded, scribbling, "So when do we get to blow this pop-stand?"

Underneath that, I doodled a little cat creature slumped over on her paws at a ice-cream stand, writing, "2 hot, 2 incredibly hot" over her head. While I watched Ron and Enid, Carl wrote his response and tapped the notebook with the pencil eraser to tear my attention away from them. I glanced down and read,

"It's not that bad, and it's done at 2:30." He had added onto my drawing, an extremely crude… dog?... thing with a speech bubble saying, "Can I order a haagen dogs icecream?"

I smiled at his dorky attempt and sketched out the same cat, but bigger with her middle finger up and a sly expression. "No we don't serve your kind".

He read it and let out a soft, almost inaudible scoff. "Rude."

I glanced up and checked the clock above the teacher. Holy shit… 2:28. Time flies when you pay no attention to school whatsoever. Regardless, Linda seemed to notice and said, "Alright, we'll continue this tomorrow."

I let out a groan that was drowned amid the shuffling of the maybe half-dozen other kids in the room. Carl grabbed my arm as I put my face down on the table and forced me to stand. I shot him a look of disgust.

"Come on, I'm going to introduce you to a few people," Then, in a softer tone, "Act like you know how to talk to people, okay?"

"Just this once," I promised with a smirk. He led me over to where Ron, Enid, and a kid with black hair were talking. Enid looked a bit out of the conversation and stared at us as we approached.

"Hey guys," Carl greeted them casually, as I searched for a way to exit without being noticed. However, Enid had made eye contact with me, and once somebody knows you're there, there's really no point. "This is Andy, she's my –she's my best friend."

"…Hi," I said awkwardly, nodding a bit.

Ron seemed to be the gangleader and introduced each of them in turn, to which Mikey (who names their kid that?) and Enid said a hello after their names were said. I gave a polite wave once they were done.

"So… nice knife." I commented to Enid, once Ron and Carl had started talking. We kind of broke off from their group and stood a bit away.

She nodded. She was rather quiet, which was a relief, meaning I wouldn't have to try hard to be funny. "Thanks. It was my mom's."

"I'm guessing your mom is gone too." Damnit, had to bring up the tough subject first? To my relief, she nodded again. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay." She finally met my eyes. "Where are your parents?"

I shrugged. "Never knew them. My aunt raised me, and as far as I know, she's still in a loading dock in Hartsfield-Jackson. I was with my best friend when this all went down."

Enid's gaze strayed to Carl and I shook my head. "Not him. Someone else. I didn't meet him for… a few years after."

"Sorry about your aunt." She didn't have much emotion behind her words, but it was okay. I made a wishy-washy expression with my hand.

"It's alright, she… wasn't the best parent. Good person, bad at raising kids." I chuckled to lighten the mood, but Enid still hadn't smiled yet. "So, what's your deal? If your parents are gone, where are you staying?"

She gestured loosely to Ron. "With his family, sort of. I don't spend much time –I'm out… a lot,"

"Over the wall?" I guessed. Enid looked a little uncomfortable, but made an affirmative sound nonetheless. "'S alright, I don't like being surrounded by this many people either."

"You too?" She looked hopeful for a brief second, before the expression was wiped from her face and she merely offered a shrug. "This place… just doesn't feel right."

"Exactly," I furrowed my brow and glanced over my shoulder at the chalkboard. "I mean, we're in a post-apocalyptic society, and the focus now is… on school? Shouldn't we be learning shit—er, stuff we need to know to survive?"

"That's why I don't come," She said, contradicting the fact that she was there now. Enid realized what she said and glanced over at Ron again. "He wants it to be normal. Hasn't seen what we have. Sometimes I think he wants me to be normal, too."

"So you two are…?" I linked two of my fingers and lifted my eyebrows. She opened her mouth, then paused.

"Yes?" It sounded like a question, but I didn't press. None of my business anyway.

"Know that feeling," Right as I said it, I felt Carl touch my arm.

"I need to go check on Judith. You coming?"

I glanced back at Enid momentarily. "Hey—seven pm, east, alright?"

A slight look of confusion crossed her face, but then she nodded. "Okay."

On the walk back, Carl gave me a sideways look. "What was that about?"

I returned his look levelly. "Excuse me?"

"Er… nevermind." Then, under his breath, "Girls are confusing…"