- There are gonna be 1-2 more chapters after this one. I thought this would be the final one, but I realized if I tried to squish all that I wanted to do into this one chapter, it was gonna come off as rushed and kinda weird so...therefore, 2 more chapters. -

Chapter Three

"You gonna explain to me who that girl was?"

Rick looked at the floor, his hands clasped between his knees as his parents scolded him. His mother was still pale. He wished they would just hurry up and finish yelling at him so he could leave. He was more embarrassed than anything. His parents had caught him in a compromising situation.

"She's my Chemistry partner," Rick explained. "We were working on a school project together. I told you about that."

"But you didn't tell me that you were doing more than working on a project!" his father yelled back. "How far have you gone with this girl?"

"What about Lori?" Rick's mother asked. "I'm supposed to have dinner with Lori's parents on Sunday. What am I supposed to tell them?"

"We raised you to be a gentleman," his father continued. "We raised you to have Christian values. You're not supposed to be like the rest of these kids running around having unprotected sex."

"Don't jump to conclusions, James," Rick's mother said to his father. "I'm sure Rick hasn't gone that far."

Rick swallowed deeply. "L-Lori and I broke up," he said, his face red. He chose to steer the topic towards one he was more comfortable with. "It happened a few weeks ago."

"Broke up?!" his mother asked, flabbergasted. "Why?!"

"It...just wasn't working out, mom."

"I'm planning on running for Senate in a few months son. You know that. Lori's father is my biggest supporter. We were going to run the family angle-"

"We can still run the family angle; Lori and I are still friends."

"We can't run the family angle if you're running around with this dark-skinned girl!" his father shouted. "This community doesn't know her! They know Lori! And they know you! They know you and Lori!" Rick clenched his jaw shut. "It may sound ridiculous but the smallest thing can throw a campaign off, son! I told you that when we first started this thing. You said you understood!" His father placed his hands on his hips. "And I'm holding you to that. Get done with this project and end it. Immediately."

"The project's already done," Rick said from between clenched teeth. He left his couch and stalked upstairs, unable to deal with his parents at the moment.

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"Michonne! Get in here! Now!"

Michonne's stomach dropped to her feet when she heard her father's no-nonsense voice calling out to her the minute she stepped through the door. It was never good news when his voice boomed like that. She slid her backpack off of her shoulders and to the ground before making her way slowly to her father's study.

"Yeah, Daddy?" she said, hesitating in the doorway.

He leaned back in the chair behind his desk, giving her his full attention. "Get in here. Don't hover in the doorway. What have I told you about that?"

Michonne followed his instructions, coming all the way in and closing the door behind her. Her father always told her to never do things in half-measures. To fully commit. And apparently hovering in the threshold of doorways wasn't fully committing and didn't show surety so it was one of her dad's pet peeves. She walked forward and clasped her hands in front of her, making sure to square her shoulders so that she didn't show weakness.

Her dad stared at her, knowing the exact moment when she became uncomfortable. She had gotten better at not showing it but he knew his daughter well. He could always tell. The muscles in her shoulders always became stiff, causing them to push back too far. He chose that moment of discomfort to begin speaking.

"Why am I getting calls from one..." He looked down at a Post-It note on his desk. "...Mr. Grimes asking me for a meeting because he claims my daughter was behaving indecently with his son?"

Michonne's stomach dropped further. She had been holding out hope that she was getting in trouble for something else. Not this. She inwardly cursed. She had barely left the house fifteen minutes ago and they had already called to inform her parents? Michonne glanced up at her father and then glanced back down. She couldn't say anything. To lie would be foolish and she couldn't bring herself to open her mouth to tell the truth.

"So it's true..." her father said. Again, Michonne stayed silent. Her father sighed. "I was sure that they had the wrong number. I was sure that they were calling about someone else. Because my daughter wouldn't be half undressed on someone else's couch and letting a boy touch on her."

Michonne felt heat rush to her face. They had really told her dad everything. "It's not as bad as it sounds..." Michonne said.

"...Who is this boy?" her father asked, his voice deceptively calm. "He live near here?"

"His name's Rick," Michonne answered. "He's my Chemistry partner. I told you about him. They live about fifteen minutes away..."

"How are his grades?"

"About average..."

"Average..." He stared and Michonne knew what he was thinking. Average wasn't good enough. "I thought you liked Terry's friend. Mike."

Michonne just kept her eyes on the carpet.

"Go to your room," her father said, dismissing her. "I expect you to come right back home after school tomorrow. We'll go to meet this family and we'll figure out what your punishment is going to be afterwards. And Michonne?" Michonne stopped in her tracks and turned over her shoulder for her father's last words. "I hope you haven't done anything foolish with this boy."

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At school the next day, Michonne waited nervously on the front steps to talk to Rick first thing in the morning. She held a notebook clutched close to her chest and craned her neck being watchful of both ends of the lot that stretched in front of the school building.

"Michonne!"

Michonne turned to see Sasha coming toward her, her brother Tyreese following close behind. She smiled with tight lips – too anxious to do anything else – as she welcomed her friend. "Hey, Sasha," she said. "How's it going?"

"What did you do?"

Sasha didn't waste any time interrogating Michonne, who's mouth fell open with the question. Michonne glanced at the quiet Tyreese standing behind Sasha and then back to her friend. "I- didn't do anything," she denied. She glanced towards Tyreese again, trying to give Sasha the message that she would talk if they were alone.

"Hey, Michonne," Tyreese said, giving her a shy smile.

Michonne smiled back, clutching the strap of her backpack. "Hi..."

Sasha got the message that Michonne wanted one less person to be there. "Tyreese, go to class!" Sasha snapped. She had no qualms about bossing her older brother around. "What are you standing here for? This is girl talk!"

Tyreese looked shocked. He hadn't been aware that there was some kind of secret conversation that needed to happen. But apparently there was. "Class doesn't start for another fifteen minutes..." he protested.

"So?" Sasha retorted. "Go somewhere else."

Tyreese looked slightly annoyed but he walked away, into the building. Michonne and Sasha watched him go before Sasha focused back in on Michonne. "My brother's got a crush on you, you know," she threw out casually before digging into her last question. "So tell me! What did you do at that white boy's house? And don't tell me nothing 'cause I can tell something happened! You're all tightened up."

Michonne blinked past her shock over the news of Tyreese having a crush on her and answered Sasha's question. "We didn't do anything!" she said again. When Sasha gave her a disbelieving look, Michonne sighed. "We didn't have a chance to. His parents walked in and caught us."

Sasha's mouth fell open and her eyes grew as wide as saucers. "His parents walked in on y'all doin' what?" she asked.

"Nothing serious!" Michonne said, stopping Sasha's rampaging thoughts before they went too far. "We were just making out a little-"

"With all of your clothes on?"

"Our shirts were off-"

"Oh, girl!"

"I know! But it wasn't that bad! I promise!"

"Were y'all in his bedroom?"

"No. We were in the living room."

"Okay, good. That's a lil' somethin' I guess. So what did they say?"

"I don't know. They told me to leave and I left! But then I got home and they had called my dad and everything!"

"What they call your parents for?"

"They want a meeting."

"Man! White people and their meetings...What y'all gon' talk about? You think they'll make you and Rick marry each other just 'cause of a little kissin'?"

Michonne's eyes widened. She hadn't even thought of that. "They wouldn't do that," she said. More confident than she felt. "Would they?"

"Who knows?" Sasha said with a shrug. "Their family is probably conservative. No sex before marriage. All that type of stuff."

"You think he told them that we had sex?"

"Maybe..." Sasha said. "I told you you should have let me come over there. I knew this was gonna happen..."

Michonne started to zone Sasha out. She was too busy thinking about the possibility of getting married straight out of high school. Her dreams of going off to college. Gone. Her dreams of being a lawyer. Disappearing. Being pinned down at eighteen. It was a nightmare.

"Look, girl, there he is."

Michonne snapped out of her fearful thoughts of the future to see Rick jogging over to her. After being reprimanded by her father, she had texted him, asking him to meet before school the next day. That's what they were doing.

"Sasha," she said, her hand trembling slightly. "Can you give us a minute?" A soft breeze was blowing through and the sky was gray. It was usually the kind of day that Michonne liked. The kind of day that made Michonne feel calm. But she wasn't getting that feeling of serenity today. This was the most unsettled she had felt in all of her eighteen years.

"Yeah, sure..." Sasha said. "Text me whenever you're done, okay?"

Michonne nodded.

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"Hey," Rick said, stopping in front of Michonne as her friend disappeared into the school building behind them.

"Hey," Michonne responded, looking worried.

There was a lot they needed to talk about. He wasn't sure where to start. He wasn't sure about anything. This was just starting and he could already tell that this was much different than the relationship he had shared with Lori. Michonne wasn't his childhood friend. She wasn't someone he was used to. This was new. It was scary. He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

The worried expression Michonne wore flashed to surprise and then a small smile lifted her lips. "What was that?" she asked.

"I don't know," Rick said with a shrug and a lopsided grin of his own. "I just..."

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Michonne nodded as he trailed off into silence. He didn't need to finish his sentence. She understood that he was just trying to figure her out. Whether she was the kind of girl who liked to be greeted with a kiss. Maybe Lori was that kind of girl.

Michonne was flattered that he was even trying to figure her out at all. But it also made her a little nervous. Did this mean he wanted to try to get serious? If so, this would be Michonne's first big relationship. But she couldn't even consider the possibility until they talked about this whole parents-being-involved thing.

"What happened after I left?" Michonne asked. "Did you get in trouble?"

Rick shifted on his feet. "Not really. I think they were too shocked to really punish me or anything. I'm sure any punishment will come after this meeting." He glanced into her eyes. "Did – did you get in trouble? I heard my dad calling your dad."

Michonne shrugged. It had been torture to stand in her father's office under his scrutinizing eyes but she couldn't really explain that feeling to Rick at the present moment. "Not really," she said, echoing his answer. "It's the same with me. Punishment meted out after the meeting." She cleared her throat. "So...Did you- Did they- Do they know that we...?"

"That we've had sex?" Rick asked. "No."

Michonne released a breath of relief. "Good," she said. "My dad would kill me if he found out. And probably you too."

Rick felt a chill go down his back. "It's good that he didn't find out then..." Rick agreed. "...But do you really think we can keep it from them?"

"I know I can," Michonne said. She stared at Rick, demanding he harden his resolve as well.

"Yeah. Yeah," Rick said. "I can too." He had never kept a secret from his family before. It was a something that Shane always bitched at him about. The fact that he was so open with his parents. It was just that he had never really done anything that he knew they were against.

Michonne chuckled. A bit more relaxed now that she knew they hadn't been completely found out.

"What?" Rick asked.

"Nothing," Michonne said, finding her worries from merely a few seconds ago foolish. "It's just that I was having all these crazy thoughts about being forced to marry you just because we had slept together."

Rick laughed. "What?" he asked.

"I know. It's stupid," Michonne said. "I was just freaking out and Sasha said your parents were probably conservative and..." She gestured with her hand to show how her mind just took those thoughts and went crazy.

"Yeah they're conservative but not Victorian era conservative," he chuckled along with Michonne. "They're still pissed that I broke up with Lori. If they force me to marry anyone, it'll be her."

Michonne's chuckles died down. She fiddled with the spinal ring of the notebook clutched against her chest. "So are they...against me?" she asked.

Rick was silent for a moment; that silence told Michonne everything she needed to know. "...I just think we didn't get to make a very good first impression."

Michonne rolled her eyes, still wanting to cringe from embarrassment whenever she thought about it. "You think?" she said. Students began to walk by more and more frequently as it got closer to the beginning of the first class. Michonne looked back at Rick, wanting to clarify something before they went about the rest of their day. "So...is there a 'we'?" Rick stared at her. "I mean, are we going to go into that meeting as boyfriend and girlfriend or...as two Chemistry partners saying they made a mistake and will never do it again?"

"Boyfriend and girlfriend," Rick replied.

Michonne smiled at the simple way in which Rick answered, as if he was choosing from a list of multiple choice. "...Okay," she said, celebrating inside. "Boyfriend and girlfriend it is."

"Okay."

"Okay."

Things were immediately awkward. But in a good way.

Rick's heart pounded in his chest and a light blush drifted to his cheeks. He had never felt this nervous with Lori. He didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. "Okay..." he said again, kicking himself for saying it.

Michonne chuckled. Finally, to stop the madness, she stepped forward and placed a quick kiss against his lips. She stepped away with a shy smile. "Okay," she said. "I'll see you in Chemistry. Did you bring our project?"

"Uh- yeah. It's – uh...in the classroom already." Rick was left fumbling for words after the kiss.

"Okay," Michonne said. She took a step back.

"Okay."

"Bye."

"Bye- See you later."

"Yeah, see you later." Knowing that only leaving would help the situation, Michonne laughed lightly with a shake of her head and turned around to enter the building. She decided she would use the class periods before Chemistry to think of cool and funny things to say around him.

Rick just hoped he could form a complete sentence the next time they talked.

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Rick sat at his table at the back of the class when he reached Chemistry. The tables all had black, glossy tops and stood in perfect rows throughout the room. A sink was in the middle of the table and various beakers and other tools and containers were lined up there as well. At each table, was placed two chairs.

When Rick's usual desk companion, Charlie, strolled into the room, Rick held out his hand to stop him from sitting in the seat beside him. "Hey, Charlie," he said. Charlie was a blonde male with blue eyes, bad acne, and he always looked sleepy or high. Rick was pretty sure he was probably both. "Can you sit somewhere else for today?" Rick asked.

"Why?" Charlie asked, in that tired drawl of his.

"Just 'cause I wanna sit with my partner for the presentation today," Rick said. "We got some thangs to talk about."

Charlie sighed but he shrugged acceptance. "Fine, dude. Whatever." He then shuffled over to another table where he laid his head down on his arms to sleep.

With that taken care of, Rick waited anxiously for Michonne's arrival. She finally walked through the door a couple minutes later and her eyes found his immediately. He smiled and lifted his hand in greeting. Michonne smiled and waved back...before turning and sitting in her usual seat.

Rick's heart sank and his brows furrowed in confusion. He stared at the back of her head, willing her to turn around and look at him and it didn't take long for her to do so. He gave her a questioning look. 'What are you doing?' it read.

Michonne sent a questioning look back. 'What do you mean?'

Rick pointed at the empty seat beside him. Michonne's face registered understanding. 'Oh,' she mouthed. She turned to the girl at her table, said something, and then stood up as she pulled her backpack over her shoulder. Rick smiled as she began to make her way back to him and left her friend with a confused look on her face.

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'What were you thinking, Michonne?' she asked herself as she made her way to Rick's table. 'Of course you sit with your boyfriend.'

She took the seat beside Rick, took the backpack off her shoulders, and began to remove books. "Hey," she said with a smile.

"Hey."

Silence.

Michonne's stomach was knotted with nerves. She had come up with tons of things to say. Why wasn't any of it coming to her now?

"So, um...Should I sit here from now on?" she asked.

"I'd like you to," Rick answered.

"Okay..." Michonne chuckled. "I feel like such a loser asking that, it's just...I haven't really been in a real relationship before so the rules are all kind of new to me."

Rick smiled. He couldn't believe that he had been intimidated by this girl before. All he could think now while she fiddled with her belongings and avoided his eyes was that she was the cutest thing. "There aren't any rules," Rick said, feeling more assured now that he knew he wasn't the only one who didn't know what the hell he was doing. "I think we just sort of...play it by ear."

"The last time we played it by ear we had sex," Michonne said.

"Exactly," Rick replied with a coy grin.

Michonne held back a smile and shook her head. "Let's knock this presentation out of the park," she said, switching the topic to a safer subject.

"I find it hard to believe that you haven't been in a relationship before me," Rick said, not allowing Michonne to completely change the subject.

Michonne shrugged. "I've mostly just been focused on Harvard," Michonne said. "And I've had a crush on the same guy since pretty much forever so I haven't really been on the lookout for dates."

"Who?" Rick asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Who have I had a crush on?"

"Yeah..."

Michonne smiled as she began to title a blank notebook page in preparation for notes. "One of my brother's friends. You don't know him."

"Why are you smiling?" Rick asked teasingly. "You smile when you think about him? You still have a crush on him?"

Michonne smiled wider and shook her head.

"What does you shaking your head mean?" Rick asked. "It mean you don't have a crush on him or you just blowing my questions off?"

"I'm just blowing your questions off," Michonne said with a chuckle.

"So you do still have a crush on him!"

"I didn't say that."

"But you're not denying it either," Rick said, truly growing worried.

Michonne stopped writing in her notebook and faced him. "Are you one of those crazy jealous guys, Rick?" Michonne asked. "Because I don't know if I can handle that."

"So you're saying you would break up with me if I was jealous right now?"

"No. I'm saying...that you're my boyfriend. So the fact that I found this other guy handsome and funny should not even make you blink because you're already ten steps ahead of him." Michonne smiled. Rick smiled in return.

"...So you found this guy handsome and funny-"

Michonne laughed. "Oh my god..."

"I'm just kidding," Rick said. "Are you nervous about the meeting this evening?"

"Very," Michonne replied.

Rick was about to say something to reassure her but the teacher began her announcement and the lights went off. Presentations were about to begin. Michonne immediately looked forward and got her pencil poised to take notes. Rick moved his hand over beneath the table and laced his fingers with Michonne's. She looked over and smiled before turning her attention back to the front. Focused on Michonne while she focused on taking notes, Rick enjoyed Chemistry class for the first time in his life.