Chapter Four
Opening the door to the one story home, Carol wasn't surprised to find it completely dark. That meant her father wasn't home from work. Looking at the clock ticking away in the small foyer, she saw that he would have been off work over an hour ago, which meant that he was most-likely spending the night at his girlfriend's.
Carol didn't know the name of her father's latest girlfriend, but she did know that the woman lived in Atlanta, where her father worked as an accountant, and most days he didn't like to drive the hour home, which meant that Carol spent many nights alone in her home. She told herself that she didn't mind and that without her father there so much, she had more freedom, but when it all came down to it, Carol missed her dad and wished he was around more.
With a sigh, Carol slid off her shoes and headed towards the kitchen. She didn't even bother turning on any lights. The setting sun still allowed her to see where she was going. Their kitchen was pretty small and only held the basics. A refrigerator, stove, sink, microwave, coffee maker and a small table where she and her dad usually took their meals. Making a beeline towards the refrigerator, in the corner of the kitchen, she opened the door and smiled when she saw that their were still leftovers from the night before.
It was spaghetti, her father's favorite. Carol had made it in hopes that he would come home and enjoy a meal with her. She had even got out of bed early to tell him before he left for the day. He had only smiled and told her he would try, but no promises.
The excuse this time was that he had to work late, which Carol believed, but still disappointed her. She should have known it was going to happen, though. It usually did. So, last night she had eaten alone in front of the TV, like most nights. This time, however, she had her study date with Daryl to look forward to and she had felt less lonely.
Carol had just but the bowl of spaghetti in the microwave to warm up, when the phone began to ring. Immediately she raced to the phone, hoping that it would be her father. She answered with a bright, "Hello!"
But instead of the deep voice of her father, she was surprised to hear a high-pitched, bubbly one. "Hey, Carol. It's Jessica!"
"Oh. Hey, Jessica." Carol tried not to let her disappointment seep into her tone.
"I called to ask you a question." It was odd that she was calling in the first place. Carol was slightly confused. Jessica was her neighbor and friend, but they had never talked on the phone before.
"Yeah?"
"Was that Daryl Dixon standing in your front yard earlier?"
"Um, yeah." She twisted the phone cord around her fingers.
Jessica laughed an annoying, high-pitched chuckle that reminded Carol if a horse. Had she always thought her laugh was annoying?
"Don't tell me, Carol, that he shot a squirrel in your backyard and was wondering if he could get it. God, those Dixons and-"
"He walked me home," Carol said, not the least bit ashamed. Her fingers curled into a fist at her side. She had heard Jessica talk about Merle and Daryl Dixon before, but had never paid much attention to what was being said. Carol didn't like it when her group of friends would talk about others in their school.
"What? You actually let him walk with you? As in beside you?"
"Yes," she gritted out. "That's what generally happens when you walk with someone, Jessica." Carol did not like the tone of her friend's voice.
"But why? He's a Dixon. They're dangerous...and dirty. I mean, I doubt Daryl has more than two pairs of pants. Have you see-?"
"Listen, Jessica," Carol interrupted, not wanting to hear, anymore. "Thanks for the call, but I have to go." Jessica was lucky that Carol hadn't hung up on her. She had seriously been considering it, even though she never thought she could be that rude.
"Wait!" Jessica cried before Carol could place the phone back on the cradle. "I just want you to be careful, Carol. If Daryl is anything like his older brother and dad, then you need to stay away from him. I don't want you to get hurt. I'm just looking out for you."
"Um hmm." Carol hummed. She knew about the Dixons reputation, but could tell instantly that Daryl wasn't anything like his dad and older brother. He was quiet, observant and could have told her to fuck off when she walked with him the older day, but he hadn't. "Well, I appreciate it," she continued. "But there's nothing wrong with Dar-"
"Oh!" Jessica instantly transformed back to her bubbly self, clearly down talking about Daryl. "I almost forgot! A couple of friends and I are going down to the diner later. Want to come?"
At that moment, the microwave dinged and Carol took out her bowl of steaming spaghetti. "Uh, no thanks. I already made supper. You guys go and have fun!" Tonight, she would rather keep her own company than be with Jessica and her friends. She had no doubt that Jessica would tell them all about Daryl walking Carol home, and she would never hear the end of it from them.
"All right, then. I'll see you on Monday!" And she hung up.
Carol sighed in relief, placed the phone back on the cradle and took her bowl of spaghetti to sit in front of the TV...by herself.
Daryl knew that Merle wouldn't be happy when he walked into the house empty-handed, but at the moment, he didn't really care. The day had been weird. Well, weird for him. Had he just made a friend in Carol? He never had a friend before. It kind of felt nice. But there was no use of getting his hopes up. Come Monday, she'd probably forget about their study session and completely ignore him.
"Where's dinner at boy?" Merle wasted no time asked once he walked through the door.
"Couldn't find no rabbit and you didn't want squirrel, so I didn't get anything." That had been the best lie he could have come up with and it was a pretty damn good one, too. Well, at least Daryl thought so, anyway. If Merle ever found out what he really had been up to that day, Daryl knew he would never hear the end of it.
Merle stood from the couch and stretched. It looked it had been the first time he had gotten off the couch all day. "Then, what the fuck are we supposed to eat?"
Daryl just shrugged. "There's some pickles in the fridge...I think."
"I ate them hours ago." With a roll of his eyes, he dug in his back pocket to take out his wallet. "You're lucky that I came by some money today, little brother," he said and pulled out a wrinkly ten-dollar bill. He slapped it in the palm of Daryl's hand, and Daryl knew better than to ask where he had gotten it.
"Now, why don't you get your ass down to that diner and order us a couple of burgers." Without looking at his brother, he settled back into the couch. "Looks like I'm the one providin' tonight."
Daryl hated the diner, not because of the food but because of the way he was looked at when he walked inside. Everyone knew he was a Dixon, and even though they didn't know him, they still treated him like he was trash.
The diner was the only sit down restaurant in their small town, so everyone went there. Pushing open the glass door to the inside of the place, he froze as everyone turned to look at him. Trying to ignore the stares, he walked up to the cashier and ordered his food, even though all he wanted to was run right out the doors and never come back. He hated being looked at like a freak.
Plastering on an 'I don't give a fuck' face, he stood and waited until his order was ready. The woman at the cashier had taken his wrinkled money with disgust and Daryl tried hard not to show his embarrassment. After all, he didn't know where Merle had gotten the money.
He fought the urge not to chew on his thumbnail as he waited. It was a nervous habit of his, and whenever Merle caught him doing it, he would slap his younger brother on the back of the head and tell him that chewing on his fingernails was for pussies. To help with the urge, he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his pants.
"Daryl!" An unfamiliar girl's voice called out to him. It was a little too high-pitched for his liking and he winced before turning around to face the speaker behind the voice.
The voice belonged to a pretty girl with blonde hair and green eyes. He tried to remember her name, having seen her walk the halls with Carol, sometimes. Jessie? Jessica?
Jessie or Jessica was staring at him, hand on her hip and a scowl on her face. She didn't look happy to see him. What had he done to her, besides exist?
"Hello?" She waved a manicured hand in his face. "Can you speak?"
"What do you want?" He crossed his arms over his chest, a defensive gesture.
"I saw you in front of Carol's house, earlier. I'm her neighbor." She pointed a finger in his face. "You stay away from her. She's a nice girl and she's nice to everyone and everything. But she doesn't need to be hanging around the likes of you!"
Stunned. He didn't say anything.
"I don't want to see you around her anymore. Do you understand, Dixon? She's too good for you and your kind!"
Kind? What the hell was that supposed to mean? He had had enough. "Listen here, bitch." He took a step towards her and felt only slightly satisfied when she took a step back with a gasp. "Last time I checked, you weren't my mama. You don't get to tell me who I can talk to." Only Merle could. "But you don't gotta worry about me talkin' to Carol anymore. 'Specially if she's hangin' around with harpies like you and your friends."
The girl look scandalized. "How dare you talk to me like that?"
"Hey, boy. Why don't you get your order and get out." The cashier held out a greasy bag, which Daryl snatched out of her hand. Pushing past the girl, he finally left the diner. That was the last time was going there to get Merle some fuckin' food!
Daryl hadn't looked her way once since Carol had taken her seat in math class, a few chairs over from his. In fact, it was like he was avoiding her gaze. Standing, she decided that she'd go over there and talk to him, but Jessica had tugged on her arm and made her sit down.
"Hey, you're sitting with me and Angelica at lunch, right?" Jessica smiled as she swiped some of her blonde hair off her shoulder.
Carol gave her an odd look. "I eat with you two everyday."
"Just making sure." Her smile looked too wide to be real and Carol started to feel suspicious. What was going on with her today? Before she could ask, Mr. Boyer walked into the room and started class.
It was a nice day, as were most of the days in their part of Georgia during the spring, and they were allowed to take their lunches outside. Daryl would usually find a table to sit by himself at and brood, but today he didn't find an empty one. So, he opted to sit at the trunk of the only tree in the courtyard. It stood close to the edge, and was out of the way.
Over towards the middle of the courtyard, he spotted Carol sitting with her two blonde friends. She looked slightly out of place with her curly, auburn hair. Compared to the other two, she looked real. The blonde girl's hair was so straight it didn't even seem real.
It may have been nice to sit and talk with Carol on Saturday, but this was the real world, now. In the real world, Carol had many friends, who hated him, and Daryl had no friends at all.
Growing restless, he began to pick at the frayed edges on the hole in the knee of his jeans. He knew that if he didn't stop, he would eventually ruin the pair and they would have to be thrown out. He couldn't afford that, only having two other suitable pair to wear to school.
"Hey, Daryl."
His head snapped up at the familiar voice. Somehow, Carol had managed to sneak up on him, which was something not many people could do.
"Mind if I join you?" She was smiling widely and held a paper bag in her hand, similar to the one they had shared a few days ago.
Daryl looked away. "Your friends ain't goin' to like that much. Pretty sure they wanted you to sit with them, today." Earlier, he had heard Jessica ask Carol if she was sitting with them at lunch, and he knew it was so she could tell Carol about her encounter with Daryl at the diner. Looking up, he saw the two blonde girl's glaring at him.
"So." She shrugged and took a seat next to him. "I figured since we're friends, now, I can eat my lunch with you, too."
"We ain't friends," he growled.
Instead of being put off my his gruff attitude, Carol just smiled, unperturbed by the harsh tone. "I'm sorry, but we ate chocolate pudding together, Daryl. We're friends." Her face lit up even more, if that was possible. "Oh, and speaking of pudding." She reached into her bag and took out two pudding cups. "They're banana today. You like banana, I hope."
He could only nod. He tried to ignore the rumbling of his stomach. The last real meal he had were the hamburgers from a few days ago.
"Here you go." She handed him on of the cups and he took it reluctantly, wondering why this girl was being so kind to him when no one else ever was.
Leaning against the tree trunk, Carol opened her pudding and smiled over at him. "We're eating banana puddings together now, Daryl. That means we have to be best friends!"
After that day, Daryl and Carol sat by one another at every lunch period. The moment she found out that Daryl never brought a lunch to school, Carol began to pack her lunches for two. Daryl had been reluctant to take the food, but Carol had been persisted and finally, he didn't seem to mind, anymore.
They even started walking home together. Carol was always reluctant to turn down her street when it was time to separate. Sometimes, she would even walk with him a little ways past it with him. She liked Daryl. He was surprisingly easier to talk to, much easier than Jessica and Angelica had been. They had been more interested in clothes and boys. While Carol liked those things, too, she didn't want to talk just about them all the time.
Daryl started to open up to her more and she was glad. He had even told her a story of when he was younger and had gotten lost in the woods for nine days. When he had found his way back home, he walked into his kitchen to make himself a sandwich. He had even told her that he had gotten an itchy ass because he had wiped himself with poison oak. Carol had laughed at that, and instead of getting angry, Daryl had laughed along with her.
However, their friendship didn't come without consequences. Well, for Carol, they didn't. Teachers would pull her off to the side to ask if everything was okay, and Jessica and her other friends had all stopped talking with her.
Daryl had noticed and even suggested that they stop eating together. She refused, of course.
"No. I like eating with you. I'm just realizing, now, that I was friends with a lot of fake people." She peered over her sandwich at him, with a smirk. "You're not fake, right?"
He scoffed. "Do you really think I would be like this on purpose? Do you think I like being a piece of trash."
She placed a kind hand on his knee, he only tensed at the touch for a few seconds. "I don't think you're trash, Daryl. You know that, right? You're my best friend."
He nodded, because he really knew she didn't think that of him. And he was secretly glad that at least someone in this world thought he was something more than just some backwoods hick.