Walking Dead: To Be Loved

Chapter 4 of my Walking Dead story, enjoy.

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Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead or its characters.

Chapter 4: Misfortune

It was the last class before lunch, the juniors and seniors shared a joint gym class and in one of the gym halls, the boys were engaged in a dodgeball game. This would normally, for the most part, be only an issue for the less athletic boys, the ones derided as nerds and such. But for Carl and Mikey and their team, they had the added problem of Brandon being on the opposite team.

"Urgh, I just know that shit is gonna try something." Carl muttered to Mikey.

Mikey nodded. "Yeah, but there's not much we can do about it. The teams are set and the game's already started."

Carl grumbled but knew Mikey was right so he tried to focus on the game. It did not take long for their fears to be confirmed, Brandon was acting just as they expected he would, clearly trying to spike the ball, it was a miracle nobody had been seriously hurt yet. Carl and Mikey were just glad that their athletic prowess from swimming gave them quick enough reflexes to dodge any shots sent their way, and to counter their losses by hitting players of the opposing team.

"Too bad we haven't managed to hit Brandon yet, put a stop to this craziness." Mikey commented in passing to Carl.

Carl just smirked at that, but agreed wholeheartedly. But that was when it happened, Carl wasn't sure what caused it, maybe he'd heard Mikey, maybe he just decided to kick up being an asshole a notch, but Brandon spiked the ball again, viciously and Mikey cried out, falling back, clutching his now bleeding nose.

Carl rushed over to his friend at once as everybody else stopped, watching in disbelief or horror.

"Mikey."

Mikey groaned, helped into a sitting position by Carl. Carl grimaced upon seeing the blood.

"Urgh, ack…" Mikey tried to speak. "My nose, I…"

"Think it's broken?"

Mikey could only shrug and Carl glared at Brandon who had the nerve to smirk. But then, suddenly, changing the entire mood, a shrill whistle echoed around the gym hall. All eyes turned to the one with the whistle, a tall muscular man with strong features, short black hair and stubble, black eyes that actually struck fear into a lot of people. He walked over towards the crowd of students purposefully and they quickly parted, letting him through. This was the coach of the boys gym class, Negan Smith.

"Alright peanut gallery, show's over." He told them firmly. "Get back to the game be careful. Carl, take Mikey to the nurse."

Carl nodded and helped Mikey up as they went to leave. Negan turned and narrowed his eyes at Brandon who was attempting to join the others to resume the game.

"I don't think so, Rose." Negan said sharply. "My office, now."

Brandon turned, glowering. "Excuse me, who the hell do you think you-?"

"You watch your mouth, punk. I saw what you did and I know it was deliberate." Negan fired back. "My office, NOW!"

A startled look on his face, Brandon hurried to the office, followed by Negan. Making their way to the nurse Carl smiled reassuringly at Mikey. They knew Negan wouldn't let this slide. He was in fact the one member of staff who was not afraid of Brandon or his father and their threats.

XXXXX

Making her way to the cafeteria now that it was lunch time, Anna swallowed nervously. But upon entering the cafeteria she couldn't see Tonya anywhere. Taking a chance she made her way to her friend's usual table. She was surprised to see Carl and Mikey weren't there, the other boys were though, all talking to Sophia as well as amongst themselves, looking worried about something. Reaching the table she bit her lip.

"What's wrong, guys?"

They all started, not having heard her approach. Sophia turned to face her and bit her lip.

"It's um...well, there was an incident in gym class. The boys were just telling me that punk Brandon Rose spiked the dodgeball at Mikey's face, might've broken his nose, we're not sure yet."

Anna gasped as the boys all nodded in confirmation. She was horrified, but not surprised, behaviour like that was just typical of Brandon Rose after all. However before she could say anything or hear any more, she spotted Tonya entering the cafeteria and she knew she had to hurry.

"Anna?"

She tried to remain casual. "Tonya just walked in, I'm gonna go see if she wants anything."

With that she hurried over towards her girlfriend, unaware of the concerned looked Sophia sent her, watching her walk away. Reaching Tonya Anna tried her best to remain calm, but there was something different about the look on Tonya's face at that moment.

"What's up with you?" She asked. "You look spooked by something?"

Anna decided it was best to be truthful. "I just heard that Mikey was hit in the face during gym. A dodgeball game and Brandon Rose deliberately spiked the ball at him."

Tonya's eyebrows shot up as she let out a low whistle. "Jeez, crazy punk."

That at least was one good thing, Anna felt, Tonya had as low an opinion as Brandon as everyone else.

There was a brief pause and then, surprising Anna, Tonya nodded in the direction of her friend's table.

"Well, you better get back there and see how things are."

"Huh?" Anna exclaimed. "But I thought you said we-"

"Something like this, you're gonna need to be with friends." Tonya remarked. "You can make it up to me by meeting me after school and make sure you have details, I wanna know more about this."

Anna nodded, still nervous. "S-Sure."

Worried that she hadn't totally dodged a bullet here, Anna made her way back to the table, in time to see Carl and Mikey had joined them at last. She was relieved to see Mikey looked okay, apart from some redness his nose seemed fine, the blood cleaned up.

"Mikey, how are you?" She asked as she sat down.

He nodded, smiling. "I'm alright, luckily my nose wasn't broken, it's fine now."

"Yeah and Brandon didn't get away with it either, he should've known better trying that in front of Coach Negan."

The others all nodded, sharing smirks, glad that at least someone was willing to put Brandon in his place. As lunch continued the conversation remained casual and light, towards the end they asked about each other's plans for after school and again, hearing Anna was going with Tonya, Sophia looked at her with deep concern, but only Carl noticed and when Sophia looked his way he nodded, letting her know, he was worried too.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.