"Abby…why don't you go hangout with your friends today?" My dad tried. "It's a nice day and you've been…in here for the passed three days. Come on. You gotta get up and do something."

"No." I said sounding like a five year old.

"Baby, I don't know what's going on with you and…whoever…but you can't let someone keep you down like this. Now come on and get up." He rubbed my arm.

I knew he was right but it just hurt too bad. My heart aches. I have only been in one other relationship before Daryl and it didn't end well. His name was Damian and he broke up with me because I wouldn't have sex with him. I was crushed and I thought it was the end of the world, but…that was nothing compared to this. That wasn't true love, what me and Daryl have is. The thought depressed me even more and I felt sick to my stomach. "I can't, daddy." I said weakly. "I just can't. Not right now. Not yet."

I heard my dad sigh. "Okay." He eventually said. He kissed my temple, then left me alone.

I probably sounded and looked pathetic but I don't even care. The love of my life broke up with me. I thought…well, I hoped that he would come to get me and everything would be okay again, but…that was three days ago. I haven't even seen him in that long. I wonder what he is doing now? Is he wondering the same about me? Maybe he doesn't care, and he's still mad at me. Perhaps he has moved on already. The thought of Daryl with someone else just about put a knife through my heart. I don't know if I will ever be okay again.

About maybe a half hour later, Michonne came into my room. "Abby?" She said. "I wanna talk to you." She closed the door and sat down on Judith's bed. I almost rolled my eyes. She wants to talk to me? Last time she said that, I was forced to tell her about my now ex boyfriend. This is all because of her. She ruined everything. "I know you said you don't want to talk about it but I want to know what happened? Just tell me."

I hesitated for a long time. She really wants to know, huh? If she only knew. I thought. I slowly rolled over so I could face her. "I told him that you know about us and he got really mad and kicked me out. And we must be broken up now because I haven't seen him since." My voice was shaky.

She gave me a sympathetic look. "Listen, honey…I know you probably feel like it's your fault but—

"My fault?" I almost laughed. "This is your fault. If you wouldn't have been all in MY business, then this never would have happened." I knew I was being unfair and I didn't care. I didn't have to tell Daryl that she knew about us. I chose to.

"Abby." She gave me another look. "Just listen…he reacted in a childish way. This is has nothing to do with you, it has nothing to do with me. And he might just be mad right now and he'll eventually get over it."

"Oh yeah? For three whole days?" I was close to tears again.

"Yeah." She said quickly. "Guys like to have space when they're going through things. Us women, though, we like to talk about it. And that's one thing we don't understand about each other." She smiled and patted my leg. "Maybe he even feels really bad about what he did and that's why he hasn't come around." She shrugged.

I looked at her sadly while taking in everything she just told me. "You think?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I do." She smiled at me then. "Now, come on. Get up, eat something, take a shower and then go out for a little. Get some fresh air."

She's right. I nodded. "Okay, I'm coming. Just gimme a minute." She stood up and opened the door. "Michonne." I said to stop her, she looked back at me. "Thanks." I attempted a smile. She returned it.

I laid there thinking for a minute before I got up. Michonne is right about everything she said. Daryl did react in a childish way. And if that's the way he wants to be…then that's him. I didn't do anything wrong. And I bet he feels pretty stupid when he realizes. I threw my legs over the side of the bed and quickly slid on my boots, then went out to join the others.

After a nice hot meal and a shower, I was feeling a little better than I was before. I should still take my dad and Michonne's advice and get out for a bit. So, I decided to take Judith to the park and meet up with some friends there.

"Where have you been, girl?" Tess asked me. "We haven't seen you in forever."

"I know. I'm sorry." I apologized. "I was just…busy." I shrugged. I debated on whether or not I should tell them that I was dating someone but eventually decided against it because I knew they would ask too many questions.

"Well, we need to start hanging out more again." Carrie said.

I nodded. "I know." I glanced at my sister, she was playing with Megan on the playground. Carrie, Tess and Megan are all sisters. Megan is the same age as Judith and they really seem to like each other. Tess is closer to my age but I like Carrie better, who is the oldest. And then there's Brittany and Dana. They are pretty cool, too, but they're like best friends so they kind of talk more to themselves.

"So…Brittany is having like a little thing at her house tonight. Just us girls, you know?" Carrie informed me. "Maybe put on some music, a little drink." She giggled. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"I'll think about it." I just said to get her off my back. It's been a while since I went to a party. I don't know if even want to do that stuff anymore. I mean…it's a little different when I'm with my family.

"Well, you better come because it won't be any fun without you." Said Tess.

I let out a small laugh. "What would you guys do without me?" I joked.

"We'd be bored and lost." Carrie answered. We all laughed.

We hung out and talked for a little longer. It was kind of nice getting out and seeing some people my own age. I should probably get home though. Judith needs to eat lunch. "Well, I better go." I said to them. "See y'all tonight."

"Wait, so, you're coming?" Tess said.

I shrugged. "I guess so. I don't got anything else to do." I stopped just then because I reminded myself of Daryl the way I said that.

"You better, bitch." Carrie laughed. "And if you have any booze, bring it." They laughed. I let out a small laugh too, then went to get my sister.

"Judith." I called to her. She was playing on the monkey bars. "Time to go, kid." I got her down.

She put her hands on her hips. "You know, just cuz you're older than me doesn't mean you can boss me around. You're not my mom."

My shoulders slumped. "Come on, kid. I wanna go home and I can't leave you here. Besides, you gotta eat lunch."

"I ain't hungry yet. I'll come home when I wanna." She crossed her arms. "And I'm a big kid now. I'm almost six."

"You won't be six for another like four months. And that's still not old enough to go off on your own anyway." I cocked an eyebrow. She pouted. "Come on, Judith. Peace treaty?"

"What's that?" She gave me a stupid look.

"It's an agreement between two sides ending a dispute, so you and I with our arguing."

"You wanna stop arguing?"

"Yeah." I shrugged. "Arguing is stupid and annoying. Don't you agree?"

"Well, yeah, but…I only do it cuz you want to treat me like a little kid." She crossed her arms again.

"Judith." I was getting annoyed. "You are a little kid. You're only five. When I was your age, I wasn't even allowed to cross the street by myself." I saw the look on her face just then. "But," I crouched down to her level, "if you promise to respect me and my space, then I'll do the same for you. No matter how much younger you are. You are my sister after all. Us girls gotta stick together." I smiled.

She looked like she was thinking for a minute then she smiled back at me. "Okay." She finally agreed. "Peace treaty." Thank God! I sighed in relief.

"Come on, let's go home." I put my hand on her back and guided her. "Maybe tonight we can have some fun. Like bake cookies or something." I had an idea just then. "Maybe we can make some homemade ice cream."

She looked up at me and gasped. "You can do that?"

"Of course." I said. "All we need is milk, vanilla, sugar, salt and ice. And plastic bags. We made it in silence class one time."

Judith got real excited after that. "Please, sissy! Can we?" She jumped up and down. "I've wanted to try ice cream since you guys told me about it!"

"You're gonna love it." I said to her.

"Hey, Abby." I heard someone call me on the way home. I turned, it was Brian again. Damnit! What does he want now? "Is this your little sister?" He asked me.

"Yeah, this is Judith."

"Hi, sweetheart." He smiled.

"Hi." My sister said shyly.

"Two pretty girls." Brian said. I almost gave him a dirty look. "So, what are you up to now?"

"Uh…we're just heading home. To get some lunch." I hoped he would take the hint.

"Why don't you two come over to my house? I got some leftovers and it's just me there, so…"

"Oh, no. That's okay." I waved. "My step mom probably already has something made and is wondering where we are." I kind of laughed. My sister was eyeing us suspiciously.

"Step mom, huh?" He asked. I raised an eyebrow. Why'd he say that like that?

"Yeah." I said giving him a weird look. "It's my dad, step mom, sister and me."

"Big happy family." He said.

"…yeah, so, we gotta go." I turned and shoved my sister along.

"Alright, see you around, sweetheart." He called. I almost shivered.

"What was that about?" Judith asked once we were far enough away.

"Nothing. Just an older, creepy guy." I said.

"Hi, daddy!" Judith said once we got back home.

"Hi, sweetheart." He picked her up and kissed her then set her back down. "What'd you do today?"

"Just played at the playground with Megan." She said. "Oh, and on the way home, an old creepy guy asked me and Abby to go to his house."

I laughed. "What?" My dad gave me a look of concern.

"The same guy from before." I told him. "And he asked us if we wanted to come over for leftovers." I sighed.

"He better stay away from you." My dad said.

I agreed with my dad but I decided this was a perfect opportunity to tease him. "What? He just wants some of the young stuff." I shrugged. My dad gave me a look, then I busted out laughing. "I'm just kidding."

"Yeah, well…I don't like that."

"Sorry." I laughed. I gave my dad a quick hug. "I was just joking."

"It's okay. It's good seeing you back to yourself." He smiled and kissed my forehead.

I gave him a small smile back. "So, speaking of that…I might go out tonight."

"Out?" He questioned me.

"Yeah, with some friends."

"Not outside the walls I hope?"

"No." I gave him an annoyed look. "A few of us are just getting together at Brittany's house."

"Okay. That's good." He nodded. "Don't get drunk." He teased.

I gave him another look. "You know I'm going to though." I smirked. "And you're the one that told me to go out."

"Yeah." He sighed. "What I should have said was don't get too drunk." He kissed my forehead again.

Way later, after we ate dinner, I was sitting at the table with Judith making the homemade ice cream like I promised. We poured some salt onto the ice cubes and then put the other bag with what will be our ice cream inside. "Now shake it up." I showed her. "Just like this."

"How long do we gotta so this for?" Judith asked impatiently.

"Until it looks done."

"How will we know that?"

"I'll know." I answered her.

"We been doing this forever." She said after literally one minute. "I thought you said this was instant." She pouted.

"It is instant, Judith. Everything takes time." I looked down at my bag. "Besides, you'll say it was worth the wait."

We shook our ice cream bags for a little longer, then finally they looked done enough for me. "Okay, ready?" I asked my sister. She nodded rapidly. I got my camera ready on my iPod, then handed her a spoon. She scooped a little up and then popped it in her mouth. Her eyes lit up and she gasped. I snapped the photo.

"It's so good!" She yelled and ate some more.

I laughed. "You like it?"

"It's the best thing I ever had!" She was so dramatic when she said it. I laughed, along with my dad and Michonne. She was eating it up.

"Slow down, girl. You're gonna get sick." I told her. I took a spoonful of mine. It was very good though. I don't even remember the last time I had ice cream.

Judith finished hers and panted. "I need more!"

"Here, you can have mine." I handed it to her. She downed that one as well. "So, did it live up to your expectations?"

"It was better than my expections!" She mispronounced the word. We all laughed.

My sister was in a great mood for the rest of the night. She was practically bouncing off the walls. She had to be carried to bed by my dad when she crashed from her sugar rush. "Well, that's one way to put her out." Michonne said.

"Yeah." Said my dad. They laughed. "Thank you, Abigail. For doing that for her." He hugged me and kissed my forehead. "I really appreciate that and so did she. It's nice that she got to have something from the old world."

I just looked at my dad for a minute, then finally shrugged. "It was no problem. I'm sure you guys would have done the same thing if you would have thought of it first."

"Yeah, well, still…thank you." He smiled.

I feel awkward sometimes when people thank me for things. I don't know why? It's like I don't know how to properly say "you're welcome" to someone. I gave him a small smile. "Don't thank me, thank Mrs. Hamilton."

"Who's that?"

"My sixth grade science teacher." I said with a laugh. They both laughed too. There was a brief pause after that. "Well…I better head out soon." I said.

"Dress warm." My dad told me. "It's really cold out there tonight." I just gave him a nod, then headed in my room.

I decided to leave my pair of black jeans on, but I changed my shirt. Then, I threw my hoodie over that. That should be good enough. I mean…we're probably going to stay inside and the walk from her house isn't that far.

My dad and Michonne must have moved into their room because they were gone when I came out. That's fortunate for me because now I can grab some alcohol without them seeing. I grabbed a bottle of vodka. No one in my house really cares for vodka, so this should be good. I headed out after that.

My dad wasn't lying when he said it was a cold night. I tightened my hoodie around me and shivered. "Fuck Winter. Fuck Winter. Fuck Winter." I said pretty much the whole way there. I wish I could skip to Summer time.

I knocked on Brittany's door. She answered it. "Oh hey, Abby." She said. "She's here." She called inside.

They must have been waiting for me. "Hey." I said to her and stepped inside. Dana, Carrie, Tess, Bridget and Paige were all sitting around a table. They were all looking at me. "Hey." I said again.

"Better late then never." Tess said.

"Yeah, it was so late we thought you changed your mind about coming." Paige said and rolled her eyes. I don't like Paige that much.

"Yeah." I said and sat down with them. "So, what are you guys doing?"

"Playing King's Cup." Brittany answered. "Have you ever played?"

"Yeah, once but it was years ago with my friends. This one kid got real sick so we never played again." I said. I remembered that memory and made a sick face. It was disgusting.

"Oh, we don't play that way." Dana said. "We make up our own rules." She pointed at the wall. "See that wipe board up on the wall? The rules are written on it."

"Oh okay." I looked it over. It said:

Ace - All

Two - You

Three - Me

Four - One more

Five - Wives

Six - Single chicks

Seven - Heaven

Eight - Mate

Nine - Not Fine

Ten - Make them drink again

Jack - Safe

Queen - Categories

King - Rules

"So, an Ace is everyone has to drink?" I asked no one in particular. Someone said yeah. "Then, two is you pick someone to drink. Three is me. Four is…?"

"You take two drinks." Tess answered.

"Okay. Five is I'm guessing if you're with someone and six is if you're single. What's seven?"

"Heaven." Dana said and lifted her hands up. "The last person to do it has to drink. And eight is you and someone you pick has to drink with you."

"Alright." I looked back at the board. "What the hell is nine?"

"You have to drink until everyone says stop." Bridget finally said something. I gave her a look. I thought that was strange because she's usually the one that never shuts up. "Let me just explain the rest to you." She said. "Ten is you pick someone to drink and then they have to take two drinks. A Jack is a safe card, it will get you out of anything you choose. Queen is categories. So, if someone said…animals. Then everyone has to go around and say an animal until someone can't think of anymore, then that person would drink. And King is rules. You can change any rule you want for the remainder of that round. Like if someone said no one is allowed to say the word 'drink' throughout the game and you say it then you have to drink."

"Okay." I said. "I think I got it." The game sounds pretty stupid but I will give it a try…I guess.

"Can we please just play the game?" Paige said annoyed. Like I said, I don't like her that much.

"Alright, where'd we leave off?" Dana asked.

"Me." Paige said more annoyed. She picked a card then sat it down. "Two." She said. She looked right at me. "Abby." She picked me.

I just looked at her for a moment, then a small smile played on my lips. "Of course." I unscrewed the lid on the vodka I brought.

"Oh, Abby, there's glasses in that cupboard." Brittany pointed.

"I don't need no damn glass." I said sounding like Daryl again. I tipped the bottle and took a sip.

"Okay, my turn." Bridget said excitedly. She threw her hands up the air. I was the first to copy her. Carrie was last so she had to drink. The girls laughed.

"Abby's turn." Tess said.

I sighed and picked a card. "Ten." I took two drinks.

"Hey, you're supposed to pick someone else for that." Bridget said.

I looked at her. "I can't pick myself?"

"I guess you can but it's not how you're supposed to play." Paige said. "Kinda ruins the fun."

"I don't care." I shrugged. "I wanna get drunk."

Paige scoffed. "Of course you do." She raised her eyebrows and looked down at her nails. I just looked at her. I feel like her and I are going to have problems tonight.

Carrie picked a card next. "Safe, bitches!" She slapped down her Jack.

Tess picked a card. "Queen. So, categories. Hmm…" She was thinking. "Books!" She smiled.

"Ugh. Can't you pick something more interesting?" Paige said.

"Books are fine." I said to make Paige mad. She gave me a look.

"Okay, so…Romeo and Juliet." Tess said.

"To Kill A Mockingbird." Brittany said.

"Great Gatsby." Said Dana.

Paige folded her arms. "The only book I can think of is Queen Bees and Wanna Be's."

I almost laughed. "Junie B. Jones." Bridget laughed.

"The Outsiders." I said immediately.

"I knew you were gonna say that." Carrie lightly smacked my arm and laughed. "Night." She said. We were back to the beginning now. We went around one more time and when it got to me, I chose to drink just because I wanted that to end.

"Thank God." Paige complained. "Who's turn is it now?"

"Mine." Brittany said. She picked a card. "Mate." She looked at me. "I'll go with you, Abby, since you want to get drunk." She laughed.

"Hell yeah." We both took a drink.

"My turn." Dana said picking a card. "Six." She glanced at the board for a reminder. "So, single chicks."

I watched Paige, Bridget and Tess take a drink. Paige looked right at me. We made eye contact. "Uh, hello, Abby. Take a drink." She said to me. I knew she would.

"I ain't single." I stated. Not completely true since I didn't know what was going on with Daryl and I.

"Who are you dating?" Tess looked at me.

"He's an old friend." Was all I said.

"You liar." Carrie said and laughed.

I raised my eyebrows. "I'm not lying." I said with a laugh.

"How come we haven't seen him around then?" Dana asked. She didn't sound bitchy when she said it. She wouldn't. I got a feeling that Dana and Carrie are the smartest in the group.

"Well…" I started but trailed off. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. I decided to just say it. "He's a lot older than me, so we've been keeping it on the down low. Know what I mean?" I said smoothly. I was definitely the coolest in the group.

"I think she's lying." Paige spoke up. "That's—that's such a lie." She shook her head with that stupid smile she has. "I don't believe you."

I snorted. "Okay, then don't believe me." I shrugged. "You think I give a shit?"

Paige gave me a dirty look. "Bitch."

"Okay, okay." Brittany said. "Let's not, please. Let's just get back to the game."

There was a slight pause. Paige was still staring me down. "…no." She finally said. "I gotta get home." She stood up and put her jacket on. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Everyone said bye to her except me. I waited until she was about to walk out the door. "See ya, Paige." I said to be a smartass. I didn't turn around when I said it, but I smirked at Carrie. I heard Paige kind of huff and then she left. I let out a short laugh, then took a drink.

"I am so glad she left." Brittany said. "That girl is such a bitch."

"I can't stand her sometimes." Bridget said. "She acts like she knows everything and everyone else is like so far beneath her."

"Right?" Brittany said. "And she thinks she can just drink my booze and not bring any herself?" She huffed. "I don't even like her that much." They laughed.

I just looked back and forth at them. See, this is what I don't like. They were just all "buddy buddy" with her when she was here then when she leaves, they talk shit on her? If they had a problem with her, why didn't they just say right then and there? Paige is annoying, no doubt, but at least she's not fake. "If you don't like her, what'd you invite her over for then?" I said to Brittany.

She gave me surprised look. "I-I don't know." She shrugged. "Cuz she's just always with us." She shook her head. "Let's just get back to the game."

We played a little longer and I grew more apathetic with every card. It wasn't that I wasn't into the game, I just wasn't in the mood for this right now. I would rather us just sit here and talk and drink. Bridget left shortly after.

"Your turn, Abby." Dana said.

"Huh?" I was deep in thought and she caught me off guard.

"You have to name a movie star. That's the category." She said.

"Oh, I don't know." I shrugged and just took a drink.

There was a brief pause. "You're so not into this game right now, are you?" Dana asked me.

I hesitated and gave them a slight smile. "It's not that. I just have some stuff on my mind. So…" I shook my head. "I don't really wanna play anymore."

"Well, we could play something else?" Tess suggested.

"Nah, I don't wanna play anything else either." I shrugged again. "I'd rather just sit here and talk and drink."

"Sounds good to me." Carrie said.

"I'd rather do that too actually." Dana stretched.

"Well…that's fine." Brittany said. "But let's move into the living room then." We all got up and took our drinks and got comfortable in the living room.

I tried to get into their conversations but I just couldn't. There was something really bothering me. I think it was that game. Like not the game itself but…the last time I played a drinking game, it was with Daryl. I miss him so much. I thought staring into my drink. "Abby?"

"What?" I looked up at them.

"I asked you if you were okay?" Carrie said.

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, I'm fine." I smiled and shrugged. "I just need to get drunk." I tipped my bottle and just started going into it. The other girls cheered me on.

I finally stopped, grimaced then hissed. More than half of the bottle is gone. It's going to be all gone soon. Plus, those other two bottles on the counter. I'm going to get really sick but I don't even care. Because that's the thing. I don't care. I just really don't. I had something great going for me with Daryl; I got a taste of the good life and now it's gone and that's all I can think about.

I continued drinking the vodka until it was completely gone, then I poured some of the other liquor into a cup and brought it back over. "You sure can drink a lot." Dana said to me.

"Yeah, I'm a professional drinker." I said and took another sip.

"How'd you learn to drink like that?" Tess asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just used to it, I guess."

"She's an alcoholic." Carrie said and laughed.

"Wow, Carrie." Brittany said jokingly. "You're so nice." They all laughed.

I shrugged again. "I probably am." I quickly drank what was in my cup and got another. I went really far that night, I admit it. The last thing I remember thinking is, I want him back.

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