"All right. I'm headin' out now." I said to Daryl.

"Be careful."

I nodded and reached for the doorknob. "Whoa, wait a minute." My brother stopped me. "Where exactly are ya goin'?"

"Chad told me to meet him by the gym." I stated. "Why?" My eyes grew wide. "You ain't gonna follow me are ya?"

He sighed. "No. Don't stay out late…and don't let 'im do nothin'." I nodded and turned away again. "And don't go outside these walls."

I nodded again. "Okay, Daryl got it. Can I go?"

His lips set into a thin line and after a moment's hesitation he nodded. "Still wish ya would stay 'ere with me, though."

"Don't make me feel bad, please. I just wanna meet some new people, okay? I—

"I know. I'm sorry." He gave me an apologetic smile. "Have fun."

I smiled back. "Bye, Daryl." I quickly left before he could say anything else. I stood outside the door for a minute and exhaled. That wasn't as bad as I thought.

I took my time getting to the gym, I wanted to show up late so Chad would still think I'm not interested. Playing hard to get was the best technique for me right now. I smiled to myself. However, that smile faded when I saw Chad. He was standing around talking with three other guys around his age. I contemplated just going home, I wanted to meet new people, yeah, but not a bunch of guys at one time. I turned on my heel and was about to leave but didn't. Don't be a pussy. I told myself. I turned back in their direction and nervously walked over.

"Hey, Le." Chad greeted me. "Ya made it."

"Hey." I said. I looked to the other boys, they were just staring me.

"You look nice."

I looked down at myself. I had on jeans with a thin, black zip up hoodie. I had cut holes in the sleeves for my thumbs. "Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "Thanks, I guess. I just kinda threw this on."

Chad chuckled. We all kind of just stood there awkwardly for a moment. "Oh my bad." Chad said. "This is Tyler, Patrick and Nick. Guys, this is Leann, but she likes to be called Le."

"Hey." I said to them. They all gave an apathetic wave.

"So, we were gonna swim, you down?" Chad asked me.

I hesitated. "I didn't bring a swim suit. And don't ya guys thank it's a little chilly tonight to go swimmin'?"

"It's an indoor pool." Patrick said.

"Oh." I said. That's right. I'm an idiot.

"So, do you want to?" Chad asked me. "And don't worry about not having a swim suit. We don't have swim suits either." I raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "It's okay, we do it all the time." He seemed to get nervous.

I hesitated. "Okay. Sure, I guess." I was still giving him a confused look.

"Come on, it's gonna be fun." Chad said and began walking into the gym. His friends glanced at me then followed Chad. I eventually followed as well.

I sat on the edge of the pool with my feet in the water. Chad and the guys were playing water basketball. It looked fun, but I couldn't get in the water. They were in their underwear, which was fine for them but there's no way in hell I'm getting in there with them in my underwear. Maybe if there was another girl here.

"Ya sure ya don't wanna come in, Le?" Chad asked me. "The water's great."

"Yeah, I'm sure." I waved him off.

"That's too bad." Patrick said from behind me. He jumped in right next to me causing me to get splashed all over. I cringed and looked at myself, I was soaked.

"Ohh. Sorry 'bout that." Patrick said. The other guys laughed.

"It's okay." I said through gritted teeth. I stood up.

"You okay?" Chad asked me.

"Yeah, I'm great." I rolled my eyes. "I'm just gonna go in the bathroom and ya know? Dry off." I began walking away. I heard the guys laughing at me again.

"Cut it out, guys." I heard Chad say. I smiled to myself a little, at least Chad isn't a jerk.

I walked into the locker room with my head down trying to squeeze out what I could of my hoodie. I looked up and saw a urnal. That's when I realized I must have absentmindedly walked into the wrong room. I hurriedly turned to leave but heard someone coming. "Oh man!" I said nervously. I briefly looked around then ran into one of the stalls. I sat on the toilet and pulled my feet up.

"That was a good game." I heard a familiar voice say. Oh God! It's Chad and his friends!

"Yeah, we fuckin' crushed you guys."

"Well, it wasn't fair. You guys used to play basketball."

"Who cares. It's just for fun."

"Shut the fuck up, Nick." Patrick, I think, said.

"Yeah, Nick."

"Guys, chill out." That one was definitely Chad. There was a brief pause. "So, what do you guys think of Le?" My eyes widened a bit and I leaned forward.

"She's all right." Nick said.

"She's kinda cute but I don't know, she just seems kinda bitchy." That must have been Tyler. I wanted to laugh at that one.

"She's got tits like a frog." Patrick said. My mouth gaped open. I looked down at my chest and crossed my arms over it.

"What the hell, Patrick?" Chad said. "Is that all you care about?"

"Hell no. It's all about the ass." He replied. They all laughed. My face flushed. I just wanted to get out of there.

Eventually, I heard them leave and everything got quiet. I took my chances and made my escape. Luckily, no one saw me come out. I went outside and sat on the steps. I was only out there for a short time before Chad and his friends came out. "There you are." Chad said. "I was looking for you."

"Here I am." I smiled sarcastically.

"Hey, guys, let's go play some real b-ball. On the court." Patrick said.

"Yeah, let's do it!" Tyler yelled.

They turned away. "Chad, you coming?" Patrick asked him.

"No, I'm good." Chad said making me look at him. "Le, you wanna go for a walk?"

"Seriously?" Patrick asked.

"Yeah, dude. Get outta here."

Patrick gave me a dirty look. "Whatever." He finally said. "Let's go, guys." The rest of them walked away. I have to say, I was a little relieved.

"Sorry, about that." Chad said. "He can be…

"An asshole?" I finished his sentence.

"Yeah." Chad chuckled. "So, how 'bout that walk?" He smiled down at me, it was one of the nicest smiles I ever saw. It made me blush.

I smiled back. "Sure." He held his hand out to me and I took it.

Chad and I walked around for a long time. He did most of the talking. He told me that he lives with his mom and younger brother. And that he and Patrick knew each other for a long time and are super close.

"He doesn't like me much." I said.

"That's not true. He just doesn't know you. He's like that with everyone new."

"Really? With other girls?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Well…no. Not girls." He said. I snorted. "It's not like that, though, trust me. He's a good guy. You'll see."

"Sure." I said. I paused trying to think of something to say. "So…do you guys go to school here?"

"Yeah, we all do. Don't you?"

"No." I shook my head. "I hate school. My brother says I don't have to go unless I want to."

"I wish my mom was like that." Chad said. "So, you live with your…older brother?" I just nodded. "That's pretty cool. I bet he let's you get away with murder."

I almost laughed out loud. "Not really. Not at all actually. My brother is more strict with me than my parents ever were. Plus, he's super overprotective."

"Oh. Well, that's okay. I'm pretty protective with my little brother."

"That's sweet." I smiled. "How old are ya again?"

"Eighteen. Just turned it."

"Oh. I'm fifteen. I won't be sixteen fer a few months yet."

"That's cool." He smiled. I gave him a look and we laughed.

There was a brief pause.

"So…there's a guy that's been following us this whole time." Chad said out of nowhere.

My face paled. Please don't tell me… I turned around and looked. It was. I sighed and turned back to Chad. "It's okay. It's just my overprotective brother I was tellin' ya about."

"Seriously?" He looked back again.

"Yeah." I rolled my eyes. Suddenly, I thought of a plan. "Hey, let's lose 'im."

Chad blinked at me. "You sure? Won't he get mad?"

"Who cares? It'll be fun." I said. "Come on. See that crowd of people over there?" I pointed.

"Yeah?"

"Once we reach 'em, we run. He'll lose us in them." I grinned evilly.

Chad smirked. "Whatever you say."

We approached the crowd. "Ready?" I asked. He nodded. "Go." We ran through the people and down the street laughing the whole way. We turned down a corner and ended up by the gate's back entrance. We stopped to catch our breath. I happened to look back and Daryl was no where in sight.

"That was pretty fun." Chad said. "Did we lose him?"

"Yeah, he's gone." We both laughed. I glanced at the gate. "Do you ever go out on runs or anythang?" I asked him.

"Uh, not really. I haven't had much experience, you know? Out there."

"Really?" I blinked. "Let's go out."

"Huh?"

"Outside the walls." I stated. Chad laughed like I just made a joke. He stopped then and gave me a serious look.

"Wait…you mean, for real?"

"Yeah." I shrugged. "Why not?"

"Well…they kinda keep the gates closed. There's a curfew. They won't open them for us."

"We don't need 'em open." I began climbing over the gate.

"What the hell are doing?"

"Come on, it'll be fun." I smiled down at him then resumed my climbing.

"O-okay." Chad followed me. I finally hopped down once I was low enough on the other side. "What exactly are we doing out here?" Chad asked. I ignored his question and looked around for walkers. I wanted to impress him, I'll show him how it's done. I walked off into the woods. "Le? Le?" We walked for a while and were pretty far from home. I finally spotted some walkers. There were three of them.

"There." I pointed. "Ya ever kill one before?"

"…once."

"Only once?"

"I told you, I don't have much experience on the outside."

"Check this out." I smirked then whistled drawing the walkers attention.

"Whoa, whoa." Chad grabbed my arm. "What are you doing?"

"It's fine. Watch." I walked to the closest walker and stabbed it in the head. Then I kicked the next one in it's knee and it went down, I stabbed it in the top of the head. Then did the same to the last one. I turned around and smiled at Chad.

"Whoa, okay. That was pretty badass." He said.

I smirked at him. Suddenly, we could hear another walker coming. "Now, you try."

"W-what?" He looked at me wide-eyed. "No, I—

"No, it's okay. You'll be fine, I promise. Just do exactly what I just did."

"I don't—

"Chad, it's comin'." I handed him my knife. He looked at me nervously then at the walker that was headed right towards him. He held the knife out but hesitated too long. The walker grabbed him and they fell to the ground. My eyes grew wide. "Chad! Stab it in the head!" He was really struggling to hold it back. I was about to step in, but he finally just stabbed it as hard as he could. The walker went limp and he immediately pushed it off him and got up. "I'm sorry!" I said. "I didn't thank—

"It's okay." Chad said panting. "That was my first walker."

My shoulders slumped a little. "I thought ya said ya killed one before?" I smirked.

"I lied." He laughed still panting. I laughed, too.

"Ya okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good." He smiled at me, I smiled back. Suddenly, we heard more walkers coming. I spun quickly.

"Get ready." I said.

"What? No, let's just go."

I ignored him. I counted the walkers that are coming. I gasped. There was more than I thought. "Yeah, that actually might be a good idea." I said. But it was too late, one of them grabbed me from another direction. How didn't I see it?

"Le!" Chad yelled. I reached for my gun, to my horror, it wasn't there. I must have left it at home.

"Chad! My knife!" He quickly ran to me and killed the walker instead of handing me the knife. I grabbed it from him then. "Stay behind me!" I started killing the walkers that were close. A big one grabbed me and I struggled.

"Ah!" Chad yelled. I looked over and he was on the ground again struggling to hold one back.

"Shit!" I said struggling with my own walker. I couldn't help him. Suddenly, the walker I was fighting went limp. I saw an arrow go through it's head. Oh man! He's gonna kill me for sure! I turned and looked at my brother for a split second before helping Chad. Daryl finished off the rest of the walkers. I made sure Chad was okay and that he wasn't mad at me.

"You guys okay?" Daryl asked us.

I just nodded. "Yeah." Chad said.

I nervously walked over to my brother; I held my arm with my other hand. "Daryl, what are ya doin' here? Ya said ya wouldn't follow me." I said sadly.

"Well, it's a good thang I did. You and yer friend here could be dead right now if I wouldn't 'a." I looked down guiltily. Daryl bent down to my level and grabbed my face with one hand. "You told me ya wouldn't go outside the walls. And why didn't ya at least bring yer gun? What were ya thinkin', little lady? Yer in big trouble, ya know that?" My face flushed. Chad was still there watching me get scolded by my big brother. "You won't be goin' out fer a while."

"Uh…I think I'm just gonna go home." Chad said awkwardly. "I'll see you later, Le." He started walking away but turned back around. "And by the way, I had a pretty good time." He smiled. I smiled back, well at least tried to. Daryl still had my face.

"Let's go, runt." My brother said. He grabbed my hand, I decided not to pull it away. I figured I was in enough trouble as it is. We walked back to the room together.

"I swear yer testin' me, little one." Daryl said once we were standing outside the room. He dug the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. "Inside." He gently pushed me inside then closed the door. I tried walking away, but he grabbed my arm. "What the hell, Leann? What was ya thinkin'? Ya coulda been killed."

I huffed. "Daryl…it was fine. I had it under control."

"Sure didn't look like it."

"I woulda got it 'ventually." I looked right at him. He sent me a scary glare. I swallowed hard. "I know…I shouldn't 'a went over the wall, 'specially without my gun and—

"No, 'specially after ya told me ya wouldn't."

"…yeah, 'specially after I told ya I wouldn't." I looked down. "I'm sorry. I'm glad ya showed up."

"Course. Ya thank I'd just let my baby sister in danger?"

I thought for a minute. "You followed me." I crossed my arms and pouted.

"Yeah and you ran from me." He said.

"Oh yeah." I laughed.

He scowled at me. "Ya thank that's funny, huh?"

"Kinda." I nodded still giggling.

He let out a small laugh then shook his head at me. "Ya hungry? Maybe the cafe's still open."

"Not really." I gave him a weird look. "Ain't I in trouble?"

He thought for a minute. "No." He hit my shoulder with his jacket sleeve. "Just don't do that again, okay?" He kissed the top of my head and sat down on the couch. "Now, come sit with me." I walked over to where he was sitting, he held his arms out to me and pulled me down onto his lap. I giggled. I leaned into him and relaxed, he rested his head on top of mine. "Stop tryin' to get yerself killed, ya hear me?" He said roughly. I finally just nodded.