Even though I didn't want to, I went back to school the next day. I didn't talk to anyone, though. Kids found out about what happened and they would point at me and snicker. Occasionally, I would hear someone call me things like, "freak" or "robot" because of my brace. It hurt my feelings pretty bad, but I tried my best to ignore it.

A few days had gone by and things only got worse. My "friends" stopped talking to me because they knew I was getting picked on and no one wants to be friends with the kid getting bullied in the fear that people will start picking on them, too. I don't even know why I come here. Daryl doesn't know about any of this, I was too embarrassed to tell him, but if he knew he'd probably let me stop going. Plus, he's been going on a lot of runs lately so I didn't want to concern him with my stupid problems.

Later in the evening, Daryl and I ate dinner together in the room. I don't go to the cafe anymore unless I have to. We just sat there eating and not really talking.

"So, how is everythang?" He finally spoke.

"Fine." I said sadly while pushing my food around.

"Le, eat." My brother said.

"I cain't. I ain't hungry."

"Ya never are no more." He grabbed my face with one hand like he does. "Hey, somethin' wrong?" I just shook my head. "Ya know you can tell me if somethin's wrong?"

I nodded. "I'm fine."

My brother hesitated for a while then finally let me go. "All right. But if ya ain't gonna eat then get to bed." I didn't say anything just got up and went to my room. I laid down and must have drifted off to sleep even though it was still pretty early.

I felt Daryl kiss my temple and it woke me up, I was facing the wall. It was dark now, he got in his bed. I waited for him to get situated and once it was quiet, I said, "do you like it here?"

"What?" My brother said.

"This place? Do ya like it?"

"Sure. S'alright."

I was quiet for a minute. I can't make him leave then, it wouldn't be fair. "Okay." That was the end of our conversation.

Luckily, today was Saturday, which meant no school. I sat on the floor in the main room drawing on a piece of paper. Daryl walked by me and pushed my hair back. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Just doodlin'."

"Why don't ya draw me somethin'?"

"Nah, don't feel like it." I pushed the paper aside.

"Yeah? Ya feelin' okay? Cuz ya say that a lot now." Daryl said. I didn't reply to him. "Seriously, Le. There's somethin' goin' on and I want ya to tell me. Yer not the same at all no more. Yer just all…mopey. Ya don't even go out with yer friends no more."

"That's cuz I don't have any." I said without lifting my head.

My brother sighed. "Le? What's goin' on with ya? Please tell me. I cain't stand seein' ya so unha—

"The other kids are callin' me names."

"What?"

"I'm bein' bullied…just like I used to in school."

"They pickin' on you?" He asked. I nodded. "Le, why didn't ya tell me? Ya know you don't have to go, right?"

"No, I do. The only thang worse than goin' is not goin' back. I mean…we live here. They'll know they won." My brother gave me a sympathetic look. I knew he didn't know what to say.

I took a walk later that day, Daryl said he'd come with me but I just wanted to be alone. I aimlessly walked around and ended up by the locker rooms. I watched a man walk out of the men's locker room, he was slightly attractive. A weird idea popped into my head. I realized I've never seen a guy's penis before. Well…except my daddy's…but that was against my will. I shivered. I walked up to the entrance and peeked inside at all the guys being careful they didn't notice me. I looked at all of them. I didn't see Chad's that night, everything happened too fast, plus, I was too drunk. The only other penis I ever saw was my friend Billy's. We were like five at the time. I remembered the memory:

We were in a kiddie pool in his backyard. No adults were around. Billy said, "I'll show ya mine if ya show me yers."

So we showed each other what we had. That's when I found out that boys and girls had different parts. But…we were just kids. It was a baby penis. I want to see one now.

"Le?" I heard a voice say. I immediately jumped against the wall. It was Miss Kay. Oh God! "Le, were you doing what I think?" I couldn't speak, I tried shaking my head. "You were. What else would you be doing?"

"Uh, I…

"Come over here." I nervously walked to her. "It's okay, don't be embarrassed. But I'm gonna have to tell your parents."

I looked at her wide-eyed. "No, please. My brother will kill me."

"Your brother?"

"Yeah, he's all I have. No parents."

"Oh, I didn't know." She gave me a small smile. "How old is your brother?"

"Like forty."

"Oh." She blinked. "And his name?"

"Daryl Dixon."

"Okay, well, I'm afraid I'll have to tell Daryl."

"No, Miss Kay, please don't." I begged her.

"I'm sorry, Le. I have to. Come on, honey. Take me to your house."

I hung my head low and walked back to the room with her following me.

Miss Kay knocked on the door. It opened and there stood Daryl with a strange look on his face. "Hello, I'm Le's teacher, Miss Kay. You must be Mr. Dixon?" They shook hands. I glanced up at him, he was eyeing me suspiciously.

"Did Le do somethin'?" He asked. I ran passed him and into my room. I jumped on the bed and started crying. I could hear their muffled voices but didn't know what they were saying.

About ten minutes later, Daryl came into the room and sat on his bed. He didn't say anything for the longest time. Finally, I heard him let out a small laugh then he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm gonna be honest, Le…I don't even know what to say."

"I wasn't doin' nothin' wrong. I-I was just curious."

"So, ya look at a bunch 'a naked guys?"

"…I didn't thank it through."

He snorted. "Yeah, well…yer teacher thanks ya need councilin'. I talked her outta it. Don't get mad but I told her about yer learnin' disability…she said ya shouldn't come to school no more. Said she can give ya private lessons here or at her house. She was actually very nice."

My mouth gaped open. "What? I ain't stupid! I can—

"Le." Daryl cut me off. "I agree with her. I'm sorry. Why would ya wanna go there anyway? Ya said they make fun 'a ya."

I just stared at him. I felt betrayed. "I-I cain't believe ya'd do this to me!" I stood up and leaned over the bed. I was so mad, but I knew there wasn't anything I could do about it. I just kept grunting in anger, that's all I could think to do.

"Le, calm down." My brother said. I ignored him and kept grunting with tears running down my face. I was having one of my "breakdowns", which I didn't have in a long time. "Leann, you stop it right now!"

I turned and looked at him and screamed, "no!" I shoved him then tried to run, but he grabbed me quickly and laid me over his lap holding me down. I was even madder now that he did that. "Lemme go!"

"No, Le! You better quit." He gave me a hard swat. I struggled to get lose but he held me there. He rubbed my back and soothed me. My anger subsided but I continued to cry. I was sobbing so hard I felt like I could puke.

Finally, he let me up and I hugged him around the neck. He let me cry some more. "Shh. I'm sorry, Le. I'm sorry I hit ya. Come on, calm down." I took a few deeps breaths and eventually I was back to normal.

"I'm sorry." I sniffled. "I'm sorry."

"Why'd ya freak out like that, huh?" He rubbed my back. "I ain't seen ya do that fer years."

"I know." I rubbed my eyes. "I guess it was just everythang."

"That's all right. You okay?"

"I thank so." I nodded.

"Okay." He pushed my hair back. "You still ain't goin' back to school, though."

"I know." I said sadly. "I'm gonna go take a shower."

"All right. I'm goin' on a run so take yer key. I probably won't be here when ya get back. Is that okay?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "I'll be fine."

I gathered up my stuff and headed down to the showers.

When I walked inside, I froze dead in my tracks. Summer and her friends were in there. I stood there a minute just staring at her, she sure was pretty with her shiny, long, blonde hair. A lot prettier than me. She finally noticed me looking at her. "What?" She snapped.

My face flushed and I hurriedly looked away. I contemplated going back to the room, but stayed because I was already down here. I'll just be quick, they won't even know I'm here. I put my stuff into a locker then I picked a shower and immediately closed the curtain. It did feel nice, I got to wash this whole day off me.

I showered quickly and wrapped a towel around myself. I stepped out and made my way over to the locker I had my stuff in. I just got my towel off and was about to get dressed but then…I slipped on a some shower gel on the floor and my face went right into Summer's chest. I quickly straightened myself and stared up at her. "Sorry! I'm sorry, I slipped. It was an accident." She was giving me a disgusted look.

"I don't believe you!" She said. "You're a little pervert. Yeah, we heard about your little incident in the men's locker room." They giggled. My face flushed. "Oh, hey. Wait a minute, you're that freak with the missing finger." She laughed. "I didn't recognize you without your brace." I put my head down. "I can see why Chad didn't want you either." She looked my body up and down causing me to blush. "He's not interested in children." They all laughed again. I bet my face was redder than ever. I tried to walk passed her to get my stuff but she wouldn't let me. "Tell ya what, robot," Summer started, "you wanna see naked guys? Okay, yeah, there's a lot of guys that would like that." She grinned evilly at her friends. "Get her, girls!" They grabbed me and started pushing me towards the door.

"No, please! Don't! Please stop! No!" I screamed in terror. There was too many of them and they were bigger than me. They shoved me all the way into the hall and opened the door to the men's room and shoved me in.

"Here boys!" She yelled and closed the door. I immediately screamed and banged on the door.

"Please, let me out!" I cried.

"Hey, check it out!" A voice said. I turned around and to my horror, there was a bunch of guys in there. Some of them I recognized. One was Patrick.

"Hey, frog tits!" He said. I did my best to cover myself while trying to get out. The girls must be holding the door closed. All the guys came over to me and did stuff to me like grabbing and pinching my bottom. I screamed. This was a never ending nightmare! I eventually just curled up in a corner and cried.

I sobbed uncontrollably all the back to the room. I got inside and screamed for Daryl, but then I remembered he went on a run. I dropped down to my knees and cried on the floor. I could not believe what just happened. I pounded my fists on the floor and had the worst tantrum I ever had before. I'm lucky no one was around to see it. I screamed and cried for the longest time.

Once I calmed down, I just laid there. I kept playing it back in my head. The worst part was, I had to just sit there until everyone left so I could get out and go next door to get my clothes. My hair is still wet, it soaked the back of my shirt but I didn't care. I didn't care about anything at all right then.

When I tell Daryl about this, he's going to freak out. I hope he does. I hope he takes his crossbow and hunts all of them down. That would be the best thing for everyone.

I wish my brother was here now. As soon as he gets home, I'm telling him I want to leave.

I sat on the couch on Daryl's lap and cried into his chest while he rubbed my back and gently rocked me. "It was horrible." I sobbed.

"Shh." He soothed me. "We'll leave first thang in the mornin'. Just one more night here, okay?" He pushed my hair back. I nodded then clung to him and cried some more. "Those sick bastards." My brother said. "I'd like to get my hands on 'em."

"I hate 'em all!" I cried. "I hope they all die! Specially, Summer."

"Don't you worry. She'll get what's comin' to her."

"I hope…I hope…the worst thang ever happens to her. I don't even care. She's the worst person ever so she deserves the worst punishment ever."

"She'll get it one day." Daryl said. "Just try to calm down. Those guys…you didn't get hurt, did ya?"

"No." I shook my head. Just my feelings.

"All right. Well, like I said, we'll leave first thang." He hugged me tightly.

"Okay, okay." I cried.

That night, I laid in bed thinking when we first got here, this place was going to be Hampton Lake all over again. Well, it wasn't. It was the exact opposite. It was so much worse. I would relive all those events everyday than to ever go through again what happened to me today.

Yeah, that's what I thought at first, but then I remembered how Daryl and I argued and how we weren't as close as we used to be back at that place. At least I have him now, I don't know what I would do without my big brother. Nothing could ever be worse than that. I looked over at him sleeping in his bed. Daryl's the love of my life. I know that sounds weird, he being my brother and all, but it's true. We're closer than we have ever been and I think I'm done finding new friends. Daryl is right, all I need is him. Fuck everyone else. I just wish I would have realized that before coming here.

Daryl and I left bright and early the next day just like he promised me. We didn't even say goodbye to anyone or eat breakfast. We just gathered up what we wanted to take and took off.

I was so relieved once we were back on the road. Daryl ran his hand through my hair and smiled at me. "Ya okay?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "I'm better than okay. I'm great."

"Good."

"You was right before." I said making my brother look at me. "When ya said yer all I need. Well, it's true. No more people, no more places. Just us."

He stared at me for a while then shrugged. "All right. If that's what ya want, sweet thang."

"It is." I smiled. "I wish we never went there. It was just a big mistake."

"Well, don't say that. It was kinda a learnin' experience fer ya."

"What do ya mean?"

"Well, at least now ya know."

I blinked at him in confusion. Instead of asking him what he meant, though, I just thought about it and came up with the answer. "Yeah, yer right."