Chapter Two

Carol was so surprised to see her sister's car in the drive that she was halfway up the porch steps before she remembered all the books she'd been able to bring with her. She happened to get along well with the librarian at school and any time they got new copies of books, Carol was able to go through them and take her pick of the worn ones home.

As she made her way up the steps with her arm load the front door opened up and her sister stepped out. She was seven years Carol's senior and there was an obvious resemblance. Jenny had the same auburn hair, though hers was straight where Carol had to make due with unruly curls. She had the same pale skin, same smattering of freckles and same build but where Carol's eyes were blue, her sister's were brown. Her sister was more outgoing, making friends easily where Carol would rather spend time alone, her nose shoved into a book without worrying what others thought of her.

"Looks like you got your summer fix," Jenny said, leaning her hip into the door frame.

Carol shrugged. "I guess. What are you doing home?" she asked, stepping around her sister and heading into the house.

"I don't go in till ten tonight so I thought maybe we could grab some dinner and a movie."

Carol headed down the hall but she heard her sister's footsteps following her. Jenny worried about her and she knew it. She was always trying to talk to her about making more friends, going out more, doing something other than locking herself away in the house. She simply couldn't understand how Carol could be happy being alone so much. But she was happy. She didn't want to have to pretend to be anything other than who she was. It seemed like most girls at school did that. They followed trends and they made sure they were up to date on all the latest gossip and fashion and their eyes stayed glued to whatever boy they deemed gorgeous that week.

That just wasn't her. She didn't want to be anyone other than who she was because she liked herself. She liked herself enough for it to not matter that no one else seemed to like her very much.

She sighed, dropped the books onto the bed and turned, flouncing down gracelessly and mentally preparing herself for her sister's reaction to her news. "I can't tonight," she said, studying her white sneakers and refusing to meet her sister's knowing look.

"Carol, I actually had to pull some strings to get most of the evening off so I could spend some time with you. Please don't tell me that you have reading to do and can't hang out with me. I'm really starting to worry about you." And it was true. Carol could hear the concern in her voice.

She finally raised her face. "Actually, I'm going out tonight." She still couldn't believe that she had agreed to this, and a part of her still suspected that she was about to walk into a Carry moment like in that old movie, but she said she would go and she trusted Daryl at least a little bit.

"Wait... what? You're going out? Like, with a boy?"

Carol didn't want to tell her sister the whole story because she looked so happy. She knew Daryl wasn't doing this because he liked her that way. He had been desperate and she had happened to be there. She was doing him a favor. "Yeah. The guy I've been tutoring."

Jenny grinned. "Oh my God."

Carol groaned and dramatically fell onto her mattress as her sister clapped her hands together excitedly.

"I'm being ditched!" She nearly yelled.

Carol raised up on her elbows and watched the dramatics.

"I'm being ditched by my kid sister because she has a date. This is probably the happiest day of my life!"

"Come on, Jen. Get a grip." She was almost sad that this wasn't actually anything real, or serious.

"We need to get you ready!"

Carol scowled. "I am ready."

Jenny looked devastated for a few beats and then she shook her head firmly. "No. Look, I let you get away with a lot, Carol Ann. I really do but I am putting my foot down right now. You like this guy, right?"

Carol swallowed and looked away. Of course she liked him. He was nice and he was smart and he was about as misunderstood as she was. There was nothing to not like about him. "Yes, I do," she said honestly and had to force the sadness out of her tone because she knew for a fact that he didn't like her. Not the same way.

"Please. Please please let me to this!"

"I'm not dressing like some tramp to go out with this guy," Carol said, sitting up and crossing her arms firmly over her chest.

Jenny scoffed. "Are you saying that I dress like a tramp?"

Carol fought a smile and then shrugged. "Sometimes!"

"Okay, look. I'm not letting you leave the house in the clothes you're wearing now. I have a brand new pair of jeans that would look amazing on you. They'll go great with that sleeveless lace top, the one I wore to dinner last week, the black one... and boots! Oh my God, you'll look amazing!"

Carol felt the blood drain from her face. She knew the very shirt her sister was talking about and she couldn't imagine wearing something like that. It was clingy and low cut and, sure, it looked really great on her sister, but she wasn't her sister. "I can't wear-" Before she could finish her sentence Jenny had her by both hands and was pulling her up from the bed. The happiness in her sister's eyes had her voice trailing away.

"This is gonna be so fun, I swear. Where are you going?"

"A party," Carol mumbled as Jenny dragged her into the master bedroom and kicked the door shut.

"A party. This is your first party!"

"Seriously, Jen, I can just wear this. It isn't like he cares what I look like. I was dressed this way when he asked me out." On a fake date as a desperate last resort, she added glumly.

"I know that. And really, there isn't anything wrong with your clothes but I want you to feel good about yourself, Carol. You don't have to hide behind all that bulk all the time. Trust me, I am so happy that this guy likes you for you but there's nothing wrong with a good girl that has a wild side to her."

Carol rolled her eyes as her sister turned her back on her and started rummaging through her closet. She flung a pair of dark jeans at her without even turning. Carol held them up and frowned. She opened her mouth to object but she was hit in the face by the shirt her sister had been hunting for.

"Strip," Jenny ordered as she spun around.

Carol stared at her. "I don't need you to dress me."

"Of course you do."

Carol wasn't going to argue. She was already in too deep and her sister did look happy to be helping her. She stripped down to her underwear and ignored the face her sister made.

"You're wearing granny panties."

Carol did some squirming but finally was able to get the jeans over her hips. Instantly she felt ridiculous. They were molded to her thighs and hips and they were cut much too low. "It doesn't matter what kind of panties I'm wearing because this isn't that kind of date. He won't get anywhere near them anyway."

Jenny made a face. "Well, of course not. But that bra won't do."

"He isn't getting anywhere near my bra either," she muttered, looking down at the plain white cotton covering her breasts and blushing all the way up to the tips of her ears.

"Contour little sister. Here," she said, forcing Carol to look up.

She gaped at the scrap of lace dangling from her sisters fingers. "I'm not wearing that!"

Jenny laughed. "Yes you are. Under wire. You'll need it with that shirt."

"It's padded!" She wished she had never told her sister about this. She didn't want to wear any of this!

Jenny was impossible, however, shoving the garment into Carol's unwilling hand and stepping around her. "Get dressed."

Carol watched her leave the room and plopped down on the bed. She loved her sister with all her heart, she really did, but she was driving her insane. She held up the bra and snorted, picturing herself actually wearing it. But then again, it was one stupid night and her sister was genuinely happy that her baby sister seemed to be coming out of her shell. Even though it wasn't real.

On the other hand, what would it hurt to go out of her comfort zone for a night? Regardless of why she was going out tonight, she was going out, so she could do something a little different, right? Her sister would be happy, maybe Daryl Dixon would realize that she was an actual female and maybe... maybe she would find that doing something risky wasn't exactly a bad thing.

She stood up and with a small spark of confidence she changed into the clothes that her sister had forced onto her.

~H~

Carol stared at her reflection in the mirror and wasn't sure if she was actually seeing herself.

"What do you think?" Jenny asked as she fastened the thin silver chain around her neck.

Carol shook her head. Jenny had tamed her hair and it was now piled strategically on top of her head, soft curls left loose to frame her face. She had even given in and let her use a little makeup, as long as she kept it minimal and now her eyes looked more blue than she had ever seen them before. The clothes showed off her figure without making her look like she was actually trying to show off her figure. The boots her sister had loaned her stopped mid calve and somehow made her legs look even longer than they were.

"I don't even look like me," she muttered, studying herself carefully.

Jenny sighed heavily. "Yes you do. That's the beauty of it. You look exactly like you."

"I don't know if I can do this," she said suddenly, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks again.

Jenny shrugged like this wasn't a big deal. "You have no choice. It's five after seven already. He's late, but if he's cute enough, I'll let it slide this one time."

Carol shook her head. "No, I mean, I really can't do this." Her heart was pounding hard and heavy and she felt like maybe, for the first time in a few months, she was going to have one of those horrible panic attacks.

Jenny opened her mouth to say something else but then they heard a knock at the door. Carol's heart sank into her stomach and then started beating way too fast, making her feel sick. It was stupid, really, because it shouldn't have been a big deal at all. She was doing someone a favor and she didn't even have to stay very long, but she had let her sister spend hours getting her ready and it wasn't like she could cancel on him. He really wanted this bike and he needed her help.

"Well, you gonna let him just stand out there until he decides you stood him up and leaves?" Jenny asked, raising a brow.

Carol took a deep breath and shook her head. "Of course not," she said, her voice sounding off even to herself.

Her sister offered her an encouraging smile and followed her down the hall and towards the front door. Carol glanced back, frowning.

"Are you seriously following me?"

Jenny smiled at that. "Do you really think I'm letting you leave without meeting this guy?"

"I..." She gave up at the look her sister was giving her. "Fine but he's kind of shy, okay? Don't say anything to embarrass either one of us, please."

Jenny held her gaze. "I won't. Now open the damn door, please."

Carol blew out a breath and gripped the doorknob, that sick feeling still very present in her stomach.

~H~

He felt like a real shit heel for this because he wasn't sure if his brother and the rest of those guys would be able to keep from saying anything rude to her. She wasn't like other girls and that was one of the things that he liked about her, but that didn't mean shit to those assholes. They'd see someone different and they'd pounce. And if one of them, his brother included, said one thing to hurt her fucking feelings he was gonna knock their damn teeth out.

He raised his hand and was about to knock again but suddenly the door was pulled open and some girl was standing there staring at him. He glanced at her briefly and then tried to look past her but then he realized that this was her.

But it wasn't the same girl he was used to seeing. He felt his eyes widen and could do nothing to stop them. He also had no control over the way they roamed over her, trying to take in as much of her as they could.

"Holy shit," she muttered. He felt the blood rush to his face when he realized that he had said that out loud but at the moment he had about as much control over his mouth as he did his eyeballs. He had liked this girl almost from the moment that he had met her, had even wondered a time or two if he should try a little harder to actually talk to her about more than school work, but he had never been able to work up the nerve. Now it seemed to be worse.

"Hi," she said, sounding as awkward as he felt. "I didn't think my sister would be here but she is and she insisted on treating me like some sort of fashion experiment and then she refused to stop there. This is too much, isn't it?" she looked damn near panicked.

He shook his head. "What? No. You look..." Well, she looked like the same girl that he'd gotten to know over the past half a year, just in a different package at the moment.

Her face turned even redder and he wasn't sure what the fuck to say. It hadn't been easy to talk to her before but now he couldn't think at all.

"Hello?"

His eyes slid over to another person that he hadn't even noticed was standing there. She looked a lot like Carol and he knew this had to be her sister. "Hey," he muttered, feeling even more uncomfortable now.

"So, you're Daryl?" The woman pressed, grinning.

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Can you have her home by dawn?" the woman asked.

"I... what? Dawn?" surely she was fucking with him.

"She's kidding," Carol said, finally stepping onto the porch. He had to take a step back to give her room. "What time do you think this thing will be over?"

He shrugged. "Whenever you want it to be," he offered, wishing that he didn't feel so fucking jumbled at the moment.

"How about you have her home by midnight at the latest? That work for you?" the woman asked when it became obvious that neither one of them knew what to say.

He nodded. "Sounds good." He stared at Carol for a few more awkward moments before he finally jerked his head towards the truck. "You ready?"

She didn't look up but she nodded quickly, following him down the steps. He didn't dare look over his shoulder at the woman he knew was still waiting in the doorway because he had just managed to make a complete ass of himself and he didn't want to see that spark of humor in her eyes. Carol was about to walk around to the passenger side of the truck but he stopped her with a hand on her elbow.

She looked over her shoulder and he felt his face flame.

"That door's been busted since before I was born. Gotta crawl in on my side," he said, clearly embarrassed about the condition of the truck.

She wordlessly stepped around him and he waited for her to climb in, refusing to look at her ass just because he could, reminding himself over and over that he had liked her before ever knowing that she had an ass that damn nice to begin with. He backed out of her driveway, trying to think of something, anything to say to her. By the time he reached the first stop sign he finally managed to spit something out that didn't sound stupid.

"Thanks for doin' this," he said, unable to remember if he had thanked her when she had agreed to it.

She shrugged. "It isn't a big deal. Or it wasn't until my sister decided to play dress up with me. She worries." She kept her head turned towards the side window so he couldn't gauge her features. She sounded a little bit bitter, though.

He decided that he probably shouldn't comment on her make over, since it was clear she hadn't been a very willing participant in it. "I know the feelin'. My brother says that all the time."

She did look over at that. "That he worries about you?"

He snorted. "That's what he says but it ain't what he means. He's a well known guy with a reputation to maintain. The only damn thing he's worried about is me not living up to the Dixon name and him lookin' bad for it."

"The Dixon name?" she asked.

He looked over sharply, searching her eyes for a second before a laughed, albeit a little bitterly. He pulled into the parking lot and shoved the truck in park. "You can't tell me you ain't heard of my family before. Shit, you really don't get out much do you? No wonder you agreed to this." Her willingness to help him out made more sense now.

"I agreed because you asked me," she said quietly. "And no, I think we both know at this point that I don't get out much. I don't have what you would call a social life of any kind, I don't stay up late texting my friends and I don't have to worry about being the life of the party because I'm never invited to any. My idea of a good day is a day that people ignore me because if they're ignoring me, at least I'm not getting ridiculed for my clothes or my hair or the fact that the only boy I've spoken to since starting high school at all is you, and that's only because you needed help with History. So, no, I haven't heard about you, or your family, and quite frankly, I don't care. You've always been nice to me, you've never made fun of me and from what I know, you haven't made me a huge joke behind my back, so I'm here because I want to be here, bad reputation or not."

He stared at her, shocked that she had said so much, but more shocked at the words themselves. He had no idea what the hell to say to that so he didn't say anything at all. Besides, she looked like she wanted to disappear after her little outburst. Her chest heaved slightly, her face was flushed and her eyes stayed trained on the windshield.

He cleared his throat, tapped his fingers on the steering wheel a few times and finally took a deep breath as he stared at the building. "Well, you ready for your first party then?" he asked lamely.

She finally looked over, her eyes over bright as she chewed her lip. "I wish I could say yes but I'm nervous."

He wanted to give it to her straight. "You should be. I run with a rough crowd. They're rowdy, lewd, likely drunk already. You sure you wanna do this, cause you really don't have to. I know I was pushy about it earlier, but I don't feel right connin' you into doin' something you don't wanna do."

She nodded firmly.

"You sure you're sure?" he pressed.

She sighed and he corner of her mouth turned up. "If nothing else, at the end of the night, even if it all goes horribly wrong, I can look myself in the eye and say that I did something that I normally wouldn't do. Let's go."

She seemed hell bent on it so he slid out of the truck. They stood there for a few long moments, neither moving towards the doors. Someone else may not have understood what she was going through at the moment. It was just a party. Not a big deal. But it was to her and this made it a big deal to him too. He hadn't realized how goddamn scared she was until now and he felt miserably for being the one to force her out of her comfort zone.

She finally looked up at him. "I guess it's now or never, right?"

He gave her a swift nod and then she slipped her hand into his. "I'm suppose to be your girlfriend, right?"

He swallowed, flexing his fingers around hers as his heart thumped painfully behind his ribs. "Yeah, so I guess we gotta play the role for now." He ignored the fact that just the simple feel of her hand in his had his head reeling.