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BabySlothXYaoi- Poor Tobin indeed, he never gets lucky. Definitely isn't a race of normality, but I think Rhys realised that he's fallen behind either way with the other teens. Aha, oh Enid, she's just looking. The show kinda showed us Carol killing Karen, but they eluded to it being in Ty's head I think... I like the idea that we'll never know how violent Karen's death was... could have been in her sleep like Ty chose to believe, or it could have been violent and cruel. Yeah, honestly, I was originally going to go much further with Rhys being a part of the secret gun club, but I just felt it was out of character for him to lie to Carl for that long. So much in store... so very much.
'I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you.'
The quote assembles in chalk, neatly written on the messy blackboard situated at the front of the classroom. Enid, Ron, Mikey, Carl, and I are sitting at our single desks facing the front while Dani waves her copy of Jane Eyre at us, sat behind her own desk to the left of the blackboard.
"What is Brontë telling us here?" Dani asks the room as she moves from her desk to the board, tapping it with the spine of her book. Mikey shoots his hand into the air, almost toppling from his desk in desperation to answer. Dani's eyes and book go elsewhere.
"Ron?" She points Eyre at him.
Ron sits slumped at his desk, "I guess it's saying that she doesn't want to be with the dude anymore... she's, like, telling him she can do what she likes."
Dani runs a hand down the dark braid that lies neatly over her cardigan shoulder, nodding at Ron. "Yes, you're on the right track, but not quite." She turns to the desk beside Ron, shifting to lean against her own. "Enid, your thoughts?"
Enid has been doodling on her copy of Eyre for the duration of the lesson, using a blue pen to fill in the O's with ink. She shrugs at the question.
Mikey starts jumping in his seat with his hands still raised, switching arms when his left get tired.
Carl looks at me from his desk, just beside mine, next in line for questioning. His face fills with distress.
"Carl?" Dani speaks, sending his panic into overload.
"I- um, I don't really get it," Carl rubs the back of his head before placing it on his desk, hiding beneath his book.
"That's okay!" Dani beams at him.
I've decided that I like Dani. Her smile always feels genuine and never judging, probably how I imagine Karen would have been when she was a teacher.
"Rhys," Dani points Eyre at me now, "what's your take?"
Mikey makes a small squeaking sound, dropping his hand and sinking back in his chair, looking as if he's excepting defeat.
"I don't know either..." I tell Dani, looking to Mikey sympathetically, who just rolls his eyes at me, a smug glimpse of disbelief on his lips.
Dani doesn't buy it either.
"Rhys... come on, don't put yourself down to raise someone else up. Mikey has answered plenty today," she chuckles.
"Well, Ron's right," I shrug. "Jane is telling Rochester that she's free and can leave... but it's more complicated because she still loves him, and he loves her, but she picks her freedom... she- um- she wants to show herself that she can be something without him."
Dani stands up from leaning against her desk, beaming again and filling the room with it. "Yes! Beautiful take, Rhys. Though... that isn't my question. What is the author, Charlotte Brontë, trying to convey?"
"Uhh... freedom?" I scatch my head.
Mikey snorts, whispering, "freedom," in a mocking tone and shaking his head disapprovingly to match.
Dani chuckles, "Okay, wise guy... enlighten us all, would you, Mr Monroe?"
Mikey sits up, all proud of himself and clearing his throat, getting laughs from Ron, Carl, and me. Even Enid cracks a smile.
"Brontë is referencing back to her prior use of bird imagery... she describes Jane as not being a bird because it goes against how others see her. Brontë isn't conveying a theme of freedom, but a theme of independence."
I roll my eyes at the smart ass, smirking, "Basically the same thing."
Dani dismisses us around mid-afternoon, telling me that I'm doing well and telling Mikey that he needs to be less critical of others.
Mikey and Dani seem to have a close relationship. He told me that she was one of the first to arrive after his family founded this place.
Halfway down the street, Carl and I hear a shout. "Hey!" We turn to see Ron running after us, his forgotten copy of Jane Eyre clutched under his arm. He's out of breath when he reaches us, pushing his flopping fringe out of his eyes. "You guys coming over? We're planning on doing a movie night."
"What movie?" I ask, not meaning to let the excitement in my voice go as high pitch as it does.
"Gladiator!" Ron grins at us, miming a sword and shield as he does, battling an invisible foe. "Aaron found it last time he was out."
My eyes go wide as Ron's grin grows further. "No fucking way," I laugh.
Carl looks confused.
"Shadows and dust, Maximus!" I shout at him, his confusion only getting more obvious, but it does manage to make him laugh.
"We can't, dude," Carl whines, "We're babysitting tonight. Taking over for Tara."
"Damn, I forgot," I turn back to Ron, "Sorry, man."
Ron tells us no worries, turning and walking away down the street, shaking his arms in the air and shouting, "What we do in life echoes in eternity!"
Carl still looks bewildered.
"You really have to watch the film," I laugh at him as we head home.
It's been three days since the party. A week since we arrived. I went to school as I promised and surprised both Carl and myself when I really enjoyed it, being normal, seeming to suit me better than I planned. I apologised to Ron for my outburst, to which he didn't even seem to realise there had been one.
"How's Sasha doing?" Carl asks as we reach our street.
"After we left and she freaked out at the party, you mean?" I sigh, "Well, she's going out still, but Deanna made her the primary lookout in the church tower, so that's keeping her busy... I think since the tower is technically outside the wall, Sasha likes it."
Carl hums to let me know he's listening since his eyes are elsewhere, watching his dad leaves 101 and head down the street away from us.
"Still pissed at him?" I ask.
"Yeah... but no. I get why he didn't tell me about the guns..."
"I gave mine back, by the way," I link our arms.
"The gun?"
"Yeah, I tried giving it to Daryl last night, but apparently he refused to have a gun too. So I left in Carol's room."
"Good."
We let go of each other as we reach 101. Abraham is sat on the porch's rocking chair with a lit cigar in his mouth, looking like some grizzled and retired cowboy you'd see in a western. He nods at us as we climb the steps, smoke clouding around him.
"How was school, boys?" he grins with the cigar between his teeth.
"Good," we both answer at the same time.
"What has miss Dani got you on?" Abe points at our books.
"Jane Ayre," Carl raises it to show the worn cover. Abraham just nods slowly, looking afraid that we might go into more detail.
"Where's Ro?" I ask, getting a smirk from him before he answers.
"Dear Espinosa is helping out the doc in the infirmary," Abraham takes a heavy puff of smoke. "She assisted on fixin' Noah's leg the other day... think she enjoys the stitches."
Not fully understanding what he means, I just thank him before me and Carl pass into the house.
"Hungry?" Carl asks as we take off our shoes, leaving them in a messy pile by the door.
"No. You?"
Carl shakes his head. I had only just begun to realise that my appetite has shrunk to nothing after so long of having no food to eat. Having so much now feels too overwhelming.
Thunderous steps come from the floor above, booming throughout the house and crashing down the stairs as Tara appears at a sprint, breathless and pulling on a coat.
"What took you assholes so long!?" she gasps, checking her watch as she starts aggressively pulling her shoes on.
"Excuse me?" I chuckle at her, furrowing my brow in confusion.
"You guys were supposed to be back," she looks at her watch again, "Five minutes ago!"
"And where do you need to be?" Carl asks as he leans against the back of the couch, tapping his hands against it in a poor rhythm that makes my ears cringe.
"Holly asked me to meet her. Wants to talk about guard duty."
"Ooh, guard duty," I tease, "how romantic..."
I jump over the couch with a yip when Tara lunges for me.
"Okay, have fun," Carl laughs as Tara chases me around the couch, giving me the worst noogie of my life when she finally corners me.
"Where's Judith?" Carl asks.
Tara looks up from the headlock she has me in, ignoring my pleas for a timeout, as she continues to assault my head with her knuckles. "Out like a light in her room," she tells him, only letting me go to check the baby monitor in her pocket when Carl asks if she's sure, throwing it to him.
Tara heads for the door, leaving me sitting in the corner of the room, holding my head and trying to flatten my hair.
"Later, Nerds," she calls as she leaves.
"Woah, sorry!"
I push Carl off me and the both of us sit up to Noah's panicked apology as he enters the house.
"Jesus, Noah!" Carl shouts.
Noah is standing by the door, looking at the ceiling and laughing, "Maybe you guys shouldn't be making out in the living room if you don't want people walking in on you..."
My face erupts with shades of red as I shoot up, standing on the coffee table for unknown reasons as I fill with racing adrenaline.
"Yeah, our fault," Carl admits.
Last night Carl asked me who I think knows about us being together. I landed on everyone from our original group except for maybe the odd few. Then he asked me who knows that we're boyfriends. I told him the honest truth. I don't know.
"To be fair," Noah goes on, finally looking at us when he's sure that we're no longer joined at the face. "You did invite me to hang out."
After being prompted by Carl, I climb off the coffee table.
"How's Jude?" Noah looks to the quiet stairs.
Carl heads to the kitchen and grabs the baby monitor he'd left on the island. "Asleep still," he answers.
Noah nods, rubbing at his leg as he sits on the sofa.
"How does it feel?" I nod to his leg.
"Like I got hit by a truck," he answers sarcastically. "But the doctor, Pete, said the surgery was a success and, I'll be able to walk normally in a week or so."
"How did you're meeting with Reg go?" I ask Noah, sitting down on the sofa with him.
"Meeting with Reg?" Carl asks from the kitchen.
Noah's grinning, "I'm going to be an architect!"
"What?" Carl's confusion carries across the open-plan house to the living room.
"No fucking way, man!" I give him a high-five, seeing that he needs a way to release the excitement pent up inside him.
"Okay, guess I'm not here," Carl wanders over.
I laugh at him, pulling him by the arm to sit with us. "Noah went to see Reg earlier."
"Why?" Carl asks Noah.
"I wanna help protect this place," Noah tells him. "Keeping those walls up seems like a good way of doing that... I'm not letting what happened to Wiltshire happen here."
The three of us play cards and talk about Noah's promotion until the sun goes down. Noah, unable to stop laughing when Carl tells him about Tara 'attacking' me earlier.
Since the party, Noah has been hanging out with us a lot more, all of us realising that we have more in common than we thought. Especially for him and me, my whole brain jumped against my skull when Noah told me that he used to play the guitar too, that he'd keep an eye out for one while on runs.
Eventually, Rick and Michonne come home, dismissing us from our babysitting duties around seven. We offer Noah to come to 99 with us, but he tells us he has a meeting with Reg tomorrow and needs an early night. So we say our farewells and head next door.
"Where is everyone?" Carl asks as we enter the warm house, the cold managing to bite at us despite our only being outside for a few seconds.
"Maggie and Glenn are having dinner with Deanna and Reg tonight," I tell him, wiping my odd socks on the doormat, wishing I'd worn my shoes. "I reckon Tara is having dinner with Holly. Gabriel practically sleeps in his church-slash-garage now. Eugene is working on getting the solars fixed, and Sasha's in the tower."
We head upstairs and into my bedroom, a room that is far bigger than I deserve, with two giant windows overlooking the twinkling neighbourhood, heavy brown curtains on either side. Unlike Ron's, my room lacks any decorations besides the Rubbish Junkie poster that Carl gave me from his room. A spacious double bed with dark green sheets is against the far wall, a desk against the opposite one, and a waist-high dresser beside that.
"Still haven't unpacked?" Carl notices the bareness, my bag slumped in the corner of the room.
"Haven't gotten round to it, I suppose."
We both sit on the edge of my bed. Silent until I ask.
"Do you still want to be out there?"
Carl shrugs, "Sometimes, I guess."
I nod, lying back on the bed.
"Do you?" Carl lies back with me, shoulder to shoulder.
"I'm good," I answer. "But, Sasha asked me if I want to work in the tower with her. Keep up our shooting lessons. Plus, I need a new job. Can't keep working with Carol."
"What did you say?"
"That I would ask you..."
"I'm cool with it."
"Okay," I kiss him. "Okay."
A/N
Ah, it was nice to write this. I don't think the boys have been able to just be teenagers like this since the prison, so it's fun to get back to that a little.
Thoughts and Feedback are always welcome.
:)