Age 14:

"Shut up Merle!" i growled and crossed my arms across my chest. I was wedged in between Merle who was driving and Daryl who was on my other side in Merle's truck. Merle was once again making one of his perverted jokes, only this time it involved me and Daryl. Merle was certain that Daryl and I were a "thing" even though I know he knew better. Daryl and I had been nothing but best friends for the past six years.

Merle had gotten out of juvy in the middle of our seventh grade year, and i was surprised he hadn't been sent back, but he was eighteen now and a senior so if he did do anything he would go to jail. Merle had his perverted tendancie's, liked to crack strange jokes and loved to make people uncomfortable, but I loved Merle like my brother just as I did Daryl. I wasn't as close with Merle as I was with Daryl since there was an age difference but Merle treated me like family....well the good kind of family anyway.

When the going got tough over at the Dixon household, Merle was quick to get out and drive away....Daryl wasn't too lucky. As we got older we learned more to defend ourselves and were quicker to yell back at our father's when they got out of hand....it only earned us more beating than normal. Daryl had become more protective over me when he was at my house, and it scared me one day when we were hanging out and Daryl got in between my father and I. My dad had back handed me and Daryl was quick to jump up in my defence....I was terrified my dad wouldn't stop hitting him...I cried out to make him stop but he continued on his pounding...The awful thing was Daryl's dad didn't even notice the bruises on his face.

Over the past year Daryl and I had picked up some bad habits, most of them we got from Merle. One of them being smoking cigarettes, I currently was sharing one with the two of them since it was the last one in the pack. I didn't like it at first and Merle called me a sissy because I chocked on it at first, but now I loved it and would steal them from my dad when I got the chance. The other being shoplifting, our dad's didn't exactly like to spend money on their children so we took it upon ourselves to get what we needed.

Pretty much everything out of my closet was stolen, including what I was wearing. Black skinny jeans with my black lace up boots and a grey long sleeved shirt. I often got told I looked older than my age, like I looked eighteen instead of fourteen. Merle often made detours to bars when we were with him, so I found myself being hit on by older men...that is until the dixon's stepped in and made them leave me alone. 

"You want the last drag?" I asked Merle as I handed him the tiny cigarette bud. "That's all you princess" Merle said as we pulled up the drive to our high school. I shrugged before taking the last inhale of the cigarette and tossing it out of Daryl's open window. Merle parked the big blue pick up truck in the parking lot before hopping out of the truck. I hopped out after him and walked around the truck to meet Daryl. I saw Merle run off to meet some of his friends and i just followed Daryl inside the front doors.

"Nice eye Dixon" Marcus Anderson shouted as he walked past us, shoving Daryl into me in the process. I caught him before he hit the ground and helped the seething Daryl back to a standing position. Daryl had his hood pulled over his head, but had a pretty nasty black eye from the weekend still visible on his face. "Keep walking Anderson!" I yelled out at the stocky football player. Marcus was one of those boys who loved to bully the others. He had platinum blonde hair and deep brown eyes, and was never seen without his Letterman's jacket. He was a junior, and us being freshman were easy targets for him.

"What did you say Montgomery?" Marcus called out stomping back down the hall towards Daryl and i who were standing in front of our lockers down the hall. "You heard me" I said as he had stopped in front of the two of us. I could practically feel the anger floating off of the angry guy in front of me, and Daryl who was standing close on my right. I looked and everyone in the hall seemed to be taking a special interest in whatever was happening between us.

"Wanna repeat that?" Marcus asked quietly as he inched closer to me. He put a hand on the locker beside my head to the left and i felt Daryl inch closer on my right. "I said keep walking" I said slowly as if I was talking to a small child. I heard a growl leave Marcus's throat and inched ever so slightly to my face. Marcus got into plenty of fights in school, but I never really pegged him as the type of guy to want to hit girls...hit on them yes but hitting them is different. 

"It's too bad you hang with weirdo's, we could have some real fun" Marcus said smirking as he ran a hand down my cheek. I cringed and sank farther into my locker, Marcus only followed inching closer to me. Marcus didn't go very far, as Daryl had yanked him off of me and shoved him across the hall into a separate set of lockers. Daryl was no football player, but he had some muscles of his own and he was only a few inches shorter than Marcus.

"Don't touch her" Daryl said seething into Marcus's face. My eyes widened as Marcus shoved Daryl off of him and tackled him to the ground. "Dammit it Daryl" i mumbled to myself before sighing and jumping in the now full blown fight. Daryl had rolled over and was now punching Marcus repeatedly in the face blood spilling out. Students around them were chanting for them to fight, teachers were filing out of their classrooms. "Get off him!" I shouted at Marcus who now had Daryl pinned to the ground, Marcus swung back and tried to hit me but I jerked back and he missed me. 

"Oh fuck it" I growled before shoving my boot into Marcus's face sending him flying backwards. Marcus groaned in pain and held his probably now broken nose. Some students were looking at me with wide eyes, I just bent down to help my best friend off of the ground. Growing up in an abusive home you learn a thing or two about where to hit someone where it hurts....Marcus was still laying across the ground behind us. "You ok?" i asked Daryl who wrapped his arm around my shoulder so I could help him up. "Im fine" He said wiping some blood off of his face.

"Mr. Dixon, Ms. Montgomery, in my office now!" Principle Shepard yelled as she came stomping in our direction. Marcus's friends were now helping him up, glaring in our direction. i just rolled my eyes and helped a limping Daryl down the the principle's office. "Wait here" She said pointing to a bench outside of her office. I led Daryl to the seat and he gently sat down, me taking the seat beside him.

"Thanks for that, back there" I said softly as i took a tissue off the side table and started to wipe some of Daryl's blood away. "No, thank you for kicking that asshole in the face" Daryl said with a slight smirk on his face. I held my boot up that had some of Marcus's blood smeared on the top. Daryl looked down at my boot and then over to me before the both of us started cracking up laughing....that was something we did, we had a strange sense of humor the both of us. We knew hell would come when the principle called our houses, but I both think we were a little numb to the pain at this point....