The next morning Michelle and Mercedes left the house to explore Alexandria. The two walk with their arms looped together.
"Did you live in a neighborhood like this? I did." Michelle said, glancing at Mercedes.
Mercedes nodded. "Yeah... It wasn't this big though."
Suddenly a soccer ball flew through the air, nearly hitting the two girls.
"Oh, my God!" A brunette girl, their age yelled running towards the two, with another girl.
"You didn't get hit, right?" The other girl asked, concerned.
"No... We're both okay." Mercedes answered, sending both girls a small smile.
"Hey, you're with the group Chloe's dads brought in yesterday." The dark skinned girl said, snapping her fingers.
"Yep, Michelle and Mercedes." Michelle introduced, gestering to herself then Mercedes.
"Well, you heard Salim. My name's Chloe--"
"And Chloe just said my name." Salim added, smiling.
"Nice to meet you both. It's not everyday that we meet anyone our own age." Mercedes said.
"You guys wanna hang with us?" Salim asked.
"We're totally the coolest kids in town." Chloe joked, rolling her eyes. "But my brother thinks he has that title."
<•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••>
The four girls ended up walking around the community, getting to know one another. They soon ended up on somebody's front porch and Chloe knocked on the door.
Soon the white door opened and a blonde woman smiled at the four.
"Hey, Jessie!" Chloe beamed, with a large smile.
"Chloe, hey. The boys and Enid are up in Ron's room." Jessie said, allowing the four girls to enter the house before shutting the door.
"Thanks." Chloe grinned before looking at the others. "Let's go."
She led them upstairs and the four of them enter a bedroom where four boys and a girl are hanging out. One of the boys happened to be Carl.
"Carl?" Michelle and Mercedes asked at the same time.
"Merce, Shell? What are you guys doing here?" The Grimes boy asked, standing up.
"They're with us." Chloe proudly said, stepping forward. "Chloe Raleigh. I see you've met my douche bag brother and his idiot friends." She sent her brother a playful glare.
"You love us." Mikey smiled at her.
"Chloe is Mikey's girlfriend." Ron told Carl as he pointed at the two. He then looked at Mercedes and Michelle. "I'm Ron, that's Mikey, Derek, Kane and Enid."
<•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••>
Mercedes walked along side Deanna after leaving Ron's house. "I'm showing you this place, Mercedes because I believe you would cherish it the way I do." The woman said, opening the gate to her backyard.
She and Mercedes walked through and shut the gate back. The woman led her over to a big oak tree that had a tire swing hanging from one of the branches. Then a few feet away from the tree itself was a concrete bench. It was surrounded by different plants and flowers.
"Whoa." Mercedes gasped, seeing the many butterflies that were flying around some of the flowers.
Deanna smiled, walking over to the bench and sitting down. "Please, sit awhile." She patted the bench.
Mercedes sat down and the two of them sat in silence just enjoying each other's company.
Deanna suddenly smiled. "I can see it." She spoke softly and full of sureness.
Mercedes looked over at her confused. "See what?" She quietly asked.
"You, Mercedes Warren, you're gonna make this place, our community a better home." Deanna smiled at the girl.
Mercedes stared at her speechless. How would she even go about responding to that. Say thank you?
Suddenly yelling is heard. "Oh, dear." Deanna mumbled, as she and Mercedes shot up from the bench.
The quickly made their way to where the yelling was coming from.
They make it to the front gate to where there was already a crowd. They see Glenn and Ross arguing with Aiden. "Aiden! What is going on?" Deanna asked.
"These two's got a problem with the way we do things. Why did you let these people in?" Aiden snarled.
"Because we actually know what we're doing out there." Glenn told him.
"Unlike you, asshole." Ross growled. Aiden swung at the eighteen years old, but he dodged it.
Glenn then knocked Aiden to the ground. Soon a fight broke out. Deanna was yelling but the men ignored her.
Rick and Jesse run over and broke up the fight.
<•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••>
Later that night Mercedes crept into the kitchen of the house that her dad, Ross and her was now staying in. She figured that Ross and her dad was asleep so she wanted to be quiet.
She stopped dead in her tracks seeing Ross standing against the counter by the refrigerator with an icepack on his knuckles.
He looked over when he heard her walk in. "Why are you up?"
Mercedes shrugged. "I'm thirsty." She mumbled.
The older boy rolled his eyes. He reached over and opened the refrigerator and grabbed a water bottle. The then threw it at her, Mercedes barely caught it
"Now go on." Ross said, his words laced with venom.
Mercedes looked at him, slightly hurt by his attitude. "Why are you being such an ass?"
Ross shook his head. "My God, Mercedes! Give me a fucking brake. You're always around. Even before the walkers you were always up my ass. I'm tired of it. So for the love of God, leave me the hell alone!"
Tears blurred Mercedes' eyes but she refused to let any fall, at least not in front of Ross. "I'm sorry for being such a bother, Ross." She mumbled before walking out of the kitchen.
Ross let's out a deep breath and rolled his eyes. "Shit.
<••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••>
The next day Mercedes is at Chloe's house with Michelle. The three girls are up in Chloe's room dancing around, listening to Chloe's records. The three dance around the room letting all of their worries fade away.
There's a knock on the door. "I made sandwiches!" Eric yelled from the other side of the door.
"Yes!" Chloe squealed. "Come in!" She yelled before turning her music down.
Eric opened the door and walked in with a plate full of neatly made sandwiches. He walked over to Chloe's desk and sat then down.
"Thanks, dad." Chloe smiled, grabbing a sandwich.
"Yeah, thanks, Mr. Raleigh." Mercedes softly said.
Eric smiled. "I told you, Eric. No need for the formal stuff."
"Right, sorry." Mercedes laughed, plopping down on Chloe's bed.
"Well, I'll leave you girls to it. I'll be down stairs. Hollar if you need anything." Eric told the three before walking out of the room.
<••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••>
The girls now were sitting on Chloe's bed. Mercedes just got done telling Chloe and Michelle about her incounter with Ross the night before.
"What a jackass." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Who pissed in his Cheerios?"
Michelle nodded agreeing with Chloe. "Need me to kick his ass?" She asked with a smirk.
Mercedes smiled a little. "No. But I'll let you know if I change my mind, Mic."
The girls decided it was time to forget about Ross and go back to gossiping about boys, girl talk and storytimes, and forming a life long friendship... For however long that might be.
7.9.23
5:57pm
1186words
End of chapter