ELLA SAT ON A LAWN CHAIR, the sun was shining brightly in her eyes as she was watching Lori Grimes cut her son's, Carl Grimes, hair off because of how unhealthy it was getting after a month or so of it growing out without it actually being washed.
Ella looked over to her father, training her eyes on him carving a branch stick, wonder and curiosity sparking in her mind. What is he doing, she thought.
"Baby, the more you fidget, the longer it takes. So dont, okay?" Lori asked Carl, his eyes darting everywhere. He certainly did seem like he had an urge to move every five seconds whenever she snipped away, it was like there was a curse set upon him whenever she cut his hair.
"I'm trying." Carl mumbled underneath his breath, his tone a bit annoyed towards his only surviving parent.
Ella bit her lower lip, gazing down upon Carl who was being a bit rude today towards everyone, which honestly sucked a ton for Ella because she hated children who were disrespectful for no absolute reason.
Lori heaved a sigh, her hands on his shoulders. "Well, try harder." she encouraged him, raising her voice a little.
Shane chuckled, lifting his eyes at the pair. "If you think this is bad, wait till you start shaving. That stings," he stated, a smile crossing his face. "That day comes, you'll be wishing for one of your mama's haircuts."
"I'll believe it when I see it." Carl raised his eyebrows, causing Shane and Lori to chuckle at his response.
The corners of Ella's lips tugged upwards, slightly shaking her head at the response, her eyes lighting up in amusement towards the boy.
Shaving honestly sucked for both men and women, it stung badly when you accidentally cut yourself with your razor every now and then.
"Have you seen my dad's face Carl?" Ella smiled, arching an eyebrow. "You should already believe it, bud."
Carl laughed. "That's true. . . but I'm still gonna wait until I start shaving to actually believe it." he told her with a huge smile.
Lori, Shane, and Ella all laughed a ton as Lori continued trimming his brunette hair, his eyes shining from the sunlight outside.
"Hey, tell you what. . . you get through this with some manly dignity and tomorrow I'll teach you something special, something I taught my little girl once," Shane grinned at the young boy, earning an eye roll from Ella. "I will teach you to catch frogs."
Lori gave Shane an uneasy look, the thought of slimy frogs flashing in her mind. Ella leaned forward, she remembered her first time catching frogs, it was quite boring because they were there for hours.
"I've caught a frog before." Carl shrugged. Lori lightly pushed his arm, cringing at that.
"I said frogs. . . plural," Shane's eyes flickered over to Lori then to Ella. "And it is an art, my friend. It is not to be taken lightly. There are ways and means. Few people know about it. I'm willing to share my secrets."
Ella scoffed. "His ways are not secrets, Carl. Don't listen to this rubbish he is giving you," she laughed. "Everyone does it the way he learned, they have been for decades."
Shane incredulously looked at his daughter, acting like she hit him right in the heart and stabbed him in the back a million times. "How could you say that? My ways are awesome."
"Dad, literally everyone I have ever known does your not-so-secret way, or knows of it," she raised her eyebrows. "Even Amy and Andrea know!"
"Uh huh, sure, whatever you say!"
Carl smiled at the pair, he wanted to learn now. His eyes were beaming as he turned towards his mother, unsure if he should take the offer or not.
The Walsh family of two shifted their attention over to Carl, wondering if his mother would agree to the frog catching in the lake, or not.
Lori shook her head. "Oh, I hate frogs. You talk to him." she turned his head and continued trimming his hair. Carl pressed his lips into a thin line, still unsure of what to say or do.
Shane pointed a finger in the young boy's direction. "It's a one-time offer, bud. . . not to be repeated."
"Why do we need frogs, plural?" Carl asked, eyes moving rapidly between Shane and Ella for an answer.
Ella's eyes twinkled, locking eye contact with him. "You ever ate frog legs, bud?" she questioned.
"Ew!" Carl shouted, disgusted. He shivered from the thought of tasting frogs legs, it made his stomach churn and twist from a sudden urge to vomit.
Shane shook his head. "No, yum!"
"Yes, ew!" Lori agreed, nodding her head in agreement with her son's statement.
The Walsh girl sighed, leaning back in her chair. She looked at her father to continue talking the young boy and his mother into catching some frogs then frying them up to eat for dinner.
"When you get down to that last can of beans, you're gonna be loving those frog legs. I can see it now." Shane grinned happily. He changed his voice to a higher pitch to mock Lori as he spoke again. "Shane, do you think I could have a second helping, please? Please? Just one?"
Lori laughed, shaking her head in denial. "Yeah. . . I doubt that."
"Don't listen to your mother, man. You and me, we'll be heroes," Shane laughed, smiling. "We'll feed these folks cajun-style Kermit legs."
"I would rather eat miss piggy." Mom whispered, before realization immediately dawned on her. Ella bursted out laughing, hunching over her knees, her tied up, messy hair dangling on the ground. "Yes, that came out wrong." Lori giggled. Shane slapped his knee as he laughed, lowering his head to laugh.
Once the trio calmed themselves down, Ella glanced over to Dale looking out his binoculars on top of his R.V, then down to Amy who anxiously sat on a chair beside the R.V, biting her fingernails.
Ella really loved Amy Harrison dearly, she was her best friend, the pair were usually inseparable unless Andrea was out on a supply run in the city then she'd sit in a chair all day long until Andrea got back. Ella didn't blame her, almost everyone who had a good sibling relationship like them would act the same way.
Ella would more than likely act like Amy if her father went on a supply run.
Sometimes, whether she admitted it or not, she acted like that towards Glenn because of her huge ol' crush towards the boy.
Shane looked Carl dead in the eyes and jabbed a finger at the twelve-year-old boy, raising his eyebrows. "Heroes, son, spoken of in song and legend. You and me. Shane and Carl."
The pair laughed at the sentence.
Ella pushed herself off the chair and started walking over towards Amy until Shane stopped her in concern. He opened his mouth to ask a question until she pointed towards Amy, in which he simply gave a nod.
The brunette strode over to her blond friend. The blond looked up at her ever so slightly, before she looked at the entrance to camp once again, listening for any sounds of cars or Dale to shout that they're back.
She crouched down in front of Amy, placing her hand on top of hers. Amy finally looked in her direction, swallowing thickly.
"She's going to be okay, Amy." Ella promised her, giving her a reassuring smile.
Amy looked down at their hands, her eyes shimmering in sadness. "They've been gone for way too long, El. . . what if something did happen to her?"
Ella frowned as Glenn crossed her mind, the thought of him getting devoured made her heart ache. "Noting happened to them. They're gonna make it back." she wrapped her arms around the girl. "Just have hope your sister is still alive."
"Okay, I will." Amy whispered with a nod, before they pulled away. The blond-headed girl released a low chuckle, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Here I am sulking about my sister who is definitely alive while you're. . . crush. . . friend. . . whatever you wanna call him is out there with her and you're still holding yourself together," she shook her head, laughing. "God, I need to learn a few things from you! This makes me look so weak!"
Ella gently laughed. "No. . . just because you're worrying a lot more than anyone else doesn't make you weak. You're a strong woman, I know you are. . . but you do need to learn something called hope and prayer."
"I thought you were atheis-"
"I am, but you're not, so pray and hope Andrea and the others get back safely."
Amy nodded, biting into her top lip. Ella gave her another hug, holding her close to comfort the girl.
But Ella did hope she was right about them being fine. She wasn't sure herself if they actually were because Amy was right about one thing, they've been gone way too long.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE!
FIRST chapter of this new series! Not too long which is a relief because I honestly hate typing long chapters.
There will be other comments in the book that were from the previous series before I decided to rewrite the entire thing so please ignore them because I switched a bunch of chapters around so there'll be comments for what was supposed to be the prologue in the section called "ACT ONE" so sorry abt that lol.
And if you guys like Star Wars tell me because it may motivate me to post the draft I have for a Obi-Wan Kenobi romance story and maybe the Kylo Ren and Luke Skywalker drafts I got.
Anyway I hope you did enjoy this chapter, make sure to leave a vote and comment !