chapter twenty one !
❪ a knot in his stomach ❫

CARL HAD dropped off judith with his dad and the two found themselves standing outside of jessie's house. they didn't knock yet.

riley was fidgeting with her fingers, staring at the white door and carl noticed. "shit, i'm nervous." she huffed in annoyance.

carl grabbed her cold hands with his warm ones and looked at her.

"theres nothing to be nervous about and if they don't like us then..." he glanced at the door and back at riley, "they're losers." carl shrugged.

riley chuckled and turned to knock at the door. her fist made contact and banged three times. carl sighed and stuffed his hands in his dark jeans.

he was wearing his grey long sleeve but he rolled up the sleeves. his black jeans matched well with the shirt and he wore a pair of regular black sneakers.

riley decided to wear her dark blue jeans and a blue top that complimented her well. it was a long sleeve shirt and was slightly cropped. her skin would only show if she raised her arms high. instead of wearing sneakers, she wore black ankle boots.

she was still getting used to her hair since she got bangs. her hair had natural loose curls at the end that she adored and liked to play with.

the door was opened and a teenage boy stood in front of them. he wore an opened brown buttoned up and had a grey shirt underneath. he styled it with black jeans and a pair of ankle boots. his hair was a light brown with a middle part.

the stranger glanced at the two before giving them a friendly smile. "hey, i'm ron," he introduced.

ron looked at carl, "my mom told me you were coming over." he looked over at riley, "but I didn't catch your name?"

"riley," she answered with a small smile.

he gave her a nod, "nice to meet you both." ron moved out of the way and opened the door wider. "please, come in."

carl and riley shared a glance before walking inside the house. it wasn't much of a difference than the other houses she saw. a few things were placed around differently but not much changed.

riley continued to move her eyes around the house until ron spoke again. "we can go upstairs. i have friends that i want you guys to meet."

the girl wanted to groan but she didn't. she hated meeting new people. carl nodded, "that sounds fine." he turned to riley, "right?"

riley gave him a pointed look but brushed it off when she looked at ron, giving her a hopeful smile. "yeah, sounds good." she rubbed her hands at her sides.

"great!" the teens made their way upstairs and ron started rambling about the place. "we're almost always here after school, so you can come by anytime."

riley had to made sure she heard him right. school? she thought. riley hated school... and why would they continue teaching education if there was no point in learning anymore? it's not like grades matter anymore.

what mattered was survival.

"you go to school?" carl asked as they turned the corner to the hallway.

"it's in a garage," ron chuckled. "little kids go in the morning and then its us in the afternoon."

"thank god," she sighed a little too loud. the two boys turned to look at her and she glanced at them, awkwardly. "sorry."

"it's cool. i would hate to wake up in the mornings too for school," ron agreed and he knocked on his bedroom door that was already opened.

riley was behind him and carl but she peeped, seeing five teenagers. she gulped at sight, already wanting to run out and go back to her house.

the teens perked their heads up. "guys, this is carl and riley," ron introduced them to his friends.

"carl and riley, this is mikey, enid, star, billy and jack." he pointed to them.

"hey."

"hi."

"sup."

"what's good?"

"hello."

the teens stared at the two and riley glanced at all of them.

star, a female redhead with freckles on her face, wore a striped shirt with blue jeans. she had black sneakers on and was sitting on boy's lap. her skin was paler than the others in the room and her eyes were a crystal blue like carl's.

billy, a boy with a mullet and looked a little older. he wore a green t-shirt with dark cargo pants. his sneakers were also dirty. his eyes were a dark brown, darker than riley's.

enid, the girl with long brown hair and was staring into the book she was reading. a grey graphic t-shirt hugged her body and paired it with black shorts. her grey leg warmers covered her ankles and half of her brown boots.

mikey, a male that was taller than ron and carl. he wore an oversized grey sweatshirt and a red shirt underneath. he had blue jeans with sneakers and a wore a smug on his face. his hair was kinda like ron's but flatter and darker.

and then riley looked at a familiar face.

jack, or smoker, had messy brown hair, creamy skin and dark brown eyes. he wore the same red flannel with a white shirt underneath and a pair of dark blue jeans that she last saw him with.

he recognized her and immediately smirked. "me and miss riley already met," jack walked closer when her and carl went further into the room. he had a cigarette between his lips and blew the smoke in front of her face.

"jack, cmon man. my mom already said you can't smoke in here." ron groaned and received a nonchalant shrug from the palmer boy.

enid was laying on the bed while star was sitting on billy's lap, also on the same bed. ron rubbed enid's shoulder and carl began to speak.

"is this any of yours?" he pulled out a comic.

ron chuckled, "sorry. we didn't know you guys got that house."

"we mostly just hang out there and listen to music," mikey said. "that's enid's."

enid looked away from her book and snatched the comic away from carl before throwing it beside her. carl stared at her and riley noticed, not liking it.

"bitch," she mumbled. jack was the only one that heard riley since he stood next to her and lightly chuckled under his breath.

mikey walked towards riley. he let out his hand for a handshake, "nice to meet you."

"jeez mikey, she just got here and you're already making a move on her?" star laughed and wrapped an arm around billy.

mikey scoffed, "i was not making a move."

"sure," billy stretched out the word, not believing his friend.

riley felt awkward and jack noticed. he pulled out his pack of cigarettes, "smoke?" he offered.

the girl gave him a playful glare, "i see what you're doing and by the way i have asthma," she told him.

jack sucked his teeth, "so what?"

"so... i actually want to breathe unlike you." riley rolled her eyes with a chuckle.

carl stared at the pair and felt his jaw clenched. he didn't like this. he didn't like this at all. he wanted to be the only boy to make riley laugh.

not this random.

it felt like he had a knot in his stomach when he watched the two interact and he didn't understand why.

"want to play some video games?" ron suggested to carl, taking his eyes away from riley and jack. "or mikey's house has a pool table but his dad's kind of strict about it."

"it's okay," mikey reassured. "he's at work."

"work?" riley asked, her face scrunched up in confusion.

"never heard of work before, girl?" star tilted her head at the brunette, "people have jobs to do here."

riley didn't like the tone she used. she felt herself glaring at the redhead and billy smirked at her. "how old are you?"

"fourteen," she tore her eyes away from star and looked at billy, "why?"

"just asking." he shrugged with a grin.

jack narrowed his eyes at his friend and looked at carl. "sup, want a smoke?"

"i don't smoke," he said quietly.

"why does nobody here smoke beside me and billy?" jack whined.

"because you two are idiots," star deadpanned.

"we can just hang out," ron told carl and riley.

"you don't even have to talk if you don't wanna." mikey told carl since he was the most quiet.

"yeah, enid was from the outside too. it took three weeks for her to say something."

enid gazed at the grimes boy before looking back at her book. "pull it together, sport."

carl slightly grinned and nodded. "let's, um– let's play some video games."

"cool, yeah!" ron exclaimed.

riley saw how enid looked at carl after he said that and she felt her eyes narrowing.

had she just met enid? yes. does she like her? no.

star stood up from her boyfriend's lap and smirked at riley. "i'm about to head home with enid in awhile and paint our nails, wanna join?"

riley glanced at carl, who was already looking at her. she looked away and nodded at the redhead. "sure," she responded.

"great!"

"can i join?" jack wrapped an arm around riley's shoulder, which she quickly brushed off in annoyance.

"no pervs allowed." star rolled her eyes.

"but billy is allowed to go?"

billy punched jack's arm, "man, shut up."

jack laughed and started play fighting with the boy. carl was already playing video games with ron and mikey since the controller was in his hands.

star grabbed riley's hand and sat her down on the bed. she handed the brunette a magazine and riley hesitantly took it, kinda confused.

she wasn't used to having friends around her age since the breakout happened.

but little did she know, one of these teens was gonna make her days in alexandria... a living hell.

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AUTHORS NOTE:

im looking for a girl in the villuhhh
(sorry that's just been stuck in my head 💀)

SO we met all of the new characters!!! which new character do you get a bad vibe from?

also the jealousy from carl and riley? kill me nowwww

ANDDD THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 100K READS ON THIS BOOK ILY ALL SMMM 🙏

please vote for the next chapter and DONT BE A GHOST READER <3