Alyssa Chávez has felt alone for most of her life. She was never good at making friends. She always felt a distance between her and her family. So when the apocalypse happened, her social life didn't take much of a hit. After losing her family, Alys...
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ChapterThree A CoupleSodasAndSomeCandy
Every single day in school without fault, Alyssa would scribble in her notebooks. Not a single inch of the college-ruled paper was left untouched. While her teachers rambled on, she filled every corner that wasn't occupied by her notes with cartoonish figures and other doodles. She always preferred making her own notes based on the material in the textbooks anyway, so it didn't matter if she wasn't paying attention.
After a while, her style started to evolve. Her drawings became more realistic and lifelike. She wanted to do more portraits. Usually, they were black and white and made with just a graphite pencil, a few cotton swabs, and an eraser. During her travels, she kept a sketchbook with her at all times. Her mother had given it to her for her 12th birthday. She liked to draw important things and people because she was scared she'd forget about them. Memories of a happier time had started to slip from her mind already, she didn't want the same to happen to the faces of the people important to her.
One of her more recent works was none other than Glenn. She sat alone at one of the cafeteria tables with a half-eaten bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon right next to her sketchbook. Glenn sat a few tables away, talking with Maggie as they held hands. They were the kind of couple you could fill a 700-page romance novel with. Bonds formed quicker and stronger in the apocalypse. Those who slay together, stay together.
While she hadn't exactly battled Walkers with any of the residents of the prison, she did feel a closer connection to a few of them than she would've without the Walker situation. She wasn't exactly sure why or how, just that she could feel it. She trusted Maggie and Glenn. And then there were Carl and Patrick, her new acquaintances. Just a few days ago she'd been invited to sit with them at their table for breakfast, then again the day after that, and the day after that, and so on. She'd just happened to have beat them to breakfast today.
After finishing the last strokes with her pencil, she packed up. She was probably going to do some adjustments later because she wasn't very satisfied with the shading, but she wanted to go to the prison's gymnasium for a bit before getting to her chores (usually given by Carol around 9 or 10). She'd have to wash up after as well, so there was no time to spare. Back in her prison cell, Alyssa changed into a pair of grey sweatshorts and a matching tank top to avoid getting her regular clothes all sweaty. Both the material and the length of the sweats were a lot more comfortable as well.
The gymnasium had some basic equipment. Not a lot of people used it anymore and some of it was powered by electricity they couldn't waste. Alyssa wasn't planning on using most of it either way. She didn't have equipment on the road either. She filled empty water jugs with sand to use as kettlebells and things like tree branches or pipes in buildings to do pull-ups.
