Fear the Walking Dead [Nick Clark]

O1. [Season 1]

❝ I REALLY DON'T WANNA BE INSANE ❞ - Nick Clark

The Californian sun shone high in the sky as the yellow bus drove down the busy streets, its occupants cheering loudly on the inside. 

A guy dressed as the school's mascot was dancing by the seats, his horse head snapping left and right as he did so, shouting along with the others - "BRONCOS! BRONCOS." - their soccer team. They reached their destination, Paul R. Williams High School, and a brown haired girl rose from her seat, squeezing through the obnoxious teenagers surrounding her, - thankfully for her, there was only one more year to go through.

Her name was Allison, last name Dawson. She was never labeled as the school's most popular girl, -not that she minded, though - but she wasn't a loner either. She passed through the usual security system and waited as the man searched through her school bag, - a routine settled at the school that didn't seem to satisfy the students. The young man nodded, mumbling a small 'clear' and handed it back to her. Allison thought it to be extremely stupid and a waste of time but the school's principal had chosen to do so, as a matter of security. 

She made her way to her locker to grab her Social Studies' book and slammed it shut, not acknowledging a presence behind her.

"Hey Allison, ho-"

"GOSH." She yelped, dropping the book with a loud thud. She stared at his wide, regretting brown eyes and sighed. "Tobias, you scared me."

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." He mumbled quietly. She watched him apprehensively as he bent down and grabbed her book, returning it to her. Her grip around the leather tightened once she took in his appearance.

He had always been a weird kid since middle school, but lately he's been acting funny. Some people have been talking about him in class and Allison even heard them mention something about him carrying a knife with him. That had certainly alarmed her, that's for sure. Physically, he had always been a chubby boy, and victim of snarky remarks for that, but Allison always, somehow, admired him for not caring about their judgmental looks, - he was even top of all classes.

However, as she watched him closely, she noticed he seemed paler, and had dropped a few pounds; his skin had some marks from previous bad acne, and his hair had grown longer. Tobias noticed her hesitation, once her eyes landed on his pocket, - a clear sharp, knife-like shape was very visible. He sighed and unconsciously placed his hand in front of his pocket, shielding her vision, as if somehow trying to delete the image from her brain.

"So it is true then, " she croaked, disappointed in her peer. "You have a knife with you."

Tobias looked around, making sure no one had heard her. He returned her an unsure look and nodded his head slowly.

She shook her head disapprovingly at him and began to walk the opposite direction of their classroom. But he stopped her midway, gripping her arm forcefully. She faced him with wide eyes; his grip immediately loosening. "What are doing? Carrying a knife inside school? That's absolutely irresponsible. It's mad!" She hissed.

"Where are you going?" He questioned, ignoring her small outburst. Allison's warm brown eyes, narrowed at him for a second.

"I'm going to tell Mrs. Clark, obviously."

"No, no." He pleaded, shaking his head agitatedly. "Please Allison. I need to keep it."

Allison sighed. She knew she had to tell Mrs. Clark, the school's guidance counselor about it, to their safety, for Tobias' safety. She remembered the awful times people would bully him, kick him, steal his things and wondered if he had finally reached a breaking point, after all this years of ignoring it. If he had, she thought, this was no way to deal with it.