“Do you want to talk about it?” Jackson said.

“Talk about what?” Isabella asked, confused.

“Anything. Your parents. Your past. Your sister. About yourself,” Jackson said. “You don’t have to of course, but I think it would be better if you got it off your chest instead of bottling it up inside and never letting it out.”
“I guess I could tell you about myself, but in exchange you have to tell me about yourself too,” Isabella said, lifting her hand with her index finger pointed out. She took her index finger and poked Jackson in the chest playfully. “Deal?”

“Deal. After every question I ask you, you can ask me a question,” Jackson said.

“Sounds good,” Isabella said with a nodd.

“You can go first,” Jackson said, politely.

“Alright…how exactly did you end up here?” Isabella asked.

“That’s a long story,” Jackson said with a small chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck.

“We’ve got plenty of time,” Isabella said, encouragingly.

“Well…after the plague started, my mom died. So Griffin and I went to my dad’s house to see if he was there. He was, but he was already dead. Griffin and I then packed all of our belongings in some suitcases that we found in my dad’s closet and left. We later ran into some people struggling with getting their vehicle to work so we stopped on the side of the road and helped them out. The people who were struggling were Oliver and his sister, Georgia. Anyways, later we stopped for more supplies and ran into Cora and Natalie. A little while later, we ran into Eli and Mateo. Then we met Noah and Jaylee. We later found this abandoned school and decided to stay here. So yeah…,” Jackson said.

“Wow. So…quick question. Your parents were divorced right?” Isabella said.

“Yep,” Jackson said, rubbing the back of his neck. He then looked away.

Isabella grabbed his arm and pulled it down. She grabbed his hand and looked him in the eyes.

“I’m sorry that you went through that, Jack,” Isabella said, sincerely.

“It’s ok…,” Jackson said, staring at Isabella with a surprised face.

“No it’s not,” Isabella said. “If you ever need to talk about your parents, I’m here for you. Even if it’s not about your parents. Even if you just want to talk about the weather or how you miss fried chicken.”

Jackson let out a chuckle.

“Thanks. I appreciate it, Bella,” Jackson said, looking relieved.

“You’re most welcome. You look like you needed to hear it,” Isabella said, still holding Jackson’s hand. Without thinking, she lifted his hand up to her chest where her breast was.

“Ummm…,” Jackson said, blushing.

“Yes?” Isabella said, looking clueless.

“My hand…it’s…,” Jackson said, embarrassed.

“Your hand?” Isabella said, slowly looking down at her breast to see Jackson’s hand resting there. Isabella’s face turned red. She immediately dropped Jackson’s hand and crossed her arms across her chest.

“I’m sorry,” Isabella said, looking at the ground. Her long blonde hair fell in front of her face, slightly hiding her red cheeks.

“Hey…it’s ok,” Jackson said, comfortingly. He grabbed her chin with his hand and pulled it up to face her face towards his.

Isabella’s face was still red from blushing.

“Hey, are you hungry?” Jackson asked.

“A little,” Isabella confessed.

“Good. I think Jaylee is making dinner right now with Griffin,” Jackson said.

“Griffin and Jaylee seem to be really close,” Isabella said. “Are they by chance, together?”
Jackson stared off in space for a moment and turned to Isabella.

“No,” Jackson said. “They’re just really good friends.”
“Oh. Well they look good together,” Isabella said. “Not that my opinion matters or anything.”

“It does matter. I guess I just never really thought of them that way, but now that you mentioned it…you’re right. They do look good together,” Jackson said. “Jaylee has helped Griffin a lot.”

Isabella smiled. “What about Natalie and Oliver? Are they together?”

Jackson chuckled. He then stopped and realized that Isabella was serious.

“No,” Jackson said.

“Oh. I just figured by the way Oliver looks at her,” Isabella said.

“Hmm…I’ve never really paid that much attention to that before. I guess I need to pay attention to my surroundings more,” Jackson said. He then let out a small chuckle.

“Yes you do,” Isabella said, nudging Jackson in the arm.

Jackson laughed.

Suddenly a random tall girl ran to the school gate.

“OPEN THE GATE! PLEASE!” The girl yelled, frantically.

She had short curly hair covered in lots of blood. She had dark skin and brown terrified eyes. She wore a white shirt soaked in blood with ripped jeans. The rips of her jeans showed open bullet cuts on her legs that were also bleeding.

Isabella opened the gate slightly and the girl ran inside.

“Thank you! You have to hide! They’ll get you!” The girl yelled, calming down a little.

“Mackenzie?” Isabella said, looking stunned. She had tears gathering in her eyes that looked like they were just about to fall.

“Sis?” The girl said, looking stunned. She had tears gathering in her eyes as well.