《The Winged Heart》


 0. You are my sunshine, my only sunshin

    [Mar Black''s POV]


    "Let''s go home, Sunshine," my wife, Aurora, says as she leans against the doorframe of my lab and gives me one of her warm smiles.


    Yes, she calls me Sunshine, as a reference to the song "You are my sunshine" by Johnny Cash. Personally, I never liked the song. It makes me feel bitter. But Aurora? She loves it! It would be stuck in her head for days and she''d sing it clear and lovingly every time she catches me staring at her. She loves the way the nickname contrasts with me, my serious and broody personality, and my name "Mar Black", which couldn''t be darker if I tried.


    She used to say: "It''s like a wish. I wish for you to lighten up. Catch a bit of my brightness!"


    A stupid joke, because she could, quite literally, light up the sky. And no, not because of her bright personality. She is an Archaggelos. A type of humanoid alien with wings.


    I hadn''t know that she was an alien at first, because Aurora has always looked and felt like a normal human.


    She popped into my life one day and we''ve been inseparable ever since. Apparently, the Archaggelos can see the red string of destiny, and she had followed it to me.


    "Come on, Sunshine!" Aurora complained loudly, successfully pulling me from my thoughts. "Do we really have to do this now? I told you; I have a surprise for you! I want to go home and show you already."


    "Calm down, Aurora," I mumble in my usual, calm manner of speaking. "You know that we have to do this every day for the measurements to make sense, right? I wonder if your energy levels will have risen again."


    She giggles. "No, they will be lower today."


    "Why? What happened? Are you sick?"


    She giggles again. "No, I''m not sick. But -like I told you already- it''s a surprise! Let''s go home."


    "You know it will only take a minute," I say with a soft smile as I pat the stool on wheels next to mine by the computer.


    "Ok, ok," she says as she sits down next to me and I hold the sensor of the digital multimeter against her upper arm.


    "It just has to say BEEP right?" she imitates the sound that the device makes when it finishes its reading. Which usually only takes a few seconds, but for some reason, takes a lot longer today.


    I am just about to check what is wrong with the device, when a violent shiver runs through Aurora and a surprised "Oh!" escapes her lips, before she vanished into thin air. The meter -and the computer that the meter was hooked up to- explode, taking the main fuse of the lab with it, causing a blackout.


    "Aurora?" I call out into the darkness, still trying to push my rising panic down. "Aurora?! Sweetheart, if this is a joke it really isn''t funny. ¡­ AURORA?! ¡­. Shit!"


    That''s when my nerves catch on fire. I jump up, as if hit by lightning and start searching in the dark. Only when I hit my knee on a cupboard, my adrenaline flooded brain manages to register that that is an absolutely useless action because it is far too dark to draw a decent conclusion, so I navigate my way through the dark towards the cupboard where I know the spare fuses lay. As by a miracle, I blindly find a new fuse and start making my way towards the fuse box to replace it. But once the lights jump back on again, she still is nowhere to be found.


    "Aurora!!" I call again, praying that she would hear me, but I still couldn''t see her anywhere.


    "Shit!!" I curse again. My mind is going a million miles an hour, all thoughts too fast to grasp. I take a shuddering breath and try to sort out the most important one; what had happened?


    I stare at the computer from which a thin trail of smoke is rising and quickly unplug it before it catches on fire and blows the fuse a second time.


    It seems safe to assume that the measuring device and the computer had caused the problem. But what had happened? And how would I fix it?


    All traces of hope quickly evaporate as I look at the state both devices are in. They are completely fried, some of the hard plastic has even melted. I stare at the devices for a moment and sigh. I am grasping at straws, but my only hope lies in getting both the devices fixed. And that would take a while, assuming that all the parts that need to be replaced are available at the lab.


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.Well, there''s no time like the present. So I roll up my sleeves and pick up a screwdriver.


    When I wake up, feeling thoroughly groggy, I notice that I have fallen asleep behind my desk, with my cheek on the keyboard of the destroyed computer.


    "What time is it?" I wonder and look at my wristwatch, just to find that the date on the dial has shifted twice. This used to be a bad habit of mine; working for days on end without eating, drinking or sleeping. It had been a while, because Aurora used to temper this habit. A lump in my throat chokes me up as the realisation hits me that she really is gone.


    It had become clear really quickly that there was no fixing either the measuring equipment or the computer, but I''d tried none the less. I had known that I had been grasping at straws, hoping to find a trace of my wife, but there hadn''t been any.


    I thought about continuing my search, but then remembered that it hadn''t been the first time that I had passed out, and I am feeling thoroughly nauseous now. So that must mean that it is time to go home, eat something, sleep a little and perhaps have a shower. Aurora would kill me all over again if I managed to kill myself, before she manages to return.


    So home I went.


    At home, I grabbed a few pieces of fruit from the counter and drank a few glasses of water. I''d somehow hoped that having some food in me would help me feel less nauseous, but my failure still weighs too heavily on me.


    I sigh and decide that I don''t have the energy to shower.


    I am about ready to drop myself onto the bed, only kicking off my shoes, not bothering to undress any further, when I noticed a football sized lump underneath the covers.


    I stare at the lump stupidly for a long moment, but then pull the covers from it. When a light blue egg appears, I stare stupidly at it for a moment longer.


    I reach out a finger and poke it, curious to see what will happen. A sense of relief washes over me as I realise that the little object isn''t likely to jump up and attack me. But then I notice that it feels warm to the touch.


    I lay my hand on it and feel a soft glowing warmth pulse inside it. Like a heartbeat.


    And suddenly, I realise what it is! This is the surprise Aurora had been talking about! This is why she''d joked before the measurement that her energy levels would be lower than usual. She''d lain an egg!


    My vision goes blurry and I realise a thick stream of tears is running down my cheeks.


    "We''re going to have a kid together," I choke out as I slowly crawl towards the egg on the bed and hug it closely to my chest. Big ugly sobs start rising from my chest, so badly that I can feel my whole upper body quake with them. I let myself cry.


    I must have cried myself to sleep at some point.


    I wake up to the gross feeling of my wet, tear stained, sleeve.


    At least my head feels clear now.


    Opening my eyes, the first thing I see is the egg that I am still holding firmly, in a warm embrace, clutched to my chest.


    My kid!


    I need to think about this for a moment.


    Every cell in my body is screaming at me to keep on searching for Aurora, but I have no clue of what has happened to her, and I might not even be able to do anything even if I did have a clue.


    My logical mind steers me towards the little one in my arms. I did have a clue as to what needed to be done with the egg. I would need to hatch it. I wasn''t sure what kind of a parent I would be without my precious partner in crime, but I''d have to try my best to raise this little one right. Not in the oppressive manner my own father had raised me.


    "Don''t worry little one. I''ve got you," I mumble quietly to the egg, meaning every word of it.


    It took me two years, many hours of body heat and an incubator which used shitloads of electricity to hatch the little one from the egg.

 0,1 Hatching the egg

    [Mar''s POV - 1 year after Aurora''s disappearance]


    "Why won''t you hatch?" I mumble as I stare at the sunlight that illuminates a tiny mass inside the egg, like a shadow puppet the size of an avocado.


    It has been a year.


    If I follow human standards, the child should either already have been born, or should have died already. But instead, the child inside the egg has only grown about 4 months of a human pregnancy.


    So I am inclined to believe that, the egg neither has died yet, nor that it is ready to hatch.


    I am doing something wrong¡­ but what?!


    I have tried everything.


    From wrapping the egg in warm blankets (like the way I had found it), to keeping it warm with my own body heat, to giving it to a chicken, to warm it au-bain-marie (no warmer than 37 degrees Celsius, of course. Don''t want to boil this precious egg.)


    Nothing worked.


    And yet, I must be doing something right too, because it has grown four months worth in size. But what?


    What did I do right, and what did I do wrong?! I''m starting to regret not measuring the size of the child inside during my several experiments.


    ¡­


    I''ll have to do that from now on.


    I''m cursing the fact that I never talked about raising a child with my wife. The information would be invaluable now.


    But honestly, I didn''t even think we COULD have children together! We''re different races. Both humanoid, that much is true. But two very different beings.


    I won''t go into too much detail about how we had sex, except for the fact that it was amazing and that I could never get enough of it, but it is nothing like what I''ve seen humans do together.


    "I miss you, Aurora," I mumble as I softly lay my hand on top of the fragile egg, and for the first time in twenty minutes, I look away from the shrimp like shadow inside the egg and close my eyes.


    There it is. The reason that I have never given up; a slow and weak, but steady pulsing can be felt when I touch the egg.


    If I would visualise the rhythmic pulsing into a graph, it would look like a weak little heartbeat.


    I sigh and put a second hand on the egg.


    What will you be like? How will you look? How will you act? Will you like the things that I like? Will we get along? Will I be able to raise you right?


    I''ve never had any siblings. I don''t have any experience raising children. It used to be just me and my father. And I don''t want to see that man ever again. It''s why I ran away, and kept running so he wouldn''t be able to find me. I hope he never finds this little one either.


    ¡­


    I''ll have to remember to read some books on child upbringing. Even if the information is useless, it will be better than no information at all.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    It has been two weeks since I started measuring the child''s growth during my attempts to hatch Aurora''s egg. (Let''s not call them experiments.)


    Keeping the egg warm in blankets; 0,01mm per day.


    Keeping the egg close to my body; 1,18mm per day.


    Giving it to a chicken; 0,06mm per day.


    Warming it au-bain-marie, but no warmer than 37 degrees Celsius; 0,15mm per day.


    Laying it out in the full sun: 2,12mm per day


    I look at my writing as the egg lays on an illumination light, used to check eggs for fertilization.


    This is making no sense¡­ No sense at all! The chicken barely makes it grow, but it does grow when it is close to me? Is the body temperature of the chicken too high per chance? No¡­ that can''t be, because then the results in the au-bain-marie should yield the highest result. But instead, the attempt in the sunlight I tried today, yielded the highest results yet. It must have been a lot warmer in the sun than the controlled environment of the au-bain-marie. A full 2,12mm.


    I look at the ultra precise measuring equipment I have placed next to the egg. That''s strange¡­ it seems to be off. I never work unprecise. The "rapid growth" must have really thrown me off¡­ right? I adjust the measuring equipment to a full 2,13mm.


    Wait¡­ It couldn''t be! Is it still growing?!


    I decide to leave the egg on the illumination light and go to the laboratory kitchen to go grab some fruit to eat. I''m done eating after 15 minutes and take my sweet time to walk back to my laboratory.


    I check the measuring equipment and it seems off again. I quickly adjust it. It grew another 0,02mm in 15 minutes? That would be 1,92mm for a day. That''s the second largest result I''ve yielded since trying to hatch the egg.


    Wait a minute. This little lamp yields a result that is almost as high as the sun''s?! But the sun is so much bigger and brighter?! How does that add up?!


    I quickly finger the area where the light touches the egg. It doesn''t seem particularly warm to me. Does that mean that it isn''t warmth that makes the child grow, but light? But then how does keeping it close to my body yield a 1,18mm result? I''d strapped it around my chest with a swaddling blanket, it didn''t come into contact with light enough to yield that kind of result.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.I feel like I''m still missing something, but it''s a path worth exploring. I look around my private laboratory. I suddenly feel like it is too dark in here.


    "Sunshine, why do I always find you in a dark room?" Aurora''s words come to mind.


    Right? She would always turn on the light.


    It''s worth a try.


    I quickly switch on the overhead light and reangle my dusty desk lamp to illuminate the egg''s most shadowy parts.


    Fingers crossed!


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Two weeks have passed. I managed to get the growth-rate up to a fabulous 2,24mm per day, but it won''t go up no matter what I do.


    Still this is a good growth-rate. I''m still unsure why keeping the egg close to me worked like it did, but at this rate, I can expect my child to hatch over 8 months!


    I''m so excited that I can barely wait!!


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~


    8 months have passed. The child inside the egg has grown so much that I can''t look inside the egg anymore with the illumination technique. It has grown to fill the egg to its maximum capacity. I am expecting the child to hatch from the egg any moment now.


    "Come on Buddy," I mumble as I gently lay my hand on the egg and close my eyes. The pulsing that I can feel is no longer weak and slow. It''s a regular and strong pulsing now. Much faster than my own heartbeat.


    I tried measuring the egg for the same energy that my wife naturally radiated and as expected, the egg radiates it too. Not as much as my wife yet, but four times more than my own.


    I don''t think it will be wise the let this child around other humans once it hatches. I know that it doesn''t affect me, but I know that Aurora used to keep her distance from normal humans too. I did once see her heal a sickly woman, simply by holding her hand.


    I startle when I feel the egg shudder under my hand, quickly followed by a loud, terrifying crack-noise.


    The egg cracked! IT IS HAPPENING PEOPLE! THE EGG IS HATCHING!!!!


    What do I do? Do I help the child come out? Do I let it come out on its own? WHAT DO I DO?!


    I jump up as if hit by lightning. Every nerve in my body is jumping. My hands are shaking so badly that I wouldn''t even be able to hold my wife''s hand if she were to go into labor, let alone help a child to come out of an egg.


    I need to calm down first!


    I close my eyes, breath in slowly, hold my breath for about five seconds and release my breath as slowly as I can. But when I open my eyes, the first thing I see is the crack in the egg and my nerves jump all over again.


    I curse as I make a little nervous dance and then look at the crack again.


    Wait, why hasn''t it grown yet? Is something wrong?


    I sit on the chair in front of my desk and gently trace the crack from top to bottom. It''s a big crack, almost 3mm wide. I can see some sort of membrane inside.


    "Hey Buddy, why did you stop?" I ask as I tap the egg lightly with my finger. Immediately, the crack grows. The crack itself is now half the length of the egg and a triangular piece is starting to come loose.


    "Yes! That''s it! You''re doing great. Come on, a little more," I say as I fiddle at the loose piece. To my surprise, it actually comes lose on its own as a little fist pushes against the membrane. Now the egg actually wobbles and rolls to its side as the child inside seems to move. I saw the child move before, but it was never enough to make the egg wobble! I hover my hands around the egg to make sure that if it falls over, that it won''t roll off my desk. Another tremor rocks the egg from within and a crack all around the top becomes visible. The little hand is still pushing against the membrane, when it suddenly rips. Some fluid comes gushing out as it rips, flooding my desk and all the papers on it.


    I curse, but cleaning it up will have to wait, because I don''t trust the egg not to fall off my desk now.


    Another big tremor rocks the egg and this time it breaks the egg in four large pieces. The membrane ripped along with the four pieces, revealing a soft little pink chest going up and down rapidly.


    I freeze for a second.


    Am I allowed to clear the egg shells now? They are still covering the child''s head and legs. The child doesn''t seem to be struggling to break the egg anymore. It is only breathing very fast.


    Before I can regain my senses, or can decide about what to do, the tiniest little cry sounds from underneath the shells. This kicks me back into gear.


    I quickly remove the shells from the crying child and hold it. I don''t take it into a loving embrace immediately, I first want to take a good look first. The child looks healthy. It is crying on its own, which is a good sign. And it''s a boy!


    That''s when I remember that the child has an umbilical cord too. It is attached to the egg''s membrane. (I had seen its shadow inside the egg.) I cut it the way I''ve seen midwives do and clean it up.


    The little guy is still crying and suddenly, tears flood my eyes so badly that my whole vision turns blurry.


    "A little boy has hatched from the egg alive and well," I mumble as I hold the child in a loving embrace. "Welcome home, my boy."

 0,2 A normal boy

    [ Mar''s POV ]


    It has been three years since I managed to hatch the egg. That makes it five years since my wife vanished. In hindsight, it really took me forever to hatch Aurora''s egg.


    Hatching the egg was quite the experience. I''m confident that I now know how a pregnant woman feels about her unborn baby. The moment the little guy hatched, was pure bliss. Long live a pre-established parental bond with an unborn child!


    I named the boy Alex. It was really difficult to decide a name without my precious partner in crime. I kept gravitating toward ancient names, like Julius, Alexander, David or even Arthur, but I kept wondering what Aurora would think about them. I kept imagining that she''d ask me "Why that name?" and I wouldn''t be able to give her an answer except "It sounds great." She wouldn''t like that. Plus, it''s what my dad would have done. So I tried a different approach. I tried to remember my friends from when I was little, and what their names were. But I could only remember one by name. Sweet Alex, my first crush. She changed my life. Because of her, I started resisting my dad''s ways. Thanks to her, I am free now and my child is safe. I wanted to honour her by naming my son after her.


    My little, soft, pink boy eats, sleeps and poops like a normal human boy.


    I''m glad.


    In the two years it took to hatch the egg, I had grown worried that raising this child would proof to be too much for me to handle. But luckily, I was wrong. Nothing beats the feeling of holding your newborn child for the first time. It makes me feel all mellow inside again just by thinking about it.


    My perfect little bundle of pink soft flesh, with feet smaller than my thumb and the cutest little button nose! For a moment, I had been afraid that the child might be born with bird-like features, like feathers, a beak or chicken feet. Not that my wife showed any bird features, but you never know what will hatch from an egg.


    "Daddy! I want to play with the blocks!" little Alex squeels excitedly as he pulls the box with blocks from the bottom shelf and pops open the lid. I grin.


    "Not with mister Duck today? But we had so much fun yesterday," I reply. Little Alex frowns at me.


    "But... aren''t we going to make a castle for mister Duck?" he asks, a note of worry in his voice. My heart swells. Alex is referring to our game from two days ago, where mister Duck set out on a quest to become a loyal knight of king Alex. I''m kind of proud that he wants to build a castle for mister Duck now. It proves that he is resourceful and has foresight.


    "Of course, buddy! I''ll help," I laugh as I sit next to him on the soft carpet. But as soon as I bend over to reach for one of the blocks, my mobile phone buzzes. I sigh as I check the text on the screen. What now? Can''t I ever enjoy a moment with my boy?


    The text on the screen reads: "Alert! Energy surge. Location: home"


    Wait¡­ An energy surge? At home?!


    I glance over to Alex to check if he is showing any visual signs of an energy surge, but he is already looking back at me with a sad expression.


    "I know, daddy. It''s important. You need to check. It won''t take long," he says as he looks away and goallessly shuffles some blocks around.


    My heart breaks, because he is echoing words that I have told him so many times before already. I want to deny the words he echoed and tell him that I''ll stay with him. But not checking up on this might become catastrophic.


    "I''m sorry," I say as I start to get up, but remember to drop a little kiss on his shiny black hair. "Thank you for understanding, Buddy. I just have to check something real quick."


    I get up and hurry to the next room, where my computer is already idling. I type a few keys and a graph appears on the screen.


    Wow, my assistant, Erika, was not exaggerating when she notified me of an energy surge. And even though Alex''s readings have always been at least four times as high as the readings of normal humans, this is exceptionally high, even for him. Is this him growing? But if he keeps growing this fast, will his energy levels soon be higher than my wife''s?


    I''m distracted from my musings by Alex''s voice in the room next to me. I can hear him talking, but I can''t hear what he''s saying.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident."What are you saying, Alex? I can''t hear you!" I yell in the hope that he''ll have the reflex to come to me or shout louder, but he doesn''t. I''m not even sure that he heard me.


    Is he talking to someone? Playing perhaps? Conjuring up his own stories of Sir Duck the loyal knight of king Alex.


    I stand up and sneak back as quietly as I can. If he really is playing, I don''t want to disturb him. Honestly, I hope I get a chance to grab my video camera so I can record it.


    But when I look into the room, my blood runs cold.


    Where I expected to find a child safely playing on the ground with a plush toy, said child is standing on the window sill, window open, looking at the sky. He looks about ready to jump out too.


    I suck in a breath as I want to call out, which notifies Alex that I am in the room. He looks over at me, the cheekiest grin on his face. A grin that I recognise all too well. It''s a face he makes before he yells "Tag! You''re it!" and runs away.


    "ALEX! No!" I yell as my body instinctively lurches forward to try and grab the little boy, but the distance is too great. I grapple for the back of his T-shirt, but miss by a hair, because the child effectively jumps off the windowsill and out of the window, like a bird taking off to fly.


    I hold my breath, as for a milliseconde, I think he might actually fly off like a bird. But reality quickly hits me in the gut as I see the child plunge into the deep and not coming back up.


    I am almost glad when, instead of a sickening final kind of thumb, I hear a few snapping twigs, ripping of clothes and a much less final-sounding thumb than I had expected.


    "ALEX!!" I yell as I look outside the window and see the boy, lying one floor below me on the ground, his fall broken by a single bush.


    He isn''t moving.


    I rush downstairs and outside, almost tripping and falling myself.


    "Alex?! Buddy, please answer me," I beg him once I make it to his side. But it quickly becomes clear that he can''t.


    The left side of his face which hit the ground is already turning black and blue from the impact, and from the awkward angle his shoulder makes, I can tell that it is broken. I feverishly check if he is breathing, and he is, albeit weakly.


    I release a breath of relief at the realisation that he isn''t dead. But we aren''t in the clear yet. He is still unconscious. Who knows what the damage of the fall really is?


    So I carefully gather him into my arms and rush towards the nearest medical institute; my lab.


    <hr>


    A few quick X-ray pictures reveal that Alex his left upper arm bone near the joint, clavicle, scapula and his two upper ribs had all snapped in half, clearly pinpointing the major point of impact. And even though the left side of his face is still swollen, and black and blue, he has not fractured his skull or jaw or neck.


    It''s been a few hours already since it happened. I have already set his bones and am nervously waiting for the boy to wake up. Although I can''t deny that I am starting to worry, because it is taking longer than I expected.


    I reach out to gently comb my fingers through the boy''s hair, when the heart rate monitor suddenly flatlines.


    My breath stocks as my first thought is that the device is faulty. It must have a bad connection somehow. But then I realise that he isn''t breathing either.


    "Buddy? Alex!" I call out as I slap his good cheek. When that gives absolutely no reaction, I start CPR.


    "ERIKA!! Get the defibrillator and set it the voltage to the dosage for a young child!!" I call out to my assistant. She rushes in almost immediately. She must have drawn her own conclusions when the monotonous sound of the heart rate monitor flatlining kept continuing.


    "Set," Erika says as she holds the two electrical pads above Alex''s chest. I clear out and she shocks him.


    Alex draws in a deep breath in reaction and starts crying.


    I quickly hug him tightly and feel a tear of terror escape my own eyes.


    "Ow- Dad! Everything hurts! What happened?" Alex gasps between labored breaths and tears.


    "You fell," I say, hearing my own voice break.


    "I fell? O no, I failed!" he says between tears.


    "Failed what?" I ask, but he doesn''t answer anymore. He only keeps crying that he is in pain.

 0,3 John Smith

    [ Mar''s POV ]


    It''s been a year since my little Alex jumped from the window, and it has been a fight to keep him alive.


    The broken bones have long since healed, but he is weak. Very weak.


    Where he used to play like a normal, energetic child, he can now barely sit up by himself. He sleeps most of the day, and we constantly keep him connected to a heart rate monitor, because his heart can and will stop beating at any moment.


    When he is awake, we mostly talk. I read him stories about knights and heroes, to entertain him, but he can''t do much more. I haven''t even started revalidation on him yet, because he simply doesn''t have the strength to stay upright. I once found him, next to his bed. He''d been bored and wanted to play like he used to, but had lost strength once his feet touched the ground.


    I am standing at the foot end of his hospital bed, watching him sleep.


    As I stand there, I let my mind wander. A peculiar request came in today from a certain Sheikh Ahmed Al-Mansour. Not specifically to me, but my company, Bright inc.. Apparently, Mr. Al-Mansour''s son is suffering from a severe case of narcolepsy and offered to pay a considerable sum (even for my standards) for treating his son.


    But this whole request smells funny¡­ And when I say "funny", I actually mean that it smell as if someone stepped in dogshit. Why? Well, three reasons:


    1. I am not a medical doctor. I can reanimate my son, sew up cuts in human flesh and set bones, but I wouldn''t know the first thing about healing a chronic medical condition. I mean¡­ I could if I researched it a little. But I don''t really feel like it at the moment. Especially with Alex being in the weak state that he is.


    2. Alex isn''t exactly human, I still have no clue what kind off effect the energy he naturally radiates will have on the human beings around him, let alone on a young child. (Even though his current energy levels are the lowest I have seen on him since his birth.)


    And 3. Mr. Al-Mansour claims that he received Alex''s name from a medium, when he asked her for a way to cure his boy.


    It''s just all so suspicious that I have the urge to politely decline Mr. Al-Mansour''s very generous offer and never think about it again. But every time I start writing a letter, or start dialing the man''s phone number, not just the hackles at the nape of my neck stand on edge, I can feel shivers run up and down my whole back!


    Aurora thought me not to ignore these subconscious signals my body gives me. But now I just don''t know what to do anymore.


    "Dad?" I hear a voice croak sleepily from the bed. When I look up, I see Alex staring at me with furrowed brows.


    "What''s wrong, Buddy?" I ask as I walk to the side of his bed. Alex follows me with his eyes, but makes no effort to sit up like he usually does. He doesn''t seem fully awake just yet. As if to proof my point, he yawns widely and I find myself stifling a yawn of my own.


    "That''s what I was going to ask," he says as he lazily closes his eyes again.


    "Hmm? What was?"


    He doesn''t answer for a few heartbeats and I wonder if he fell asleep again, but then he says: "What''s wrong, Dad?"


    I chuckle.


    "Nothing much, Buddy. I''m just wondering what to do about this kid with the eternal sleeping disease." I may have developed the habit of using Alex as a sounding board to help me think.


    But to my surprise, Alex looks up at me brightly and laughs: "Oh! So, Johny is finally here? Good. I was starting to get bored."


    During the last sentence, Alex contently closed his eyes and turned to his side to fall deeply asleep again. I can already hear his breath evening out.


    I stare at him flabbergasted.


    "Who''s Johny?" I find myself wondering out loud. If I''m not mistaken, the name of Mr. Al-Mansour''s son is Hussam. Where did Alex get the name Johny?


    I shrug once and shake my head.


    This time, there are no shivers running up and down my spine as I call Mr. Al-Mansour.


    "Yes, hello! Am I speaking with Sheikh Ahmed Al-Mansour? I would like to let him know that Bright inc. will accept his request to treat his son''s Narcolepsy."


    <hr>


    One week and a contract later, I am giving the Sheikh and his son a tour of the premise.


    There are two places that I can''t show him; Hussam''s room, and Alex.


    I''m unsure that introducing them to Alex is a good idea. And I haven''t decided yet if Hussam''s room should be close to Alex''s or as far from it as it can be.


    But apparently, that choice wasn''t up to me. Little Hussam, who had been sleeping in a wheelchair for most of the tour of the hospital, woke up when we reached Alex''s room. He suddenly pointed and told his dad to go that way. I was so flabbergasted that the child had woken up, that I didn''t notice that they were headed to Alex''s room, until they had opened the door.


    "Wait, where are you going?!" I call out and Mr. Al-Mansour stops and turns to look at me, but the little boy rolled the wheelchair without a doubt in the world into Alex''s bedroom.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.Alex, to my surprise, was awake and sitting up, and was observing the situation with eyes full of marvel.


    "You must be Alex! You can call me Johny!" Hussam said with the heaviest Arabic accent I have ever heard. His dad immediately started scolding the child. From the few words of Arabic that I know, I think he was scolding his son for telling nonsense and that he should introduce himself properly. But before the child could do so, Alex laughed one of his angelic smiles, took hold of Hussam''s hand and said: "It''s so nice to meet you, Johny! I''m sure we''ll be good friends."


    I wish I could see the child''s face from where I was standing, but I couldn''t. I can only imagine that it was somewhere between starstruck and awkward, because the child had missed his chance to tell Alex his real name.


    Ok, it''s decided. I''ll give Hussam a room next to Alex''s.


    <hr>


    About a year and a half flew by. Hussam and Alex have become fast friends in the past year and the two seem to have a positive influence on each other.


    "Alex, time for your checkups," I say as I walk into Alex''s room and find Hussam next to Alex in his bed. Alex is holding the controller of a Nintendo gaming console that is hooked up to the monitor in the room. There used to be only a heart-rate monitor in the room, but the boys had me install a monitor so they could play games together.


    It had started with a gameboy, which apparently I wasn''t allowed to call a Game Boy anymore, because now it was called a Nintendo DS¡­


    I must admit, games have been around for a long time, but I''ve never been interested in them. It had never even occurred to me to buy any form of console to entertain Alex. But Hussam had showed Alex his Game Boy only once and he''d been hooked.


    "Johny! Give me your controller! Mine ran out of battery again!" Alex says as he puts his controller aside and swipes the one Hussam is holding right from under his nose.


    "Hey! I was still playing with that! And I was winning too! Why do you always do this," I watch as Hussam reaches for the controller that Alex is holding now, but Alex swiftly moves it out of Hussam''s reach.


    Hussam clicks his tongue at Alex.


    "And I have told you time and time again not to call me Johny! My name is Johny! No!!! J-¡­ Jo- ¡­ O, for crying out loud!"


    Alex snickers at this. You know, it''s really strange. For some reason, Hussam can''t tell Alex his real name. They''ve had this conversation hundreds of times before, but he simply can''t. At first, Alex had gotten really confused by what Hussam was saying, so I explained to him that the boy he knew as Johny, his given name was actually Hussam. Since then, Alex had been practically bullying Hussam with the matter.


    "Yes, yes. That''s what you''ve told me over and over again. I have to call you Johny," Alex says cheekily as he avoids another of Hussam''s attempts to get the controller back. "Now I think it is about time you go to sleep."


    As Alex said it, Hussam''s eyes actually started looking heavy and his arm reaching out towards the controller started going limp.


    "I don''t want to!" Hussam mumbles in a last attempt to stay awake, but soon after, he is sound asleep.


    I watch as Alex turns to him and pats him on the head.


    "Good boy," he says and turns his attention back to the screen.


    "Fuck off!" Hussam curses in his sleep, which makes Alex chuckle. Then he turns to me.


    "O, dad? Can you help me? Johny always gets very heavy when he falls asleep."


    "Sure, Buddy. I''ll move him back to his own room," I say as I gather Hussam in my arms and carefully put him back in his own bed.


    "How are you feeling today? You seem energetic?" I ask once I step back into the room.


    "Yes! I feel good! Good enough to stand even," Alex says as he turns of the Wii and puts the controllers in their chargers.


    "Really? Come on, let''s try it then," I say as I motion for Alex to come and sit at the edge of the bed and reach my hands out for him to hold. Alex obliges, sits at the edge of his bed, puts his feet on the ground and grabs my hands.


    He looks really nervous, but does push off of the bed and stands.


    "You''re doing it!" I say, unable to hide the proud note from my voice.


    "I am!" Alex says happily. I move my arms around a little to test his balance. It''s too soon to ask him to stand on his own, but perhaps, he can take a step with my help.


    "Do you think you can take a step?" I ask. Alex nods fervently, but doesn''t say anything. Beads of sweat are already appearing on his brow. Even standing asks so much effort, but he does take a step. And another one.


    In that moment, the door swings open, and Hussam enters the room, but he freezes in his steps when he sees Alex.


    "You are standing," he states, apparently unsure if it''s a good or a bad thing.


    "And you are awake! Your naps are getting shorter," Alex states happily.


    "Yes, both of you are getting better," I say. "I think it is time for you to start rehabilitation. I''ll shedule a session with the physiotherapist tomorrow. Things are finally looking up! Who knows, perhaps you''ll both be discharged from from the hospital within the year!"

 0,4 Absent parents and Homesickness

    [Mar''s POV - 7 years after hatching the egg = Alex being 7 years old]


    "Ouch! Johny! Get off me! That hurts! Daaaaad! AAAAAAAAAAAAA!" I hear Alex yell and follow the sound of his scream into Hussam''s room, my assistant Erika is close on my heels, both of us expecting the worst. When I run into the room, I see Alex''s legs hang over the edge of the bed, but the rest of him is hidden under Hussam''s body, which is slightly larger than my own son''s body. I instinctively grab the back of the boy''s shirt and lift him off of my son''s body, but need to halt mid-motion, because the child is attached to Alex somehow.


    On closer inspection, it seems that Hussam is pulling Alex''s hair with his right hand and is biting him on the left side of his neck, which would explain Alex''s incessant scream.


    "Let go. Now!" I say with no small amount of murderous intent in my voice. Luckily, the child does let go, so I am spared from making any instinctual mistakes.


    After Hussam lets go, Alex''s scream turns into sobs. I quickly put Hussam aside on the bed and gather Alex into my arms. Before I leave, I look at Erika, who immediately understands my message and firmly nods once.


    "No! Not the crazy lady," I hear Hussam complain before the door closes behind me, but I''m too caught up in saving my little boy to care about his words.


    I hurry towards the operating room and try to put Alex down gently on the table, but he has his arms wrapped around my neck and is not letting go. He is still sobbing his eyes out.


    "Alex, let go darling. I need to check if you are hurt," I say kindly, but firmly because I can''t wait until he calms down to asses the damage. Honestly, I want to do a rabies check as fast as possible. Alex releases me just enough for me to see his neck, and I''m glad to see that, except for a bruise in the shape of teeth, Alex seems to be unharmed. I sigh a breath of relief and hug Alex tightly.


    "Dear God, such a scream. I thought he was slaughtering you," I mumble into the child''s hair.


    "He attacked me, dad! Without a reason. He was on top of me so fast... I couldn''t do anything," Alex says between sobs.


    There is something about the words "Without a reason" which catches my attention.


    "There, there," I say as I stroke Alex gently over his hair and notice that quite a few strands come loose from the place Hussam had pulled earlier. I suddenly feel the urge to do an experiment on Hussam which involves pulling hairs out, but I shake it off. I''m an adult, I can''t harm a child for petty revenge. "What happened? Why did he attack you?"


    "I don''t know!" Alex says as his brows scrunch into a deep frown.


    "But he usually doesn''t attack you physically, does he? Can you tell me what happened?"


    This time Alex presses his lips into a thin dissatisfied line and frowns as he thinks.


    "I had been waiting for the visit with Johny''s mom to end. So when I saw her leave, I rushed over to Johny''s room to play. But when I entered his room, he was crying," Alex explains. Ah! Well, at least the reason why the child was on edge became clear quickly. Little Hussam''s parents are both very busy people. His dad runs an oil conglomerate, they have three more sons of which Hussam is the youngest and the whole family lives in Iran. All those facts resulted in poor little Hussam being here "alone" more often than not. His family visits regularly, but it is not the same as living with your family at home. We''ve practically been raising him here for the past two and a half years.


    Lately, Hussam has grown more restless, particularly since his narcolepsy has gotten better. He has shown severe signals of homesickness, but he has never attacked Alex like this before.


    "But when I asked him why he was crying, he said that he wasn''t and told me to leave," Alex continues. "But I already knew that he was crying, so I tried to cheer him up. I told him that I''d seen his mom leave, that she''s really pretty and that I wish I had a mom like that."


    At this point, Alex''s voice cracked and a new sob escaped him.


    "But Johny got angry instead. Yelling that she is his mom and that I am not allowed to look at her," Alex continues. Now my hackles stand on edge.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Tell me what you replied to that," I say urgently. Because if he replied what I think he did, this fight was Alex''s fault, not Hussam''s. He doesn''t reply immediately, he seems to realise that what he answered was a mean thing to say.


    "I said; No need to be petty about it. Can''t she be my mom too?" Alex mumbles reluctantly and then continues: "That''s when he grabbed my hair and told me to apologize. But I didn''t want to, because I didn''t do anything wrong."


    I sigh deeply. Where do I even begin?


    "Do you really want her to be your mom too?" I ask.


    "No, not really. She has all these strange rules that I don''t understand," Alex says as he thinks out loud.


    "Then why did you say that?"


    "He said I wasn''t even allowed to look at her," Alex says as his lips turn down, into a bitter pout.


    "So you did it to hurt him?" I ask. Alex glances at me briefly, then looks down at his toes and nods. I sigh again.


    "Alex, sweetheart. You can''t handle out of spite. Just look at what happened! You''re too weak to even defend yourself! You''re lucky I was near, otherwise this could have turned into a much more serious disaster!" I scold Alex.


    "I hate being weak," Alex says with a glum frown on his face. I look at him in surprise. Alex''s rehabilitation therapy is going great. He is almost back to being the energetic child he once was and he hadn''t shown any dissatisfaction with the rehabilitation speed. Until now.


    I guess he hates losing as much as I do.


    "Shall we crank it up a notch then?" I ask with a mischievous smile stretching my face. "Shall I look for a Judo teacher for you? But you have to promise me to train diligently if I do this for you."


    "Really? You''ll find me a teacher?! Thank you dad! I will train diligently!!" Alex cheers joyfully as he wraps his arms around my neck and squeezes me tightly in a smothering hug.


    "All good, all good," I say as I smile and pat Alex on his back. "But before that, you need to apologize to Hussam. You''ve been very rude."


    "What?! Nooooo! Dad please no," Alex complains.


    "No complaining. It''s only the right thing to do," I say as I help Alex get off the table. Alex frowns unhappily, but follows me obediently to Hussam''s room.


    When we enter, Hussam is sitting huddled into a corner of his room, his face directed towards the corner. Erika is standing by the door like a guard, her arms crossed, her eyes on Hussam.


    "What are you doing?" I ask out of cheer surprise.


    "The situation is under control, sir," she says as she acknowledges my presence by looking up at me.


    Ah... Now I know why Hussam complained about her being a crazy lady. She simply punished the child without asking questions first. I had thought that letting her handle Hussam would be fine, since she has children of her own, but that seems to have been an error of judgement on my part.


    "Ahum, yes. Well, thank you. I''ll take it from here," I say stoically. She nods and leaves the room. I sigh a breath of relief, glad that she''s gone.


    "Hussam, can you come here for a minute please?" I ask.


    "I can''t, I still have twelve minutes in the time-out zone," the boy says seriously.


    "Those have been revoked. Now, can you come here please?"


    This time the boy looks up curiously from his corner, and cautiously comes closer once he spots Alex who is avoiding Hussam''s eyes by looking at his toes.


    "Come on, apologize," I nudge him on.


    Alex scoffs but looks up to Hussam and says: "I''m sorry for offending you. I shouldn''t have said those things about your mom."


    Hussam blinks in confusion a few times as if he didn''t expect Alex to apologize.


    "That''s ok," he says after gathering his thoughts. "I am sorry too for biting you. Did I hurt you?"


    "Yeah, ..." Alex says awkwardly as he hides the bitemarks in his neck with his hand, but then seems to recover and says enthusiastically: "My dad is going to find me a Judo instructor, so I''ll be able to defend myself in the future."


    "Really? Mhe, I''d rather play games," Hussam says with a shrug. "Which reminds me, my mom bought me a new game!"


    "Cool! Which one?" Alex replies excitedly.


    And just like that their whoes and squables are forgotten.

 1. Alex Black

    [Alex Black''s Point of View, age 15]


    I chuckle as my character on the screen jumps over the assaulting panda bear and smacks it into the ground with an impressive thud, effectively reducing my opponent''s health bar to nearly nothing.


    "Oh! Come on! How is that even possible?" Johny, my dear friend, complains.


    I chuckle. "Don''t be a sore loser, Johny."


    I know that he hates losing. He always has. I would know. We''ve known each other long enough.


    "You know, ..." Johny mumbles a moment later, his mind not on the game at all. "Normally I''d complain about how you never let me win. But you can have it today."


    "Wow! Ok¡­ Is the world about to end?" I ask as I pause the game and look at him worriedly.


    "Well, perhaps not the world, but this might very well be our last game together," Johny says in wat feels like a mixture between embarrassment, awkwardness and loneliness. "Damn, I still can''t believe you''re moving¡­ And why did it have to be so far away? You need to drive two hours to get there! Two!! And I can''t even drive a car. I just don''t get why you have to go¡­"


    "It''s not me that has to go. It''s my dad. His research on the energy source he''s studying has reached a standstill and now they want to try if exposing his energy source to another one will have any effect. But that isn''t possible in the research facility here, so he has to relocate. And where my dad goes, I go," I explain to him for the fifth time. There''s more to the story than that, but I''m starting to suspect that I already used too many difficult words, even though I had slimmed down my original explanation. I watch Johny heave a heavy sigh.


    "Seriously, Alex, I thought your dad was a doctor. Well, I mean the type that heals people. What''s he doing researching energy?"


    "Well, my dad''s a smart man," I say with a shrug. "But I don''t think the human body ever was his forte. Did you know that the two of us are the only humans he''s ever treated? And I don''t think he would have accepted your strange case of narcolepsy if your dad hadn''t offered to pay big bucks for it."


    "Hmm¡­" Johny hums in dislike, but I can tell he''s accepted the idea now.


    "Aren''t you afraid?" he asks after a moment of silence.


    "Not really," I say. Honestly, I''m a little surprised by the question. What was there to be scared of?


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation."Dear, God. I feel terrified in your stead!" Johny says dramatically as he hugs his own shoulders. "A new town, a new house, a new everything! What if you get lost on your first day of school? What if no one wants to be your friend! What if they suddenly start chasing you because they want to eat your brains?!"


    He holds out his hands in front of him and says the word "brains" in a zombie-like manner.


    "Idiot!" I laugh as I punch zombie Johny playfully in the shoulder. And then his words sink in. Am I afraid of an unknown place? Perhaps I should be, but I¡¯m not feeling it. I know that I have a good head on my shoulders and I don¡¯t think that I¡¯m socially awkward, since I get along with everybody who lives in this pinhead of a town¡­ I¡¯ll probably be fine!


    "Well, at least you''ll be free of this boring hellhole, right?" Johny laughs sourly as he rubs his shoulder where I had punched it. I feel a smirk curl my lips as I see him rub the sore spot.


    Don''t get me wrong, I''m not a sadist and I don''t hurt others. The punch to his shoulder hadn''t been hard at alI. I doubt it would leave a bruise. The reason why I smirked is because I feel like I have grown a lot.


    You see, when Johny and I met each other, we were both admitted to a hospital. I was the weak child, always on death''s door. Johny was the one with the severe case of narcolepsy. We were both very physically weak at the time. But from the two of us, at least he could get out of bed on his own. When I was well enough to be discharged, I made a point of working on my physical strength. And now, I am proud to say that I''ll be trying for my black belt in Judo soon.


    "It''s not that bad here, is it? I like living here. If my dad didn''t need to relocate for his job, I would have stayed here until the end of my days."


    "Psh, tell me one good thing about this place!"


    "It''s home."


    Johny stared at me for a long moment. He didn''t like losing verbal conversations either, but he knew that it wasn''t worth attacking the thing I cared for. Certainly when he was a part of it.


    "Well, if you say it like that," he muttered unhappily.


    "Don''t worry so much. It''ll all turn out fine. Now come here and concentrate on the game. Beating you is no fun like this."

 2. A new everything

    [Alex''s POV - 16 years old ]


    Four months after my friend Johny had made that ridiculous prediction of zombies wanting to eat my brain, I''m sitting high up in a tree. No, not because a horde of zombies is chasing me and climbing a tree was my last resort; Climbing trees is a hobby of mine.


    Up here, in a tree, hidden from the hot summer sun by a full canopy of leaves, the breeze feels slightly cooler. Which, in return, makes it a perfect place to read a book.


    On a ridiculously hot summer day like today, you won''t see me move more than I have to. But down below, on the open grass field next to the tree I''m sitting in, I can hear people cheer enthusiastically. When I sneak a peak between the leaves, I can see a group of friends playing a game of frisbee.


    Honestly, their game looks like a lot of fun. Shall I go down and ask them if I can join the game? No¡­ maybe not. I don''t have the courage to approach them. I never thought I''d be someone who has trouble making friends, but the fear of becoming a recluse is starting to become very real. I even gave up on my initial plan of joining the local judo club because of their incredibly awkward initiation day.


    I focused on exploring my new neighbourhood instead and already quickly found the park. The park in this town is filled with beautiful trees, so it pricked my interest immediately.


    Yet, it didn''t take a genius to realise that nobody else in this town climbs trees. All the trees that look like great trees to sit in are all covered in green algae and thin young branches sprout everywhere. It had been a nightmare to climb them, not to mention dangerously slippery after a downpour. I had ruined a few outfits on it.


    I''m pulled from my thoughts by a flash of blinding light, and quickly hold my hand up to shield my eyes when something hits my palm that would have otherwise hit me in the face. The object bounces off my palm and continues its noisy, bouncy trajectory further down to the ground.


    What was that? A flashy purple disc of some sort? O! The frisbee from the kids on the field below.


    My suspicion gets confirmed when I hear a male voice cheer: "Lucky!! It didn''t get stuck! Otto? Are you trying to boycott this game?"


    I crane my neck and am just in time to see a girl with long blond hair tied together in a ponytail shoot a sheepish, yet apologetic look at someone outside of my field of vision. Why does that girl look apologetic? Hadn''t the male voice called a male name earlier? I must have heard it wrong.


    I hear footsteps move through the grass towards the tree and suddenly I have the urge to flee. Whoever is coming won''t see me, right? Why would anyone look up into a tree?


    I hold my breath when someone steps into my field of vision underneath the tree''s canopy. I think it''s the boy I heard talking earlier. He looks normal enough. A teenager, about my age, who clearly had a recent growth spurt. I can tell because his movements look awkward. As if he isn''t used to the length of his arms and doesn''t know what to do with them. But apart from that, I can''t spot any other signs of puberty. From this distance his skin looks clear and his short brown hair looks kept, even though it is currently dripping wet with sweat. But who wouldn''t be sweating in this weather?


    He stands at the edge of the canopy for a moment, scans the area under the tree, until he spots the frisbee and beelines towards it. I watch as he hunches down to pick it up from the ground, but instead of jumping up happily and running back to his friends, he lingers in his hunched position for a moment longer. It takes me a full three seconds to realise that he''s staring at some sandy foot marks my shoes left on the bark when I climbed it earlier, but by the time my brain manages to figure out that the boy is probably going to look further up into the tree, he is already staring at me.


    I swallow. Why do I feel so busted? I''m allowed to sit in a tree, right? I''m not doing anything wrong.


    However, my sense of unease completely vanishes when the boy loses his balance from his hunched position, releases a yelp and tumbles onto his but. I can''t help but laugh.


    "Damn. You scared the living daylight out of me!" I hear him say as he heaves a sigh in relief.


    "Sorry, I didn''t mean to scare you," I say, as I raise my hand in an apologetic gesture.


    "Dear Lord, for a second there, I thought you were some kind of wood nymph," he mutters more to himself than to me. A wood nymph? Does he mean those mythical creatures associated with nature? That''s a fantasy reference, right? I like it!


    I hadn''t thought about how other people might see me. But now that he mentions it, I can see where he''s coming from.


    "Who are you talking to?" the girl with long blond hair I''d seen earlier asks as she joins the boy under the canopy and I freeze in place again. I hadn''t noticed it before, but this girl is breathtakingly beautiful. A princess type, even though she is wearing a summer T-shirt and shorts, with delicate features and long blond hair that would reach the hollow of her back if it hadn''t been tied up in a ponytail.


    "To the tree spirit up there," the boy says. Honestly, I must have startled him harder than I thought I had, because he still seems out of it.


    "Don''t be ridiculous! Have you been gaming all night again?" she says in a scolding kind of way as she looks up in the tree, until her eyes meet mine and she freezes in surprise too.


    "J-Jasper?" she asks and the boy next to her hums in acknowledgment. "There really is someone there?"


    To me, it feels like the unspoken words "Is he really a tree spirit?" are heavily insinuated in her question. As if she is considering the existence of magic to be true, rather than considering if her friend is playing a prank on her.


    I sigh heavily. Looks like my presence has been exposed. I guess it''s time to climb down.


    My descent to the ground takes me about a minute, but by the time I am standing on the ground next to them, they are gawking at me so intently that it makes me self-conscious.


    "What? Is there something on my face?" I ask awkwardly and the boy seems to snap out of his spell.


    "Sorry," he says as he shakes his head briefly. "But I need you to verbally confirm that you are, in fact, NOT a tree spirit."


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.Now it is my turn to gawk at him. It doesn''t help that I notice the girl nod her head briefly at his statement.


    Wow! Ok. That''s a first.


    "I am not," I say. I see the girl sigh in relief to my answer, but the boy frowns.


    "You are not NOT a tree nymph, or you are not a tree nymph?" he asks.


    "I am not a tree nymph," I clarify quickly. "But then again, why do you even bother to ask? In a world where magic is not supposed to exist, do you think any magical creature would readily confess to being one?"


    "You have a point there," the boy mutters as he holds a thumb and index finger to his face in thought.


    Someone''s laughter at the edge of the canopy, startles me and makes my blood run cold for a second, but then I notice that it isn''t who I thought it was. It''s a girl with dark-blond hair. I think I saw her play along with the frisbee earlier when I snuck a peek through the leaves. She looks relatively similar to the girl with blond hair, but where the blond girl radiates an air of innocence, this girl radiates an air of confidence.


    "I like him," she says as she comes closer to join the conversation. "Don''t mind these two airheads. His name is Jasper, this her is Otto and I am Jessy. What''s your name?"


    Both Jasper and Otto splutter a few words in protest when Jessy calls them airheads, but no one reacts to their complaints.


    So I had heard correct earlier. A girl named Otto.


    "My name is Alex. Alex Black. Nice to meet you."


    "Nice to meet you!" Jessy chimes happily. "Would you like to join our game?"


    I am about to accept her invitation, when my phone chimes. I don''t need to look at the message to know what it says, but check to be sure anyway.


    "I would love to, but I got a text from my dad, just now, to let me know that dinner is served." I show them the message on my phone to prove that I''m not lying.


    In return, Jasper''s face goes white and he gasps in surprise: "It''s already twenty past six?! O, my God! My mom is going to kill me!!"


    To his reaction, Jessy looks exasperatedly at the sky and says: "Well, I guess that''s the end of all of our game."


    "Sorry," I say to her, but in return she looks up in surprise and then grins, not mad at all.


    "Not your fault in the slightest. If anything, I hope we bump into you earlier the next time we play at the park."


    "I''m looking forward to that," I say, as I glance a little distractedly at Jasper who is scrambling to gather his things and is calling his goodbye from to open grassfield.


    "Anyway, bye," I say as I wave shortly at the two remaining friends and leave after they''ve said their goodbyes.


    I look over my shoulder one last time when I hear Otto''s laugh chim all the way over to where I''m walking. Jessy must have cracked some kind of joke because I can see her playfully elbow Otto, which quickly turns into an impromptu game of tag as they run from my view.


    That group of friends seems like a lot of fun. A little on the crazy side, but fun.


    I''ve had a lot less fun encounters in this town already.


    It still gives me shivers when I think back on it.


    A little over a week ago, I had been exploring the park, searching for good trees to sit in. I''d already climbed two, which hadn''t been easy because of all the baby-twigs that grew everywhere. I was covered in grime and felt really sweaty, when a girl suddenly stood next to me.


    "Hi there! I''m Hanna! What are you doing?" She said. I had been looking up into a tree to figure out the best way to climb it and she was mimicking that now. If I had to guess, I''d say she was at least two years younger than me, based on her size, but there were a few factors which made me doubt that. She was standing so close to me that I got a rather skewed view of her, but I could see auburn hair hanging in large curls over her shoulders, a little bow keeping the hair out of her face. Her chocolate eyes were looking up into the tree, even though I was pretty sure she wasn''t actually seeing it. Her lips were screwed up into a mischievous grin and her chest was pushed out purposefully which gave me a full view of her cleavage with lace embroidered bra and everything. A giggling at the edge of the tree caught my attention and I noticed two more girls standing there. One tall and skinny, the other short and plump. They never introduced themselves, so I refer to them as Tweedledee and Tweedledum in my mind.


    At this point, I got a really bad feeling about these girls, but I hadn''t talked to anybody my age in over a month, so I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.


    "I''m trying to find a comfortable tree to read in," I''d decided to answer her question as I step away from her, around the tree, looking back up again, uncomfortable with the lack of distance between us.


    "Wow! You climb trees?! Nobody ever does that these days!" she chirped overly-happy, like a bird, and with a few hops she was practically glued to my side again.


    "Do you mind?" I asked, as I awkwardly pushed her an arms-length away from me. "I can''t climb if you''re standing this close to me."


    "O! Sorry!" she said, grinning at me like the Cheshire cat, but at least she keeps her distance this time. I decided to ignore her and go back to what I was doing. So I reached up to test the sturdiness of one of the lowest hanging branches, but before I could even start to tug on it, I felt two small hands going up and down the sides of my stomach. I jumped away startled, and quickly pulled at the bottom of my T-shirt, which had ridden up because of my reaching for the branch. Hanna had taken the liberty to fondly me because of it.


    "Oh! Sorry," she chuckled, a fierce blush colouring her cheeks. At the very least she had the decency to look ashamed. But then she continued with: "Ticklish, are you? I''ll keep that in mind next time. Those are some fine abs you have there. Is that just from climbing trees?"


    A shiver runs through me once again at the memory. Despite the hot temperature, both my arms are covered in goosebumps.


    I walked away that day with my head held high and I''ve taken care to avoid those girls since then, but I can''t help but notice that they''ve left me scarred. I''ve never been super sociable, but I''ve never avoided people either. Heck, it had probably made the extremely awkward initiation day at the Judo club worse.


    I sigh. I miss Johny. And I hate that I only now understand why he''d asked if I wasn''t scared to move.

 3. First day of school - Faces in the crowd

    [Alex''s POV]


    On the first day of school, I find myself standing in the middle of a whirling and swirling sea of people. I mean... I already knew that this town is chockfull of people, but this is bordering on the absurd!


    I''d arrived about half an hour ago, and at that time, it was still calm. I''d even found a bench in the sun to sit on. So I''d closed my eyes and basked in its warmth. I must have fallen asleep at some point, because I startled awake when I felt a soft leg press to the side of my leg. I''m a little ashamed to admit that my first thought was that Hanna was touching me again, because when I opened my eyes to see what was going on, I found myself surrounded by a lot of unfamiliar boys and girls. Apparently, in the twenty minutes in which I hadn''t been paying attention, the courtyard had gotten really crowded. There were so many people sitting next to me, that it was a miracle that they hadn''t touched me earlier. The person sitting next to me, the one who had touched my leg, didn''t even resemble Hanna. It was a girl with gray eyes and freckles covering her nose, she instantly turned bright red and started spluttering an apology. While she was apologising, I noticed a boy at the edge of the bench, snickering in his fist. He was probably the one that had pushed her against me, so I smiled at the girl and said: "No problem. If anything, I''m sorry for not noticing sooner that I am in the way. Bye."


    For some reason, the girl started to blush even worse, all the way to her shoulders, and the guy at the other side of the bench seemed to be blushing too. Strange, but it didn''t matter. I wasn''t part of that company, so I got up and walked away.


    An action I regret badly now that I am standing here in this swirling sea of people. People constantly bump into me as they try to make their way through the crowd. At first I''d apologised every time, but I''d gotten tired of all the "what''s up with this guy"-glances I got in return. I wish the bell would ring already so we could all go the class. At least we''d all have a seat and some room to breath. With the number of students already standing in the courtyard, I had hoped that all of the students would have arrived already, but I see that a lot of students are still streaming in.


    As if the situation hadn''t been bad enough already, I see Hanna enter the courtyard. I watch her as her eyes scan the crowd. She won''t spot me in such a crowded place, right? Wrong again. My blood runs cold when her eyes meet mine and a shiver runs down my spine when she smiles at me mischievously. I had feared the possibility, but to have my suspicion confirmed is terrible news! Hanna attends this school too. In the past two weeks before school, it had become increasingly difficult to avoid her. Not only at the park, but at the shopping district too. Luckily, she hadn''t touched me anymore, but she''d been very pushy; constantly inviting me to places I''d never been before and buying me gifts. Or worse, nagging me to buy her a gift.


    I had to get away before she managed to make herself a way through the crowd towards me.


    I''d hardly managed to kick myself into gear, when an arm appeared in front of my chest to stop me. I follow the arm to a face and find a slightly familiar looking boy, a little taller than me, with dark brown eyes and light brown hair made up to stand messily on end.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings."Alex! My man! How''ve you been?" he says with a genuine smile on his face. The familiarity in his tone catches me completely off guard and combined with the terror I''m feeling because Hanna will be biting at my heels even at school, I accidentally give him a very dirty look. I can tell that it is a dirty look because he instantly takes a step back and raises his hand in surrender.


    "Wowa! You do NOT remember me at all," he says. He looks startled by my reaction. "It''s me, Jasper! From the park¡­ you were sitting in a tree? I thought you were a tree nymph?"


    Tree nymph? Ah, yes. That''s why he seemed familiar. I hadn''t recognised him because he''s all cleaned up and in a school uniform.


    "Ah, yes. Jasper, you say? Sorry about that. I moved here at the start of summer from a remote, quiet town. And let me tell you that keeping all the faces apart has been quite the challenge," I say, as I nervously look over my shoulder in the direction of Hanna. She''s looking at me with a neutral face. As if she doesn''t like that I''m talking to someone, but doesn''t want to show it on her face. It''s a relief to see that she''s keeping her distance.


    "Caught Hanna''s eye, have you?" Jasper chuckles next to me. "I have to say, I''m impressed that you haven''t thrown yourself at her feet yet. Hanna packs a mean punch when she sets her eyes on someone."


    "Huh?" I find myself uttering in surprise as I turn my attention back to Jasper.


    "Ah! You only recently moved here, so you wouldn''t know, but Hanna has quite the reputation. I think she''s dated at least half of the guys at school," Jasper explains calmly.


    "Half?! Does that include you?"


    "No, not me. I rubbed her in the wrong way some time ago and she won''t even look at me without frowning."


    Well, that explains why Hanna isn''t glued to my side right now. I glance over my shoulder towards her, and notice that she''s given up completely.


    "My savior," I sigh in relief and Jasper chuckle.


    "My pleasure. Although it surprises me that if you''re this repulsed by her, that she hasn''t given up on you yet. Have you tried to tell her to stop bothering you?"


    I think about it for a second. I think that I have been rather clear in my dislike for her. But no, I don''t think I''ve said the actual words out loud.


    "Hmm, perhaps you''re right. I''ll try that the next time she bothers me."


    Jasper nods but doesn''t continue the subject.


    "So¡­ you moved, huh? Is this your first day at a new school?" He asks instead.


    "Yeah, ¡­ I actually don''t know anyone here. I''ll be glad to be introduced to my classmates. You know, to actually find some familiar faces in the crowd?"


    "Well, you know me. You''re always welcome to hang around with me and my friends. "


    "Your friends, huh? Are you talking about those girls?"


    "Jessy and Otto, yes, I sure am. We''d actually hoped to run into you again at the park, but it never happened."


    "Really?" I mumble, wondering why I hadn''t bumped into them. It wasn''t like I hadn''t been at the park anymore, but I hadn''t seen them either.


    "Would you like to go to them?" Jasper asks.


    "Yeah, sure! Why not?"


    He grins and off we go.

 4,1 First day of school - Happy reunion

    [Otto''s POV]


    "I''d chose a vacation with family over a beach-holiday to flirt with strangers any day!" Lindsey shouted.


    "Aw, come on, you strange anti-sexual girl! I''ll admit that your little brother is cute, but I don''t think it is healthy that you don''t look at other boys!" Jessy countered.


    Meet Jessy and Lindsey. They usually get along just fine, but a simple "Hey! Long time no see! How was your vacation?" was enough to get them going. They''ve been shooting verbal balls at each other for the past ten minutes now, and although I am learning a lot from their verbal match, I''m starting to feel like I''m watching a game of tennis too closely. Well, they are both strong minded after all. Isn¡¯t it only natural that they collide sometimes?


    ¡°We can¡¯t all prance around on the beach, dressed in a scantily bathing suite, just to see how many heads you can turn,¡± Lindsey says through gritted teeth.


    "It''s better than not showing any skin at all! You better watch out, Lindsey. You might become an old spinster at this rate," Jessy shoots another verbal ball at Lindsey, aiming for an ace.


    "Just because I take my sweet time doesn''t mean that I''ll die a virgin, Jessy! You, on the other hand, might end up as a teenage mom," Lindsey hits the ball right back and scores. I briefly regretted not keeping the score. How many did this make? Game? Set? I¡¯m not sure.


    "Oh! My! God! Did you call me a slut?!" Jessy yells clearly offended. It also means that they have finished playing. Jessy and Lindsey are already glaring at each other, ready for a catfight. Things will only spiral out of control from this point onwards.


    Time to intervene.


    "Oh! For crying out loud! Are the two of you going to argue all morning? Because I''m leaving if you are!" I shout, startling the both of them. Jessy and Lindsey blink at me stupidly for a few seconds, but the surprise on their faces quickly morphs into a cheeky grin.


    "Did you hear that?" Jessy murmurs not-so-secretly to Lindsey. "The topic changed to sex and it suddenly became too much."


    "Sweet little Otto. Still so innocent," Lindsey giggles, all arguments between them forgotten.


    "Oh no, you didn''t! Seriously? You turned on me?!" I ask incredulously. "Ok! That''s it! I''m leaving! I wonder where Jasper could be?"


    I say as I turn to leave but don''t get far as Jessy and Lindsey both trap me in a smothering hug.


    "No! Otto, don''t leave! I''m sorry!" Jessy wails.


    "No! Not Jasper! Please, not him!" Lindsey begs melodramatically.


    I can''t help but laugh at the clear distinction between their reactions. Both are a typical thing for them to say.


    It is obvious that Jessy would beg for her best friend not to leave, since she doesn''t mind Jasper''s presence. Jessy, Jasper and I have all been friends since kindergarten. We know each other so well, that we don''t even need words anymore to know what the other is thinking.


    Lindsey, on the other hand, only joined our class two years ago. Jessy has tried to pull her into our little group of close friends, but her strong dislike of Jasper and the fact that she still has friends from her previous class, have made her the odd one out. I have no idea why she doesn''t like Jasper. He is full of shit, but he wouldn''t hurt a fly.


    We all freeze at the sound of a hearty chuckle, which I instantly recognise as Jasper.


    "That looks like fun! Group hug!" he says and instantly Lindsey scurries away for Jasper''s heavy weight to replace hers.


    "Ah! Good morning Jasper," I say as I turn around in his embrace and hug him back. Jessy doesn''t greet him but grumbles something along the lines of "You''re too close!" under her breath and clings a little harder to me.


    "Good morning ladies! How are you today?" Jasper asks.


    "I''m so glad you''re finally here! These two have been arguing and bullying me all morning!" I complain, well aware that I sound like a spoiled little child. "Where have you been anyway? You''re late!"


    "Right? Oh boy, do I have a surprise for you," Jasper says quietly so only Jessy and I can hear him. He is smiling his shit-eating grin again. He only smiles like that when he knows something we don''t.


    Without waiting for either of our reactions, Jasper takes a theatrical step aside, his hands making a grand sweeping motion as he reveals someone standing behind him.


    I suck in a breath as I recognise the boy behind him immediately. Behind Jasper stands the boy we''d met at the park during the summer break, Alex. I''d made the mistake of commenting on his good looks, in exactly the same way I would if I''d see a movie star in real life. I really had though he was some kind of fairy when I''d seen him sitting in that tree. He isn''t just good looking, he has features that make him seem otherworldly. Like his bright blue eyes and his silky, darker than black hair.


    Sadly enough, I''d only realised that it was a mistake when I''d seen Jessy grin at me slyly.


    Jessy has tried to set me up with a boyfriend for years, but the only thing her match-making has resulted in so far is that I cringe every time she introduces me to a new boy.


    I had made her promise not to try and set me up with anyone anymore, and Jessy had (reluctantly) agreed. But I hadn''t counted on Jasper trying to set me up. That''s a first. It makes me wonder what Jessy promised him for doing so.


    I glance at Jessy sideways. She catches my glance immediately, presses her lips into a thin line, shakes her head ever so slightly and shrugs in the smallest of gestures. The others probably hadn''t even seen it. But I knew that it was her way of silently telling me; "It wasn''t me. But, o well, let''s roll with it!"


    I take care to not roll my eyes at her, since the boys would undoubtedly read it the wrong way, and bring my focus back to Alex.


    As if his attractive features weren''t enough, he had clearly put some thought into his style today. His shiny, straight, medium-long hair, is currently swept aside as if it was lazily racked to one side with a hand, and his school uniform is hugging his chest in a way that a summer T-shirt never could, accentuating his strong, but lean figure.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    He seems a little skittish, as if he is nervous about what we think of him. But that can''t be. Someone as good-looking as him has to be brimming with confidence, right? I dare to bet that it has rotten his personality too.


    I watch his eyes flash nervously from one person to the next as he waits for any of us to say something.


    His eyes truly are the most mesmerising bright blue I''ve ever seen. They are definitely his best feature.


    "Jessy, Otto, Lindsey? This is Alex," Jasper says. "Alex? Let me introduce to you. These are Jessy, Otto and Lindsey. You''ve met Jessy and Otto before, right?"


    "Yes, I have. You were at the park that day," Alex says and holds out his hand towards Jessy so she can shake it.


    "So you remember us. Hi! Nice to meet you. I''m Jessy," she says enthusiastically as she grabs his hand with both of hers and shakes it energetically. Alex nods in acknowledgement, Jessy lets go of his hand and then he reaches it to the next in line, which is me. I stare at his hand for a moment.


    "He isn''t the devil," I chid myself mentally. Shaking his hand won''t seal some kind of deal. All I have to do is say "Hi" and shake his hand like Jessy did. Polite and spontaneous.


    "Hi," I say as I smile politely and finally grab his hand to shake. But I had been wrong. Touching his hand was the worst thing I could have possibly done. My body reacts to his touch like a junky with withdrawal symptoms to drugs. Instantly, all my hackles stand on end and for a split second, I can imagine myself rubbing my body against his, like a cat with an itch. An utterly terrifying thought! I''ve clearly underestimated the effect of raging hormones.


    I manage about half a shake before I let go of his hand with flying haste, subtly swipe my hand at the fabric of my uniform skirt and finally place them in my sides in a (failed) attempt to hide my awkwardness.


    "Don''t be so shallow," I chid myself in thought once again. I''m a firm believer in the principle of "the inside is more important than the outside" and I am not going to change that now.


    Yet, I do feel ashamed of how I reacted to him. I can''t look at him. I feel so deadly embarrassed. I curse myself. Why is it so hard to just shake his hand politely? How stupid to let my emotions get the better of me.


    I notice Jasper raise a questioning brow at me and Jessy is looking at me with pity.


    Alex''s hand is hanging aimlessly in between us, not making its way to Lindsey anymore. I dare to sneak a glance at him and cringe once more. He looks so confused! Bordering on hurt. And the worst part is that I caused him to look like that. It makes my heart ache.


    I want to apologise but don''t know how. What could I say? "Hey? I''m sorry for acting strange. It''s not every day that you meet such a good-looking boy as yourself." I want to slap myself for even thinking that preposterous combination of words!


    Well, ... at least he won''t look at me twice now.


    ...


    Good.


    That way I won''t have to worry about accidentally leading him on either.


    A familiar clicking noise brakes me away from my train of thoughts. Everybody looks up in surprise.


    Lindsey is known for her passion for photography. If she isn''t looking through a lens, she is constantly searching for different lightings and settings. Lindsey has been happily snapping pictures of us ever since we became friends. If we go on an excursion, school-related or not, she always brings her large photo camera with adapted zooming lens. On an average day, she has to settle for the camera of her smartphone. Not that it matters. Lindsey makes every photo look great!


    Everybody is used to Lindsey taking pictures. Alex however, is new.


    "Did she take a picture just now?" he asks, confusion dripping from his voice, as Lindsey snaps another few pictures. Her smartphone makes an artificial clicking noise every time she does.


    "Yes. Yes she did," Jasper says, I can tell that he''s wondering if Lindsey''s timing could be any worse. "Alex? Meet Lindsey. She''s an aspiring photographer."


    "Ok. That explains why she''s taking pictures," Alex says. Another click. "How many is she going to take?"


    "As many as she wants," Jasper shrugs. Click!


    "Why? It''s not like this is a very memorable moment." Alex is starting to raise his hands against the camera now, clearly feeling uncomfortable. "She doesn''t just dump them all on the internet, does she?"


    "Not all of them. Only the best make it into her portfolio. And she makes the most awesome yearbooks!" Jasper says. Undoubtedly, he completely missed the reason behind Alex''s question.


    Another click.


    "Ok, enough," I interrupts the stream of clicking noises. "Lindsey, sweetheart, can''t you see that it''s making him uncomfortable?"


    Only now does Lindsey look up from her smartphone, blushing slightly.


    "Sorry," she says. "I should have asked beforehand. It''s just that, when I see a perfect picture, I''ll want to capture it and the camera tends to walk away with me."


    Alex''s eyebrows rise at her explanation and he blinks a few times rapidly as if he has trouble processing the new information. Then he clears his throat and says: "That''s alright. I guess I''m just not used to having my picture taken."


    His shy reaction doesn¡¯t go unnoticed. I share a glance with Jessy. Not used to having his picture taken? That couldn''t be right. If he had been ugly, I might have believed him, but not with his looks. Honestly, it surprises me that Lindsey has held out as long as she has. It was strange to call a boy beautiful, but he was beautiful in the same way you''d call a diamond beautiful. Heck, he is beautiful enough to confuse him for a real wood nymph!


    Yet I couldn''t shake the strange feeling that his reaction was genuine. After all, he hadn''t instantly ducked away at the first sign of a camera like someone who didn''t like to have his picture taken. He''d genuinely looked unsure of what to do.


    I''m pulled from my musings by the sound of the first period bell. I usually sigh at the sound of it, reluctant to start a day of learning. But today it sounds like a release, mercifully cutting our awkward conversation short.

 4,2 First day of school - Entrance ceremony

    [Alex''s POV]


    All the students that were a part of the whirling and swirling see outside on the courtyard earlier, are now all filing into a large common room.


    I follow Jasper and his friends inside and take place on a chair next to him, but he has been talking to the blond girl... What was her name again? Ah, yes. Otto.


    I''m pretty sure that she doesn''t like me, so I don''t join in on their conversation. Yet, she had helped me earlier... Perhaps things aren''t as bad as I thought they were?


    As I am waiting patiently, I noticed a man dressed up in a white shirt with a grey tie, a dark brown trench coat, and dark grey pants stand on a stage at the front of the room. His greying hair is neatly combed backwards and fine, round, golden rimmed glasses rest on the end of his nose as he watches the students take place on the twelve rows of chairs in front of the stage. The man is lean and all sharp edges, except for his eyes and smile. They are curled in a warm smile.


    "Ok, I think we''re all here. Quiet down," he says, his strong voice amplified by the speakers. "Before I start; the students standing in the back, would you please come and sit here in the front? There are three empty rows here. You know, it strikes me that, the higher the grade gets, the more empty rows there will be in front. No need to be afraid, I don''t bite."


    The standing students hesitate for a moment but comply.


    "Welcome, everybody, to this new school year at Albert Valley High. My name is Eric Oakley, but you shall refer to me as Mr. Oakley or Principal," the man on stage introduces himself. "I see a lot of returning faces, ... and some new ones. Which is good. One half of you will be third years, and the other half will be fourth years. Let''s move on to the class division. Third grade is divided into five groups, the fourth grade into four. Following, the teachers representing each class will come forth on stage and announce its student''s list. Please wait until the complete list has been announced before you leave your seat."


    With those words, the principal steps aside and hands the microphone to a young looking female teacher who takes his place, introduces herself, and starts calling names.


    "Hey, I forgot to ask. Which major will you be attending?" Jasper drew my attention to him.


    "Science. You?" I answer. His face lights up.


    "Oh! You''ll be part of our class then! Each major has just one class per year, you see. Only the economics major has two classes," he chatters away happily in a hushed tone. I feel myself smile at his answer. Somehow, it is reassuring to know that I won''t be joining a group of nameless faces.


    I watch as one by one, all the third year students get up and leave. Little by little, the hall becomes less crowded and I feel myself breathe a sigh of relief. I think that I might be developing a fear of crowds.


    "Hello. I am Mrs. Marvels and I will be announcing the fourth year, science major," a young female teacher says when she takes place on stage. If I had to describe her, I would say bubbly. Her face is round, and even though she isn''t fat, she looks soft. It''s funny to see how Jasper immediately focus his attention on her. Like a dog who spotted a squirrel. The teacher then continues to call names of students. "Micheal Carter, Tom Cook, Anthony Cooper, Xander Douglas, Odette Havens, Nick Mitchell, Nicolas Parker, William Roberts, Emanuel Rodriguez, Jasper Romano, Lindsay Swan, Jessy Thompson and Edd Walker."


    Well, that went sour quickly. It''s good to know now that, at the very least, Jasper wasn''t lying about being a science major, even though he might be thinking otherwise about me.


    "They didn''t call your name?" Jasper asks me, sounding slightly confused.


    "They didn''t. I noticed it too," I say, unsure of what he expects me to say.


    "And you''re sure that you are a science major? It must be a mistake then," he says as he gets up with the others and hurries towards Mrs. Marvels. I watch as he addresses her, and they go over the list in her hands together. When the result seems to yield a negative again, Mrs. Marvels reaches towards the principal and explains him hurriedly what Jasper told her. To her explanation the principal frowns, asks her something to which she shrugs and they both turn to Jasper who points at me. I stiffen as the principal meets my eyes and I wave awkwardly. At first his brows are furrowed in a very serious expression, but when he sees me, he blinks a few times, his expression straightens out, his lips press together into a thin line and he starts walking towards me.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.Wowa?! What was that!? Did he school his face into a poker face just now? That couldn''t be. He''d been so expressive and charismatic just a second ago!


    "Alex Black, correct?" the principal says once he reaches me. Great, he knows me by name. Now I can be sure that, whatever reason he has to shield his emotions behind a poker face, is personal.


    "Yes sir," I say politely, hoping for the slight chance that I''m reading too much into everything. After all, I had met him a few times before and he hadn''t given me any reason before to think that he disliked me.


    "What''s all this nonsense about a science major? Your grades for languages on the entrance exam were the highest this school has ever seen," the principal says seriously. "I was under the impression that your father prefered you to continue your language studies too."


    Ah, there it is; the reason for the principal''s hostility. It was true that I''d aced the language aspect of the entrance exam. I even remember my dad bragging about how I''d corrected some mistakes on exceptions the teacher had made.


    I have a natural talent for languages. I''m able to converse with people in French, Mandarin and Arabic. I learned a decent amount of Japanese too, from watching animes and understand a good amount of Spanish, even though telenovelas really aren''t my thing. But the language the principal is talking about is Latin.


    Honestly, I''d searched far and wide for a school that could provide the same level in language studies my previous school had provided me with, and there were a few, but I''d be spending more time traveling to and from school than what I''d actually be in school. So I''d chosen convenience above quality. And since the level of the language major at this school would bore me out of my mind, I''d chosen for something new entirely.


    Still, there is nothing I can gain by telling the principal this. In the best case, the school would adapt its teachings to meet my level, but that would take time and would probably only produce real results after I graduate. In the worst case scenario, these truths could offend the principal and he could ostracize me or I could be subjected to his disfavor.


    "Isn''t that all the more reason to try something new, sir?" I ask, playing it safe. He glares at me thoughtfully for a long moment, but then sighs.


    "Will you at least join our team in this year''s IOL?" he finally asks with a sigh.


    "I think that would count as cheating sir," I chuckle. "And honestly, I would appreciate your discretion on the subject."


    The principle sighs again.


    "Very well. Then there''s nothing I can do, honestly. I''d hoped that, when I got your papers to enroll you in the science major, that it had been a mistake, so I wanted to talk to you before classes started. Did you receive the checklist of things you''ll need for this school year?"


    "Yes sir. I have all of my books and a few uniforms. The only thing I still need to buy are gym clothes."


    "Hmm, ok. You can buy those here at school. Do you know where?"


    "No sir, I don''t know my way around the school yet."


    "Understandably. Ask Jasper to show you around after classes end today. From what I can tell, the boy has taken a liking to you. Now, hurry off. It looks like Mrs. Marvels is ready to head to the classroom."


    With a last "Yes sir." I hurry off towards my new class. Jasper is looking down, at the feet of the person in front of him, so he doesn''t notice me nearing. I dare say he looks a little down spirited too. What''s that all about?


    I elbow him when I join the cue to go outside.


    "I''m back! Did you miss me?" I ask jokingly. Jasper''s eyes grow comically wide when he sees me.


    "You''re back?!" he asks, seemingly pleasantly surprised. "Did you clear up the misunderstanding then?"


    "I have."


    "Yes!!" Jasper cheers happily, traps me in a hug around my shoulders and lifts me off the floor like a child would do with a teddy bear.


    "Huh? Jasper?! What are you doing?! Put me down!" I stutter surprised.


    "Welcome aboard, Alex." Jessy joins the conversation. "This idiot was already sulking at the thought that you might not be in our class after all."


    Jasper finally releases me. I thought he would refute Jessy''s statement, but he didn''t seem bothered by it at all.


    "Yeah, good to be here."

 4,3 First day of school - Conducted tour

    [Alex''s POV]


    "Thanks for showing me around, Jasper," I say as we stand in line to buy some sportswear with the school''s insignia on. Six people are waiting in front of us, which is a lot if Jaspers sigh is an accurate indicator. However, it looks like some of the people in the queue are only there as moral support, much like how Jasper has joined me. Which brings the number down to four, of which the first one has just left.


    "No problem. Though, I think I''ll have to be more selective about what I show next time. It''s been over an hour since we started the tour," Jasper says, checking his watch.


    "Oh? I don''t know. It can be very useful to know the location of every single toilet on campus," I snicker as we shift a position forward in the queue. "And every broom closet! Who knew they could be so spacious!"


    With fake modesty, I place a hand on my chest and flutter my lashes at Jasper.


    "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it already! Just don''t blame me the next time you get lost," Jasper snarks at me. "Now stop it. You''re giving people the wrong idea, and I will not have you ruin my reputation, thank you very much."


    "I don''t think you need me for that," I laugh, all traces of innocence gone and turn my attention to the lady at the counter. "Three T-shirts, please. Thank you."


    "Three T-shirts?! Hell, I''ve been attending this school for years, and I only have two! What do you need three for?" Jasper asks incredulously as I pay and shove everything in my backpack.


    I use the created momentum to think. Even though Jasper doesn''t know it yet, and I plan to keep the fact from him for as long as I can, it''s true that I have no shortage of money. But three T-shirts aren''t an act of decadency. It''s a tolerated luxury. True, if I were truly prudent, and always make sure that one T-shirt is being washed while the other is being worn, two T-shirts should suffice. But life happens, and it isn''t like the third T-shirt is doomed to rot away in an overstuffed closet. It is an acceptable buffer to make sure I''ll never have to exercise in clothes which smell like last week''s sweat.


    So I look at Jasper in slight disgust and say: "I hate to smell."


    He looks at me as if he is waiting for me to start laughing. But sadly for him, I do stand on good hygiene.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation."Ah, good point," he suddenly sputters when he seems to realise that I am not joking. "Maybe I should buy some extra too, considering my current ones are starting to get too small."


    Jasper turns his attention back to the counter until he sees that the lady at the counter has moved on to the next customer already. Then he takes in the line that is still six people long, sighs and says; "On second thought, it can wait. Let''s go home!"


    "That sounds like a plan," I laugh.


    "Go on, lead the way. Show me you''ve learned something from my teachings!" Jasper says in a loud and proud voice.


    "Y- Your teachings?! Oh! I know! If we take a detour through these classrooms, we pass by three more broom closets!"


    "Oh, very funny!" Jasper sneers, and I nod proudly, "Well, laugh all you want! I happen to have noticed that you are beelining to the exit. I''m so proud of you, my pupil!"


    "Ugh, pupil?" I mumble in dislike. "That''s sure to dent my self-esteem."


    "What?! Oh, come on! That one was below the belt, bro!" Jasper whines unhappily.


    "No, it wasn''t!" I laugh. "We''ve played enough introduction games this morning for me to know that if you were to teach me something, I''d most likely end up with amnesia. That, and the fact that Michael should never take off his shoes."


    My reply has Jasper snickering until he bursts out a laugh. I feel a smile tug at the corner of my mouth too. I like how honest and light-hearted Jasper is. He chose to laugh at my joke, even though I''m pretty sure I said a mean truth out loud. That, or he has a one track mind and I managed to distract him. I''m not quite sure which one it is yet.


    "Oh! So true!" Jasper laughs. "Last spring he had dared to take off one shoe, and after five minutes the teacher was hanging out of the window for fresh air!"


    "I can imagine," I say with a small smile. Not because I find what he said particularly funny, but because Jasper seems to have fond memories of the event.


    We both slow our walk and stop when it becomes clear that our paths are about to split. We stand in silence for a moment. Both seeming to contemplate if there are things that need to be said today and can''t wait until tomorrow, but there aren''t. So I raise my hand and say: "See you tomorrow?"


    "Yes! See you," Jasper agrees. We both wave each other goodbye and go our separate ways.

 4,4 First day of school - On the way home part 1

    [Alex''s POV]


    I am on my way home, following the shortcut through the park, minding my own business, when a female cry suddenly disturbs the peaceful ambience around me.


    "Ah! No, Thomas! Stop it!"


    The -very- female cry has me frozen in my tracks and I can feel my cheeks glowing. That was, by far, the most sensual thing I''d ever heard. And even though I''m pretty sure that the cry had no erotic context at all, I can feel the heat of my blush creep all the way down my neck.


    How embarrassing. I''m glad nobody is around to see me flush. It would be all too clear to anyone who saw me that I do not have ANY experience with girls. Or women, for that matter. None at all.


    My own mother vanished when I was just a baby and even in the small town I called home, girls were a rarity. Ok, I know what girls are like from television shows, but it''s not the same as a real girl. So yeah, maybe the bar for "the most sensual cry I ever heard" isn''t raised very high.


    Is doing naughty things on a desolated forest path even a thing? I can''t imagine myself doing those things anywhere else than in the privacy of my own bedroom. Ok, I would have to suffer through my dad making jokes about it afterwards, but it would still be better than being caught in public somewhere.


    "Get your mind out of the gutter," I scold myself quietly with a soft shake of my head and concentrate on my environment. I am strongly hoping that I imagined the whole thing, but in the small case that I didn''t, I''d rather be safe than sorry. It is not because I don''t have any experience with girls that I want to "gain experience" from a couple halfway through the act.


    So I wait and listen to see if I can spot where the cry earlier came from, but I can''t find anything that seems out of place. I take a careful step forward, still on high alert for anything that moves or makes a sound. I still haven''t heard any new cries and with a bit of luck, I really did imagine the whole thing.


    But it seems that was too much to wish for. I literally follow a turn in the path and there they are, in plain sight, not even trying to hide: A delicate-looking girl, with a large boy looming over her.


    I quickly duck behind a tree.


    "Crap! What now?" I think as I search for a way around them. But before I can find a solution, the couple''s conversation catches my ear.


    "No. No excuses. I won''t let you go until you tell me," the boy says in a confident tone.


    "There really is nothing to tell, I swear! We just met him today," the girl says. She sounds a lot less confident. I dare to say that she even sounds nervous, bordering on scared.


    What is that all about?


    I dare to glance around the tree I''m hiding behind. But sadly, I can''t see either of their faces. Either way, the large boy is looming over the girl, and now that I am actually looking at them, it doesn''t look like a "friendly" situation at all. The large boy is holding the girl by the wrist and has her forced with her back against a tree.


    "Why do you want to know his name anyway? If you want to know it so badly, go ask him yourself! Now, let go already! You''re hurting me," the girl says as she struggles to free her wrist from his grasp, but the guy merely laughs.


    Ok, I''ve seen enough.


    "She told you to let go," I say firmly as I step from my hiding place.


    "Move along boy, this is none of your business," the offender says as he glares at me over his shoulder. Because of the tiny bit that the boy moved, both of their faces come into view, but the only face I see is the one of the girl.


    I stiffen.


    "Otto?" I ask incredulously as our eyes lock and she seems to panic.


    "Alex?" she asks shakily.


    "Speak of the devil," Otto''s offender says as he grins widely. I frown. I do not like where this is going.


    "Leave him alone, Thomas," Otto says but winces as the tiny bit she struggled is met with a push in the opposite direction.


    "Stop it! You''re hurting her!" I say as I rush forward, place my arm in between them and slowly but firmly push Otto''s offender away from her to create some distance between the two. The guy doesn''t resist or oppose me at all. On the contrary, he seems to move away voluntarily. But just in case, I step in between the two, with my back towards Otto.


    "Ah! Haha. Ho- there, tiger! No need to pierce me with that glare. I wasn''t looking for a fight. Just having a chat with an old friend," the boy says while holding his hands up in surrender.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.A civil enough answer. I might have started to doubt whether I had misunderstood the situation, if it weren''t for the cocky grin still visible on the guy''s face.


    I glare at him and clench my teeth. Oh, how I''d like to wipe that grin off his face. But before I can retort anything, I feel Otto grab onto the back of my shirt in the same way a small child would reach for its parent''s hand when it is frightened. I''m so surprised that my glare falters and I look over my shoulder towards her curiously.


    "Would you look at that! Just someone you met earlier, huh?" Thomas says in a defying way. "Look at the way he''s protecting you. Look at the way you''re cowering behind him!"


    I see Otto duck her head even further behind me and turn my head to glare at Thomas again.


    I don''t like this guy.


    "Nothing to say? I''ll take it you''re the strong but silent type?" Thomas jokes on, but when he is met with nothing but silence once more, he sighs.


    "Ok, I get it. I know when I''ve outstayed my welcome," he says and turns to leave.


    "See you around ¡­ Alex," Thomas says as he looks over his shoulder one last time, raises his hand in salute and leaves.


    Thank God, he''s gone! I can''t remember the last time that anyone has agitated me as much as he has. I can still feel my nerves sparking. And what makes the feeling worse is that I''m not entirely sure that he''s done anything to warrant my agitation. If anything, it should be Otto who feels agitated by the way he treated her. But she seems more scared than anything else.


    ¡­.


    Wait¡­? Otto!


    Only now I realise that she is still holding on to the back of my shirt with a trembling hand.


    I glance over my shoulder towards her. She seems to be out of sorts. Lost in her own thoughts and trembling from head to toe.


    "He''s gone now," I say quietly over my shoulder. I sincerely hope it sounds kind, because I don''t want to spook her even further.


    She looks up at me questioningly. "Huh?"


    "You can let go now," I clarify, smiling gently.


    Otto instantly flushes bright red and pulls away hastily as if touching me has burned her.


    "Sorry! I didn''t realise I was still holding on to you," she says so nervously that I''m worried that she might have a nervous breakdown.


    "That''s ok, I don''t mind. Calm down," I try to soothe her, but she looks more nervous now than when Thomas had her cornered. So far my effort not to spook her. It made me remember that she had reacted rather strongly to me this morning too. Might she be more scared of me than of that Thomas-guy?


    I take an experimental step backwards.


    If she noticed me doing so, she doesn''t mention it, but she does heave a big sigh to push down her nerves.


    "Sorry," she repeats more calmly this time. "I didn''t mean to involve you in any of that."


    "Again, I don''t mind. Are you ok? Did he hurt you?"


    "I''m fine. He never actually hurts me."


    It might be my imagination, but I get the feeling that she sounded disappointed with herself. I''m not sure that I believe her either. Even if she was talking about physical pain, it definitely left a mental mark on her. Heck, she''d been shivering not even a minute ago.


    "He''s done this before, hasn''t he?" I ask and watch the colour instantly drain from her face.


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about. Would you look at the time? I have to go. Bye!" she says as she theatrically looks at her watch and starts to walk away, ignoring my question pointely.


    So, she''s not going to say anything, huh? I must say, I hadn''t expected her to start telling me her life-story, but her reaction kind of hurts. Not to mention that her reaction answers more of my questions than words possibly could.


    Well, whatever. If she doesn''t want to tell me, she doesn''t have to. So I shrug and resume my walk home. But it doesn''t take long to notice that I''ve fallen into step behind her.


    "Are you following me?" she asks after the third time she spots me while glancing over her shoulder.


    "So you can speak up when something is bothering you," I say in a mocking way.


    Otto instantly halts and spins around on her heels to face me, so fast, that I react a split second too late, resulting in the two of us standing much closer than what I consider comfortable. In fact, it could be described as "nose to nose". It surprises me that she doesn''t back off immediately.


    [ Continues in part 2]

 4,5 First day of school - On my way home - part 2

    [Alex''s POV - continuation of part 1]


    "Weren''t you watching earlier? I did resist. He simply pushed me away!" Otto yells angrily as she pokes a finger in my chest.


    I stare back into her angry, deep blue eyes. I had expected her to ignore me further, but she''d reacted so fiercely. Did that mean she was actually a proud person? Then why hadn''t she reacted this fiercely to Thomas?


    "You like him, don''t you?" I hear myself ask before my brain can catch up. Otto''s eyes turn wide as saucers, which gives me all the answers I need.


    "THAT''S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" she yells angrily and starts stomping away again.


    "Ok, now you''ve lost me. Why the hell are you angry with me?!" I retort in a calm and collected manner, but I can feel myself getting angry.


    "Because you''re annoying and nosy!" she shouts over her shoulder but doesn''t stop stomping away.


    "Oh! So you can tell me I''m annoying, but you can''t stand up to that Thomas-guy? I thought you said he''d never hurt you? What was that earlier anyway? Is it a daily thing for you and him to corner each other in plain sight, for everyone to see? Well, I wish you would chose a more private location next time because I totally got the wrong idea here!" I yell angrily at her retreating form from where I''d stopped earlier. To my surprise, her angry strut slows to a halt and for the longest moment, she just stands there with balled fists.


    "How can you say all the things out loud that I don''t even dare to think about?" she asks ever so softly as she glances over her shoulder at me, but quickly looks away again when a tear escapes her.


    I stand frozen to the ground. I suddenly feel as if someone poured a bucket of ice water over my head. Is she crying? I''ve never seen a girl cry before. Did I make her cry? The realisation itself feels even worse than seeing her being cornered by Thomas.


    Otto huffs, clearly dissatisfied with my lack of reaction, and starts walking away again.


    Before I realise what''s happening, I hear myself yell "Wait!" and the next thing I know, I''m standing behind her and am holding on to her wrist.


    Otto instantly panics.


    "Let go!" she yells, as she tries to pull her wrist from my grasp, but I don''t let go.


    "I''m sorry, ok! I never meant to hurt you," I say loud enough so that I''m sure that she''ll hear me.


    She stops struggling, but her posture is still so stiff that it doesn''t take a genius to realise that she isn''t comfortable with the close proximity at all. I now understand what she told me earlier; "Weren''t you watching earlier? I did resist. He simply pushed me away!"


    If it is this easy to overpower her, even for me who has a similar height to her, I understand that she wouldn''t stand a chance against a guy who is head and shoulders taller than her.


    I suddenly realise that I am still holding on to her wrist and let go hurriedly. I mumble "Sorry" and take a step back.


    An awkward silence follows.


    I can feel her eyes on me, but I can''t bring myself to meet her eyes. It takes a long time before I hear her mumble: "Apology accepted."


    I look up at her in surprise. Apology accepted?


    "Really?" I ask. She has her arms crossed over her chest in a closed-off pose, and is looking away from me now, but glances at me briefly and nods.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon."Thank God," I sigh in a breath of relief and run a hand through my hair. "At this point, I''m no better than that Thomas-guy."


    "I wouldn''t take it that far," Otto mumbles as she glances at me again. I raise a sceptical eyebrow at her.


    "Well, you''re a close second," she admits reluctantly as she avoids looking at me again. I can''t help but huff laugh.


    "At least I know where you''re coming from," I say with a bitter smile. "I wouldn''t trust myself either if I were you."


    This time Otto raises a sceptical eyebrow at me.


    "No, no, no, no! I''m not saying that I''m untrustworthy! I''m usually very level-headed and reliable. I''m just saying that that must be what you are thinking about me. Which is wrong," I try to defend myself but feel like I''m only making things worse.


    I startle when I hear her giggle softly.


    "Why are you laughing?" I ask in confusion.


    "Sorry... I just thought your nervous rambling was cute," she says as she quickly holds a hand in front of her mouth and stops laughing.


    "Are you mocking me?" I ask exasperatedly, even though I''m glad that she''s laughing again. She shakes her head rapidly in reply.


    "I don''t know which is worse," I sigh. "Being thought of as ''no good'' or being called ''cute'' because I was trying to explain that I''m not ''no good''."


    This time she laughs audibly.


    Somehow, I feel like I should be offended by that fact that she''s mocking me, but at the same time I can feel the corner of my mouth pulling up at the sight of her laughing.


    "Look. I know you don''t trust me, and we might not agree on how you handle Thomas, but know that you have a friend in me," I say. "If you ever get tired of fighting off Thomas on your own, know that I''m willing to help. Ok?"


    Otto frowns but says nothing.


    "It doesn''t need to be anything world changing¡­ It can be something as small as walking home together," I continue, but feel like I''m acting too pushy.


    "Does that mean you actually live around here?" she asks. I look up at her in surprise. Something feels off about the way she asked it.


    "Yes I do. I live in the third house of the last street. Why?"


    She hesitates for a long time before she answers: "I kind of thought you were following me."


    "If you mean ''following you'' in the sense of walking behind you because we were going the same direction, then yeah, I was following you."


    "Uhm¡­ no¡­ not like that," she says while her cheeks turn bright red with embarrassment. "Anyway. It doesn''t matter what I thought, because I know it''s not the case now."


    "Aha," I say as I collect my thoughts. Did she think that I was following her with bad intentions? Like a stalker? Normally, I would have felt offended, but now that I know how easily girls are overpowered, I kinda see where she''s coming from.


    "For the record," I ask. "Do you actually live in this neighbourhood? Or were you just trying to get away from me?"


    "I do live in this neighbourhood. This is my street, actually." Her blush flares up again as she answers my question. I chuckle and pat her on the shoulder.


    "Well, anyway. I''m going home! See you at school tomorrow, I guess," I say as I start walking.


    "Yes, bye!" she says as she raises her hand in greeting and we both leave for home.

 4,6 First day of school - Home

    [Alex''s POV]


    When I get home, loud music greets me even before I open the front door. It makes me smile inadvertently. My dad isn''t home often, but when he is, he likes to cook dinner. And when he prepares food, he likes to turn on whatever music that soothes his mood, with the volume loud enough so that it tunes out all the clamour of the kitchen (and a certain someone piping along). The music that greets me today is Spanish salsa, which makes me wonder what we''ll be eating this evening.


    So yeah, the loud music could be considered "normal".


    What isn''t normal, is the smell of something burning which greets me once I enter the living room. My dad is a good cook. He''d never burn his food.


    But the cause of the smell doesn''t stay a mystery for long. I almost immediately spot an unattended flat-iron, face down, plugged in and working on a T-shirt. A thin thread of smoke is rising up from the sizzling parts where the iron touches the fabric. It is on the verge of catching flame.


    I act instantly, sprint to the ironing board, set the flat-iron up straight, unplug it, grabb the first bottle of water I come by and dump its contents on the sizzling T-shirt, just to be safe.


    If those actions seem like a smooth and tested process, that''s because it is. My dad is notorious for wrecking clothes. It''s short of a miracle that he hasn''t burned down the house yet.


    "God damn it, dad!" I yell towards the kitchen but don''t get a reply.


    "DAD!" I yell again, loud enough to be heard over the music this time, and am rewarded with a face peeking around the kitchen corner.


    There he is, Mar Black, my dad. It is clear that I resemble him. We have the same black hair, the same tanned skin, the same build, the same taste for clothes, the same sense of humour, the same interests, ... Everything! Except for the colour of our eyes. My dad''s are grey, while mine are blue.


    For a man in his forties, Mar looks incredibly young. With his shoulder-length black hair, currently pulled up in a half ponytail, and not a wrinkle on his face to give away his age, it wouldn''t be the first time somebody mistook him for my older brother instead.


    And right now, that man is looking at me curiously, clearly wondering what all the havoc is about. In reply, I sigh and hold up the burned and soaked T-shirt.


    "Oh!" my dad exclaims, disappears behind the kitchen corner to turn down the music and reappears a moment later.


    "It was my last neutral one too," he sulks. With good reason, if you ask me. Today my dad especially took the day off to hear all about my first day of school, but usually he''s rarely home. He would always be locked up in his laboratory, researching one thing or another. When he would find the time to buy new T-shirts was a big question mark.


    "I thought I''d told you not to touch a flat-iron ever again? You could have burned down the house! You didn''t touch any of my clothes, did you?" I ask and start looking around the room, half expecting to find a heap of burned and discarded clothes, but luckily don''t spot any.


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original."Shush, don''t nag boy," my dad chuckles as he ruffles my hair, sniffs the air and hurries back into the kitchen.


    "Don''t baby me!" I yell after him as I straighten out my ruffled hair and follow after him.


    I sigh as I lean against the cupboard next to the stove. Dad is stirring some yellow-red substance, which seems to consist mostly of rice and shrimp.


    Sometimes I wonder how things would have been if my mom had still been around. Not that I actually know the woman. Nope, she is a huge taboo subject. One my dad does not like to talk about and avoids at all cost.


    "How was your first day of school?" my dad asks with a worried glance towards me. He knows that I''ve been struggling to make new friends.


    "Great, actually. I finally managed to make some friends and one of them even gave me a tour of the school earlier," I say, feeling myself cheer up again.


    "That''s good then. Is that why you''re late?" he asks as he glances at the clock on the wall.


    "Yeah... I also bumped into one of my classmates on my way home after that," I say as the event replays in my mind. "I think she doesn''t like me very much."


    "Why would you say that?" dad asks in surprise.


    "Well, she always acts nervous when I''m around. I''m not too certain that I did her a favour when I chased off her bully earlier."


    "A bully?! You didn''t get into a fight, did you?" Dad asks. He looks like he is ready to drop everything to conduct a thorough medical examination.


    "No, I didn''t need to. The guy said he was only there to talk to an old friend," I grumble. Dad considers my words for a second.


    "Sounds like a smart kid to me. He weighed his chances of winning in a fight against you and knew they were nought," he says. I roll my eyes at him. I know my dad is trying to move my thoughts.


    "He was a lot bigger than I am though," I challenge, curious to see what he would say next.


    "Tssk, as if. He could be a gorilla for all I care, he still wouldn''t have been able to touch you."


    "That''s too much," I laugh and then still. "It''s still strange though, she didn''t strike me as the type to get bullied. And I''ll be honest with you, it kinda hurt that she seemed to be more afraid of me than of the bully."


    Dad looks at me strangely for a second. It reminds me of pity but doesn''t quite seem to cover it.


    "Don''t worry, Alex. You only met her today. Give her some time to get to know you," he says. "Now, will you set the table? Dinner is almost ready."


    "Do I still have time to change out of my uniform?"


    "Ten more minutes until the paella is ready."


    "Ok, I''ll hurry!" I say as I race up the stairs to my room. I still don''t understand why Otto reacted to me the way she had, but dad seem to think everything is ok. So I push the thoughts to the back of my mind to think about it some other time.

 5,1 Assumptions

    [Otto''s POV - The second day of school]


    "Just tell him no," I mumble to myself as I leave for school and pull the front door closed behind me. Yesterday evening, Alex helped me with one of my "typical" Thomas encounters, and to say that I''ve been turning the event over in my head all night, would be putting it mildly.


    I don''t know what to make of this Alex-boy.


    Ever since I''ve seen him sitting high up in that tree, I''ve been having this feeling of dread. He just seems too good to be true. As if I believe that someone can be gorgeous, brave and kind. Nobody is that perfect!


    Like, he just happened to pass by when Thomas had me cornered? Not that I think Thomas would conspire against me, but it''s still strange! Something definitely doesn''t add up. For example; Why was Thomas asking about Alex? I know that Jasper calls Thomas a big stalker-wannabe-boyfriend, and he does act jealous from time to time, but never like this.


    Usually, Thomas only approaches me after I have started to get along with a boy. Then we have "a talk" and he tells me all these awful things about the boy in question. I''m pretty sure that he has "a talk" with the boys themselves too, because the boys usually stop talking to me afterwards.


    But this time, Thomas approached me even though I hardly know Alex. And as things stand, I don''t even like him.


    So saying that Thomas approached me out of jealousy might be a bit of a stretch. Not to mention that "Thomas his supposed jealousy" miraculously vanished the moment Alex appeared?! The longer I think about it, the more I''m convinced that this whole situation doesn''t add up. I feel like I''m missing pieces of the puzzle, but I can''t put my finger on which ones I''m missing.


    And I haven''t even started about the strange electricity that courses through me every time I''m near Alex. At first I thought that my hormones where acting up, but I realised last night that I don''t feel that electricity when Thomas, or even Jasper, touches me.


    If it was caused by hormones, wouldn''t that mean that I''d feel it when anyone of the opposite sex touches me? That brings me to the conclusion that the electricity I feel when Alex touches me, does not come from attraction, but from fear. I think it means that I subconsciously realised from the start that Alex is dangerous and that I''d better steer clear of him.


    I don''t know what causes it, but I''ve promised myself to be careful around him.


    After all, it''s not because Jasper gets along with him, that Alex truly is trustworthy. We''ve only met him twice. Time will tell, but I want to be there for Jasper, to sound the alarm, before things go wrong.


    I sigh as the school gate comes into view. I''m already relieved that I didn''t "bump into" Alex on my way to school, but considering that I purposefully left home later just to prevent that from happening, probably means that Alex would be at school already. And I have this foreboding feeling, that he will be hanging around with my friends.


    This foreboding feeling is confirmed the very second I walk into the school gate. Not only is he standing with Jasper and Jessy, but also two other boys from our class. We rarely talk to them, so it surprises me to see them in company of Jasper and Jessy.


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.Alex is the one talking animatedly, and everyone is laughing at his story, but Jasper is laughing the loudest of them all.


    I feel so nervous to approach them that it''s making me feel sick to the stomach. Why do they all look so happy? Am I the only one who''s suspicious of him? Am I the odd one out?


    No! I can''t think like that! I decided that I''ll watch over my friends. I can''t chicken out now! So I clench my teeth and step into an open spot of the circle they''re standing in.


    "Good morning," I greet in general with a quiet voice, since the conversation is still going on around me. Sadly, it also means that my arrival goes unnoticed.


    "Don''t laugh so hard, Jasper! It''s not funny at all," Alex complains as he slaps Jasper against his arm. "I''m telling you, if the damned game hadn''t glitched I might have won the tournament. But because of it I got hit instead. I ended up in third place."


    "Do you join tournaments often? What''s your name?" Anthony asks excitedly. I''ve never seen little stars in his eyes like that before.


    "From time to time. When I have time to kill. I usually game under the name BlackNight2," Alex answers all off Anthony''s questions diligently.


    "Black Knight TWO?" Xander stresses the number in his question and laughs.


    "Yeah, BlackNight is the name my dad games under," Alex answers again and then, to my horror, notices me. "Oh! Good morning, Otto."


    He says it with a friendly smile and the others start to repeat the greeting, even though Xander is yelling out another question that lands on deaf ears.


    "Good morning, girl!" Jessy says happily as she comes over to give me a hug and joins my side in the circle. "Where have you been? You''re never this late."


    "Yeah, sorry. I had trouble waking up this morning," I say.


    "Didn''t sleep well?" she asks.


    "Yeah... I''ve been... thinking," I say as I''m trying to decide of how much I can tell without worrying her.


    "Thinking?" Jessy immediately follows up, but it is Alex''s reaction that captures my attention.


    "You have?" he asks, not even loud or demanding, but I''d almost heard him clearer than I''d heard Jessy next to me. Anthony and Xander start to snicker at his comment. Undoubtedly thinking that Alex is pulling a dumb blond joke.


    "I have," I snap with an angry frown, even though I know he''s asking about Thomas.


    Alex blinks in surprise and then throws his hands up in a gesture that says; "Sorry I asked."


    His reaction surprises me, and suddenly I feel extremely aware of the others around us. Watching me. Judging me. As if I''d singled Alex out to pick on. Had I reacted too strongly? I am acting on my dislike for him after all. Dislike the others clearly aren''t feeling.


    Suddenly, the need to flee is suffocating.


    "I need to go the bathroom," I say hurriedly, scurrying off towards the toilets.


    "Wait... What? Otto! I''m going to follow her," I hear Jessy say behind me, right before I reach the door to the toilets and dive inside.


    [ Continues in the next chapter]

 5,2 Chickening out of society - part 1

    [Alex''s POV - Continuing Assumptions ]


    "What did you do?" Jasper asks me after Jessy has run off after Otto. His question startles me. I knew that Anthony and Xander were happily assuming that Otto had gotten angry over a simple joke. But I should have known that Jasper had caught on to what was really happening.


    "Nothing!" I say defensively and then doubt. "Well, not really."


    Jasper raises a questioning brow at me, but I feel reluctant to answer. Wasn''t this an extremely personal topic? Well, maybe not to me, but to Otto. Then again, Jasper was her close friend. They had been so for years. Maybe I should tell him?


    "Does the name Thomas mean anything to you?" I ask. Jasper instantly looks worried, but glances at Anthony and Xander and immediately schools his expression into a mildly interested and calm expression.


    "It does, but how do you know it?"


    I also glance towards Anthony and Xander, who are clearly following our conversation even though they are acting uninterested. How much can I say without saying too much?


    "I bumped into him and Otto yesterday," I say.


    "Yesterday? You mean on your way home after I gave you a tour of the school?" Jasper asks, sounding surprised.


    "Yeah," I say and sigh a breath of relief when the school bell rings, signalling the start of our first period. Jasper and I start walking to class together. Anthony and Xander follow a few steps behind us.


    "You mean you saw them together?" Jasper asks quiet enough so the others won''t hear.


    "That''s a mild way to put it, but yes. Is it a commonly known thing then?"


    Jasper chuckles before answering.


    "No, it is not. But about seventy percent of our class has a vague idea of what''s happening."


    "You make me feel so special," I sneer. "So you''re telling me that you knew Otto was being bullied, bordering on sexual harassment, and did nothing about it?"


    "S-sexual harassment?!" Jasper squeaks out the word in surprise, still trying to be mindful of the people around us. "Aren''t you exaggerating?"


    I lightly shake my head.


    "She was positively shaking by the time Thomas left. Tears in her eyes and everything."


    "What the hell did you catch them doing?!" Jasper asks, nearly screaming the question, his calm mask completely fallen off.


    " ''What'' you ask? I don''t know,... It looked like they were talking, except for the fact that he was holding her wrist and she was pushed against a tree. At first, I thought they were really close, but then-"


    "Did you catch what they were talking about?" Jasper interrupts.


    "What they were talking about?" I echo the question as I think back on the one thing that I had been pushing out of my mind since last night. "Me. They were talking about me."


    Jasper sighs.


    "I was afraid you''d say that. Poor Otto. This explains why she was so affected too."


    "What''s happening here?" I ask. The longer we talk, the more confusing it seems to get. This time, Jasper looks reluctant to answer. It is clear that he''s wondering if Jessy and Otto would skin him alive if he talks.


    "I guess you deserve to know. Since you are the one in danger," he mumbles after a long pause.


    "Me? How am I the one in danger?"


    "Thomas and Otto used to be REALLY close friends. Everyone thought they would become a couple, but when he finally confessed to her, she turned him down. Thomas has been acting like a crazy-jealous-wannabe-boyfriend ever since, isolating Otto from anyone who gets too close." Jasper explains. "Who knows what he''ll do when he actually feels threatened?"


    "Good to know," I mumble as I let the new information seep in.


    "You don''t seem very concerned. He has a black belt in judo, you know?"


    I scoff.


    "As long as he doesn''t have a gun, I''ll be fine." And honestly, I''m pretty sure that I''ll be fine even if he does threaten me with a gun, but I don''t want to seem like a haughty fool.


    "Oh, ho, ho! Look who''s feeling confident?" Jasper laughs. "I don''t think Thomas will think that highly of you, though."


    "That''s fine. The advantage will be mine that way."You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    <hr>


    [This chapter loops back in time to right after Jessy left the scene, but from Otto''s POV]


    I run into the first empty booth I find, lock the door, close the lid of the toilet, sit on it and hug my knees to my chest.


    Oh, how I wish I could vanish straight into thin air. I let out a long sigh.


    Stupid Alex! Stupid Thomas! This is all their fault!


    I groan in frustration. What happened earlier, made me feel like I''m the odd one out, always standing on thin ice. Like I don''t fit in anywhere. I know that it is a bad habit of mine to feel this way when things go wrong, but I just can''t help it. I know that it is all in my head, yet I''m constantly afraid that it might not be.


    I also know that the only way to get rid of this feeling, is to face my fears head on. To hear from others that I didn''t offend them. That they like to have me around. Yet, the thought that they might reject me, that I really might be an outcast, scares me to the point of feeling nauseous.


    Come to think of it, I had stood my ground rather well against Thomas. I had even managed to evade answering his questions. Until Alex came along... I should have feigned ignorance. Even acting as if I didn''t know him would have been better than straight out panicking. But I just couldn''t when I saw the worry and confusion in his eyes.


    The first bell rings, the first warning that today''s lessons are about to start.


    I sigh one last time before I get up and reluctantly open the door, just to find Jessy waiting for me on the other side of it. She doesn''t look too pleased. She''s leaning against the wall, arms crossed and brows furrowed angrily.


    "Start talking," she orders, ignoring the last students that are leaving the toilets.


    "There is nothing to say. Just me chickening out of society, that''s all," I say as I avoid her eyes.


    "Oh, no you don''t! You are not getting off the hook that easily!" Jessy says angrily. "What was that between you and Alex?Because I swear to God, if he did anything to hurt you..."


    I laugh. Her unconditional love and loyalty towards me instantly obliterated my anxiety. It is the only thing that''s kept me sane over the years.


    "No Jessy," I giggle and offer her a warm smile. "Jeez, you''re even more overprotective than my dad!"


    "Then what?" her angry frown simmers down into a confused one. "Don''t tell me you were actually offended by his joke?"


    "Hmm, I''m pretty sure he wasn''t exactly joking," I say slowly as I organize my thoughts.


    "Go on?" Jessy urges me to continue.


    "Ugh, I don''t even know where to start... It''s a long story ok?"


    "Ha! You met the guy yesterday! How long could it possibly be?" Jessy laughs as the second bell rings. "But give me the short version anyway. Or we''re going to be late."


    I nod and we start walking at a fast pace.


    "Alex found me yesterday after school while I was being cornered by Thomas." I see Jessy''s eyes grow large with worry, but before she can ask a question, I continue: "Alex helped me to chase him off. Nothing happened with Thomas. But I got into an argument with Alex."


    "An argument?" she asks incredulously. "About what?"


    "I don''t know... Somehow he figured out exactly what was going on with Thomas... and then he told me that it would be better to fight Thomas head on."


    "Wowa! Wait, what?! Where did that come from? And how did he figure everything out? Did you tell him?" Jessy interrupts me.


    "Of course I didn''t tell him. I don''t even like the guy!" I snap and startle at my own reaction, but Jessy seems to agree.


    "Yeah, I''m starting to get why you dislike the guy now. Even if he figured out what was going on, telling you to fight Thomas head on is just plain suicide. Promise me you won''t," she asks as she looks at me with begging eyes. I nod with a chuckle, but stop walking as we''ve arrived at the classroom. I can see Alex and Jasper inside.


    "Ok, I want to hear more about this argument, but I''m afraid that it will have to wait until after class," Jessy says and then notices my expression. "Just ignore them. I''m with you."

 5,3 Chickening out of society - part 2

    [Jasper''s POV - at the park after the second day of school]


    "Well, well. Look who finally decided to show up? We haven''t seen you all day! Have you finally grown tired of our company?" Jessy yells loudly across the open grass field which I''m currently crossing. It might be my imagination, but I feel like her loud voice is echoing off of the surrounding trees. Yelling such a ridiculous question across the park? She''s something else.


    "I''d never grow tired of you two," I laugh with a playful wink. "Did you miss me, babe?"


    Jessy and Otto have been enjoying the warm summer sun in the park since school ended. I only meet up with them now.


    "Of course I didn''t. Otto kept on asking where you were," Jessy says haughtily as she sticks her nose in the air, a light tinge of blush on her cheeks. When I look over to Otto she is giggling silently at her best friend''s antics. "But you were with that madman all day, so I told her it simply wasn''t worth it."


    "Madman?" I echo in surprise. "Who?"


    "Oh! Don''t you act dumb with me! You know very well who I''m talking about! Mister I-wish-we-met-earlier-so-we-could-have-been-best-friends-forever!" Jessy exclaims in one long breath. She sounds like a complaining child, which is very unlike her.


    "Wait... Are you talking about Alex?" I ask. "And what exactly are you accusing him of?"


    "Have you heard the advice he gave Otto?" she asks seriously. "He told her to fight Thomas head on."


    "Jessy please, stop yelling my business all over the park," Otto complains embarrassedly from the place where she is sitting on the grass. Her voice is much more quiet. Honestly, it''s a normal volume, but in comparison to Jessy, it simply seems quiet.


    "Hmm, I''m not surprised," I say with a shrug. "After what happened yesterday. Plus Alex really doesn''t seem to be intimidated by Thomas."


    Jessy sucks in a breath.


    "Don''t tell me-! You agree with him?" she bristles exasperatedly.


    "Calm down, Jessy," I shush her and she snaps her mouth shut. "I don''t know anything about fighting head on, but I do think that Thomas crossed a line yesterday. Cornering you with your back against a tree truly isn''t ok."


    "Wait-! He cornered you against a tree?! You didn''t tell me that," Jessy snaps as she turns her attention towards Otto.


    "I did tell you that Thomas cornered me. Why is it different when my back is against a tree?" Otto says with a small shrug and then turns her attention to me. "How do you even know that?"


    "Alex told me," I say. "He told me you were being bullied, bordering on sexual harassment. And when I asked him if he was exaggerating, he told me you were shivering from head to toe."


    "Thomas didn''t sexually harass me," Otto says, sounding slightly confused. "He was holding me by the wrist and had me forced against a tree because I had tried to walk away from him. But nothing more than that."


    "Then why does Alex say that you were shivering from head to toe?" I ask. I didn''t think Alex was lying. Otherwise he''s psychotically good at it. Otto seems to go through the event in her mind until she seems to remember something and then turns bright red.


    "That was because I thought the two of them were going to fight," she mumbles in embarrassment. "I''d never seen anything like it."


    "Alex and Thomas were going to fight?" I mumble incredulously.


    "No! Uhm¡­ Well, honestly¡­ Thomas wouldn''t have instigated a fight, but he would have defended himself," Otto corrects me as she searches for words. "I''m not so sure what Alex would have done."


    Jessy lets out a long sigh.


    "Honestly, I think you should cut Alex some slack," Jessy suddenly cuts in. Her words surprise me. She usually isn''t very welcoming of newcomers. Certainly when it involves Otto. "If the guy really did find you in that position, and even describes it as sexual harassment, it means he was ready to defend you."


    "Perhaps¡­" Otto mumbles, clearly not agreeing.


    Jessy''s phone buzzes, and the screen lights up with a message.


    "Shit, I have to go. My mom sent me a text to be home before dinner," she curses and then turns to Otto. "I''ll call you this evening, ok? I want to sift through your thoughts a little more, because I can tell something is clearly still bothering you."


    Otto nods absentmindedly as Jessy quickly grabs all of her stuff and shoves it into her backpack. But right before she leaves she squeezes Otto in a tight hug. I open my arms for a hug too, but instead she sticks out her tongue towards me and leaves. I watch her go until she is completely out of sight. Now that she''s gone, a silence settles around me and Otto.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation."Are you ok?" I ask as I sit down next to her on the grass. Before she answers, she releases a long sigh.


    "Yes? ¡­ Maybe not¡­ I don''t know¡­" she says as she evades my eyes. "I can''t believe he told you. I guess the whole school knows now?"


    "Not really... He was actually really discreet. Wouldn''t even have told me. But it was obvious that something had happened between the two of you. So I dragged it out of him," I say with a shrug. "It sounds like you took quite the fright?"


    "Yeah," she mumbles, "I just hadn''t expected him to show up..."


    "Which one? Thomas or Alex?" Otto looks up at me with a raised eyebrow as if she wants to ask "Really?" but answers anyway.


    "Both, I guess, but Alex the least¡­ I mean. Sure, I know Thomas can come and bother me any second of the day. It''s still unpleasant, but I guess I got used to it."


    "But?" I nudge her on to continue when it seems she''s about to trail off.


    "It''s just all so strange," she confesses softly. "When Thomas cornered me yesterday, he said that a little bird had told him that I had met a good-looking guy."


    "Tsk, I can guess who the little bird was," I say as I click my tongue in dislike. "What did he want?"


    "Nothing, really," Otto says as she goes through the event in her mind, "No empty threats, no cross-examination, no bad talking. He just wanted to know his name... I wasn''t going to tell him, though. But then Alex showed up, and I panicked."


    I watch as she loses herself in thought again.


    "Oh, sweetie! Don''t let it bother you," I say as I capture her in a big bear hug. "At this rate you won''t be able to sleep. Don''t worry so much! Alex can take care of himself!"


    Otto looks uncertain.


    "He actually said so himself," I laugh. Otto gives me a small smile.


    "You know what? Let''s move your thoughts," I say overly cheerfully. "Let''s go see a movie together. You know, for a change of pace? My treat."


    For an instant, it looks like she won''t react at all, but then notices that I''m waiting for an answer.


    "Oh, don''t start Jasper. You know we can''t," she says, bordering on annoyed.


    I blink in surprise. "Why?"


    "Well... for starters, Jessy went home just now," she says.


    "Actually, I-"


    "Thought to go without Jessy?" she cuts me off. "No, Jasper. We both know how well that went last time."


    I hate to admit it, but she''s right. The last time that Otto and I had dared to go see a movie, just the two of us, Jessy went absolute bat-shit. Instead of trying to match-make us, like she does with any other boy that Otto becomes close with, she started accusing us of already being a couple and never telling her. And when we kept denying to be a couple, she started to monopolise Otto for herself, and to purposely ostracise me, saying we''ll leave her behind if she let us. It had taken more than half a year to fix the balance between the three of us. Although it never truly became the same ever again, because Jessy or Otto never-ever spend time alone with me anymore. I should have known my offer would be rejected.


    "Not to mention that I have to get going home too," Otto says as she places her hand on mine, gives it a gentle squeeze and looks at me with an apologetic smile. "Thank you. I know you offered it to cheer me up."


    Well, at least she''s smiling again.


    "Won''t you be late for dinner too?" she asks while packing her things.


    "Nope, already finished," I say as I lazily stretch out on the grass. "You know we eat early at home."


    "Oh, right. Well, see you tomorrow!" Otto says with a cheerful wave as she leaves.


    "See you-... Wait! You''re forgetting your backpack!" I call after her as I spot another backpack at the base of the tree we''re sitting by.


    "No, I''m not," she yells back from a distance, lifting her backpack as proof. "Isn''t it yours?"


    "No, I didn''t bring mine," I yell back. "Is it Jessy''s?"


    "No, it''s the wrong color..." Otto''s brows furrow in confusion. "Then whose is it?"


    "It doesn''t matter," I say as I rummage through the pack, looking for clues of its owner. "Looks like it''s from a student at our school! I''ll bring it to the lost and found tomorrow."


    "Ok!" Otto yells back one last time, waves happily and leaves.


    I watch her as she speed walks out of the park, unable to pull my eyes away from her. I sigh as she finally vanishes from my view and let myself fall back.


    "That''s mine," a voice says from right next to me and I jump up in fright.


    [To be continued in the next chapter]

 5,4 Chickening out of society - part 3

    [Jasper''s POV - Continuation of the previous chapter]


    "That''s mine," a voice says, seemingly from right next to me, but when I look around, I can''t see anyone. A shiver runs down my spine.


    "Is someone there?" I call, half hoping that no one will reply.


    "Yes, me. Up here Jasper!" the voice says again. It''s coming from the tree. I must be going crazy. Tree''s don''t talk. And they certainly don''t claim backpacks. In response to my silence, something large starts to move within the branches. I frightfully stare into the shadow of the tree''s canopy. It''s terrifying, and yet this seems awfully familiar. Like that time Otto had accidentally thrown my frisbee into the tree. But before my brain can come to the right conclusion on its own, two bright blue eyes appear from the shadow of the canopy.


    I scream (a little more high pitched than I would like to admit) and jump back in surprise.


    But my surprise is met with a modest chuckling, which quickly turns into full-blown laughter.


    "Your face!" the same voice laughs heartily. I dare to look up now.


    "Alex!" I exclaim, half in relief and half in surprise. "Jeezus Christ! You scared the living daylight out of me. How long have you been up there?"


    "Uhm," Alex says as his smile falters. "Honestly, I''ve been there much longer than you''ve been here."


    I just stare at him flatly, to which he seems to panic.


    "I swear I didn''t know they would sit underneath this tree! I would''ve gone home if I''d known," he says hurriedly and in an apologetic tone, waving his hands nervously in front of him. "I tried not to listen in on their conversation either, but I must say, that is a difficult thing to do when Jessy decides to shouts her business all over the park."


    I blink in surprise.


    "So you''ve been up there this whole time, huh?" I conclude as I sit back down on the grass and pat the spot next to me for Alex to sit down too. It might be my imagination, but I think I saw him heave a small sigh of relief at the gesture. "Did you think I''d be angry or something?"


    "Hmm, ¡­ not you. Hence why I showed myself. But I was afraid that Jessy and Otto would be angry if they knew."


    "Why would you sitting in a tree make them angry?" I say as I squint my eyes at Alex. In return he looks at me with an unreadable expression.


    "Let''s see if you can figure it out for yourself?" he says with a small grin. "Try to imagine how you would feel if someone you don''t like came strolling out of the tree you''d been sitting under for the last twenty minutes?"


    I don''t like his haughty tone, as if the answer is as clear as daylight, but he challenged me to figure it out myself, so now I have to. What was it he''d said? Imagine someone I don''t like coming from the tree? Someone I don''t like¡­ that would have to be Thomas. Although I can''t imagine that he would be good at climbing trees, so instead of letting him come out of the tree, I make him fall from it. I suppress the chuckle that the image evokes and concentrate on the problem at hand. I see him fall from the tree a few more times in my mind, until a question pops up; What was he doing up there?


    "Eavesdropping!" I say as the answer hits me.


    "Exactly," Alex says with a small smile as if he''s proud of me for getting it right and then his expression turns serious again. "Which I wasn''t. And since I didn''t want to make the situation worse than it already was, I thought I''d bid my time until they left. Or watch the sunset if I had to."


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it."So, has the sun set then?" I ask as I look around in search of the sun.


    "No. They left," Alex chuckles. "Thanks for defending me earlier by the way. You really didn''t have to. It''s obvious that Otto doesn''t like me one bit and I would hate to drive a wedge between the two of you."


    I sneer at his insinuation.


    "It''s fine, don''t worry about it," I say as I think about how she insisted on keeping me at arms length just a few minutes ago. "We aren''t as close as you might think."


    "What do you mean, you aren''t? Aren''t you her boyfriend?" Alex asks, complete confusion written all over his face.


    "You thought I was?" I ask with a chuckle. His confusion does wonders for my mood.


    "Well, yeah, of course I did. You just seem so close¡­ I mean, you were even hugging on the first day of school."


    I chuckle again. I can see how he would get the wrong idea. "Nope, just friends."


    Alex stares incredulously at me for a moment, then stares of into the distance.


    "Wow¡­ That certainly puts me in a bad daylight then, doesn''t it?" he suddenly says. He looks really downcast about it too.


    "Why?" I ask, as I can''t figure out how this changes anything.


    "Just think about it. If you had been Otto''s boyfriend, your place on her personal social scale, would have been somewhere on top, right below family and above friends," Alex explains while drawing a little marker on an imaginary vertical ruler.


    "Which would make her behavior towards me a shy reaction towards a stranger," Alex continues to explain as he trails his finger down on the mental ruler, all the way to the bottom. "But if she is that close to somebody who isn''t even her boyfriend than that must mean she really dislikes me."


    Alex waves the mental ruler off dismissively. I watch as the imaginary puff of discarded scribbles drift off and considering what Alex explained.


    "Minor correction," I feel the need to say. "Jessy and I are Otto''s CHILDHOOD friends, which places us above normal friends. And she is VERY picky of who she lets in as normal friends. Give her some time to get used to you. She''ll come around."


    "Still, I don''t think it changes much," Alex says, lost in thought. "I made her cry yesterday, Jasper. Me. Not Thomas. I really think I did her a disfavor by chasing him away."


    I look at him carefully. Alex seems to think the worst of himself. But I''m pretty sure he came to that conclusion because of what he heard Otto say earlier.


    "You don''t have to be so hard on yourself," I say. "Otto used to cry all the time as a little girl. Scraped knee? Bam! Tears! Take the piece of candy she wanted? Bam! Tears! Watching a sad movie on tv? Bam! Tears!"


    My recollection of Otto''s crying moments has Alex smiling awkwardly.


    "You don''t seem to have much experience with girls," I say. Alex laughs awkwardly, as if I mentioned something that he''s ashamed of.


    "That''s because I don''t have any experience with girls. In the small village I grew up in, there was a little local school. Maximum twelve students per class, and mine was all boys."


    "Damn," I mumble as I think about a life like that. "Moving here must have been quite the shock for you?"


    Alex laughs. "You can say that again."


    We sit there, for a moment, in amicable silence. But I already quickly get nervous. I don''t do well with quiet.


    "So you climb trees, huh?" I hurriedly say to break the silence. Alex raises a brow at me in surprise but nods.


    [Continues in part 4]

 5,5 Chickening out of society - part 4

    [Jasper''s POV - Continuation of part 3]


    "So you climb trees, huh?" I hurriedly say to break the silence. Alex raises a brow at me in surprise but nods.


    "Do you think you could teach me?" I ask gleefully. I can practically feel the grin split my face.


    "I could, but not right now. The sun has nearly set and coming out of a tree in the dark is not something a beginner should be doing."


    "Whuuut?! You wound me bro! Why would you label me as a beginner? I climbed trees before!"


    "So you''re telling me that you''d be able to get into this tree on your own?" Alex asks, an eyebrow cocked in disbelief.


    "Well, ... if I had a chair or a ladder I could," I mumble as I avoid Alex''s eyes.


    "Of course you can," Alex scoffs sarcastically in a final decision kind of way. It makes me realise I''m not putting up a good fight. That has to be changed. So I put on my best kicked-puppy-face and direct it at Alex, who looks genuinely surprised to see that expression pointed at him.


    "Please~?" I beg with folded hands in front of my face.


    "I just told you-" Alex starts to say, but I don''t let him finish.


    "PLEASE!!!!" I beg even louder. He looks absolutely repulsed right now. It''s kind of funny.


    "I only want to see the sun set!" I say quickly before Alex decides to flee. He frowns at me a moment longer, his eyes going up and down over my body as if he''s sizing me up. Then he takes his smartphone from his backpack, checks something on the screen and sighs.


    "You''re lucky. It''s still more than half an hour before the sun sets," he says, but before I can say or do anything, he adds: "But if I help you to climb this tree, we climb back down as soon as the sun is setting, understood?!"


    I nod excitedly, like one of those toy dogs on the rear shelf of a car when they drive over a bump.


    "But first, I want to see what you''re made of," he says. "I want you to try to get into the tree by yourself."


    I look at the oak tree Alex came out of earlier. The lowest branch that looks strong enough to hold my weight hangs two meters high.


    "That''s unfair," I complain.


    "It would clear you of the noob-grade if you succeed," Alex laughs.


    "Ok! Fine!" I say gruffly and stand up. I don''t feel like going to grab a stool or ladder nearby, so I try jumping for the first branch. I manage to hold onto it with both hands, but can''t lift my legs up high enough to wrap around it too.


    "However much I like to see you struggle, ten minutes have passed and we don''t have all day," Alex chuckles next to me while I let go of the branch.


    "Come on, I''ll hoist you up. The first branch is always the most difficult. Grab onto something as fast as you can," he says as he offers his hands weaved together as a foothold. I gladly accept it.


    "On three," he says. "You count."


    "One, two, three~hee!" I count but yelp in surprise when Alex nearly catapults me over the first branch. I manage to grab a hold and steady myself. That couldn''t have been easy. I''m not a light person. Perhaps, Alex is stronger than he looks.


    "Now move aside a little," Alex says once our eyes meet. "I''ll show you how you''re supposed to climb onto the first branch the way that you were trying to do. But know that there are easier ways."


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.I nod and watch intently as Alex gets into position in the same spot as I did and jumps for the lowest branch. He grabs onto it firmly with both hands, the same way I did, but then he swings his whole body forward and uses the backwards momentum of the swing to hoist his upper body onto the branch he was holding onto. And just like that, Alex has made it into the tree.


    I sit there, dumbstruck. I know that I don''t have the upper-body strength to pull that off, and I work out regularly.


    "I''ll be in your care, teacher," I say and bow my head. Alex snorts as he sits down on the branch he climbed onto. I''m kind of glad that he seems to be familiar with the reference.


    "You have much to learn, my Padawan," he chuckles, turns to look up for a second and then looks straight down to the ground. "How are you doing with this height?"


    "Are you kidding?" I ask as I look straight down too. "I''ve jumped from higher stairs than this."


    "Good, because I''m not taking you up if you already have a problem with this height," Alex says seriously. "Follow me."


    It surprises me, but the climb to the top is relatively easy. I guess it is because Alex is showing me all the right branches.


    "Stand here and hold on there," Alex says about a meter from the top. "The branches get really thin from here, so this is as high as we go."


    "Ok," I say as I move carefully to the spot Alex showed me and squint as my face gets hit by sunlight. Once my eyes get used to the light, the view is breathtaking. I can see over the treeline of the park and even over the rooftops of the shopping district in the distance. The sun is a big red disc, hovering right above the horizon, ready to set, and the sky is coloured in the most beautiful hues of red, pink and purple.


    "Wow," I breath in awe.


    "I know, right?" Alex says kindly behind me. "It gives you a new perspective on things, doesn''t it?"


    "A new perspective?" I ask confused, unsure of what he''s getting at.


    "Am I wrong if I say that it''s been a long time since you worked hard to achieve something?" Alex asks.


    "Hey! I worked hard for my re-takes!" I complain as I look behind me to look at Alex.


    "Really? Worked hard for your RE-takes" he asks as he stresses the "re" in the word, clearly unimpressed. With the sun shining into his face, his already bright blue eyes seem almost luminescent with the sunlight reflecting in them. "I mean, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night. Anyway, we''re going back down now."


    "What? Already?! What''s the big deal anyway? Isn''t it the same way down as we came up?" I complain as I look straight down in between the branches and stiffen.


    "Holly crap!" I exclaim as I grab onto the branches I''m holding onto a little tighter.


    "What? What happened?" Alex asks as he hasn''t noticed where I am looking.


    "Why are we so high up?" I ask as I''m still looking down. It''s not just the height, my sight is dancing with a huge black spot from looking at the sun for too long.


    "O, no no no. Seriously?" Alex curses next to me. "How high did you think we''d be?!"


    "I know! I know! That was before I looked down," I say, regretting the fact that I did so very much.


    Alex releases a long sigh and rubs a hand over his face, before he says: "I swear I''ll call the fire brigade on you if you refuse to move!"

 6. That guy definitely climbs trees

    [Otto''s POV - The third day of school]


    The next morning, I find myself standing with the others of my class.


    How long have I known these people? I''ve shared a class with most of them for years and I''ve never felt the urge to start a conversation or even to spend breaks together. But here I am. Enjoying myself as the conversation around me continues pleasantly.


    I''d coincidentally arrived earlier than usual this morning and found myself standing all alone while waiting for Jessy, Jasper or Lindsey to show up. But the first to show up was Nick, a sweet and serious boy from my class, finding himself in the same situation as I was. We''d decided to chat until the others arrived. But when they did arrive, instead of splitting up like we usually do, everyone joined the conversation naturally.


    I don''t even mind Alex''s presence this morning. He is sitting on a bench, the rest of us standing in a circle around him. He seems to be too tired to pay attention to me.


    I watch him as he stifles a yawn behind his hand and shakes his head slightly to wake up. I see Jessy mimics his yawn unintentionally.


    "You seem tired?" Micheal voices my thoughts.


    "Hmm, yeah," Alex says slowly. "It was half past eleven when I finally got home yesterday and I hadn''t even eaten dinner yet. It was well past midnight when I finally got to bed."


    "Psht! Woosie! I never go to sleep before eleven o''clock," Jasper says with a challenging grin. Alex''s eyes flick to Jasper''s for an instant, as if he''d measured his opponent and deemed him unworthy. Wait, is Jasper actually holding his breath in fear?


    "You know," Alex finally says. "There are tons of things I could say to that, but I don''t think you have the right to torment me today, mister sunset."


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.Jasper instantly turns bright red.


    "What''s that all about?" Jessy instantly asks. Seriously, she''s too curios for her own good.


    "I have sworn to secrecy," Alex says dramatically as he leans back on the bench and closes his eyes, clearly satisfied that he managed to silence Jasper with a minimum effort. "If you want to know, ask him."


    All heads turn to Jasper now, but he avoids all their stinging gazes pointedly, mumbling "Damned traitor!" under his breath.


    "Did something happen in the park yesterday? After we left?" I ask as it doesn''t look like Jasper is going to answer. Jasper''s brow twitches. It''s a tell-tale sign that I guessed right. "Did you meet up with Alex in the park? Wait, ... Does that mean that you also have been out until half past eleven yesterday? Man¡­ your mom must have been livid."


    With every question I ask, the color drains a little more from Jasper''s face, which gives me all the confirmation I need. When I look over in Alex''s direction, I catch him looking at me through heavy-lidded eyes.


    "Clever girl," his eyes seem to say before a smile ghosts over his lips, and he closes his eyes again. I feel my cheeks heat up.


    "All I''m going to say," Jasper suddenly says, and I snap my head back to him, "is that that guy definitely climbs trees and you all better check up above before you decide to sit under one."


    His statement confuses me.


    I guess it is something between the two of them since Alex reacts to his words with a sneer.


    But when the bell rings and I fall into step behind Alex, I recognise the backpack slung lazily over his shoulder as the one Jasper found in the park yesterday, and I realise that Jasper''s words had been meant for me.

 7,1 Latin is a dead language

    [ Jasper''s POV - 1 months into the school year ]


    I had known, from the start, that Alex is incredibly diligent. Diligent towards his studies, diligent towards his health and diligent towards his physique. He even has the tendency to correct my bad habits and drags my dead weight along.


    The teachers, in class, seem to have picked up on this out too, and have made a point of always seating Alex next to me in class.


    As a result, my total average has gone up from 52% to 65%! It''s a miracle!! Soon, I''ll be able to dream about an average of 70% or even higher! But I can tell that, even though he pulls my weight along, my negligence frustrates him greatly. Alex has pulled at his silky, darker than black hair more than once while teaching me.


    But I think Alex is about to reach a whole new level of diligence, soon.


    I watch him as we stand in the courtyard at school with our little group of friends; Jessy, Otto, Alex and I.


    We''re talking about a new smartphone game that''s all the rage, but I can tell that his attention is with the conversation of the students that stand behind him. His brows are furrowed, and every once in a while he mumbles something under his breath.


    Alex looks like he''s ready to pull his hair in frustration. Are those students doing a bad job at something? I try to focus on their conversation, but all I can gather is that they have a written Latin assignment due to today and are desperately trying to figure out the correct answers together.


    The moment that my brain reaches that conclusion, is the same moment that Alex snaps.


    "Oh! For crying out loud! Give me that!" he says angrily as he turns around and snatches the paper and pen from the nearest unsuspecting student. "I''ve been suffering through your incompetence for long enough now! Seriously, these are all such standard sentences to translate, how can you struggle with these as forth years?!"


    Alex raves on while the Latin students just stare at him completely flabbergasted.


    Jep, there it is. Alex''s habit when the frustration becomes too much; he starts throwing around witty remarks, right before an overload of important information.


    "I think you''ve failed to recognise any of the commonly made mistakes the teacher clearly tried to address," Alex says as he corrects the homework he snatched, accentuating all the mistakes as he corrects them. "Puella poeta-M amat. Nos ambula-MUS. Magn-A porta¡­ Librum poeta scribit? Seriously? Are you Yoda or something? You''d think a fourth year would know the correct word order!"


    "We''re fifth years," the boy he snatched the papers from says once he''s recovered enough from his surprise to talk. I quickly hide a laugh behind a fist. Even I know that is the wrong answer.


    "And you''re proud of that?!" Alex asks, sounding absolutely horrified, but the boy merely blinks in confusion. I hear one of the girls behind him mumble quietly, but with a laugh in her voice; "Steve, did you really get the word order wrong?"


    "Don''t try your luck, young lady. I heard you say some really ridiculous things earlier too," Alex says without looking up at her as he continues to read down the page and sighs contently when he reaches the bottom.


    I chuckle. I also recognise this part of his witty remarks rant; The moment when he fixed all the wrongs and runs out of steam.


    "Feeling better now?" I ask and Alex looks up at me as if he''d forgotten that I was there.


    "Yes, loads," he says as he hands the pen and paper back to its original owner.


    "Are you a sixth year in the language major?" the boy Alex had snatched the homework from finally dared to ask.


    "Does that matter? Even you should be able to tell that I know more about Latin than you do," Alex says, as he points a no-nonsense glare at the boy. The boy presses his lips together in a thin dissatisfied line. It is clear that he has a thing or two to say about the rude way Alex talks to him, but doesn''t because he can''t catch a height of him.


    "Wow, Alex? Did you fix that guy''s homework just now? What language was that?" Jessy asks, pulling everyone''s attention back to our little circle of friends.


    "O! Uhm, I might have," Alex says as if he only now realised that he rudely high-jacked some stranger''s homework. I see him shake the regret from his mind and continues with a sigh. "It''s Latin."


    "Do you actually know Latin? Or did you troll that guy just now?" I ask, unable to hide my smirk at the idea.


    "Jasper!" Alex says my name in a scolding way. And that''s all he needs to say, truly. He has me feeling like a rude idiot with just my name. I swear, he has more influence on me than own mother has. But for good measure, he adds; "I''m good at Latin."


    "Wait, ¡­ Does that mean you''re good at languages in general? Then why aren''t you in the languages major?" Otto asks.


    "I used to be, at my old school. But I decided to turn over a new leaf. It was time for a change," Alex says.


    "Hold on¡­ You were in the language major? What other languages did you study?" Jessy asks with little stars in her eyes.


    "I studied French, Arabic and Mandarin," Alex say with an unusually stoic expression on his face.


    "What?! French I expected, but Arabic? And what is that last one, Mandarin? Isn''t that a fruit?" Jessy asks, intrigued by the news, but is clearly in over her head.


    "Mandarin is a Chinese dialect, Jessy," Otto informs her with a tender smile. It surprises me that she knows that. I had my suspicions on what it was, but I wasn''t sure.


    "Wow! Alex! So that means you speak the language of a huge part of the world population!" Jessy marvels. This time Alex chuckles and looks at her with a similar look in his eyes as Otto had earlier.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings."I never thought about it like that before. But uhm, guys? Could you please keep this between us? I really don''t want to switch majors just because I''m good at languages."


    "Sure thing," I say with a laugh. I look over at the group of Latin students, and catch the boy from which Alex had snatched the homework look at him with an unreadable expression. It looks somewhere between surprise and disbelief. At some point he must have noticed that I had been watching him, because his eyes meet mine. He looks at me as if he wants to ask me what I want, so I smile and raise my index fingers to my lips to signal him that he should keep the secret too. He flushes bright red, snaps his attention away from me and says something to his friends which causes all of them to leave.


    I shrug and turn my attention back to my friends their conversation.


    <hr>


    [Jasper''s POV]


    About a week later, the boy from which Alex had stolen the Latin homework, approached Alex and me again on the school''s courtyard.


    "Hi, my name is Steve. I''m the student who''s Latin homework you fixed," he says when we both look at him questioningly, but directs the last part to Alex. Suddenly, Alex looks as if he''s seen a gost.


    "I''m so sorry!" he says sincerely. "I swear that I usually don''t act so rude, but this guy is a bad influence on me."


    "Excuse you?! Why am I the bad influence?!" I ask exasperatedly.


    "If I hadn''t gotten so used to tutoring you, I never would have lost my cool like that!" Alex counters without missing a heartbeat. Damn, I can''t deny that. We''re both pulled back from our little quarrel when Steve chuckles and scrapes his throat.


    "About that," he mumbles shyly. "I think I''m the one who should be apologising to you. I doubted your skill, while I should have been grateful that you helped me."


    Alex barks a laugh, but doesn''t comment. He definitely would have retorted something if I''d said that.


    "Your name is Alex Black, isn''t it?" Steve continues. It makes me conscious of the fact that Alex and I haven''t introduced ourselves yet to Steve.


    "It is, but how do you know?" Alex asks.


    "My Latin teacher told me," Steve says as he recalls the moment. "When the teacher handed the corrected homework back, she asked me why I had whited out the correct answers and left the wrong ones."


    "Why would you white out my answers?" Alex asks, he sounds almost offended. I hide a laugh behind a fist.


    "Would you leave the answers of some random dude who starts to write on your homework?" Steve counters.


    "If that person''s skill is clear, then yes, I would. Is it so strange for people to help each other out here?" Alex complains, but Steve ignores it.


    "Anyway, so I explained to the teacher what had happened and she spontaneously said your name. Saying that you''d scored the highest score on the entrance exam she''d ever seen and that it would be good if I could befriend you," Steve continues his story.


    An awkward silence follows while he seems to consider his next words.


    "Would you, uhm, please-"


    "No," Alex cuts Steve''s question short.


    "No? But, you haven''t-" Steve bristled.


    "I won''t tutor you," Alex cuts Steve''s question short again.


    "But, why?!"


    "Let my ask you a question in return," Alex says, looking at Steve so seriously that even I feel a cold shiver run down my spine. "What was your score on the homework?"


    "Full marks 10/10," Steve replies without missing a beat.


    "And without my help?"


    This time Steve stumbles.


    "A zero."


    "Exactly," Alex says with a sigh. "You are a fifth year, Steve. If your scores are that bad for such a simply test, don''t you think it''s time to give up?"


    Steve stares at the ground stubbornly for a long moment. I''m frozen too. Alex his words are harsh, but I understand what he''s saying. And at the same time, I''m grateful that he''s never said such words to me. Ok, my grades aren''t as bad as Steve''s. Even with barely studying, I always got by. Perhaps that is what frustrates Alex so. Perhaps he can see that I''m not a lost cause, but that I''m simply not putting enough effort in.


    "I have been thinking about giving up. Why struggle doing something that you''re bad at?" Steve says after a long pause and then looks up to Alex with determination. "But then I heard your conversation with your friends last time, about how you were able to understand most people in the world, and I thought it was really beautiful. Like a goal I would like to work towards. Now, I realise that I have a huge disadvantage, but I think that, with your guidance and my new resolve, it might be not such a crazy goal."


    Alex sucks in a large breath, almost sounding like a sigh, while he looks away from Steve, then to the ground, then to me and then releases his breath while he looks back to Steve.


    "Fine!" He says while he releases the last of his breath. "I''ll help you to get up to speed to where you should be, but it''s all up to you from there! And the second your resolve weakens, is the moment I stop tutoring you. Got that?"


    Steve nods energetically, clearly overjoyed.


    "Let''s start with an hour a day after school each day, we''ll see how well you do. You can come to my house, it''s not far and nice and quiet. If you don''t mind, that is. Otherwise we''ll look for a free classroom somewhere. And give me your phone number, so we can contact each other if something comes up."


    I laugh as they exchange numbers. Jep, that''s Alex. Harsh and strict, but the best role model you can have.


    I guess I won''t be able to hang around with him for a while¡­

 8. Unwanted attraction

    [Otto''s POV - At lunch time ]


    "You sold everything?! There really isn''t anything left anymore?" I ask the lady behind the counter at the school cafeteria. She nods in reply.


    ¡°Then what am I supposed to eat?¡± I ask, the pitch of my voice high in distress.


    The lady behind the counter shrugs, clearly not feeling the same distress as I am and says: "There are a few shops outside of the school, perhaps, you could go buy something there?"


    "No I can''t, I forgot my permission pass to leave school grounds at home," I say with regret as I only now feel the full weight of that error. I avert my eyes in shame from the lady at the counter and accidentally meet the eyes of a boy that would have simply passed by me if I hadn¡¯t looked up. Yet, because our eyes meet, he freezes and stares at me with an expression that I can¡¯t quite place. It reminds me a little of recognition. Or is it surprise? Either way, I can¡¯t remember having seen him before, so why would he recognise me?


    "That''s not a problem, you can get a temporary pass at the helpdesk," the lady at the counter says and I snap my attention back to her.


    "I guess I''ll have to," I say regretfully. Since I started my break late, needing to pass by the helpdesk means I¡¯ll be scarfing down my lunch. And even then it will be a challenge not to be late. "You really don''t have ANY food anymore?"


    "The only thing left is a strawberry yoghurt and dried apple slices," the lady points out. I stare at the two products she points at in contemplation. The yoghurt is a maybe, but the dried apple slices are just revolting. They don''t taste like apple anymore, neither do they taste like chips. Either way, it''s not enough to be a meal, and my temper gets really bad when I get hungry. So I shake my head to the lady and sigh as I check my watch. Just twenty minutes of the break left. I''ll need to hurry. Let''s just hope that I make it in time before the break ends.


    "Excuse me," someone draws my attention while gently tapping my shoulder. I startle, but when I look up I find the boy that I had locked eyes with earlier. Why did he approach me? Am I blocking his path? No, a quick glance from the corner of my eye tells me that there are no obstacles in a one and a half meter radius around me, and thus, he could have easily passed me. But then what does he want? And why does he look so nervous?


    "Oops, sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to startle you,¡± he says hurriedly as he throws up his hands in a disarming manner. I notice that he is holding a packed sandwich in one of his hands. ¡°I happened to hear that you are in need of a sandwich to eat. If you don¡¯t mind, I still have a sandwich that I haven¡¯t eaten. You can have it if you want.¡±


    I¡¯ve always known that I have an expressive face, but at times like this, I hate that I¡¯m an open book even to strangers. I¡¯ll need to work on a poker face. But for now, the question marks are probably written all over my face.


    "Don''t you need it yourself?" I ask. "I wouldn''t want to steal your meal."


    "O! No no no!" the boy says nervously. "I bought it to eat this evening, but unlike you, I do still have time to pass by the shop outside."


    "Are you sure?" I ask. The boy nods. "I would love it then, how much do I owe you?"


    "I paid three euros sixty myself."


    "You have yourself a deal then,¡± I chuckle as I reach him the money that I would have otherwise handed the lady behind the counter. My smile stiffens when I notice that he is looking at me with a much warmer expression than the situation warrants. Combined with the fact that this boy read my expression like an open book earlier, it really frustrates me that I have no clue what he¡¯s thinking. But before the thought can sour my mood, I place the coins I¡¯m holding into his free hand.


    "It should be the right amount,¡± I say as I reach for the sandwich in his other hand. He lets go of the sandwich while glancing at the coins.


    "Anyway, thank you! Bye!" I say as I almost flee the scene, struggling to keep my polite smile into place. I don¡¯t wait for his reaction. I¡¯m too scared he¡¯ll look at me strangely again.


    ¡°Don¡¯t dwell on it. Don¡¯t dwell on it. Don¡¯t dwell on it!¡± I chant inside my head like a mantra, take a calming breath and say out loud to distract myself: "Now, to find a place to sit. Where could Jasper and Jessy be?¡±


    "No, they aren¡¯t here. I saw them in the courtyard before I came here earlier,¡± a voice right behind me says. For the second time in less than ten minutes, I nearly jump out of my skin as I hadn¡¯t paid attention to the people around me and whip my attention in the direction of the voice.


    "O! Alex,¡± I sigh in relief as I put a hand on my chest. My heart is beating really fast. For a moment, I had thought the boy who¡¯d sold me his sandwich had followed me. What an egocentric thing to think. I¡¯m disappointed with myself.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you jumpy today. Guilty conscience?¡± he asks, a half smirk playing at his lips, but then shakes his head as if erasing the question again. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to startle you.¡±


    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± I ask, as I avoid his eyes embarrassedly. His remark about the guilty conscience struck a nerve. I¡¯m not sure why though.


    ¡°I showered after gym-class, which somehow automatically means that I¡¯ll have to eat alone, because nobody else seems to be stupid enough to offer up a quarter of their lunch break for hygiene,¡± Alex answers my question. Is it just my imagination, or is Jasper¡¯s chattering rubbing off on him? I look him up and down and notice that his hair is still damp from his recent shower. Yet, he put it up in ponytail? What a strange thing to do. If I put my hair up when it is wet, it will never dry.


    ¡°But, enough about me. Let¡¯s quickly choose a place to sit and eat before all the time your knight in shining armour saved you is wasted again,¡± Alex says, his lips stretched wide in a thin line and the corners of his mouth turned up in mirth. I click my tongue but further ignore his remark.


    ¡°How long had you been behind me? You really should have said something.¡±


    ¡±I spotted you when you handed him the money,¡± Alex says with a shrug. ¡°I do feel sorry for the poor sod though. It was so clear that he¡¯d mustered up all his courage to talk to you and you practically blew him off.¡±


    I follow Alex as he weaves himself a way through the tables. We find a free table near the back, and I slump into the chair, unwrapping the sandwich while Alex slides into the seat across from me.


    ¡°What are you talking about? Why would anyone need to muster courage to talk to me?¡± I ask while I frown in confusion.


    ¡°Why else would a guy need to muster up courage to talk to a girl? He probably likes you,¡± Alex says as he shrugs nonchalantly and then adds as an afterthought: ¡°Who knows? Maybe he fell in love at first sight? Or maybe he¡¯s been watching you for a while.¡±


    My blood freezes. Was that what it was? Is that why his expression had reminded me of recognition? Why he seemed nervous to talk to me? Why his reaction seemed overly happy? Alex¡¯s observation might be right on the dot. Although I wish that I could tell him that he was imagining things.


    I really hate that type of shallow affection. They see blond hair and blue eyes and what? They fall in love at first sight? Bullshit. I don''t react to shallow advances like that. I know that once the illusion of my appearance fades, they won''t like what they find behind it. They won''t like me.


    ¡°Wow, that is a really grim expression.¡± Alex¡¯s remark pulls my thoughts back to our conversation. ¡°Aren¡¯t girls usually overjoyed to receive that type of attention?¡±


    I scowl, crumpling the sandwich wrapper in my hand. ¡°Maybe some girls,¡± I mutter, staring at the sandwich like it holds the answers to all life¡¯s problems. ¡°But not me. I don¡¯t trust that kind of attention. It¡¯s never about me¡ªjust some fantasy.¡±


    Alex leans back in his chair, crossing his arms. ¡°While I completely agree with your reasoning, your reaction is a bit short sighted. Whether he has a crush on you or not, your mindset is preventing you from making new friends. From broadening your world.¡±


    I startle.


    Alex might be onto something.


    And yet, the thought of talking to a stranger, who might be under the illusion that he loves me, terrifies me to the point that I am clenching the sandwich in my hands. I bite the sandwich in an attempt to hide my terror, but immediately regret the action as a foul taste dominates my mouth.


    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± I voice my disappointment out loud. ¡°Oh no, I forgot to check the ingredients used to make the sandwich. This is surimi salade with slices of tomato on top.¡±


    A soft chuckle makes me look up. Alex has a hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing, his shoulders shaking visibly with the effort. But my pouty frown is a dead giveaway that he¡¯s been caught laughing.


    ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s just that,¡± he starts to say as he looks for words. ¡°I couldn¡¯t help but think that your reaction to the sandwich was the perfect summary of how you think about socialising with new people.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll eat it anyway,¡± I say, unable to hide the disappointment from my voice. ¡°I don¡¯t have anything else to eat. Not eating will definitely disagree with me.¡±


    Alex¡¯s smile softens this time, as if his earlier mockery was a distant illusion.


    ¡°We can trade our lunches if you like? I don¡¯t mind surimi salade,¡± he says.


    ¡°What did you bring?¡± I ask, only barely managing to keep myself from drooling. Alex usually brings amazing looking lunch boxes with him.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see, there are some egg rolls, some green grapes, some slices of bread with cheese on them¡­¡± Alex sums up, but I don¡¯t need the whole list to know that it is exactly what I like to eat.


    ¡°Yes please,¡± I mumble embarrassedly. I feel a warm blush colour my cheeks. Needing to be saved by two guys in one day? That¡¯s a new low. Alex merely smiles kindly and slides his lunchbox towards me while holding out his hand for my sandwich.


    ¡°It¡¯s ok, Otto. No need to be embarrassed, I know you¡¯d help me too if I was in trouble,¡± he says as I hand him my sandwich with already one bite missing. I know he said those words to comfort me, but now I only feel extra guilty and embarrassed.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I would have given you my food if you didn¡¯t have any,¡± I say in answer to his questioning stare.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t ¡®give¡¯ you my food. We traded,¡± Alex says neutrally.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I would have traded for food that I don¡¯t like either,¡± I counter him seriously.


    ¡°It¡¯s not because you don¡¯t like surimi that I don¡¯t like it either,¡± he says, takes a bite and grimaces.


    ¡°These tomatoes are stale,¡± Alex says as he fishes the tomatoes from between the bread and takes another bite. ¡°Much better. Thank God, the taste of the tomatoes didn¡¯t cling to the sandwich.¡±


    I can¡¯t help the chuckle that escapes me, which turns into a full blown smile when Alex looks up to me in confusion. He¡¯s an oddball that Alex. He can act really grumpy and seems even more socially awkward than I am, but he¡¯s really smart and dependable too. I still don¡¯t really like him, because he always makes me feel stupid and incompetent whenever we talk. But I guess that I don¡¯t have to villainise him either.