𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞 𝗪𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 ➯ 𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗞𝗬 𝗕𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗡

𝗶. 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

ALEX MARTINEZ stared into the abyss known as his closet and shuffled through everything for the fifth time. Nothing had caught his attention, and he didn't plan an outfit the night before because he was too busy trying to learn how to play 'My Everything' by Ariana Grande on the guitar. He double checked the time on his phone and held back a scream as he realized he now only had a few minutes to spare before school.

As he closed and opened the closet door again, his bedroom door flung open and revealed his best friend, Elena, standing with an annoyed look on her face. She walked over to him and pulled on his arm.

"Alex, what the hell are you doing? I've been texting you since 6:30. I wanted to know if we were meeting at my place or your place, but I think it's too late for you to answer that now." She took notice of Alex staring at his closet door with a blank expression and sighed once she realized that he was overthinking his first day outfit. She opened his closet door and searched around to help him find something.

"You should've told me you were having trouble finding an outfit, Alex. I love picking out your clothes. What do you think about this jean jacket with this shirt?" Alex glanced over at Elena and gave her a small smile as he nodded his head. "It looks great on you." He turned back to his closet door and got lost in his own mind once again.

Elena raised an eyebrow and snapped her fingers in front of his face to get his attention. "Alex? What's going on with you? You've been out of it since I walked in." Alex turned to Elena and immediately engulfed her in a hug.

"Elena, I can't go to school. I can't walk in there this year. Something feels different, I feel like I'm going to mess something up on the first day and everyone will remember it all throughout the rest of the year and the entirety of senior year. And then at graduation someone will bring it back up and the entirety of 12th grade will point and laugh at me." Elena wrapped her arms around him and lightly rested her head against his.

"Alex, you're doing that thing again. You're doing that thing where you create the worst possible scenario and keep repeating it in your head until you can convince yourself to just drop whatever it is you wanted to do." Alex looked up at her slowly with a puzzled expression and then quickly looked back down once he realized she was right.

Alex had a tendency to convince himself he was ready to do something, and then stop dead in his tracks and imagine the worst things happening to him before he could proceed any further. The earliest he can remember doing something like this was in first grade, when he was too nervous to get on the bus and walk to a seat so he imagined the road splitting down the middle as the bus was driving and pictured a monster coming out from it. His mom ended up having to drive him.

"I don't know how to not overthink. If I tried, I would probably overthink not overthinking!" Elena scratched the top of his head and tried her best to contain a giggle. "This is serious, Elena! What if I don't make a good impression this year? What if you're associated with the kid who fell down the stairs during lunch?" Elena was confused as to where he got the last line from, but didn't question it knowing that it was another worst case scenario Alex had come up with.

"I'm not even going to ask where falling down the stairs came from." She let him go and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Alex, you're braver than you think. Remember when we met in kindergarten and you stood up to that second grader for me? Sure, you puked right after it happened because you were nervous, but you still got him to leave me alone for the rest of elementary school." Elena was like a walking Ted Talk, and Alex was grateful to have her in his life.

Alex smiled at her and grabbed her hands, holding them in his. "You give me the best pep talks in the world. I love you." Elena hugged him once more and handed him the outfit she picked for him as she let go. "We don't have much time left if you want to make it before the bell rings. Wear that, I promise it'll look good on you. I'm gonna wait in the car."

Alex hyped himself up in his mirror one last time before he stepped out and into the cool autumn air. He had a feeling that everything was going to turn out alright.

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hi! thanks for reading this chapter in its entirety, it's late as i'm writing this, and even though i proofread i'm still incredibly tired so please excuse any mistakes!

also i know ricky wasn't in this chapter, but i wanted to give a bit more depth into how alex constantly doubts himself. i promise we'll have an interaction between them in the next chapter.

i hope you enjoyed this chapter!