In The Scenes

Tenth

WARNING: May be mentions of abuse, panic attacks, trauma, blood, etc. If you are sensitive to these topics, please don't read.

Mindy POV:

My brother has gone mad. At least, that's what I thought until our fall was softened by mattresses. I shouldn't have doubted him. Alex always knows what he's doing.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked.

I nodded. Lia looked terriffied. Alex's eyes widened. He looked like he deserved to be hit.

"Are you crazy? What if we didn't fall on these? What if you died? Why . . . what happened to you?" Lia asked as she took deep breaths in.

 I noticed Alex was holding his stomach. He had tears in his eyes as his shirt became stained with blood. Lia grabbed some blankets and applied pressure to his wound.

"What happened?" I asked him.

"I missed the mattress. Landed on some blankets. It broke the fall but my stomach was cut."

Lia and I helped Alex stand up. We entered the hospital to find the man in the dolphin costume being arrested.

"This wasn't what I imagined telling you guys would be like," Lia's mom said.

"You can never tell with us," I joked.

Alex's wound was checked and cleaned and we were allowed to leave the hospital. The three of us sat outside, absorbing the last 30 minutes. We had said goodbye to Lia's mom and congratulated her for beating cancer but decided to sit outside before leaving.

"You don't hate me for asking you if you were crazy, right?" Lia asked.

Alex pushed his head into her shoulder. It was cold and Alex didn't have a jacket. Lia and I were smart enough to have one when we were taken into the hospital.

"I could never hate you."

Lia wrapped her arms around him and kissed his forehead.

"You're the best boyfriend in the world."

"I know."

~~Some Days Later~~

Lia POV:

Our college had to choose eight people to volunteer at Faith High School. The people who were selected had to supervise the high schoolers for a day. They would be given attendance credit and a reward. Alex, Bryce, Mattheo, Asha, and I were the first five people to sign up. Naturally, we were the first five people chosen.

"Bingo. Now, we can all bully the high schoolers together," Bryce said, high-fiving Mattheo.

The five of us, accompanied by Sarah, Kenzie, and Ethan, walked to the principal's office. She immediately recognized me and Alex. We were split into groups of two. Ethan and Sarah, Asha and Kenzie, Bryce and Mattheo, and I was paired with Alex.

"How surprising," Mattheo said, rolling his eyes. "The lovebirds are together."

We were supposed to supervise Mrs. Williams' class. We entered the class and 30 pairs of eyes landed on us.

"Hi. We're the college students who are here to supervise you while your teacher is away," I started.

Alex continued.

"We used to go to this school and we know Mrs. Williams and her procedures. Do you have any questions for us?"

A girl raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"Do we have any assignments?"

"I wasn't given the assignment to give you so I guess not. What do you guys want to do?"

"I don't know. We could watch a movie."

"No remote."

"Go outside?"

"I don't know if that's allowed"

"Let us leave."

"I know that's not allowed."

The girl pretended to faint and the guy next to her caught her. Alex could tell the class was getting bored so he cleared his throat and began a story.

"Once upon a time, there was a boy. This boy had a sister named Min . . . Maria. The boy's name was . . . Abraham. They were raised by cruel monsters, Mr. and Mrs. Dark."

"Seriously? Mr. and Mrs. Dark?" I asked, sitting down.

"You wanna hear the story or not?"

Fair enough. Alex continued the story.

"Maria would go to school every day and tell Abraham what she learned. Still, Abraham wanted to go to school. He begged Mr. and Mrs. Dark to let him go with his sister. Finally, they agreed. On Abraham's first day, he bumped into a girl. She helped him up and introduced herself as Diane."

Alex looked right at me.

"I see where you're going with this. Can I continue?"

Alex nodded.

"Well, Diane was also raised by a cruel father. His name was Mr. Deep. Luckily, he was put in prison a couple of years ago. Anyway, Diane tried talking with Abraham but he refused. He wasn't able to talk. She eventually became his friend and they did everything together. One day, Diane found out Abraham was being hurt by the monsters and that he could talk. She decided to help him and eventually succeeded in doing so. They ended up dating and now they're in college living their happy lives. The end."

The class was silent.

"What kind of story was that?" someone asked.

I walked over to Alex and threw my arms around him despite him trying to push me away.

"That's how I met him."

The class went wild.

"You're dating?" one kid yelled.

"That's . . . intense," another one said, putting her hand over her mouth.

"What kind of love story is this?" a boy said, rolling his eyes.

Alex slumped into a seat.

"I hate high schoolers."

"You were one once," I reminded him.

"I stand by what I said."