A little short about Zander.
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Let's say Drew went too far with an insult in eighth grade. One barb that lodged far deeper than he planned.
Let's say his words cracked something in Hailey's heart, became the straw that broke the dam and drew up the tears in her eyes. It could've been something about her biological mother, about her family—the specifics didn't matter to Zander.
Imagine a boy who has never put the bite to his bark, never moved past clenching his fists and yelling at taunts; a boy who sat out during physical ed. to read Pride and Prejudice, who has never run the mile. His hands were made for the piano, the harp, not for violence.
Zander was not as selfless or patient as Luke. He was not as brave as Hailey or as loving as his mother. He whined when he had to get out of bed early, struggled to say "thank you", and complained when his favorite sweater hadn't been washed yet or when the Austin-Wickhams ran out of grape juice.
But he cared about his sister. When he hit, he hit hard.
He fractured a knuckle and a metacarpal and bruised the rest of his right hand when he sent Drew crashing to the polished hallway floor, too frozen by shock to react. He would have broken a bone or three on the second attempt if Luke hadn't grabbed him, wrapping iron-steady arms around him and hauling him off of Drew, whose nose was bleeding. In hindsight, Zander wondered if a second hit would've shut Drew up once and for all.
He had to wear a cast for five weeks, which meant no harp for five weeks and no right-hand piano for five weeks. He had to sit through two hours of disappointed, terse discussion with the principal and his mother and Michael, and another hour of watching his parents talk to Drew's father, and three days of suspension. He had to deal with everybody eyeing him in the hallways after he returned, whispers trailing his steps because he was the loner who'd lost it and hit someone.
He'd do it again. He'd remind Hailey every time that he'd break bones for her.
Alexander Wickham would never call himself perfect. He was frayed and sparking at certain edges and some of his cracks were most definitely not filled with gold—
But being imperfectly imperfect never stopped him from caring about his sister.
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A/N: This came from a headcanon that Zander actually got into a fight in middle school because Drew made Hailey really upset and he was just. done
