The Wallflower of Parkview High

Chapter Forty

The rest of Christmas break was better and worse for me.

Better because I continued to keep in touch with Zander and Alicia, even though I couldn't see them in person. Sometimes I would lay in bed, texting them late into the night, having the most random conversations ever (like how Alicia's baby brother accidentally put glue in his hair and that he was howling when her mom tried to take it out). Also, for Christmas, Dad gave me the pale pink cloud shaped pillow I've been asking for and Charlotte had somehow managed to save up for a pack of colored pencils that were more high quality than the ones I used - both of which I appreciated greatly. Dad, Charlotte and I also sat on the couch later that afternoon, wrapped in blankets with steaming mugs of hot cocoa in our hands, watching the movie Elf.

It was worse though because the Friday after the week I ran with Zander, he didn't show up at my house like he had promised. Thinking that he was just a few minutes late, I waited for five minutes. Eventually that five minutes turned into fifteen, then thirty, then fifty. About an hour and a half later, I had given up waiting for him and went up to my room so I coud send him a text, asking where he was and if he was okay. Unfortunately, he never responded and I practically spent all of the remaining days of break worrying about if something happened to him and why he missed our run in the park that week.

Had he possibly gotten tired of me and eventually given up on making me a better runner because he could clearly see how terrible I was at it? I could see why he would do that, considering if I was him, I would've given up on me too.

After many sleepless hours, wondering what had happened to Zander, I finally got my answer the Monday we came back from break. An answer in the form of a slightly familiar thumping sound.

"Hey guys."

At the sound of Zander's voice, I stopped talking to Alicia and turned around. Sure enough, there he was in all his glory...

...with a pair of crutches supporting him, a big boot with straps on his right leg and his friend standing behind him, holding his backpack. I could only stare at him in shock, my mouth forming a small 'o'. No wonder he hadn't been able to run with me last Friday.

"Damn, Zander, what happened?" Alicia asked as Zander hobbled his way towards our usual bench near the library. I didn't say anything and instead listened to the thump of his crutches and the clicking sound of his shoe that was heard everytime he came in contact with the ground.

"Hmmm?" Zander asked, turning towards his friend like he didn't hear her question.

Alicia opened her mouth to repeat her question but Zander spoke first.

"Will, can you set my backpack down and help me sit on the bench?" he asked, tilting his head to the side a bit and looking at Will from under his eyelashes (god what I would do to have him do that to me). Will just grunted and shifted Zander's backpack off his shoulder and onto the ground, probably glad to take the extra bit of weight off his shoulders. He then grabbed Zander's hand (I tried my best to ignore this, I really did) and helped him into a sitting position like someone would help an old person do, afterwards propping Zander's crutches against the side of the bench.

"Thanks." Zander said, smiling at his friend and resting his broken foot on the bench so it almost invaded Alicia's personal space. Will muttered a "you're welcome" back and walked away, probably to go and find his other friends or something.

"Are you going to answer my question or not?" Alicia asked in a sharp tone of voice, clearly annoyed that Zander had ignored her question the first time and now had his bandaged and likely swollen foot shoved in her face.

"Huh?" Zander asked, looking at her, "Sure."

"Well?" Alicia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Um, I fell down the stairs." Zander said and Alicia snorted.

"Really?"

"Yeah..."

"How did you fall?" Alicia asked and Zander paused for a moment before answering.

"I tripped."

"Did you really?"

"Jesus Christ, Alicia. Stop sounding like Nancy Drew or someone like that. It's not like I did anything spectacular to make myself trip."

"Okay, okay," Alicia huffed, "I was just asking."

And with that, they went back to the deafening silence that usually hung over them when they were together.

It was silent for a few minutes like that, with Zander and Alicia doing their own thing and me just sitting there and watching them. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alicia fiddling with a loose thread on her jeans and saw Zander unzipping his backpack.

"Zander!" I gasped when I saw him take his phone out of his backpack. He just turned to look at me, wondering why the hell I was so worked up.

"What happened?" he asked in a flat tone of voice.

"You'll get in trouble for having that out at school!" I hissed, mentioning to his phone. He just rolled his eyes.

"Seriously, Noah? Do you have to be such a goody goody?"

"B-But what if a t-teacher sees you a-and you get in t-trouble?" I protested. Zander scoffed and unlocked his phone.

"Oh please. I rarely get in trouble with teachers and if I do, then the punishments aren't even that bad. Also, I can tell you that I've done much worse than having my phone out in school."

I just stared at him, trying to process his words.

"You don't get in trouble with teachers?" I asked, hardly daring to believe that what he said was true. I'm pretty sure that every single person here got in trouble with a teacher at least more than twice in their lifetime unless they were a goody goody. And even then, I doubt that Zander was a goody goody (that I could say for sure).

"Not often."

"Do you just get away with this stuff?" I asked, a small bit of rage building up inside me. During the months that I've been at this school, I've seen people get in trouble for all sorts of things, most of which were smaller than anything Zander would ever do. Why did everyone get punishments like long suspensions, phone calls home and sometimes even expulsion while Zander just got two days of suspension at most? It just didn't seem fair, like Zander was somehow immune to the worse punishments the school had to offer when he probably did the worst things.

"Most of the time, yeah."

"But how?!" I spluttered.

"All they have to do is look at my last name." he said in a simple tone of voice.

"Arador?"

"Yep."

"Are you famous or something?" I asked and he shook his head.

"I'm not famous but my dad is the CEO of some expensive clothing company so when teachers find this out, they usually let me get off free or give me a very small punishment. That's really the only perk about having him as a dad, if I'm really being honest."

"O-Oh." I said in a strained voice. Part of me now wished that my own dad was the CEO of some company or at least had a job that would make our family a lot of money so that I could get away with most of the things I would do. Not only that, but then Charlotte wouldn't have to work at 7-Eleven anymore and I could get all the art supplies I wanted.

"You okay?" Zander asked, probably seeing the look on my face.

"I'm fine." I murmured. Zander didn't say anything and instead turned to exchange glances with Alicia. Almost instantly, the memory came back to me.

Me seeing Zander text Alicia that day.

Just the thought of that memory made me want to throw up. Why were they even texting each other and what were they talking about? I know that it shouldn't be my business, but part of me desperately wanted to know, considering they were both my friends.

"Noah, are you sure you're okay?" Alicia asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Um, I think I need to go to the bathroom." I said, my voice wavering.

"Noah-"

But I was already gone.