Always Be Forever

Chapter 4: Alex

2090, BCE, September

"Alex! Alex wake up!"

I jump out of bed as I hear the alarm go off. Okay, that was my alarm telling me to get out of bed, not my parents. Sometimes I get confused because the voice on my alarm switches between my parents voices from day to day. Today it was my father's voice. Waking up, I change into my clothes for the day. To be honest, I didn't want to get up today. I have a test in English class, and I'm not ready for it. If only I could call in sick, but then my band-mates would be confused when they see me tonight. Why? Why does Big Band Night have to be on the same day as the English test? Burying my head under the blanket, Hector, my father, comes in and takes me out to the kitchen where I eat breakfast. "You have a busy day today Alex," Ellie tells me while she bites into a bagel. She sits at the dining room table with a coffee and her nose in a book. I grab my plate of scrambled eggs and hot chocolate and sit beside her. Ellie is my mother, and she never tells me anything about her past. I find it odd that she doesn't tell me anything. "You've been studying hard for this test," she comments. "I know. I was up late last night that I forgot to put my books away," I tell her, remembering the previous night and how I had got to bed at 2 in the morning. The pile of books was still on the floor. "You'll do your best, I believe in you," I hear Lily exclaim as she came up from the basement. Lily is my younger sister, and is in grade 5 now. I am in grade 10, and I do not like it so far. There's too much homework going around, it's driving me insane. "Come on now, don't want to be late!" Hector exclaims, trying to kick me out the door. I grab my books that were left lying around in my room and put them in my backpack. Grabbing my coat and putting my shoes on, I head out the door to the car with my backpack on, leaving behind a half drunk hot chocolate and half a plate of scrambled eggs on the dining room table.

Hector drives me to Archbishop Macbeth High School, the High School I'm enrolled in. On the way he makes the obvious chitchat he normally does on the days I have tests. "Don't forget to know the difference between terms," he tells me. "I know dad, I studied them all last night," I tell him. I just want this test to be over with. It's not that I don't like English; it's just that I don't like writing tests. No one likes writing tests. I don't even think the teacher likes marking the tests. That's the problem with tests in general. They should be more fun, instead of just asking stuff like, "What is the adjective in this sentence?" It's the one thing that I would actually be happy about.

We pull up to the school and Hector just lets me get out right there. He pulls up to the sidewalk, lets me leave, and then drives off. Hector has two jobs, which I find hard to believe. What I've heard him say over the years is that he is a lawyer by day, and a bartender by night. I myself don't believe the bartender job, because being a lawyer is very time-consuming. But when he needs help, I step in and get the job done. Hector has won lots of cases in previous years that it's become a tradition to have a party after the case is won. His biggest rival is Jennifer Cantoon. He's never mentioned about why she's always going against him, but in my eyes she shouldn't be a lawyer.

Heading in, I finally go up to my locker and put my books away. Slam! I hear Jacquelyn close my locker as she comes up to me. "Tired Alex?" She asks. "Me? No." I lie to her. I'm always tired. "Walk with me to the library," Jacquelyn requested. We're only best friends, and I want nothing more than that, but she wants a relationship with me. I walk her to the library, and I leave her there. "Stay," she tells me, grabbing my hand. "I really have to go," I tell her. The test is first block and I don't want to be late. "English doesn't start for another fifteen minutes," she tells me. I guess I could stay in the library, but it's not for her, it's for myself. We head in, and as she sits at a table by herself, I walk up to Jacob, who's reading a book about a murder mystery.

"Hey Jacob!" I exclaim in a quiet whisper. "Hey Alex," he whispered back. "Did Jacquelyn ask you to walk her to the library again?" Jacob asked, once he had put his book down and noticed her in there, alone at a desk. "Yeah she did," I tell him in a concerned tone. "Why the concerned voice?" Jacob had asked me, wondering if everything was all right. "I don't know how to break it to her that I'm not interested," I tell him, relieved that I finally got it all out. "Well if you want, I could tell her," Jacob suggested. That might not be a good idea. It's better for me to say it myself than to have a rumor of some kind going around about how I rejected the most popular girl in school. That would just destroy my reputation, and all of it before first block even begins.

"You waiting for someone?" I ask him, cause he kept on looking at the entrance to the library. "I'm waiting for Rain," he finally tells me. Rain is his girlfriend, and they've been together for a while. Whenever I ask about how they met, they don't really say much. "I'm sure she'll show up," I tell him. He was starting to shake a little, getting more anxious by the second. I grabbed my phone out and texted Rain just to make sure that she was on her way. I've known Rain for a while, because her younger sister is a friend of Lily's. I see Rain has sent me a message telling me to let Jacob know that she's going to be late today and she'll see him in English. I hate being the one to break the news to Jacob whenever Rain is late. "I'm sure she'll be here as soon as possible," I tell Jacob, as Josephine had bursted through the door. "Have you guys seen Michael?" She asked, coming up to Jacob and I. "No I haven't. Have you seen Rain?" Jacob had asked. "I believe she's going to be late, didn't she send you a message Alex?" Josephine had asked. I was now caught and had to tell Jacob the truth. "She sent you a message?" Jacob had asked, with his face going red with jealousy. I didn't say anything, I just walked away while I had saw Jacob whisper something into Josephine's ear.

It was almost time for the test, and I had headed into English class. We had Mrs. Broke, but her first name is really Fiona. She was already in the classroom, with the tests on her desk, beside the phone. "Early today Alex?" She asked as I went up to her. "Is the test going to be hard or easy?" I asked her as she had grabbed the pile of tests for the class. "You don't have to worry too much about it Alex," she told me while fixing her hair behind the right ear. The bell had now rung and I sat down in my desk while everyone came in. Jacob had entered the room with Josephine, followed by Michael, and then Jacquelyn and Rain. We have a small class for English, cause we are the only ones who were able to make it into English 10-1, every one else from last year had failed and were put into the lower classes.

"Is everyone here?" Fiona asks as everyone settles into his or her desks. Rain was sitting beside Jacob, Michael sitting beside me, and Josephine beside Jacquelyn. Jacquelyn didn't look too happy, but that doesn't bother me. "Is everything okay with Jacquelyn?" Michael asked me before Fiona grabbed the tests. "Why are you asking me about her?" I ask him. Jacob couldn't have told her that I wasn't interested. "I had heard from Josephine that you weren't interested in her," Michael had already told. "Meet me at lunch and we can discuss this then," I tell Michael. "Where?" He asked, cause I had forgot to mention to him of where I eat. I eat lunch behind the bleachers outside. "Meet me behind the bleachers, and make sure that no one sees you," I tell him before Fiona started handing out the tests. "All right, now everyone please put your phones in your backpacks where they belong the test is starting," Fiona told us while passing out the tests. "That includes you too Jacquelyn," Fiona says out loud, and I look over to see she still had her phone out. The entire class had eyes on her.

The phone on Fiona's desk had ringed, and Fiona had to pick it up. "Hello? I'll be on my way. Where? Okay, thanks." She had told before hanging up. "I need to be somewhere important. I'm leaving the door locked," Fiona had told us before leaving the class. Where could she go that's more important than school?