king and queen

seven

Alexa's POV

I walked to school the next morning trying to keep my head held high.

I'm sure I'm overthinking this.

Everything's gonna turn out fine. Everything always works out in the end, one way or another. In a week, all of this won't even matter. So why stress over it?

My day went on as usual and after school, I changed my clothes for both cheer and court dances.

It was 3:30 and I went down to the room to practice. Delancey was just finishing up. She walked out, we exchanged small waves, and I went inside.

I waited for about five minutes and Dallas still wasn't here. But it was only five minutes. Except we only got thirty minutes to practice. I decided on practicing by myself.

Time went on and it was 3:55 and all I did was practice a dance I already know. I was in the middle of it and the door opened. I stopped and looked through the mirror to see Dallas.

"Hey!" I said, trying to sound polite as I stopped the music. "Uh, you must've gotten the time wrong," I said with a laugh. "Our practice started at 3:30."

"I know."

My smile slowly faded. "Oh. Were you just running late...?" I asked awkwardly.

"Nah, just wasn't up for it. But I'll see ya, tomorrow."

He slammed the door behind him so hard it made me jump a little. I frowned. What a waste of a practice. We only get four of them. That's only two hours.

And that's not a lot of time.

But there was nothing I could do now.

I went to cheer practice and at least that went smoothly. But at least in this I've got everything choreographed and done. It's just being perfected.

After that was over, I started my walk home. As I was making my way over there, I saw Dallas and that kid he was with at the corner store. It seems as if Dallas had told him to wait outside.

Hmm.

I walked up to the tanned guy and as I got closer, I realized he was older than I thought. "Hi." I said quickly. He turned around and looked at me. He didn't say anything so I spoke up again. "I-I've seen you walkin' around with Dallas. Are you guys friends? Oh, I'm Alexa, by the way."

"I know who you are. Johnny Cade. Nice to meet ya." He said shaking my hand. "And yeah, we're friends. Why?"

"Well, I feel like you probably know the situation between us right now. How we gotta do this dance on Wednesday and, well, he doesn't seem too interested in it."

"Yeah. Yeah, I got that." He said.

I saw Dallas checking out his pack of cigarettes inside and I started to panic. "Look, I don't think Dallas likes me too much. I'm not really sure why, considering I barely even know him, but can you please try and urge him to come to practice tomorrow? Please. I'm begging you, this means a lot to me."

He started to walk outside.

"Don't tell him you saw me."

I ran around the corner and I heard the bell from the door ring when Dallas walked out.

"Who were ya talking to?" He asked.

Please don't say anything.
Please don't say anything.
Please don't say anything.

"Uhh... I wasn't talking to anybody."

Phew.

"Ya sure? Swear I saw something."

"Nope. Your eyes must've been playing tricks on ya."

They walked the other way and I let out a sigh.

I was a tad bit curious as to where Dallas went for all these years. I always just thought he went upstate. Or maybe just stayed at home and did nothing. But I can say for certain that I have never seen that kid before. And by the way he was talking, he certainly wasn't from here. He sounded like he was from Tennessee. I've got cousins who live over there, which is the only reason I would be able to recognize that accent.

He seemed nice enough.

Hopefully that doesn't backfire on me like every single other thing in my life has.

Hopefully, he'll just tell him to show up and be a good influence.

Johnny's POV

I had a feeling that Dally may be in the wrong when it comes to her. She seems so sincere. So kind. What could that girl possibly have done to Dallas to make him hate her?

We got to Dal's apartment and he slumped on the couch. I decided to bring it up.

"Hey, Dal. You plan on showing up to your little rehearsal tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Same time I did today."

"How is that gonna make her feel like a failure?"

I felt bad saying that out loud, I really did. Alexa DeVos seemed to be doing great. I wouldn't actually want to make her feel like that. But she did hint that I needed to do whatever it takes to get him to show up.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Well, Dal, you said at the dairy bar that you wanted to make her feel like a failure, y'know? Because that's how she made you feel. And not showing up just shows that you're slacking. And she's putting in the work. Making you a failure."

He stood up off the couch and looked at me. "I do hate your choice of words, but you're right! I'm slacking off. I'm not putting in work. That's how I'm supposed to make her feel!"

He thought for a moment. I spoke up. "So... are you gonna go tomorrow?"

He hesitated for a second. "Yeah. I'm gonna be right on time. No, I'm gonna be better than on time. I'm gonna be early. I'm gonna be so early she won't know what to do with herself. And she's gonna feel so stupid! Ha! Good thing you came with me. I would have never thought of that!"

I rolled my eyes once he went back to the couch.

Good thing I'm the only one who witnessed this conversation.

Anyone else here would have actually believed he truly hadn't gone to school in three years with that comment.