Tree Face

CHAPTER 2: ALEX FINDS A DOPPELGÄNGER

Have you ever been run over by a cruiser bike? I have. It really, really hurts. You find yourself tangled in a heap of arms and legs and metal, most of which are very sharp. With effort, I disentangled myself from the pile and stood up. Only to heroically fall back down, my leg stinging with pain. The boy managed to stand up, and then help me back up. He was practically carrying me. He seemed to be around my age.

I removed myself from his grasp and limped over to a bench. I lifted my pant leg up, and found my leg looking like roadkill. The boy's eyes widened and he apologised frantically, "I'm so sorry. I should've looked where I was biking. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just, please don't do that again. There's a bunch of kids running around here." To be honest, I was a little irritated with the boy. He had rode blindly (and deafly) onto the field, with no regard whatsoever for the little kids running around everywhere. It was lucky he had crashed into me, and not one of them.

At that moment, Alex ran up to me, whining about not wanting to go home. And then he saw my leg. He sat down next to me and kept asking what had happened. Great, now I had 2 annoying boys fretting over a small (okay, not that small) scrape.

I made to stand up, but the boy pushed me back down. "No way you're walking home like that. Tell me where you live, I'll send you back on my bike. I'm Matheo by the way. What's your name?" The boy, I mean Matheo, offered. "Emma. And It's okay, I'm fine." I was. I was always getting hurt anyway, so this wasn't that bad. However, Matheo insisted, so I gave up and told Alex to follow us on his bike.

With his help, I got on to the back of Matheo's bike. "I just moved into 43 Argo Drive, just up there," I told him, pointing to my house. The boy looked back at me, surprised, then smiled. "So you're the new neighbours? Nice to meet you. My sister and I live just next door, which is also called 43 Argo Drive, for some genius reason." He rolled his eyes and I laughed.

"Nice to meet you too. That's my brother, Alex." He looked a bit surprised at that. "It'll be cool to have neighbours around my age. How old are you again?" I asked.

"I'm in year 9, and my sister's in year 8. You?"

"Year 8 too."

"Cool! Hannah's going to be over the moon. She's what my dad calls a 'glass half full person'. To me though, she seems more like a 'glass flooding the kitchen' kind of person," He said, laughing.

About 2 hours into my new life, and I was already making friends. Maybe this move wasn't so bad after all. We got to my house, the 3 of us talking and laughing all the way. I got off his bike and managed an awkward walk to the front door.

"Thanks for your help. You can come in if you like," I told him. Him, Alex and I walked through the front door to find the couch fully assembled, My mom and another woman talking, and a boy who seemed to be the woman's son awkwardly sipping tea next to them. Behind me, Matheo chuckled softly. My mom noticed the 3 of us standing in the doorway, and called us in to meet the woman. "This is our neighbour, who lives to the right of us. Her name is Emily Dennis. That's her son over there, Alex," she gestured to the boy, and he gave a small wave. "He's a year older than you, and you'll be going to the same school," She told me.

"Mrs Dennis also has a daughter in the same year as you, Emma. Looks like you've got some new friends," My mom turned to Alex (My brother, not the tea boy) and told him to go take a shower upstairs. He dragged his feet up the stairs, muttering something about me getting all the friends. My mom excused herself and followed him up.

"Hi Mrs Dennis, nice to meet you," I greeted. She smiled, and then noticed Matheo behind me. "Oh, Matheo! Hello! I was just about to send Alex to get you!" She turned to me and said, "I see you've met Matheo already, dear. He lives to the left of you. If I'm not wrong, your 2 houses are connected. Him and Alex are joined at the hips, while my daughter, Alice, and Matheo's sister, Hannah, are best friends. Maybe you can join their little duo and make it a trio," She said.

I smiled and replied, "I would love to meet them, Mrs Dennis. Are they at your house?" "Oh no, Hannah took Alice along with her to go shopping. Between you and me, 'dragged' would be a better word," She whispered the last part and I laughed. The 2 boys behind me smirked at each other at her words. "Well, I should get going now. I'd better go help your guys' dads move everything," With that, she went up the stairs to where my dad apparently was.

I took a seat across from Tea Boy, and asked, "You're Alex? My brother's name is also Alex. There's too many Alexes in the world," I joked. He laughed and replied, "Well then, we can call your brother Alex Jr." Matheo took a seat next to me, and reminded me, "Uh, you gonna treat that leg of yours? If you tell me where your first aid kit is, I can grab it for you and help you,"

"You hurt yourself? Where? Did this idiot do it?" Alex asked. Matheo swatted Alex's arm but still looked guilty. "Matheo, seriously, it's fine. It was just an accident." He smiled grateful at that. "I'm alright. I'll get the firs-" I paused as I remembered we didn't have a first aid kit, it was still in one of the many luggages. Matheo's smile turned into a smirk and he merely said, "wait here," before leaving the house.

I rolled up my pant leg to check again, and Alex came around the table. He sucked in a breath when he saw my roadkill leg, and looked up at me with concern in his eyes. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself form laughing. 3 boys had looked at me with the exact same expression, for the exact same reason today. It was like they all had the same face and had all received an instruction manual on how to use it.