Underneath

Alex

Alex grasped at the hole for air. Precious time was running out, and he could see the light as water rose past his throat. This is it. I'm going to die, he thought...

... 

Alex had been a seventeen-year-old boy in the small town of Cally, Georgia, and he had been the typical disappointment to his parents since middle school. Failing grades, slowly drifting away from class and to his own little world each day. His mom and dad took care of him, mother unconditionally and father with the belief that it was time he tightened up. Alex knew that his father was right, but focused on more important things, like friends. Alex was what he would call a disappointment. 

Just four hours ago, his mother had been waiting for him to return from school. She was at home working as a self-published writer, and his father was off working the logging business on the other side of town. Every day his mother would greet him at the door with a hug and a kiss, which aggravated Alex. However, today Alex had other plans. He was going to go to the rock quarry down the street from the school and hang out with some friends, maybe even smoke a few cigarettes. Alex, being a seventeen-year-old boy with emotional issues, believed he could take care of himself. After all, he'd no longer be a junior in a month. His life was growing closer and closer to beginning. 

As the school bell rang, Alex pushed through the door of his final class of the day. 11th grade literature, his least favorite class. He made his way to his seat in the back of the class and leaned back with his converse shoes propped onto the desk. The teacher quickly noticed and gave him a familiar look, and he lowered his feet with a sigh as the teacher returned to her book. After a moment the teacher, Ms. Greenwich, lowered her book to her desk and looked up as the last of the students piled in. 

"Okay, class. Now that everyone has arrived, we can start our lesson," Ms. Greenwich said, standing up. "Alex, can you tell me what we've been reading for the past week?" 

Alex hesitated, knowing that he hadn't paid any attention at all the past few days. 

"Uh, was it The Odyssey?" Alex guessed.

Ms. Greenwich gave off a low, sarcastic sigh.

"No, honey. That was last year. This week is Great Expectations. Maybe since you want to take your time with the book, you can start us off?" Ms. Greenwich suggested, although it was really an order.

Alex glared at his least-favorite teacher and slowly picked up his book from under the desk, struggling to find the page they had left off on. 

...

After the final bell had rung, Alex pushed his way through the endless traffic that was the high school hallway. Everyone seemed to get quiet when he got closer, and Alex wasn't sure why. Either way, he decided to brush it off and swing open his locker to discard his books. 

"Hey," a familiar voice said from the end of the hallway.

Students scattered to the sides of the hallway to reveal Georgie, and suddenly Alex understood why everyone had gotten quiet, because Georgie was the school bully, and recently Alex had gotten into a misunderstanding with Georgie's girlfriend, who hadn't told Alex her relationship status.

"You think it's cool to kiss my girlfriend?" Georgie asked.

"For the last time, it wasn't my fault," Alex defended in a bored voice. 

"Yeah right," Georgie growled. "You and me, school parking lot. Four o' clock."

Georgie glared at Alex with a singer before turning and taking off, and the whispers quickly resumed as Alex shoved his things into his locker. He wasn't sure what to do. He was lazy and careless, but he still didn't want to die.