𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍 / alex standall ✓

𝟎𝟓. friendship, it's complicated

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍
05 / FRIENDSHIP, IT'S COMPLICATED
↳ season one, episode two: tape 1, side b
act one / the tapes

𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐀 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑 way through the hallways, her mind on one thing and one thing alone – lunch. She arrived at the cafeteria and made her way through the lunch line. She had been late today, so she had no choice but to leave the house without packing herself a lunch. The food at Liberty High School wasn't the worst thing she had ever heard of, but she definitely would rather be eating a sandwich she prepared herself. She finished grabbing her food and looked around, trying to locate Alex.

He was already sitting at a table alone, looking around for the Dempsey girl. One or two days out of the week, both of them would take a break from the rest of their friends and just spend time together. It was a safety point for Nessa, and Alex just liked any alone time he could spare with her.

"Hey, Alex." Nessa spoke as she placed her tray on the table and took a seat next to him. Alex grabbed her hand from under the table, giving it a soft squeeze.

The couple caught up for about two or three minutes, both of them attempting to enjoy their lunch when Jessica ran up to them and sat herself at the table.

"Porter asked to talk to Clay." Jessica said as she sat down.

"Jess, keep your voice down." Alex instructed.

"Alex, give me a break." Jessica retorted. "I can't find my boyfriend, the pep rally is in two hours, and dipshit over there is probably going to blow up all of our lives with one visit to the fucking counselor."

"This shit needs to get figured out, now." Jessica demanded. "I need to go call Justin again."

She fled the table quickly, leaving Alex and Nessa to stare at each other, eating the rest of their meal in silence. They didn't even notice the pair of eyes belonging to Clay Jensen staring at them from across the lunchroom. Nessa didn't notice much anymore.

"It was fine, Jess. It was. You're the kind of girl that boys like to like, not spread rumors about. You're the nice girl, the kind that becomes a cheerleader."

Pep rallies at Liberty High School were a neutral point for Nessa Dempsey. She loved an excuse to get out of class, but she hated that there was an entire event dedicated to her dipshit friends, including her brother. Each pep rally gave the boys more and more of an ego boost, and they had a big enough one as it was – especially Bryce Walker.

Students piled into the bleachers, and Nessa took her seat right between Alex and Montgomery. She laid her legs across Alex's, a comfortable position for the girl. Bryce sat below them, but the rest of their little group of friends was either on the court or waiting to be celebrated.

"God, I hate pep rallies." Nessa said as she slumped down a little more.

"Yeah, well I love them." Monty said as he shuffled his legs to make himself more comfortable.

"You're so transparent, Monty. You love the cheerleaders." Nessa joked with the boy.

"You're so smart, Ness." he replied back, smiling. "You are definitely getting into Columbia."