Afterwards (alemma)

Two | We Aren't Dating

Alex

After two minutes on the ground in crippled pain, I stand up and brush off imaginary dirt, lifting up my shirt to see an already forming bruise. It was turning a nasty yellow color, and was sure to cause me immense pain.

I looked in the mirror to make sure that the places where Mark had hit my face weren't already bruising, but just my luck - where he had punched my jaw, a nice array of blues and purples were setting in.

I cringe at the thought of having to face my friends like this, but I'll just put together some fake story to make it seem believable.

I fell down the stairs. I fell off my bike. I got in a fight.

I sigh. None of them were even close to believable, but no way was I telling them what really happened. I'd be shipped off to a new home. That can't - won't - happen.

Taking a deep breath, I run my hands through my hair one last time before venturing out into the hallway again. My eye busy themselves my focusing on my feet as I quickly walk down the stairs, avoiding any eye contact. I quickly slip on my shoes and walk out the front door and around my house to the backyard.

Emma is perched on the fence, her eyes focused on the road behind us.

I walk silently so I don't disturb her, and then hop up on the fence next to her.

"Oh! Sorry Alex, I didn't see you there." She exclaims, her surprise turning to worry as she examines my jaw.

"Alex, what happened?" She questions, her eyes narrowing as I swallow nervously.

"I fell off my bike, uh, because I ran into a mailbox. Yeah, and my jaw hit the pavement and then, uh -" I'm cut off my Emma laughing.

"You are such a bad liar." She states, triumph hiding behind her eyes.

"Ok, you caught me. I got in a fight after school." I say, trying to sound confident in my answer. I'm not positive she buys my story, but she rolls her eyes and let's the story drop.

"Yo! Alex, Emma! Stop being romantic and stuff, you have to catch up on everything!" I hear Tucks voice and automatically, my face turns bright red.

"C'mon, bro! You know it's not like that. Plus, I know you two are dating. No need to hide it from me." I reply, trying to hide the disappointment in my voice towards the end of the sentence.

Emma falls off the fence in laughter, and Tuck almost slides back down the hill he's climbing up.

"Dating! Oh my god, he thinks we're - hahaha!" Emma breaks into a hysterical fit of laughter, wiping tears from her eyes.

I stare at Tuck, confused.

"Look, I waited the standard three months - that's the Bro Code, right? When your friend likes someone but then they move away, you wait three months before dating them. But we aren't even dating, we kissed once and that's about it. Last night we went bowling with Munch, and that's the only 'date' we've ever gone on." Tuck states, and I almost punch him for basically revealing my massive crush on Emma.

And unfortunately, Emma seemed to slowly understand what he was saying, giving me a wide glance through the corner of her eye and blushing madly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but Munch is coming up the street and I need to know everything I missed." I say, trying to cover Tuck's reveal. It didn't work.

"First, I need to know something." Emma says, and I groan and cover my face in my hands. This day just keeps getting worse and worse.

"You, Alex Nichlos, who broke into my house and told me to get lost with my rich friends in ball gowns and eat steak, and then completely ignored me when I saved his butt in the arcade, has a crush on me?" Emma says, laughing harder than when I thought she and Tuck were dating.

"Had. That's past tense, so that means in the past, not anymore. I mean, I had like ten girlfriends in New York." I lie, trying to cover my tracks.

"Mhmm, you dirty liar. We all know-" I tackle Tuck before he can say anything else, and we end up rolling down the bill that Munch was climbing, taking him with us.

"GUYS!" Munch yells, huffing as he lands back at the bottom, with Tuck and I playfully wrestling on top of him.

"Part of the Bro Code is to not tell ones crush that they are his crush, it's like you know nothing!" I whisper-yell, and Tuck just keeps laughing, holding his video camera in his hand.

"Uh-huh, past-tense!" He teases, and I groan before standing up and brushing the dirt off my clothes, wincing as my hands brush against the giant bruise on my side.

Tucks face squints in concern, scrutinizing the bruise on my jaw.

"I got in a fight after school, seriously, I'm fine, this is my only injury." I tell him, praying he lets it go.

He does.

"Hey guys? You may wanna check this out!" Emma yells from my backyard, and I grab the rope and start pulling myself up the hill.

As I make it to the top, I finally see what Emma was talking about.

A small metal object, no bigger than the size of my fist, was glowing a mysterious blue color, and floating a few inches above my hand.

"What the heck..." Tuck mutters, his camera zooming in on the object.

Bringbringbring

The familiar ringtone plays, and not from my phone.

"Echo?" I whisper, and the small, metal object slowly unfolds itself, revealing a familiar pair of eyes.

"My phone just barfed." Munch states, holding up a silvery-blue screen. I grin.

"We leave tomorrow morning. Echo's got another adventure for us to go on." Tuck says, and fear seizes me.

If Mark can get mad at me for simply yelling to notify him and Lindsey that I'm home, the he would kill me if I miss a day of school and then get detention for doing so.

"Umm...can we maybe do it on a Friday night like before? I mean, we do have school tomorrow." I say, trying to sound reasonable.

"Of course not! This can't wait, Alex!" Emma scoffs, and my stomach sinks to my feet again.

"But tomorrow is a Wednesday, we can't just skip school!" I exclaim, trying to not let fear take over my voice.

"It's a good enough reason. Dude, you've never been scared about skipping school before. Why now? New York scare you?" Tuck jokes, but it hits a little too close to home.

"I just can't go tomorrow! Ok?" I shout, and Emma steps forwards.

"We're going tomorrow, with or without you." She states, and with that, in left alone in my backyard.