Taming Life

Storm

I was incredibly shocked, at first I didn't know what to do. Then I put my arm around her and let her cry on my shoulder. She was sobbing quite loudly, and I felt immensely bad for her. You didn't have to know Alex very well at all to know that she didn't like to show weakness. In the slightest. She started to mumble something as she cried, but I couldn't hear her.

"Alex, I can't hear you." I said, trying to sound gentle. She sat up a little and looked at me.

"Hazel...Josh has been cheating on me." Alex said, wiping her eyes but then crying again.

"I know." I said quietly, biting my lip and feeling awful. I honestly thought it was obvious, that she knew.

"I didn't know. I mean, I didn't like him that much. I honestly don't know why I was even with him," Alex said, her voice going incredibly high and wobbly. "But it's just the fact that I was taken for such a fool, you know? Maybe I was a fool, I don't know. But I honestly thought that Sophia was a better friend to me than that. Everyone knew. I've been pretending like I'm okay with my friends but I'm not. And do you know how I found out?" She asked, and I shook my head.

"I went over to Josh's earlier. He had one of my Spanish books and I needed it. His mum let me in, and I went up to his room and...they were there. Making out with each other. From what I gather, that's not all they've done." Alex said, and she shook her head, with tears flowing down her cheeks more.

"I'm sorry. He's such a jerk, so is she. You deserve better than that." I said, not sure whether I should hold out my arms to her or not. Everything that was happening was just so strange.

"I don't though. I know you must hate tutoring me. I've been horrible to people, and no one...no one understands." Alex said, wiping her eyes again.

"What don't they understand?" I asked, confused.

"It just...it doesn't matter, forget it. Let's just get to tutoring. Can we go through the revision guide? It'd really help me with my essay." Alex said, sniffing. I nodded, I wanted to know more about what she'd been talking about, but I also knew that if I pushed it I would never know anything, and if Alex wanted to work then I'd let her work. So, we spent the rest of tutoring doing things from the revision guide. Alex stopped crying after a while, which was good, and she really seemed to focus. Her phone rang a few times as well, and I told her that I didn't mind if she answered it but she just shook her head, saying that she didn't want to talk to anyone. She seemed more mad than upset now.

At the end of tutoring, I packed my bag away slower than usual. I didn't know whether Alex would say anything to me, or whether we'd pretend like nothing had happened. She didn't say anything, and I didn't either. But I did remember that I had a chocolate bar in my pocket, I was going to eat it on the way home.

"Here. I think you need this more than I do." I said, giving it to Alex. She took it, and looked up at me in surprise. She smiled at me, and I smiled back at her. I told her that she didn't have to walk me out, and I walked down the stairs and out of the door. As I walked home, I couldn't resist pinching myself to make sure that this wasn't some dream that I was having. A very strange dream. Had that really just all happened? I felt dizzy with it all, and took my time walking home. I was surprised when my phone got a notification, and I looked at it expecting it to be my phone company or something. Because let's be honest, that's who most of my texts were from. But it wasn't, and it wasn't from a family member either, or from Calum. It was from Alex.

Thank you for everything, Hazel. It means a lot to me.

I hadn't expected that at all. I messaged her back saying that she was welcome; I didn't expect her to reply to it. Who knew that Alex Priestly actually had feelings? This was all just too weird. When I got home I was pretty quiet, and I went up to my room almost immediately. That was pretty normal though. I wanted to comfort Alex. She was hurt, even if she hadn't been that bothered about Josh. That was one thing as well, she'd always seemed like she liked Josh so much. Why had she been with a prick like that if she didn't even really like him? I didn't understand it in the slightest. But I wasn't exactly what you'd call an expert when it came to love; my romantic experiences included a kiss with a boy when I was 8 years old and being catcalled in the street twice. I wouldn't even really call either of them romantic either.