Something Else Entirely

Chapter 5: Not Quite As Strong As You See

July 30, 2012

Alice finishes telling Emily what happened in the truth or dare game just as we get to her house. I let her tell the story because I'm busy replaying the events in my mind. Among other things, I think back to when Jasper said to Ivan, 'You were with her for like, two months?'

For some reason, a part of me was hoping Ivan would correct him. It was three months. I didn't even expect him to remember the twelve days bit. But I thought he would at least remember that we were together for three months. Three, not 'like, two months.'

“So, you guys think Chet was the one who wrote that message on Sadie's paper?” Emily asks.

“All signs point to yes,” Alice answers with a smile. I guess that smile had something to do with her holding hands with Andrew. I wasn't sure if she included that part when she told Emily the story.

“Why do you guys call him Chet?” I ask.

“That's his nickname, Sadie. Where have you been in the past three years?” Emily answers.

“Well, not everybody calls him Chet. Sometimes I still call him Chester,” Alice says.

“Yeah, and sometimes people call you Al,” Emily replies with a smirk. Alice just rolls her eyes. It's not long before it's just me and Alice walking to the bus stop. We walk in silence for a while.

“Alice?” I start, thinking of how to put my thoughts into the right words.

“Yeah?” she answers easily.

“Have you enjoyed your high school life?” I ask. Unexpectedly, it takes her a few seconds to answer. Personally, I think Alice has had the best time in STH among us three. It's not that a lot more good things has happened to her. It was simply because a lot less bad things has happened to her.

“Well, yeah. I guess,” she shrugs. “I mean, I have you. I have Emily. And then, there's Andrew. I can't really complain.” I don't say anything because I'm still thinking of the best way to tell her what's on my mind. “Why did you ask?” Alice asks after she realizes that I'm not going to add anything anytime soon.

“I...” I bite my lip as I repeatedly thought of the word courage. “I'm happy that I have you and Emily. You two will probably always be the first good thoughts that come to mind when I reminisce about high school, ten or twenty years from now.” I wait for her to say something, but she only nods. So I take that as a sign to go on. “But... I wish I'd have more good things to remember when I think of high school, you know? Maybe... maybe even just for the last eight months of it,” I say.

“I've been thinking about that, actually,” Alice finally says something after what seemed like an hour of silence. “About the eight months we have left, I mean,” she clarifies.

“Have you been thinking about what Emily said?” I ask. I was referring to when Emily said, 'This is our last year here. We might as well go out with a bang.' I was about to clarify what I was referring to, since Emily always says a lot of things. But then Alice answers.

“Yeah... I want this year to be the best,” she says. She looks at me and smiles, “Emily says a lot of things. And every now and then, something she says makes a lot of sense.” I smile back and nod.

“So, we're gonna try to squeeze three years' worth of high school memories in eight months?”

“That's the plan,” she says confidently.

On the bus ride home, I have a heated internal argument of whether or not I would sneak up to my mom. There's the threat of a fake spider terrorizing me in the shower. But then, that might just be a bluff. My mind went back to all the times my mom had bluffed to get me to do something.