Wild Card

Wild Card- Chapter Two

The rest of the summer passed quietly. There wasn’t time to watch a second movie on Saturday because the argument about what they were watching quickly evolved into a popcorn fight. They managed to get popcorn in between the couch cushions, under the furniture, ground into the carpet, in each other’s hair, and later that night when she was changing, Alex even found some down her shirt. It took them so long to clean all of it up that by the time they were done, Alex’s parents were home.

The next two days Alex spent with her homework. Then Wednesday came. The first day of her senior year, her last first day of public education, ever, was here. That morning Alex woke up extra early, excited for school to start. First thing she went down to the kitchen to turn the coffee pot on. Coffee made her a better person.

While the coffee brewed, Alex went back upstairs to shower and get ready for the day. She took extra time making herself look perfect. The part of her hair didn’t even fight with her this morning.

When she looked just right, she bounced down the stairs, back to the kitchen. Her parents were up now and dressed for work. Her mom was making herself some toast, while her dad was sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper.

“Morning,” Alex said. She grabbed a bagel and filled up a to-go cup with coffee.

“Hey, honey. Ready for your first day back?” Her mom asked her, smiling.

Alex nodded, a large piece of bagel in her mouth. When she swallowed she said, “I’ve got to head out, but I’ll see you guys later tonight,” and ran out the door.

She made it to school with over a half an hour to spare. She was one of the first ones there and, skipping going to her still empty locker, she went straight to her homeroom. The door was still locked when she arrived; the lights inside were off. She took a book out of her bag and started reading it while she waited for her homeroom teacher to open the door.

After about fifteen minutes of reading, the halls were starting to get busier and louder with the excitement of students coming back from summer break. Alex glanced up from her book to see girls squealing and hugging, comparing tans, and gossiping loudly. Boys were showing off new scars, and some new biceps. They were talking loudly and animatedly about their vacations.

Alex was so lost in her people watching that she was completely shocked when two arms wrapped around her middle in a death-grip.

“Alex!” A high-pitched squeal said. Alex looked up at the head above her to see Nadine. Nadine was in several classes with Alex, and although they didn’t usually hang out outside of school, she was still one of Alex’s good friends.

“Nadine! How was your summer?” Alex asked, interested.

“It was good. I went to the beach with my family in July. What did you do?”

“Nothing much. I just hung out around town, with Britney and Caleb mostly.”

“Oh, that’s great! And I heard that Emily just got back from that children’s camp she was volunteering at. Caleb must be excited.”

“Yeah. I, um, think she just got back on Sunday, and he is pretty happy. I should actually go and find them, but I’ll talk to you later, right?” Alex gave her a half-hearted smile and walked away before Nadine could respond.

She walked back outside the school where people were milling about. The buses were just starting to pull up, so the campus was rapidly getting more crowded. The warm August breeze was whipping her hair around and into her eyes when she heard Britney call her name. Alex was working on getting her hair under control as Britney ran over to her.