All That Matters

Chapter 4

   After school I spotted Alex in the school parking lot getting into his black Bentley.

I ran quickly over to him as he was backing out but he stopped shotrly once he saw me.

He pulled back in and rolled down the window.

He looked straight into my eyes, waiting for me to say something.

I choked.

Without saying anything, I continued walking towards my car.

I shut the door once I got into my car and watched as Alex pulled out of the parking lot, speeding down the road without a care in the world.

"How was school?" Marsha asked once I got home.

I shrugged.

I looked at Marsha who was wearing scrubs and digging in her purse.

"Well, I have to get to the hospital." She said quickly as she dug out her car keys. "I'll see you later."

I nodded and watched her leave out the door. The house was silent and lonely. Or maybe it was just me, I was the lonely one.

The night was long and tedious. My sister never came home yet this was normal for me. Marsha and my father were still working so I had to fend for myself.

I made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich and watched the news on tv.

Some kid from the bad said of town got shot and killed at a local mall, figures.

They showed a picture of a wanted man or to me it looked more like a teenager. I bet Alex knew the guy. He looked like one of Alex's friend's.

Tomorrow I was definitely going to talk to Alex. What was I going to say? I had no idea.

I looked at myself in the tall length mirror at the third outfit I changed into.

"You're going to be late!"

I heard my dad yell from downstairs. I sighed as I grabbed my bag and walked downstairs wearing jean shorts, sneakers, and a tight white t-shirt. My hair, of course, didn't cooperate and fell over my shoulders with waves instead of curls.

"Took you long enough." My dad muttered as he took a sip of his coffee and turned to the sports section of his newspaper.

I rolled my eyes and snapped the rubber band that was twisted around my wrist. This was because I was nervous, not because I wanted to hurt myself.

"Are you okay, honey?" Marsha asked. Leave it to Marsha to spot something wrong.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I asked with an attitude as I rolled my eyes again and snapped the rubber band on my wrist.

My dad glared at me and I sighed as I walked over to the countertop to grab my keys.

My head reached for the doorknob than I put it down as I walked back to the kitchen.

I folded my arms across my chest as my dad looked up at me.

"What?" He asked harshly.

"How long am I going to be grounded for?" I asked him annoyingly.

"Until I saw you're not." He stated as he went back to reading his paper.

I sighed angrily and walked back towards the door. I could hear Marsha talking quietly to my dad but I was too careless to know what she was saying as I walked out the door and slamming it behind me with full force.

I sat on the hood of my car, waiting for Alex to show up if he was even going to show up.

I stood in the parking lot for about five minutes as the bell sounded and Alex pulled up into the open parking spot next to me.

I didn't even bother turning my head around to look at him.

He got out of his car as the alarm sounded. I rolled my eyes as he slowly walked past me, looking back at me as if I was stalking him. He stopped shortly as the class bell rung again, and turned to face me.

"Hi?" He asked. This was a question, not a statement. "Do you need somethin'?"

I faked him a smile than walked up closer to him.

I could smell his strong cologne wafting in the air.

"Do I look familiar to you?" I asked him. "Does my face ring a bell?"

He nodded slowly, his hands were clutching the shoulders of his backpack.

"Yeah." He said flatly as his eyes moved up and down at me.

"Who am I?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "That guy's-

"What guy?" I asked him angrily.

He looked around than back at me and let out a deep breath.

"Look,-

"No, you look." I said through clenched teeth as I walked up closer to him. "You almost killed the one person that meant the world to me. How does that make you feel, knowing that you hurt someone? I don't know you and I honestly don't want to get to know you, so I'm just going to tell you straight up that I hate you and you better keep your distance from me."

I walked past Alex, leaving him far behind.

I sat in class thinking about what I had just said about Alex. I didn't even plan what I was going to say, I just said what I felt I needed to say. Alex was a bad person and someone needed to tell him off.

The classroom door opened and Alex walked in.

He gave the teacher a late pass and walked down the aisle to his seat, ignoring my glare.

"Where were you at lunch yesterday?" Andie asked in the courtyard during lunch.

"I had to handle some business." I told her with a smile.

She raised her eyebrows than let out a small laugh. "What kind of business?" She asked curiously.

"You know that Alex guy?" I asked her.

"Yeah," She said slowly. "what about him?"

"I told him off this morning." I said to her with a big smile on my face.

Andie's eyes went wide with shock and her mouth formed in a shape of an "O".

"What?" I asked her.

"Why would you tell him off?" She asked in shock as she layed a hand on my shoulder. "You know who he is and what he's capable of right?"

"Who cares!" I exclaimed loudly. "I wasn't going to just let him walk through life without knowing how I felt."

Andie shook her head slowly as her eyes wandered past me.

I turned around to see what she was staring at.

Alex Calderone was leaning against a tree, staring at me with dark sinister eyes with a cigarette behind his ear.

I swallowed hard. The look on his face looked as if he was ready to pull out a weapon and make me history.

Alex and I were still staring at eachother.

"Stop." Andie whispered frantically as I turned my head to face her.

I bit my bottom lip as I thought to myself that maybe saying what I said to a gang member wasn't the brightest idea of my list pf bright ideas.

I looked back to the tree but Alex was already walking towards the school building.

"He looked angry." Andie said nervously.

"I know." I replied.