Dream Catch Me (Student/Teacher)

Dream Catch Me - Chapter Twenty Two

If there was any doubt as to whether Alex meant what he said last night, there definitely wasn't now that he was shaking me awake from my dreamless sleep. I saw his face when I opened my eyes and I quickly shielded myself from his range, it has been known that he likes to play the pranks as soon as I wake up and am not fully conscious. But this time he chuckled and said without any real negative emotion, "Come one Jane, I've gotta get to practice!" before he left my room with the door closed.

I pulled myself from the bed and shuffled my feet towards the window, where I opened it and revelled in the cool winter air and the sun streaming in, much like the day a couple of weeks ago on my first day of school. The crytalised air woke me up, but I still felt it necessary to shower to fully wake me.

Alex was nowhere to be found when I ventured out of the bathroom and I sighed. You can guess why. Back when we were little and used to be close Alex always made these promises; I'll buy you a present if you do this for me, I'll tell Mum it was you who broke it and I'll give you my favourite red ball. Needless to say he never followed through with these promises and I feared that this time it was just going to follow his usual suit.

After changing I made my way to the kitchen to find my stash of food, instead I found Alex sitting at the kitchen counter, reading the paper. Alex had really changed, i didn't even know if he could read or if it were just a prop of some kind. Not to mention he seemed to be following through with his promise. Obviously I was still skeptical. People may say that some people change, but after years of nothing, I still doubted Alex could change.

"Finally!" He shouted, "You're just like Ellie! It must be all girls who take years to get ready.." Alex shook his head in a disapproved way but folded up the paper anyway. He stalked to the fridge, moving around me as he did and opened the large door, bent over to look through it and growled. "Why is there never any food?" he grumbled, "Oh well, let's go get some breakfast elsewhere. Thanks Ma..." Alex said it sarcastically. And I know it may sound sad but I was happy that he had spoken against Mother in some way. Although it was just a subtle sracadtic comment, it brought a smile to my face.

Alex glanced towards me and smiled a huge grin too, thinking I had been grinning at him. I didn't correct him, but followed him out to his car and slipped into the passenger seat. After we pulled away from the curb, a question was nawing at me to ask him.

"Who's Ellie?" I spat out, fearing I would never ask him if I didn't do it now. "She's my ah- She's my girlfriend.." he trailed off and kept his eye on the road. "Is that a bad thing?" I asked curiously. He looked to me, completely stunned for too long that I had ro remind him to keep his eye on the road.

"Of course not! She is the best thing that has ever happened to me! She is beautiful in every single way and I don't know what I would do without her. And I don't know what my life has been without her, it's as if I didn't exist before I met her." Alex spoke with such passion and love that it made me shiver slightly. I wanted a love like that, but I didn't want to take the risk that I might get hurt when they leave.

"I just never want her to find out about my family," He admitted. I could understand that and I wasn't offended, I'd want to hide us too even thought we weren't really a family. "And who I was before." Alex continued.

"Before?" I questioned? While I had noticed some changes, like a lacking in his pranks and his absence a little more, but maybe I was too self absorbed to notice any real changes. He sighed heavily again, as if he didn't want to revisit the past. "Jane, I'm trying to move on, trying to become more of an adult and you getting into the past isn't going to help." I nodded in agreement, he was completely right. If we dwelled too much in the past it wasn't going to do anyone any good and was just going to bring up unwanted pain; like how our dad left us. Well my dad and his step dad.

"Well keep it up buddy," I encouraged him trying to lighten the mood a little. Alex chuckled and flicked the radio on to fill the inevitable silence. I liked the new Alex, or liked having my old Alex back from when we were kids. He continued to drive me to school, but I wanted to abuse his old character as best I could as it could change at any minute.

"So Ellie? Do I get to meet her?" I asked tentatively, still being cautious. A smile stretched across his face and he replied, "Yes, but when you're ready." I didn't know what that meant but I brushed it off, having my brother back was a lot to take in at once.

"What do you did you mean by training?" I continued with the interrogation. I may have been jumping into it to quickly but I needed answers! "Soccer, I play professional for the state. I even get paid for it!" he said excitedly. Alex had always been good at his soccer, getting numerous awards and constantly being in the limelight so I wasn't completely surprised of his job. "But I'm still studying at the university, a personal trainer degree."

As he finished we pulled into a familiar alley way and parked. "What are we doing at Al's?" I asked confusedly. Alex gave me that sarcastic look and said, "We're here to hunt cats and make balloon animals. What else would we be doing?" he pointed out the obvious and strutted off towards the door. I followed a few seps behind. "I couldn't let you go off to school without a proper breakfast anyway," he shouted out from behind him. Coming to Al's probably wasn't the best idea, this is where I meet Joe and if they were to meet I didn't know what would happen. but I followed Alex anyway.

He saw Jaz standing behind the counter and walked right up to her with an air of confidence and ordered. "Two oranges juices and two omelettes with extra bacon on both!" he exclaimed excitedly at the prospect of bacon. I had to step in and let him know, "I'm vegetarian," I noted. The smile and happy look dissipated from his face and was replaced with one of disappointment. Alex turned back around and corrected his order to have one without bacon. He then stomped off towards a table at the back, luckily it wasn't the couches where are and I sat.

"What's wrong?" I asked, "I can eat the bacon if you want it's just-" I was cut off, "No that's not it!" he said quickly. He placed his forehead in his hands and sighed deeply. "I didn't know Jane! I didn't know that you were a vegetarian, what else don't I know?" I was scared by what I was seeing, I never saw Alex breaking down, and most certainly not on the verge of tears as he was now. "God, this is bad." he muttered under his breath, still loud enough for me to hear.

"Well you know now?" I tried to console him but I was never really good with emotional people, it's too messy! He took a deep breath and almost shouted, "Okay!" giving me a fright. It seemed we were complete opposites, he was loud and I was quiet; it must be a sibling sort of thing. "I'm going to know everything about you Jane. Well to an extent so get ready for a busy morning, we've only got a half hour before you have to be at school."

As soon as Jaz arrived with our order she gave me a confused look, as of to say 'Who's this guy?' but walked off back behind the counter anyway. I took only a small bite to know that I was hungry, I guess missing a lot of meals will do that too you. Alex plotted into his breakfast while watching me, deciding what to ask me. "What do you want to do when you leave school?" he asked finally. He couldn't have picked the easy questions first could he! "I have no idea," I replied truthfully, "I can't really picture the future that well," I admitted. Alex wasn't done there, "Well what are you good at then? I know you're not dumb like me so what do you love doing?" he pushed on. I sighed in though. That was a very good question, no one has really come out and asked me that to my face before.

"I guess it would be geography and the environment then," I admitted to him as well as myself. I was passionate about the environment, about protecting it for future generations. I loved to go hiking and camping with my Dad but since then I haven't gone at all. Alex nodded and smiled, but moved on to another question. "What do you do in your spare time?" now this one was easier!

"I have a job working at the book store after school and on weekends, I also go running and then I have homework." I told him. He looked a little uneasy. "What about friends? Do you have any?" I asked bluntly. I remember Alex was never one to move around something softly if it were going to hurt someone, he just went for it. "Yes," I said a little mad at home for thinking I had no friends. "Jaz is over there," I pointed, "and I have Fletch at school and Joe," I didn't need to tell Alex that Joe was my teacher and that I may or may not have developing feelings for him.

"Waitress!" he stuck up his hand and brought Jaz's attention, along with a half the cafes to our table. Jaz walked up to our table with the little pad that she wrote down her orders on. "How can I help?" she asked getting ready to write on her pad. Alex chuckled a bit and stuck out his hand. Jaz took his hand in hers tentatively with weary eyes. "I'm Alex, Jane's brother." he said and shook her hand. Jaz looked stunned but managed to spit out a "Jaz" before taking her hand from his. My brother didn't notice her stunned attitude but rather continued to talk. "Jane tells me that you're one of her friends?" he asked. "Yes, but Jane has a lot of explaining to do over her Brother," she said slightly annoyed. I already knew that she had a younger brother and a mum and a dad but I was cagey about my home life details.

"Oh don't worry about that!" Alex spoke light heartedly, "I was a total douche and she hated me for it, but I'm trying to change." he admitted. He missed out the parts where he bullied me for years and I was afraid of him, but I didn't think Jaz needed to know that anyway. She nodded in understanding but still looked over at me as if to say 'You still need to explain'. She excused herself for customers that had just walked in and it was just Alex and I again.

"She's nice," he commented while finishing off the last bite of his omelette and downing his orange juice in one go. While I was still only half way through, although I was hungry I wasn't teenage boy hungry. I stuffed my mouth with another mouthful and was chewing when Alex asked another question. "Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked bluntly.
Of course his sudden bluntness caused me to nearly spit my food out, instead I just choked on it for a while as he sat there looking amused. I managed to clear my airways and gulp down some juice to catch my breath and Alex started laughing. "I'll take that as a no then," he decided and moved on to the next question.

"Why are you still at home?" he asked with a serious face that said he wanted a straight answer. I was stunned a little and fought for words, "Ah well. Um, what do you mean?" I asked instead. I knew what he meant but I wanted to know what he actually thought he knew. "I know that home isn't your favourite place Jane, I know Ma hates you for something and that she basically ignores you, so what's the point in staying there?" he pushed for an answer. "I don't know!" I exclaimed in frustration. I had never thought about moving out or leaving, I was scared I wouldn't be able to find a place to stay and end up homeless. I know there were always refuges that you could go to but then a felt selfish, as if I were taking up someone's place who really needs it. Who really has no place to go when I was just being picky. "One day," I whispered.

"Why not soon then?" he suggested hopefully. "I've been saving for quite a while and was thinking of moving out. Buying my own place to do up and eventually sell, or buying a business. I need something to fall back on in case my soccer doesn't work out." Alex continued. I sat there stunned, trying to grasp what he may or may not be insinuating. "So you want me to...?" I trailed off waiting for him to finish my sentence. "Okay so here's what I propose. You hate Ma, Ma hates you. I'm trying to change and make a life for myself away from Ma and with Ellie. So why don't we leave? Together? We can find a place to buy, get a loan and do it up? Sell it on?" Alex was speaking excitedly now, like he had been thinking of this for a long time and was now definite he wanted to put his plan into action. "I don't know.." I said cautiously. He frowned a little but I had to explain where I was coming from.

"I have only just seen a change in you! How do I know that it permanent? That you aren't going to turn on me and go straight back to Mother? I don't know if I can take that chance yet." I admitted. Alex was only just back, I couldn't get to excited too quickly and put myself in too much danger. I'll admit that the Idea sounded great, that it had potential but all the details were shady and I couldn't commit just yet.

"I get it Jane, I'll just have to prove myself. But for now, I have to take you to school." Alex stood abruptly and I followed suit, noticing I was almost late. We walked out to the car and got in for the short ride to school, it was filled with the sound of the radio and I sat there looking out the window. When Alex pulled up to the front gate, I saw a large bus in the parking lot waiting for my class to take to the university. I jumped out and was about to close the door when I tout better and stuck my head back in and said, "Thanks Alex, I like having the old Alex back." he smiled in reply and assured me, "I'm not going anywhere, and think about what I said." I nodded and closed the door behind me, almost running towards the bus.

Luckily it seemed my ribs had healed enough so the pain was almost gone, giving me a bit more freedom. Although I was still aware of the danger if I did one extreme move it could set me back a couple of weeks. I ran up to the bus, it was about to close the doors when the driver saw me and stopped. I thanked him and moved to find a free seat, passing the whole class full of students on the way.

"Jane?" my name was called from behind me and I turned around, to see Joe seated next to another chaperone. "I thought you weren't coming when you didn't show up," he said worriedly and I felt guilty. "Ah yeah, I was running late," I muttered and said, "I'll see you later," and searched for Jaz anywhere on the bus. I found her sitting next to an empty seat and I immediately took up residence in it. It took no longer than 3 seconds before the questions started coming. I had to expect it really, there was no way she could just leave it alone after this morning.

"A brother? What's the story there?" she started, "Why didn't you tell me? And why was he a 'total douche'?" she used air quote marks to quote what Alex had said when they met. I looked around the bus, stalling an answer for her but realised there wasn't really a way around it. "Okay, well. I didn't tell you because like he said he was a total douche, we used to be really close but then my Dad left and he blamed me for it, along with my Mother. He made it his own personal mission to destroy my life by playing pranks, and he did make it pretty miserable. But recently he has noticed some certain 'things', and felt bad so I guess he is trying to make amends." I explained. "But Alex is back, and I want it to stay like that but he's not that reliable and I'll end up getting hurt even more if I'm not careful."

Jaz nodded in understanding, "I'm here for you if you ever need any help. Seriously, I think you're one of the greatest friends I've had, and that's not just because I don't usually have friends." she said cheekily with a smirk on her face trying to lighten the mood. I laughed in return, glad to know I had someone other than Joe to rely on.

When I first moved here, I was hoping for a fresh slate where I could rid 'plain Jane' and 'Jumbo Jane' and at the start I didn't think it was possible. That there was always going to be someone there to bring me down and make me remember who I was. It didn't help that Mr Lewis was always one step ahead of me or that Shannon and her posse were always a step behind me, and that's what made me think my future wasn't possible. Bringing some gang involvement and some really nasty threats made me think more in the moment, however Jaz and Joe, and maybe Alex have helped me to lift my sprits. I guess I could only wish that nothing would stop me now from living in this high, like the top of a roller coaster.

Little did I know what was in store for me when the bus pulled up to the curb of the university, we loaded off and entered the great wooden doors of the school. I guess a roller coaster analogy wasn't the greatest, as when you just reach the pinnacle of the ride, you always have to zoom back down to ground level. And that is what happened, except I ended up below ground level.

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Hey everyone! Sorry it took longer than usual to update, I've been super busy with exams and packing! But this chapter is just to really build up that relationship between Jane and Alex and to build up Jaz and Jane's relationship. I hope you liked it and will comment and vote to let me know! Next update may be about a week away, depending on how much writing I can do while I'm away.

What do you think is going to happen? Oh and sorry it's not that long this time... :/