Breaking the Mold - The Gray Eyes Series Book Two

Chapter One - Alex

Another year. Another school.

Today was the first day of Alex Parker's senior year in yet another school, his eighth one in ten years.

"This is so awesome, Alex. You'll meet all sorts of cool people!" Carrie said, sitting in the passenger seat of Alex's Wrangler.

Alex sighed. After his mother had announced another move the previous May, he had asked his father, Peter, if he could move back to Greenfield, Texas, and his father had agreed. He had wished Elle, his twin sister, would follow him, but she had decided to remain with their mother and move to Florida.

"I can't wait to meet your friends," Carrie continued.

Carrie was the thirteen-year-old daughter of Alex's father's girlfriend, Susan. His father had begun dating her shortly after the divorce, and Susan and her two children had moved in with him.

"I hope you'll have a girlfriend soon, too. Promise you'll try to get a girlfriend quickly," she said, turning to him, clapping her small hands quickly.

Alex frowned. He wasn't going to school to meet girls. He had every intention of spending the vast majority of his time studying and getting the best grades he could. After all, all he wanted was to get into a biomedical sciences program the following year so he could eventually attend veterinarian school. If he was to achieve his goal, he needed to keep his grades up.

"I d-don't know about that," he murmured.

"Oh, come on! You're handsome, you're nice, you're awesome. Why wouldn't you want a girlfriend?"

"Because."

"That's not an answer, Alex. You can't stay single forever, you know."

Alex chuckled. Saying he didn't want a girlfriend wasn't the complete truth. The truth was he wasn't looking, but if the right one came along...

"My friends are all excited about this season of cheerleading..."

Just like that, Carrie switched the focus of the conver-sation, and Alex tuned her out. His thoughts drifted to his own school year and the only person he wished to see again.

Olivia Kendall.

He had thought of her often since he decided to move back to Greenfield. He hoped she still lived in town and would be at school. He remembered the little girl who had been upset when he was laughed at in elementary school. He also remembered she was one of the few who had never made fun of him, even pulling him toward another exit so he wouldn't encounter the bullies. He remembered the feel of her little hand in his on that last day of school. Alex had never liked to be touched, even back then, but touching Olivia had made him all warm and fuzzy inside. She had been so dead set on protecting him. They had made their way to the drop-off area through another door, and she had waved at him as his mother drove away. It was the last time he had ever seen her.

How was she now? Was she still as kind as she had been back then?

"Where are you going?" Carrie asked, intruding on his thoughts. "You just passed the entrance."

"Oh! S-s-sorry," he said quickly. "I was d-distracted."

Oh, good, he was stuttering again.

"What were you thinking about, Alex? A girl?" Carrie asked teasingly, as he turned at the next stop to come around the block.

"I've been gone t-ten years," he said slowly, straining to get his stuttering under control. "I don't know anybody."

"Well, you've lived here before, didn't you? So there must be a girl you liked back then."

"I was eight," he said, rolling his eyes, hoping he wasn't blushing.

A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of Carrie's school. She got out of his Wrangler and closed the door. She turned around and leaned on the door, her arms folded loosely on the window sill. "You remember how to get to the high school, right? You won't get lost, will you?" she asked, amusement in her blue eyes, a grin on her pink lips.

"Don't worry about me," he said in the typical slow and low speech pattern the speech therapist had taught him so many years ago. "I'll be fine."

"Yeah, right." She left, laughing.

Alex watched her walk toward the school for a moment, then drove off.

Thoughts of Olivia came back to him the moment he was on the road again. Of all the kids he had known back then, she was the only one he remembered by name, even if he had never said anything to her. He also remembered she had a friend who hadn't made fun of him either, but he didn't remember a lot about the other girl since she hadn't been in his class.

Now he was curious about them.

Would anyone else remember him? Granted, he didn't look anything like he had when he was eight, but still, the thought made his palms sweaty.

Alex was so lost in his thoughts he missed the street to the school. With a sigh, he turned around the first chance he had and drove back. This time, he turned at the right place and found an empty parking space in the lot already half full of pickup trucks.

After glancing aroundat the growing crowd of students, Alex got out of his Wrangler, retrieved hisbooks from the backseat, and looked at the beige brick building. He sighed,shoved his hands in his pockets, then made his way toward the school, not sureif he was ready to be, yet again, the "new kid." 

Book to be released on Amazon on September 20, 2016