Differences

4. Ships and Love

After school, Aline had run up to him, squealing, "Two things. Number one, we're invited to their meeting!" She looked at him expectantly.
"Cool. This should be interesting." he said sincerely.
"Anyway, number two, I HUGGED HELEN BLACKTHORN." Aline whisper-screamed.
"I figured you liked her since lunch. So, what are you dating me for?"
"So my parents don't get suspicious. And plus, you're my best friend, so it's awesome."
Alec smiled happily at her."Same here." He hugged Aline.
"Meet me at my house at three forty five. Got it?" Aline made him promise.
"Yup. See you then, Allie!" Aline scowled and playfully punched Alec in the shoulder.
"Try me, Alex." She taunted. Alec pursed his lips and shook his head. He absolutely hated the nickname Alex. It was worse than Alexander, which he also hated. Aline smiled and waved before skipping away.
"Alec!" Isabelle's voice reached his ears. "We have to go pick up Max from school!" Alec scowled. He loved his little brother, but had never volunteered to pick him up. As a senior, he had lots of homework to do.
"When do you get your license?" Alec grumbled.
"This July, dumbass. You forgot your own little sisters birthday?" Izzy pouted. "Plus, mom and dad can't pick him up today. They're at a meeting. But hurry up! I have a double date with Simon and Clace."
"Clace?"
"Clary and Jace. It's their ship name."
"Ship name? What are you blabbering on about?"
"You know, relationship? You combine the two people's names together? Whatever, we gotta pick up Max so I can pick out a dress. Hurry up!"
"Okay, okay. Got it."

When the two of them 'finally' (in the words of Isabelle) got in Alec's car, Izzy started chatting about ships to Alec:
"You know, I don't really ship you and Aline. Like, platonically I do, but not sexually or romantically. For that matter, I don't really ship you with any girl. You just don't fit with anyone at our school. It's kind of annoying, because the only thing I like to do at school is show up everyone in gym class and pair people up. I'm like the school matchmaker. I even matchmake Downworlders. Like, you know the ones in my math class that I talk about a bunch, Jordan and Maia? They are adorable together. I don't even know if they are actually together, but they are so cute!"
Alec had absolutely no clue what she was talking about, but he let her ramble on because it made her super happy and excited. And no matter what, he loved his little sister and wanted her to be happy. That's why he let her date Simon. If he didn't make her happy, he wouldn't have let her date anyone.
"Oh, and these two Downworlder boys in my biology class, Ragnor and Raphael, are totally in love. I don't even care that they're both male! They flirt all the time and it's adorable! Oh, and I ship Max with this girl in his class, Livia Blackthorn. Ooh, speaking of Blackthorns, Livia's older brother and sister are half Downworlder and they go here! According to a rumor I heard, some Downworlder chick tricked their father and she had two kids before leaving him. The rest of his kids are Marked, though. The two Downworlder kids go here, I think their names are..."
"Helen and Mark?" Alec supplied. It was the first thing he had said since they had gotten into the car. Isabelle was looking at him with surprise.
"You know them?"
"Yeah. Helen's in a couple of my classes, I think, and Mark's pretty well known."
"Oh yeah, he was the Downworlder boy that won that one school championship or whatever, and always stands up to Sebastian. Don't tell him I told you, but I kinda hate Seb's guts. He tried to ask me out a bunch, even now when I'm dating Simon. He even tried to ask Clary out, and she's been dating Jace for forever! Plus, those Downworlders never did anything to him."
Alec felt really happy inside. His sister wasn't like Jace, hating Downworlders who hadn't done anything. Instead of expressing his emotions, he did what he did best; hid them and didn't say anything. He just nodded in agreement.
"I noticed you and Aline go and help the Downworlders today. Just so you know, I thought that was really brave and cool of you guys. Honestly, a lot of those guys are probably nicer than the Marked cheerleaders and everything. They're such... ughs. They're so fake, just trying to suck up to Sebastian 'cause his dad's the governor. Maureen, you know, the one who dated Simon for like a week 'cause she knew I liked him? Once she told me I was ugly. Me! That girl is blind, which is probably why she wears the ugliest color of pink ever to exist on the face of this planet. She said black was an ugly color, but it looks way better than whatever," she waved her hand and wrinkled her nose, "that color is supposed to be. Hey, we're here!"
Alec pulled up to the front door of Max's school. He saw the scrawny little boy run up to his car. His glasses, which were too big for his face, we're falling down his nose.
"Hi, Izzy! Hey Alec." He slid into the backseat. "Whatcha talking about?"
"Politics and annoying people." Izzy told him, turning around in her seat to face him. "Hey, what's that?" Alec saw in the rearview mirror that Max was holding a comic book, but the cover was on the wrong side.
"Assassination Classroom volume four. Livvy gave it to me." Izzy looked at Alec as if to say, I told you so! They're in love!
"Are you sure that's something you should be reading?" Alec asked.
"Sure! This one's is one of the least gory ones. Livvy has an impressive collection of a bunch of genres of manga. It's really cool. I'm going to ask mom and dad if I can go over tomorrow." Max smiled brightly and pushed his glasses up on his nose. Izzy smiled back at him and started talking to him about Livvy and their 'relationship'. Max blushed an awful lot, so Alec was beginning to wonder if Izzy was right about relationships. She was right, after all, about himself and Aline. He wished he could love her, but he just didn't. He was beginning to wonder if he would ever love anyone.

Alec pulled up in Aline's driveway, waiting for her to come through the door. After going home, he texted his mom that he was going out with Aline. His mom 'shipped' (as Izzy would say) them a lot.
"Hey!" Alec turned and saw Aline walked out of her door. Seeing her, he felt underdressed. She was wearing a casual navy blue dress with a rope-like belt, something like she normally wore, but she also wore her hair in a curled ponytail that twisted over her shoulder. Also pink lipstick. She never wore makeup. Alec was just wearing a black polo and pants.
"Hey. You look nice."
"Yeah. You do too. Are you excited?"
"Honestly, yeah. You, Clary, and Jace are my only friends, but Clary and Jace don't like Downworlders, so it kind of stresses me out. I've always felt really bad for them, but my parents are hardcore "No Downworlders". They won't even let Max go over to his best friend Livvy's house because they live with two Downworlders." Alec said as Aline slipped into the passenger seat of his car. She scrunched her eyebrows.
"That's dumb. I mean, they can be nice, just like the Marked."
"Well, my parents are very traditional, like before Downworlders existed. Which is weird, because Downworlders have existed for almost a hundred years now. They're all about no Downworlders, no homosexuality, no getting bad grades, no anything that's not perfect. It's... Not good." Alec thought about the time in eighth grade when he got a B- in math. His father had nearly broken his wrist and left the huge bruise around it. He wore a sweater for a week to cover it, then got so used to it he wore sweaters almost everyday. Alec had been scared of his dad since then, but Robert Lightwood acted like nothing had happened. Alec also remembered when he was five, his mother found out that he was hanging out with a Downworlder girl, and had slapped him on the face and grounded him for three weeks. That's why he hadn't tried to help any of the Downworlders before hand, out of fear. He just hoped now he could hide it better.
"My dad is the same way. He's super unsupportive." Aline paused. "Can I tell you a secret?" Alec nodded. "In middle school, I dated a girl. She was really cute, and Marked even, but my dad would've disowned me if my mom hadn't helped. That's the real reason I'm dating you, so my dad thinks I've 'changed'. So yeah, you're the first person I've ever told. I'm gay." Aline looked at Alec, as if she were expecting him to blow up and yell at her. There was a short pause before Alec decided what to say.
"Thanks for telling me. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to say, but I honestly do not care about your sexuality. I love you as a best friend, no matter what." Aline smiled and leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thanks, Alec. I love you too, no matter what."