Milk And Cookies (TBD)

Chapter 5

She wasn't stupid. She knew Alex wanted her to go away. She knew he was being mean to her only to be polite but honestly she just wanted another friend than Sophia and Alex looked around her age. She smiled at him and he not so discretely rolled his eyes.

"What books do you like?" She asked him, still smiling.

"War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy." He admitted, a ghost of a smile flashed across his face as he shrugged.

"Tolstoy's overrated." She rolled her eyes.

"Excuse me?!" He gasped.

"Tolstoy's overrated." She said again, shrugging.

"He's not. His book is a work of art. He is a genius!!!" He practically yelled.

"No, he's not. His says his book is telling different sides of the story but it doesn't. What about the peasants of his time? How did they feel? And some of the things the aristocrats did that was bad, he passed over those as though they didn't matter. What about the consequences? Some of the perks of writing is learning new things and writing about experiences you haven't experienced. He's simply not doing that. If you really want me to, I'll write an essay about it." She challenged.

He just rolled his eyes. "I feel the same about Rowling."

She gasped. "You. Did. Not."

He nodded. "I did."

"HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT!" She screamed at him.

"Her work is un-original. Magic. That's been done before. Magic schools. That too. Bullied main character. Yep. Also he doesn't have a lot of bad qualities about him. His not selfish, or even a bit mean. Sure, he's a bit mischievous but all kids are and it helped moving the story along. And yes he was mean to Malfoy but Malfoy was more mean to him and in the end they shared a common goal. Get rid of Voldemort. In the epilogue, they seem to get along fine. And Ginny and Harry's romance was simply not there. Do you know what was there? Harry and Hermione. Even Harry and Luna was better than Harry and Ginny. Oh, yeah. And once again, first love, last love thing. Your very first boyfriend/girlfriend is realistically not the one you marry. Ron and Hermione were more realistic because before Ron had Lavender Browne and Hermione had Victor Krum. And some of it doesn't even make sense." He shot back.

She rolled her eyes. "At least tell me you like Jane Austen." She sighed.

"Of course!" He beamed.

"What's your favorite?" She asked.

"Ooooo... Sense and Sensibility and Emma."

"I like Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility is truly a work of art, and Emma is okay.

"Of course you like Pride and Prejudice. Every girl does. Now, I'm not saying it's bad. But still." He said.

She sighed. "You are sooo hard to please." That's when she noticed she was trying to drink from an empty cup. To which Alex burst out laughing. She sighed got up and threw her cup away. Alex got up with her.

"Let me walk you home." He told her. Despite this, he really didn't look like he wanted to. She knew it was just to be polite but it still made her heart swelled with joy.

"Okay." She said cheerfully and she couldn't help but grin at him. However, her heart drooped when she saw a glimpse of Alex's favorite expression: Eye rolling.

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They walked along the dark street. A peace keeper walks beside a fighter. A woman by a man. Someone who was barely keeping it together and someone who had already lost their battle. Howls of memories clung to Alex's mind. The time when he walked other streets, claiming them for America and making Adiena the 51st state.. Church bells surrounded the streets in sound as Millie, Jeremy, and himself walked across the cobblestone streets.

He shook his head and snapped back to reality.

"This is my place." McKenzie said, stopping in front of an old apartment building with peeling white paint. Old brown and red bricks peeked through and the windows were dirty, surrounded by rustic wood. It wasn't the nicest place, like Alex had because he was a veteran and he felt relatively bad and almost ashamed. But instead of looking embarrassed, McKenzie smiled brightly.

"It's... quaint?" Alex said.

"I know it's not the nicest but it has some really interesting history. I'll tell you about it sometime if you want?" She asked hopefully.

"Uh... No. It's fine. Sorry... but... um... no." He stammered.

"Oh." Was all McKenzie could muster out in a disappointed tone. Without saying good-bye, McKenzie walked into the building with her head down. Alex could have sworn she was crying.