Strings Attached

XI

Alex-

Later that day she sat in class. She began to realize that waking up so early was not a very smart decision. But it was totally worth it to her. The teacher noticed her falling asleep, and so did a few other kids in the class. A few of them decided to throw a volley of paper airplanes and wadded up pieces of paper at her. Her heard shot up, looking dazed and like she didn't know where she was. There were a few muffled snickers in the back of the room, where the volley came from. The teacher didn't appreciate this and she spoke up.

"Alright, you four, go to the office, now. And the rest of you, leave miss Rivers alone, okay? She's probably had a long night. As a few of you may already know, Quinn McLaughlin, Clarke Patten, and Johnny Sharpe will be out of state, and country, for the next few months."

From the back corner, someone blurted out in a snotty cheerleader voice, "yeah, she had a long night with her boyfriend before he left. Did you get a taste of his Irish spring!"

"That's it, Kathy, get out of my classroom, right now! I'm not dealing with your shit today, and for Christ's sake, leave Alexandra alone, she does nothing but keep to herself."

"Fine," she shot a dirty look at Alex and said,"you know this is just the beginning." And she whispered,"you fucking slut," under her breath so nobody could hear her except Alex.

She got up and walked out of the room with no shame on her face. People were still laughing and whispering about what they had just witnessed. The teacher looked at Alex with concerned eyes.

"Alexandra, if you would like step out the room for a minute, to clear your head you can."

She had tears welled up in her eyes. She got up and ran out the room as the tears started rolling down her cheeks. The hallway was empty as she ran to the bathroom and called Quinn. The phone rang for almost thirty seconds before he answered.

"Alex? What's going on? It's the middle of the day, shouldn't you bee in class?"

"Yeah, but I ran to the bathroom just to talk to you."

"Oh, are you okay? You sound like you were crying."

"I'm fine, I just really missed you and I wanted to hear your voice. But I have to go now. I need to get back to class."

"That's okay, we can talk later."

"Alright, well um, bye now."

She hung up before he had enough time to respond. Time seemed to pass by in seconds as she sat there looking into the mirror, thinking about nothing and everything at the same time. Everything seemed different, she didn't see herself the way she used to, it was all just strange and unrecognizable. Like she wasn't the same person she saw this morning. The bell rang and she looked at the clock, it was already time for her to go home. She called her mom and told her not to pick her up, she was going to walk home.

Quinn-

The day was gloomy and overcast. There was light snow falling, the stereotypical winter afternoon. They were setting up their equipment and going through sound check. Quinn got tired and told Johnny that he was going to the bus to get a little rest before the show. He walked out into the snowy parking lot, lit a cigarette and called Alex, their conversation they had a few hours before kind of worried him, she sounded like she was crying after all. She didn't pick up the phone so he just left a voicemail.

"Hey Alex, I'm really worried about you right now, please call me back soon, I feel like something's wrong. I'll call you as soon as the show ends, though, just in case. I love you."

He put his phone away and finished his cigarette. Even though it was freezing out there, he felt really warm, which was odd because he was always sensitive to cold weather. It was probably the cigarette that warmed him up. Instead of going to the bus, he walked to the McDonald's across the street to write a few songs and grab something to eat.