Rock Bottom

Forward

At the moment it seemed as though the brightest points of light in his life were Mr. Carstairs and Mrs. Grey, both of whom had repeated asked him to call them by their first names, but Alec just couldn't do it. There was something intrinsically wrong about calling a teacher by their first name, though he couldn't put his finger on what.

Through meetups at school, Alec knew Izzy was still comfortable at Simon's. He'd made a point of checking in with her as often as he could. His parents had tried to get in touch with him through the school once or twice, but he'd ignored them. He wasn't ready for that conversation. He wasn't ready for high school to end either, but no matter how he wished it to be different, time kept moving forward at a fixed rate. No matter how his exams went today it would mean the end of his publicly funded education. The end of his childhood. The world was rushing him, and all Alec could think to do was duck.

As he walked out of the school for the final time as a student, Alec felt a great sense of loss. He walked back to the closest thing he had to a home, dragging his feet the whole way, as if making the process slower would somehow prevent it's happening. What was he going to do tomorrow with no tests to study for and no classes to attend? Worse yet, what would he do if his teachers suddenly decided to kick him out? Alec couldn't bare the idea of facing his parents, even if he'd know where to find them, which he didn't.

Dragging his feet could only slow the process down so far as they didn't live all that far away. Within an hour Alec found himself knocked on their door, feeling odd as he did it. Yet it would feel stranger to just walk in uninvited. Mrs. Grey answered the door.

"You know you can just walk in, right?" she said. "I mean you do live here."

Alec shook his head. "Feels wrong," he said. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," she smiled at him and turned to allow him past the her, closing the door behind him.

"You hungry?" Mrs. Grey asked. "I was just about to make dinner?"

"Shouldn't we wait for Mr. Carstairs?"

"Jem is gonna be working late tonight," she explained. "He has tests to mark."

"And you don't?" Alec asked.

"I did mine already," she smiled. "The English exams were written earlier this week."

"Oh right," Alec replied, rubbing the back of his neck like he always did when he was embarrassed. "I took that exam."

"And did very well on it if I recall correctly," she smiled.

"Not well enough for any scholarships though," Alec sighed.

"I don't know," she said. "I suppose it would depend on the scholarship."

"My parents always said they had a college fund for me," Alec sighed. "So I never even thought about applying for scholarships, and now I've missed all the deadlines, plus I didn't really focus on getting scholarship level marks."

"It's true, you aren't a straight A student," Mrs. Grey replied. "But you're a very good student. Reliable, responsible."

"Ex-student you mean," Alec sighed. "As of today that's all over." He sighed, letting this fact wash over him again.

"This should be a exciting and hopeful time," Mrs. Grey said. "I hate to hear you sound so defeated."

"Is that how I sound," Alec sighed before walking over to the couch and collapsing into it. There was a moment's silence as Mrs. Grey came over to sit in the chair opposite him.

"Why are you and Mr. Carstairs being so good to me?" Alec asked. "I mean you must have hundreds of students. Why single me out?"

"Jem has always been too kind for his own good," she smiled. "But with you, I think it's more than just that."