On the Run

Chapter 7: This isn't a cheesy Disney movie

I fidgeted with the strap of my bag, trying to figure out how to word my desperate need for escape. "And I thought church was nerve wracking! Alex, can't we just home school ourselves or something? Please? I can't do this!" I pleaded anxiously, messing with the radio to calm my nerves. He should've known things were REALLY bad, considering Taylor Swift was on the radio, and I wasn't jamming out at top volume. Or at all. "Scar, it's just school. You've gone to the first day of school twelve times already, I'm sure you'll survive. It's the same exact thing, just in a different place, with an oppertunity for a fresh start; a new beginning! Besides, we're already here," he grinned victoriously as we pulled up to the front office.

"Ah, you must be Alex and Scarlett, correct?" A severe looking woman was sitting there with a tight bun (I almost called her McGonagall, but alas, no glasses) and a voice like honey. "Yes ma'am. We were told to come here to create our schedules with the guidance counselors," I said quietly. I have this problem where I sound like a little kid when talking to figures of authority...I've been trying to work on it, but my progress has been limited. "Yes, just go down the hall on your right, and it'll be the third door to the left."

The guidance counselor, Mr. Stevens, settled us with a steely glare. "The only area in which you two will be given special treatment is in being able to personalIy report your previous grades and such; I will not put you in all the same classes, tell your teachers to never call on you, or give you straight As that are unearned. I expect only the truth. What classes were you set to be put into?" Alex and I gulped.

"Lemme see yours!" he grinned like a kindergardner at recess, nearly snatching the flimsy paper from my grasp. "Okay we have economics, math, and english together, and lunch! Yay, I love food! Oh yeah, I got us maps," he handed one to me. Though the campus was miniscule, it was more confusing than trig. Who decided to make so many winding hallways and staircases? So I'd be late to every class most likely, in addition to being the new girl from far away, with no friends, who was "some wannabe bottle blonde, like have you seen her roots? Everything about her screams desperate from miles away! No wonder she got that hottie to date her, he probably just felt bad and wanted her to stop pining away for him, with no chance," according to what I'd overheard Tiffany say last Wednesday. I can only imagine how many other students have heard her disdain for me by now. The funny part was that she's an obvious bottle blonde too, now pining away for MY boyfrend, who would never betray me in a million years, but hey, her words,

not mine.

"Alex, I really don't want to do this." I could feel my hands shaking. He gave me a small smile, and whipped out a sharpie, pulling my hand to his chest, scribbling something. "Okay, you see this heart? And these three words? They say I love you, and the heart makes it sincere." I giggled, despite the tear sliding down my cheek. "Now everytime you get nervous or upset, just look back to this. Today will be fantastic, but even if it's not, this means that you have me, that I will be there for you, and that we're gonna take care of each other for as long as you want me around. And even if you decide you hate me, I'll probably STILL try to protect you, and then you'll try to get a restraining order, and then I'll violate it, and be arrested, and break out, and it'll just be a vicious cycle of how much I care about you. Got it?" I nodded, lyrics to every love song ever written chasing each other around my head. He might not sound like a Herondale, or John Green, but his words make everything so much lighter.

"Now I don't wanna be late, I need to get in with the guys so they'll tell me how to get on all the coaches' good sides, but I'll see you in third period. If anything happens, text me, call me, ambush me, whatever. I might do the same to you, you never know. Good luck!" Alex kissed me and practically bounced down the hall. I couldn't begin to comprehend why he was so eager to start. Since when did he like school more than I do? I'm like the queen nerd! But I guess it's better than his whining, so I won't complain.