Wallflower

7

Chapter 7: Mignon et Confus

    Alex sat on top of the lunch table she shared with Sam, Jason and Kaden while taking a swig from her water bottle. The lunch area at the school was located outside of its buildings due to its large population. There were tables and benches littered across the campus where the students could sit, talk with their friends and eat their lunch while appreciating nature at the same time.

    Alex and her friends were a little bit tipsy from the vodka that she had brought using her water bottle to disguise it. Kaden rested his head and arms on Alex's lap and let out a burp which caused her to wrinkle her nose.  

  "Guys, guess what?" Kaden lifted his head slightly, showing off a big grin as he looked between his friends. He was met with silence and an eye-roll from Jason. "Come on guys..." he pleaded. 

   Sam sighed deeply, taking the bottle from Alex who then went to play a game on her phone. "What?" Sam huffed. 

   "Alex's full name is Alexia! How girly is that?" Kaden started laughing loudly, causing small chuckles to erupt from his friends. Alex, on the other hand, was not amused as she slapped the side of Kaden's head. 

   "Shut up. No one ever even calls me that," she hissed at the blond boy in her lap. She glanced at her phone screen, "And you made me lose my fucking game."

  Kaden only ignored her, sat up and continued. "Okay so, I was going through drawers and cupboards at home, looking for places to hide my weed so the 'rents couldn't find them, right? And one drawer I opened had in some of our documents and so I took out Alex's passport and that's when I saw it," he turned his head to face his step-sister cheekily, "Alexia Celeste Rivers."

  Sam smirked, "Who knew that under all that badass exterior there was a real Disney princess?" 

   Though the rest of his friends were laughing and having a good time under the influence, the corner of Jason's mouth only twitched upward slightly and stayed there for less than a second. The gang was so used to Jason's stoic expressions and deafening silence that they didn't take it to heart when he didn't laugh at their jokes or add to the conversation. They, along with everyone in the school, just knew not to mess with him. 

  "Did Long just... smile?" Alex changed the subject to their quiet friend. Jason shrugged while his friends inspected his face for any evidence that Alex was just seeing things. 

   He tilted his head slightly to the left and jutted his chin out, "Freckles."

   At the mention of the pet name, Alex's head turned to the direction that Jason gestured to. Her eyes scanned the students and then laid on the curly-haired girl who was sitting on the grass, legs folded and eating a salad.

   Avery usually spent her lunchtimes in a more remote area, but today she gave into Carson and sat where he normally did. The two of them sat on the newly cut grass and ate their lunches. Avery had packed a Caesar salad with a brownie while Carson had pizza delivered to their school gate. 

   "Are you sure you don't want any?" Carson teased her, waving a slice of Hawaiian pizza in front of her face. He watched her eyes follow it. 

  "Can you stop? You know I'm on a diet," Avery folded her arms and looked down at her salad. She loved Caesar salads but having a slice of cheesy pizza with ham and pineapple sounded way better than lettuce, croutons and cheese. 

   "But you have a brownie right there," Carson stated. Avery huffed in annoyance, glaring at her friend before plucking the pizza slice from his fingers.