Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"I did it...I killed Bryce..." Zach exhaled, confessing to Alex in the gym.
"Don't say that," Alex whispered.
"But I did, and it's not fair if Clay goes down for it," Zach sighed.
"You didn't kill Bryce, and even if you did, no one's going down for anything," Alex reassured, knowing the truth of what happened that Homecoming night all too well.
*flash forward*
"That's how you knew...for sure...that it wasn't me..." Zach whispered, "that killed Bryce..."
"Yeah..." Alex replied in his usual monotone voice.
The two boys were alone in an empty school classroom, waiting for Clay to show up and take them with him to his and Justin's place while Ani went to the police station.
"Why'd you do it?" Zach asked quietly, only looking up from his hands to look at the boy every now and then.
"I..uh, I did it for you," Alex nodded sheepishly.
Zach immediately looked up at Alex, confusion, shock and even...anger, present on his face.
"W-what? What the fuck? Why?" Zach confronted him.
"Cuz Zach! He fucked up your future! And he threatened to kill you while I was helping him up!" Alex started to shout.
"Yeah but it's my life, my future! You can't go around killing people just because they hurt your friends and on your own accord! I got my revenge for what he did to me, you shouldn't have done that...what the fuck Alex!" Zach shouted back.
"Yeah...friends..." Alex scoffed.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Zach replied, the tension in the air hitting its max.
"IT MEANS I LOVE YOU AND IT SCARES THE HELL OUT OF ME!" Alex screamed.
"W-what?" Zach said, taken aback by Alex's out burst (not that he didn't have many).
"I couldn't control myself that night...not only because of what he's done to all my friends...how much pain he's caused to the people I love...but because he threatened to do it again...he threatened to kill you and Jess, so I just lost it..." Alex whispered.
"I don't understand what you're trying to tell me..." Zach replied, just as quietly.
"It means...it means that the way that I feel about you scares the shit out of me Zach! I mean for fucks sake I killed someone for you, and I couldn't control myself because he was threatening your safety!" Alex began to shout again, his own emotions running too high for him to regain any control over them.
"Alex...I-" Zach was baffled by what his best friend had just confessed to him.
"Just don't...don't say anything Zach...it's better that way," Alex rolled his eyes and walked out of the room, his limp still slightly present, leaving Zach sitting in a mess that Alex Standall had created.
