Suck It And See | A. Turner

[Chapter 22]

Alex had talked to Glyn only after Matt had practically pushed him into the taller boy. They were in between classes, dawdling in the hallways and dreading their next class. Alex swallowed nervously as he approached his long time friend, feeling as though he had a frog in his throat.

"'Ey, man," he mumbled just loud enough for Glyn to hear. The taller boy glanced over between Alex and the books he was trying to organize in his bag.

"Wha's up, Al?" he asked.

Alex glanced nervously behind him where Matt, Jamie, and Andy were hiding behind a locker wall, watching him intently, "I wanted to 'ave a talk wif yeh... a-about our band, yeh see..." he stammered out.

"As a matter of fact, I wanted to talk to yeh, too," he said, "Been meaning to fer a while,"

"Oh?" Alex swallowed again, "Erm -- yeh go first, then," he said.

"Alright," Glyn slammed his locker shut and looked at Alex with an apologetic grin, "I don' wanna be in this band. Don' get me wrong; yeh guys are me mates and all, but we're going in two different directions,"

Alex rose his eyebrows in surprise, yet also relieved at what he was hearing, "Okay. That... I sorta' felt that ... fer a while," he said.

"I should'a spoke up sooner," Glyn sighed, "But I came to realize over the break tha' I still don' know wha' I want outta' life after high school, and I'm gonna take some time to figure that out. Travel about and stuff," he said.

Alex's lips curled into a sad smile. It was hard to hear, despite their situation, but he was just glad that Glyn had come to this conclusion sooner than he had, "Well, I'm glad to 'ear that," he said, "Got any idea where yeh wanna go?"

"Maybe Spain? Portugal?" Glyn replied with a shrug, "There's lots a' programs out there fer students tha' wanna travel, tha' knows,"

"Tha's cool," Alex said, "Well... I-I'm glad we 'ad this talk,"

"Yeah, me too," he grinned, "Still up fer Doom on Sundays though, right?"

"Oh, yeah," the shorter boy nodded, "I'm another five-thousand points away from unlocking the rocket launcher," 

"Sick," they gave each other a high five before Glyn zipped up his bag and turned down the opposite direction, "I've got maths next, but I'll see yeh guys 'round, yeah?"

"Yeah," Alex replied, "Good talk, mate,"

"Good talk," with that, Alex turned back to his mates with a silly grin on his face, relief flooding through like a bursted dam. The boys just smirked at him.

"I told yeh not to be worried," Matt said. Alex simply flipped him off in response.

➿➿➿

It was slow and minuscule, however, as January crept into February, the days began to get a little longer, and just a little bit brighter. That didn't stop the cold from ravaging the town, coating nearly everything in a bitter, slippery frost and snow in the early mornings, and despite the sun being out, the bright rays stung violently at the eyes of those who made the mistake of looking within its general direction.

Mid-terms were approaching yet again, and Jade had taken to staying out of her Aunt's house as often as possible, whether it was jam sessions with her friends, or studying with Sasha, or simply spending more time at the Turner house because, as oppose to her Aunt, they treated her as though she were family. Jade never had to feel uncomfortable at their dinner table.

One particular Thursday, about four o'clock it was, Jade was readily packing her bag for another jam session with her friends. A fresh plight of snow had rain down the night before, nothing too heavy, but perfect for down-hill tobogganing as Matt had mentioned. That launched the brilliant idea of park tobogganing as oppose to studying and homework -- not that Jade was complaining.