Beth isn't at school today. I keep wondering if she'll suddenly turn up in class and have trouble paying close attention to anything else. Mr. James, the Earth Science teacher, is talking about glaciation, how some lakes were formed through glacier deposits. He's explaining how this happens, but I'm losing the thread of what he's saying and quickly getting bored.
The class itself feels like a glacier.
Look at you makin' metaphors. High five.
I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn around.
"Buddy, I'm Alex," he whispers, reaching his hand out to shake mine. "I don't know if I've introduced myself already. My memory's shit."
"Oh, hey. I'm Tim. Nice to meet you."
He extends an earbud and looks at me with a totally earnest expression. Lanky, wears Harry Potter glasses, super long dark hair.
"Listen to this," he says. "Will blow your mind."
"Okay..."
I put the earbud in and start listening. The song he's playing is way too loud. I gesture for him to turn it down and he turns it up. My ears hurt and I gesture again; he understands this time, mouthing an over-the-top apology. The song sounds sort of similar to Underoath, same distorted guitars and quick pace and passionate screaming, but way cornier. The band is Dragon Force, I learned afterward. I don't like the music at all, but he seems really excited about it.
I bob my head along, pretending to be into it, which makes Alex bob his head, too.
"Nice," I say, handing him back the ear bud.
He smiles big. I'm not sure why he's reaching out to me; maybe just because he doesn't have anyone else to talk to. I've seen him eating Cool Ranch Doritos alone at lunch a couple times. He has kind of a class clown vibe, but it doesn't seem to help him much socially.
"Hey, this class is the real glacier, huh?" I offer.
He stares blankly at me, then asks: "Hey, what are you doing for lunch?"
"Uh, eating I guess."
He seems unsure of how to proceed, embarrassed that I might turn down going to lunch with him.
"You want to grab lunch somewhere?" I ask.
Big smile again. "Definitely. I know a great place."
After class. Chinese restaurant in the neighbourhood that Alex selected.
He loads up two plates of food, every inch covered in egg noodles, spring rolls, chow mein and lemon chicken, and hands me one of the plates.
A sudden thought occurs to him and he jerks his head violently towards the front counter.
"Can we get a jug of water? Dehydration is an epidemic. The World Health Organization said so, you have to listen to them. The world includes China."
"I can grab one," I say.
"It's cool. I'm not being racist, I'm half-Chinese."
The guy working at the front counter looks irritated with us for the obnoxious water request. I smile apologetically at him, get up and grab a jug of water and a couple of plastic cups.
When I get back to the table, he seems to have forgotten entirely about the water.
"So, I heard you play guitar?" he asks.
"Uh, yeah. Who told you that?"
"Beth."
"Oh cool. I didn't see her at school today."
YOU ARE READING
Alternative
Teen FictionTim's public high school experience thus far has been characterized by bad grades and the total absence of a social life; he's listless and needs a change. So, after grade eleven ends, his mom decides to enrol him in a bizarre, little alternative sc...
