Monster

Meeting Alex

Monster

Chapter ?: Meeting Alex

Really awkward car rides really make you think about those Hot Cheetos sitting across from you. I mean, you freaking ponder on how they were made, how they would taste--and then, bam, your hand reaches out and grabs them--oh, no! My mouth is chewing! That basically describes the ten minute DID I MENTION AWKWARD SILENCES car ride. When we finally pulled up the the school, Charlie gave me the game plan. And took the Cheetos away.

"You already know that there is a...person like you at this school." Charlie leaned forward in his MIB suit, seriousness pasted on his face like a mask. I resisted the urge to giggle and nodded my head.

"Just...try to get him over here. We'll be waiting for you--oh, and his name is Alex Bolet. He has shaggy blackish hair, pale skin...you should find him pretty easily. His file says he's loud." I nodded at Charlie and got out of the limo--did I mention that no one cared I came in a limo? It was almost like protocol here.

The front of the school was packed with little cliques here and there: the nerds, the sports, the pink-and-glitter-makes-everything-betters. I looked around for someone with black shaggy hair and saw about three or four.

One had SUPER shaggy hair, about down to his neck, and was wearing giant glasses and could also use a shave. I hoped it wasn't him, so instead I looked at the next one. He was super-skinny and super tall, wearing red skinny jeans and overly large skater shoes. I had seen him around before...nope. The third shaggy haired guys was hanging out with the popular jocks, and I hand't seen him around before, although something about him flickered in the back of my mind...just deja vou. This one was also loud; cracking jokes and laughing. I quickly walked toward him, my skin feeling uncomfortable under the long-sleeve shirt. His group was on the steps, and once I was there, I had to look up to them and yell a few times before they heard me.

"Alex...Bolet? Are you Alex?" I said, putting my hand up to blot out the sun. The other jocks shoved each other and joked about me asking him for his name. But he had stiffened, his tan face gone completely pale; his ice blue eyes were now hard as flint. First he opened his mouth a little, and then closed it again.

Something was terribly wrong.

Then, as quick as lightning, he grabbed his backpack and sprinted off, into the school, leaving me behind stunned and puzzled. The rest of the jock boys laughed and pointed after him and sneered at me.

Why would he have done that? I wasn't that BAD looking. After I stood there for a few moments, I grabbed my stuff up and sprinted after him. At first I didn't see where he had gone, but a few people in the hall were looking back, as if something had just barreled through, so I went that way, making people even more pissed off. I saw him up ahead, turning a corner.

"Alex!"

My cuts were hurting underneath all of the cover-ups, and the boots I was wearing didn't help. Soon it felt like I was in a race; my throat burning and the only thing working was my brain, pushing me forward. Finally I stopped running--Alex was no where to be seen and class had already started, not that I was going to go. As I was turning to walk away toward the exit, I heard crying. The person was trying to muffle it; the sound was squashed and quiet. It was definitely a guy--it was coming from the boys bathroom. I set down my bag and hurried over to the red door and quietly opened it. I think it is Alex who is crying.

The guys bathroom is exactly how you would expect it: smells of BO, toilet paper slung all over and girls numbers written on the stall doors. The sobbing was coming from the last stall door; the one with Rachel's number and cup size written in highlighter.