It had all started with Gaby bumping into him on his first day of school at Memorial. In English IV during a test…imagine your first day of school on a test day. He is one of those guys you always dreamt of sweet, respective, handsome, tall, and muscular. As corny as it sounds it is all true, since I have a weak immune system and usually catch things that you would never think a human being would get, he also takes his time to cook for me. He takes care of me when I am deadly sick, and when I am in a big crisis!
"Alex! Wait up!" I run down the stairs, with my calculus textbook in hand, as soon as I see that black leather jacket walking down the stairs. My left foot decides to skip a step due to the excitement of seeing him and I go flying down the stairs. I open my eyes to see myself standing in Alex's arms, and then I look at his face while I see his eyes showing care and love for me.
"A-Alex…I'm sorry about that. I got so excited when, well you see -err…I got so hmm…I passed the SAT essay with a four!" He smiled at me, picked me up, and twirled me around congratulating me. He stopped spinning me as soon as he heard someone coughing. We turn towards where the cough came from and came face to face with Jessica.
"Jessica! How are you?"
"Fine, just wondering when we can walk to lunch." I giggle and start walking towards lunch with Jessica and Alex. A few minutes later we catch up with Marisol, Brenda, and Marlene. I notice that Elizabeth and Gaby weren't with them; I start to worry because I want to tell all of them my big news. After we walk into the Commence Area we go grab our trays from the lunch line and then sit at our usual table. Our table is located five tables away from the large rectangle and squared windows. The scenery isn't that bad. A few houses and…okay it's kind of bad.
"Alex you might not want to sit there…again." I come down from the clouds and see Brenda whispering to Alex as he gets comfortable in that seat. He clears his throat and lets out an annoyed breath. Marisol and Brenda, The Twins, giggled and sat at their usual seats. I give him a reassuring look and pat the chair to my left. He lets out a groan and crosses his arms, as he glares to the front of the Commons Area. He uncrosses his arms, grabs my hand, pulls me towards him, and kisses me.
"Oh! Maria! We just got here and look at what you are up to." I blush a deep red before I turn towards Elizabeth. Marlene starts to laugh and makes fun of my tomato red face. I look at Gaby, who is standing beside Elizabeth, holding her tray and book. She glares at Alex and sits on the empty chair beside me.
"It is in my seat…again." She whispers as she sets her tray down and prepares to eat. Setting her milk to the top right, then she grabs it to open it. Takes out the utensils, first takes out the straw and sticks it in her milk, then she takes out her napkin to unfold it all the way and then to fold it inside out. Finally she takes out her fork and spoon and sets them on her tray where she can easily reach them. I notice that today she picks up her fork first and starts poking her chicken strips.
"Hay Gaby, no tienes que ser tan mala con Alex. You'll see that on A-day he'll give up his seat." Elizabeth smiles and exchanges her apple for Gaby's grapes.
"That is only because it doesn't have our lunch on those days…but sometimes he decides to skip…ne?" She looks at me with a pouty face…18 years old and still pouts. Jessica hands her notes to Brenda so she can pass them to Gaby for her to copy them down.
"Gaby did you forget to copy notes again?"
"Yesh! It's not my fault! Marlene I did all the problems but I need big time help!" Same old Gaby…I hold Alex's hand while I chat with my friends.
"Writing your notes? I didn't even know Lidia studied…much less take notes at all. Who would have thought?" Alex showed a small smirk as he took a bite from his burger, Gaby on the other hand placed her fork down and looked at me.
"He's provoking me! Nena he always does that on purpose. He already knows I dislike him for lying to all of us…and he just makes fun of me! I put up with him for five months already…..five! That is way more than what I can handle. He can try being nicer…after Mariana scared me and accidentally made me bump into him, I disliked him a whole lot. But then I tried being nicer, I did try, but look…so now...I'm not. Grr!" She took the longest breath I seen anyone take and went back to poking her food. The others were really quiet, very quiet. So much for trying to tell my friends my important news…
"Jessica!" All of our attention swung to our loud intruder who is standing in front of the table and smiles cheerfully with a bouncy expression.
"Do you have the notes from calculus?" Mariana smiles cheerfully as she waves at all of us. Alex nods his head the 'Bobble-Head' way with a smile.
"Yea, who would have thought Gaby would be copying noted…during lunch." Mariana looks at Gaby poking her chicken strips as she glares at them. I give Mariana a reassuring look and smile…even if it's a fake smile. I have to make sure she doesn't think Gaby is going crazy even if she is…
The bell rings dismissing us from lunch, we throw our trays away and head towards our classes. Jessica and Marlene usually walk with Alex and me while the others go separate ways, I hold onto Alex's hand tighter. I look at him and smile…he walks me to my class and leaves to go to his.
As soon as I got home I quickly went to my room to call Gaby. I really had no idea why she didn't like Alex, first it started with him being weird, and then that she found out he was a vampire. A vampire…here? Wow…it couldn't be possible. At all!
"Nena! How are you? You did your homework...right? Jessica just texted me that she needs it!"
"Yea…tell her I'll send it to her in a few. I have a question but please don't get offended," I hear nothing so I continue, "Why don't you like Alex? Gaby, he makes me really happy. Just like Agustin makes you happy. I want you two to be good friends not to dislike each other and end up falling in love."
"Eww! Alex? Why?" She starts talking so fast in Spanish that it starts sounding as if she is mumbling. She doesn't really answer me but we end up talking about our day, dreams, and other random stuff.
-•-•-•-•-•-
I wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of my a/c blasting all the way to its full capacity. It is suppose to be at a certain temperature, but it seems someone was playing around with it. I usually don't wake up at all not even if it's really cold in the middle of the night, but this is the first time I wake up. I get up and walk towards my a/c and turn it down, I miss the button since my eyes are still a bit closed and accidentally hit the off button. I start walking back to my bed, all sluggishly, tripping here and there and jumping on my bed. My head hits the pillow and a huge cloak of darkness surrounds me and I daze off into my world. In it I am dancing in the arms of Alex at the prom. Our senior prom. My friends surround us, dancing to the rhythm of the music too. The prom is at a beautiful park, with a lake. There is a full moon tonight and it reflects on the lake, the reflection of the twinkling stars around the moon. I am happy that I am here with my friends and my boyfriend, and that Gaby is actually wearing a dress. Sure it's a dark purple one that wouldn't really count as a dress for prom, but it works.
"Why are you blushing, love?" I look up at Alex and feel my face heat up. I lean my face into his shoulder and stay like that for two whole songs. It sucks being so shy, not being able to look at him without blushing.
"Nena! Alex! Get away from there!" I look over at Gaby and see her on the floor reaching out for me; The Twins hold her back as she struggles with them. The floor starts to crumble under me; it separates me from my friends. From Alex too. He extends his hand out trying to grab mine but we are too far apart.
"Alex!" The floor under Alex crumbles faster than the one I'm on. The ground starts shaking violently making me lose my balance. I am sitting there looking at my surroundings as the ground shakes. Everyone is trying to run out the doors…my friends are trying to help me get to the other side. Alex is holding on for dear life and I can't do anything.
"Nena…Nena!" The shaking stops. I blink several times and everything turns into puffy red clouds, one of them floating two inches above me. I reach upwards but I can't reach, then I look around and find a stick. I stare at the cloud and finally poke it with the stick it doesn't do anything until I pull the stick away from it. A large amount of red liquid starts to spew out of the cloud. I drop the stick and start to run away from the liquid as it gushes after me, I look behind me and the cloud I poked appears to have large white teeth from where I poked it. It doesn't stop spewing and it starts floating after me. I run as fast as I can, yelling for help but it seems no other human being is here, but me. I run as I see a big diamond rock in my path, I run towards it and hide behind it. I stand there for a few minutes and finally get the courage to look behind. The red cloud monster isn't there and no red liquid is on the ground. It gets too quiet and I start to worry, I look around for a sign of life. The diamond rock starts floating in mid-air and starts to shake violently, then the ground starts shaking. I yell out Alex's name hoping he can come and rescue me.
"Nena…wake up. You are going to be late!" I open my eyes slowly, blinking several times, and see my mom standing next to me. I look at her and then avert my eyes to the clock. 7:05 a.m….I missed the bus! I get up in a hurry and rush to my dresser looking for my uniform. My mom giggles and leaves my room, closing the door behind her. My mom offers to give me a ride to school as I enter the kitchen and grab an energy bar. I thank her as soon as I get in the car.
-•-•-•-•-•-
After school I am doing my English homework in my room while I listen to the radio. A soft knock is heard behind the door as it swings open. My dad in his work clothes smiles and asks to come in; I nod and look at him.
"Nena, there's something I want to tell you…please don't take it the wrong way but you're my daughter." I stare at him confusingly, and then I put my pencil down while I turn my chair around to face him. A thousand things came flooding into my mind, what could it be? Did I forget to wash the dishes? Or did I say something?
"I don't want you to see your boyfriend anymore. Break up with him."
"Por que? Que hice mal?" He gets closer to me and hugs me whispering that it's for the best. He gives me a kiss on the forehead and smiles. He leaves without an explanation, without a reason why. I grab my phone and call him, it rings for several times and he doesn't answer. I call Gaby but it doesn't go thru. My computer buzzes as I try calling the Twins, I rush to the computer and notice that Gaby is sending me messages.
Gaby: Nena! My parents took my phone! I'm grounded! But that aint da problem!
Nena: What?...what happened? It can't be worse than my dad
Nena: not allowing me to see alex anymore…
Gaby: im quite surprised I can still use the puter…-.-' but...i found out dat alex had an accident!
Nena: is he okay?..why cant you call me?
Several minutes go by and she doesn't reply back. I start to worry and look thru my phone for her number. The phone starts ringing so loud I throw it across the room; it bounces off the wall and flies into my bed. I hurry and get it and see that my caller is Gaby.
"Hello?"
"Nena! The reason that your dad probably said that was because Alex happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time! There was a report on a burglary at some gas station. He helped the victim but the victim was an accomplice!" I stare at the wall, dumbfounded, how can people be so cruel? I start wondering if that's the reason why my dad doesn't want me to see him anymore. I rush into the living room as I see my dad talking to my mom.
"The people don't know the whole story, so your dad might just think that your boyfriend is a burglar." I catch the venom in her tone.
"Gaby…why did you say that like that?" She stays quiet and starts to mumble.
"I can't say, even if you are my sister. So…hopefully Alex tells you! Grr!" I laugh and tell her I'll call her back as soon as I talk to my dad. I walk towards my dad and sit next to him, pleading for an explanation. He doesn't give me one at all, he prefers to keep quiet. So he gets up and leaves the house, leaving me talking.
The following day I wake up with a headache, it hurts so badly that I can't even see from left to right. I end up bumping into the kitchen wall, how did I get in the kitchen? Who knows. I do my daily routine and get ready for school. As soon as I arrive at school I start searching for Alex. Nowhere to be found in the cafeteria I look for my friends. I find Gaby at the breakfast line, lining up to get herself a biscuit. I pull her by the arm dragging her away from the line.
"My biscuit! No! It was almost my turn."
"Do you know where Alex is at?" She stares at me and looks away immediately. She starts to mumble while still facing away from me.
"What?" She looks at me and points towards the sky.
"He had to go back home."