Chapter One: A Pinkie Promise
Justin unlocked the front door of the apartment and he, Alex, and Max walked in. They threw their backpacks onto the couch. Alex and Max sat down at the kitchen island while Justin went to the fridge and pulled out sodas for each of them. Then Theresa walked into the kitchen.
"Oh, you're home," she said. "How was school today?"
"Good," Justin said.
"Fine," Max said.
"Awful," Alex groaned.
"Ignore her," Justin said. "She's just bitter because she started health class today."
"Alex," Theresa said. "The stuff they teach in that class is very important."
"It's stuff I already know," Alex complained.
"It's stuff that needs to be reiterated. Do you know how many teenage mothers there are these days?"
Alex rolled her eyes. "Mom, please. You have to have sex to get pregnant."
"I am taking myself away from this conversation right now," Max said.
"Right behind you, Max," Justin said.
They both got up from their spots at the island. They grabbed their backpacks from the couch and headed to their separate rooms. Theresa turned to her daughter.
"So," she said. "Can I assume that you haven't become sexually active yet?"
"No, I haven't," Alex replied.
"You're still young. Don't rush into anything."
"I'm not. I won't. It's just…it's kinda depressing that Harper has a boyfriend and I don't."
"Well, doesn't Harper deserve to be happy?"
"Yeah, but I don't deserve to be miserable."
"Honey, I'm sorry about what happened with what's-his-name."
"Mason!"
Theresa held up her hands defensively. "OK, OK. I'm sorry."
Then she turned and left the room. Alex grabbed her soda and sat down on the couch. As she started to surf through the channels, she heard a loud noise. Alex muted the TV and listened. She heard the noise again, coming from down the hall. She got up from her spot and walked down the hall, toward Justin's room. Alex pressed her ear to the door and heard that…
"He's crying?" Alex whispered to herself. She knocked softly on the door. "Justin?"
There was no reply, so Alex slowly opened the door and popped her head in.
"Justin?"
Alex found her brother sitting on the floor in front of his bed. His knees were pulled into his chest and big, fat tears rolled off of his cheeks. Alex pushed the door open further and stepped into the room.
"Justin?"
This time, Justin looked up at her.
"Yeah, I'm crying," he sobbed, wiping some of the tears away. "Go ahead. Laugh it up. Make your jokes."
Alex crossed the room and sat down on the floor next to him. "I'm not that cruel." Then she looked at his hand and her eyes widened. "Justin, you're bleeding."
Justin looked at his right hand. His knuckles were scraped up, crimson red trickling down his hand. "Yeah, I know." The tip of his index finger glowed as he traced it across his hand, the cuts on his knuckles instantly healing.
"What the hell did you do?"
Justin didn't answer. He just pointed. Alex followed his finger and saw that across the room, there was a hole in the wall.
"I cannot believe you did that." She looked at her brother. "Uh, why did you do that?"
"I was going through my closet, looking for supplies to use for my history project, and I found this." Justin held up a lavender colored scarf. Alex gave him a confused look. "Smell it."
Alex took the scarf and held it up to her face, breathing in the scent. "Ugh, it smells like death. Ooh, and vanilla." Realization hit and Alex gasped. "Oh, no."
Justin nodded. "It belonged to Juliet."
"Justin, she's gone. She's not coming back. You've got to move on."
"I can't! I just…I really thought that…" He struggled to fight back the tears.
"What is it?" Alex asked.
Justin glanced at the door and then at his sister. "If I tell you something, you've got to promise me you won't tell anybody. Not even Harper."
"I promise."
Alex held up her pinkie finger. Justin linked his pinkie with hers, binding the promise.
"I thought Juliet was the one for me. So much so that I…I gave my virginity to her." Justin started crying harder.
Alex was taken by surprise. That was not what she was expecting to hear from her goody two-shoes brother. "Wow, Justin. You were really serious about her."
Justin nodded. Alex pulled her brother into a comforting embrace. Justin put his head on her shoulder and continued to cry. When Alex looked up, she saw her mom standing in the doorway. She gave Alex a questioning look. Alex shook her head slightly and shooed her away with her hand. Theresa nodded in understanding and walked away.
