Chapter 1: Aren't those for, like…little kids?
*Alex P.O.V*
Beep beep beep beep beep beep
"Shut uuuppp." I groaned from underneath my pillow. I had been dreading that stupid sound ever since last night when I set it so I wouldn't be late for the first day back at school. Usually I didn't care if I made it on time or not but this school year was different. This school year would be my last year at Tribeca Prep and I wanted to make sure my last first day was one I would remember. After about five minutes I had woken up a bit and finally made my way out of bed. Grabbing my towel and house coat I walked over to the bathroom door but it was shut. I could just faintly hear Max in there singing Fly Me to The Moon by Frank Sinatra to himself on the other side of the door.
"Hurry up, Max!" I groaned as I pounded on the door. I swear sometimes he took longer than I did.
"Just a minute!" he shouted back at me, the annoyance clear in his voice. A few seconds later the door opened and I just shoved Max out the door I best I could with my hands full and shut the door behind me.
"Hey!" I heard him shout at me but honestly I could have cared less. I needed my shower to help me fully wake up. After I was finished I grabbed my blow dryer and straightener from my drawer and headed to my bedroom to quickly do my hair. Thankfully I had my outfit for the day already planned out: my favourite black converse and a pair of skinny jeans with my white tank top that had two birds on the front of it under my brown, orange and yellow plaid button up shirt. I had to admit, I looked cute. I threw my hair into a ponytail and called it good. All three of us were finished getting ready at around the same time so we all headed down to the sub shop together
"Okay, Ham sandwich with lettuce, tomato, mustard and mayo…and 5 dollars in a bag." Mom recited off as she handed us each a lunch bag. Even after 13 years (for me anyways) our lunches never changed.
"Thanks, mom." We both called out as we headed out the door and down the street towards Tribeca Prep. I had to admit it felt a bit odd knowing this would be my last "first day back at school" but it was a good kind of odd. Along our walk we passed Harper's old house and I really started to miss her. Earlier in the summer her dad had gotten an amazing job opportunity in Michigan so they moved not long afterwards. It was hard saying goodbye but we knew we still had skyping and texting so we knew it wasn't like we would never talk again. After the 15 minute walk we finally got to school and I headed off to my first class, English with Ms. Ayers. Out of all my teachers I think Ms. Ayers had to be the coolest. She had just recently turned 30, graduated from university the 2 or 3 years earlier and Mr. Laritate had hired her pretty much on the spot. She was kind of cute too, a lot of people said she looked like Kate Hudson, so that really helped her.
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that I'm gay?
To most people it wasn't a total shock. I mean, when I was little I would always prefer rough housing with my brothers and my dad over playing with the stupid dolls my mom would try and get me to play with. And when all the other girls started going all boy crazy I had absolutely no idea where they were coming from; they should have just started talking Portuguese and I would have understood them better. When I finally came out to my parents just before junior year started they were actually really cool about it. They told me they had had their suspicions for a little while but wanted me to come to them first, instead of forcing me to say it when I wasn't ready. I was really glad that they chose to leave it to me because if they had tried to force it out of me guaranteed I would have chickened out and would have denied it until I had no choice but to tell them.
Anyways, so I made it to English class and Ms. Ayers was sitting at her desk waiting for everyone to finish piling in.
"Hey Ms. A" I greeted with a smile. Ms. Ayers looked up from her day planner and flashed me a smile back. God, she's cute.
"Hey, Alex. How was your summer?" she asked me.
"It was great. My parents took me and my brothers on a trip down to Florida for a few weeks and we got to check out some of the beaches in Miami." I replied. My parents had decided that we would take one last vacation as a whole family before Justin headed off for college and I started my senior year so after a few suggestions of where to go we all decided on Florida, mainly because a few of my aunts and uncles on my mom's side lived there and we hadn't really gotten to know her side of the family all that well.
"How about you how was your summer?"
She was about to start telling me but the warning bell rang and by then everyone had piled in. I quickly took my seat and let her start the lesson.
"Hello, class. I hope you all had an enjoyable summer and are looking forward to your last year of High school." Ms. Ayers began and of course everyone started cheering at the mention of this being our last year in High school.
"Awesome. So First off I want to tell you about our big project for the year. How many of you have had pen pals before or know what pen pals are?" Ms. Ayers asked us. Most, if not all of us, raised our hands.
"Well this year we are going to be pen pals with another 12th grade class from Denver, Colorado." Ms. Ayers told us.
"Ms. A, aren't those for, like…little kids? Only kids in Elementary school have pen pals." One kid in my class, I think his name was Donnie, pointed out.
"Well I figured since no one writes each other the old fashioned way anymore why not try and bring it back. I remember I had a pen pal back in High School and we actually became best friends. We got to meet just after graduation and we even took a trip together to Maui." Ms. Ayers replied.
"Guys, this could actually be really cool if you decide to let it. Just give it a chance. Now, everyone take out a few sheets of paper and we'll get started."
Everyone grabbed a notebook or binder from their backpacks while Ms. Ayers started writing down topics we could write about in our letters. I sat there with my pen in my mouth for a good few minutes, trying to figure out where to start. How do you start writing a letter to someone when you don't even know who you're writing to? After a bit of thinking I finally started my letter.
Dear Pen pal,
Okay, first off it feels weird not being able to write your name considering I don't know it yet. I've never written a letter to a pen pal before so I apologize in advance if this letter is insanely awkward, I'm kinda new to this.
My name's Alex, short for Alexandra but I've been going by Alex pretty much since I was born( which I don't
mind at all, Alexandra's too girly for me). I live in Waverly, New York with my parents(Jerry and Theresa) and
younger brother (Max. I have an older brother named Justin too but he's now in College and moved out not too
long ago).We've lived in New York since I was born and I have to say I love it here. The best part of living here has
to be the skyline at night, it's absolutely breath taking. At times the huge crowds can get a bit much but after living
here for so long, you get used to it.
Um…I guess something else you should know about me is that I love music. As far as listening to music goes I love Katy
Perry, Paramore(Hayley Williams is my IDOL!),Jason Mraz and Nicki Minaj. I've been writing songs here and there since I
was 14 or so and play the guitar a bit, not great but I'm getting better. My best friend Harper used to help me with my
songs but since she moved earlier this summer it's just been me, so my song writing's been kind of lacking. Harper was
really my only TRUE best friend. I mean, I have other friends in my classes and that but it's not like we would see each
other outside of school that much, if at all. It sucks having your best friend being so far away but, hey, maybe you and
I could be best friends :) After I graduate I really want to become a fashion designer, I've always loved art and clothing
so being a fashion designer seems like it would be the best of both.
Another thing I should tell you is that I'm gay…I know that's not something you usually tell someone right away but I figure
it's better to get it out in the open rather than leaving it and have it be a huge secret. I really hope that you're okay with that
because that would suck if you weren't.
Okay, I think that's all I can think of to say, if there's anything else you wanna know just ask and I'll be happy to answer :)
Hope to hear from you soon
Alex
"If anyone is done please come grab an envelope and put your name on it. I'll be sending the letters off by the end of the day." Ms. Ayers told us placing a box of envelopes on her desk for people to go and grab. I went up and grabbed an envelope and started drawing little doodles on it. My favourite was this little alien dude my mom made up named Hermie, she showed me how to draw him back when I was 10 and I always drew him and colored him in different colors if I was bored. I decided to make him a light blue this time with a red nose and green antenna's. The bell rang to indicate that class was over so I quickly folded my letter and stuffed it in the envelope before handing it to Ms. Ayers.
*Mitchie's P.O.V*
I swear to god this day could not be going by any slower.
It's only five minutes to ten and our first class of the day (History) is just about to finish. It honestly feels like we should already be done the day by now but I guess after a whole summer of no school routine your sense of time gets a bit warped. As if that wasn't bad enough, our teacher gives us a 20 page reading assignment to do for homework before sending us on our way to break. As I made my way to my locker I heard someone calling after me and I turned around just in time to see it was one of my old friends, Anna.
"Hey, Devin's having a back to school house party while his parents are out of town for the weekend. You in?" she asked.
"Uh, no thanks. I'll pass." I told her, turning my back away from her hoping that would end the conversation right there.
"Come on, we gotta have our still current shot gunning champ there to defend her title." Anna insisted.
"Even if she's been AWOL for the last 5 months."
"No thanks, I'll pass." I repeated, hoping that Anna would take the hint and would just leave me alone.
"Just for a couple hours, Torres, it'll be fun. Everyone's gunna be there and they all miss seeing you and hanging out with you. "
"No, Anna. I told all of you I quit for a reason and I'm not giving in now." I somewhat snapped. I had given up partying and drinking back in the spring, much to the dismay of all my "friends". Ever since then they've tried getting me back into partying and all that but after what happened the last time I drank there was absolutely no way I would be getting back into that scene any time soon.
"So, can you guys just...back off about it? I'm not going to change my mind just because you miss seeing me make an ass out of myself."
"You're such a lame ass now, Torres." Anna groaned before rolling her eyes and turning the other way. I let her comment roll off my back as I headed into my English class. Thankfully none of my old friends were in that class with me so I was free from them.
"Good morning, class. I trust you all had a wonderful summer." Mr. Thompson began as we all took our seats.
"Now, my first announcement of the class is that this year, we will be part of a pen pal program with a class in Waverly, New York."
"Pen pals? Isn't that stuff for elementary schoolers?" one kid piped up.
"No, not necessarily. I had a pen pal from London when I was in college and we ended up being really good friends." Mr. Thompson told us.
I had to admit even though the idea did seem kind of little kid-ish, it would be nice to have someone new to talk to. After getting out of the party scene I didn't have many people to talk to so it would be a nice change even if the letters were long in between.
"So they'll be writing to us first and sometime in the next week or so the letters should be here and we'll choose our pen pals then. For today I just want you guys to do a quick write up about something you did over the summer. " wow, what a cliché thing to do on the first day back at school.
"So everyone please take out a piece of paper and start writing."
I grabbed my spiral notebook from my backpack and started thinking about what I could write. Really, the only significant thing that happened was my family and I going down to Texas and visiting family for 2 weeks and it really wasn't all that fun. I mean, it was nice seeing most of my family again but really I would have much rather stayed home by myself and my baby (our Shepherd/collie mix dog), Brody. But no, my parents had to drag me along. The whole trip I wanted nothing more than just to be by myself but how often can you actually have that when you're on family vacation, when you're pretty much together 24/7? After a few minutes I just decided to write about my Aunt Katheryn and Uncle Matt's wedding (the whole reason we went to Texas in the first place. My aunt Katheryn asked Me, Dallas and Maddie to be bridesmaids) and that was pretty much it. Everyone handed in their readings and Mr. Thompson handed out the novel we would be reading as a class: The Outsiders. The bell for lunch rang and thank god we were free to go. But of course I got approached from some of my old "friends" asking me to come party with them and through gritted teeth almost I kept telling each of them no. They kept giving me grief about declining their offer but I really didn't care, I could deal with their crap and it wouldn't really do much to me. Way too slowly the end of the day finally came and I rushed out to the bus as fast as I could. I sat down with my neighbour, Kelly, and we started talking while we waited for all the other kids to get on the bus.
"So you think you're going to book some more slots at La Coka?" She asked. Over the summer I did a few gigs at our local coffee place, La Coka, 2 or 3 times a week and quite a few people even requested I perform more often. So in a way I became a regular performer there which was awesome. I had to take the two week break while I was gone in Texas and I sadly hadn't been back since.
"I think I'm going to go in later and talk to Andre and see when I could be squeezed in. With school it'll be harder to balance performing and homework." I replied.
"Hopefully he has spots open that work with school, I miss going there."
After about 20 minutes the bus pulled up to our stop and we said goodbye to our bus driver, Liam, and we said goodbye once we got to our driveways. Right away I noticed that there was no vehicles in the driveway so I assumed that my parents and sister were out. Grabbing my key out of my purse I unlocked the door and right away Brody started barking.
"Brody, relax, it's me." I told him and the second he recognized me he started whining happily and wagging his tail.
"Haha, Hi, baby boy. You miss me?" I cooed and he just jumped up and tried giving me a kiss.
"aah, Brody down!" I exclaimed and he quickly jumped down and followed me into the kitchen, where there was a note sitting on the kitchen table.
Mitchie,
Took Maddie to Aerial class, should be back just after dinner. There is a lasagna ready to be cooked in the fridge. You can eat before us; we don't mind eating it cold.
Love you and see you soon
Mom and dad.
I stuffed the note in my pocket and started to preheat the oven so I could start cooking the lasagna. Since our oven took forever to preheat I decided to get a start on some of the reading I had to do. I was partly through the first chapter of History I had to read when I got a text from Devin
Devin: Heard you're skipping out on my party?
I couldn't help but roll my eyes, they were being so damn persistent that it was getting past the point of being annoying
Mitchie: Yeah, I don't HAVE to say yes. Not like I've said yes to the last 5 people who've been harassing me today alone about it.
Devin: come on, quit being lame, Mitch. What happened last time was in the past, you've gotta let it go.
By that point I was almost fuming. I was ready to go off on someone and there was no stopping me once I get to that point
Mitchie: You really think I can just forget the fact that I got so drunk that night that I couldn't even help my girlfriend, who ended up getting taken advantage of! I was supposed to be the one protecting her and I couldn't even do that!
I wanted to say more but I figured that would suffice for now and that may shut him up.
Devin: Geez Mitch, calm down. You don't have to come.
Mitchie: NO, I WON'T calm down. She's been traumatized since that night and I lost her as my girlfriend after that. I STILL feel like shit for that and I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself for what happened.
Mitchie: So, just please quit trying to get me to come, I'm not going to give in.
After that I tossed my phone back into my purse and ignored any other texts from Devin, I needed to calm down so I just kept reading my textbook and took notes while I waited for the lasagna that was now in the oven.
Woah, longest chapter I've written in a really long time! I'm okay with how this chap turned out but I wanna hear how YOU GUYS enjoyed it :).
R&R!
