2
Waverly High School at Tribeca Prep was roaring a bit loud today. Having spent their brief weekend for what it was worth, the armies of teenagers surged out from the buses as dour and disappointed army troops landing to experience the tedium of having to learn something and being forced to become models of society, but then they saw their friends and exploded with screams as yells. Senior cheerleader Tricia Hall rushed to join the other cheerleaders as Walt Daniels and Lizzie Bobbitt stared outward from the Goths in the school. Alex thought they looked like vampires. Justin stopped to talk with the other over-achievers from the science club, and Max joined with his loose committee of friends and fellow teenage comedians and class clowns to decide what they were going to do today. Alex ambled toward her locker in the form of the quintessential lazy airhead brunette. She had no patience for school and even less for anyone who didn't see she was worth the effort. One person was more than worth the effort was Pacey Ritter, a recent transfer from St. Finnian's Catholic School out on Staten Island. He was cute, dashing and made her feel week in the knees.
"Hi, Pacey…" Alex posed at her locker while holding her books before her. She lit up around him as he stood near her.
"Hey, Alex…" His hazel eyes looked over her. "You're looking awesome today. How about a pizza after school?"
"Sounds great…" Alex was smiling a bit. "I'll see you after…"
"I'll see you after too." He shined back to her a bit and headed off to his world history class with Professor Danvers. In his absence, Harper took his place a bit confused. She looked at Alex and back to Pace wondering about what she had just heard.
"You're seeing Pacey Ritter?" Harper asked. "I thought he was seeing Candace Ferguson."
"No, they broke up." Alex repeated what Pacey had told her.
"What about Dean?"
"Dean has been getting detention so much we don't get to see each other anymore." Alex put her schoolbooks in her locker to carry her purse and a few folders. "We have an understanding while we can't see each other."
"But he's not seeing anyone!"
"I know… that's the understanding." Alex started to head off for her first class. Professor Danvers, her third period history teacher passed by her left side, but her brother, Justin, went by her right side pretending not to notice her. Alex just reminded him who she was to him by swatting his arm as hard as she could. Justin flinched and turned round ready to swat her back, but by them Alex and Harper were already gone. He scowled a bit to Alex and wished for bad luck to happen to her then turned to head toward his first period history class. Along the way, he saw something he shouldn't have. In the alcove under the stairs leading toward the history wing, he noticed something bad… very bad. It was Pacey and Valerie Castellari. She was in his arms, and they were kissing. They looked like boyfriend and girlfriend. She smiled to him, lightly pulled her long blonde hair back and stepped away to head up the stairs to her science class. Pacey grinned to her back and then noticed Justin.
"Pacey…" Justin stopped him. "Weren't you just smooching Valerie Castellari?"
"Yeah…" Pacey tried to depart, but something held him back. Justin had him by the arm.
"I thought you were dating my sister."
"Justin…" Pacey just laughed a bit. "A guy's not supposed to tie himself down to one girl. He plays the field. Even you should know that." He started to go, but Justin was still holding him.
"So, it's okay if Alex continued seeing Dean while she's seeing you." Justin tried to understand his logic.
"Course not!" Pacey had to unpry Justin's hand off him. "I'm more than enough guy for her!" He scooted off for his first class. It was at that moment Justin wondered why girls went for guys like Pacey while they ignored the guys like him who were more honorable. He groaned and grumbled under his breath. As much as he wanted Alex to get hurt, he knew he had to do the right thing and tell her. He turned to head to the gym where Alex would be avoiding her exercise, but along the way, he ran into Max in the hall dotted with kids.
"Hey, Justin…" Max was with his friend, Charlie Berkowitz, a short African American kid with a shaved head. "Can we borrow ten dollars from you?"
"I don't have it right now, Max." He paused the moment. "I just noticed Alex's guy lip-locking with Valerie Castellari!"
"But I thought he was dating Alex?"
"I know!" Justin was wondering how he was going to tell Alex. "That's what makes it so wrong!" He rolled his eyes upset and hurried away. Charlie looked at Justin and back to Max.
"Your brother seems to get worried a lot." Charlie noticed.
"I know…" Max needed ten dollars in order to buy himself one of the outdated laptop computers the computer class was selling. If he didn't act fast, they'd all be sold out. He didn't get much of an allowance from working in the shop; it was just a paltry fifty dollars a week and most of that went toward his computer games and comic books.
"Max," Charlie looked to him. "We need something to come up with money."
"I know…" Max and Charlie paced around each other. "Maybe we could sell something."
"Hey, your dad makes like the greatest sandwiches in the world." Charlie realized the truth. Max always shared sandwiches with him at lunch. "Why don't we sell them in school?"
"He said I couldn't do that in school anymore." Max recalled one of his earlier scams for spending money. Now, he knew he couldn't sell sandwiches in school, but he never said anything about selling them off school grounds. Maybe if he found a secret place to do so, like the deserted Flynn Sandwich Shop up the street from the school and down from Waverly Place. That place had been empty often since he could remember. It had been a seafood restaurant, a Chinese Buffet, a Pakistani restaurant and a Jewish delicatessen. Maybe the time had come for it to hide a little teenage chicanery.
"You know, Charlie…" Max grinned to his best friend. "I think I know what we're going to do today!"
