Hey Guys! I know, I know, It's been so long since I updated this story and I am sorry. But here is chapter 6 and I've already started chapter 7. We are also starting our writing unit at school so hopefully I'll also be improving my writing skills as well.
I also want to say thank you to everyone who's stuck with me through my irregular updates and everyone who has been reviewing, it really means a lot to me and gives me the motivation to finish another chapter.
It had been over a week since Meredith has seen Alex's black eye, and she had not left him alone since.
It had been anything and everything. From sitting right next to him on the carpet, or pestering and pelting him with her unrelenting questions until he stormed away in frustration.
She was determined.
Alex had managed well at pushing her away so far, no matter how annoying Meredith got. She even came over to his house once! Alex had been flooded with relief, no matter how annoying the girl was, he would never wish the wrath of his unforgiving father upon anyone, not even her. But even then, Alex had not opened the door for her.
She was annoying.
Alex had even been forced to spend nights at Cody and Tommy's houses, just to get away from his annoyingly persistent neighbor. He had kept himself surrounded by the two boys at school, and it had been seemingly working. Until they both were out sick from licking the slide, those idiots.
So there he was at lunch, his first day without Cody and Tommy, and Alex knew it wasn't going to go well. Like most kids, lunch was Alex's favorite part of the day, but for many reasons. The obvious one, food, but other reasons played in as well. For one, he could chatter freely with his friends and do as he pleased. Alex also loved how they could almost be as disruptive and obnoxious as they wanted, practically leaping from wall to wall since the lunch ladies never gave any of the kids the time of day.
But mostly, because Alex never really had great meals at home, if any. Whenever there was food, it was normally just a lumpy peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So even the gray, smelly, horribly cliche school cafeteria lunch was pretty good in comparison.
Today was not a day that Alexander Karev would enjoy lunch.
When Alex stepped away from the crowded lunch line with his borderline raw chicken patty, he instinctively looked to his usual seat, which to his luck just so happened to be the other half of the table Meredith and her friends sat at. Simply seeing his empty half of the table was only another reminder of the fact that he was open and vulnerable to Meredith's daily annoyance. With a sigh of resentment, Alex knew it could only go downhill from here.
He slowly sauntered to his seat, dropping his plastic lunch tray noisily onto the table, letting it clatter until it was completely flat. Not realizing he was only drawing more attention to himself than wanted, he topped it off with a plop onto the conjoined bench, but Alex kept to himself, hoping the girls would realize he wasn't up for polite chit chat of any sort. 'Cause, that's what girls did, right?
Alex continued to slowly chew his chicken patty in complete silence, not even his gagging from the taste making a noise. Even the girls' side had fallen into his silence.
Alex looked over at the three girls, having to choke back a groan when he once again saw Meredith's eyes piercing his with her newly accustomed glare that somehow managed to show her annoyance and her worry. Alex hated it, but he liked to think that he was the motivation behind it since he had been avoiding her for a week. She definitely looked as if her pestering were about to begin, which would break his amazing silence, but she was beaten by Ella's very loud, and even more piercing voice.
"Hi Alex!" her voice almost comical in the volume it had achieved, "Come sit with us!"
He knew, at this point, it wasn't really a question. Then again, with Ella, it was never a question.
He, in turn, gave Ella an 'Alex Karev Special Glare', typically reserved for Meredith, but no need to worry, it was definitely transferable. But alas, the special glare had no effect on the demon-child he faced.
Ella instead lunged out and latched onto his sore arm, dragging him to the other side of the table.
Alex retrieved his limb from her sharp grasp, rubbing the numbness out of his forearm. He looked longingly at his forgotten tray sitting lonesome at his previous spot until Julia slid it over to him with a sympathetic smile.
It was then he decided Julia was the nice one, therefore his favorite.
"I saw a movie last night. It was super cool! It was Karate Kid, I'm gonna be just like that Daniel guy when I'm grown up!" Was this all Ella did? To Alex, it seemed like she mindlessly moved from topic to topic.
"I wanna be a famous softball person." Alex looked up to see Julia talking, something he rarely knew her to do. But why would she want to do softball? It seemed like a worse version of baseball. Then again, it's not like he understood either sport.
The table was enveloped in a strange quiet. He looked around the table to see Meredith and Julia picking at their food, and Ella's eyes wide as if the silence was about to smother her.
The girls began talking again, blending in with the buzz of the cafeteria. Alex instead returned to pushing around his food with the fork. Would they notice if he left? He could probably get away with it, you know, he did use to sneak past his drunk father at any time of night trying to grab a glass of water.
When he looked up, preparing to slide his tray away from the girls, he was met with a pair of hard green eyes.
Crap.
He and Meredith were captured in a staring contest, of sorts. Neither moved. Not an inch. Not until Meredith's eye drifted to only one of his, the one which had priorly been bruised. Drifting back to his gaze, she simply raised an eyebrow. That slight movement in itself was dangerously loaded with a million questions, accusations, worries.
How did she do that?
"What?" Alex growled out, surprising himself at the tone he managed. Was he more like his dad than he thought?
She fired almost immediately right back at him. "What?"
Her face was completely cool. Emotionless. Hard.
Innocent; as if she had no idea what anything that had happened to him meant; as if she had no idea what could be frustrating him. From what he had seen so far, maybe she was more like her mom than she had thought as well.
He almost felt bad for her. Was this what had drawn her to him? No. No. he was fraternizing with the enemy! Being friends with a girl? No, gross. Why in his right mind would he want to do that?
The little voice in his head dutifully reminded him that he was sitting at a table with girls emu compliantly.
It was then that Ella burst from the silence.
"I- I- I can't take it anymore! What happened! It's normal for me being the one taking, but even Alex is quiet! Yeah, he's a doofus, but he's a loud one!"
They all stared at her, as she respectively sunk lower on the bench. Julia gave her a reassuring pat on the back.
Meredith and Alex exchanged awkward (yet confused) glances.
With a "smooth" change of topic, Ella declared her new thoughts.
"Gah, I'm tired… thoughts?"
"Get more sleep" Julia muttered under her breath, just loud enough to bring a soft laugh out of the four at the table.
Ella's face twisted in offense, "Hey, meanie!" And with that, the table erupted in laughter.
The kids looked at each other, busting out in even more laughter. If they had been protagonists in a movie where everything turned out alright, a heartfelt song would've been playing, as joyous looks they gave each other in played in slow motion. Ella clapped her hands in her joy and leaned onto Julia, who jokingly pushed her back. And if someone had looked very closely, they almost could've seen the small glance Meredith and Alex shared.
The one that acknowledged that they weren't friends, but that they definitely weren't the enemies they had thought they were destined to be.
