I think it's safe to say that I quickly regretted that promise. Every time Alex was near, Fred would conspicuously remember he 'had homework to do' and would leave the two of us alone together. Not that I minded in the slightest. I'm sure he thought he was being subtle but it was embarrassingly obvious. Even Alex noticed though she, thank goodness, had no idea what was really going on.
"Uh, George, can I ask you something?" she asked, her eyebrows knitted together in a frown.
"Yeah, of course," I responded.
"Well, I'm not quite sure how to say this because it's about Fred…" she stopped and bit her lip.
"What is it?' I prompted her.
Alex let out a quiet sigh. "Why's he avoiding me?"
"He's not," I said, too quickly.
"Tell me," she ordered.
"He's not-" But she cut me off.
"I'm not asking you if he is or isn't. I know he's avoiding me. I just want to know why."
"But I said-"
"George!" pleaded Alex. "Please tell me why he's avoiding me! I won't tell him I know, I just want to know, that's all."
Suddenly I was very suspicious. With that suspicion came the greatest wave of jealousy I'd ever felt.
"You like him, don't you?" I growled.
She looked very taken back, but whether this was from my sudden conviction or from the abrupt harshness in my voice, I couldn't tell. I could tell she was in bad mood now; her eyes seemed to be somehow less blue when she was angry. At the moment, they were almost a dark grey. The only problem was, she still had that sparkle in her eyes; that fiery look that she never seemed to lose. It was practically impossible to ever be truly angry at her. The thing is, I wasn't even angry at her. Not one little bit. However I was furious at my bloody brother. 'Bloody Fred gets the bloody girl once a-bloody-gain,' I thought.
If my mood was to be painted right now, all the artist would need is black. Copious amounts of it. It wasn't fair that Fred always won over the girl. And he knew, he knew, how I felt about Alex.
Alex looked like she was about to say something but instead she scowled, did a one-eighty turn on the spot and stalked off. Probably to find Fred. I looked longingly after her. 'Alexandra Rose Robbins,' I said in my head. 'If you only knew how I felt.'