The ambient sound of students talking felt more like accusations to Alec than white noise. How come no one was talking with him? Still Alec preferred it this way. After all he'd managed to make it through three whole grades already by keeping his head down and doing this work. Even if he'd changed classes and teachers this year, fourth grade would be no different.

School wasn't Alec's favourite place ever. He much preferred being at home. There he could hang out with his family when he wanted company and enjoy the solitude of his own bedroom when he didn't. School was a different story. At school he was expected to play along and fit in. If only his siblings were in his class then maybe they'd be someone here he could talk to, but neither of them were in grade school yet and he was all alone like always.

Just then there was a scuffle by the door. Despite himself Alec turned to look. Based on how the teacher reacted to this new arrival, Alec assumed the final member of his class had arrived late.

Alec had very purposely chosen a table that had only one other available seat. There hadn't been any table alone so he'd taken the chance that since no one else would want to sit with just him that he'd get that alone time. He had not however taken into account the arrival of a very late student. The teacher sat the new kid across from Alec and all his plans for surviving the school year were shattered.

"Hi," the kid said. Alec just smiled awkwardly. This was a terrible start to the day, to say nothing of the year!

"My name's Magnus," the kid said next. "What's yours?"

"Alec," he replied, unsure how to go about ignoring such a question without being horribly rude.

"Nice to meet you Alec," Magnus said, smiling. He was wearing an old t-shirt that looked too big for him with some logo on it that Alec wasn't familiar with, but it was the boy's face Alec stared at. His eyes were almond shaped and a light hazel almost yellow-brown colour. In contrast his skin tone was darker than Alec's pale skin, almost olive. Still the only thing about him that really surprised Alec was that smile on his face as he looked at him.

"You don't have to be nice to me," Alec said next, hoping to steer things back to a familiar place. "I mean no one wants to be friends with me so..."

"How come?" Magnus asked.

Alec shrugged. "They just don't."

"Well that seems silly to me," Magnus stated firmly as if this settled the matter. "People should do things for a reason."

"Were you late for a reason?" Alec countered.

"Step dad forgot school started today," Magnus answered.

"Oh," Alec mumbled. "Sorry." Magnus just waved it away.

Their conversation was interrupted by the teacher addressing the class. She introduced herself to them as Mrs. Haddock and then went to explain how long she'd been teaching Montessori classes. Teachers often brought this up but as Alec had never attended a school that wasn't Montessori he hardly cared to listen. He'd heard that other schools had desks all in a row, with no tables or open spaces to do projects. They also had all their classes totally separated by grade which seemed an odd concept to Alec after so many years working in small groups within a class of mixed ages.

"Wait what grade are you in?" Magnus whispered to Alec as the teacher paused to collect something from her desk.

"Fourth," Alec replied.

"If I'm in the wrong classroom the teacher would know, right?" Magnus asked.

"I think so yeah," Alec answered. "Why?"

"Well if this is a fourth grade class-"

But Alec cut him off. "It's mixed," Alec replied. "Didn't you understand what Mrs. Haddock just said?" Magnus's expression changed as his mouth opened in surprise. "What grade are you in?"

"Fifth," Magnus replied.

"And if Alec and Magnus would stop talking I could continue the lesson," Mrs Haddocks's voice ended their conversation.

"Sorry," Alec mumbled.

"Anyway as I was saying," Mrs Haddock continued. "English and Social Studies assignments will be given out every Monday and due every Friday. Math lessons will be twice a week in small groups. Free work time will be given daily to work on your homework. Silent reading is half an hour every day after lunch. Circle will be every morning before work time. If you finish your work early or did not find it very challenging let me know and I can assign you something more interesting. Always come and ask me if you have any questions or concerns because that's what I'm here for." She smiled kindly as she looked around the room. Then she assigned them a simple task to start and let them begin.

"This is so strange," Magnus said once everyone else in the class was chatting again.

"How do you mean?" Alec asked.

"I mean everything," Magnus began. "Shouldn't everything be due the day after it's assigned? And I thought the desks were laid out weirdly when I first arrived!"

"Does that mean you haven't been in a Montessori classroom before?" Alec asked, excited. He'd always wanted to know more about these so-called neighbourhood schools who did things differently.

"Definitely not," Magnus replied. "This is gonna be an easy year! Just think of how much slacking off we can do with all that work time!"

"We have to work during work time," Alec answered confused. "Otherwise we'd end up doing all our homework on Thursday night."

"Yeah exactly," Magnus grinned, but Alec was still confused.

It didn't take long for Alec to figure out what Magnus had meant. Within weeks it became very clear that Magnus never intended to do his homework until the day before it was due. Much to Alec's distress, since Magnus always ended up asking for his help come crunch time.

"You're the best," Magnus would beam at him once Alec inevitably caved and took on his friends homework along with his own.

-The Following June-

Alec had always loved that every year his birthday fell right after the school year ended. Before he'd really made any friend he used to celebrate with his family but this year he had other ideas. This year was gonna be the best because Magnus was coming over for a two day sleepover to his house. They were gonna watch movies, play video games, and eat junk food for two full days and Alec had never been more excited about anything in his whole life.

It wasn't until half way through his amazing weekend that Magnus told him.

"Do you think we can call this weekend by party too?" Magnus asked.

"I guess why?" Alec replied.

"Cause my birthday's on Monday and my parents aren't gonna do anything," Magnus replied.

"How come?" Alec asked, shocked his parents could be so cruel.

"They'll probably be too busy fighting," Magnus shrugged. "Besides I'd much rather celebrate with you."

"Let's make a deal then," Alec said grinning. "How about every year from no one we have a joint birthday and celebrate together!"

"I'd love that," Magnus beamed at him. Alec decided the occasion warranted a hug and reached out to wrap his arms around his best friend.

-About a Year Later-

How had this happened again? Magnus had left his project to the last minute like he always did and then two days before it was due he'd pleaded with Alec to help him finish it like he always did. The really confusing part to Alec was why he always gave in. Why couldn't he just let Magnus get the grade he deserved for the work that he'd done? Why?

"It's not sticking," Magnus whined. With a great sigh of frustration Alec turned from what he was doing to see.

"That's because you aren't covering the newspaper strip completely," Alec said. "Then cover it again and smooth it out once it's on the balloon."

"Like this?" Magnus asked, as he did what Alec had instructed.

"Better yeah," Alec smiled as he went back to his own side of their paper mache project or rather Magnus's paper mache project since Alec's had been done weeks ago.

"What would I do without you?" Magnus beamed at him.

Then Alec remembered why he always caved.

"You know you've been in Montessori school for two years now," Alec reminded him. "You'd think you'd have learned the art of planning ahead to avoid cramming for deadlines."

"Nah why would I do that?" Magnus chirped. "When I have my very own Alexander to save me from myself."

"Don't call me Alexander," Alec groaned, but like always his wishes were ignored. Why was he wasting his Saturday doing someone else's homework again?

"But it suits you so well," Magnus complained. "Why do you hate it so much?"

"Alec," Alec said. "My name is Alec."

"Alexander," Magnus chuckled. "And to think I'd have never known you had such a lovely name if I hadn't met your sister."

Alec's little sister Isabelle was in first grade at this school now which meant they sometimes saw her around the school, usually outside during recess or lunch break. Alec was at least glad that his class was a 5-7 which meant he couldn't get stuck with his little sister all day, but still even just having her come to his school every day was proving to be problematic.

"I am just glad that by the time Max is in this school I won't be," Alec groaned. Alec's little brother Max had just turned four and would be starting preschool very soon.

Magnus got kinda quiet after that so Alec focused on finishing the task at hand. It wasn't until over an hour later that Alec learned why Magnus had fallen silent.

"When I leave for high school next year," Magnus began out of the blue. "We'll still be friends, right?"

"Of course," Alec replied at once. "We'll always be friends, Magnus."

Magnus's face brightened instantly as his expression turned from concern to smiles. "You're the best," Magnus beamed at Alec before launching himself forward to crush Alec in a bear hug.

"I'm so glad I met you," Magnus whispered into Alec's ear.

"Need air," Alec gasped with the last bit of breath he had.

"Sorry," Magnus laughed as he let go.

"It's okay," Alec smiled. "I'm glad we're friends too." He laughed then added, "Despite the fact that I am once again spending a weekend helping you with a project due Monday that you've had the last four months to finish."

"Guilty," Magnus grinned. "Oh and do you think we could do math after this?" Alec rolled his eyes, but agreed.

He wasn't really sure what it was about Magnus that always had him saying yes to everything. There was just something about him, or maybe the way Alec felt standing beside him, that made everything else worth it.

-A Year Later-

Class just wasn't the same without Magnus. Alec couldn't help wondering while he poured over his math homework what Magnus was doing at his new school. Alec couldn't wait to catch up to him. Even if the prospect of high school was a bit daunting at least Magnus would be there. Then again high school wasn't like what he was used to. Alec already knew enough to know that the classes were split so much more by grade than he was used to. They would never be in the same classes, but at least they could be in the same school next year right? That would mean seeing each other at recess and lunch time which was better than now. Alec hadn't seen his best friend in a week and he didn't like it.

Despite attending the same elementary school, Magnus and Alec didn't live close enough to make it easy to walk between the houses. Alec lived very close to the school and could easily walk home, but Magnus lived much farther away in the opposite direction. Before Magnus had changed schools, they would often both go home to Alec's house after school since it was so close and Magnus would sometimes stay for dinner. Then usually Alec's mom or dad would offer to drive him home.

Not anymore. High school was an hour longer than elementary school. Alec was long home and bored by the time Magnus was done and then the high school was so much farther away than usual they could only hang out on weekends. Alec would plead with his parents to get them to pick Magnus up and this usually led to spending the whole day together, but rarely the whole weekend. Though for Alec's birthday his parents had agreed to a sleepover. It had been the best birthday ever having Magnus over at his place for two whole days!

Still Alec missed his friend more and more as the year went on. He hoped Magnus missed him too though sometimes he couldn't quite tell when they did find time to meet up and hang out.

Alec was just hoping that next year, when they were both in high school, keeping in touch would be easier.

-A Year Later-

Alec's first day of high school hadn't quite gone as he'd planned. For a year now he'd been imagining this big school full of almost grown ups that were waiting for him. The reality was more like a small building with too many kids who all didn't notice you until they walked into you.

Even so Alec was grateful to be part of the same school as his best friend again. Of course they were in different grades so they never had classes together like before, but at least they got to eat lunch together.

"I'm so glad you're here," Magnus said during their lunch hour of Alec's first day at the high school. "Eating lunch alone sucked so much."

"I'm glad I'm here too," Alec replied with a smile. "I missed you." He'd wanted to ask why Magnus had been eating lunches alone all of last year, but thought maybe it wasn't a topic Magnus wanted to talk about. After all Alec hadn't managed to make a single friend his whole life until he'd met Magnus in fourth grade. He wasn't one to judge.

"I've got ham again," Magnus groaned as he unpacked his lunch.

"Oh I like your mom's ham sandwiches," Alec piped up.

"Trade you for your dunkaroos," Magnus replied easily, holding his lunch out to Alec.

"Cookies and icing isn't enough for lunch," Alec said. "How about you eat half your sandwich and swap the other half for the dunkaroos?"

"Deal," Magnus agreed and they made the trade. Alec bit into the homemade sandwich and smiled. Magnus turned to look at him with a strange expression. "You are the only kid I've ever met who actually prefers healthy food to sweets."

"At least your parents actually cook," Alec countered. "All my parents do is work."

"I don't see the problem with that," Magnus argued. "This way they feel bad for not having time to nag you and instead buy you awesome stuff."

"I don't really see it like that," Alec answered.

"Well you should," Magnus counted. "Any kid would like to have a situation like yours."

"Maybe I'm just a weird kid," Alec offered.

"Well we both know that's true," Magnus laughed.

They ended up splitting Alec cookies as well in exchange Magnus gave Alec his baby carrots.

"This year is gonna be so much better than last year!" Magnus exclaimed as he finished off the cookie. "I can taste the difference already."

This one is very near and dear to me and loosely based on my own life and my childhood best friend though I do plan to improving the ending from the real one. While much of the emotion and some of the events are from life, this is a work of fiction and in no way meant to be taken as fact. I pulled a bit from the Mortal Instruments characters backstories as well as my life. Cheers. :)

Edited by Connie Brown

Sneak Peek Chapter 2

He'd already picked a target.

In his computer tech course there was his kid who always sat beside him. Though he'd never spoken to Alec yet, the fact he was willing to sit there every day without assigned seating made Alec think he was a worthy target for friend making practice.

"Okay but still it's not like you are going to shoot him with a friend arrow?" Magnus chuckled at Alec as he explained the plan during their lunch hour.

"Hey at least I'm trying!" Alec shot back, feeling a little hurt. "How many friends in your grade have you made?"

"Whatever," Magnus just rolled his eyes. "Only what, three more years of this and I'm out here anyway. Like it matters."

"Sure feels like it matters," Alec mumbled back.