The next day was a saturday, so i had the whole day to spend with Alaska. I woke up at eight and got dressed as quickly as possible. With this, i woke up the Colonel

"hey, hey, wake up" i said as i moved his shoulder

"what do you want?" He said annoyingly, while turning around so that he was facing the door

"i want you to wake up!" I answered, taking his pillow and throwing it to the other side of the room.

"what for? Today's saturday..." Then he moved to the night table and took a look atthe little clock on top of it, then, he layed down again and looked at me "and i still,have around... Eight hours to sleep"

"oh, come on! I need to talk to you..."

"okay..just get me get mentally prepared for a two-hour talk about your love for Alaska" he said and looked at me smiling slightly. Then he stayed quiet looking at the cealing and after some seconds he smiled and looked back at me. "okay... Come, talk" he finally said and pointed at the corner of his bed with his head.

i walked to the bed and sat down looking at him. I was pretty nervous and im almost sure i blushed. So i sat there and just looked at him as an idiot for a long time. What was i supposed to say? I wasnt supposed to say anything, i had even been the one who asked him to talk, and there i as, just staring at him without saying a word.

"so...?" He said after some long seconds of just looking at each other.

"i want to talk you about Alaska..." i simply said.

"yup" he answered " i know that. But WHAT do you want to say me about her?"

"well, umm, i, i wanted to tell you i, i got to kn, know her a lot better last n, night" i said, probably sounding like an idiot.

"yeah, you did learn a lot about her and...?" The Colonel said impatiently.

"That, that she's not, not like we all think she is..." I tried to explain

"So how is she like?" He asked, probably already annoyed

"she's so, so weak" i saidmstupidly

"weak? WEAK?! Out of all the fucking adjectives you can use to describe Alaska you chose WEAK?!" He said as he broke into a loud, annoying laughter " let me tell you something, my friend, if theres something Alaska Young isn't is weak" he added between laughter.

"You, you dont understand" i said "yesterday, i, i found out why she was so broken...and we talked, and she, she's so different"

"okay... I get it, but WEAK?! Really?"

"Yes, yes, its just, its that she's so... Umm, if you could only understand..." I said, doubting with every word.

"well, imobviously dont and apparently wont with this idiotic conversation" he just said

"well, its just-" i started saying when he interrupted me

"are you going to tell me why was she so upset or not?" He asked

"well..." I said doubtingly wondering why was i having that conversation if i wasnt going to actually TELL him anything anyway.

"in that case, ill go back to sleep, and if you decide to have a humanly like conversation, wake me up and we can talk... What about that?" He said, laying down again and slowly closing his eyes.

"okay" i said and stood up

...

i stood up and went to my bed. There,mi sat down in one of the corners and placed my head between my hands. What was e best thing to do? Should the Colonel know about Alaska or not? Was he going to help in anyway? Would she get mad at me if i told him? Why couldnt i decide what to do about all this? So many questions in my head and no answers around me. I didnt know if i should talk to the Colonel, if i should talk to Alaska, i basically didnt know what to do with myself. And then, something came to my mind. alaska needed help, and as much help as possible, and i had tomgave her that, and the first step was telling the Colonel so that he could understand and help me.

so i stood up and went back to the Colonel's bed. I got near and moved his shoulder as i had done just minutes before. He sat down slowly and shook his head slightly.

"now what?" He asked, visibly annoyed

"Alaska was so upset yesterday because it had been her mother's death anniversary and she hadn't taken her flowers. She felt a deception and thought she couldnt do anything right. She was very upset, so we talked for some time and then we kissed, and then, we, i-" i was saying when he interrupted

"i dont need or want to know the detailed description of what you did after kissing, really, ill survive. Promise" he said

i hitted him with a pillow and laughed "no, asshole, i wasnt going to give you a detailed description of anything..."

"Ah, okay. Just wanted to state things." He said "what were you going to tell me, anyway?" He asked

"umm, nothing, its okay.." I said, embarassed

"come on! Tell me Pudgy..." He said mockingly

"that, i, umm, i..." I didnt know how to put it " that i, umm, i fell in love" i said finally.

he looked at me with surprise, eyes wide open. "You fell in love with a sobbing, annoying Alaska?" He asked

"i fell in love withthe real Alaska" i corrected

there wasa long silence before he talked again

"then what are you doing here?" He said

"what?"

"you gotta go find this 'real' Alaska and tell her that you love her" he said and stood up to open the door for me.

i looked at him and went through the door.