Alexa's House, 9:02 A.M, Same Day
By this point, Alexa had left her bedroom and was currently sitting on the couch in the living room, flipping through channels on the T.V., looking for something to watch. She had taken the tea her dad had prepared for her earlier downstairs with her, and was drinking it. Luckily, it had cooled down a little, so she wasn't burning her tongue. The reason she was watching television was to try and keep her mind off of school, and the three boys who shall not be mentioned. She figured that would work, but there was one problem. It's 9 in the morning, and the only thing on at this time, is shows for toddlers, and sports recap talk shows. She had no interest in either of those things.
"Are you kidding me right now?!" She cried out in frustration.
She had to find something to keep herself entertained. She couldn't call any of her friends because everyone was in school, and she couldn't go outside because she was pretending to be sick. If one of her parents' friends spotted her, she was dead. She opted to just go back to sleep, but right when she was about to head upstairs to her room, she heard her doorbell ring.
Alexa froze.
"Who the hell is that?" She whispered to herself.
Her first thought was that her parents had come home from work early, but that didn't make any sense, because they had keys. There was no need to ring the doorbell.
She calmed down and shrugged.
"It's probably the damn mailman or something."
On that note, she continued her way upstairs, but now the mysterious person had taken to knocking, hard, and it was pissing Alexa off immensely.
"Oh my God!" She yelled.
Just to get the noise to stop, she angrily walked over to the door, and aggressively opened it.
"What the fuck do you... holy crap."
Standing in her doorway was none other than the very person she was trying to avoid, Shane Price. He stood there awkwardly with his hands behind his back while Alexa stared at him, mouth agape.
"Uh, hey Alexa. What's going on?"
Alexa didn't respond to his words. She just continued to stare at the boy, in complete shock. She started talking aloud to herself.
"No, he's not really standing in front of me, right? There's no way."
This made Shane kind of uncomfortable. He took his hands from behind his back to reveal that he had bought her an Arizona and a pack of Reeses Pieces.
"I though it would be cool to get you something to snack on, and I know how much you like Reeses, so. Here you go."
He held out the food, waiting for Alexa to take it. It was by this point, where the pint sized princess realized what exactly was happening. Her face slowly went from a shocked expression , to one of intense anger.
"What. The. Fuck. Are. You. Doing. Here?" She asked through gritted teeth.
Shane was slightly scared, so he decided to pick his next words carefully.
"Whoa, easy, easy. I only came because I was worried sick about you. I haven't seen you since that morning when all that shit went down. I had to make sure you were okay. I just had to. I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything else if I didn't know for a fact that you were alright. I know it sounds creepy, but it's the truth, honest."
Alexa digested the boy's words, and took a deep breath.
"Price, why?"
Shane was confused.
"Why what?"
Alexa looked straight into the blonde boy's blue eyes.
"Why do you always show up when I'm at my most vulnerable? Why, when I least expect it, do you show up in my life? I've done everything in my power to push you away from me, but all you do is come back closer. Why? Are you stupid? Am I some kind of experiment to you? Tell me why, Price."
Shane said nothing. This aggravated Alexa.
"Damn it! Answer me! I want an answer!"
A few seconds passed, and Shane still had yet to say anything in response. Right when Alexa was about to start yelling again, Shane let out a chuckle. It was kind of unnerving for Alexa.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing. It's just, you're starting to sound like Dean. He's always saying stuff like that whenever I interact with you. Okay, Alexa. You wanna know why I'm so hell bent on getting on your good side? Well, I'll tell you. But first, can you let me in? It's cold out here."
Alexa was hesitant, but eventually she relented and allowed Shane to enter her home.
"Take off your shoes. I don't need you tracking my floor with dirt. My parents would be wondering how it happened. I already lied to get out of school and it's gonna be hard to lie my way out of some one else being here."
Shane was curious.
As he took of his shoes he asked, "What did you tell them, and why did you want to get out of school today?"
"I told them I was sick so I could stay home and so I could stay away from YOU!" Alexa growled.
The boy was flabbergasted.
"Me? But why? Did I do something wrong?"
Alexa sighed and slumped onto her couch.
"No, idiot. You didn't do anything wrong. You never do. It's just... I'm afraid."
Shane sat next to the frowning princess.
"What are you afraid of, short stuff? Of me? You're afraid of me?" He asked in a soothingly smooth voice.
"I'm afraid of what you make me feel. I have a reputation at school, Price. Nothing affects me. People in that school fear me. Don't get me wrong, I'm 100 percent thankful for what you, Big E, and Seth did for me that night. I can't just randomly start being nice to you, but I also can't be a dick to you anymore. I don't know what to do. It's just... you... God, you confuse everything in my life! It feels like my life was way more normal before you came into it. Why?"
Shane sat next to Alexa.
"I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea why you feel this way, so I can't tell you why. I can, however, tell you why I want to be your friend. You see, I come from Phoenix, Arizona. I lived there my whole life until I moved to New York back in June. Back home, I was known as the weird, over-the-top, energetic kid. I had taken that and ran with it. It was almost like a gimmick, and I embraced it fully. You know why? Because, the only thing I wanted in life, was to make people happy. I did some stupid stuff. When I told jokes, I'd say the most ridiculous shit, and I depended heavily on self-deprecating humor. In my middle school, I was pretty popular. I had no problem with anyone, and no one had a problem with me. Everything was great... up until my freshman year of high school."
"What happened?" Alexa asked, her curiosity rising.
Shane took a deep breath and continued.
"That year, I was so excited. I was gonna make so many new friends, I thought. I came in the first day of school armed with my regular material, determined. That day, though, I was introduced to a person who probably changed my life forever. As soon as I walked into my homeroom, I recognized by everyone, even the teacher. They were cheering and saying the phrases I said, and laughing. I felt like the man. All of my work had come to fruition I thought. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw a girl who had this blank expression on her face. She was pale as the moonlight, had jet black hair, and cold, almost lifeless brown eyes. I had never seen her before, so I introduced myself to her and did what I always did whenever I meet a new person. I tried to make her laugh. When I was done, she just looked at me and said, "You're just like everyone else." That caught me completely off guard. I wasn't expecting that response. I especially didn't expect the British accent that came out of her mouth. You don't see a lot of English people in Arizona, so that was a surprise as well. Anyway, at first I just brushed it off as her thinking I wasn't funny, but as time went on, the days, the weeks. Her words started to cut into my soul, deeper and deeper. "What did she mean?", was the question I asked myself over and over again. I saw her everyday, and I eventually learned her name, Paige Knight. Despite that, I didn't have the courage to ask her what she meant by that, until one day I couldn't take it anymore. I found her outside after school and cautiously approached her. It's hard to explain why I was so hesitant to interact with her. There was just something about her that just... made me feel weird. I got a strange vibe from her. So, this is how that went down."
October 2016, Outside school, 3:27 P.M...
"Uh, Paige? Can I talk to you for a second?" Shane asked shyly.
Paige looked up from her phone to see Shane awkwardly standing in front of her, waiting for her to answer.
She sighed and said, "What do you want?"
"I was just wondering, what did you mean a few weeks ago when you said I was just like everyone else?"
Paige didn't answer right away, instead opting to look him up and down, studying his features.
"You're fake."
Shane was taken aback by her short statement.
"What?"
"I said, you're fake. I could tell the moment I saw you walk into class that day, and all the other children were oh so excited to see you. You're the "funny man." The clown, the jester. That's what you want people to see you as. You think that if you put on a show and make yourself look like a tool, you'll be accepted by your peers. You're not fooling me. This isn't you. It's a character, a facade. I've seen your type before, and I can tell you right now, those kids, they're not laughing with you, they're laughing at you. They see you as nothing more than cheap entertainment. They are not your friends. But you're too blind to see it. And that's the sad part."
With that, she walked away, leaving Shane where he was, with his mouth wide opened in shock.
Back to Present Time...
"So yeah, that's when I got my reality check."
Alexa was on the edge of her seat.
"And then what?! Come on, that can't be all."
"Chill, I'm about to wrap it up. Now, by this point, I was in denial. In my mind, all I thought was, "This chick is out of her friggin mind." To prove her wrong, I decided to turn down the act, and be more of myself. I was a lot more mellow. I didn't make as many stupid jokes. Basically, I stopped being a spastic clown. Unfortunately, I learned in the coming months, that Paige was right. Less people talked to me. The people who I thought were my best friends in the whole world, started to act like I barely even existed. My popularity had taken a nose dive, and I was heartbroken. I really thought that all the time I spent making people laugh resulted in genuine friendship. I learned the hard way, that that wasn't the case. I think the biggest wake up call for me was Valentine's Day of that year. I had planned on asking this girl out named Carmella. For months I had been "courting" her, and today was the day I was gonna go for it. She was by her locker, talking with her friends when I walked up to her. As soon as the words, "Do you wanna go out with me?", left my mouth, I got nothing in response but laughter. She called me a clown, and said that she only tolerated me because she could laugh at how much of a moron I am. I ran away to the bathroom with tears in my eyes, and I spent the rest of the day in there. Luckily, for me, I only missed the last 3 classes, but that was the least of my worries at that time. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and die. After I heard the last bell, I bolted to my locker, grabbed my stuff, and then high tailed it out of the school. The next day, I decided to go to the only person I could trust anymore besides my dad, and that was Paige."
Alexa cut him off.
"Wait, what? Why would you go to her? Didn't she insult you?"
"Yeah, but in a way, she was the only one who was looking out for me. She tried to warn me, but I didn't listen. So, I felt like I should be a man, and admit that I was wrong. Once again, after school, I found her in the same space I did the first time."
February 2017, Outside School, 3:29 P.M...
Shane, looking as downtrodden as he's ever been in his life, once again made his way to the pale British girl. His game plan was simple. He was going to say hello, acknowledge he was wrong and she was right, and then go home.
"Hey, Paige." He said, the sadness dripping from his voice.
She looked up from her, and just like last time, wasn't thrilled to see Shane in front of her.
"Again? What do you want?"
"I just wanted to say... You were right."
Paige was stunned.
"What? What did you say?"
"You were right. No one really gave a damn about me. I was just a puppet to them, a plaything. They chewed me up and spit me out like a flavorless piece of gum. Now I have no one."
Paige went from annoyed to sympathetic.
"Well, see you around." Shane said despondently.
He turned around to leave, but as he was doing so, Paige called out to him.
"Wait!"
Shane turned back around.
"You... You have me."
"Excuse me?" He asked confused.
"I'll be your friend." She proclaimed.
"But I thought you didn't like me. You said I was fake."
"You were. Now? Not at all. Over the last few months I've seen the real you, and I've got to say, he's not that bad. It's their loss. They're too vapid to appreciate you for who you really are."
Shane was at a loss for words.
"You really mean it?"
Paige nodded.
Shane responded to the gesture by giving her a hug.
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
"No problem."
Back to Present Time...
"And that's how I gained my first true friend. Now, I know what you're thinking. "What was the point of telling me that whole story? That doesn't explain anything, Price.", Shane said as he mimicked Alexa.
"I don't sound like that." She said as she folded her arms and pouted.
"You kinda do. Anyway, the moral of the story is, I'm trying to save you from yourself."
This confused the petite princess.
"Save me from myself?"
"Yeah, the truth of the matter is, you remind me of me at that time. The only difference is, the friends you have genuinely care about you. You put on a mask. You hide your true self under the persona of this mean, nasty, rich girl. The same way Paige could tell that the character I portrayed wasn't the real me as soon as she saw me, I could tell that's not who you really are. You just portray that character because you feel you have to. The only question is, why?"
"You don't know what you're talking about. You don't know me at all." She said defensively.
"Oh, but I do. You said it yourself, you have a reputation at school. I've been through this before, and I don't want you to as well. Now again, why?"
Alexa said nothing as tears started to form in her eyes. She looked at Shane, and then spilled her guts out.
"Because... If people don't fear me, they'll take advantage of me. I can't be weak."
"But you don't have to push everyone away. Letting people in isn't being weak. What's wrong with being nice?"
"Do you have any idea how many people would kill to be in my shoes?! People will do anything for money, and I have a lot of it. If I let everyone in, everyone's gonna try and manipulate me into giving them what they want. Don't you get it?! I'll have no actual friends! "
She started crying uncontrollably and Shane hugged the sobbing girl.
"It's okay. Don't worry. I've got you. We'll figure this out together. I promise."
