I exited the classroom only to see Alex getting ganged up on once again. I placed my bag down on the ground against the wall and started walking towards the group. Before I knew what I was doing, I was yelling at the seven foot tall giants. "Hey! Cut it out!"
They all turned and looked at me, including Alex, who had a fearful look in his eyes.
"And what are you gonna do, string bean?" asked Broc, the leader of the dim-witted jocks.
I furrowed my eyebrows and crossed my arms. Actually, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Not only was I outnumbered, but they were, like, three times my size.
Apparently I took too long to respond, because they all started laughing. "Whatever, String Bean," Broc said. He turned towards Alex. "You're lucky your boyfriend here put us in a good mood." They all turned simultaneously and walked away from us. I picked up my backpack and walked over to Alex and helped him pick his books that Broc knocked out of his hands as he walked away. I handed Alex a couple of books, along with a notebook that was in pretty bad condition. I looked him in the eyes and smiled.
"Thanks," he said, taking the books from me, "I didn't feel like getting another one of these." He pointed to a bruise on his cheek and my smile vanished. How had I not noticed that before?
And then I thought about how that bruise probably wouldn't exist if I hadn't just walked away yesterday.
I nodded to him and stood up along with Alex. "No problem, bro." I turned on my heel and continued on to my next class and finished out the school day.

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I walked in through my front door and dropped my bag on the floor along with my shoes. I walked into my house only to find that it was empty. Dad was probably out buying more alcohol or something. I sighed and went downstairs to my room and turned on the T.V. There was a horror movie marathon going on, so I decided to watch it. Right now, they were showing The Seed Of Chucky. I don't care what anyone says. Glen/Glenda is probably one of the creepiest things I have ever seen.
I sat there until the end of the movie, and then got up and went to the kitchen for something to eat as Scream came on. I opened one of the cabinets and looked through the contents. I found a bag of Lays potato chips and began eating them as I looked for something to drink. I settled for a Dr. Pepper and returned to my room to continue watching the horror movie marathon.

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After a few more movies, I had gone through the whole bag of chips and three sodas. Yup. I was a fat ass. I stood up and headed upstairs to find that my dad still wasn't home. I sighed and shoved my hands in my pockets. Maybe he went to the bar and hooked up with some slut. Who knows? I pulled out my cell and texted Rian.

To: Rian Dawson
Hey. Dad's out for the night. Wanna hang?

I got an instant reply. That was one of the best things about being friends with Rian. You didn't have to wait forever to get a reply from him.

From: Rian Dawson
Sure thing, bro! Starbucks?

To: Rian Dawson
Cool. See you in 10 minutes.

From: Rian Dawson
See you then.

I ran over to the front door and pulled on my Converse and ran out the door and to my car. I was about to open the door and sighed. I really should work off all those calories I gained during the movie marathon. I shoved my hands into my jacket pockets and headed towards Starbucks. I looked around at my surroundings as I walked. The trees were already starting to lose their leaves. It's only August! Go home, Mother Nature. You're drunk.
I shook my head and picked up the pace until I was almost jogging. I could see Starbucks just right down the road, and I really wanted to get out of this cold weather.
I walked through the door of Starbucks and looked around. I found Rian already drinking a coffee in one of the booths. I slid into the seat across from him and breathed into my hands, trying to warm up.
"Dude," he said, taking another drink of his coffee, "What happened to ten minutes?"
I shrugged. "I decided to walk, so it took a bit longer."
Rian nodded and took another drink. "So, I heard you almost got into a fight after fifth period."
I shook my head. "No. I didn't almost get into a fight. All I did was tell them to stop picking on Alex and-"
"Alex? You mean that British kid that sat with us at lunch?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Why?"
Rian shook his head and looked down at the table. "No reason."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Rian, what is it?"
He looked at me. "Well, when I went to take a piss during sixth period, Alex was crying in one of the stalls."
"Crying? Why?"
Rian shrugged. "The hell if I know."
"Well, how do you know it was him?"
"'Cause he walked out wiping his eyes. When I asked what was wrong, he just shook his head and walked out."
I nodded and stood up to go get myself a coffee. Once I got it, I returned to the booth and continued talking to Rian about the events that have happened the past couple days. But the whole time, I couldn't help but wonder why Alex had been crying. The thought kind of made me feel sick to my stomach.

Notes

Not sure if it's too soon for Jalex or not, so I'm going to continue to postpone it a little while longer. Sorry, guys. x3

-Ryan