For the rest of the week we had off school I stayed at Alex’s house. Most of the time we just slept or watched films nothing too exciting. Alex often played Halo with Zack, Rian and Matt while I watched trying to work out what buttons Alex was pressing so that one day I could play with them. It got less and less awkward around Peter and Isobel and by the end of the week they were starting to treat me like their own daughter. Alex and I seemed a lot closer since the party as well, which made our relationship even stronger.

The first day of the new term came quickly I woke up to my alarm screaming at me. It was Monday. Today everyone would see each other. This meant that Alex and Jack would see each other. I was tempted to call in sick, I didn’t want to end up in the middle of an argument that I had caused between two best friends. I felt terrible even though it wasn’t really my fault, was it?

As I got dressed I decided to wear nothing that stood out. Nothing that made me look happy and cheery because I didn’t feel cheery at all. I was dreading it. I drove to school with no music on in the car, just listening to the engine and watching the roads. When I got to school I parked next to Alex’s car and made my way to my Music class. The one lesson I had that included me, Alex, Jack, Rian and Zack.

I held my breath as I walked into the classroom but all I saw was Alex, Zack and Rian sitting on the table. Rian was tapping a random beat onto the table and Zack and Alex talking about the party that happened last Sunday, even though it was old news. I walked over to them and they all turned round to greet me.

“Hey baby!” Alex nearly shouted

“Morning Alex” I said still half asleep. He walked over and pulled me into a hug

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine, I’m just a bit tired” I pulled out of the hug and smiled at Alex who kissed the top of my head.

“Anyway morning you two” I looked past Alex and smiled at Zack and Rian. They both laughed and walked over to me. They gave me a hug and it was time for lessons.

Alex came and sat next to me since Jack obviously wasn’t in school. As bad as it sounds I was starting to get worried about him again. I hadn’t spoken or seen him since Sunday. I was wondering if Alex had said anything to him yet.

“Alex”

“Yeah”

“Have you spoken to Jack recently?”

“No I haven’t why, have you?”

“No not since Sunday” I looked at the desk “I’m still sorry y’know” Alex just stared at me

“You did nothing wrong, it was him. He shouldn’t have kissed you it wasn’t your fault okay?” He held my head in his hands as he spoke. I felt like I was about to cry.

“It must have affected him though for him to not be in school today and because we haven’t heard from him all holiday”

“Why are you worrying about him so much?”

“I’m not I just don’t want you two to fall out just because of some stupid mistake on his behalf”

“Stupid mistake? You think what he did was a stupid mistake?”

“Yeah I do”

“Charlie, he’s been admiring you for weeks it was on purpose! Do you not see it?” I could feel my heart beating faster

“Alex I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. Just forget it.” I looked away from him and at the teacher.

“You want me to forget it. I will be talking to him about this you know. No-one kisses my girlfriend and gets away with it. Best friend or no best friend.”

“Alex I don’t want you two to fall out over me. You were great friends before I came along and ruined everything”

“Don’t say that, you made my life better, more than you know. Jack just needs to learn to accept it and to
help him I’ll talk to him about it”

“When?”

“When he’s next in school maybe?”

“Okay”

The rest of the lesson was done in silence. When the bell rang both Alex and I walked up to Maths together.

“I’m sorry for kind of having a go at you at the beginning of Music” Alex said as he started writing out the equations from the board.

“That’s okay, I understand” I leant on his shoulder.

“Honestly, I shouldn’t of got so annoyed it’s not fair, you did nothing wrong”

“It’s okay, don’t keep talking about it, you’ll only end up getting annoyed again” We both chuckled slightly.
It got to lunchtime and nothing had really happened everyone was just eating and talking about Halo and band stuff. Suddenly my phone started vibrating in my pocket so I stepped out of the classroom, so that it was quieter, so I could answer. I looked at my phone and saw that it was Jack calling me,

“Hello?”

“Hey Charlie, how are you?”

“Tired, you”

“Sick...”

“Sure you are, I’m not stupid Jack”

“I know you’re not stupid”

“Then tell me what’s wrong and why you aren’t at school” there was a long pause

“I just don’t want to see Alex, I know he’ll say something to me”

“You think that he’ll be wrong for having a go at you or getting annoyed?”

“No, I mean, Yes. I don’t know”

“Jack, you need to come in tomorrow and talk to him”

“He’ll yell at me” He was nearly crying down the phone

“You two are best friends, you aren’t going to fall out over a stupid pathetic girl so you two need to talk to
each other and sort this out”

“You’re not stupid and pathetic but I will come in tomorrow”

“Good and we have PE first thing tomorrow. An hour to throw balls at people’s heads” That made him laugh.

I went back into the Music room and sat down next to Alex and started eating again.

“Who was that?” I knew he already knew but I told him anyway,

“Jack, he’s coming in tomorrow so you two can talk then” Alex looked at me to see if I was joking

“What do you two need to talk about, apart from the fact he hasn’t been tuning up to band practice for the past week” Zack piped up.

“Leave them alone Zack, I’m sure it’s personal” Rian moaned. Zack just looked at me apologetically and then at the floor.

“Sorry” Zack mumbled under his breath just loud enough for us to hear.

“Zack it’s fine, Rian’s just being all moany today” Alex said while everyone apart from Rian laughed. Rian just smiled sarcastically and dug into his sandwich, “It’s nothing to bad just something that needs to be
sorted as soon as possible” Zack had a look of confusion on his face,

“Errm, okay then” he then left the conversation at that.

For the rest of the day I didn’t have lessons with any of them so I ended up getting a lot of work done. At the end of the day when I walked to my car I saw Alex sitting on my car bonnet I laughed,

“Alex, what are you doing on my car?”

“I was waiting for you?”

“I thought you had band practice....”

“I do I just wanted to see you since I haven’t seen you since lunch” He jumped off of the car and gave me a hug, I hugged him back and buried my face into his chest. He kissed the top of my head and let go

“Have fun at band practice” I said

“Are you not coming?” Alex looked confused

“No I just feel like going home and sleeping i don’t feel very well” The truth was I was dreading tomorrow and wanted it to come and be over and done with.

“Okay I’ll see you in Music tomorrow then” He hugged me a last time and skipped off to his car that was parked the other side of the car park.

When I got home no-one was in because they were either at work or Nursery so I got changed into my pyjamas and watched a film. Once the film was finished I received a text from my mum,

Hey Charlie I completely forgot to tell you that Ant, Morgan and I were going to go the airport after work to check flights and stuff but we’re on our way back now :)

I was suddenly really confused, why the hell were they looking at flights

Erm mum, why are you looking at flights?

It took her about ten minutes to reply. Those ten minutes I spent pacing back and forth in the front room

We’ve just got tickets to go back to England for a fortnight but since you have friends and stuff here Ant and I thought you might want to stay here maybe round someone’s house or something since we’re only going over there to visit your brothers

I stared at my phone. I then made a mental note to ask Alex if I could stay at his for a couple of weeks and then decided to go to bed since I was tired and couldn’t be bothered to do any coursework or anything.

In the morning I got up and went to school early so that I could start the day quicker because I just wanted it to be over. When I got to the school car park I just sat in my car waiting for lots of other people to arrive.

Once there was a reasonable amount of people in the car park I made my way to PE to get changed.

Ten minutes into the lesson Jack arrived. He had an apologetic look on his face as he noticed that I had to be paired with the teacher since he wasn’t here at the beginning to the lesson. He walked over to the teacher and got registered and then came over to me,

“So how come you’re late?” I asked him

“I had to walk to school because no-one would give me a lift and I was debating on whether or not to call in sick again” I sighed at him,

“Well at least you’re here now, we can throw balls at each other” We both laughed.

“How do you think Alex is going to talk to me? Like is he going to just have a go at me or play the nice guy
card?”

“Jack to be perfectly honest with you i do not know but he did say he was just going to talk to you and not
shout and scream because I told him not to” he looked at me then

“You told him not to have a go at me, why?”

“Because I don’t want to cause a huge argument between two best friends. Bro’s before hoes, am I right?”

He laughed then

“I guess you’re right but you’re not causing and argument, this could have happened with any girl”

“Yeah but it was me so I’m preventing the argument from happening, okay?” He just smiled and threw the
ball at me.

“We have Music after this. Oh what fun” he said sarcastically

“Jack it’ll be fine! I won’t let him have a go at you and I won’t let you have a go at him. This isn’t right”

We just continued the lesson playing volleyball badly and getting yelled at by the teacher because we were just mucking about. Once I had come out of the changing rooms Jack was waiting for me so that we could walk down to music together as usual but this time it felt different because we were both tense and wondering how Alex would start talking to Jack about everything that had happened.

We walked into the class room and we were one of the first people in there. We both went and sat on the desk where we sit in the lesson and waited for the others to arrive. It didn’t take long before Rian turned up so Jack was talking to him about band stuff. After about two minutes Zack wondered into the classroom and looked at Jack surprisingly. He then walked over to me and gave me a hug and said hello before joining in the conversation with Jack and Rian. Finally just before the bell went to say it was the beginning of the lesson Alex ran into the classroom,

“I’m not late am I?” Alex asked as he wondered over to us.

“No you stupid idiot now sit down the lesson will be starting in a minute” Zack said and he welcomed Alex into the classroom. Alex glanced round to all of us and when he got to Jack he just looked at him for a second before looking at me and smiling,

“Good morning beautiful!”

“Morning to you to Alex” I said as he gave me a hug.

“How are you?” Alex asked still holding onto me.

“Tired but apart from that, nervous” I wasn’t going to lie to him. He just stared at me and sighed,

“Don’t be nervous” He pulled me in for another quick hug and then went to talk to the others. I knew jack was staring at us and listening in throughout the whole conversation so I turned to him and said,

“Are you okay?” He just looked at the floor and muttered,

“I’ll be fine c’mon we have to sit down now”

We went and sat in our seats but the only downside was the fact that Jack was sitting between Alex and I so it made everything incredibly awkward. Half way through the lesson the teacher announced we had to get into pairs to work on a small piece of music to present to the class. While everyone was getting up and discussing who they were going to be paired with Alex came over and stood next to me,

“You don’t mind working with me do you?” He asked me

“Of course not”

I glanced over to Jack, Zack and Rian. Rian and Zack had formed a pair and Jack was just sitting, staring into the distance. I felt terrible. Suddenly Alex pulled me up out of my chair and took me to the other side of the classroom to where all of the instruments were. He picked up an acoustic guitar and handed it to
me,

“And what shall I be doing with this?” I asked holding it arms length away from me.

“You will be playing it” He chuckled as he picked up another acoustic guitar.

He started strumming a random tune and as he did I looked around the classroom to see everyone working on their pieces and laughing or getting annoyed with each other because they weren’t getting it right. Then I got to where Jack was sitting. He had gone. I quickly looked around the classroom to see if I had missed him or something. Then I saw that he was with Zack and Rian. I breathed a sigh of relief and continued to listen to Alex play.

Throughout the rest of the lesson Alex and I just worked on our piece of music for the project and at the end of the lesson it was going to be break so hopefully Alex was going to talk to Jack about everything then because I hated the fact that they were so awkward around each other.

Walking up to our break room Alex held my hand and kept me as close to him as humanly possible. Don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining it was just odd normally we’d hold hands but not like this. When we got into the break room Alex got me to sit on his lap and hold me while we were eating our break. Throughout the whole time Jack just looked awkwardly at us and then looked away and tried to make conversation with
someone.

In that break Alex didn’t talk to Jack once in fact, he didn’t even look or glance over to him. He just acted as if he didn’t exist. Alex kissed me before we went off to our next lessons. I could see what he was doing. He was trying to make Jack jealous and he knew that it was working. Jack couldn’t even bring himself to say bye to me at the end of break in fear that Alex might say something.

At lunch it was exactly the same situation as at break. Alex kept me as close to him as possible and completely ignore Jack. As much as I loved Alex he was being very childish. If he just spoke to Jack the air would be cleared and it wouldn’t be so awkward anymore but Alex refused to say a word to him. I think the reason was because he knew that if he said anything he would end up shouting at him and he didn’t want to do that because he knew that it would upset me so instead he just kept his mouth shut.

At the end of the day I just drove home and sat in my bedroom thinking about how I would get them to talk to each other since I knew that they wouldn’t without my assistance. I paced up and down my room several times trying to think how I would get the two of them together. Then, at about 12 o’clock at night, it hit me. I would just invite them both to my house. They obviously wouldn’t turn it down and that way they would be able to talk to each other so I quickly sent them a text,

Hey I know it’s late but I had a thought. Do you want to come round mine tomorrow after school? If you have band practice that’s cool but I thought we could just hang out.

It took a while for either of them to reply but the first one to get back to me was Jack
I don’t think band practice is even on tomorrow but yeah sure. Does Alex know about this though?

I quickly sent a reply back to him,

Oh cool and no he doesn’t

Once I had sent that I got a text off of Alex,

Of course I’ll come round yours tomorrow! Band practice isn’t on tomorrow anyway so it’ll be fine :) Love
you

Once he’d sent that I quickly remembered about the fact I was going to be alone for two weeks and I still hadn’t asked Alex about whether I’d be able to stay at his or something so I quickly wrote back

Awesome! Oh and by the way my mum, Ant and my little sister have gone to England for two weeks is

there any chance that I could stay at yours or something. I can stay here if not but my mum wants me to be with someone haha Love you too!

Once I had sent that I noticed a reply from Jack

Oh okay then how will I get to yours though? I could get my mum to drop me off if you want?

I laughed at that. He was going to get his mum to bring him here. It would probably work out better though because that way Alex would be settled before Jack arrives.

If that’s okay with you then yeah :)

I left my phone downstairs while I quickly went to get myself a drink. All of the texts were insane. They were both replying straight away and it was giving me a headache. When I went downstairs I picked up my phone and saw that I only had one text from Alex. Jack must have fallen asleep. Alex’s text said,

Charlie you are my girlfriend and my parents love you, of course you can stay for a couple of weeks! I’d
love to have you all to myself for a couple of week’s haha :’) Anyways I need to get some sleep and I suggest you do to so nunight beautiful

I laughed and replied

Awesome, I’ll pack my stuff tomorrow then but yeah i probably should get some sleep good night :) loveeee youuuuu

I sighed plugged my phone into its charger and went to sleep.

The next morning I got up to my alarm echoing throughout my house. I got dressed and tidied up in my room a bit before leaving for school. Once I got to school I parked in my usual spot. Alex was already parked in the spot beside it. As I pulled up he got out of the car,

“Morning!”

“Hey Alex!”

“So after I’ve come round yours and helped you pack you’re coming to mine right?” he said with a cheesy
grin on his face as I locked my car.

“Yuhuh! Then you’ll have to cope with me living at yours for two weeks, can you handle that?” I said as I gave him a quick kiss.

“I don’t know you seem like a handful” We both laughed and walked into school. I had Maths first and so we walked to class together. Throughout the whole lesson Alex lectured me on his bad habits while I
laughed at them.

The rest of the day ran smoothly but quite similar to yesterday where Alex just pretended that Jack didn’t exist but Jack was happier since he was getting excited about coming round mine after school.

When it got to the end of the day I saw Jack get a ride with Rian home and once they had left Alex and I drove to my house.

When we got indoors we both collapsed onto the sofa and Alex started to flick through the channels on the tv. After about twenty minutes of watching Spongebob Squarepants Jack knocked on the door,

“Who could that be?” Alex asked, concerned

“I invited someone else round”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked as I got up and started walking towards the door.

“Because it’s a surprise so go downstairs into my room” He shrugged his shoulders and made his way through the doorway and down the stairs. I didn’t open the front door until I heard my bedroom door click shut.

“Hey Charlie!” Jack greeted me with a hug

“Hey Jack, how’re you?”

“I’m great thanks, you?”

“I’m alright” I then stepped aside and let him into the house he stared at the tv for a moment

“Watching Spongebob eh?”

“Yeah...” I chuckled slightly “Anyway, follow me but close your eyes” I quickly turned off the tv and started to pull Jack downstairs behind me.

I opened my bedroom door and saw that Alex was sitting on the floor with his back to it and his eyes closed. I pulled Jack into the room and quickly shut the door,

“You can open your eyes now” I directed at both of them

Notes

It's getting more and more difficult to make up names for the chapters so I apologise at how bad they are.

Also let me know if you like the story by commenting please :)