This World's An Ugly Place

I woke up with a start, but this time to the sound of Alex's alarm and not his anguished cries.

I lifted my head up, which was insistently on his chest, and stretched my arms over my head. Alex began to stir beside me and he leaned forward to shut his alarm clock off.

"Dang, you set your alarm clock half an hour earlier than mine," I said through a yawn.

A small smile formed on his lips. "Sorry," he offered. His bed hair was adorable and the fact that he was still shirtless made it extremely hard to look away from him; it also might not have helped that we were sitting so close.

I cursed in my head suddenly, realizing I probably looked like crap. "I'm going to go get ready," I said, hopping up. "I'm sure Ms. Wendy showed you where the guys bathroom is, but if you have any other questions and I'm not around just ask any of the foster kids," I said, walking towards the door. "Oh, and breakfast is served at seven."

***

After I was done blow drying my hair and doing my make up, I changed into one of my ACDC shirts and my black skinny jeans. Ms. Wendy always told me if I wore something more neat, I wouldn't have to worry about bullies. But I always replied to her that I shouldn't have to worry about bullies no matter how I dressed.

I skipped down the steps two at a time and hooked a right into the dining room. The dining room was right next to the kitchen, connecting by and open door.

I saw Alex sitting down all the way to the end of the table, but he was surrounded by a bunch of the middle school girls who thought they had a chance with him. I smirked and grabbed a plate of eggs before walking over to them.

Sitting my plate down across from Alex, I turned to the girls. "Guys, give him some space, okay?"

"Then why do you get to sit by him?" One of them pouted.

"Because I won't get in his face like you guys. Now shoo before I call Ms. Wendy on you guys," I replied harshly.

They all groaned and went to the other side of the table and I took my seat.

"Wow," he said quietly.

I looked up at him. "Hm?"

"They...listen to you well enough."

I sighed. "If I'm not harsh they won't listen. And I don't view any of them as my siblings, well, except for Lily a little bit."

"Would you treat them all like you treat me?"

I frowned at that. He was definitely more talkative today. "Hm...yes and no. If they were older kids I would, I mean, look out for them. But Ms. Wendy usually deals with the younger kids because I don't do well with them."

He nodded his head and I heard a car honk from outside.

I cursed under my breath. "Are you ready?"

He lifted his eyebrows up at me but nodded his head.

"Okay, because we need to go now," I said, shoving a scoop of eggs into my mouth before standing up.

He stood up as well, following after me towards the door.

"Me and Alex are leaving!" I shouted so Ms. Wendy would hear.

We walked down the walk to Jack's car that was parked in the street. I opened the front passenger seat and Alex opened the door to the car behind me.

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you my cousin Jack drives me," I said as we both settled into our seats.

"You the new kid? Hey, my name's Jack," my cousin said, looking at Alex through the rear view mirror.

Alex gave a small smile and waved. I guess he was back to not talking.

"So, how was Sebastian after I bailed?" I asked as he went into drive.

Jack blew out a sigh. "He was really pissed at first but Case got him to calm down. Then he got super worried because someone decided to ignore all his texts and calls. Plus, you weren't at the home when I stopped by so..."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't like when he starts talking like that. Our band will do fine."

"No, it's going to crash and burn because I'm not a part of it," Jack said with his lips pouting. It was true, the only players we had in our band was Sebastian, Case, and I; three people like Blink 182. And that's how we liked it, so we didn't let Jack be a part of the band even now that he's become pretty good at the guitar.

"You'll find your own band," I told him, looking out the window.

Jack pulled into the school parking lot, taking his usual spot and turned the car off.

"What's the plan?" he asked.

"First things first, I'm taking Alex to the guidance office for his schedule and I'm going to change it to match mine as much as I can and then yours too." I looked back at Alex who was still sitting with his seat belt tucked over him. "You ready?"

He nodded his head and we both hopped out the car. "We'll see you later, Jack," I said as we walked towards the entrance.

"He's not coming inside yet?" Alex asked, walking by my side.

"No, we always get here kind of early and just chill in his car until the bell rings. But me and you have stuff to do so that's why we're going in now," I explained as we walked through the doors. "If you get a faraway locker you can share mine, if you want. I don't know how cool you feel when you're alone because I know some people don't like that thing." I waved my hand at the words.

"Okay," he said.

I explained all the places that were around - cafeteria, lockers, classrooms, etc. - and soon we stopped at the guidance office. Since we had gotten there early enough, there was no line and making the schedule went smoothly. The guidance counselor was someone I got along with well enough that I didn't give her sass.

After walking out of the room, it was five minutes until the bell went off and Alex was in my first class. In fact, he was in all my classes except my second.

On our way to the room, we had a harder time since there were more people in the hallways now.

"Look, Alex, there's something I should probably tell you before you stick around me," I said.

He gave me a questioning glance.

"Honestly, I'm nothing but bad news and there's a lot of people around here who are out to get me. So, if you don't want to be around me the entire time, I can probably find you some cooler kids to hang out with," I said as our classroom grew nearer. I wasn't expecting Alex to say anything, but right before I was going to walk into the classroom he caught a hold of my wrist and pulled me to the side to face him.

"I don't care. We're friends now," he said and I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks. I glanced down at my wrist where his hand was still around and he quickly dropped it and I could have sworn I saw a shade of pink on his face.

I smiled up at my newly found friend. "Great, I just hope you don't regret saying that."

Notes