Did You Get What You Deserve?

I sighed as we stepped out of the airport.

“It’s a bit weird being home, isn’t it?”

James nodded.

“I’m kinda glad though. I’ve had enough of planes to last me a lifetime.”

“Yep...”

I followed Dad into a taxi.

“See you tomorrow, James!”

He nodded and waved. As the taxi pulled away, I leaned back and looked at Dad.

“Best holiday ever.”

He grinned.

“Glad you thought so.”

I hugged him.

“I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too, sweetie.”

Linda leaned past Dad.

“Do you love me too, Alec?”

“Yes, I love you too,” I laughed, turning to look out the window. It was good to be back in Jersey again.

December passed rather uneventfully. With James’ birthday on the first, Linda’s birthday on the eighth and Christmas on the 25th, it was a month of celebrations, but apart from that nothing much happened. January saw the start of school. Julia went into the afternoon baby classes, and Harrison started in the junior school.

On the first day of school, when I arrived at registration, I realised James, Lindsay and Matt were all in my class. As we walked into our new form room, I saw a new girl down the back. She looked up as we entered, smiling.

“Hi!”

I walked over to her.

“Hi. Are you new?”

“Yeah. I just moved here from Ohio.”

“Cool. I’m Alec.”

She frowned.

“Alec? Isn’t that a boy’s name?”

I shrugged.

“It’s short for Alecsandra.”

“Shouldn’t it be Alex then?”

“Nah, because it’s Alecsandra with a ‘cs’ instead of an x.”

“That’s weird.”

I bristled. Already I didn’t like this girl. There was something rather repulsive about her attitude.

“Anyway,” she said, smiling, “I’m Alana. Alana Morgan.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Alana.” No matter how bad my first impression of her was, I was not going to burn any bridges before I had gotten to know her.

“I like your hair, Alecsandra.”

“It’s Alec.”

“Sorry.”

I smiled rather thinly and turned away to take my seat at the front of the class. Thirty seconds later, the teacher walked in, and all thoughts of Alana were driven from my mind. I gaped in shock at the man who had just walked in, willing my brain to be deceiving me. He wrote his name on the board and turned around to smile at the class.

“Hello, boys and girls. My name is Mr Marshall.”