South Of Nowhere.

I walked down the cold hallways of Dulaney. My books were clutched to my chest as I glanced around the familiar hallways. I was looking for my best friend, the only one I really had. I stopped at my locker and shoved in the books I had. I grabbed my Chemistry book and headed to first hour.

"Ell, wait up!" I heard a familiar voice call my name. I turned around to see his swoopy brown hair flopping as he ran quickly towards me. He stopped in front of me out of breath, he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, Alex." I laughed, picking his hand off my shoulder.
"I'm so late!" Alex gasped.
"We still have ten minutes." I rolled my eyes.

I was pretty much Alex's backbone. His support for every single one of his problems, and I was probably the last person he cared about at this school. Not that it upset me, I had my own life, he had his. Most of the time we were distant, other times we simply hung out for days on end; before Alex would go back to his old ways. Hanging out with his other friends and ignoring me. Most of the time he didn't even want to be seen in school with me.

"Walk with me to class?" Alex asked, smiling.
"My life long dream." I replied sarcastically.

Alex and I walked in silence. I stared at my feet awkwardly. I picked at the torn bind in the old English book. Alex stopped abruptly, turning to me with a wide-eyed expression.

"I forgot Jack!" Alex growled, slapping his hand against his forehead.
"He runs fast." I laughed, shifting on my feet.
"NO! He has my homework!" Alex freaked out, yelling.
"Don't tell me you're making him do it again." I rolled my eyes.

Alex gave me a stern glare and kept walking. I followed behind him, watching the curious glances of freshman and sophomore girls who looked at Alex and I. I rolled my eyes at them and kept following him.

"So, I'm going on a date tonight." Alex said, stopping at his locker.
"What's new?" I questioned sarcastically.
"Kelsey Shepard." Alex continued, turning in the combination.
"Are you trying to get an STD?" I joked.
"She's hot!" Alex defended.
"And flaming with STD's. But hey, whatever floats your boat." I said, patting his shoulder.

Alex shook his head and grabbed torn notebooks out of his locker. He picked out a few text books and slammed the locker shut.

"Every time I tell you I have a date, you get so defensive." Alex said lowly, "Just because we fuck once in a while out of frustration, doesn't mean you've branded me. I'm not yours." Alex spat, walking off.

I walked to Chemistry, picking at the binding of the English book. Alex's words ran through my head. Eventually, being friends with benefits, maybe less than that, was going to come back and bite us in the ass.

I sat through Chemistry and PE, not changing into my uniform, or opening a book for that matter. The teachers sent me to the halls, not wanting to deal with an unresponsive student. By lunch, I was ready to leave school.

I snatched my car keys off the top shelf of my locker and slammed it shut with anger. I slung my bag over my shoulder, walking past the lunchroom quickly. I stopped when I saw Alex making out with Kelsey Shepard, the queen bee of the school, the captain of the cheer leading and basket ball team. She was little Miss. Perfect and Alex had worked his way up onto her social status.

My jaw clenched up and my fists were balled. I walked out of the school angrily, pulling out my cellphone. I swung my car door open and sat there, listening to the ringing of the phone.

"Hello?" My sister answered tiredly.
"I'm coming over. I need to talk." I sighed, rubbing my forehead.
"It's twelve thirty!" Sierra, my sister groaned.
"Shove it. I'm coming over." I told her, hanging up the phone.

I gripped my steering wheel so hard my knuckles were turning white as I backed out of the parking space. I sped out of the parking lot, avoiding school police at all costs. It was a five minute drive, if speeding, to get to my sisters house from school.

I stepped out of my car, locking it up before I walked up the stairs of her apartment. I let myself in side and found Sierra curled into a ball on the couch.

"What do you want?" Sierra grumbled.
"Alex, I need to talk about Alex." I whined, running over to the couch.
"Here we go." Sierra rolled her eyes.
"What did I do wrong?" I asked, tears welling in my eyes.
"Honey, there's this thing called love." Sierra's face softened, "You fell into it."