Love at First Class

Chapter 16: The boy’s got money:

I laid back against my pillows, and pretended to sleep, I heard Alex come through the door, and lie down himself. I had heard bits of conversation, it had been about me. Alex sighed, and clicked the contact on the wall; the lights were gone in a second. Darkness and silence filled the room. I was glad that Alex had assured his parents that we were just friends, because that was the truth…right? These thoughts clouded my mind, until I fell asleep, just before I was ‘gone’ I heard what sounded like goodnight but I wasn’t sure.
‘I am alone’ my voice broke through. I was in the hallway, alone, only me; I was the only one in the entire school. No wait someone’s right there, it’s Alex, ‘hey Alex’ I waved at him, he just turned around ‘we’re just friends’ and with that he was gone. Then some other guy came into sight, it was Mick, he just turned around and walked away. Anna my mom and dad all turned their backs on me, Jeff and Aiden didn’t even know me, and it was hell, all alone, in the dark.
Crash.
I woke suddenly to the weird sound of something really loud, and threatening. A light flashed over the icy night sky, soon followed by a very loud crash again. I whimpered, I had never liked thunder. I tried to relax, but another flash of light destroyed all hope of relaxation. There were no one there; I was alone, just like the dream. “We…’re jus’ frien…s-” I heard in my head again, then heard the sound of someone having an uneasy sleep, and remembered that Alex was there. He sighed, and went quiet. I could walk over there, but then what? I could sit here until dawn- CRASH the loudest thunder shock so far destroyed the dark silence for a moment, then another light flashed. I knew I couldn’t just wait till it was over, I was even afraid to leave the bed I was in. I got up, very carefully, the loud roar of thunder came the second my feet hit the floor. I yelped and ran to Alex’s bed.
“Alex! Alex wake up!” I shrieked desperately.
“Hmnneeh” Alex groaned.
“Alex!” I was on the edge of a breakdown, I shook Alex’s body hard for him to wake up, I was so desperate I practically hit him.
“Yeh” he rolled over to face me. “’s the matter” he yawned.
“I can’t sleep” I felt like a child, talking to her mother, trying to hide that she’s scared to death of a monster. CRASH another loud roar escaped the skies. I yelped and jumped back. Alex looked up, he seemed more awake.
“Sonea are you scared of thunderstorms?” he asked like only he could.
“No…” I lied; I had to protect my honor. He gave me a look, that said ‘yeah you are’ then sighed.
“Okay I am”
“Wait a second” he sat up and looked like he was thinking. CRASH. I screamed and jumped his bed. He just looked shocked at me; I grabbed his covers, and tried to hide my face.
“Sonea?”
“Yeah” I mumbled through the covers.
“I’ll just go get your covers and your pillow don’t move.” He got out of the bed, and walked to my bed on the other side of the curtains. I saw that he was only wearing his hospital-pajama pants and no shirt, and then he was out of sight. He came yawning back, he had gotten everything, he handed me my covers, and my pillow.
“Now move over, I’m so friggin tired” he laughed a little, then the laugh turned into a big yawn. I moved over, and let Alex climb the bed, he immediately laid down. Rolled over a couple of times, to get comfy, and then sighed. Silence fell; he opened one eye, to see me staring at him.
“What now” he smiled.
“I don’t think I can sleep”
“Okay then just lie down, and try to find a comfortable place, then close your eyes…”
I lay properly down, and looked at the ceiling. “Alex it’s not working” I sighed. No answer came, I looked at Alex, and he was already sleeping. Great! Now what? I crossed my arms, and looked stiffly up. I couldn’t help but look at him again, to find one of his eyes looking at me.
“You can’t sleep can you?”
“No” I said irritated.
“Then we can just talk” Alex sat properly up.
“Okay, are your parents rich?”
“What? What gave you that idea?”
“Everything…are they?”
“Yeah well a bit”
“What do they do?”
“My mom is a designer, and is at the moment arranging a fashion show”
“What with models and all?”
“Yeah”
“Then what about your father?”
“He owns two hotel chains, and a paragliding company.
“Oh My God, you’re a totally rich family!”
“Where do they live?”
“At this moment a little out of town”
“In a castle?” I asked joking, Alex gave a nervous laughter.
“You’re kidding right”
“It’s only a mansion”
I sat back breathless, he was really rich, though he didn’t seem that rich.
“What about sisters or brothers?”
“None” he looked at me. “Your brothers are nice” I blushed. CRASH. It roared outside. I whim-pered, not on meaning to. I crawled lower into the covers, and closed my eyes.
“What do your parents do?”
“You know, dad’s doing some important office stuff, and mom’s a nurse” Alex looked out the win-dow.
“Wow look out the window” his eyes fixed at the sky. I looked out, there were so many clouds, spaces of sky poked through. The spaces with pure sky, was filled with stars, it was like an ocean of stars. Just then a lightning crashed down, I must admit it was beautiful, but seconds after came the really loud roar from the clouds. I jumped at Alex, sitting on his lap, my arms around his shoulders.
“It’s going to kill me” I whispered. I yawned, I had gotten really tired.
“Maybe you should get some sleep”
“Maybe you should too” I teased. I laid down against my pillow once again, and closed my eyes. Alex turned his back on me, and relaxed.
“Alex?”
“Yeah” he mumbled.
“Ehh nothing” I said embarrassed.
“It’s okay Sonea, what is it?”
“No really it’s nothing” I blushed; he turned over, and looked at me. I tried to hide it, but I think he saw it. “What is it?”
“Nah it’s okay, goodnight” I closed my eyes, but felt him staring at me.
“Here” he held out his hand, I took it, as I did a light flashed across the sky. Alex had already laid his head on his pillow. As the crash came, he squeezed my hand. How did he know, that I was gon-na ask, if I could hold his hand?

“Alex! Man you big twat is that you?!” someone called, the person shook my shoulders, I groaned.
“You are usually good at getting up in the morning” the person teased.
“Wo’ ‘r’ you”
“Well I’m actually a bit hurt that you don’t even remember my voice” the person smacked the back of my head. I looked up, to find a black haired guy, around the twenties smiling at me.
“What are you doing here, I’m in my deathbed and still I have to watch your goofy smile” I joked.
“Well I would have been hurt, if it weren’t because, I had just caught you in bed, with a pretty little blonde” he smirked. “I will let you get up, without me watching and laughing at your awkwardness” he said, backed out and pulled the curtains together.
“What do you mean?!” I called after him; I tried to get up, but was held back by something. I looked down, to see no other than Sonea holding her arms around my middle. Her blonde hair laid perfectly, some of her hair in her face.
“Oh fuck!” I reacted badly, she moved a little, but didn’t wake up.
“Yes that’s more like you” Casper called from the other side of the curtains.
“This is not what you think it is” I blushed; glad that he couldn’t see it. I removed her arms careful-ly, and jumped of the bed. I ruffled through my stuff to find my clothes. I didn’t bother to take it on, just hurried out, and closed the curtains after me.
“Well well aren’t we a little quick to get away, you big punk, little heartbreaker!” Casper teased again.
“This is NOT at all what you think!” I was getting irritated. He looked at me shocked, I hurried to get my clothes on, and checked that Sonea was still sleeping. Casper watched me, which I was real-ly used to, he always did that. I sat down on a chair, and rubbed my face. “Sorry” I muttered.
“S’ okay…so who is she?” he asked nervously.
“That doesn’t matter, what matters is that you never saw her in that bed” I looked seriously at him.
“Well dang Alex, I’ve never seen you like this” he said, and sat down opposite me. “You look like you’ve just murdered someone” he looked at the curtains, still covering the sleeping Sonea.
“Might just get the same penalty, and get killed when I get out” I got up, and walked out of the room, I heard Casper’s footsteps behind me. We walked to the coffee machine in silence, when I had got my coffee we went back.
“Okay so who is she?” Casper asked eagerly.
“Just some girl” I excused, and wished that I had vodka in my coffee, that might have helped more.
“Some girl, that’s not you, you don’t just have some girl in you bed. So who is she”
“Her name is Sonea”
“Yes and?”
“And nothing” I looked at my half empty coffee paper-cup.
“Seriously tell me”
“There’s not really anything to tell” I snapped.
“Okay then…I’ll see you later” he grinned at me.
“What?” something was up, I knew that smile, he was up to something.
“Nothing, I’ve got to go” with that he was gone. I would have chased after him, if it weren’t be-cause I heard footsteps from the other side. I looked up to see Sonea; she had blushed to a deep red color.
“H-hey” I stammered.
“Hey” she looked down, and then walked to her own bed, she came back seconds later.
“Forgot my stuff” she said, and carried her covers and pillow back with her. She closed the curtains, and I walked to my bed, and closed the curtains. After sitting on the bed for two hours, I got up, as I reached the door, the door swung inwards. Jeff, Aiden and Sonea’s parents stood in the doorway; I smiled as I tried to move past them. Sonea’s mother handed me a bottle of vine. I just looked con-fused at her.
“It’s a thank you gift, we didn’t know what to give, I hope you like it” she smiled warmly.
“You don’t have to-” she shoved the bottle into my hands, and walked with the others to Sonea’s bed. When they pulled the curtains aside, I caught a glimpse of the blonde hair, then caught her eye. I turned on my heel, and left the room. I walked to the check-out counter. A small woman sat be-hind a glass screen.
“Can I help you?”
“Yeah I’m Alex Truman, I’m checking out”
“This is no hotel Mr. Truman, you’ll have to speak with a doctor”
“I have, and she said I was good to go”
“What doctor was that?”
“Ehh the brunette with curly hair, Jessica Hawt, right?”
“I’ll just check the computer” she turned her attention on the screen. I looked around; I was in the huge hospital lobby. I was at the info-bar; from here a lot of corridors could be seen. I glanced down the corridor I had just come from, to find Sonea’s mother coming my way. I prayed that I could be released before she reached me, I looked at the lady behind the computer, she was now talking into a phone while scanning the computer screen.
“Hey I just wanted to say thank you again, but I never got your name, Sonea’s not in a talking mood, so what’s your name?” she smiled, in a I-wanna-know-your-name like way.
“Oh sorry never introduced myself, I’m Alex Truman”
“Well thank you again Alex, I can’t even begin to tell you how thankful we all are-”
“It’s okay” I cut in. I felt awkward, should I also tell her that I was Sonea’s teacher? Why would I do that, no need for more trouble, I don’t need all this at this time.
“Mr. Truman you’re good to go, your mom’s called, and said that the ‘small’ limo is outside with Gustav” the lady behind the screen said, and looked wide eyed at me. I didn’t look like the kind of person who would be driven around in a limo, but I didn’t have my keys here, or even my car, there were no way to avoid the limo. I turned to Sonea’s mother.
“Say goodbye to Sonea from me, will you?” I smiled kindly, and walked out the glass-double doors. I felt Sonea’s mother’s eyes on my back, but kept on walking.
“Hey Gustav”
“Hello Mr. Truman”
“Don’t call me that, it’s just Alex”
“Of course M- Alex” Gustav said opening the door for me, I crawled in, and Gustav crawled in, in the drivers seat. I looked at the windows of the hospital, the engine purred to life, and the car started moving slowly. As we slowly started driving, I saw Sonea stand by the window, her expression emotionless.
We drove for an hour or so, when we finally pulled into the garage the other limos was lined up beautifully. The house itself was also beautiful, a huge front lawn, flowers and tons of flowers, the large oak front door no nothing had changed at all.
This was my childhood house; there were two houses, one where we all lived, and a shed where we kept things, like all the garden equipment. The house where we lived had two floors, it also had a kitchen and two personal chefs, they moved around with my parents. I didn’t need all of this, I didn’t need two bedrooms, an entertainment room, a huge bathroom or three cars. My parents seemed to need it though, but that’s where I don’t look like them at all. I ran to the door, and knocked on it.
“Oh for heavens sake Alex, you don’t need to knock!” my mom called from inside. I opened the door, and walked in, took of my shoes.
“Mom?” I called.
“In here dear!” she called from the tea room. She spent loads of time here, just drinking tea with whoever would join her. I entered the room, to find my mom and Casper sitting with their tea cups.
“No you did not do that!” I said angrily at him.
“You wouldn’t tell!”
“That doesn’t give you the right to just-”
“Oh come now boys, don’t be like when you were three” she looked sternly at us. I sighed and sat down between them.
“So you wanted to see me?” I asked, pretending that I didn’t know what she wanted to talk about, childish yes indeed.
“Yes I wanted to have a little chat with you, and you know what we should talk about” she said sternly.
“Yes… you think I have a totally freaky crush on Sonea, which isn’t the case here” I said convin-cingly.
“Honey it’s okay were not gonna judge you”
“Casper don’t call me honey, I’m not in the mood”
“Chill it, now your mother was kind enough to fill me in on your life crisis, and I want to help”
“You don’t need to help me, because I’m not in love with anybody” I snapped quickly.
“Except for Sonea” he shot back.
“Yes except fo-” I stopped in mid-sentence. “Oh very clever” I crossed my arms.
“Alex its okay, just look deep inside of yourself, and you will find the answer” my mom said, look-ing slightly concerned.
“I need some time to think”
“You’ve got enough time, now go walk Padols, he’s missed you so” my mom said getting up. “Casper follow me, you’re going to have a sneak peak on the up coming fashion show”
“Oh my gosh I love you mummy!” Casper jumped up, and hurried up the stairs, my mother right behind him. “Padols!” I called through the house. An old beagle came running through the door, which came from the kitchens.
“Just been out for a snack, have you?” I bent down, and said properly hello. “Oh God I’ve missed you, you know that?” Padols barked. “Oh yeah I forgot you understand people, you crazy dog” I opened the door for Padols, and we walked outside. We walked the forest, and for some reason I felt I had to tell him what had happened.
“So you see Padols, I’m really confused, in some way I feel… well weird. Do you understand? No? You see some part of me likes Sonea, but another part of me tells me that I don’t like her in that kind of way. I think the wisest thing to do, is not to pursue anything with Sonea, don’t you think so?” I looked at Padols, he looked down, that meant no. Eventhough Padols didn’t agree, I agreed to go along with my plan. “You see Padols, we only need to stay away from her” we had walked all the way around the house, and walked a little around in the forest. We had walked in silence, and I had just found out just what a stupid twat I was. The image of Sonea kept popping up in the back of my mind, but only as a friend. No this was different; I had never thought about a person this much. I couldn’t even walk two steps without thinking about her, and the more I tried to think of something else, the more I thought about her. ‘This is not good’ I thought. ‘Okay clear your head stop thinking of her!’ “Fuck!” I yelled in frustration. I saw how I had reached the pool, and the coffee tables out in the back yard, Padols sat on the side of the pool, wagging his tail. Sonea came walking through the open door, she turned and looked at me, then waved and blurred out.
I shook my head “Just an illusion” I said out loud. Then I saw her swimming around in the pool, she was gone before I could blink. She sat on the side of the pool scratching Padols, and then she turned into smoke, and slowly disappeared. I was going crazy, I couldn’t think, and at the same time couldn’t stop. I didn’t really prepare, I just needed to get my head and my thoughts cleared. I quickly jumped of the edge, and felt the same weightless sensation as when I was a child. Padols ran into the house, to get some shelter. I expected the feeling to stop, but everything moved in slow-motion, jumping of the edge, Sonea’s smile, in mid-air, hearing her laugh, just above the surface, feeling the sensation of her holding my hand.
SPLASH.
I had hit the surface, and went right through and all the way under. The taste of chlor, the feeling of water in my eyes hit immediately. I hit the bottom, and felt the urge to set of of it, and reenter the world of oxygen. I looked around, this was stupid, I swam, to the edge, and crawled up. Padols, ran upstairs, he was probably gonna tell on me. Soon after came my mother and Casper running, I stood there dripping water all over the place; I had already made a mini-pool underneath me. My mother gasped, Casper looked as if I had just punched him, taken aback and surprised. This wasn’t my usual behavior either; the worst and also best thing was that I still couldn’t get her out of my head.
“Mom…” I said shakily. “I-I think I like l-like her” I stammered.
“Oh my dear boy” she hurried over and hugged me around the shoulders. “I’m so proud of you”
“Why? It’s disgusting”
“Alex! Silly boy. Love of every kind is beautiful, and to find someone you love, there is no greater goal, there is noting I could be more proud of; than my son finally finding someone. I don’t care if she is a student of yours or if it’s against the laws” she looked up, and I saw tears in her eyes.
“I didn’t say love” I said shakily.
“Oh Alex when did you grow up, it seems only yesterday, that you played around with Casper in your tree house” she ignored what I said. And hugged me tighter.
“Aww it’s a family hug, give some room” Casper came a wrapped his long arms around me and my mother.
“Now Casper go make some tea, would you?” he nodded, and walked to the kitchens. “And Alex dear, go get cleaned up” she said pushing me inside. I went upstairs, and found my room. It was pretty plain, just a bed, a dresser, big windows, and curtains. I found some clothes, and walked to my bath room, it was the same style as the one in my apartment. I turned the warm water on, the shower was quick, and it actually helped me gain control over my thoughts. I walked slowly down-stairs, I found my mother and Casper sitting with tea cups again, they looked just like when I came, I sat down between them.
“What am I gonna do then?” I looked pleadingly at my mother.
“ really don’t kno-” she was cut off, by Casper’s phone ringing.
Shut up and sleep with me, come on why don’t you-
“Talk to me bitch” Casper said eagerly. “Hmm” “Yeah, I’ll be there in a sec, well probably fifteen minutes, try to keep him alive until then, okay see you, wouldn’t wanna be you” he hung up.
“Sorry princess gotta skaduche, love you” he patted my forehead, and then thinking again kissed my hair. “Mmmm love your shampoo” with that he was gone.
“I could always marry Casper” I joked miserable. I looked at my mom, and then we both burst out laughing. The laughter died down, and I began to realize, just how bad this was.
“I can’t face her again” I murmured.
“You’ll have to” my mother said. “But maybe you should just talk to her?”
“No, I’ll just try to stay away from her”
“Now why would you do that?”
“It’s not right okay, she deserves the best of the best, and she deserves a chance at life, not to be rambled with some foolish 22 year-olds love life” I sighed and rubbed my face.
“Alex a love of any kind, is not something to be hidden in a box, or in this case drowned” she looked at me, sadness in her eyes.
“I’m sorry mother, but she doesn’t feel the same way, she just thinks me to be her best friend, and I wouldn’t be able to just be that for her” I looked down. “It’s better this way, at least for her”
“Alex this is not the best for you” she placed a hand on my shoulder. “You can’t always do what’s best for others, and forget yourself”
“But in this case, I haven’t got a choice” “I need a break away from everything” I took a swig of Casper’s tea cup.
“Then stay here, we’ll be leaving tomorrow, you can clear you thought’s out here”
“You know what, I will” I kissed her on the cheek. “Thanks mom, I’ll go home and pack some stuff, I’ll be back at dinner time”
“Okay dear, bye I’ll tell the chef”