How to Date Alexis Brighten

He was the one that had done it. Fletcher had defaced Isaac’s school, leaving cruel words all over the walls. He had been the one that had spray-painted the walls, trashed classrooms, and left some kids in tears.

Retards.
Spastics.
Losers.
Freaks.

These were among some of the words that had been painted largely on the walls of the school only a few months ago. I remembered the day exactly. I’d driven Isaac to school that morning, to see that large areas had been taped off. Parents with their kids milled around the front of the school, some were crying. A few policemen were inspecting the area, their patrol cars parked by the curb. Reporters were standing by the sidelines, taking pictures and trying to find out as much information as possible. School was cancelled for the next week while people tried to clean up the mess.

It had been awful. My mother had raved about it endlessly, and when the young offenders had been caught, she still wasn’t happy. At the time, I had no idea who Fletcher was, and now, he was a part of my life. I could only imagine what my mother would have to say about that.

Now, Lacey was practically jumping off the walls. “What did he do?” She repeated over and over, her enthusiasm irritating. I silently handed her my phone and got up from her bed, crossing the room to the door. “That’s not so bad,” Lacey said, tossing the phone back to me. I caught it and slid it into the back pocket of my jeans.

“Not that bad?” I asked in disbelief. “Kids were crying over that, Lacey. You have no idea how that affects people.”

“Yeah, but they should be used to it. People call them names like that all the time,” Lacey said. “Why do you care so much, anyway?”

“My little brother goes to that school,” I said, turning on my heel and leaving. “Alexis, wait! I didn’t know...” Lacey called after me, but I kept walking. Out the door, down the street, straight for the place where I knew I’d find the person I needed to talk to.

When I got to the clearing, Ace was right where I thought he’d be. Sitting on the ledge, overlooking the town, lit cigarette in hand. I sat down beside him, dangling my legs over the edge. “Hey,” I said after a moment. He turned his face to look and me and nodded.

“You figured it out, then?” He said after a few moments of silence.

“Yeah,” I said, staring straight ahead.

“What’re doing here, then?” Ace replied.

“I just want to know why he did it. Does he even care? Does he know what that did to some of the kids?” I said, my voice cracking. I saw Ace shrug out of the corner of my eye. “If you want to know that, you’ll have to ask him,” he said.

“Oh, but I’ve got to stay away from him. He’s so dangerous,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Look, Alexis. If you really want to know about him, you’ve gotta ask him this stuff yourself. I’m not going to try and stop you if you do,” Ace said, taking another drag.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re too damn stubborn and you’ll just go ahead and do it anyway,” Ace said, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“You don’t know me,” I said, holding back my smile.

“I feel like I do. Fletch never shuts up about you,” Ace said, shrugging.

“What does he say about me?” I asked him, curiousity getting the better of me.

“Ask him yourself,” Ace said, looking over his shoulder. I followed his gaze to see Fletcher bounding across the clearing towards us. His lopsided gait was almost amusing, and I opened my mouth to laugh, but quickly clamped it shut when I remembered what he had done. Fletcher skidded to a stop and stood there, staring, when he realised it was me.

“Ace, uh, how do you know her? What’s she doing here?” Fletcher said, obviously uncomfortable.

“I found him,” I said evenly. “I wanted to ask him about you.”

“Too scared to ask me yourself?” Fletcher said with a goofy smile, walking over and sitting down between Ace and I. “No,” I replied, too quickly, my voice wavering slightly. I wasn’t scared of Fletcher. He just made me feel uneasy. He was so unpredictable, and my whole life, I’d always known what was coming next. With Fletcher, it was anybody’s guess.

“Fire away,” Fletcher said, holding his hand out to Ace for a cigarette. Ace placed one in his hand and Fletcher pulled a lighter out of his pocket.

“Why did you do that to the school?” I blurted out, unable to stop myself.

“It was a dare,” Fletcher said casually, lighting up and taking a long drag. “A friend of mine got into a fight with a student there, it got pretty nasty. He wanted his revenge and somehow roped me into it. I got caught, he didn’t.”

“But why did you agree to it? You could’ve just said no,” I said and Fletcher let out a low laugh. “I never turn down a dare, besides, we never counted on getting caught.”

“It was stupid.” I said, frowning at him. He shrugged. “What’s it to you, anyway?”

“My brother goes to that school. Don’t you remember? I saw you there when I went to pick him up,” I replied. Fletcher looked away from me, out over the town as he thought that over.

“Look, I’m sorry,” he said after a moment, actually sounding sincere. “I never meant to hurt you.”

“That’s why you ditched me at the mall with that psycho?” I retorted.

“You did what?!” Ace cut in, his voice full of alarm.

“I didn’t ditch you. I was going to get help,” Fletcher insisted. “Let me make it up to you.”

“Make what up to me? The mall thing? The vandalism? The insults? The list?” I snapped, my eyes cutting into him.

“What list?”

Shit.

“I know you wrote it,” I continued, hoping I was right. Please, God. Let me be right. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Fletcher replied quickly, looking away from me. “Liar,” Ace muttered.

“I heard that,” I said, turning to Ace. “What do you know about it?”

“You keep your mouth shut, Sykes,” Fletcher warned him.

“Hey! No! Ace, tell me!” I protested, looking him in the face. Ace shrugged and got up, walking away quickly, leaving me alone with Fletcher. I inched backwards from the ledge. It was an awful thing to think, but I wouldn’t put it past Fletcher to push me off the edge.

“So you did write it?” I asked him, arching my eyebrows.

“Not exactly,” Fletcher replied. “I had some help.”

“Daniel?”

Fletcher looked away again, taking another long drag of his cigarette. “Me and Daniel...” he trailed off. “It’s complicated.”

“You were friends once,” I said, staring out over the town. The sky was beginning to darken, a few lights flicking on in houses below. Everyone going on with their lives, as we watched on.

“Not just friends,” Fletcher said. “Brothers. You couldn’t separate us.”

I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. I couldn’t imagine Fletcher and Daniel ever being friends. They were so different. Fletcher was like fire, unpredictable and dangerous with a mind of his own. He always forged his own path. Daniel was like water, willing to move along at a slower pace, easy-going, moving in a path someone else had already made.

“Opposites attract?” I said.

“Something like that,” Fletcher said with a wry smile.

“So what happened?” Pain flashed across Fletcher’s face and he turned away from me. “Fletch, please tell me.”

“You’ve never called me Fletch before,” he commented. “I kinda like it.” I shoved him in the shoulder playfully and he laughed.

“Look, we’re just not friends anymore. We haven’t been for a long time,” Fletcher dismissed the subject before throwing his cigarette away.

“You’re just going to leave it at that?” I said. Fletcher was already on his feet, turning to walk away. “Looks like it!” He called over his shoulder as he ran off. I sat back down and crossed my arms over my chest angrily. I was angry at Fletcher – for everything he’d done. Angry at Daniel – for not telling me anything about Fletcher.

But most of all, I was angry at myself. Fletcher had admitted to writing the list, but he’d also said he’d had some help. The list was in Daniel’s handwriting – it was definite. And after everything I’d gone through to figure all this out, I still had no idea why they’d even bothered to write it in the first place.