I Can't Stand Alone Anymore.

I’m running. I’ve never ran so hard in my entire life. I’m out of breath. My lungs are burning and my focus is getting fuzzy. Everything looks the same in this damn forest. Tree after damn tree passes me but I can’t find the exit. It’s like a maze. A maze where everything will end. I check behind me. I can’t see anything in the dark, but I know he’s there. I know he’s after me and if he catches me, he’ll kill me.

I trip and I think I’m done for. I’m covered in mud and dirt. It’s everywhere. My knees sting. I’ve scraped them open. I check behind me again and I see movement. He’s caught up to me. I push myself back onto my feet and keep running. Running is the only thing I can do.

I weave through the trees, hopping over roots and ducking under branches, trying to avoid the sounds of guttural growling all around me. Eyes flash briefly in the darkness, danger is all around me. I’m terrified. A new rush of panic flows through me. I won’t be able to last much longer. I’m going to die.

I take another look behind me. He’s closer than I thought. I pump my legs faster and focus on getting away. I’ve never been so afraid. I hear a noise behind me. It’s him. I turn again.

A dark shape is gaining on me. I can’t even see all of him, he’s so massive. I’m so scared. He’s so big. He’s terrifying. He’s a … giant rooster? He’s cawing at me. But it’s the middle of the night. And he’s a rooster…

I sat bolt right up in bed. I looked around the room in confusion. It was only a nightmare. But I could still hear the rooster.

‘What’s going on?’ My attention was drawn to my bedside table where the cawing was coming from. I stared blankly at it. Why was my table cawing?

“Shut that damn thing up, would you? It’s annoying!” I whipped my head around to see Alekzander ruffling a towel through his damp hair. Reality slammed back into my brain.

My table wasn’t cawing, it was my alarm. I lunged for my phone to turn it off.

“Sorry. I’m kind of dazed.”

“Whatever. Just get ready. Everyone will be here soon.” He said grudgingly, obviously put out that he had to have breakfast with little ol’ me.

I leapt out of bed, grabbed a towel, and went into the bathroom to get ready. I quickly showered and put on a little bit of make-up. I wrapped the towel around myself and walked out to the closet. It was closed, so I knocked on the door.

“Are you almost done, Alekzander?” He didn’t answer me, but I could hear him mumbling behind the door. I sat down on my bed and just waited until he was finished. A few minutes later he walked out with dark blue jeans and a white t-shirt on. He had a dark green piece of fabric in his hand.

I went into the closet and closed the door behind me. ‘What to wear?’ I ruffled through my clothes. After a little bit of indecision, I settled on a pair of light wash jeans and a fitted blue t-shirt. I pulled on a pair of socks and my black canvas shoes.

When I left the closet I saw Alekzander rifling through his bedside table. The green fabric he had had in his hand was a long-sleeved plaid button-up shirt that he pulled over his t-shirt. He grabbed some books from the drawer. I copied him and pulled out a notebook full of lined paper, a folder for handouts and a pen and pencil. Alekzander looked over his shoulder and glared at me.

“What!?” I exclaimed. “What in the seven layers of hell is your problem? We were getting along so well!”

Alekzander looked startled for a second before recovering with his usual scowl. He opened his mouth, about to say something when there was a knock on our door.

“Wakey, wakey, children! It’s time for our epic first day of school!” Riley shouted through the door. I sighed and went to the door, flinging it open. “Good morning, Miss Hays.”

“Good morning, Riley. Let me just grab my books.” I walked back in the room. Alekzander hadn’t moved and was still glaring at me. “Are you ready, Alekzander? Because we should probably go eat.” He just rolled his eyes and grabbed his books before stomping outside the door. I followed suit shaking my head at him and all five of us headed toward the cafeteria.

Breakfast wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be. Alekzander mostly spoke with Riley and Emma held my attention while Ethan was pinging back and forth between both conversations. We looked at the clock and it flashed 8:45 am.

“We should probably head up.” Emma grumbled. Apparently, she wasn’t the best morning person. I had almost laughed out loud at her grouchiness. Riley found it cute too.

“Yeah, I guess so. Onward to World History.” I sighed. I really wish that I knew someone in that class.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I turned to try and see what Alekzander was going on about, but he was looking straight at me.

“No…” I murmured. ‘I was joking! I don’t care if I don’t know a single soul.’

“Of course you’re in my first class. The universe hates me.” He stomped away leaving me standing there a little shell shocked.

I growled out loud and I vaguely heard Ethan and Riley laughing at me. We climbed up the stairs and I said goodbye to them as they went to their own classes. Ethan was all the way at the other end of the hall in Math and Emma and Riley headed into the classroom next to mine.

I took a steadying breath. I was so nervous. I walked in to see the classroom almost full of students already. I grabbed a random empty seat and waited for the teacher to arrive.

When he walked in, he did so with an air of authority. Everyone settled down immediately. He was kind of intimidating. I was reminded to Mr. Collins, the principal, although he wasn’t as big.

“Hello everyone,” he said with a smile. He looked like he would be strict, but understanding. I had a feeling I was going to enjoy the class. “A new year, the same old stuff.” He held up a stack of papers. “This is your course schedule and what we will be studying this year. You will get your textbooks tomorrow. Today, we will be assigning a seating chart.”

Everyone groaned out loud but stood up anyway. I followed with my stuff in my hands. He started going down the attendance list alphabetically by last name and pointing at each desk as he said the name.

“Kaylee Hays.” He said as he pointed to a desk in the second row, almost at the back. I walked up to him and sat where he pointed. “I’m Mr. Howard. Welcome to Crestion, Ms. Hays.”

“Thank you.” I smiled back at him and put my stuff down.

“Alek Knight.” My smile dropped instantly. How could there be no one else with a last name between H and K? That was three whole letters!

Mr. Howard continued on and Alekzander came to sit behind me. I would just have to ignore him and focus on history.

Mr. Howard handed out the course packs and I took a quick look through. It all looked like subjects I would enjoy learning about and I got excited. However, we didn’t start the content on the first day. It was mostly talking about what we would learn and what to expect from Mr. Howard as a teacher. I tried to listen the best I could, but Alekzander was glaring at me the entire time. It was extremely hard to concentrate.

I was glad when the class was over and I left to meet up with Emma. She and Riley were waiting outside. Riley ruffled my hair and quickly kissed Emma on the cheek before running after Alekzander who was already heading down the stairs.

“You are going to love Art.” Emma gushed. It seemed that she was back to her normal self.

“Ugh, I hope so!” I sighed as Emma guided me to M19.

Both Art with Emma and Psychology with Riley and Ethan were actually very enjoyable. They made the classes fun, and the teachers were interesting. I was excited to start learning the content from the courses.

As third period finished up, I grabbed my books and walked with Riley and Ethan to Business class. We met Alekzander and Emma as we walked towards the staircase. Alekzander pointedly ignored me.

We walked into the first floor classroom and my eyes were instantly caught by Aaron who was waving me over to him. I knew my friends wouldn’t want to sit with him. And I was pretty sure if Alekzander and Aaron sat anywhere near each other, they would rip each other’s heads off.

‘Where am I supposed to sit?’

Ethan picked up on my sudden indecision. He leaned in towards me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Go sit with Aaron. We’ll see you at lunch.”

I turned to him with a huge smile. “Thanks!” I walked over to Aaron and sat down in the desk beside him. “Hey, Aaron. How was your morning?”

“It was alright. Nothing too hard.” He grinned at me. “But it’s a lot better now. I’m really glad I have this class with you, Kay.”

“Yeah. Me too.” I said as the teacher, Miss Dunn, walked into the class.

She was young looking but had a very sharp look about her. Her long nose and high cheek bones could have cut glass and her eyes were severe. When she talked, she was straight to the point, but the way she formed her sentences made it easy to understand her. She was very business-like, which made me giggle.

Her eyes swerved towards me instantly. “Is there something wrong, Miss Hays?”

“A-ah. N-no Miss Dunn.”

“Then may I ask what was so funny about what I just said?”

“Nothing! I was just- I was…” Her eyes were piercing into mine so intensely that I looked anywhere but at her as I fumbled for words. Aaron was dumbfounded and kept looking between me and the teacher like we were locked in a tennis match. Everyone else had similar looks of interest on their faces. Emma, Riley, and Ethan were looking at me in slight concern as I sputtered.

My eyes then landed on Alekzander. He was looking at me with such amusement in his green eyes that he managed to look condescending at the same time. As my eyes locked with his, he sent me a slight smirk, obviously laughing at the situation I had put myself into on my first day.

I straightened and looked back at Miss Dunn with a small smile on my face. “Nothing’s the matter Miss Dunn. I was just thinking that you’re very business-like, and it seemed appropriate, given that this is a Business class. That’s all.”

Miss Dunn looked appeased, even as other people snickered at my response. “Well, then if that’s all Miss Hays, I will continue.” I looked over to my friends and the three of them looked like they were trying to not burst out laughing. I sent them a saucy wink and turned back to listen to the teacher again.

The lunch bell rang throughout the school and I packed up my notebook and pen.

“Ready for lunch, Kay?” Aaron was looking expectantly at me and I froze.

“Actually, I told Emma I would eat lunch with her…. I’m sorry.”

There was a small silence between us as the students around us shuffled their things and headed to lunch. Aaron smiled a little at me. “That’s alright. I’ll see you in French, right?”

“For sure!” I waved as I walked away to the door. As I exited I saw everyone waiting for me in the hallway, even Alekzander. Emma grinned at me and looped her arm with mine.

“So, how’s day one so far?”

“It’s alright. I like most of my classes. Although History really has a problem.”

“A problem?” Riley asked.

“Yeah. There’s something about it that really annoys me. I feel like I have this constant burning on the back of my head. Almost as if someone needs a life.”

“Oh shut up.” Everyone looked between Alekzander and me.

“No I won’t. You won’t stop glaring at me and I don’t appreciate it!”

“Because you’re such a pain in my ass! I can’t stand you!”

“I sit in front of you, Alekzander. How is that being a pain in your ass?” He was going to retort, but he noticed the people who had stopped to stare at our little yelling match. He let out an agitated growl before stomping off to the cafeteria.

After lunch, my day just got worse. I had Economics with none other than Alekzander. We got to pick our seats so he thankfully sat on the other side of the classroom from me. However, it wasn’t as much of a relief as I thought it would be. Everyone around me was talking about me.

“Isn’t she the one that slapped Alek?”

“Yeah, and I heard Mona hates her.”

“I see Aaron Cain around her a lot. Are they dating? He could do so much better.”

Then after that, I went to French. Even though Ethan was in that class with me, Aaron was too and he pretty much dragged me to the opposite side to the classroom before I could say anything. The teacher was awful, just as Ethan had said, and wouldn’t explain anything in English. Aaron wasn’t good at French either, so we both sat there, struggling to figure out what he was talking about.

Ethan did send me a text message halfway through class to calm me down though. He assured me that he would help explain after school. But even though that relaxed me a little bit, I was still not excited about French class.

I walked to Math with Aaron and we sat towards the front of the classroom. To my dismay however, Alekzander walked in as well, sticking to that back of the room. I could still feel him glaring at me. I wasn’t particularly good at Math, but the teacher, Mr. Lewis seemed to be a good teacher and was interesting to listen to. I was satisfied by the thought that I probably wouldn’t fail.

The final class of the day was the one I was looking forward to the most. Riley had gone on and on about the English teacher, Mr. Ritter, and I was excited to see what the fuss was all about. My eyes instantly landed on my friends who had saved me a seat. I smiled, even though a grumbling Alekzander sat there as well.

The desks were set up in a U-shape and they sat farthest from the door. Alekzander was closest to the blackboard followed by Riley to his left, then Emma and Ethan. Ethan had his book bag on the empty desk beside him.

“Is this seat taken?” I asked playfully.

“By you.” He pulled his bag off and I sat down gratefully.

“Thank goodness this day is almost over.” I groaned.

“Not the best?” Emma asked as she leaned forward.

“Ups and downs I guess.” I grimaced. “Downs outweigh the ups at the moment though.”

“Don’t worry, Kay. Mr. Ritter’s an awesome teacher. Plus,” Ethan smiled, “we’re all here. So that must make you’re day better already.”

“You know what? It kind of does.” I giggled as the teacher walked into the room.

Mr. Ritter was a young looking man with a small set of glasses perched on his nose. He had a bright blue button down shirt over a pair of dark denim jeans. He walked in with an air of warmth and had a beatific smile on his face.

“Hello, class! Welcome to English!” Two sentences in and I was already hooked on the man. I knew that English was going to be my favourite class. Mr. Ritter was enthusiastic and was really funny but he also knew what he was teaching about. And the content we were going to learn had me almost bouncing in my chair.

Mr. Ritter finished with his introductory spiel, but we still had 15 minutes left of the class.

“I would tell you all to talk amongst yourselves until the bell, but I want an early day too. So off you go. Out of my classroom.”

We all laughed as we packed up our stuff and the five of us headed for dinner. I was glad my first day ended so well.

“Of course I sent you that text, Kay. You just had this blank face as Mr. Espaillat was talking. You looked like a deer caught in headlights.” Ethan laughed at me.

“I told you that I hated French! It’s awful. And that teacher is just…” Ethan just laughed again while he nodded his head.

Emma leaned in from her seat on Riley’s lap. “At least you don’t have Miss Barnes.” She shivered. Riley chuckled from beneath her as she turned to Alekzander. He was leaning on his hand which was propped up on the table. “Right, Alek?”

“Yeah. I was hoping we would get a different Bio teacher. She’s hated me ever since Riley tipped my chair back first year.” He smirked at the memory, punching Riley non-too-gently in the shoulder. “She wouldn’t believe me when I told her it was him and actually put me in detention for a week.”

“No way. I’m glad I’m Psychology then.” I looked from Emma to Alekzander. “I wouldn’t be able to handle that. I could barely handle Miss Dunn!” Everyone laughed and Alekzander smirked a little bit. He then seemed to remember himself. He frowned and turned his head away from us. He started to pick at a loose string on his plaid over shirt.

I rolled my eyes, but smiled despite myself. He was stupid, but I already knew that. My day ended up pretty decent. Already Crestion was better than my old school. I had some awesome friends and some great teachers. Aaron was amazing and so sweet. Even Alekzander’s grumpiness was starting to grow on me. I was ready for life at Crestion.