Sad, Beautiful, Tragic

When Alex woke up the moon was shining brightly through his window, creating shadows and silhouettes across his walls. He groaned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes while letting out a long yawn. His hand fished under his pillow in search of his cell phone, pulling it out he clicked on the screen to find the time was 9:00pm. His eyes opened in shock as he realized he had slept the whole day away, though he had stayed up pretty late. A small smile made its way on to Alex’s face before being quickly replaced with a frown as he remembered the morning’s events that had taken place hours beforehand.
“What the hell happened?” He groaned to himself as he threw his head back in frustration. That question had been plaguing his mind ever since Madison told him goodbye.

Truth be told, Alex had been crushing on Madison since the first day of freshman year when he was assigned to sit next to her in their algebra class. She never spoke a work to him but would push her paper over to him discreetly when he was stuck, if she hadn’t let him cheat off of her tests he would have easily failed the class.

Alex was captivated by her that year but his new friends Jack and Rian had warned him against pursuing her. They told him how she wasn’t worth the chase and how she was just an anti-social loser but still Alex couldn’t shake her from his curiosity. Now, three years later he was convinced that it was much more than her just being anti-social. Besides, people don’t just build fortresses around themselves for no reason. In that moment, Alex decided that he would be the one to break the walls down; he would be the one to solve the mystery of Madison.

He walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where he found his mom preparing a cup of tea.

“Hey, sleepy head” Isobel greeted her son warmly and passed him a cup of tea. He smiled appreciatively and sipped on the tea, the warm liquid warming his body even though it was in the middle of summer. He sat the small cup on the counter and leaned across it.

“Hey, mom” He began, waiting for her attention to be devoted on him.

“Mhmm” she beckoned him to continue.

“What do you know about Madison, our neighbor, ya know?” He asked.

Isobel smiled and sat her own cup of tea down “honestly, I don’t know much other than she was adopted by the Clark’s about seven years ago. I can hardly believe it’s even been that long. Poor dear has had it pretty rough.”

Alex’s brow furrowed as he was obviously not following what his mom was saying.

“Whad’ya mean?”

Isobel placed her hands over his and patted them before kissing his forehead. “Honey, if you want to know so badly maybe you should befriend the girl. After all, it’s not my story to tell.”

Alex sighed in disappointment. He was hoping figuring Madison out would be easier and that his mom would tell him all of the important details. He knew she was friends with Mrs.Clark and that they get together every few weeks. He didn’t know what they talked about but once Jack had overheard when he was over and he said something about them discussing Madison’s progress after an appointment; which was also when Jack had decided that Madison really was just a psychotic loser.

Alex finished his cup of tea and wandered down the hallway towards the front door where he left his shoes. He slipped them on and almost silently slipped out of the house. The wet grass squished under his feet as he walked across his yard and into Madison’s. He stopped at the border of her house and grabbed a handful of garden pebbles before walking around to the back side of the house where he positioned himself towards her bedroom window. He turned one of the stones over in his hands before lifting his hand up and setting the pebble in motion towards the glass window.

Clink.

The pebble fell back to the ground and Alex could see her shadow moving across the room behind the curtain. He sent another pebble up to the window, and another, and another.

Finally, Madison pulled the curtain back. Alex waved sheepishly as he noticed the girls glare.

“Hey…” he hesitantly said once she opened the window. He was suddenly nervous and unsure why he even came over.

“What are you doing here, Alex?” Madison asked, her voice sounding worn out.

Alex kicked a stray pebble before looking up to answer “I just wanted to visit my friend”

Madison ran her hand through her tangled hair and sighed “we aren’t friends”

“We could be” Alex shot back, determined to win this battle
.
“We can’t” Madison argued, shaking her head.

“Why?”

“I told you. You’ll only be disappointed" Madison reiterated, determined to push him away.

“I’m prepared for that” Alex smiled his most charming smile he could muster

“Why do you want this so bad? You don’t even know me.” Madison asked, her voice wavering, no one had ever tried so hard to get in her life before. No one had ever cared to want to know her after she did her best to push them away. But here was Alex, the boy she had been pushing away and ignoring for the past three years and he just wouldn’t stop trying. It baffled her.

“I want to know you” Alex replied.

“Why?” Madison cried out

“Why not?” Alex shot back and when Madison blew out the air she was holding in he knew he had won this round.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you when you are left disappointed and angry with me in the end” Madison warned him.

“Neither of those things could ever happen, but okay” Alex agreed.

“So, you should come over to Rian’s tomorrow. We are having band practice you should come listen to us. You can even tell us how much we suck” Alex joked but he secretly hoped it was enough for her to agree. He wanted his friends to know her too but more importantly he wanted her to feel like she belonged.

“Only if we can order Chinese and you pay” Madison negotiated while trying to back bite a smile.

“Deal, goodnight Mads” Alex said while walking backwards towards his own house. He waved goodbye and couldn’t wipe the huge grin from his face. He just hoped the boys would be accepting of her and wouldn’t make things awkward, the last thing he wanted was to have to start all over from square one with Madison.