Lessons Learned I

I walked outside on the campus lawn as I did every evening after school, looking for Alex. I came to a sudden halt when I spotted him.

He didn't even look like himself.

He had purple, blue, and red out-of-control hair. He was wearing a band tee, Converse shoes, and a studded belt.

My eyes widened as I walked over to him. "A-Alex?" I asked.

"Sup?" he said.

My eyes widened even more as they traced his whole body. "U-Um...wow..." I mumbled.

He crossed his arms and stared at me.

Suddenly, Adam wandered over. "Hey, Rachel," he said, smiling.

"Um...hi, Adam..." I mumbled. I looked at Alex again. "What's up with this...?"

Alex merely shrugged.

Adam gave Alex a weird look. "What's up with the attire?"

"Nunya," Alex replied.

I gave Alex a really odd look before looking over at Adam.

Adam gave Alex wide eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Why do you care?" Alex asked.

"Just concerned..." Adam mumbled.

I gave them both a weird look before turning to the apparent only sane one there.

"What's up, Adam?" I asked.

Adam smiled. "Oh, the usual. What about you?"

Alex ran his fingers through his hair.

I gave him an odd look before smiling at Adam a little.

"About the same."

Adam smiled. "Oh! That reminds me..." He pulled out a small poster from his bag and handed it to me. "Picked it up at a concert a couple months back." He winked.

I unrolled it and looked at it. I soon found that I was holding a signed Vertical Horizon poster.

My eyes widened and I looked up at Adam. "Is this real?!" I exclaimed excitedly.

"Yup." He smiled.

"...whoa..." I mumbled. "H-How'd you get a hold of this?!"

"I've got connections." He winked at me.

I looked back down at the poster, which looked totally authentic. I looked up at Adam and smiled.

"Wow...I don't know what to say..."

Adam shrugged. "Eh, nothing to say."

I could feel Alex staring at us both.

I looked down at the poster one more time before looking up at Adam and giving him a huge, abrupt hug.

"Thank you!" I said.

Adam hugged me back. "Anytime, Rachel." He pulled away and smiled.

I smiled back at him before taking a step back and examining the poster again. I couldn't believe my eyes.

Matt Scannell!

"You like it?" he asked.

"Totally! Dude, it's Matt Scannell!" I showed the poster to Alex. "Check it out, Alex! It's freaking Matt Scannell's autograph! Isn't this awesome?!" I asked excitedly.

Alex's eyes widened. "How the fuck did you get that?!"

I pointed to Adam. "Didn't you see him give it to me?!"

"No, I was distracted by that retard over there," Alex said, pointing to a geeky guy surrounded by preppy chicks.

"...oh. Well check this out!" I handed it to him.

Alex's eyes widened even more. "Jesus criminey..."

"Isn't this awesome?!"

"Yeah!"

"EE! Thank you SO much, Adam," I said.

He smiled at me. "Any time, Rach."