Never Look Back

Are you sure you can cook?” Jack asked as he stared disgustingly at his food while he twirled it around on his plate. I sighed; I had been getting this all night from all of them including Alex who decided he wanted to stay for dinner.
“It’s really not my fault all you guys eat is macaroni in a box every night instead of real food,” I snapped at him and took another bite of the chicken casserole I had made for them out of the kindness of my heart.
“I have to agree with Jack on this one, it doesn’t look very appetizing...” Patrick copied Jack’s expression and I looked over at Alex for some help.
“Never cook again.” He said simply and I rolled my eyes. What happened to the ‘I wanna be there for you’ Alex?
They all ended up dumping the food for some homemade macaroni from the box. I silently ate alone at the table while they happily ate on the couch. I was not too excited about guy world all the time. I cleaned up my dish and was headed back to my room when Jack stopped me with a question.
“Hey Alyssa, who gave you a ride home today?”
“Matt did, he said he could everyday…if that’s okay with you,” I said and a devilish smile formed on Jack’s lips.
“Does someone have a crush on Mr. Flyzik?” He asked and I rolled my eyes.
“Oh my Jack you’re seriously gonna turn all third grade on me?” I giggled at him as he maintained the creepy face. I quick glanced at Alex to see his expression was very uneasy and actually kind pissed off.
“Don’t talk to Matt, he’s a huge loser and he only talks to girls with huge boobs,” Alex said to me and I unconsciously looked down at my boobs.
“What?” I asked to my chest, I wasn’t sure what he was trying to say.
“Just like you?” Jack started cracking up after he said that and Alex smacked him across the head several times. I shook my head at them and headed on back to my room, alone.
I wondered what Alex was thinking about at that very moment. He seemed angry and betrayed and just mad, I was confused as to why though. All we were talking about was Matt! Alex liking me wasn’t even a possible option since he obviously didn’t seem to care a whole lot about me at school, he even joined in. I didn’t get him. I didn’t get how he worked, who he liked or what was happening and I just chose to ignore it.
I entered my room, the one place I could retreat to. I spent most of my time in this cramped little room that I happened to love so dearly. I hadn’t been in my room for 10 minutes when the boys burst through the door.
“Alyssa! Tell Alex that Call of Duty is way better than Battlefield!” Jack whined and Alex struck back.
“Dude, all the Call of Duty games are exactly alike, you can’t do crazy shit. The only good feature is zombies.” I sighed and rolled my eyes. I seriously had to deal with this for the rest of the year…maybe more.
“C.O.D. had so much more options, and fuck you! Battlefield…is shit!”
“Nooo, Battlefield is way more fun and you’d realize that if you would actually try to play it once.” Alex said crossing his arms and shaking his head in disbelief. I shoved them out of my room but Alex stayed behind.
“Hey Alyssa, you need anything?” He asked, his mood suspiciously shifting to being very concerned.
“No?” I asked more than said,” Why are you so caring outside of school but you don’t give a shit about me in school?”
He shrugged,” I don’t know, I’m just not used to talking to girls that I’m not trying to bang,” I exhaled a huge breath and rolled my eyes.
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter anyway since practically everyone at school hates me. One more really doesn’t make a difference.”
“No, I’m being a dick sorry,” he said apologetically but then his expression brightened. “We are going to be best friends, you wait!”
I snorted at his remark as he skipped out of my room back to Jack, there was no way we’d ever be friends. His personality is nastier than the clothes the people at school wear…and that’s pretty damn nasty.
.........
I excitingly showered and dressed into a navy blue dress and tan leather flats. Alex picked up Jack and I like he said and the whole way there all they talked about what Pokémon.
I followed Alex to our first period, saying hi to Matt on the way and giving him a hug that Alex questioned.
“For only giving you rides, you guys are pretty close.” I shrugged and he didn’t push it. In our class, Mrs. Hurley decided that we should start our first writing assignment which was to write a quick passage about anything for only 5 minutes. Right away I started writing about Pittsburgh and all my experiences here. I actually have to admit that it definitely sucked ass and I tried my best to keep it out of any wandering eyes view.
When the 5 minutes was up, Alex announced that he wanted to share his first. I was shocked that he volunteered, especially since he said that he had a poem about someone that he wanted to share.

She was the challenge he'd been waiting for
Times like these feel so dangerous,
When you know you're gonna find out,
How right it feels,
To ignore the ones you love the most,
This can't be right.
And I'm lost for words when thoughts
Don’t compare - write this down...
"Jealous hearts will leave us all in ruins,"

As he finished, I couldn’t help but wonder who that poem was for. I looked around at all the girls in the room and mentally decided which ones he might have wrote it for but none of them seemed qualified. They all smiled huge at him during the poem and clapped really loud when he finished, probably hoping it was about them.
He smiled sadly and looked at me for feedback.
“That was really good Alex, when did you learn to write like that?”
He shrugged and sat back down,” I just write the things I feel.” This made me think even harder about who he was writing about, eventually I gave in.
“Who’d you write that for?” I asked.
“You’ll figure out soon enough.” I glared at him.
“Seriously? That’s all you’re gonna give me?” He nodded and I turned back to the front in defeat.
Matt gave me another ride home that was more silent than usual; most of it was my fault since I shut down all his conversation starters. I couldn’t get my mind off of whom Alex could possibly be writing about. What girl was a challenge to him? He’s had sex with nearly all the girls at that school and they’d be more than willing to get with him again without so much as an effort from Alex.
My mind flashed back to Jack’s threat at Alex if he so much as touched me. The only girl he wouldn’t easily be able to get his hands on....was me.