Guitars and Love Notes

Walking into second hour Alex couldn’t help but sigh at the word project written largely across the white board. If there was one thing he didn’t want to do today, it was a project, but obviously luck wasn’t on his side.

“So class today is the first day you get to really work with your new partner,” Miss Martinez said with a smile as she gained the classes attention. “We are starting a large project that is going to be due three weeks from today. Now I know most of you probably won’t want to hear this, but it will require that you get together with your partner outside of class to complete some of the work. Now I’m going to pass out the work sheets that outline your project and then you can talk to your partner about a work schedule and have the rest of class to work on your project.”

With a sigh Alex grabbed the papers that were past back to him and passed one to Zack so that they could both read over what was expected of them.

“So it looks like we have to pick one of these famous chemists and write a paper on it, shouldn’t be too hard,” Alex said with a smile looking at Zack. “Which one do you want to do?”

“I’m good with any of them,” Zack said as he too read over the paper.

“Alright, well when do you want to get together to work on this?”

“Well we could start tonight if you wanted. That way we could finish it sooner.”

“As great as that sounds I’ve got plans. What about Sunday?”

“Can’t, my parents declare Sunday as ‘family time’, so I have to spend the day with them,” Zack explained.

“Alright, then I guess we’ll just have to work on it a few days after school next week.”

“I can do that, just let me know what days and where,” he said smiling over at Alex.

“Sounds good,” Alex said returning the smile.



That night after meeting up at Jack’s house, Rian, Alex and Jack made their way to the off campus apartments twenty minutes away in the hopes of having a great night out. Rian was happy because his girlfriend Cassadee was going to be meeting him up there. Since Jack was single and Lisa was forced to stay home for a night of studying by her parents, Alex and Jack were relying on one other to have a good night and make sure that they got home safely.

“You have Miss Martinez for second hour right?” Rian asked Alex making conversation as they walked down the quiet streets towards the party.

“Yep, don’t you have her later in the day?”

“Fifth hour,” Rian said with a fake smile as he kicked a rock that was in his path. “I really don’t like this project she had us start today. It really bugs me when teachers make you meet up with your partners outside of class just to finish work for their class. Why can’t she just extend the due date a little bit so that we have more time to work on it in class?”

“I don’t know man, but it can’t be that bad,” Alex said pulling his jacket around him just that little bit more as the wind started to pick up.

“Oh it can be. Guess who my partner is?”

“Umm… Mike,” Jack guessed having no idea who was in Rian’s class.

“I don’t even think there’s anyone in the class named Mike,” he said after thinking about it for a second. “But no, my partner is that Taylor girl. You know the one that’s been in love with me since freshmen year? I really don’t want to have to spend more time with her than I have to. It’s kind of creepy sitting next to her in class and seeing ‘Mrs. Rian Dawson’ written all over her notes. It’s been almost four years that she’s had this crush, plus I have a girlfriend. You would think she’d be over it by now.”

“That’s the problem man, you think she’d be over it, but she’s so crazy and obsessive that she isn’t. I can just see it now, when we go to our ten year class reunion you and Cassadee will be married and Taylor will still be holding out the hope of being your wife,” Alex said with a laugh. “Just warn Cassadee incase Taylor goes all psycho on us and tried to kill her off.”

“Who’s trying to kill me off?” Cassadee said scaring the three boys as she walked up behind them.

“Hey babe, I thought I was meeting you at the party?”

“So was I, but we just happened to both be heading there so I thought I’d join you guys. If that’s alright,” she said with a smile.

“Of course it’s fine. It’s not often you grace us with your presence Miss goes to another school district,” Jack said jokingly as he reached over and pulled Cassadee into a hug.

“Well I’m so sorry. I’ll tell my parents to move so that I can live in your school district and go there,” she said with a laugh as she hugged him back.

“Yeah, you should get on that.”

Laughing the four friends turned the corner and instantly knew which house was holding the party, without even double checking the address. Jack had been told this was going to be a small party, but looking at the house it was anything but. Not only was music blasting with the bass on way too high and making it seem as though the whole world was bouncing along with it, but there were kids all across the lawn.

According to the information Jack had gotten via text about the party it has only started twenty minutes ago, but there were already three or four girls throwing up in the bushes while their boyfriends held their hair back with an extremely disgusted look on their faces.

“Lightweights,” Alex laughed shaking his head as they walked past the girls and into the house in search of the kitchen so that they could get some alcohol in their systems.

Once the four friends all had a beer in their hands they decided to split up. Rian and Cassadee went out to the make shift dance floor and joined in with all the other couples grinding on one another while drinking their beers. While they were out their Alex and Jack stood along the side of the room drinking and laughing at all the slutty girls trying to impress the drunk jocks.

“So who do you think will get a guy to take them upstairs first? Spilling her beer Karli or can’t stand up on her own Melanie?" Jack asked using his red solo cup to point at the girls in question.

“Karli,” Alex stated as though it was fact. “The buffoons are going to be looking for an easy lay and practically carrying the girl up the stairs would turn most of them off.”

“Good point,” he said with a shrug before taking a sip of his drink.

“Told you,” he said with a laugh nodding to the stairs where Jack quickly looked only to see Karli being lead up the stairs by one of the colleges leading linebackers.

“I wonder if he knows that she’s not only still in high school but barely legal,” Jack said turning to his friend.

“He probably doesn’t even give a fuck.”

“Probably not,” he shrugged. “I’m going to go get a refill, do you need one too?”

“It would be much appreciated,” he said with a smile as his friend walked towards the kitchen to get them more alcohol.

The pattern continued on for the next hour or so. Alex and Jack would take turns going into the kitchen and refilling their cups with any kind of alcohol they could find as their walking got sloppier and more uneven. It wasn’t until about an hour and a half later the one of the boys left their posts at the wall for something other than a drink.

“I’m going to go find a bathroom,” Alex slurred before ascending the stairs and almost falling down them twice. The first few doors he tried ended up being locked, but finally he found one that was unlocked and opened it hoping to see a toilet and a sink. Instead he found one Zack Merrick diligently working on some homework. Cocking his head to the side Alex took a lot around the room only to come to the conclusion that this had to be Zack’s room, if the picture hanging on the wall of him and various other people was any indication. Alex was hoping that he could back out of the room without Zack noticing him, but that really didn’t happen as he tripped over his own feet and fell face first onto the floor.

“Are you okay?” Zack asked as he quickly scrambled off his bed and went to help up the drunken guy on his floor. “Alex, what are you doing here?” he asked once he realized the drunk on his floor was his new chemistry partner.

“I’m trying to find a bathroom. I really have to pee,” Alex said still slurring his words while giving out way too much information.

“Come on,” Zack said pulling him further into the room. “You can use mine. Good knows how disgusting some of the others have gotten with all the people using them.”

“I didn’t know you lived with the college kids,” he said not really paying attention to what Zack was saying. “Oh look a bathroom.”

“Enjoy,” he laughed as he pushed Alex into the room and shut the door behind himself. With Alex securely in the bathroom Zack sat back down on his bed and pulled his homework back into his lap, hoping that he could get back into his groove and ignore the sounds of the party once again.

“Why are you here? Doing homework no less,” Alex asked as he walked out of the bathroom and threw himself across the end of Zack’s bed.

“I’m here because I live here,” Zack said as he pulled his notebook out from under Alex’s body. “And I’m doing homework because I don’t like partying.”

“How can you not like partying?”

“Because unlike you, I’d like to remember what happened to me the next morning.”

“But drinking is so much fun. You can do whatever you want without a care in the world.”

“Sorry, not for me. Maybe you should go back and join the party because I really need to get my work done and I can’t do so with you here bugging me.”

“Fine party pooper, I’ll go,” he said as he got up off the bed and walked towards the door. “See you in class on Monday.”



“So weirdest thing ever,” Alex said the next morning as he sat down next to Jack at the breakfast bar in Jack’s kitchen. “I swear I was talking to Zack last night at the party, because really why would that kid be at a party, because he really isn’t the type to party.”

“Who’s Zack,” Jack said getting up as the toaster popped up signaling his pop tart was done.

“Remember that kid I was telling you about that I was partnered with in Chemistry,” he said waiting for Jack’s nod before continuing. “Well that’s Zack, and I swear he was at the party last night which is really weird. He’s just so quiet, hell I didn’t even know he went to our school until I sat next to him, but I just couldn’t see him at a party. But then again from what I remember he wasn’t really partying; he was doing homework.”

“Okay, seriously, what kind of loser goes to a house party to do homework?” Jack said with a laugh before taking a bite of his pop tart.

“I don’t know. Hell I don’t even think it happened. I was probably really drunk and just imagined it because seriously I’m trying so hard to figure that kid out. Did you know I worked with him once before in ninth grade English and don’t even remember it?”

“Really, and here I thought you were the kid that knew everyone in our class.”

“I thought so too. I might not be friends with everyone, but I thought I at least knew them all.”

“Guess you were wrong,” he said before shoving the last of his pop tart into his mouth. “Now let’s go play some video games.”

Walking into the den Alex grabbed a controller off of the table and plopped down on the couch, making Jack put in the game he threw at him. Five minutes later the two boys were in the beginning stages of Call of Duty: Black Ops II planning on playing said game all day long.



Twelve hours later and Alex was finally on his way home for the first time that weekend. Pulling his backpack up his shoulder just that little bit more he started making his way up the stairs with the intention to dump his bag in his room and change out of the clothes he had borrowed from Jack after their impromptu sleepover after the party.

“Alex, could you come into the kitchen for a moment?” his mom shouted when he was halfway up the stairs.

“Can I put my bag in my room first?” he asked staring up towards his door that he could see at the top of the stairs.

“I’d really prefer if you didn’t. I would really like to talk to you first,” she said coming over to the threshold and looking up at her only son.

“Fine,” he said taking his bag off his shoulder and setting it down on the steps before walking down the stairs and following his mom into the kitchen. “So what exactly do you want?”

“I wanted to talk to you about the divorce. We haven’t really talked since your father and I announced it, and I thought we should really talk about it.”

“What is there to talk about? You and dad are divorcing and you’re leaving without me even after I asked you to take me with,” Alex said before turning and practically sprinting up the stairs and locking himself in his room so he wouldn’t have to deal with his mom and her desire to talk.

Once he was in his room he stripped off the clothes Jack lent him and quickly changed into some of his own. Yes, he had wanted to shower, but he didn’t want to go to the bathroom and risk him mom cornering him. As much as he loved him mom he just couldn’t get over her moving without him. He felt as though she was betraying him somehow.



After spending the whole weekend in his room, only sneaking out when he knew his mother was out of the house, Alex finally had to leave his room to go to school Monday morning. Waking up just a little bit earlier than he usually would he grabbed a fresh change of clothes and made his way to the bathroom and took one of the quickest showers he ever has.

As he was finishing up in the bathroom, i.e. straightening his hair and brushing his teeth his mom appeared in the doorway.

“Are you going to be home for dinner tonight?” she asked quietly.

“I should be,” he said straightening the last little bit of his hair.

“Alright, well your father already told me he wouldn’t be here so maybe we could talk,” she said with a hopefully smile.

“I really don’t want to talk,” he said as he unplugged his straightener and walked out of the bathroom.

“Alex, I know you don’t want to talk, but I think we need to talk about this. It’s not good to have so much pent up anger.”

“I don’t have any pent up anger, and I really don’t want to talk about the divorce,” he said once again to reaffirm his point. “Now I have to get going to school.” With his backpack over his shoulder and his guitar in his hand he quickly made his way down the stairs and ran out the door.

Opening his car door, he threw his stuff into the back and quickly got into the driver’s seat. Ten short minutes later he was pulling into the school parking lot and pulled into his normal spot, right near the front of the parking lot. After grabbing out his guitar he made his way to the steps and smiled at Jack.

“Hey dude, have a good weekend?” Jack asked as Alex sat down.

“It was okay,” he said with a shrug as he set down his backpack and opened it up pulling out Jack clothes. “But here are the clothes you let me borrow. Thanks again,” he said handing them over to him.

“No problem. The least I could do for basically forcing you into staying at my house,” he said with a laugh as he shoved the clothes into his own bag.

“It’s not like I really tried fighting it,” Alex laughed as he turned and opened his guitar case, seeing another note sitting on top of his guitar just like the last few school days. It was so weird to think that someone could slip a note into his guitar case while it was right next to him without him even noticing.

“What’s that?” Jack asked catching sight of the paper Alex was trying to quickly shove into his pocket.

“Just some lyrics I was trying to write last night,” he lied as he successfully got the paper into his pocket.

“Well can I take a look; they might be the beginning of your next hit song.”

“None of my songs are hits,” Alex said with a laugh. “But I know that they aren’t going to ever be turned into something worthwhile so why bother.”

“I guess you’ve got a point. If you know the songs going to be a dud before even finishing it why bother starting it.”

“Exactly,” he said as Lisa sat down next to him, glaring slightly at the guitar case that was keeping her from being right against her boyfriend’s side.

“What are you boys talking about?” she asked with a smile.

“Just a new song, that’s all,” Jack said kind of brushing her off.

“Speaking of songs, when while I get to hear that one you wrote about me?” she asked with a smile looking at Alex.

“Maybe I could play it for you tonight when we go out to dinner,” he answered with a wide smile.

“Tonight?” Lisa asked her smile quickly fading.

“Yeah, tonight,” Alex said looking at Jack momentarily giving him a look saying ‘how could she forget’. “It’s our two year anniversary. We talked about it last week. Don’t you remember?”

“I do now,” she said looking ashamed. “I just didn’t remember about it Saturday night when I agreed to go out to the mall with the girls. They wanted to do some dress shopping.”

“What about our dinner?”

“I can’t cancel on them,” Lisa whined. “That would be so rude of me,” she said before getting up and heading over to her friends that were just making their way in from the parking lot.

“Yeah, because it’s not as rude to cancel on your boyfriend who you made plans with first,” he muttered officially pulling his guitar out of his case and starting to strum a random tune.

“Alex, don’t take this badly, but Lisa was really sweet to you in the beginning, but now she’s too self-absorbed with her friends and clothes. I really don’t think she’s worth your time. Plus, like you said the other day she wouldn’t even let you tell her about your parents’ divorce. It’s obvious she doesn’t really care about your problems,” Jack said bringing to light even think Alex had been thinking for the last three or four months.

“I know, I think I’m just scared that I won’t find anyone else,” he said as the bell rang and he quickly put his guitar into its case before heading to his locker quickly before class.

“Don’t doubt yourself so much Alex. I’m sure you could find plenty of girls that want to date you,” Jack said with a smile hoping to reassure his best friend before going off to his own first hour.

After making sure that his guitar was safely put away he made his way into his first hour, still reeling over the fact that his girlfriend would rather be with her friends than him. That was the one down side of having a seat right next to his girlfriend, when he was made at her or she was made at him, it made class so awkward.

Sliding into his seat, he pulled the note out of his pocket and worked on quickly reading it before Lisa got to class too.

I know you’re mad your mom is leaving without you, but you really should cherish the time you have with her and not shut her out. You’ll regret it later on if you do. –Z

Looking down at the note he couldn’t help but frown. How did Z even know that he was ignoring his mom? Shaking his head at the thought, he shoved the note back into his pocket and pulled his notebook out of his bag.



“So I think maybe we should get together today after school to start work on our project if that’s okay with you,” Zack said as he sat down next to Alex.

“Sure, not like I have anything better to do today,” Alex said with a shrug. “Where do you want to meet?”

“Library is good with me if it’s good with you.”

“Sounds good to me,” Alex said with a smile. “Should we meet there right after school?”

“I think that would be best,” Zack said before turning his attention to the front of the classroom when Miss Martinez called them all to order.

“I know some of you have been complaining about not having time to work on your project in class,” she said after the last few kids quieted down. “So I thought that today we could go down to the library and let you all start working on your project, and just to be fair we will do this at least once a week. Now please grab your things and go down to the library in an orderly fashion. Also be quiet.”

Walking into the library all the groups went around and found a table to claim as their own. Most groups choose to sit by themselves and work solely on their projects, other groups like the one Lisa was in, tried to share a table with another group so that they could socialize.

“Sweetie, you should sit next to me,” she said with a smile trying to pull Alex down into the chair next to her.

“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” Alex said trying to pull away from Lisa. “We should both really work on our project and not worry so much about socializing.”

“But Alex we have some things we need to talk about.”

“We can talk about it later Lisa, right now isn’t the time. Plus what we need to talk about is something that should be done in private,” he said before walking away from her and leading Zack over to a table on the other side of the room.

“I’m going to go grab some encyclopedias,” Zack said after setting down his book page on the table.

Once Zack was gone Alex sat down and pulled out his chemistry book along with his notebook and started writing down anything he could find on their chemist. As he worked on filling up his sheet he was suddenly startled when Zack set down a large stack of books.

“Sorry,” he muttered quietly noticing that Alex has jumped slightly when he set the books down.

“It’s cool,” Alex said as he reached over and grabbed a book off of Zack’s stack and continued taking notes letting the two of them fall into a somewhat awkward silence.



“I guess we should just pick up where we left off,” Zack said as he set the same stack of books from earlier down on the table they were currently sitting at.

“That’s fine with me,” he said grabbing the book he was in the middle of when their class had ended that morning.

The two boys sat their quietly taking notes filling page after page. Once they both had about six pages front and back their silence was broken.

“I better get home,” Zack said shoving his notebook into his bag and gathering up the books to put away. “Maybe tomorrow we could meet up here again and go over what we have and start outlining our paper.”

“That’s fine with me. So I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” Alex said putting his own stuff in his bag and helping Zack get rid of the books. Once the boys had the books away Alex made his way to his locker and grabbed out his guitar before walking out to his car. “Lisa what are you doing here?” he asked walking up to his guitar and seeing Lisa sitting on the hood.

“I wanted to talk to you, plus I was hoping you could give me a ride home,” she said with a sweet smile.

“Fine, we can talk on the way home,” he said throwing his bag into the back along with his guitar. Opening his door he got in and started his car while Lisa got in and buckled herself in.

“So I know you’re probably mad at me for canceling tonight, but I really have to. It would be exceptionally rude of me to cancel on my friends. Marie really needs some cheering up and I would really like to be there for my friends,” she said looking over at him with a frown.

“I totally understand that you want to be there for your friends, and I think that is totally awesome of you. I just hate the fact that we have been planning our anniversary dinner for almost a month, and then you just want to cancel. Do you know how hard it was to get reservations for you at that damn Italian restaurant?” Alex asked as he stopped at a red light.

“I know you did so much for me, just like I asked, but Marie really needs me.”

“What about me Lisa?” he yelled as the light turned green and he started moving. “I may not be going through a break up or anything, but I have problems too that I really could use my girlfriend for. I just feel like you haven’t had time for me these last few months. I don’t even know the last time you and I did something together.”

“Alex, we do stuff together all the time. We see each other every morning. We sit next to each other in first hour. Hell we even have lunch together,” Lisa said throwing her hands in the air.

“Yeah, we do things together every day, but think about it, are we ever alone. No, we are always surrounded by our friends or a class room full of our peers. We never get alone time and I’m sick of it,” Alex said slamming his hands against the steering wheel as he pulled up in front of Lisa’s house.

“Alex please stop overreacting. We might not be alone, but at least we are spending time together.”

“Whatever Lisa,” he said with a sigh. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Alex,” she started before he cut her off.

“I really got to go Lisa. Talk you tomorrow,” he said wanting nothing more than to push her out of the car, because right now she was really pissing him off.

“Alright, bye Alex,” she said leaning over and kissing his cheek.

“Bye,” he said shortly pulling away from the curb the second she stepped out of the car and shut the door.