Rumored Nights

Sleep beckoned Alice slowly as she fought to stay awake, her head feeling unusually heavy as she held it up with her palm.

No one should force kids her age into a freezing room with a teacher whose voice, and teaching methods, for all intensive purposes could've been white noise.

With the sleep deprivation she had suffered last night it was a miracle she had managed to clothe herself this morning.

It didn't happen too often, but every few weeks or so there came a night where Alice was just about to reach the waters of sleep, only to have a tap on her window pull her abruptly from peace.

Like last night for example, causing her to go to her window and find William waiting for her.

He'd be hit by inspiration from some unknown source and could not wait to explain it to Alice, or for that matter use a phone.

Outside of her drowsy bubble Alice could hear her lecture continuing, choosing to ignore what sounded like the words notes and grades.

With his usual notebook tucked under his arm she remembered William climbing through her window and eagerly awaiting her reaction like a kid on Christmas morning.

They had spent most of Alice's already precious few night hours discussing his latest paragraph of tightly packed scribbles, not that she'd ever complain for being the cause of the indulgent smile that hardly faded the whole time.

Alice wasn't sure when she fell asleep but she must have because one minute William was telling her his thoughts on love and the next she was waking up tucked comfortably in bed.

Usually she would've thought they were dreams but then she'd see a small ink stain on her carpet or a damp footprint and nothing could be denied.

When the bell finally rang a little too late for her liking, she jumped with a start and headed toward the door.

Students were already crowding the hallways as she made her way to lunch.

For Alice lunch was a tricky affair.

In this school where she had no friends and few acquaintances, a fact that didn't bother her till she came to the one half hour spent mostly socializing.

With the library, her usual escape, being closed today, she found herself wandering the courtyard with nowhere to go.

"Hey Alice!" A very familiar voice called out.

She almost didn't stop, unused to her voice being called out there from anyone but William, but did so just before she took another step.

Sisky came running up to her, slightly out of breath with a grin.

"Hey, I haven't seen you since after the last Midtown show." He smiled with an endearing grin.

Alice couldn't help but return it, having forgotten the contagious quality of his happiness in the two days that had passed since the show. "I've been busy. Being a senior doesn't give you much free time."

He nodded and shifted on his feet. "Well I wanted to ask you, since it looks like you've got some free time, if you wanted to eat lunch with me and my friends?"

Alice followed his nod toward a small group of kids gathered on one of the picnic tables.

They looked nice enough, but Alice knew full well she wasn't a social person and it would be more than awkward to sit there with already established friends.

She could feel the word no on the tip of her tongue, ready to be freed, but instead in a way that sounded too much like Bill's influence over her, something different happened.

"Sure I'd love to."

And that was how Alice found herself a few moments later sitting amongst a few younger kids laughing happily and feeding off each other's good moods.

"So you're Adam's friend Alice?" One of the girls with the long brown hair asked. Alice nodded shyly.

The girl, sitting opposite to her, outstretched her hand. "I'm Skye, word of advice is don't let Liz know you were the one Sisky went to see Midtown with."

"What?" The girl next to her exclaimed in a shriek.

Skye's eyes grew wide and she slapped a hand over her mouth, to hide the shock or the laugh would've been anyone's guess if it hadn’t been for the smile that reached her eyes.

While Alice backed away at Liz's sudden excitement, and attempted to climb over the table, the big guy next to her grinned and pulled her back with a steady hand.

"Chill Liz, you're gonna scare her away." He laughed easily. "I'm Jesse, sorry about Liz... and Skye, she forgot just how insanely in love Liz is with Midtown."

"Hey, don't drag my girl into Liz's insanity." Max, Alice's had gathered was his name, laughed defensively, slipping an arm around Skye.

With the short time she had been around them it had been clear to Alice that they were a couple.

Not just the usual three week high school couple but one of the few that were always around each other, the type that you'd expect to be married by the time the first reunion came around and still together at the fiftieth.

More than high school sweethearts.

In that short half hour of lunch Alice learned a lot about Sisky's friends.

Liz was his age, both sophomores, while Skye and Max were juniors.

Jesse, like Alice, was a senior, his and Sisky's relationship echoing Alice's and Will's with their friendships thanks in part to the connections of their older brothers.

They were all easy going with each other and welcoming toward any newcomers, so much so that by the end of their lunch Alice felt more like she had spent the time around a group of old friends and unlike the group of strangers they had started off as.

With the bell ringing still echoing in her consciousness, Alice walked alongside Sisky's friends, finding herself laughing.

"I feel like I'm flying Jack!" Liz exclaimed from Jesse's back with her arms stretched wide.

"It's Jesse not Jack." He muttered as her hand squashed on his head.

"I'm king of the world!" Liz announced, undeterred by his attitude.

"Yes," Skye said, suddenly appearing beside Alice. "To answer your question, they are always like this."

"Probably a good thing then that their friends are so accepting." She laughed.

Skye's laugh mingled with her own and a moment later it made Alice all the sorrier that she had to leave to go back to class.

She turned, not wanting to fumble over graceless thanks for something she wasn’t sure called for it.

"Hey, are you leaving Alice?" Max asked.

Alice awkwardly turned and weakly replied, "Yeah."

Skye smiled and walked up. "Well then I guess we'll see you later."

Alice froze for a moment as Skye pulled her into a hug, a little stunned to have someone that wasn’t her family or Will hug her, but gratefully returned it out of instinct.

When she pulled away not a few seconds later the others were waving goodbye to her.

As they parted ways Alice felt happy as she walked back down the hallway to her class, feeling so much lighter she was almost weightless.