Barely Breathing

Chapter One

Alex

Alex was rudely awakened by the sharp blare of his brutally beaten alarm clock sitting on his bedside table. Cursing Monday mornings, Alex rolled over to turn off and unplug his alarm clock before rolling back over onto his stomach and falling back into a peaceful sleep. He was wakened again by an uncomfortable dripping sensation on the back of his neck. His eyes shot open, and he was sitting up in his bed, hand rubbing the back of his neck in a matter of seconds. His gaze flitted across his room to find the culprit responsible for the uncategorized liquid dampening the hairs on the back of his neck. His eyes rested on a laundry basket in the corner of his room which seemed to have an extra pair of feet poking out from behind it. Alex smirked to himself and almost silently, with the exception of the small creak his mattress made, slipped out of his bed, still in his t-shirt and boxers, and quietly crept towards said laundry basket. Giggling, he tossed the basket out of the way and scooped up his little brother, water gun and all, in his arms. Both giggling uncontrollably, Alex hugged Tom close to his body and kissed the top of his head. Tom scrunched up his nose and complained that he was hungry. Alex sighed, he figured their mom would be at work by now. She had been taking up extra shifts at the hospital since their dad left. Alex smiled sadly down at Tom. He was still pretty young and didn't exactly understand why his daddy left him. Alex hated his father for that.

"Okay, kiddo, lets get you something to eat" Alex said fondly to the young boy.

After making toast, because lets face it, that's all Alex really knows how to make, packing Tom a lunch for school, and putting on his usual outfit (skinny jeans, blink-182 shirt, vans, and his honey-brown hair styled just the way he likes it), Alex grabbed his keys, bag, and iPod.

He dropped Tom off first, and then drove off in the direction of his high school. Glancing at the clock, he realized he was running pretty late and would probably miss the first bell. Cursing under his breath, he sped up a little in order to make it to second block.

He parked his car in the school parking lots, behind the building itself.

He was jogging slightly, when he ran into someone, knocking them over and spilling the books they were carrying everywhere across the hard asphalt.

Alex gushed apologetically, "Oh, shit, I am really fucking sorry, I didn't see you there, here, let me help" and then bent down to help gather the books. He hadn't even seen the face of the person he had trampled yet, and here he was going on like an idiot, Alex scolded himself. Face reddening, he handed the stranger the last book.

"It's fine, not like it hasn't happened before" said a deep voice reassuringly.

Alex looked up for the first time to see that the person he had accidentally tackled was a tall, gorgeous guy. He was also wearing some rather tight skinny jeans, and his hair was styled the same as Alex's, but his was cut shorter. Surprisingly, the last thing Alex noticed was the Blink-182 t-shirt he had on.

The incident completely forgotten, Alex smiled and remarked, "you like blink?" while pointing at the other boy's shirt.

Jack laughed heartily and replied, "yeah man, they're the best. M'Jack, by the way"

To Alex's surprise, Jack juggled his books onto one arm and offered him a hand to shake. Taking the significantly taller boy's hand and shaking vigorously, "Alex" he responded smiling. Jack grinned, hand still in Alex's, but they were no longer shaking. It was kind of just there, while the two boys smiled stupidly at each other.

Something went off in Alex's brain, reminding his that he had a report due in English that he could not afford to fail because he missed the deadline.

"Right, so, I, uh, I gotta.. I gotta" Alex stuttered, suddenly feeling very nervous.

"You gotta go?" Jack finished for him, smiling at how cute this boy he had just met was.

Alex's face reddened to a dark shade and he pulled his hand away to run it through his hair. Jack's hand fell back to his side again.

"Yeah," Alex laughed nervously, "it was, uh, nice meeting you, Jack"

He didn't know why Jack made him so nervous, when they had met literally three minutes ago.

Jack smiled warmly at him, slipping his free hand into his front pocket, "yeah, man, I'll see you around. Oh, I, uh, I like your shirt by the way"

Alex laughed and looked down at his shirt, but when Alex looked back up, he swore he saw Jack wink at him. Which, by no reason that he could explain, made him grin like a complete dork. Jack smiled and said, "cya" in a raspy voice before walking away.

After Jack was out of sight, Alex stood there stunned for a minute, trying to analyze what had just happened. But he didn't have minute to spare before he got his ass handed to him by his slightly bitchy and probably cat-crazy English teacher.