Free Falling

Chapter 7 | Things Just Got A Thousand Times More Complicated

"Oh really? What does he do?" I ask, my curiosity getting the best of me.

"Nothing interesting. Trust me, my life is about as interesting as a houseplant." He says, a teasing smile on his face as we reach English.

"Are you one of those people who kills their houseplants?"

"Wow Emma, there's no need to expose me like that." He says as we reach the door to English.

I laugh as he holds the door open for me.

It feels good to laugh.

As I walk in with him following me, I see Jake staring at me with a confused look, reaching over to hit Dwight's arm. Dwight looks up, and stares at us as well, a look of disbelief on his face.

I walk over to my seat, and can practically feel Dwight and Jake staring at me.

"Who's that?" Dwight asks me.

"New kid." I say, looking up just as he walks over to the seat in front of me.

"Looks like I get to sit near you too." He says, grinning at me.

"Like hell you do." Jake says, a glare shooting from his eyes.

"Ignore him." I cut in, glaring at Jake to stop.

Alex just chuckles and sits down. I glance over at Dwight and his eyebrow is raised so far up on his forehead that I'm afraid he's gonna lose it.

I shrug at both of them as Alex turns around.

"So, who are the guys glaring at me like they're about to murder me?" He asks quietly, looking at me through his hair.

I laugh a little. "That's my twin brother and best friend. They're harmless." I tell him, whispering the last part. I can tell that bothers Jake and Dwight, but I don't really care.

It feels nice having a conversation with someone who doesn't know everything about me, and who doesn't treat me like I'm going to break.

"Ahh overprotective brother and best friend? I can deal with that." He says, causing me to laugh again.

The bell rings and he turns around. I manage to ignore the questioning looks from Dwight and Jake, trying to focus my mind on the class and not the mystery surrounding Alex sitting in front of me.

'~'

The bell rings signaling the end of Algebra and as I get up, Kara is suddenly in my face.

"Who's the new kid? He was staring at you the whole class period." Kara asks me. As it turns out he had college algebra with me too.

"His name's Alex." I tell her, rolling my eyes.

"Did I hear my name?" Alex says, walking up to us. At the same time, I see Sierra slowly approach us, eyeing Alex up and down.

"Yeah actually, I was wondering if you'd want to sit with us at lunch?" I ask him, and from my peripheral I see Sierra's jaw drop.

"If that's okay with you guys?" He asks. I glance over at Kara and Sierra and Kara just gives me a look of confusion.

"Uh yeah, sure." Kara says as we walk out of the room.

We walk to the cafeteria together, no conversation happening in our little group. As we walk over to our table, I see the gang sitting there.

"Em-" Travis starts then stops, scanning Alex. "Who's that?"

"Exactly what I said." Dwight mumbles.

I give them a glare, signaling for them to chill. "Guys, this is Alex."

No one says anything, so I take that as my cue to start introducing everyone since they won't do it themselves.