Alice

1

Gathering my hair up into a loose bun, I follow my best friend Parker into the food court. The food court - besides the gym and football field - is one of the loudest areas on campus.

Students pushed and stumbled over to their friends, holding trays or bags with food. My eyes scan over the court idly as we walk through it, making our way towards our usual table.

"Alice!"

I look in the direction of where we normally sit and smile when I see our other friends Cara and Noah. We walk over and Parker takes a seat next to Noah, slipping her hand in his and intertwining their fingers. I sit next to Cara, across from Parker.

"Do you have the notes from last Thursday? I didn't do so great on the test, but she's letting me do a make-up," Cara says, turning to face me. Cara is probably the smartest person I know. But that might be because her parents are pretty strict about her schoolwork.

"What'd you get?" I question, digging into my bag for the notes.

"A D-minus."

I look at her. "Really?"

She sighs. "I don't know what happened! My parents are going to kill me."

"Just don't tell them," Parker pipes up, taking a fry off Cara's tray and popping it into her mouth. "Study. Study like hell. Take the make-up and tell them your grade on that one."

I finally find the notes and I pull it out. "Here. Study."

"Thanks," Cara says. "I'm going to the library. See you later."

She grabs the notes, slings her bag over her shoulder, and hurriedly leaves.

"Her parents are going to kill her if they find out," Parker chuckles, pulling Cara's abandoned tray towards her and eating some more fries.

Noah shakes his head and buries his face in her neck. Nobody really knows when Noah and Parker first started dating. I just met Parker last year when I was new and we kind of clicked instantly, becoming pretty close. She's a junior and I'm a sophomore. Noah and her were already together when we met. Just looking at them, you'd be able to tell how in love they are. There's so much history between them. I remember one time I asked Parker how they met and all she told me was that he saved her. That's it. I know Parker's life wasn't always easy. Her mom was a drug addict who eventually overdosed. Her dad, luckily, was a good man who loved Parker more than anything and tried to keep her head on straight. Not that that ended so perfectly...

"Earth to Alice!" Parker snapped her fingers in my face, a concerned look on her face. "You okay?"

I blinked. "Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking."

"About what?" She asks, raising an eyebrow. "All the cute boys we're going to run into at Kayla's party tonight?"

Noah lifted his head up and narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"Aw baby," she kissed his cheek and grinned. "All the cute boys are for Alice."

I grinned. "For me?"

"For you!" She laughed. "And you are going to get extremely drunk - actually, no! We are going to get extremely drunk."

"Really? And who will be driving you home? Cara's studying, I've got practice..."

"And I will find a nice sober person to do us the honors," Parker replies. "Sounds like a plan!"

"Parker-"

"Ah ah ah!" She raised her finger and shook it. "No party pooping, Noah. Let us have our fun."

"You can have fun without being completely hammered."

"Who says hammered anymore?" Parker teases. He shoots her a look. "Okay! I will be Sober Sally tonight."

"I wasn't planning on getting all that drunk anyway. I'll stay sober. You have fun," I tell her.

She grins. "This is why you're the best."

"Just look out for her, please," Noah says with a shake of his head.

"Of course," I smile.

Noah's always been protective of her. Honestly, I think it's sweet. He cares for her a lot.

"I'm going to hit the weight room," he says, standing up. He leans down and presses his lips to hers. I look away in mild discomfort when I start to see tongue. From the corner of my eye, I see him stand straight again. "Later, Alice."

"Okay, bye." I smile and wave.

"And then there were two," Parker mumbled, taking another fry and popping it in her mouth. "So Kayla's party. You got anything to wear?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. My mom and I went shopping last week, I think I'm going to wear that white dress I showed you."

She shrugged. "Yeah, sounds good."

"Do you have something to wear?"

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Seriously? Of course I do. I'm going to look like fucking Angelina Jolie tonight."

"Guns and all?"

"Strapped to my thigh," she grinned. "If only Noah was coming. He would be my Brad."

"If only," I chuckle.

The rest of the lunch period was spent talking about random things and making jokes. When we finished, we parted ways. She went off to her class. Since I was free, I decided to go to the gym. Thankfully, nobody was in there. I started taking gymnastics when I was six and I stopped a couple months ago, but I still did it every now and then. I was wearing leggings under my jeans due to the chilly weather so I just took off my jeans and sweater and tossed them on a chair pushed off to the side.

I sit down and begin stretching my limbs. Once I was limber and ready, I stand up and raise my arms over my head. I move quickly, sprinting forward and reaching forward. My hands touch the floor and I kick my feet up. My legs are in the air for only a second before they touch the floor again. After a few more frontflips, I do a few backflips and cartwheels before doing a hand stand. From here, I notice someone coming into the gym. Momentarily distracted, my arms buckle and I collapse on to the floor. Pain shot through me but quickly subsided.

Whoever it was that came in walked over to me and extended their hand toward me. I sit up, taking his hand and allowed him to pull me up.

"You okay?" He asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah," I smiled, brushing it off. "Thanks."

He nodded. "So, what are you doing?"

I cleared my throat. "Just practicing."

"For?"

"Nothing particular. I use to take gymnastics," I explain, my eyes shooting behind him to where more guys were entering the gym. "Anyway, I should get going."

"What's your name?"

I grab my jeans and pull them on, struggling because of my sneakers. Huffing, I kick off my Converse and then pull the jeans on. "Alice."

"Okay. Hi, Alice, I'm Gabriel." He grins.

"Gabe!" Somebody calls out, and Gabe glances over his shoulder. "Let's go!"

I finish tying the laces of my shoes and stand straight, grabbing my sweater. "You'd better go."

"Yeah. See you around, Alice."

He smiles one last time before turning and going over to his friends. One of them tosses him a basketball and he effortlessly catches it.

As I make my exit, I glance back and my eyes meet his. He sends me on last smile and it's so contagious, I can't help but smile back.

A/N : I had to change a few things. They're not in high school. I decided they should be in college, and so voila. They are college students. If confused, Alice is in her second year of college. Parker and Noah are in their third.