Shadow at the Water's edge.

School.

Alex walked through the throng of students jammed into the hallway, and made his way to the tall locker that was called "his"

He spun in the combination; the date of his parents anniversary, and pulled open the door. He switched out his books for his science ones, and then closed the door. 

"Jeez!" He shouted as the door closed and the face of his best friend grinned at him from a few inches away. "Don't do that Squints! You scared the hell out of me!"

His friend, Robert Hawkins, or Squints as he was lovingly called, wrinkled his freckled nose in an attempt to stop grinning. "Sorry 'bout that Alex, just excited to see you."

Alex chucked as he sorted his books. "You saw me yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. The only time we missed seeing each other was about a week when I had the accident."

Squints shrugged his bony shoulders, following Alex to their science class. "Yeah, operative word being saw sure I've "seen" you plenty but we've hardly talked, and forget about hanging out."

Alex scoffed and tried to shrug off his friend's accusation. "What? No way, we've hung out since the accident."

Squints stepped in front of him and stopped him by grabbing his shoulder. "No, we haven't. Are you doing alright?"

Alex tried to side step him, but Squints just moved with him. "Dude I'm fine!"

Squints eyebrows furrowed in concern. "No, you're not fine!"

Alex rolled his eyes and looked at Squints adamantly. "We're going to be late for class."

Squints was the most serious Alex had ever seen him as he stared evenly into his eyes. "I don't care."

Alex raised his eyebrows, shocked. Squints was the ultimate geek, he was outrageously smart, excelled at anything electronic, straight A student, and he was uncannily good at games. Science was his favorite subject, and if he didn't care about missing class than he was really worried.

Alex couldn't let his grades slip any more, so he rubbed his forehead and gave in with a sigh. "Fine, I'll explain everything after school alright? I've been meaning to ask for your help with my homework anyway."

Squints grinned.  "Spit swear?"

Alex rolled his eyes and spat in his hand, Squints did the same and they shook on it. Alex chuckled as he wiped his hand off in his jeans and said quietly as they walked into class, "You're so lame."

Squints grinned and whispered back. "And yet you're still friends with me." 

The rest of school went by uneventfully, and soon Alex was stuffing all of his books into his backpack and walking out to the parking lot. His head came up as he heard a whistle, glancing over at the group of teenagers loitering near a corvette. 

He reluctantly walked over and greeted the group. "Hey guys, what's up?"

The owner of the car, a muscular eighteen year old with dark hair and light eyes laughed and slapped Alex on the back. "What's up? When are you playing again Al? That's what's up!"

Alex shrugged and scratched the back of his head. "Listen Zach, I don't know if I'm ready to play Basketball again."

Zach looked hurt. "Aww, why not? You've been out of the hospital for flippin' ages! You're more than ready to get your ass back on the court!"

Alex grinned. "Maybe, but my grades are slipping... I don't want to fail my senior year."

Zach let out a "pfft!" Sound and flicked his hand airily. He didn't think much for grades, his parents were rich enough to buy the school, and he pretty much had a college basketball scholarship set up.