Exploiting Realities

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO - THE WORST DAY EVER

ALEC'S POV

Today sucked. Like, a lot.

This morning i had to say goodbye to Riley because she, Mia, and Justin were heading back to Alaska to continue their classes. As weak as it sounded, I really missed my big sister. It was great having her around for the short time that she was here. Why did she have to go to college so far away? Marine Biology isn't some crazy major that's only in Alaska...actually, it's pretty much everywhere. I really wished she lived closer.

Now that I took Riley's side, Will won't even talk to me. Pretty much the only person he talks to is his 'girlfriend' (blech) Miche, which means I have to get all of the information about my own brother third-hand from Lorelai, who easily gets it all out of her youngest sister. According to Miche, he's planning to run away if he doesn't start getting what he wants. How is he supposed to get what he wants if he doesn't even talk to us?! My mom got a phone call from the middle school principal yesterday because she was "concerned about his academics". In other words, his grades were dropping like crazy. Will's a complete genius, so he had to be doing bad in school on purpose. I swear, that kid needs to get his act together before I wring his damn neck.

To make matters better (sarcasm) I had to go back to school today. Thanksgiving holidays are over, and now the teachers are piling as much information as they can on us before Christmas break in a month. In fact, everyone calls it "Hell Month" here. At most schools, this month is a breeze and it goes by super fast. Not at our school. It's never been that way.

It's finally December and it sure feels like it. We got our first snow this morning. That's probably the only good thing that has happened so far today. It had been snowing all day at school and we had a good 2 1/2 inches outside and, by the looks of it, some pretty fun (and probably dangerous...but no one cares about that) ice. Hopefully it won't stop till later and we'll have a snowday tomorrow. Not likely, of course, but there's still hope.

"Bovino. Bovino. Earth to Bovino!" I barely heard the voice calling my name.

"Dude, snap out of it," my friend Dan whispered, nudging me and knocking me out of my daze. Everyone in the class was staring at me, especially Mr. Lopodski, my history teacher, who was looking at me expectantly.

"Sorry, what?" I apologized, getting back in the swing of things.

Lopodski sighed. "I said, what town did Louis XIV have his castle build in?"

"Versailles," I answered without having to think.

"And why did he have it built there?" he asked.

"Because it was close enough to Paris to maintain control, but it was far enough away that he could separate himself from his people."

Lopodski (or Pods, as we all called him) nodded in approval. "Would you care to tell the class what you were so distracted by?" he asked, still not happy with me for losing my focus.

I shrugged. "I was just thinking about how awful the weather must be in Alaska right now if it's this bad in New Jersey. My sister went back to college there today," I explained.