Just One Of The Guys

The Part In Which Our Protagonist Is Introduced And The Setting Is Established

"Hello, I'm Alexandria."

Alex only introduced herself using her full name when she was meeting with AICs, or Adults In Charge. Teachers, customer service, elderly grandparents you only see twice a year during the holidays. Alex, for as long as she could remember, had always been Alex to basically everyone other than AICs. She had never really liked her full name; plus, it just didn't really feel like her name. Alex was her name.

And as such, she was left with a strange taste in her mouth when she introduced herself to the new neighbors she found herself acquiring after moving into sunny suburban Greensdale.

"Alexandria! Such a pretty name- a pretty name for a pretty girl!" cooed Mrs. Nielsen From Directly Across The Street. Alex cringed, wanting to hide herself inside her oversized Fall Out Boy hoodie.

Nothing about herself was particularly 'pretty', she thought. She didn't understand why adults were so insistant that she was 'pretty' or 'cute' or 'beautiful'. She wasn't any of those things. She was 'cool', 'badass' maybe (she hoped), maybe even 'neato' (still better than 'cute'). Handsome, nice, hell pretty much anything was more accurate than 'pretty'.

But whatever the reason, people- especially people like sweet old I-Actually-Bake-Pies-And-Leave-Them-On-A-Litteral-Windowsill Mrs. Nielsen INSISTED that Alex was pretty and cute.

Alex stared down at her scraped up Vans sneakers as her mom started sharing her daughter's scholarly achievements and many hobbies to her new neighbor.

"She's got quite the knack for history!" Alex's mom said proudly. Mrs. Nielsen nodded as one does when they're listening to someone else speak.

"Oh, my Ronald can never quite get his history straight. But he does make up for it with his language arts grades!"

Alex started picking at a stray thread on her worn and ripped blue jeans as she wondered who in their right mind would name a 21st century child 'Ronald'. A faint tinge of something tugged at her chest. Probably the taco she got at that gas station 28 miles out of town, but it could also be pity to the poor boy who had to live with being named Ronald.

"Oh, Alex isn't doing to well in language arts. Let me tell you it was such a hassle to get her to stop spelling stuff phonetically. She would always insist her way made more sense and that 'it wasn't her fault the people who invented English were crazy'.

Alex smiled down at her hands. She remembered saying that more than once. But then again, that was when she was 10, over 5 years ago now. Not exactly current information.

Mrs. Nielsen laughed, then let out a small gasp, the kind that people make when they realise something. "Say! What if Alexandria tutored Ronald in history, and in return Ronald tutored Alexandria in language arts?"

Alex tensed up a bit. While this proposal seemed perfectly logical, she really didn't like adults making decisions for her. Plus, this sounded like the start to a bad romance YA novel.

Alex did not like romance YA novels.

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And now ADD dictates I should go do other stuff BUT HERES 500 FRIGGIN WORDS that PROBABLY and VERY LIKELY will never get added onto! THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME WASTE YOUR TIME KIND STRANGER. YOU MADE A MISTAKE CLICKING ON THIS.

Also my apologies to any Ronalds out there. Im sorry I made fun of your name.

Im also sorry your name is Ronald

....

(Just kidding please don't be mad at me, Ronalds)