Weak | S.R

Allie

"No," I cut him off. "What do you mean? I'm pretty lost."

The three exchange looks before Polly speaks up again, adjusting her jean jacket and looking at me in confusion. "Popular kids."

A huge laugh breaks free of my throat. "Popular?" I stare back at them in disbelief. "Oh, god, I was far from popular. I was the butt of all of their jokes, I-"

"Weird," The curly-haired girl sighs. "I feel like we would have known you."

"Maybe you did, I just... I looked a lot different. Y'know, I had, um, dark hair and only wore dark clothes and I was quite a bit... bigger than I am now. I used to eat my lunch in the bathroom sometimes," I say with an awkward chuckle, not really wanting to think back to high school.

"No, way. Alexandria," Everett nods. "No, I remember you. You look... completely different. Of course I remember you, I couldn't forget. I...I was crying one day in the library, it was senior pictures day, and my mom got me this really nice dress specifically for picture day. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I wasn't comfortable wearing it, that I didn't feel like myself in it."

As Everett talks, the more I remember about that day. Having blocked out high school and watching it all rush back is odd, but this wasn't a bad moment. It was one of the few good ones.

"Of course, back then everyone knew me as Laura," He shakes his head. "You sat next to me and let me pour my heart out to you. You gave me the clothes off of your back so I didn't have to wear that dress. You were wearing a red flannel, a black t-shirt and these black jeans that, with the help of some safety pins that I stole from the home-ec room, ended up fitting in a really cool way. You changed into your gym uniform for me and just told me to leave the clothes in your locker the next week."

I give him a small smile, seeing the gratitude lacing his features. "I remember that."

"We never talked again, but... I never forgot that. It's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me."

Polly and Martin go on about how they remember hearing about that from him before the three stand up.

"Well, you know what? We'd be lucky to have you," Martin holds his hand out for me to shake, a big smile on his face.

"Oh, come on, give her a hug!" Polly smacks him on the arm. "We're not entirely strangers."

I chuckle and wrap my arms around Martin just as he wraps his around me. "Thanks, guys. I'm really excited to play music with you and get to know you better."

I move onto Polly, then Everett for hugs before bidding them farewell and heading home.

I write about it in my next letter to Spencer.

'Congratulations, my love! I'm so proud of you and I can't wait to hear the beautiful music you'll make.' He'd said in his response.

He asked me to be his assistant for exam week, assuring me there'd be no funny business. But of course there was definitely funny business.
-

After being told to take the night off by Spencer after working until an hour before class, I show up anyway.

Spencer looks up from his desk when he hears the door creak. "Allie," He stands up. "I told you to take the night off."

I give him a weak smile. "I know, but I took one of those five hour energy things and... I wanted to help. We didn't get much done yesterday."

"Thanks to you," He chuckles, grabbing a stack of papers. "Now, all of this has to be done before Thursday morning. That's when tests start. If we get it all done tonight, then we can have tomorrow night free."