Cassie's POV
Jason has been here for a few weeks and he seems to be getting along quite well with everyone. Well, almost everyone. Alex seems to despise him for some reason, but he won't ever tell me whenever I ask him. Ever since Jason joined the football team, he's gotten closer to the gang and other people in our school, which is certainly a relief. I wasn't sure how the transition was going to go, but it went surprisingly well.
Anyways, back to the present. All of us decided to go to Sally's Diner nearby for lunch since we usually just eat from the school cafeteria.
As we were eating, Jason asked me, "Hey Cassie, are you free this week? I haven't been doing too hot in calculus so far, so I was wondering if you could tutor me?".
"Sure, Jason. Not a problem", I replied with a small smile.
This seemed to piss off Alex because he clenched his burger so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
"You okay there, Alex?" Jax asked him.
"Just peachy", Alex sarcastically responded back to him.
"I'm heading to the bathroom," he muttered as he tried to get the huge ketchup stain out of his pants.
After Alex left, Jax and Liam followed him into the bathroom.
"Wow, I thought only girls usually go to the bathroom in groups?", Lily questioned.
"Apparently not", Meg answered back.
"Did I do something wrong?", Jason asked us.
"Of course not, Alex is just in some kind of mood or something. I'll talk to him later", I reassured Jason.
I glanced at the girls' faces and I could tell they were unsure about Alex's behavior as well. He's never acted that way before. He's usually nice to everyone and goes out of his way to welcome new people, so I don't know why he's acting this way. If I didn't know any better, I would say that he was jealous...Naw, I'm probably reading too much into this.
When the guys came back to the table, Alex seemed calmer and the ketchup stain on Alex's pants didn't seem as noticeable.
"Hey, we should probably head back to school", Sophia noted.
We glanced at our phones for the time and realized she was right. So, we left the restaurant and went back to school.
As we approached the school, I grabbed Alex's hand and pulled him towards me.
"Hey, are you free later to talk?", I asked him.
"I have practice until 6 tonight", Alex responded.
"After practice then?", I questioned him once more.
"Sure", he sighed.
"Great! I'll see you then", I said as I walked towards class.
After Football Practice
Alex's POV
The guys asked me if I wanted to go with them to play video games at Aaron's house, but I told them I had to go and talk to Cassie.
"Ooh, is someone in the doghouse?", Liam teased.
"No, she just wanted to talk to me about something. But I'll come over to Aaron's house after we're done", I told them.
"Great, good luck", they teased.
After I was done taking a shower and getting dressed, I found Cassie in the library.
"You want to head home now?", I asked her as I approached the table she was sitting at.
"Sure, then we could talk", she replied.
Once I reached my house, I cut the engine.
"So, you wanted to talk to me about something, right?", I questioned as I turned to face her.
Cassie's POV
"Yeah, is everything okay with you and Jason? You guys are close to me and maybe it was a wishful thinking, but I was hoping you guys could, at least, get along? Jason's trying to make it work but it seems like you aren't evening trying?", I asked Alex.
"I'm trying okay, Cass. I mean, I just met the guy, don't expect us to become instant friends you know", Alex explained back to me.
I could tell that there was something else bothering him, but I couldn't quite figure out. When I looked closer at his face, I noticed he had dark bags underneath his eyes and he looked exhausted.
"What's wrong, Alex? You look like you haven't slept in weeks", I hesitantly asked him. I was worried about him.
"Just with homework, football practice and college things are just stressing me out. Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine, Cassie. Thanks for your concern though", he said as he gave me a smile.
"If you ever need to talk or anything, you know I'm always here, right?", I sincerely told him as I reached over to give him a hug.
"Yeah, I know", he mumbled as he deepened our hug. We sat in that position until I heard a sniff.
"Are you crying or are you sniffing me?", I joked.
"You smell good, sue me! What scent is that?", he asked me as he continued to sniff me.
"Jasmine. You could stop sniffing me now, it's getting kind of weird, Alex", I replied as I jokingly pushed him off.
"You know you love me", Alex teased back.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Alex. In all seriousness, go get some rest, though. You look like you're about to pass out", I ordered.
"Thanks, mom", he retorted with a huge smile on his face.
"Promise you'll talk to me if there is something seriously, wrong?", I repeated.
"Promise", Alex said as he intertwined his pinkie finger with mine and kissed it. It was a tradition for us to do this ritual whenever we made a promise and we haven't broken a promise since.
"Later, Cass", he added as we walked out of his car to head to our respective homes.
"See ya, Alex", I commented.
Next day at School
Alex's POV
Once Cassie and I made it to school, we went to get our textbooks out of our lockers. When I approached my locker, I found Liam, Jax and Aaron waiting for me.
"Looks like the bags under your eyes, finally went away", Liam commented as he glanced at my face.
"Guess someone had a good night sleep? Huh, Alex?", Aaron joked as he lightly shoved me.
"Good thing, are we would have had to ask one of the girls for makeup to cover it up. Wouldn't want you to not look your best", Jax remarked as the guys began cracking up.
"Is it tease Alex day already? I thought that was last month?", I sarcastically asked the guys as they continued laughing like hyenas. My comment only made them laugh even harder and Aaron was laughing so hard that he was practically rolling on the floor.
"I really need to get new friends", I muttered to myself.
"No, we're the best!", Aaron shouted as he finally began to somewhat compose himself.
"Keep telling yourself that. See you guys in class", I told them as I walked to class. I could still hear them cackling as I walked down the hallway.
If things couldn't get any better, the guys shoved me into the classroom a minute after the bell rang and I began to curse silently. You didn't want to be late for this class because our teacher Mr. Greene loved giving out detentions as much as he could.
"Detention, all of you after school", Mr. Greene shouted as he walked towards our seats.
"But Mr. Gre-", I began as I tried to explain to him that it was the other guys fault that I was late.
"No exceptions, Alexander. First, you come into my classroom late and then you and your friends are goofing off, and I can't let it slide. So, please take your seat", Mr. Greene replied.
"But-", I tried once more.
"Don't care. I'll see all of you at the end of school", Mr. Greene responded with a smirk on his face.
Great, I already hated this class and didn't like Mr. Greene to begin with and now I'm stuck after school longer than necessary. Plus, our coach is going to kill us. We have an important game coming up and coach expected us to be on time and present at all of our practices, especially the seniors because the scouts are watching.
Once we all took our seats, I glared at all of them and they pretended they didn't notice it.
"Okay, class. Complete exercises 1-100 by the end of the class, so you better get started", Mr. Greene instructed as he pulled out the tests he had to grade.
He ignored the glares he received from us and sat behind his desk.
"God, I can't wait until this day is over", I groaned as I began to do the exercises.
A/N: That's it for this week!!! Don't forget to vote and comment below and see you guys next week!