The Struggle For Love

Chapter 6.5 Part 1

*Stacie's POV*
        For two hours, Alex and I worked on our separate work. We both got much of our work done and are happy because of it. While we worked, we both remained quiet. Half of me hoped he would say something, but the other half hoped he wouldn’t. I can remain calm in the quietness where I am not judged by my words that I struggle so hard to say. With my words, my deepest fears can appear: people will meet the true me and leave me when I need them the most like so many of my friends do.
        Krista, the girl who was once boys’ goddess and the girl who Marissa and I both hate, used to be my best friend besides Marissa. We were inseparable, that is until she betrayed me. Krista and Marissa never liked each other, but they always pretended to be civil. They knew they had to be to remain my friend.
        One day when I was in fifth grade, Krista and I got into an argument over Marissa. Krista wanted me to dump Marissa and remain only her friend. I argued that I wanted them both as my friend, but Krista wouldn’t allow it. She ordered me to pick one of them and dump the other. Knowing this was wrong, I asked Krista if she really wanted me to choose only one best friend. She argued that only one of them could be my best friend if I wanted there to be peace between them. Krista told me that if I wanted the peace to be guaranteed, I knew who to pick. I told Krista I could never do it, but if she must make me choose, then I would pick Marissa each and every time. I shouldn’t have to give up my friends to be her’s. It’s not right. Unbelieving that I would choose Marissa as my best friend over her, Krista gave me one last chance to take it back. I denied that I would, so she decided to stand in the middle of the mall where she announced to everyone there all my secrets that I had ever told her. Marissa always did tell me to never tell Krista any of my secrets. Afterwards, I swam home and went into my room where I cried for hours. That same day, Marissa came over at my mom’s request, which is when I told Marissa everything that had happened.
        The next year when we all had to go to middle school, Marissa and I were shocked to see that Krista had blossomed. She was no longer her ugly self, but the new and improved Krista. Well, I guess you could say improved. I mean it’s not much of an improvement if your attitude has plummeted. Along side Krista where her clones, who would do anything she wanted. During that year, Marissa and I got into a fight with Krista that made me hate her for the rest of my life.
~
        “Ready to take a break?” Alex asks me kindly. I nod my head in agreement.
        “Yeah, I’m tired of all this work. Let’s do something else,” I say feeling exhausted.
        “What do you want to do?”
        “I don’t know. Um, why don’t you show me your house?” I ask nervously.
        “I guess I could,” Alex says shrugging. I smile. Alex gets up from our now painful sitting. He holds out a hand for me to take. I take it graciously and get up, too.
        “Thanks,” I tell him.
        “No problem,” Alex says grinning. I glance over at Marissa who is talking to Nick. It doesn’t even seem like they are working anymore. They’re only talking.
        “Hold on a second. I’m going to go tell Marissa, so she doesn’t think I’ve abandoned her.”
        “Okay. I’ll be waiting here,” Alex replies. I swim over to Marissa who is too busy talking to notice me. I don’t think Nick has noticed me either, and he’s the one facing towards me. I clear my throat symbolizing for them to look at me.
        “Yes?” Marissa asks worried.
        “Alex is going to show me around his house. I thought I should let you know before you find me missing,” I tell her. She stays looking worried. “We got tired of working, so I had asked him.” Marissa nods and I can see the worry slide off her face.
        “Oh, okay,” Marissa says smiling. I can tell she doesn’t think I need her, but I so badly want to say she’s wrong. I need her now more than ever to help me be sweet and act cute, so Alex will like me. I’ve only done this once. I don’t know what to do. Cheer up, Stacie. You’ll do fine. It’s not like Alex is a piranha. He won’t hurt you, or will he? “Aren’t you going to go, then?” Marissa asks. I can already see the worry creeping onto her face.
        “Yeah, right. I just zoned out for a second,” I say trying to sound happy and excited.
        “Are you sure?”
        “Yeah, I was just daydreaming. I’ll see you later,” I say trying to keep up my act before quickly swimming away not giving Marissa a chance to talk. I sigh after I’m a few feet away. Once I notice I’m swimming towards Alex, I quickly place a smile upon my lips. I have to keep up my act with him, too. I can’t let him think I don’t want to be here because I do. I never get to go out; this technically is me going out. I’m out of the house which is all that matters.
        “Ready?” Alex asks half-smiling as he wipes his hands on his popping green tail.
        “Yeah, are you ready?” I ask motioning towards his hands.
        “Oh, yeah. Of course,” Alex says removing his hands from his tail. He must be nervous. We swim towards the doorway before Alex motions for me to go first.
        “What a gentleman,” I say as I graciously swim through the doorway smiling.
        “Well, you know me. Gentleman Alex,” he says shrugging. I look away but am able to see Alex grinning.
        “Where to first?”
        “Let’s look around the first floor first. That way we don’t have to go up and down.” I nod. “Follow me.” We swim out of the entrance hall and into a strange room. It looks like an office of some kind.
        “What is this?” I ask.
        “This is my parent’s office.”
        “What do your parents do? They must have a really good job to be able to afford a house like this,” I state gazing around the room.
        “They own their own business. They do all sorts of things there. My parents make toys, kitchen appliances, house furniture, and they even build houses,” Alex states transparency. I can’t see any emotion on him.
        “Did your parents build this house?”        
        “No, this is the only one they haven’t destroyed and re-built in this neighborhood. My grandparents lived here before we did, so my parents couldn’t destroy it to build a new one. I was three when we moved here. We got it in their will,” Alex says without any emotion.
        “Oh, I’m so sorry,” I say looking towards the floor instantly regretting that I brought this conversation up. A bright green tail pops into my view. I look away from it.
        “It’s okay. I only have few memories of them, but they were all happy memories. I’m glad I can remember them at least with those few memories I have. It’d be a shame if I couldn’t or if I remembered them in a bad way,” Alex says smiling lifting my chin up to look at him.
        “I can’t remember my grandparents. My mom never wants to talk about her parents, so I can never learn about them. My father left when I was little, and I can’t remember ever meeting his,” I say frowning. Maybe by telling him about how I don’t remember mine, it’ll make him feel better.
        “Really? Wow, I guess we both don’t have good luck when it comes to our grandparents,” Alex says jokingly. I chuckle.
        “Yeah, I guess not.” Suddenly, I feel something in my hand. I look down to see Alex’s hand there. I glance back up at him shocked.
        “Sorry, I just wanted to pull you to the next room,” Alex says half-smiling. I nod nervously feeling seahorses swimming around in my belly. Alex pulls me out of the office and down a hall where there are thousands of rooms attached.
        “How do you keep track of them all? There are so many,” I say astonished.
        “It was hard at first, but you get used to it,” Alex says laughing. He opens up a door. “This is a guest room.” I nod as I look around wonderingly. He brings me to the next door. “This is another guest room.” I do the same as the last room: I nod and look around. Alex brings me to the next door and the next after that.
        We go through all the doors on the first floor. There are twelve guest rooms, the kitchen, a family room, the living room, ten closets, five bathrooms, and one entrance hall. I am amazed at all the rooms there are in his house. This is practically a maze. I would get lost in here if I was by myself. I don’t know how Alex or his parents know where everything is in here. The whole time Alex is showing me around his maze of a house, he never breaks our hands apart. I can’t help but smile.
        “Ready to see the second floor?” Alex asks.
        “Of course,” I say enthusiastically.
        “Great! Well, come on!” Alex pulls me up the stairs to the second floor. “Which way would you like to go, Stacie?” I look from the left side to the right.
        “They both look interesting, but I think I’ll go with the right,” I say pointing towards it. Alex nods and pulls me to a door. He quickly opens it.
        “This is another office. My mom usually uses this one. My dad prefers the one downstairs. It’s better for him since he’s usually up late. He doesn’t want to wake anyone which I don’t understand. He’s never noisy when he’s in there, so it doesn’t make sense. My mom uses this one, so she can get to bed quickly,” Alex states smiling. I only nod in interest. There isn’t much you can say to this. Alex stops in front of a closed door.
        “What room is this?” I ask questioningly. Alex glances at me before hesitantly opening the door.
        “My parent’s room.” I gaze around the humongous room surprised. It is very elegant looking. I can see a king sized bed in the middle of the room.
        “It’s so big!” I exclaim.
        “Yeah, I know,” Alex says frowning. I can tell he wants to move onto the next room.
        “What’s this next one?” I ask pulling him to the next one.
        “A bathroom.”
        “Oh, and the next one?” I ask moving on.
        “A guest bedroom.”
        “You guys sure do have a lot of guest bedrooms in here. Don’t you have a room that isn’t a guest bedroom or a bathroom or an office?” I ask questioningly.
        “Well, there is one…”
        “Great! Now, where is it?” I ask excited looking around the hall as if I’m going to find it. Alex chuckles making me look at him confused. “What’s so funny?” I ask wanting to be kept in the loop.
        “Oh, nothing,” Alex says chuckling still. Well, I’m glad I made him happy again. Alex pulls me to the stairs where we ascend.
        At the top, I see only one hall that leads to a doorway at the end. I look at Alex who gulps. I immediately begin swimming towards it, pulling Alex along with me. I open the door without any introductions by Alex. It seems as if he wants to stop me, but I swim in anyways. I glance around the dark room looking for the light switch. Suddenly, Alex flips the lights on showing we are in a bedroom. It’s pretty big, but not bigger than his parents’ room.
        “Is this your room?” I ask intrigued.
        “Yeah,” Alex says nervously. I watch him plop onto his bed before he looks up at me watching. I swim around gazing at everything wonderingly. In one part of the room, there are drawings pinned to the wall. They’re so beautiful and amazing. There are animals, people, sunsets, sunrises, pictures of the moon, and even more. I would have thought they would be colored, but to my surprise, they aren’t. All the drawings are in black and white.
        “Are these yours?” I ask admiringly.
        “Um, yeah,” Alex replies hesitantly. I can’t see his face considering my back is to him, but it sounds as if he is still nervous.
        “They’re amazing. I didn’t know you could draw like this,” I say turning around to look at him. Alex only shrugs. “You have to make me one. You should do one of me,” I exclaim. Alex stares at me looking for any emotion. I smile and nod my head in excitement.
        “Okay, sure. I can do that.”
        “Yay! But I can’t do it today. I have to be home before my mom has to leave for work. I’m sure this will probably take long, so yeah…”
        “Okay, I can do it whenever. Any time is fine with me,” Alex says smiling happily. I think I just made his day.
        “Great! How about tomorrow? I’m not doing anything, so it’d be the perfect time.”
        “Okay, sure. We can do it then.”
        “Great!” I wait for Alex to reply, but he never does. “Um, I think we should go check on Marissa and Nick. She might be worried that we have been gone so long,” I say feeling the awkwardness grow. Alex immediately frowns.
        “Oh, yeah. We should go check on them. Nick might be wondering where I have gone, too,” Alex says looking towards the ground. Now, I feel bad; I just don’t know why. After a few seconds, Alex gets up from his bed and quickly heads out the door not grabbing my waiting hand forcing a frown to appear on my lips.
        I follow Alex to the stairs. I’m shocked to see he is waiting for me. Alex takes a quick look at me. Before he turns back around, I can see the frown still showing. I don’t think I did anything wrong. What could I have done to make him feel upset? Gosh, how I hate seeing people upset. I don’t know what compels me to feel sorry for people when I know nothing about why they are upset or sad, but I can’t make myself cease from doing it. Think, Stacie. Think. What can you do to make him feel better?