Suicide, Skittles and Skates [✓]

Chapter 06

CHAPTER SIX

Alex was in his last class of the day when the first snowflakes of the season began to fall. He had been doodling on the edge of his desk when he noticed the little white flecks falling from the corner of his eye. It was windy outside so the snowflakes were swaying in the breeze, almost as though they were dancing to a beat nobody could hear. He had always loved the cold winter, and playing in the snow had been one of his happiest childhood memories. He walked out of school talking to Tyler, excitedly kicking the thin layer of barely settling snow beneath his feet.

All of a sudden a flash of hot pink and silver collided into him.

"Oh, hi Mel." He tried to smile at her though it came out more like a grimace. Alex could see his best friend wincing in his peripheral vision while he attempted to untangle himself from the limbs that were tightening around his frame.

Mel was his ex-girlfriend who conveniently ignored the 'ex' part of the phrase. Her hair was pin straight and platinum blonde, and her forest green eyes were currently blinking up at him. With evidently expensive clothes clinging onto her perfectly sculpted body and lips that would make anyone swoon, Melissa Knight was the epitome of beautiful.

Well, if you considered manipulative Barbie dolls beautiful which, unfortunately, everyone did.

He looked around to see if anyone he knew was around so he could make his excuses and leave, but he couldn't spot anyone he knew. 'Ugh, looks like I have to stand here and pretend I actually care about what she says,' he thought, suppressing a groan.

Luckily for him, Kalila and her best friend Emma were walking out of the main building in school at that very moment. "Oh c'mon, he's a total hottie though!" Emma waggled her eyebrows suggestively at her best friend. Alex had smiled and talked to them for approximately half a second that morning and Emma was still talking about it as though he was Jesus or something.

"I still can't believe the Alex Bates, the greatest human being to grace the planet, hottest guy in the entire school, considers you as a friend!" She clapped her hands dramatically. Kalila just rolled her eyes; she had half tuned out of the conversation a long time ago. Forever the drama queen, Emma made it seem as though they were social outcasts who 'the hottest guy in school' shouldn't dare to look at, never mind talk to.

But Kalila's life wasn't a cheesy Wattpad story and her social life wasn't anywhere near as bad as Emma was insinuating. Neither insanely popular nor complete losers, they were at the very middle of the social ladder. It really wasn't that much of a big deal that Alex talked to her occasionally.

After all, they were doing the most important project of her school life together, and she was thankful she was working with someone that had a great amount of talent. Plus, now that she knew his secret, she looked at him differently.

He was so much more than his reputation was.

Throughout the whole of their school life Alex, along with the bunch of people he hung out with, had always been flawless to everyone else. They had popularity, great grades and incredible good looks. They never had food stuck in their teeth or pimples on their foreheads or eyebrows that weren't impeccably plucked all the time.

But she now knew that wasn't true. Nobody was perfect, and although nobody other than herself knew, he was constantly on the verge of breaking down.

Alex Bates wasn't flawless and she loved it.

"Speak of the devil," Emma whispered happily to her, looking ahead. Tyler was bouncing a football up and down waiting for Alex to finish talking to Melissa Knight, his ex-girlfriend. Melissa was the Regina George of Clermount High School, blonde and beautiful and unfortunately a complete nightmare.

As cliché as it was, she had been a good friend of Kalila's as they were growing up. That had ended abruptly though as soon as they had hit seven years old and Mel had ripped off the head of Kalila's favourite teddy bear. She had claimed that "toys were for babies," and they had hated each other ever since. By the time high school had started however, their feud had boiled down and they generally stayed out of the others way.

Well, until now.

Dragging Emma along with her, she decided to go over to them. She needed to talk to Alex anyway and although she knew Melissa would be furious, she couldn't care less about angering the Queen Bee of their school.

Queen Bitch was a more appropriate title.

"Hey Alex!" she chirped while stuffing her Chemistry folder in the bottom of her bag. "I was wondering if you're free again tomorrow?" She purposefully didn't mention it was for a school project, getting a kick out of irritating Mel.

Melissa swung her head around territorially, her body language clearly questioning how any girl could dare ask out her Alex, and Kalila fought the urge to roll her eyes. She could see Tyler stifling a laugh at the glares Mel was shooting and was glad at least one of the boys wasn't so completely dense and could see how malicious she really was beneath her sickly-sweet exterior.

"Yeah, I can text you my address; how about you come over to mine this time?" Alex asked, trying to subtly pull out of his ex's tightening grip. Kalila agreed and waved goodbye, internally laughing at the look on Melissa's face while walking away.

"Hey, wait up!" she heard a voice call. Alex and Tyler were jogging towards her, leaving a disgruntled Mel behind, shaking her arm in fury.

"I have no clue who you are but thank God you turned up. My eardrums would have burst if I'd had to listen to her screeching for a second longer. Can't believe this idiot here ever even associated himself with her." Tyler grimaced running his fingers through his caramel locks.

"Oh shut up, I don't exactly want to think about the biggest mistake of my life right now." Alex shuddered, elbowing his friend. They made introductions and walked together for a while, Emma silently hyperventilating due to the fact that two of the hottest guys in school were talking to them.

The pointless chatter and bantering made Alex smile slightly, and it was only when he was walking into his flat alone that he realised that ever since Kalila had thrown Skittles at him, things had started to change.

He wasn't quite the same sort of person as he was before the accident; he didn't seem to care about partying or girls anymore and only talked to people that were worth talking to. 'That's a good thing, I guess,' he thought. But he was also smiling more and it had only been two months; he had absolutely no right at all to be happy so quickly when his twin sister was six feet underground due to his own stupidity.

Things were definitely starting to change but he couldn't quite figure out whether that was a good or bad thing.