Clearing In The Forest - Dalex High School Remake

Chapter 1

"Hey, nerd!"

Alex tried to turn around and see who had yelled at him (as if he didn't already know) before being unceremoniously shoved into the door of his locker. He sighed heavily and pushed himself off, opening the locker and putting his things away in an attempt to ignore the bully.

Jake, the bully, was the so-called 'king' of Alex's high school, terrorizing pretty much everyone, even his own clique. He was especially mean to you if you dared to be smart or not popular. He particularly hated Alex, who was top of most of his classes and only had four close friends.

"Don't ignore me," Jake continued, slamming Alex's textbooks out of his hands and onto the floor with a devilish grin, "I need your lunch money."

Alex gave him a look and sighed. He had started bringing his lunch from home junior year; after a few years in this hell people call high school you learn to be desensitized to the bullying and work your way around it. This didn't seem to stop Jake, however. "Don't have any. Can I go now?" Alex replied, stooping down to pick his books back up.

Jake grabbed Alex by the shirt collar and slammed him back against the lockers, leaning in close. "Are you talking back to me, punk?" he said.

"Yes."

Jake dropped Alex when a teacher came within eyesight, but he didn't drop the dirty look he was giving the other. "Meet me at the back of the school at the end of the day," he growled, turning to walk away, "or else."

Alex rolled his eyes and picked his textbooks back up. "Whatever," he muttered, walking quickly to math in order to not be late. He had no intention of going to the back at the end of the day; he wasn't looking to pick a fight with someone almost literally twice the size of him. That didn't mean he felt threatened by Jake, though. Alex just had common sense.

"Hey, Alex! What took so long?" Denis asked when Alex finally got to class. He shrugged in response, smiling at his friend. He relaxed a little; Alex always felt safer when he was with Denis.

"Problems with Jake again, but it's not a big deal," Alex said. "I've got you to avenge me if he kills me." He bumped Denis' shoulder playfully, who blushed a little and grinned.

Denis was one of the popular kids; a jock, if you will. He pretty much had it all. He was one of the most athletic people in the whole school and was the star football player. He was also the most attractive, with girls swooning over him all the time. Most would say it's a shame he didn't like most of the attention he got. Alex would kill to have the spotlight like Denis did.

"Of course I would," Denis said, bumping Alex back. "The jerk wouldn't know what hit him. If you need me to beat the living daylights out of him, just say the word."

Alex smiled in thanks as the teacher walked in and told the class to be quiet.

The final bell rang and the class scrambled to leave the room, pushing and shoving as the teacher attempted to get them to leave single file. "Please remember to do your homework!" Mr. Wilson yelled after the students. "Mr. Mathews, please don't bite the other students. God, I don't get paid enough for this..."

"See you tomorrow!" Alex called to his friends, waving and grinning. He turned to walk home only to be met with Jake, who looked very angry. "Dang it."

"You thought you could escape me?" Jake growled, grabbing Alex to make sure he didn't run off.

"A little bit," Alex replied, shrugging.

Jake shoved him to the ground and raised his fist, ready to strike. Alex shut his eyes tightly and braced for impact that never came.

"Break it up, you two," said a teacher's voice. Alex opened his eyes and looked over to see Mr. House, the science teacher. Alex let out a sigh of relief. "I have to deal with kids fighting on campus enough during school hours, go do it in your backyard or something."

Jake huffed harshly, reminding Alex a little bit of a dragon, and said, "We'll finish this tomorrow." He spat on the ground and stormed off to meet his friends, who were waiting a little ways away.

Mr. House hit Alex gently in the side with his cane. "I'd help you up, but, y'know," he said. Alex nodded and got up, mumbled a 'thank you' to his teacher and walked home.

To say Alex wasn't looking very forward to the next day would be a minor understatement.

(Guess who isn't dead? Not me. 8th grade sucks and I'm definitely dead. On a side note, yes, I made House and Wilson into teachers; I'm fandom trash. Thanks for putting up with me taking forever to get this out! <3)