alexander- a.t

3. tuesday, september 2003

When Luna didn't get on the bus on Monday morning, Alex tried to pretend as if he wasn't thinking about where she was the whole day. He watched Brian get onto the bus and sit with his friend instead, desperately wanting to ask where she was.

He had to sit in English by himself, take notes about Shakespeare without the loud voice next to him making comments about how he didn't actually write his own plays and how he was an 'asslick' to all monarchs at the time. He learned more from her than he did the actual teacher.

So, when she got on the bus on Tuesday morning he breathed a sigh of relief almost. Her hair was up in a loose ponytail, she wore low-waisted jeans and a t-shirt of David Bowie. He examined her as she walked along the bus and then by his surprise she made eye contact with him and pointed to her shirt. He let out a dorky laugh and put his thumbs up.

"Wow, she likes you doesn't she?" Matt nudged him, he nudged him back.

"Shut up, I could say the same for you and Sam" He retorted but Matt knew he was just getting defensive over how he felt.

They didn't have English that day so Alex had to catch glances of her in the common room. He was totally besotted and it killed him, knowing she had a boyfriend that could squish him in an instant.

"Did you do the music homework, Al?" Matt asked as he joined him in the common room. Alex nodded. "What did you do?" They had been given the task to express their music taste in a music piece.

"I wrote a song" He answered, casually. Matt hadn't realised Alex could write songs.

"Can I hear it?" He wondered. Alex looked down, not sure whether he wanted to show Matt. He had never shown anything he had written. "Is it about Luna?" He asked. Alex's head snapped up.

"No!" He burst. Matt started to laugh and held his hands up in defence. The bell went just in time. "I've got psychology. I'll show you at lunch" They stood up and went their separate ways.

Alex sat next to a lad called Harry in psychology. He was a quiet boy, floppy blonde hair like something out of a boyband and bright blue eyes. He only spoke when spoken to but always seemed to get top marks. He intimidated Alex immensely.

"Did you do the homework?" He suddenly asked Alex. Alex scrambled through his notes, knowing he had done it.

"Yeah, you?" He replied, still looking for it. Harry nodded and got out his. Alex found his in time for the teacher to collect it.

"Are you friends with Luna Temple?" He asked. Alex was shocked that he had mentioned her.

"Uh, I don't know. We talk sometimes." He replied awkwardly. Harry nodded. "Why?" He wondered, remembering what his mum had told him about continuing conversations and not answering bluntly.

"She's my twin sister and mentioned you the other day" He shrugged, suddenly becoming extremely intimidated by this boy he had assumed was shyer than him.

"Oh." He couldn't help himself. "What did she say?" Harry started to write things down from the board so Alex wrote the date at the top of his paper.

"Just that you live a road over." He answered. Alex nodded, slightly disappointed. He liked the idea that Luna talked about him to her family but he didn't know what he was expecting her to say. She was hardly going to tell her brother anything special.

"I don't see you on the bus in the mornings" Alex answered, trying not to come off too Luna obsessed.

"My mate in the year above drives me." He shrugged. It made sense.

When the lesson ended, Harry walked with Alex to the common room. They talked about their psychology teacher, whether she was single or not or whether she was shagging the PE teacher. Harry had heard he had got suspended for a term for getting caught with her in the locker room.