alexander- a.t

9. saturday, october 2003

"I'm sorry, mate. We need someone with more...spunk. You just seem too shy and quiet." The man said. Alex stared back at him before nodding.

He walked out of the shop to his mum, who was looking at jewellery through a jewellery shop window. He tapped her on her shoulder and shook his head.

"Oh, Al. You'll find something." She rubbed his back. "Come on let's try the last place and then get something to eat and buy your Halloween outfit." She tapped him softly. He nodded and they walked to the last place that Alex had considered working at.

It was a music shop at the end of the high street. Alex had always loved it. It sold records, tapes, CD's of every band you had ever heard of. His mum once again waited outside while he walked in, CV in hand.

"Hello, I'm Alex." He said to the man behind the counter. The man looked up and smiled brightly.

"Ah yes, the lad who wants to work for us. I'm Victor, the manager." He held out his hand and Alex shook it. "Come with me." He led him up some stairs to what seemed to be an office. "Have you had a job before?" He asked, sitting at his desk.

"Never." He replied honestly. "But I work hard and I'm a fast learner." He said quickly afterwards. Victor let out a chuckle.

"Okay. You like music?" He asked. Alex nodded vigorously.

"It's all I do: listen, play, write..." he listed before shutting himself up. Victor smiled.

"What do you play?" He asked. Alex started to relax, they were talking about something he knew.

"Guitar. At the moment just my dads old acoustic fender but I'm saving for a gibson electric." He explained. Victor nodded.

"What do you listen to?" He asked. Alex looked up to the sky, thinking what he listens to.

"Bowie, Jackson Browne, Led Zeppelin, Sinatra but I'll listen to just about anything." He shrugged. Victor hummed to himself. "Recently, I've been listening a lot to the strokes." He lied but knew they were a cool band. Victor's eyebrows raised for a split second as if he approved.

"Okay. I approve of that list." He agreed. "And you write your own music?" He seemed intrigued.

"Well, I take music tech at college so it's part of that but I enjoy it and sometimes write things for myself." He explained.

"I'd like to hear it sometime." Victor tested him. Alex wanted so badly to yell no and run away but he nodded slowly.

"When I write something bearable then absolutely" he joked and to his surprise Victor laughed.

"Fair enough. Can you start next weekend?" He asked, clapping his hands together. Alex's eyes widened.

"Yes." He said quickly, making Victor laugh as he stood up to shake his hand. "Thank you."

"Pleasures all mine." He reached into his desk and pulled out a wad of papers. "Fill these out and bring them back on your first day. Contracts and such." He shrugged. Alex nodded.

"Will do. Thanks again, see you next week." He waved. Victor waved back and lit a cigarette calmly.

Alex practically ran out to his mum and showed her the papers. She squealed and ruffled his hair.

"I knew you could do it! When do you start?" She asked.

"Next Saturday" he answered.

"Brilliant. Well done, Al." She squeezed his arm and they started to walk down the rest of the high street to find an outfit to wear for the party that night.

Penny started to talk about one of her friends from work when Alex sported the jacket. It was beautiful and crisp and just what he was looking for.

"What about that?" He cut her off. She looked in the window and pulled a face.

"That's far too expensive, Alex." She pointed out.

"I'll pay you back with my new job!" He burst desperately, thinking only about the one person who will appreciate the jacket more than him; Luna. "And I'll be able to wear it after Halloween as well. It's an investment. I could just wear jeans and a t shirt and be done!" He explained. His mum stared at the shiny jacket and sighed.

"Alright." She caved, following Alex into the shop. He took off his Parker jacket and found his size of this new one.

"If I gel my hair I'll look like Danny Zuko." He pointed out, trying to move his hair about a bit in the mirror. Penny stared at her son through the mirror, nodding.

"Okay but you are paying me back." She sighed, she had to admit he looked good in the jacket but he also looked a lot older and that scared her.

"Of course! Thanks mum." He kissed her cheek as she gave him her credit card to buy it with.

When they got home, Alex went to Matt's house instead of his own to show him the jacket and tell him about the job.

"So, you're going as what?" He asked as he let Alex in.

"Danny from grease. I bought this banging leather jacket and my dad has hair gel I'm gonna use. The birds will be flocking." He was so pumped about it. Matt couldn't help but laugh as they walked up to his bedroom.

"Alright alright. How did you pay for it?" He asked as Alex got it out the bag to show him.

"My mum bought it but that's the other thing; I got a job at that music shop in town so i can pay her back." He was so overly excited about it but Matt always enjoyed when he got like this about something.

"That's great, mate." He slapped him endearingly on the back.

"Thanks, I'm excited." He sat on the floor and put the jacket away. "What are you going as?" He asked.

"Well me and Jamie are gonna go as Wayne and Garth from Wayne's world." He explained. Alex laughed.

"Let me guess, you're Garth." He teased. Matt picked up his drumsticks.

"Duh." He spun them around between his fingers. Alex laughed hard.

"I love that." He clapped his hands together. "For once, I'm actually excited for a party" he said not being able to take his eyes off his new jacket. He couldn't wait for Luna to see it.

"That's because it's Halloween, your favourite holiday." Matt pointed out.

"Yeah. True." He shrugged.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, Matt was flicking through a rock magazine to see who was popular nowadays while Alex just stared in awe at his jacket.

"Do you know anyone else that works at the music shop?" He asked Alex. He shook his head in response.

"I hope there's at least one other person but if it was just me I wouldn't mind." He replied honestly.

"Yeah, maybe a fit girl works there" he suggested. Alex laughed.

"Wouldn't they all wanna work at clothes shops or something." He shrugged off. Matt's mobile went off and he looked at it.

"Jamie's coming over to get ready soon. Do you wanna grab the rest of your stuff and get ready here?" He asked. Alex stood up and stretched.

"Yeah sure. Be back in a bit." He said, running out of his house to grab a t shirt and some jeans.