𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬

CHAPTER THREE// [SEASON ONE]

It was weird. Not any specific situation, just my life in general right now. Alex's father had come back, which should've been a good thing, but it actually wasn't.

You see, his father suffered from PTSD, but he rejected any sort of treatment for it, which caused him to have big problems with drugs and alcohol.

I was no stranger to have a parent going though addiction, however. Schneider has been the only parental figure in my life for as long as I could remember, and while his struggles with addiction mostly occurred when I was in elementary school, I could remember the toll it took on his life, and mine by association.

Also, things between Alex and I weren't as good as usual. Things had been kind of awkward since the whole porn/ sex talk thing, but it had been even more tense since the hotel stay in San Diego.

I was starting to wonder if Alex was embarrassed by me or if one of his other friends had said something about me to him.

After Alex's string quartet performance at the assisted living community, I walked down the fire escape to Alex's window.

We had this really cringey, totally unneeded knock we did on the window, which I begrudgingly did.

He opened up right away, and I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't ok.

We sat on his bed, and he just reached over and hugged me.

"What was that for?", I asked.

"I don't know. I'm kinda sad right now", he replied.

"Oh. Well anyway, I have a question".

"Shoot."

"Why do you act like this when it's just the two of us, but act like you barely know me when anyone else is around?"

"I don't know, I guess I didn't realize I was doing it".

"Bullshit. You have on the classic Alex Alvarez Lying Face. Where you look off in the corner and try to look innocent."

"You're right, Sam. But, we're in 7th grade now. People will start asking if we're a couple, and I gotta keep this open", he said, gesturing to his face.

"So you're doing this because you don't want anyone to think that we're together? Would it ruin your rep if people thought if we were dating?"

"I don't know", he mumbled, looking off into the corner.

"You're doing it again. You know what, I'm done with this bullshit. I'm going upstairs. See you at Elena's quinces."

And at that moment, everything fell apart. I, personally, thought that Alex and I would get together someday. I'd always liked him, and I thought he liked me too. I guess I'm too naive.