Out To Get Her

33| Trust Me, You'll Want To Hear This

ALEX GRIMACES AS she steps out into the empty hallway. Mr. Leyton didn't yell at her, but he was disappointed and concerned and that was somehow worse. Her outburst in class did not do much to show him that she's doing better like she keeps claiming. But she is.

Her brother's death was a hurricane that tore through her life but she had healed enough to be normal. The truth is, her and Liam really weren't that close. As kids, they spent every minute together. But they had drifted as they grew older. When he died, Liam had been in college. Car accident.

Of course, she was devastated, but Alex really would not have been able to bear it if they had been on regular speaking terms. As it was, she still loved him so, so much, and never being able to say goodbye had haunted her for a while. But she really was functioning well. When she shut down around the time it first happened... that was different. She wouldn't let that happen again.

"Alex."

She stops in her tracks and turns to find Drew staring warily at her. The hallway wasn't so empty after all, apparently.

"What could you possibly want?" She grumbles.

"To tell you something."

"No thank you, I need to go."

His arm stops her in her tracks. "Trust me, you'll want to hear this."

Alex whips around to glare at him, ripping her arm from his grasp. "Now that's the thing, I don't trust you."

A pained expression crossed his features, a mixture of frustration and annoyance and impatience.

"You don't have to trust me," he says, "But just hear me out please. I'm trying to help you, dammit." He slams his palm against the wall.

Alex skitters away from him. "Alright, I'm out of here."

"No, wait!" He lunges forward to grab her arm again, but Alex dances out of reach.

Drew seeming to realise that his tactics aren't going to work this time, stops trying and stands there. Alex takes her chance and speed walks away from him.

"It's about Riley."

That stops her in her tracks. She doesn't turn around though.

"Well, it's about Riley and Dean actually."

She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose before spinning on her heel and marching back towards him.

"I'm listening."

"Come with me."

He goes to grab her arm again, but Alex pulls it away. "What is with you and dragging me around like a rag doll."

He smiles sheepishly, "Sorry, habit I guess."

He leads her to an empty classroom at the end of the hall. Alex slips into a chair as Drew plops down on a desk, legs swinging, even though his feet brush the ground because he's too tall. The sound it makes when his feet hit the floor on their way back and then forward again slowly drives her insane.

"Are you gonna speak?" She snaps.

"I was just finding a photo." He holds up his phone.

"Oh." It's Alex's turn to smile sheepishly. She hadn't even checked to see what he was doing before she snapped. She really has a short fuse today, huh

It takes him another minute before he hands his phone to her. She peers at it curiously, tapping the screen to keep it from locking.

"Is this-"