Quicksilver - Jamilton -

Chapter 6: Today like yesterday

"Hey Alexander, what 'you looking at?" I directly turn around to John, who, as always, has a big smile on his face and a mocking tone in his voice.

"Oh, huh, nothing!" I, yet again, glance over at Aaron's table, but Jefferson has turned around. The sight of the two together leaves a bitter taste at the tip of my tongue, but I can't really put a name on it. I recenter my attention to my friends and am very confused at their conversation. How is it that if you lose even just one split second of it, you end up absolutely lost?

"So I was like, 'yo man that's not how you do it' and so I just jumped right in the pool."

"At a stranger's house?!" Chocks out Lafayette at Hercules' story.

"I wad fifteen and drunk, what can I say!" He laughs it off, which made our whole table laugh, including me. Then, they go to another subject, in this smooth transition I'm too used of to notice.

"How do you think I got on Mr. Franklin's test? I didn't study at all, so I'm curious hehe!" John says, finishing his last piece of food.

"Oh, you probably had the worst grade ever!" I chuckle at him. "You should have seen Mr. Franklin's face when he looked over at it, it was precious!"

"Well, you can say I'm the greatest bad student!"

"Petite tortue, you're delusional."

"Am not!"

"Sure are."

"Am no–"

"Do y'all have plans for tonight?" Herc' asks, cutting the two off. Lafayette directly put back all his concerns to him, ignoring John at the same time, and smiles.

"I have nothing!"

"Me too! Oh, we should do a sleepover!"

"Great idea, At who's?"

"At mine, obviously." Lafayette proudly says. "My aunt will say yes without a shadow of the doubt." John builds up his excitement even more.

"I already have an idea for the movies! We should re-watch the Avengers, I didn't watch the new one and it could be cool–"

"Sorry you guys, I have to work tonight!" I interrupt.

"Ohh, party pooper." He nudges me on the side.

"I always forget you have a job." Herc' says, and Lafayette nods with his head.

"Well, we'll do without you petit lion, though it'll be more boring."

"You got problems with the nicknames, you know that?" I laugh.

"Oh hush or I'm calling you Alex the monkey."

"Okay, Marie." Laf's eyes widen and I sit up, leaving with a smug to put in the trash my box of juice and go since everyone had already finished eating.

"Hey, I'm totally going outside today!"

"100% percent agree."

"100% percent disagree, I gotta study! And you guys said you would study with me, remember?" I steal Hercules's last piece of biscuit before he can throw it in the trash.

"But look at the sun!" Lafayette theatrically answers. "Look at this beauty of nature, at these rays of sunshine against the windows, at these–"

"You won't convince him with poetry, Laf'."

"Come on, Alex, go with us!"

"Guys, you promised this time you'd come!"

"You're wayyy too serious sometimes, 'Lex, chillax! We all know I'm a lost cause, anyway." I let out a laugh, after all, what else could I do other than laugh?

"Okay, well, see y'all at Mr. Adams' class, then!" I smile at them.

"Try not to punch him!"

"I'll try." I answer as dramatically as I can with a stupid pose. Their laughter resonates in the hallways as they go away.

And my smile fades away, slowly but surely, without me even realizing it. I go to take my books, so I can go to the library, and while I do so Jefferson and Aaron pass by, and I eavesdrop on a conversation about a book, apparently. I want to talk about the book I was reading, too, but it would never interest Laf', Herc' or John. I could do that with Aaron, though. Maybe I should apologiz–No! No. Aaron is now hanging with an asshole, he even defended him! And such behavior is unacceptable. Jefferson, why him out of everyone? Because the poor thing was eating alone? Please!

The rest of the day goes by as fast as it always does. I have a small interaction with King, raise my hand every time I can, talk with the gang like I always do, walk to the public transport, and finally arrive at my apartment complex. Simple, quick, the routine of a boring everyday life. I check the mail-box and hop up the stairs and finally enter my apartment.

I can see mom, hunching over papers on the dinner table, concentrating on them.

"Hey ma'! How was your day?" I see that she's slightly startled.

"Oh! It was great. How about you? Did you absolutely rocked that science test you were telling me you had?"

"History test." I sit down next to her. "And, yeah, you bet I did." She gives me a big, proud smile that made me all fuzzy inside, and pets my head, making a mess out of my hair. 

She then proceeds to look back at her papers and sigh deeply. 

"You okay?" I ask.

"Yeah. Don't worry, we're just a little tight this month."

"Ah? I can give you my next paycheck?"

"No, no, don't do that! Spend it with your friends, instead! I said we were tight, that doesn't mean I can't pay it myself. We'll just have to slack on some expenses."

"...hm. I'm getting late for work, anyway. I gotta go!"

As I go to put on my coat, I look back at mom. She is so tired, sometimes I just want to take all this stress she had and put it on me, but I know she'd never let that happen. She always tries to show how strong she is, and even if she is indeed strong, she needs to let herself take a break.

The cold autumn breeze hits me, as I walk. The sun is already settling down. Lafayette wasn't wrong, it's a beautiful day to go outside, and I regret a bit not to have gone with them.

Pizza delivery sucks, for a job. You always end up facing weirdos, or in shady places. At my final hour, it was 1h in the morning, and at this time my brain is so scrambled I can't really think straight. I'm in these really rich neighborhoods, full of arrogant pricks. Closing my eyes, I'm certain I could hear John's laughter. My little scooter is parked, and as I'm about to start it to finally put it back at the pizza shop, on the other side of the street, I can see two guys of my age. And for a second, I thought it was Thomas Jefferson. No, it wasn't him, it was just a random guy. I roll my eyes. Since he came to our school, I'm now seeing him everywhere. No matter where I look, he seems to be there. And that simply annoyed me, because I couldn't get a break from his face.

I hate Thomas Jefferson. Why? I'm not even sure why. But since the day I first saw him, I knew I'd never get along with him. He was too tall, too arrogant and too self-centered. I heard so many rumors, and can easily believe them. In our school, Chilton students are an easy target to mock, and hating to most popular of them just seems right.

Maybe, in the end, when all is said and all is done, I can give him a try? He didn't do anything really wrong to me, did he?

Hm, that must be my sleepy head talking.