The Last of the Twenty: The Setting of the Board

Chapter 11

The final bell rang and the hallways filled with students making their way out the door for home or to sports. Making a beeline for the door, Alex wormed his way through the loud mass of students choking the hallways. He was almost out the door when he realized he had forgotten to grab his homework from his locker. Alex had almost made it to his locker when he spotted Nadia packing the last of her books into her bag. Working his way between a couple making out and a group of football players yelling about the upcoming games, he caught up to her just as she was turning to leave.

“Hey you doing any better?” he inquired.

She turned around and shrugged, doing her best to smile. “Yeah, I guess, I haven’t been able to concentrate in class all day. I’ve been too busy wondering if it’s going to work out between me and Ethan. I haven’t really said anything to him, just that I needed the day and I’d call him later.”

“You decide anything yet?” Alex wondered.

“Not really, I mean I don’t want to break up with him but I don’t want to feel unwanted either, know what I mean? I’ll talk to him tonight, but I’m kinda thinking for now I’ll give it until graduation, see how things work out. Do you think that’s a good idea? I know it’s not a very long time for anything to change with him but it’s something. I’m not trying to put you in the middle or anything, I’d just really like to know what you think.”

Even though Alex was hoping she’d decide to break it off with Ethan, he didn’t say anything. He may not like Nadia dating Ethan, but even with how he felt about her he didn’t feel right about trying to influence her either. “I think you should do what feels right to you, don’t let me influence you because you already know what I think of him.” Alex replied.

Nadia rolled her eyes at him, nodding her head. “I know, I know. I’ll talk to him about it tonight. By the way, he kind of figured out that I talked to you last night, so tell me if he says anything about it alright? I told him you had nothing to do with this and to leave you alone but you know how he gets. Let me know if he says or does anything stupid before I get a chance to talk to him, ok?”

“I’ll be fine, it’s not like I’m going to go looking for him anyways. Let me know how it goes though alright? I’m sure things will work out when you talk to him.” Alex assured her.

The hallways were empty now except for them. Nadia looked down at her phone and gasped, quickly scooping up her backpack. “Shoot I’m going to be late for work. Food orders are coming in today and I need to be there to make sure it’s right. Boss is out of town this week and he put me in charge of getting things ready for the weekend. I’ll talk to you tomorrow!” She hollered over her shoulder as she rushed off.

Alex watched her rush off before heading to his own locker. Homework packed away, Alex made his way out the building. He was one of the last people still walking around the halls and he could see the parking lot was about empty through the windows. Good, at least I won’t have to deal with Ethan today, He thought.

….

Walking to his car Alex’s thoughts returned again to what had happened to him after his talk with Nadia the other night. The more he thought about the fact that he had passed out after getting such a sudden and intense pain in his head, the more it terrified him. Throughout his early life he had spent a lot of time in and out of the hospital undergoing tests and scans on his brain. Although nothing had ever been found that would cause concern, Alex had always had a small fear in the back of his mind that they had missed something; he had taken quite the blow to the head the night his parents died.

Then there was the matter of his foot, a minor concern in the grand scheme of things but it still kept forcing its way into Alex’s thoughts. When you grow up spending as much time as Alex had wandering hallways of hospitals and sitting in doctor’s offices, you tend to overhear a lot of conversations. Usually involving other patients you don’t know and their medical conditions. Sometimes the conversations moved onto medical miracles that doctors and nurses, who don’t think anyone’s listening, have seen. At least once or twice he had heard about wounds healed and conditions reversing that the doctors had no real hope for, but he had never heard of someone healing themselves to that degree, and that quickly. Alex tried to shake the thoughts out of his head, this was all too much and too confusing to think about.