Chapter 5 Modern Day Rock Star

I watched as English had blown by as if it was a leaf in the wind. I hurried out to try to find Alex; something about him was fascinating beyond my own experiences. He was a creature out of some fantasy book. A warrior from old mixed with a modern day rock star.

Mike and I had been falling away from each other, as football had become more important again to him. It being Mike's senior year, he was thinking of moving on. Mike always treated me more like a close sister to keep the other guys from using me to get to my dad, and stay on his good side. We are comfortable together but it is not love, I knew that.

Alex came into view with a weird look on his face; a very dark expression was across it. Something was haunting his mind, that I was sure of but what could it be. Maybe it had something to do with why his eyes showed that there was something hidden behind them. I rushed over to him and grabbed his hand.

"Hey there stranger, mind if a lonely girl drags you off to talk." I looked Alex in the face. Alex's expression was that of someone who just witnessed something unspeakable, yet his eyes burned with a subtle fire of rage. A bad memory was behind those eyes and troubling him, I could read it before he could speak it.

"I would rather get to class." He spoke softly. His mind was excessively deep in the memory to let it go. Even he knew the image of red taking over. Ever since the thought of why am I here crossed his mind, the image would not let go. The doctors at the psyche ward said it was a repressed memory. Something that was protecting him from facing what actually happened. The monster behind his eyes knew what he had seen and made it never be, at a high cost. A very high cost, one that now drove him from Vegas and his life as it was. Allison may you rest in peace, and may you forgive me for failing you.

Alex walked on as he passed me with a new expression on his face. The look of regret was clear in his eyes but the rest of him was deadening from the way he moved on. Coldness was coming off him in waves. Whatever did this to him were beyond even most professionals levels of care.

I could not help her from dragging herself towards him. He was an utter mess of a person. Something had destroyed him, a single event that rocked his life, forever. Like what happened to my Mother. Ever since her death, Father and I never talked about it. He purposely would lose himself in his work and I wanted so much to help him see that I was still there, and scared because I had no one to confide in.

Maybe that is why I felt more like a guy, and had a true interest in guy things. Nah, Mom always knew I was a tomboy. I just could not stand to be in a dress. Dad and me always had fun at games, I was my fathers own son he never really had, and I liked it. However, since mom died in the accident he would never really let me be his son. He wanted me to be more like mom, especially since I looked a lot like her. I wish I were a normal person!

The rest of the school day zoomed by quickly, football practice however dragged as I was initiated into the teams strategies, and game plays. By the time I was done, I was exhausted. What made everything worse was that the coach told me flat out, "You will be here bright and early tomorrow morning at 6 AM or expect to have double practices after school every day for the next two weeks". There was no way I would survive double practices so I resigned myself to a 5 AM wake up call.

Being on the field and having to concentrate on everything really drove the memories away. They were a distant thought. As practice ended, however, Sabrina approached me.

"Good practice, you seem to be catching on quickly." She smiled at me.

"Yeah, good practice." I was a bit exhausted from all the sprints the coach wanted me to do to catch up with the rest of the team.

"Can we talk after you change and everything? I know your exhausted and all, but I just wanted to get to know you better. So, what is Vegas like?" She continued to smile cheerily at me but refused to make eye contact with me for fear of rejection I assumed and we all know what happens when you make an assumption.