Story: Ending Part 8
[[Continuity Note: Alf, Jessica and Damien have a little confrontation in a stair well.]]
As the three of them left the stair well, Alf noticed Alyssa Marx at the bottom, looking up at them curiously.
"Hey Alyssa," Damien greeted her as they walked past.
"Hey Damien," she said, then looked towards Alf. "Hi Alf," she greeted with a smile.
Although shocked that she'd acknowledged him, Alf managed a small "Hey" as they walked past.
"Real smooth, Struthers," Damien laughed once out of her earshot.
"Shut up, Reid," Alf retorted grimly. He hadn't made a fool of himself. Why did Damien have to tease him?
But thoughts of Alyssa Marx left his mind when he saw Rock at the corner of the school grounds.
"Rock!" he called.
The senior looked at them then looked away. He didn't move from his place, though.
"I don't think he's going to acknowledge us either," Damien stated, raising an eyebrow at Alf.
"Yeah," Alf agreed. "I think I pissed off everyone over the past couple days>"
"You didn't piss me off," Jessica inserted.
Alf rolled his eyes. "But I thought I did. You weren't being very nice to me."
"Sorry," Jessica apologised.
"Don't worry about it," Alf said as they drew closer to Rock. "Just help me out with him."
"Hey Rock!" Damien greeted the older boy cheerfully.
"Hey Reed, Jess," Rock greeted in response, not cheerful at all and purposely leaving Alf off.
"Hi," Jessica returned.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," Alf apologised.
Rock frowned. "I don't need your pity."
"And that's what I'm apologising for," Alf stated. "I didn't understand. And you're right; I can't understand. I can't understand because I've never been ostracised like that before."
Rock looked as though he wasn't paying attention, but he hadn't walked away so Alf continued even though his audience (besides Damien and Jessica) didn't seem to be listening.
"I still want to be your friend is what I am trying to say," Alf said finally. "Can't you pity me a little and give me that?"
"We're nothing without you," Damien added. Though he'd objected to Alf being friends with Rock at first it was just jealousy. They needed Rock to even out the balance between the reckless and the cautious. In Damien's opinion, they'd never have any fun if it was just him, Alf and Jessica. It was okay when it was him and Alf, that was balanced. But Jessica was too much like Alf and it was difficult to convince two people to step out of their comfort zones without a lot of compromises. Compromises made everything a lot less fun. And if you had too many of them, it was no fun at all.
"You do make it easier to live in that house," Jessica added. She'd always been stifled in there, but with Rock she found an escape from the pressure inside the house. She didn't have to run off like Rock always had before.
"I guess I still want to be friends with you guys, too." Rock smiled and gathered the three of them into a group hug, shocking the rest of the school outside.
In fact, Ms Mathers, the teacher on duty came closer to investigate this strange occurrence. But upon seeing the smiling faces of the other three teenagers, she was forced to accept that Rock wasn't doing anything wrong, despite the suspiciousness of the situation. After all, Rock was known for being a bully. But that Jessica was his cousin, and all three of them had approached him.
And so that was all tasks completed for Alf (bar getting home and he was pretty sure that he'd manage that one okay). All in all, a good day. Alf was sure that he'd never know the bottom of the friendless pit while his three best friends were alive.
[[End scene.]]
posted by Cedric @ 8:16 pm
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