Johnson Hearts Carter

Better Days Ahead- Sure!

Alexandra said goodbye to her father as she stepped out of the passenger side of his Toyota Camry. Since her right arm was still in a sling, she could not ride her bike to school so, she had to wake up a little earlier to get a ride to from her dad because they only had one car in the family.

She awkwardly slung her backpack over her left shoulder and gazed at the school building with determination. She already missed two days therefore, she was not going to be absent any longer. 

Alexandra had taken out her mother's old recorder and decided to just record the lectures since she could not take down notes. It would have been cooler to have a tablet or an iPad to do the recording stuff but she could not afford it at the moment. She did not want to bother her parents about money whenever she could avoid it.

As she made her way forward, Alexandra was instantly swallowed by the crowd headed to the building. It was so easy to collide with another person who might be in a hurry or somebody who just does not care about personal space. She clutched her bag nearer to her body, as if it would protect her from any physical or even mental harm coming her way. 

She willed herself to disappear just like she always did. 

Finally, Alex reached her locker and with some difficulty, she dialed her combination while balancing her bag. Sometimes, she did not know why she bothered locking her private cubby since the students who wanted to prank her do not seem to have a hard time opening it.

The sight of red splattered paint greeted her and she cringed. She had learned since freshmen year not to put important papers in her locker. This was probably the reason why the paint did not mess up anything except the interior  of the locker and her old, raincoat. 

Oh crap! She thought as she pulled out her history book. She had forgotten to take it to class with her. It was now caked with red dried paint. The edges have curled and stiffened enough that Alex did not even attempt to open the book.

"Who died in there?" 

Alexandra jumped and banged her injured shoulder on the locker door. She winced, blinking in pain. When she recovered, she recognized Travis Johnson  who was standing behind her. 

She let out an exasperated sigh, picked up her bag and slammed the locker shot. She did not look at Travis as she decided to just walk towards the direction of Mr. Matters' class. She dumped her history book inside the nearby trash bin and thought about how to get a new one. It would not be complicated since her history teacher is very kind and accommodating.

"Usually, when a person goes out of his way to find out where you live just to apologize, he deserves some sort of gratitude." Travis’ voice resonated above the noise in the hallway as he leaned down to speak near her ear.

Alexandra flicked her head sideways as if she was bothered by a fly or a bee by her ear. Okay, so Travis had apparently decided to walk with her to Literature class. 

What was his problem?

Travis grinned as he saw her flinch away, knowing that he was making Alexandra uncomfortable. He liked it. He never really thought about her since he left her house yesterday. However, seeing her in the hallway, alone and looking miserable at some paint-crusted textbook made him decide to come talk to her. He guessed he still felt guilty about what happened.

"Really, Carter. Who knew you could be so rude?" He teased out loud just to rile her up. He wanted to find out how long she would ignore his presence. Travis was never that conceited about his popularity with the women but it felt refreshing to be blatantly ignored by a girl.

Alexandra stopped walking, unable to contain her irritation. She turned to glare at the guy beside her as she grumbled "Thank You. Now, can you please leave me alone?" 

She resumed her pace and was suddenly aware of the stares and whispers that were erupting around the hall. 

What is he doing with that nerd? 

Didn't he run her over? 

What's going on? Are they hanging out?

Alex really really dreaded scenarios like this one because she did not want to bring attention to herself. It was enough that she was one of the chosen few who gets pranked now and then, she did not need the vindictive, jealous stares of envious girls in the hallway. Plus, it was never a good sign if students started talking about you.

"I'm just walking to Lit class,” Travis replied with an easy grin. He did not mind the buzz or the stares. He was used to that unfortunately, he did not seem to to notice how it was making the redhead beside him feel ill at ease.

"Well, walk faster or slower. I don't care. Just don't walk with me, okay?" Alexandra hissed as loud as she could without having to look at him. She would not put it past the gossip mongers to think that she was head over heels in love with the class hottie.

Travis shrugged but kept an easy pace with her strides. He showed no signs of leaving her alone. In fact, he moved a little bit closer just to instinctively shield her injured arm.

"I liked your hair the other day. Showed more personality, actually." He teased, tugging her braided hair as if he had done it a dozen times before. 

The action made Alexandra skip in surprise which caused her backpack to drop to the ground. They both stopped walking. Travis immediately picked up the bag before she could make a move. He slung it over his shoulder instead of returning it to her.

"Please give me my backpack,” she whispered, looking at him, her eyebrows furrowing. It was almost painful to look at him without wondering how deeply green those eyes were. Alexandra quickly looked down and repeated her statement, reaching forward with her good arm.

"No. I'll carry it for you. We're almost there anyway,” he replied and much to her dismay, he placed his hand lightly on her shoulder and gently nudged her forward "come on or you're going to be late!”

Alexandra wanted to comment but the warning bell sounded as if to seal her fate. With a scowl, she helplessly proceeded to the classroom feeling as if she just went to school stark naked. She stopped just outside the door and turned to ask for her bag back only to find Travis shaking his head and pointing towards her seat.

She trudged to her desk with as much dignity as she could muster and watched as he placed the back pack on the seat. He had the audacity of giving her a wink and before stalking off to his usual seat in class. She could not help but follow him with her gaze. 

Just as she was about to sit down, Verna called out to her "Hi Alex! I'm so glad you're okay. Did you get the worksheet from um- Travis Johnson? I wasn't sure he knew where you lived."

Alexandra wouldn’t have minded the question if only Eliza did not show up just in time to hear what Verna said. She took a deep breath as she closed her eyes in time to hear Eliza’s dulcet tone resound loudly, wafting through the classroom like venomous gas.

"Wait, WHAT? Travis was in your house?" 

Alexandra simply sat down and faced the blackboard, totally ignoring Eliza. The blonde goddess turned to Verna for answers when she clearly saw that she was not getting anything from her target. Verna managed to stammer a shaky yes.

"Why would Travis Johnson be in your house, nerd? Did you do his homework just to get him to into your room?” Eliza sneered, turning away from Verna to look down at Alexandra’s poker face.

A couple of girls giggled as Alexandra continued to ignore Eliza. She opened her bag and got her tape recorder praying that Mr. Matters would just arrive and start the class. She wished hard that the annoying blonde would just walk away.

"Stop it, Foster."

Alexandra looked up at the sound coming from someone near her seat. She saw that it was Kurt Corbin who called out Eliza. He is technically the school's coolest and most popular jock and he is smart too. 

Alexandra had been chemistry partner with him in sophomore year. They did not talk much but, he was always nice to her. She also lived near his girlfriend’s house. She gave him a grateful smile before looking back towards the teacher’s desk.

"I'm just simply clarifying stuff, Kurt. No need to be a party-pooper!” Eliza replied, rolling her eyes at Kurt as he walked past her. She turned back to Alexandra, determined to embarrass her further "Now, how far did you get him into your bed, you sneaky, slut? Who would have thought-“

"That's enough." 

This time it was Travis himself who called out from his seat and interrupted Eliza’s bullying. Everyone turned to look at him as he laid back against his chair, eyes closed with his hands behind his head.

"If you're so hell-bent on the details, Liz, why don't you come over here and ask me about it?” he drawled out, as if there was nothing more important than the juicy gossip Eliza was trying to fish out of the helpless young woman.

Eliza, never wanting to miss a chance to cozy up with Travis, immediately skipped towards the empty seat beside the guy. She grinned triumphantly as if to let the other girls in class see that she is chummy with him.

Alexandra sighed with relief, avoiding the thought of owing another save from Travis and turned to look at Verna who was close to hyperventilating. Eliza could be really intimidating and mean if she wanted to. 

She really did not want to hear what  Eliza and Travis were going to discuss however, it was difficult not to catch every word. Everyone in the room was listening and the silence amplified Eliza's voice, much to Alexandra’s dismay.

"So, you really went to her house?" 

Travis nodded, keeping a nonchalant demeanor. He was annoyed with Eliza  for bothering Carter but, he did not want to waste energy on her. He knew perfectly well how to handle girls like her.

"So? Did she throw herself at you?"

Travis shrugged and then let out a brief sigh "depends on how you look at it. I might have been the one who threw myself at her."

Eliza scoffed and laughed. The shrill sound made Alexandra cringe. "Really? You want us to believe that you would go for someone like her?"

“Well, I did not get anything from Carter. I guess some girls are immune to my charms, right Kurt?" Travis drawled out dramatically as he turned his head towards the direction where his best friend sat.

Kurt chuckled and nodded "yup. Sorry man, if I were a girl, I won't be into you and apparently, Carter isn't too."

Eliza looked at Travis and then Kurt before frowning in confusion. It was so typical of her to be gullible. Travis wanted to laugh but he decided to keep a straight face just to confuse her even more.

"I don't buy it. Why would you be interested in plain, carrot top anyway? She isn't your type at all!” A friend of Eliza chirped in from the seat in front of Travis. She is one of the cheerleaders who usually did Eliza’s bidding.

Most girls would cringe at the way the girl had scornfully described her but Alexandra decided to just ignore it. Sticks and stones should never break her spirit.

"Oh, and you exactly know what my type is?" Travis challenged the speaker, sitting up straight to lean forward and look at the cheerleader.

“Yes," she replied, with a flirtatious lilt to her voice, her eyelash batting at him. “It’s definitely not some overall wearing, geek, paint-splattered girl!” The small group of cheerleaders laughed with Eliza.

Sticks and stones... Alexandra muttered to herself as she bit her lower lip, waiting for the teacher to finally come and start the class.

"Sheesh. Can you believe how mean some people are?" Verna whispered to Alexandra, leaning closer to her. She smiled and shrugged, at her friend thankful that the final bell finally sounded, bringing Mr. Matters into the room.

"Okay, settle down!” The teacher’s voice boomed to disperse the chatter and laughs from the other students. He placed his book and papers on the desk and greeted Alexandra "glad to see you're back. How's the arm?"

"It's better, sir,” she replied in a sheepish voice knowing that it would put her into another awkward situation with the popular guys and girls in the class.

"Teacher's pet!" someone fake coughed at the back and the giggles erupted again. Mr. Matters glared at them. 

"Really, children. Grow up. Turn to page 210 and read. Oral exams in 30 minutes."

There was a groan as more than half of the class complained at the surprise quiz.

"Why does it have to be an oral test?" A jock from the left side of the room called out in a whiny voice.

"Seeing as Miss Carter cannot write, we will have to make things fair, don’t we?” Mr. Matters replied with a grin.

Alexandra cringed and shook her head "No, it's okay sir. I can manage! Really, please-”

"Nonsense!"

Alexandra hung her head and sighed. She did not need anymore reason to become the target of spite and anger. 

"It's going to be fine,” Verna whispered and reached over to give her shoulder a gentle pat. With dread, Alexandra immersed herself in the book. The day was starting to be turn into a nightmare.