The weekend was neither all good nor all bad for Alex. He'd ended up explaining in much more detail than what was perhaps necessary, all that had happened when he left to watch the soccer game. The group had taken it well, and even Evan had praised him for experiencing the feeling of 'sonder' for the first time.

Carsyn too, to his surprise, had shown a considerable amount of understanding, but Lev, also to his surprise, had been the only immovable soul that wouldn't take pity on him, even refusing to listen to the part when Alex had met number 16 in person. Thanks to a myriad of romantic drama shows, Alex had suspected what Lev might have been feeling, regardless of not hearing his entire explanation.

Grayson had always told him, if you couldn't honour your commitments, then you had to face the consequences, so that's exactly what he'd decided to do. Though Alex of course wasn't too happy being confined to cook alone for the group while they were out embellishing the town in Halloween décor, he was still content enough with all that took place during and after he had gone to the game. He just wished that he'd remembered to ask for number 16's name.

When Sunday arrived, he's taken Nyne's advice on smoothing things over with Lev by whipping up a small assortment of desserts just for him. While Lev had completely devoured and enjoyed the desserts, he still hadn't shown much leniency. But Alex was confident that he could be patient; it was his first relationship after all, Lev's too; he was willing to try as hard he needed to keep it intact. Complications were all part of the ups and downs that all couples inevitably face and deal with, at least that's what Grayson tells him from time to time.

Now it was Monday, and Lev wasn't going to walk Alex to his locker and then to his first period class like he usually did every school day. But Alex wasn't upset, and instead decided to make use of this opportunity to take a more scenic route to his locker, which out of everyone in the group, his was the only one to be on the third floor.

As he neared the vicinity of his locker, he tensed when he caught a glimpse of a cinnamon undercut standing directly across from it. Nick leaned his back against the locker, his hands hidden inside the pockets of his pants, and a leg crossed over the other at the ankles. Alex could hear Nick humming to himself as his eyes scanned the hallway from one end to the other, where they at last spotted him.

Alex quickly hid any signs of distress or vexation he might have been exposing behind an blank expression. He hadn't stopped walking, just slowed his pace which allowed him to smoothly spin around and walk away as soon his eyes met Nick's.

"Alex! Hey wait up, where're you goin'?" Nick called.

Alex couldn't see his face, but he knew Nick had a smile on, wide and obnoxious. Footsteps were catching up to him, and reluctantly he slowed even more until he'd stopped completely by the time Nick reached him.

Nick threw an arm around Alex as if they'd been friends for years, then swiveled him back around on the path to his locker. "What're doing, man? Your locker's over here. You must've finally taken one too many punches to the noggin. You know I warned you about that fight club your little crew hosts, didn't I?"

Alex didn't respond. Instead he breathed in quietly, trying to focus on just doing business with his locker. All he needed was his math textbook and notebook, and in exchange he'd deposit his geography textbook inside. While spinning the dial on his lock to the correct combination, he felt a finger brush downwards on the back of his neck.

"W-what are you doing?" Alex demanded as he recoiled back into the locker next to his. He tried shielding the round of his neck as much as he could with a hand, while he used the other to try and keep Nick at a distance.

"That's some interesting ink you got back there. What does the 'L' stand for anyway, 'loser'?" Nick quipped. Alex internally fought as much as he could to halt his distress from resurfacing on his face. He wasn't going to give Nick the satisfaction of knowing he'd gotten under his skin. "Or...does it stand for something else...?" Nick had mumbled that part to himself.

Something bemused and embittered clouded his face, and Alex wasn't sure what to make of it. 'Did he figure out what the 'L' really stands for?' Alex thought.

"Well anyway," Nick continued, his contemptible-self back on display, "there's something I wanted to talk to you about. Actually it's more like there's something I was hoping you could confirm, cuz a little birdie recently told me something about you that was hard to believe."

"What?" Alex's calm façade was gradually tiptoeing away, and some irritation crept into its place. He wasn't listening too much to the words Nick was saying as he returned to opening his locker.

Nick leaned his shoulder against the locker next to Alex's, and lowered his voice. "So, there's this guy — was this guy — wasn't much older than you and I, and let's just say he was in the profession of selling narcotics. Over the summer he got into some very heated trouble, and then the poor guy went into a coma."

Alex froze, his math textbook in his hand hovered over his backpack, and his face turned pale as he craned his head over at Nick. He wanted to say something, but he figured that anything he said now would actually incriminate himself, so he opted for anxious silence.

"What's even sadder," Nick continued, "is that the guy ends up kicking the bucket like a day or two later. Can you believe that? The doctors supposedly say he slipped away while comatose. Just couldn't hang in there any longer, burns were too severe, something like that."

'Supposedly?' Alex thought. Suddenly he'd forgotten all about possibly incriminating himself, and realized he needed answers. "Who did you say told you about that again?"

"A little birdie. I think it had red hair, maybe it was orange, something like that."

Alex didn't think it was possible, but he could swear he started to feel his skin becoming even paler than it already was. His legs felt wobbly, and his palms were sweating so much that his math textbook was gradually slipping out of his grip. The name of the boy who Alex had dreaded to ever meet again, flashed mutedly in his head, but he couldn't bring himself to speak it out loud.

"But anyways, you should've seen my face when I heard what you did to the guy. I know I haven't known you long, but I really could not believe that you had it in you to take someone's life."

"W-what?" Alex tried keeping the volume down, but his voice was getting fraught. "I didn't...someone drugged him through his I.V."

Nick feigned ignorance. "Who told you that? Look at the facts, man. Maybe you weren't there in his final moments to pull the plug, but you did all that other irreversible and life-threatening damage. He was in critical condition from the start cuz of you, and you know it."

Alex wanted to scream, but he didn't want to draw any attention to himself. If only he could just deck Nick square in the face, if anything but to relieve himself of some of the disquieting thoughts bombarding him, but that would likely lead him to more trouble. He was ready to dash all the way back to Prior's Hardware Priorities straight into Grayson's arms where he could cry his heart out and tell him all about everything wrong — but he'd never done that before, even as a child.

Nick tossed his hand onto Alex's shoulder, imitating sympathy. "But hey, man, I'm not here to judge or anything like that, really. I didn't even know the guy. Just some advice though, maybe stay away from those in the 'narcotics selling' profession. Doesn't seem like you can keep your distance or your cool with them. You wouldn't want a repeat and another death on your hands." Alex looked panic-struck, while Nick looked triumphant as he removed his hand and stepped away from him.

"Well, I gotta be on my way now," he said to Alex. "So should you if you don't wanna be late. Keep my advice in mind, kay?"

"W-what was his name?" Alex blurted. He already knew it, and he didn't want to have to torture himself, but he needed some name to be said in order to believe that this was actually happening. "The guy in the coma, what was his name?"

Nick didn't answer for a moment, feigning a lapse of memory. "Was it cardigan? Crew neck? Some type of clothing, or something like that. I'm not the best with names. Shouldn't you already know it? You really need to ease up on the fight club. Got it? Good. Kay, later, man." His expression stayed disinterested as he strutted away, not missing the downcast gaze on Alex face.

When Nick had traversed far enough down the hall, Jeremi appeared from the other side, just in time to see Alex's math textbook plummet to the floor.

Jeremi jogged the rest of the way over and scooped it back up before offering it back to Alex. "Careful, chamo. At this school, if we mess up the textbooks, we usually don't get another one."

"Oh...yeah, thanks," Alex replied. He stared at the textbook for a few endless seconds before accepting it back.

"No problem." Jeremi studied him. He didn't think he was very good at studying people, but he sometimes gave it a try. "So, what's bad?"

Alex laughed, but Jeremi didn't miss the apprehension in the sound. "What? What do you mean?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yes. Of course"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes."

Jeremi watched him, but Alex kept staring between his locker and backpack. "So then, what was going on with you and Nick?" Jeremi asked.

Alex froze again. "W-what? What are you talking about?"

"Well since Lev wasn't going with you to class today, I thought I'd walk with you instead. Then I saw Nick put his hand on you...and he was saying something that made you look like your whole world was crashing down right there. Halls were too loud and I wasn't close enough, so I didn't hear. What'd he say to you, dude?"

"Oh..." Alex stammered, a bit relieved but still agitated. He considered telling Jeremi everything Nick had said to him, but he knew Jeremi would only try to make him feel better, and Alex didn't really want to feel better about what he did. "It's nothing, really. I have to go now, don't wanna be late for math. Don't worry about walking me to class, I'm good."

"Okay...If you say so." Jeremi watched as Alex clumsily zipped up his bag, shut his locker, and sped-walked down the hallway, heading for the second-floor staircase for the first period.

Jeremi didn't think he was very good at studying people, but whenever he gave it a try, he usually got it right. If he was right about Alex, then he was going to need to do something before things got any worse.

He was going to have to tell them the truth.