THE FOLLOWING MONDAY MORNING FELT very unusual for Alexander. Having that said, Monday mornings always felt unusual. But something was off about this Monday morning.

For starters, instead of walking freely through the broad corridors of Meadowbrook stress-free, he spent his time worrying about whether he'd see Inez. Especially when he walked to the cafeteria for lunch, he did his best to remain unseen by the girl. If anything, he knew that Inez had the same lunch period as him, which was extremely unfortunate. He figured that if he avoided her for the rest of the day, he'd be good.

His scheme wasn't for no reason, however. 

When the everyone was playing Spin the Bottle at Angelica's party the evening prior, he got picked on to spin the bottle. When he did, it landed miraculously (in a bad way) pointed to Inez.

Kissing people already sounded awkward enough. But kissing someone whom he disliked? That was a hard pass for him. 

Before Alexander got a chance to budge, Inez ended up insisting that she had to go and abandon the party. He may have not wanted to kiss the girl but being left alone like that didn't feel right. It was way out of his range to comprehend, so he ended up leaving the celebration himself. It was humiliating, especially since he was turned down like that in the game. Hence, he wondered why. It's all he's wondered for the past three days — whether it was at school, work, or at home. It followed him everywhere, like baby ducks following their mother to head to their nest. 

That wasn't exactly the clearest scenario, but that was exactly how Alexander Choi felt at the moment. He wasn't enjoying it one bit. 

All he wanted was answers so bad to the point where he barely slept for the past couple of nights. Answers were something he was desperate for, more than shoes or the newest iPhone at the moment. That's how anguished he felt about the situation. 

He may have wanted answers, but he figured that he might've been better off without them. Alexander also had trouble differentiating whether Inez's possible explanation of the entire thing would be problematic or not. It made him shiver just to think about it. Part of him didn't even want to know the entire truth about it.

Regardless, the entire situation weirded out Alexander.

He endlessly wondered if he did anything wrong. Even more, he wondered why he cared so much. It wasn't normal for him to have something like this on his mind for over twenty-four hours. Let alone, approximately seventy-two.

But like it or not, he was about to get some answers. Desperate matters call for desperate answers. 

Alexander was at the end of a long table all by himself. He could've been with Jayden right at that moment, but he was still in the lunch line retrieving his food. So, for the time being, he was left alone with his thoughts. That was until Inez took a seat directly in front of him, which caught Alexander off guard as he attempted to eat an apple slice, which was overly sour and barely ripe. He set the slice down on his lunch tray in embarrassment, his cheeks flushed.

"Inez, what are you doing here?" He questioned as his hands laced together on the food-filled surface of the table.

"Before you assume anything, hear me out," Inez mused quietly as her head sank. "I just came here to apologize for how I acted at the party. Even if I was a bit uncomfortable, I could've done something else way better than walking away and throwing you under the bus like that." 

Alexander remained silent as he stared directly towards Inez. He allowed her words to sink in so he could thoroughly ponder about everything. "Are you being for real right now? Like, you're actually being sincere and all?"

"Yeah, I am. I could've been nicer, but I wasn't. That's what I feel bad for," Inez pondered as she etwined her fingers together.

Alexander nodded his head curtly before his shoulders raised slightly. "Okay." 

"That's all you're going to say?" Inez questioned with a raised eyebrow as she began to get up from the uncomfortable stool she was sitting on. Her arms folded against her chest tightly, waiting for an answer.

"What do you want me to say, Inez? I said that's it's okay, and now, you're making this a bigger deal than it already was," Alexander retorted as he looked directly into her mocha brown eyes. "Matter of fact, if you came here for some kind of approval just to make yourself feel better, then you shouldn't have come here."

"For once, you're right. I shouldn't have," Inez agreed, sarcasm dripping from her voice. She threw her head back as a laugh escaped her mouth. "I tried to be honest and friendly with you for once in my life, but all you did was throw it all away like dogshit. You were barely even clear about you accepting my apology." 

Right then, the girl took one last look at Alexander before storming off, disappearing into mobs of students who were socializing with lunch trays in hand.

Instead of being given answers, Alexander was more confused than ever. It was complete bullshit to him, too. Desperate times may have called for desperate measures, but what just happened was too extreme and dramatic for him to handle. His brain struggled to comprehend what was going on, but he knew one thing for sure.

The terms between Inez and him were sure to get worse.

"What just happened?" Jayden exclaimed as he took a seat. "All the way from the cash register, I saw Inez storm away. Were you two just talking?"

"Something like that," Alexander grimaced as he fiddled a plastic fork through his last apple slice. He began to explain to Jayden what went down in chronological order. First, he went from explaining the apology, then unraveled the entire argument they had. It all frustrated Alexander. He didn't think that things would escalate just like that.

It bothered him even more how the extra drama could've been prevented if he had said anything other than the word "okay".

"Man, it's all good. She just took it all the wrong way. We all do that sometimes. And maybe you weren't clear enough about everything," Jayden insisted. He was definitely the peace maker of the situation. "Seriously, everything will be fine. It's probably best not to stress yourself about it."

"You really think so?" Alexander questioned. "In that case, I hope you're right. My brain can't take any of this anymore." 

"Of course, I am," Jayden nodded his head with a grin.

With all jokes aside, all Alexander Choi could do was hope that his best friend was right. Because frankly, this situation added way more to his plate than it should've.

As Inez strolled throughout the lunchroom to her usual lunch table, she dodged her way through mobs of students who got in her way, pissed off about what just happened. She wasn't too satisfied with the outcome either. It was the polar opposite of what she anticipated. With confidence, she thought it was going to go well. But it didn't. 

Inez can't always get what she wants, and the same could be said with just about anyone else, including Alexander. No one can always get what they want, but this was just out of the ordinary, especially to Inez.

"So how did it go?" Jolien questioned was her best friend reached their lunch table, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"Horrible," Inez hummed as she slammed her heavy duty backpack on the tiled floor. "All I did was apologize for what happened at the party, and he didn't even acknowledge that."

"Boys," Jolien scoffed. "It's what they do. They're a mystery that's unsolvable."

"Sounds about right," Inez said with a shrug. "But I'm just so confused. I didn't have any bad intentions while I was talking to him. But to be honest, he was kinda right about one thing . . ."

"And what's that?" Jolien interrogated as her eyes blinked rapidly.

"He insisted that I apologized just so I could feel better," Inez continued, her voice slurred. "Honestly, I kinda did, but I also kinda didn't. I felt bad."

"Which is normal. These kinds of things are so confusing," Jolien assured. "But did he say anything else that seemed out of the ordinary?"

"Yes, actually. He didn't even call me Nezzie. He called me by my full name, which he literally never does," Inez raised an eyebrow. "And he calls me that just to annoy me so . . ."

"He's pissed off at you. There's no other way to put it," Jolien grimaced. "But you and Alexander have always been like that. Well, minus him not calling you Nezzie. What is making you care about it so much now?"

"I don't know, Jojo. This just feels so unusual," Inez mumbled as she clutched her fingers together.

"Calling me Jojo is just like calling you Nezzie," Jolien jokes with a chuckle. "Don't rub Alexander's antics off on me."

"Don't even mention it," Inez said, mustering a small smile.

When seventh period, the last class period of the day approached, it marked a new era for the choir. Because their fall performance was already done with, that meant that new music would be distributed to the choir students for their winter concert. Dr. Terry explained to the choir that this performance will be Christmas themed. That meant for the remainder of this semester's in-class and after school rehearsals, they'd have to get their early holiday spirits in.

Because really, what is a gloomy Christmas song?

The point of this performance was to spread holiday joy. Gloomy singing voices weren't a good look from any point of view. It just wasn't ideal. With mindfulness and heavy consideration, Dr. Terry decided to have the choir sing Ariana Grande's version of Santa Tell Me and Mary Did You Know, both popular Christmas songs. Surely, the songs were vastly different from their old songs in a way. Especially Mary Did You Know, which would involve a lot of echoing. It wasn't new to the choir as a whole, since they did it in their previous couple of years. But for the senior year, it was fresh to them.

The moment Dr. Terry officially announced it, excitement buzzed throughout the choir room, bouncing off the broad walls and high ceilings. Not only because of the songs they'd be singing, but because of the performance itself. It was decided to be held in the school auditorium, meaning that family and friends would be able to attend. It was sure an upgrade from the conditions of their fall concert — which was in the neighboring middle school's sweaty, cramped gymnasium. They'd be on a stage below the radiating stage lights, doing what they did best.

Although this performance would be the concert to mark their halfway point, that wasn't all. It also meant that the choir was one step away from their regional performance, also known as Choral LGPE (Large Group Performance Evaluation). The Meadowbrook High Advanced Mixed Chorus would compete with thirty other high schools in the school district. Every choir will be scored for each song they sing with a one, a two, or a three. A score of three was bad, while a score of one was superior. The choir was still a long way from competing in the regionals, but that didn't mean that they weren't already preparing for it.

For the past month, Dr. Terry worked her ass off just to get the choir back in shape for their fall concert. She planned on doing the same for this upcoming concert, which is her main focus. As the last bell of the day rang, all Dr. Terry could do for now was remind the class to study the pieces of music given to them to prepare for the next day.

"After this performance, we'll only be a few days away from winter break," Jolien beamed as she threw her backpack across her shoulder before brushing her straight, brunette hair out of the way. "It's so close when you think about it."

"It's really not. Thanksgiving break hasn't even come yet, Jolien," Inez chuckled. "But I like your enthusiasm. I really do."

"Fine, maybe it's not that close," the brunette admitted openly. "But I'm still looking forward to the break either way. We could go to each other's houses, go to the mall together, visit the city. It's always so beautiful to look at during the winter months."

"Just like we always did back then. Those were such great times," Inez smiled at the memory. During winter break years prior, the pair would always hang out at each other's houses, either miserably failing at baking cookies or prank calling businesses. Whether it sounded childish or not, it was nostalgic to them both. And frankly, that's all that mattered. If they weren't at home risking damage, they were in town, walking from store to store, observing the vibrant red and white Christmas decorations filled within and outside of it.

Surely, it was nice, and it brought back nice memories to the ladies. But for now, they'd have to live with the memories until they could make new ones when winter break approaches. Inez and Jolien will just have to live in the present for the time being.

But who would've thought it could be so tense?

As Inez and Jolien stood outside a busy stairwell, Alexander took a good look at Inez before frowning, then rushing past them. Many students brushed past them, but to Inez, Alexander did it felt weird. It stung. A series of tingles underneath her skin began to form, causing Inez to scratch her way through it before her arms folded against her chest.

"What was that about?" Jolien asked before exhaling a deep breath from climbing up the first set of stairs. "He looks mad as fuck."

"I don't know. I really don't know," Inez murmured as her lips formed into a frown. "I fucked up, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but . . . you both did. You both fucked up," Jolien shrugged as they both got onto their assigned school bus, which was conveniently parked directly in front of the school. They slouched into the seventh seat on the right side. This gave Inez full access to stare outside of the window, where she saw numerous students spill out of the doors. In her eyes, all their faces blended in, despite any possible physical features. Only one face stood out however, and that was Alexander's face. The boy was fixated on his cell phone with his earbuds jammed in. He really was acting differently. In Inez's view, anyway.

"I mean, look at him. He looks so . . . distracted," she muttered as she peered at the stained window once more.

"Since when do you care about him so much, Nez?" Jolien questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Inez retorted as she threw her head back to rest it on the hardened, fake leather chair. "I was just looking at him. That doesn't mean I care."

"Inez, you've been talking about him a little bit more than you usually would. Not to mention that you're literally watching him like a hawk right now," Jolien reasoned as she shook her head.

"Okay, you got me. But caring isn't the right word," Inez denied as her eyes darted down to the floor. At that point, she was left alone with her thoughts. Maybe she lied a little bit to her best friend about not caring. She ended up questioning herself over and over why she was so focused on him. More importantly, she questioned why she even bothered? Why did this all matter? Why did she care?

These were all questions Inez failed to answer, both for herself and for her well being. Sure, she would have to give the situation some thought, like deciding between letting the situation resolve on its own or apologizing for its outcome. But she couldn't help but wonder if apologizing once more would worsen the situation. It was all complicated, and frankly, Inez wasn't having it.

All she could wonder once more was why she was stressing herself out over the situation over and over again. 

a/n: looks like Nezzie is conflicted w/the whole Alexander situation. 

but with all that aside, who do you think is in the wrong? Inez or Alexander? if y'all want my opinion on that, unfortunately i can't disclose any of that information because i love them both & i'm the author 🤭