~Alfonso

  Two Days Later

  It was another buzzing afternoon, and the last class of the day has been officially concluded. Students sprinted out the double doors of the exit and released their screams of joy and a loud, relieved "FREEDOM" that seemed to echo back and forth around the campus. Alfonso managed to slip out of the rampaging crowds of students fighting to get out of the building, as well as Edduin and Christian. Their feet hit the concrete every second they ran, kicking a huge amount of dust and tiny, almost invisible rocks behind them; they sprinted towards their bikes and took a moment to take a deep breath; it sure was one, heavy, time consuming week at Herold High!

  As the three friends approached their big dirt bikes, Edwin turned around and faced Alfonso with an adventurous gleam in his eyes.

    "Say, Alfonso, want to go to that park near your house and play some soccer? Ronald, Renée and Lark will be there as well!" Edwin asked cheerfully. He hopped on his immense, golden yellow bike and fastened his helmet. Alfonso smiled widely at his friend.

  Hah, I was just about to bring the idea up! Well, why not? What do ya say, Christian?" Alfonso whirled around and tapped a silent, gazing Christian on the shoulder. He waited a couple of seconds, attentive to see if he would receive a reaction in response to his question. When Christian kept gazing across the high school campus where hundreds of students were still running about, Alfonso frowned and tapped his shoulder again.

  "Christian? Christian, hello? Can you hear me? Hello?!" Alfonso persisted on, desperate for an answer. Why wasn't he answering? Why was he staring?

   Fortunately for him, Christian seemed to have snapped out of his trance as soon as he heard Alfonso; what he didn't like was the melancholy he was reflecting in his eyes.
 
  "Oh, um, sure...I was only, uh, you know...er..." Christian nervously stuttered until he trailed off, not seeming to know what to say or if he should say something. At this point, Alfonso became a nervous wreck for his best friend.

  "Christian, what's the matter with you? Y-You're not like this, is something wrong?" It was Alfonso's turn to stutter about; it was uneasy to get the words out without having that notion of fear or apprehension that kept disturbing his voice from coming out clean and clear.

   When Christian didn't do anything but look down at the ground, Alfonso persisted on, more worried and exasperated by the second.

  "Have you gotten in trouble with the principal again? Is he hunting you down for something? Has someone bullied you again? What is it?!" Alfonso said but in a stronger voice this time. If Christian didn't hurry up and spill the tea...

  "No, no it wasn't any of that. I've already done what I had to do to make up for that fight against Ace on Monday..." Christian mumbled, still looking at the ground.

  "Then what is it? It has to be something- or someone -that has you looking like a wreck," Alfonso tried again, desperate to know what was up.

  A surge of ideas and predictions popped in his head like rushing water. Could he be concerned about something? Like his school work, or his problems with Ace? Or could he he be concerned for SOMEONE, someone he seems like he's trying to find, like their friend, Gabby?

   It could be; she hasn't returned to the campus ever since Serena slammed her into the dent that was once on the side of the bleachers.

  He sighed sharply to himself as the name of the girl he nearly hates the most repeats inside his short head.

  Serena.

  Serena,

  SERENA!

  At that exact moment, he heard a distant, yet recognizable laugh coming from the cluster of high schoolers (which had quickly shortened down.) After the tallest of them left to their cars, a girl with black curls was unveiled, and right next to her were two girls, whom he instantly recognized as Cindy and Dakota. He shook his head with much indifference.

  Serena still talks to those two bozos? Isn't she smart enough to see how annoying and quite rude those two could possibly be?

  As if to answer his trail of thoughts against the pale Colombiana and her friends, Christian spoke up, a little bit firmer this time.

  "She's not all that bad, you know. I mean, yeah, she basically lied to the whole class about Gabriella's horrific incident by putting the blame on her and our two friends, Noura and Maysilee. But, it wasn't fair how Gabriella was treating her as well, and if I'm being honest, Alfonso, you weren't having the best attitude with her or Cindy either," Christian spoke, looking at Alfonso with steady, unmoving eyes. He continued before Alfonso could retort back.

  "Cindy and Dakota are her friends, just like how Gabriella, Noura, and Maysilee are our friends. That doesn't mean she's exactly like them, or is she?" Christian asked with a raised eye brow. He turned around to gaze at the three girls walking to their cars and sighed. His eyes still reflected a bit of melancholy and solemnity, but there was also something else that distinguished this Christian from the Christian he knew best; Alfonso groaned of the frustration of not comprehending.

  "Christian, you can't possibly be defending her! She lied to the whole class; she threatened us to keep the truth hidden; she humiliated me, Gabriella, Noura, and Maysilee! She's the reason why Gabriella is so sick and absent from school, and you're saying she's not bad?" Alfonso shouted incredulously at hearing his friend say those things about Serena. Chrisitian whirled around and faced him once more.

  "She made a mistake; everyone makes mistakes. And if you recall further before that whole incident, she was humiliated by Gabriella, and so was Cindy by you-"

  "I had a right to reject Cindy's help! Remember that incident in sixth grade, where she-"

  "Yeah, yeah, of course I do, but that is not an excuse anymore, Alfonso," Christian retaliated. "You can't keep holding that grudge against her; she already got over it, otherwise she wouldn't have reached out to help you, but instead, you were extremely rude with her, which was definitely unfair to her. Serena had to defend Cindy in some way, she's her friend for goodness sake- you even said it herself!" He snapped at Alfonso. Alfonso was taken aback, not expecting Christian to get at him like that. Still, Alfonso held his ground.

  "And so what? Serena wasn't even going to defend Cindy anyway, until Gabriella came in and said those things about her, which in my opinion, are true-"
 
  "Well, they're not! I've had her in two classes the past two years, and let me tell you, she's nothing like Cindy; she's the opposite, actually, so believe me when I say Serena had the right to feel humiliated and mistreated-"
 
  "Guys..."

  "You say you're humiliated? Well, put yourself in her shoes, and you'll see that you would have done just the same if someone tried to hurt you or mess you like that, such as Liam, or Juan-"

 
"Guys!!"

 
"And for heaven's sake, Alfonso, stop keeping that hatred towards Serena and her friends! Leave her alone, respect her, and before accusing her or trying to shame her for anything-"

  "GUYS!"

  "Shut your dang mouth, and actually get to know her!" Christian exploded with a roar, holding a thick cloud of vibrant anger in his eyes, which made him look like a whole different person.

  Alfonso felt like someone shoved a vaccum down his throat, and sucked EVERYTHING out of him, oxygen, lungs, heart, everything. He felt hollow and speechless; he didn't know how to react or what to say to Christian at this point. He was only able to move his head after Edwin
got both of their attention.

  "The gang is waiting for us at the park! Stop squabbling like cats and dogs and come on, before the park closes!" Edwin said in a desperate tone. Without another word, he pushed on the pedals with his strong feet and sped across the tall grass that laid upon them.

  Alfonso turned his head slowly like a snail and looked at Christian. He could still see that anger, but also a desperation to make him understand or agree with what he was saying. He sighed sharply and shook his head.

  "I...I don't know what to say, and if I did, I don't think I would be able to say it without exploding or saying something that might put out friendship at risk," Alfonso, in the best calm and steady voice he could afford,  stated. "I... I'm sorry for making you so angry, I only wanted to know what was wrong..." Alfonso's voice trailed to a whisper.

  So much for trying to provide comfort for my friend; I only made him more angrier and uncomfortable than before...

  Christian offered a small, but sad smile.

  "Oh, Alfonso, if only you were able to understand...you have such a strong temper, it's almost hard for anyone to convince you to do or see something," Christian said, adding a light chuckle, but Alfonso could see it was forced.

  "I'm sorry as well; I knew you were just worried about me, I just didn't like the way you were looking at Serena. I shouldn't have yelled like that though," Christian said in a solemn tone, more solemn than he was before. Alfonso reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder before boarding the his bicycle.

  "Hey, if you're worried about something or someone, you can tell me, just don't go silent on me!" He softly advised to Christian. He wrapped both of his arms and around and enclosed him with a strong embrace in attempt to wash his worries and doubts away.

  Fortunately for the two of them, Alfonso's hug seemed to heal Christian from his state of melancholy almost instantly. His dark brown eyes lit up like a lighthouse in the dark, and a wide, real smile formed from the corner of his lips.

  "Thanks, 'fonzie. To be honest, I didn't know if I could tell you, but maybe later I will. Really though, I-I don't know what I'd do without you, even if you tend to be a grump sometimes," Christian said with a hearty laugh, much similar to his mother. Alfonso smiled wide revealing white brilliant teeth and tilted his head swiftly towards the path Edduin had taken not so long ago.

  Christian nodded and raced towards his bicycle. His hands gripped fiercely on the handles of his green bike. He didn't bring a helmet, but Alfonso knew very well he didn't need one, unlike him. He chuckled softly and got on his bike. Before racing off, Christian called his name. He immediately spun around to listen to what his best friend had to say.

  "I just want to ask you a favor. When, or if, I do tell you what was going on, do you promise to stick by my side, even if the news doesn't please you so much? Or, at least understand me?" The short male implored.

   Alfonso laughed and turned around to face the path of what seemed like a trail of infinite grass, but not before replying with an, "Of course!"

  The two boys raced off together, biking and laughing in unison once they further into the tall green grass that brushed against throughout the whole ride.

  No person, nor sound remained on the high school campus, except the twittering of some scattered blue birds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Alfonso hustled past Renée and Edwin, ignoring the the snapping of twigs under his feet or the sweat that poured endlessly and streamed across his round face; he was panting loudly, tired of running endlessly for the ball that never seemed to be within his reach, yet his sense of perseverance wouldn't let him give up so easily. He began to move faster, building up his stamina as he made many moves to steal the ball from Ronald; however no move, no trick was enough to snatch the ball from one of the best soccer players on the Varsity Soccer Team.

  'For some reason I didn't make it to the soccer team this year. Maybe this is why!' Alfonso reasoned amused with himself.

 He kept debating inside in his over how to steal the ball from his friend, when he remembered a move his coach back in Georgia taught him; you would go back to back with the player dribbling the ball and try to disperse him out of position. Alfonso widened his sly grin as he ventured on to try it. When he moved close enough behind Ronald, he spun around until he was running backwards, and pushed him using his back. He moved all of his strength to his back and shoulders, and with all of his effort, he pushed Ronald around until he lost control of the ball. In a split second, he turned around and raced for the ball, desperately trying to reach it before Ronald.

  "GO ALFONSO! You got this!" exclaimed Christian, who was running behind him.

  Alfonso had not responded during that time, for he was too focused on dribbling the ball. He raced ahead with the ball, swerving it and making fake shots to confuse the other team. Once he got to the goalie box, he let the ball roll at a slow pace. Once approaching the white colored line, he used all of the energy left inside of him to make an empowering, perfect goal by kicking the ball at the very bottom while angling his feet at the exact direction of his shot. He smiled widely, pleased with himself, more pleased and and triumphant than he ever felt before. He felt even more delighted when Christian and Lark picked him up and chanted his name with pride.

  He felt like the most fortunate man in the whole wide world...

"Alfonso! What are you doing, staring at that window? It's time to go to sleep! You can't be up that late today, remember?" Spoke a sharp, strict woman with her black her tied up in to a messy bun.

  Alfonso jumped from the unexpected visit from his mother. He hissed of the pain on his cheek; he instinctively reached out his hand to touch his cheek, and indeed it was cold and burning from being stuck to the window for about ten minutes straight.

Dang, I've spent too much time reminiscing over that soccer game! My cheek burns like h-

 
"Do you hear me Alfonso? Go to sleep this instant! I don't want you tired tomorrow when your dad wakes you up to take you to the gym," his mother's hard voice crashed into the middle of his thought, startling him once more.

  Alfonso sighed and nodded; he was desperately hoping for a chance to sneak on his phone and to talk to Christian about earlier, but he also knew he had to be energized and ready for his daily visit at the gym tomorrow.

  Well, if he ever wanted to burn those calories from eating all of the chocolate bars and chocolate chip cookies his mother baked.

  Alfonso reached out to his mother, who was approaching him, and kissed her good night. His mother smiled a kind, dear smile and kissed the top of his forehead.

  "Are you okay, my dear?" She whispered to him.

  When Alfonso nods, she wishes him good night and walks out of the door as she turns the light off.

  Alfonso turned around towards the window, which was his favorite side of the bed, until his hand hit something cold and hard. Perplexed, he got up slowly and uncovered the blankets to see what he had come in contact with: a medium sized black rectangle with a screen protector on it. He grinned to himself, immediately forgetting to be the docile boy he promised his mother to be.

  Excellent.

  He waited a couple of minutes more to be sure that his mother was downstairs doing something else that would keep her in motion and activity for a couple of hours longer. When he was satisfied, he reached for his phone and began to scroll for his number. While scrolling through his messages, sleep and drowsiness greeted him instantaneously, which perplexed him, because he truthfully wasn't feeling any hint of exhaustion up to this point, despite his exuberant soccer game.

  So why do I feel like this now?

  He tried every way possible to stay awake; he wriggled around his bed, found Christian's number and began to type very fast, and he even got up at some points to stretch out his back, yet that only seemed to increase his need for sleep.

  Alfonso took some breaths, which were now becoming shallow and short, and his eyelids became heavy. Drowsiness overwhelmed his mind; by ten minutes, he couldn't even think straight about what he had planned to say. Yet, he didn't give up; his forced his eyes wide open until the point it stung with tears. He grew afraid; he couldn't understand what was this feeling, or if this was normal. He hadn't felt sick in what felt like ages.

  Finally, after a while, .a sleepy, lethargic Alfonso succumbed to what he thought was his conscience and plunged into pure darkness.