Chapter 5 - Festivities: begining

Chapter Five: Festivities: beginning 
The day went by slowly but with much fun for Elvira. She spent most of her classes introducing herself to new friends and actually trying to find her classes. Luckily, Allex was in most of her classes, allowing her to feel more comfortable.
“So…we have to walk home too?” Elvira moaned, shifting the weight of her backpack. The two were walking down the sidewalk towards their house, seeing as the school day had ended. Allex rubbed his temples.
“Yes, Elvira…,” he growled. She looked up at him and blinked.
“Did something bad happen today?” she asked, tilting her head.
“No. Why?”
“Oh, no reason…”
It was sunny outside, making it enjoyable to walk home. The weather was like it was yesterday, when Elvira first arrived at Kaman. The only difference was that the breeze was colder. Elvira scanned the horizon and noticed a blonde haired boy ahead of them. She raised her eyebrow and strained to see if it was anyone she knew.
“Allex? Do you know him?” she asked, pointing forward.
Allex squinted. “Uh…Toby? Not really. He’s in orchestra with us,” he said.
“He is? I didn’t see him today,” Elvira said.
“He was probably in trouble again.”
“What do you mean?”
“He gets into fights a lot. Constantly in and out of the office…I heard he’s supposed to be in anger management. I wouldn’t be surprised,” he said.
“What?”
“He doesn’t seem to have any friends. He’s always alone,” Allex replied, beginning to get irritated with Elvira.
“Oh…,” she said softly, looking after Toby. “Wait…so he does go to high school?”
Alex nodded. “Why?”
“He doesn’t look like a high school student,” she said.
“Hn…”
“I’m gonna go and talk to him,” Elvira said, balling her hand into a fist.
“Knock yourself out,” Allex said sarcastically.
“It’s better than being with you. You’re so grumpy!” Elvira said, puffing her cheeks out. Allex’s eye twitched.
“Just go!” he cried out, pushing her in front of him. Elvira laughed at him as she ran towards Toby. I wonder what Toby’s like…I mean, nobody’s really that mean, right? She thought, thinking of Allex. Way better than being with him.
Elvira tapped Toby on the shoulder as she came up behind him. Toby swung around, surprised.
“W-what?” he choked out, looking away from her.
“Where were you?” she asked, comparing her height to his.
“Huh?”
“During orchestra. You weren’t there. My cousin said you were in that class”
“I was in the office. Why do you want to know?” he scoffed, glaring at her.
“You’re not much taller than me,” Elvira said, out of nowhere.
“Shut up!” he growled, obviously hurt by her comment.
“Ah! Sorry! Was that a sore area?” she said.
“Would you just shut up? I don’t want to talk to you!” he yelled, glaring at Elvira.
“God! You need to chill! I’m trying to be friends with you!” Elvira cried out.
“I don’t need friends,” he said quietly.
“Sure. Everyone needs at least one friend. And I will be that friend if you don’t have any other,” Elvira said, sticking her tongue out. Toby’s expression softened as he turned away from Elvira. “Do you live near me?”
“I don’t know where you live,” Toby said roughly.
“Where we met yesterday. That’s where I live.”
“Wait…you live with that Houtz kid?” he asked, his eye twitching.
“Yeah…he’s my cousin.” Elvira smiled. “Why?”
Toby looked at her with a shocked expression. It was as if he was half angry and half scared.
“W-what’s the matter?” she asked sheepishly.
He bit his lip and turned away from Elvira. “Nothing.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah! It’s nothing! I swear…”
“Do you not like Allex or something? I don’t blame you if you do, I mean…he’s kind of a jerk,” Elvira laughed, looking back at Allex.
When she looked back, Allex was with a shorter black haired girl. W-who’s that? Elvira asked herself as her heart skipped a beat. She felt jealousy tugging at her heart, and turned back to Toby. What the… she thought nervously. He noticed that she seem disturbed at what she saw, so he turned to see what had upset her. He turned back to her, disgusted. The two were silent.
“Who’s that girl?” Elvira asked, shattering the silence between the two.
“Madelyne. She’s so irritating. She’s such a slut,” Toby said through gritted teeth.
“Heh…plenty of those where I come from!” she laughed.
“You’re not from around here?” Toby asked.
“No, I’m from Imae,” Elvira answered, rubbing her eyes.
The two soon went their separate ways, but not before exchanging phone numbers. Elvira was far ahead of Allex, so she decided to go home without him, seeing as he would be having much more fun with Madelyne. She felt bitter as she walked the rest of the way home, hoping that something bad would happen to the two. As she thought of all the things that Madelyne and Allex could be doing she became even angrier, as if she was a jealous girlfriend. She entered her new home with a whirlwind of ideas in her head. There was no one home so she went directly up to her room. Throwing her backpack onto the ground, she threw herself onto her bed and stared at the wall to her left.
“Why is he so rude…,” she said softly, spreading her fingers across the material of her blanket and then closing them, only to spread them again. She stayed still, closing her eyes. She listened to the hum of the light above her head, and the quiet rumble of cars and trucks coming and going outside.
She dozed off, waking up an hour later. She sat up lazily, glancing around her room, wondering what time it was. Standing up, Elvira took off her shoes and opened her door. She glanced outside of her room. Allex’s door was open and there was no sign of him. Is anyone home yet? she thought nervously. Since she hated being alone, she felt lonely and scared. She crept along the wall slowly, clinging to the sleeves of her long-sleeved shirt. Walking down the stairs, she looked around. The house was completely silent. She crouched down, holding her elbows in her hands. She felt empty and horrible about her earlier emotions. She hoped desperately that nothing bad had happened to Allex.
It was getting late, and not even her aunt or uncle were going to be home for a few hours. They told her that they’d be coming home late, seeing as they worked late on occasion. She was nervous being in the large quiet house alone. Allex…someone…please come back…I don’t want to be left alone again, she thought sadly. She sat down at the table in the kitchen and laid her head onto the table. She stared at the front hall blankly. After a few minutes of silence, clicking noises coming from the door woke Elvira from her trance. She jerked herself up from the chair and ran to the door, pulling the door open.
“H-hey,” Allex said. Madelyne stood next to him, causing Elvira to feel irritated. She turned from them and walked away a few feet.
“You could’ve called,” she said.
“What?”
“I didn’t know you’d be coming home this late.”
“Uh…does it matter?” Allex asked, letting Madelyne into the house. He shut the door behind her.
“N-no. I’ve got to…unpack,” she said slowly, walking upstairs. Once Elvira had entered her room and shut the door, Madelyne sighed.
“She seemed upset,” she said, leaning against the door. Allex put his backpack down next to the door.
“Really?”
“Are you clueless?” Madelyne laughed. “Maybe it’s because you’re a guy and you’re not sensitive. But, she did seem…at least to me, she seemed upset.”
“Oh,” he said, walking into the kitchen. Madelyne followed.
“So, are we gonna cook what we need for cooking class?”
“Why not,” he said, his mind obviously elsewhere.
“Y’got any potatoes?” Madelyne asked, looking at a low cabinet to the right of the sink.
“Yeah. They’re in there. The brown bag,” he said, taking out a tomato and a package of bacon from the refrigerator.
“Potato skins, right? That’s the easiest one on the list. Don’t think she minds, eh?” Madelyne said cheerfully and she pulled three potatoes out of the large bag. She wound the top of the bag and wrapped the rubber band around it.
“Yeah,” he said, slicing the tomato into fine slices.
Madelyne washed off the potatoes in the sink and put holes into the potatoes with her fork. While she did this, Allex preheated the oven to 425°. She placed the potatoes onto a pan with foil on it and placed it into the oven. As they cooked, Allex cooked four pieces of bacon. He took the quick way, placing them onto a plate with a damp paper towel over it and placed it into the microwave. After a few minutes, she took the potatoes out and sliced them into four wedges lengthwise and scooped out the inner portion of the potato so that there was only a little white and skin. Allex graded some cheddar cheese and placed a small handful onto each of the potato skins. Madelyne took the bacon out of the microwave and broke them into small pieces, spreading them onto the skins. She also put the tomatoes onto the skins, and then placed the pan into the oven to cook for a few minutes more. When Allex took them out of the oven, the smell flooded the kitchen.
“Ah! They smell so good!” Madelyne said, drooling.
“I feel so helpless…I barely did anything,” Allex said, yawning.
“Aw, It’s alright. You’re lucky I love to cook,” she said, nudging him with her elbow. Allex smiled as he put the potato skins into a small container so that they could bring them to school the next day to get their grade. He placed them into the refrigerator.
“So…who’re you bringing to the light festival tonight?” Madelyne asked.
Allex looked up at her, confused. “The light festival’s tonight?” She nodded. “Damn…Jean’s out of town starting today-”
“Oh! So that’s why she wasn’t here today…do you not have a date?” Madelyne asked, smiling.
“What, you want to go with me?” Allex said, leaning against the counter.
“Heh…never thought you’d ask!” she said happily. “Sure I’ll go with you!”
“What?! I never said I’d agree!” Allex cried.
“Do you not want to come with me?” Madelyne said, trying to make Allex feel guilty.
“It’s not that…what about Elvira?” he said.
“What about her? She might bring some other guy. Just go with me! Please?”
“Ah…o-okay…”
~*~
Elvira stood listening to their conversation at the top of the stairs. She walked back into her room and closed the door as quietly as she could. She took her cell phone out of her pocket and pulled out the piece of paper with Toby’s number. She dialed the number and waited for him to pick up.
“Hello?” she head Toby answer.
“Hey Toby? It’s Elvira…”
“Oh…hey,” he said nervously.
“Do you have anyone to go with to the Light Festival?” she asked, twirling her hair around her finger.
“No…wait, it’s tonight?”
“I guess so…I heard Madelyne and Allex talking about it downstairs-”
“Hah! Allex is still with that slut? What ever happened to Jean?” he scoffed with a bit of laughter.
“He says she’s out of town tonight,” Elvira said, biting her fingernail.
“Kh…B.S….,” he said softly.
“You want to go with me?” she said. Toby was silent.
“I guess…I don’t have anyone to go with, either.”
“Okay! Do you want to meet here in an hour?” Elvira said, relieved.
“Mhm. Sure. See you then,” Toby said.
“Bye!” she said. They both hung up, just as Allex knocked on the door to her room. “Yes?”
Allex opened the door and peeked at Elvira. “Do you want to go to the festival with me and Madelyne?” he asked.
“I’m going with somebody already,” she said, looking back at Allex casually. He looked taken aback.
“O-oh…who?”
“Toby.” Allex looked a little hurt that she chose Toby over him.
“Really…you sure you’re going to be having any fun?” he said angrily.
“It’ll be a lot funner than with you,” she said, crossing her arms across her chest.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!” he yelled, throwing her door open.
“Just what I said!” she yelled back, turning her body towards Allex. “I’d probably never have any fun around you because of the way you treat others! And plus…you’re already going with someone,” Elvira said in a huff.
“Oh, so it’s about Madelyne?” he growled, clenching his hands into fists. “I was going to bring both of you, but now you’re acting stuck up. I don’t even want to see you at the festival!” he grouched, slamming her door closed.
Allex stood outside of her door, feeling horrible, but he was too stubborn to apologize. He walked downstairs to tell Madelyne it was just him and her.

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