Chapter 4: Chapter 4

A year ago

A: Happy birthday, K! ♥️

I opened the text up with a smile on my face as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.

Half-awake, I texted back a simple 'thank you' before rolling out of bed and trudging towards the bedroom to get ready for school.

"Happy birthday, lil shit!" Beth exclaimed.

I grinned at her, "Thanks, dipshit."

I turned back to my locker to take out my books for first period as Beth leaned on the lockers beside me, watching as students walk past us.

"I can't believe it's been a year since your last birthday party." Beth sighed before turning to me with a gleam in her eyes.

I gave her a wary look, "I don't like that look in your eyes, get rid of it. 马上。立刻。现在。(Straight away. This instance. Right now.)"

Beth cackled, "Oh, you're exaggerating."

"I am not. Nothing good ever happens when you have that look. You always get us into trouble." I whined.

"Okay, hear me out before you completely reject this idea, okay? It's only fair to listen before you judge." She reasoned.

I watched her as she looked at me expectantly before giving her a reluctant nod.

An excited grin took over her face and she immediately started throwing out ideas left and right at me.

"Okay, I was thinking. Since you've turned 17 today, we can mix in some alcohol into the party this year." Beth wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively.

I gave her an are-you-out-of-your-mind look before completely rejecting the idea. "Okay, I've heard you out and now I'm rejecting your idea completely."

"Oh come on, Kate, don't be a tight ass." It was Beth's turn to whine this time.

As you can see by now, I grew up to be the tight ass and Beth grew up to be the wilder one out of the two of us. I stuck by the rules and tried to avoid trouble but unfortunately for me, my own best friend was a trouble magnet.

I shut my locker and locked it, turning around to face Beth properly.

"Firstly, what party are you even talking about?"

"Duh, of course your birthday party," Beth rolled her eyes as if it was obvious.

"Well, I'm sorry, I wasn't notified about this so-called birthday party of mine." I retorted.

"I figured you were gonna pass all of the event organizing matter to me anyways so I didn't bother," Beth shrugged.

She was right about that, I thought to myself. "Touché."

"Secondly, sneak alcohol? 你疯了吧 (You've gone mad). You know how my parents are, 还要带酒？(You still want to bring alcohol?) 你是要死吗？(Do you want to die?)" I ranted.

Beth gave me a look that screamed 'CHILL'.

"Kate, they won't know." Beth waved me off. "你说吧，他们是不是在外国? (Tell me, aren't they out of the country?)"

I huffed and mumbled a 'yes'.

"Exactly! 放心吧 (Relax). You're being paranoid. I'll help you clean afterwards." Beth winked at me.

I shook my head, "I still think this is a bad idea."

"Trust me, I'll make sure you'll have fun." Beth grinned.

I didn't doubt that. Although she was wild, Beth can make anything fun. Which works with our friendship since I can be a bit dull sometimes.

"Fine. But I'm only accommodating this party, you're arranging everything." I gave in.

Beth squealed gleefully, clapping her hands together. "I can't wait!"

The day went by quickly as usual, and soon enough we were halfway through the day. Lunch was coming to an end and students were starting to trickle in from the canteen.

Our Maths teacher came in with a sour looking face and I can already smell trouble from a mile away.

This teacher made Maths a living hell for all of us. It wasn't a pleasant subject for me in the first place and having this teacher teaching the subject was like the unpleasant dung on top.

"Go to your seats. NOW!" He practically yelled to everyone, slamming his books down on the teacher's desk.

Everyone scurried to their seats and Beth grumbled under her breath, "Well someone's got their panties in a twist today."

I nudged her lightly with my elbow, worried that the teacher might hear her and call her out.

"Alexander West! Stop drinking! No drinking in my classroom!" The teacher yelled once again.

My heart skipped a beat as Alex got called out.

This can't be good.

I turned in my seat to see that Alex stopped drinking for a second from his thermos lid when the teacher called him out. I could see that there was still water in the lid and watched as Alex looked between the teacher and the water. Alex quickly made a split second decision and gulp down the remaining liquid and screwing the lid back onto his thermos.

The teacher banged the table and stormed over to where Alex sat. At this stage, I was frozen on my spot, lost as to what to do.

What can I do?

I could only watch with a sinking feeling in my gut as the teacher got closer to Alex's table and snatched his pencil case before throwing it in the air.

The unzipped case banged against the ceiling loudly and its contents spilled out, raining on the students as pencils, pens, an eraser, and a ruler nearly hit several students on the head.

The teacher and Alex had a stare down as I watched Alex's face turn red in anger.

This is not good.

Alex was a laid back dude most of the time unless someone deliberately picks on him. When that happens, well let's just say we all should be prepared for when hell breaks loose.

I was already on the edge of my seat, my fingernails biting into the flesh of my palm as I clenched my hands into fist harder than I've ever done so before.

I started gnawing on my bottom lip out of habit as I watched the teacher order Alex to stand up.

From the corner of my eyes, I caught sight of his clenched fist as if he was ready to punch the teacher.

"He's gonna punch the teacher anytime now," I muttered under my breath. I turned to Beth, at a loss.

"Look at his fists, his barely holding himself back." I said to her in a hushed and panicked whisper.

Beth only shook her head, looking as clueless as I was over what to do.

I remembered the story Alex told me of how his older brother punched his locker open because he lost his key and got frustrated. His brother's knuckles had been covered with blood but his punch was so powerful that the locker actually gave out under the force and popped open.

"He has the same blood as his brother running through him," I thought to myself as I stared at his fist.

I don't even wish to start imagining the trouble he'll get himself into if he loses control and punches our teacher (no matter how much the douche deserves it).

I could feel the sympathy the entire class was giving Alex as the teacher orders him to stand in front of the class.

Everyone knew that the teacher was extremely out of line regarding this matter.

He was just drinking for God's sake.

"Didn't I tell you to stop drinking?"

"Did I or did I not tell you to stop drinking?" The teacher repeated himself, getting up close and personal with Alex as he yelled.

My heart was screaming at me to do something to help out my best friend.

This wasn't fair.

What is happening.

Alex nodded begrudgingly as the teacher repeated himself for the third time, hitting the spot on the wall beside Alex in rage.

"Then why did you continue to drink?" The teacher asked, his hand flying around to emphasize his point. (As if there was anything more to emphasize on).

Alex finally decided to speak up for himself this time. "Didn't you see what my water bottle was? It's a thermos, once you pour water into the lid, you gotta finish it. I was merely finishing the water that was in the lid."

"You could've just poured it back into the bottle!" The teacher argued.

"Now this is just a bunch of bullshit," I thought to myself angrily as I burnt a hole into the back of the teacher's eyes with my hateful glare.

I can't believe that this self-proclaimed teacher asshole is bullying a student in front of an entire class.

My eyes flitted back and forth between his clenched jaw and fists that hasn't once unclenched itself.

Alex's face was so flushed with anger that it looked as if he was about to burst any second then, until tears finally spilled from his eyes.

The whole thing was so bewildering that it had stunned me to the point that I could only watch helplessly as Alex's tears rolled down his cheeks.

I could see the panic in the teacher's eyes when he saw Alex's tears, as if someone had slapped some sense into him.

He turned around to the other students and started yelling out orders for people to take out dry tissues.

Someone finally came forward and offered tissues that the teacher simply seized and shoved at Alex.

"That's why you should listen more. Stop drinking when I tell you to stop drinking." Mr. Menzies repeated, as if he bore no sins whatsoever.

I narrowed my eyes at him, going back to glaring at him and burning a hole into the back of his head.

The nerve of this teacher is fucked up.

The teacher took some more tissues and made a move to dry Alex's tears but Alex whipped his head away from Mr. Asshole's reach and wrenched the tissue paper, wiping the tears away himself.

"At least he didn't punch the teacher," I thought to myself silently, breathing a small breath of tiny relief.

Afterwards, the teacher let Alex go back to his seat and began the class like nothing happened.

And the whole time I couldn't stop turning around to check on Alex, feeling like the biggest failure of the century for not helping out someone I dare call my best friend.

Just as Beth had promised, the party turned out great and I had fun. My parents didn't show up in the middle of the party to surprise me with a sudden arrival like what happens in the movies and my furnitures somehow survived the drunken stupor of a horde of teenagers.

As I saw another couple of classmates out, Beth refilled her glass with the alcohol beverage she mixed herself for the party.

I had to give it to her, it didn't taste half as bad as I thought it would.

It was 10 and the last few people that hasn't gone home yet was lounging in the gazebo by the swimming pool, updating themselves with the newest gossip.

I saw Alex sitting by himself in the living room and approached him.

"Hey," I greeted, offering him a cup of the drink Beth concocted as I took a seat beside him.

Alex looked up and smiled when he saw that it was me. He took the cup from me and thanked me, taking a sip of the drink.

"Not bad," He commented appreciatively, taking another sip out of the cup.

"Beth made it," I told him, taking a sip out of my own cup.

"I noticed your parents are always missing during your parties," He said, directing his focus on the big family portrait on the wall opposite of the couch we were sitting on.

"Yeah, their work requires them to travel a lot. They're rarely home." I answered absent-mindedly, looking at the family portrait too.

"Where's your brother and sister?" He asked.

"They're having sleepovers at their friends'."

Alex nodded.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot to give you this." He handed me the paper bag that was sitting beside him.

"Sorry I didn't get you anything last year. Last year's party notification was kind of abrupt." Alex smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No, it's okay." I waved it off, looking inside the paper bag that sat on my lap now. "Thanks for this."

"No problem."

As we sat there in silence, I realized that the only time we would talk face to face was my birthday.

I lowered my head to cover up the smile that took over my face unexpectedly at the realization.

But then the smile slipped away once I remembered what happened just a few days ago.

"I'm sorry,"

"What?" Alex asked, looking as if he was caught off guard by the apology.

"For not helping you when Mr. Menzies cornered you the other day. I should have helped." I said in a low voice laced with guilt.

"Oh, don't worry about that. It's not your fault." Alex said, shrugging and casting a look onto my living room's tiled floors.

"I really am sorry though. I can't help but think back to it. I should've done something to help."

"Really, Kate. It's in the past, don't wear yourself out over it." Alex reassured me.

I looked at him, watching him closely to see if he was really alright.

Alex gave me a small smile as if to tell me he's okay now.

Convinced, I let go of the guilt that's been eating me up.

"Why didn't you punch him though?" I asked. "I could tell by your fists that you were ready to deliver."

I knew I was rooting for him to hold himself back but I can't help the small side of me that was dying to see that teacher get punched for bullying a student; much less a friend of mine.

Alex shrugged, "I didn't want to deal with the aftermath. Parents getting called, meeting with the Principal, it's all a bother."

I nodded in understanding; that makes sense.

We fell into silence as I decided to drop the matter. It wasn't a pleasant experience to remember anyways.

To lighten the mood, I shared what I just realized about our communication deficiency with him.

"You're right," Alex breathed out, laughing a little.

"Yeah, but I don't mind how our friendship is. I don't want others to misunderstand and complicate things anyways. I especially don't want Hannah to misunderstand." I quickly clarified.

"Yeah. Thanks, Kate. For helping me so far, and for being understanding too." Alex said, giving me a warm smile.

I mirrored his smile. "You know.." I trailed off, unsure if it's okay to say what I wanted to. I didn't want to sound cheesy.

"You did give me something last year."

Alex raised his brows questioningly. "Really? I don't remember."

"You gave me your friendship." I smiled, "It's probably the best present I've received so far."