Broken

Chapter 2 Alex's POV: All Day Work

All day I have been exhausted and now I have to work on this stupid project with that girl Maria. As I am waiting for Maria, I see Bianca walking by with a smug look on her face. Fifteen minutes later, I am still waiting for Maria so I start checking the school to look for her. When I stop by the nurse's office, I ask Mrs. Lepolt if she has seen Maria because I know they are close.

"Hey Mrs. Lepolt! Have you seen Maria since this morning? We are supposed to be doing a project together at my house but I can't seem to find her." I ask in a monotone voice.

"I saw her leaving the school this afternoon probably to head home, the poor girl." She says sadly.

"Why do you say it like that?" I began to question suspiciously.

"No reason!" Mrs. Lepolt answers quickly, too quickly might I add. I leave it at that because I know that Mrs. Lepolt isn't going to tell me anymore information about Maria. I rush out to my car and start driving around trying to find Maria. Finally, I see Maria walking along the side of the road so I abruptly come to a stop on the roadside.

"Did you forget about the project?" I ask when she turns towards me.

"Yes, I'm sorry I didn't mean to I swear! I was just really exhausted from today, and... and it just completely slipped my mind after school." She says while fumbling over her words.

"Whatever, just hurry up and get in the car so we can start working on it." I say irritably. When I look back I see her off in her own little world and start to get angry with her.

"Maria! Are you getting in the car or not?" I say, knocking her out of her little world. When she finally gets in the car, I quickly pull off the roadside and start driving towards my house. "What is your address so we can go get the s**t you need for this project?" I ask a bit harshly. In my peripheral vision I see Maria flinch while shrinking in fear.

"Let's just go to your house and start working on other parts of the project today, since it is already so late." She says shakily.

"Whatever...," I respond. "So what kind of cake do you have in mind for the project?" I ask her.

"Um, I was thinking we could make a sponge cake, red velvet cake, and tres leche. We can do 5 trials for each of the cakes and then add something new to each new trial and compare the cakes with the other trials and the other types of cake trials, I guess." She rambles.

"That's fine." I say, "Let's just get this over with. We have to find recipes that will work for all the cakes and it has to be good." I demand.

"Actually, I know a recipe for one of the cakes. My mother used to make the best sponge cake in the world." She explained. I listened and saw her give a hint of a smile while talking with teary eyes.

"Why doesn't she make it anymore?" I ask harshly. I know I need to work on how I speak to people, but this is hard to fix whenever you have to keep up such a tough reputation.

"Um, my mom passed away 5 years ago." She says in a mere whisper, while shrinking into her seat. When she says this, I feel a sense of understanding wash over me and I quickly look away from Maria.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that." I firmly state. I do understand how that feels because I also lost someone close to me. My hands tighten on the wheel just thinking about what happened to my twin sister. In the corner of my eye, I see Maria silently staring straight ahead with a hint of fear in her eyes. When I look forward again I see a man walking towards the pub that is up the street getting closer to passing my car.

"Can we go to your house please? I changed my mind, I don't want to go to my house anymore." She says weakly.

✿

When we arrived at my house, we went straight to work on getting a list of the supplies we will need to have for all the cakes. After about three hours, I ran to the bathroom. When I am getting ready to head back to the living room I hear a door shut. When I get back to the living room I don't see Maria. Instead I found a note written to me. When I look outside I realize it is dark outside and begin to freak out knowing there are perverts and pedophiles out there in the world. I quickly read the letter:

Alex,

Sorry I left but I had to go home and I didn't want to burden you with having to take me home anymore than you already have. I will see you tomorrow so we can work on the project and discuss the trials.

-Maria

As soon as I finish reading the letter I run and grab the keys to my car while grabbing my leather jacket on the way out the door. All I could think was how cold it was outside and how she didn't have a jacket on, but also how dark it was. I wished she had asked me to drive her home because I know that it won't be a very short walk. I also don't know what kind of neighborhood she lives in. As I begin my search for Maria I start from my house to the diner because the street I live on is a dead end. After about 45 minutes there is still no sign of Maria and I am beginning to worry about her well being. The whole time I drive myself back home I tell myself that she is home, safe and sound.

On my way home, I receive a call from one of my 'friends' trying to convince me to go to their cousin's house party. I decide not to go and turn down the offer because I just want to go home and sleep away all my thoughts. As soon as I get home I change and right as I am about to climb into bed I hear a knock on my front door. When I look at the time, I see that I spent a lot longer than I thought looking for Maria and it is now 11 o'clock.

What could someone possibly be doing here this late at night? I think as I walk down the stairs to the front door. I turn on the light at the front door so I can look out the window of the door. When I look outside I am surprised to see Nathan and Joey. I let them in quickly because it was cold outside. Nathan is my best friend and has been since we were in diapers. His brother Joey is a little brother to me because Nathan is my brother from another mother. Nathan is also one of the best hackers I know and can hack into almost anything.

I turned to Nathan and saw tears forming and like a trigger I knew what happened.

"They kicked me out again, but I couldn't risk Joey getting hurt. Alex..... I.." He tries to explain. I quickly hold up my hand to stop him from trying to explain because I already understand the situation.

"You know you don't have to explain, and you know that Joey and you are welcome over whenever you want." I say gruffly.

I pat his back and tell him to head to his room. As he is heading to his room, I make my way back to my room while thinking about Maria again. The second my head hits the pillow, I am succumbed to darkness.

✿

Bring! Bring! Bring! I slam my hand down onto my alarm clock and sit up when all of a sudden the most heavenly smell wafts into my room.

'BACON!' All I can think of is that heavenly smell as I get dressed and run downstairs. Upon my arrival to the kitchen I hear pans clattering. The door to the kitchen swings open and outcomes Joey with Nathan in tow. It seems that I surprised them because when they saw me they looked like they might pee themselves.

"Gosh dang it! You scared us Alex." Joey exclaims.

"I can see that." I said amusedly.

"Go sit we will bring out the food in a second." Nathan announces. After he says this he makes a b-line back to the kitchen with Joey. That is when I hear my bacon sizzling. I can practically taste it in my mouth and mmmmm, does it smell like heaven.

Finally, after a few minutes Joey and Nathan head out with eggs, toast, and bacon. As soon as they set the bacon down I jump at it like a wild dog and pile my plate with it. I also grab a little bit of everything else.

I turn to Nathan and Joey who are looking at me amusedly knowing how much I love my bacon.

"Thank you for the food." I say with my mouth stuffed with bacon. After we are done eating, we all get dressed and head to my car and get in. We drop off Joey at the middle school and then I drop Nathan off at the school he goes to. Once I have dropped everyone off to school, I head towards Portsman High School knowing I will be a few minutes late. Finally I get to the school and get my tardy pass. When I get to my first hour I go straight to my desk ignoring the teacher talking to me and sit while putting my head down.

Please leave any ideas and changes you would like me to look into.