Clockwork

seven.

POV: Alexandria Colbin

"Lexi?" My heart fluttered. No one had ever called me that before. But the way it rolled off his tongue naturally made me feel at ease. I considered correcting him.

"I... um, yeah. Yeah, that's fine." A rush of emotions slammed into me, and I clicked as I suppressed, my head twitching despite my efforts. I sent Erik a smile. "Goodnight. Hope Paige sleeps through the night."

"Goodnight, thank you!" He grinned tiredly and drove off, leaving me standing awkwardly on my own front porch.

I slowly turned around, taking a deep breath to center myself, then opened the door.

I was not expecting my mom to be standing there. Or my dad.

"Uh, hi, guys. What's *click, whistle* up?" I was still suppressing a bit, but I had to let some tics out.

My mom spoke first. "Alexandria! ¡¿Estas estupida?! You can't leave in the middle de la noche, let alone with ¡un niño que no sabemos! You're grounded. Forever. And don't you dare-"

My dad placed a hand on her shoulder, cutting her off. "Alexandria, hijita, you need to be more careful. Do you even know this boy? What were you doing?"

My head jerked to the side before I answered. "I was just helping him with some family issues. It's fine, it won't happen again." I think.

He nodded understandingly. "Very well, head upstairs, please. You have just over two hours before you need to start getting ready for school."

I sighed and walked to my bedroom, then laid down on my bed. I ticced multiple times before finally drifting off.

×

"Bye, Xandri!! Love you!" Bennett called as I climbed out of the car. I was already ten minutes later than I'd like to be, but that just means I'd have to go straight to class.

"Bye, Ben, ¡hasta luego!" I shut the car door and jogged towards the school.

I basically raced to Geometry, eager to see Erik again. I hope he calls me Lexi again... I thought. Wait, what kind of thought is that?! No. Just- no.

I reached the math classroom and stepped in with a smile on my face, despite getting only two hours of sleep last night. I greeted Miss Rylie with a smile before sitting down. Erik wasn't here yet.

Jaimie sent me a wave from across the aisle, and I returned the gesture. I wasn't sure how to feel about her, but she seemed nice enough. She had medium brown wavy hair that reached just past her shoulders, and blue eyes that held a bit of mischief in them.

The warning bell rang, and Erik still wasn't here. Maybe he's avoiding me? I guessed. What if I did something wrong? What if he hates me for the rest of-

My head fell onto the table, and my thoughts went blank.

×

"Alexandria? The bell rang a couple minutes ago for second period." A warm voice stirred me from my sleep. Wait- sleep? No! Don't tell me I fell asleep in class! I definitely did.

I picked up my head to see Miss Rylie looking down at me with her hand on my shoulder. I sat up straight immediately. "I'm so sorry! It's just the tourettes, I swear!" I panicked a bit, hoping to avoid getting community service.