The test was hard (for me) and didn't go so well. I didn't even finish it in the time given, and I still had five questions left. I walk out of the math classroom with my head low. I've never not studied for a test before. I've never not finished a test before. I can't imagine what my parents will say when they see my grades. But I don't want to think about that. I don't want to deal with anymore negativity; I can't deal with anymore negativity.

. . .

Alex is standing by my locker by the time school is over. He's wearing a dark gray hoodie, which is different from the pastel pink t-shirt he was wearing this morning, but it has gotten chillier. I'm just wearing another knit sweater. We didn't sit at the same table during lunch, which was strange. I saw him sitting with some girls two tables next to me, and I just kept staring at him until someone saw me. The girls were getting all weird with him, laughing at anything he said, and one of the girls sitting next to him were touching his arm. He's like a magnet when it comes to girls. Or anyone, for that matter. Like it seems like everyone respects him: teachers, guys, girls; it's not surprising, because he is nice and smart and respectful and caring and talented and attractive and tall and strong and—

"Are you ready to go, Earnest?"

I'm snapped back into reality by Alex. "Hm?"

"I was just asking if you were ready to go. You were just standing there, so I thought..." he trails off, fixing the strap of the messenger bag over his shoulder. I've noticed he does that a lot when he's talking to me.

"I just have to put some of my books in my locker," I say as I open the locker. I place some books in, and close it, pulling out my wallet just in case (I accidentally left my wallet in my locker yesterday.) "Okay, I'm ready to go."

Alex is looking at his phone. "We should get going now anyway," he says. "If we want to catch the bus."

"I don't have a bus pass," I say quickly as we start walking.

"We can use mine," he replies, holding his card up.

"Oh, okay." We walk to the bus stop together, Alex walking ahead of me the whole way there. The bus I already turning down the block by the time we get there. The bus halts to a stop in front of us, and we board it. Alex swipes his card two times, once for him and once for me. He sits in a seat toward the back, and I sit next to him by the window.

"It's good we caught this bus," Alex says. "Or we would have had to wait twenty minutes for the next one."

The skies are clear today, and the sun shines on my face as I look out the window. I'm just trusting that Alex knows what he's doing.

"Where does this bus go?" I ask.

"It goes downtown. To the stores and office buildings and all that. We can walk around, go to a few stores, or whatever."

I nod. That doesn't sound that bad. We stay on the bus for a little longer, and Alex taps my shoulder, saying, "This is our stop."

We get off and step onto the sidewalk. The streets are noticeably busier, with cars beeping and people filling up the sidewalks. It's pretty close to a bustling city. I don't remember the last time I came here, but it was probably only last year.

"So what do you want to do first?" Alex asks me as the bus pulls away.

"We can just... walk around," I say. "If we find something, we can go inside."

We start walking, and we pass by a small shop with a pink and white awning. There's a group of girls who come outside with drinks in their hands.

"Oh, bubble tea! We should get some!" Alex says, taking my arm and pulling me to the door of the shop. We go inside, and walk right up to the counter. There's a fairly long line.

I tug on Alex's sleeve. "What's bubble tea?" I ask.

"You don't know? You see that guy's drink over there?" Alex says, pointing to a person sitting by the window. I nod. "Well you see the black stuff at the bottom?" I nod again. "Those are the 'bubbles'. They're like chewy tapioca balls. They're just in the tea. It's really good."

"Oh, okay," I say still unsure. I guess I'll see what he means.

"Just choose a flavor of tea that you want," Alex says as he hands me a menu. There's an extensive list of types of tea. I don't know what to get. I mean, I know the teas at the café I work at, but not here. I only recognize a few types.

We get up to the counter, and Alex says what he wants: large iced black milk tea with bubbles. He turns to me, bends down slightly and whispers, "What do you want?"

"Large hot earl gray tea... with bubbles," I whisper back hesitantly. He tells the cashier my order, and I already have my money out to pay for my drink. She tells someone behind us our order, and she starts making our drinks. There's no one behind us, so we wait by the counter. The worker hands the cashier our drinks, who gives them to us.

"That'll be eight fifty," the cashier says, I give her my money and Alex does too.

We both pick out the color of our straws: I choose a pastel purple one and Alex chooses a light blue one. I poke the pointy side through the circle of the plastic lid, and Alex pokes his through the plastic covering, making a popping sound. We walk out, and I sip my drink. I feel a small, chewy, slimy sphere-like thing pop into my mouth. I'm assuming this is a bubble. I bite into it, and it's soft. It's a different texture than I expected, but I kind of like it. We keep walking, crossing streets, passing stores, and then I see this one novelty shop that has a bunch of cute things. But I don't want to ask Alex to go inside.

"Look at that," Alex says, pointing through the glass into the display for the shop. "That's cute. Hey, let's go inside."

Well at least Alex wants to go inside. He opens the door, and it's quiet inside, with soft music playing. The floors are wooden, and they squeak under out feet. We walk through the aisles, looking at the stuffed animals, notebooks, pens, and weird gadgets.

I still remember what Alex pointed to before we walked inside. He was pointing to this kawaii plush sheep. It was cute.

"I'm just going to look down this aisle," I say. "You can keep looking around."

Alex smiles. "Okay."

I walk down the aisle all the way to the stuffed animal section. There's a huge selection, but I find the sheep, which is on the top shelf (there's only two shelf layers). I choose the nicest looking one and look at the price tag. Nine dollars and fifty cents, which is basically ten dollars with tax. I walk to the cashier, who's this young Asian woman. I hand her the sheep, and the scans the price tag.

"Ten dollars," she says, and I hand her a ten dollar bill. "Would you like a bag for that?" I nod, and she puts the sheep in one of those high-quality rectangular plastic bags.

"Thank you," I say, as she gives the bag to me. I see Alex walking to me.

"Buying something?" he asks. "Can I see?"

"Um, I'll show you later," I reply.

Alex is buying a pen with a plastic bunny on top. It was one dollar. Did I go overboard with what I bought for him? I hope not. I mean, it's not like he'll hate it.

. . .

Alex and I board the bus. The sun has started to set, and I'm tired from walking for so long. The bus is fairly empty, and we're able to sit in the same spot. Alex still hasn't seen what I bought for him yet, even though he's been asking me this whole time.

"What did you buy at that store?" Alex asks me one more time.

I sigh and hand him the bag. He looks inside it. "Oh, it's the sheep! It's cute."

"I... I got it for you," I say. "Because you wanted it."

"You did? Thank you!"

I yawn. "You're welcome."

"You must be so exhausted," Alex says. I nod. "Just rest for a little bit. I'll wake you up when we get to our stop."

"Okay..." I close my eyes and lean up against the window. It's uncomfortable with the hard surface.

"Maybe you... want to rest here," he says, putting his arm around my shoulder and pulling me to him. My head falls on his shoulder. It is better than the window. A few moments later, I feel his head rest on top of mine. Our arms are touching, and I feel like I should move away, but I don't. We stay there like that, my head resting on his shoulder, leaning on each other.