His very-needed sleep was suddenly interrupted an hour or so after he entered dreamless slumber. He started hearing an annoying repetitive sound.

"...mnhhh...." He opened his eyes, seeing everything around him in a blur. He recognized it was his phone making that sound. Somebody was calling him. 

Is....is that Mom?

Maybe she called back to apologize for not believing him, asking if he was okay, maybe she'll come back and- 

...oh

It was an unknown number. A number he'd never seen before, not even an annoying telemarketer's, as far as he knew. 

He sat up straight and stared at the phone screen on his lap. 

......I guess I need to pick up, right?

He cleared his throat before he pressed 'accept'. "....hello? Who is this?" 

"O-oh, hi! It's Max! I got your number from Noah, I hope that's alright..." He heard her awkwardly laugh. "But anyway...I noticed you weren't feeling the best after we arrived; are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine....I just had a migraine." Alex put his free hand on his face. Please......just let me be. "....speaking of, I think I need to rest right now. My head still really hurts." It didn't anymore. In fact, it seemed he got rid of it with the short nap he had. But she didn't need to know that detail. 

"So....bye b-" 

"Wait!" she stopped him before Alex had the chance to hang up. "We.......we're friends, right?" 

"....um..." 

"Do you think we could become friends? Ever? Someday?" Her voice started to sound strained, unsure. But why?

"....I guess?" What is this conversation?

"Okay, okay, okay! Well, get better! And see you in school!" Alex couldn't manage to squeeze in another word as she quickly ended the call.

"....what the fuck..?" Alex whispered to himself. "What have I gotten myself into?"

Alex quickly found out just that when he came into the classroom the next day. Max had pulled a chair from a desk in front of his and Noah's and was now sitting across him, having an enthusiastic conversation with him.

Her face brightened when she saw Alex in the doorway. "Hi!" She waved at him.

As soon as Alex sat down, Max effortlessly pulled him into their convo, which was about a rumor they'd heard about their PE teacher. Apparently, he was a huge pervert. It honestly wasn't a big surprise to Alex; the vast majority of PE teachers were, in his experience, absolute weirdos.

Max, much to Alex's surprise, somewhat managed to involve him in their chit-chat, deliberately asking him for his opinion on various topics and so on. 

He knew that was generally good, but he couldn't help feeling very uncomfortable. Alex did start feeling guilty because of it, but he just couldn't get rid of that tightness right in the middle of his chest.

"And also, did you see the-" Max's sentence was cut short after they heard the bell ring. "Ah, that's my cue." She stood up. "I'll be back later." 

She headed for her desk all the way at the opposite end of the classroom. 

Alex, out of the corner of his eye, saw her friends sending him not-so-friendly stares. He simply avoided their daggers and instead started getting ready for class, pulling out various textbooks he'd need. 

Alex briefly went to his phone, almost out of habit. The teacher hasn't arrived yet, so he could squeeze a few moments to fuel his phone addiction. 

But Noah decided to cut that time short.  "Bro?" He leaned into Alex. "Honestly, I think Max is pretty cool, but I was so surprised when she suddenly started talking to me." He lowered his voice. "Before you came, she wanted to ask me all about how the two of us are, the dynamic between us, whatever that means, and how we became friendly. I don't know, man, I don't wanna make assumptions, but I think..." He whispered into his ear. "I think she might like you." 

"...what?" Alex responded. He briefly looked her way. "I don't know about that. I don't think so." 

"Hmm...." Noah paused for a minute. Then, his face lit up. "Well....maybe if she doesn't like you (kurzíva), maybe it's me she fancies!" A confident smile appeared on his lips. "I am more of a charmer than you, and many women have already adored my precious company." He showed Alex a toothy smile.

Alex couldn't resist letting out a small chuckle. Noah sounded like an old man, looking back at his numerous escapades with the ladies. "Yeah, I think that might be true." 

Noah went silent for a few seconds. Alex looked up at him, confused.

"Woah..." 

"...what?" 

"Dude, I think that's the first time I've seen you actually laugh! Let these out more, then you'll leave all the girls swooning!" He bumped him with his shoulder.  

...Ugh....

"...I guess." Alex couldn't mask his suddenly melancholic answer. Noah looked puzzled for a moment, but didn't say anything.

After school ended, Alex said his goodbyes to Noah and started heading home. 

"Wa-wait up!" 

Alex turned around after he heard Max's loud voice behind him. She was half-running towards him. "I saw you through the locker room, damn jerk!" 

She stopped in front of him and stomped with her foot. "Geez, couldn't even wait for me...." She pouted. 

"S-sorry..." Alex truthfully did want to walk alone. To put headphones in his ears and play soundtracks from his favourite videogames, and simply relax. 

He did feel pretty bad for her, though. She was one of the few people who were nice to him. So he couldn't tell her that.

"Well.....if you buy me hot cocoa tommorow, I might forgive you." 

"...sure." Alex said. They started walking again, side by side. "I have some spare change somewhere."

Alex still felt just as uncomfortable when he was alone with her. He recognized he'd been getting better with Noah as of late, but she wasn't his friend.......yet, at least. An acquaintance, more so. 

"My house is about 10 minutes from here, and I think it's actually along your way." She pointed out. "We won't have to split up so soon, partner!"

"...haha, yeah." Alex responded. She was way too animated for him right now.

Alex looked ahead as they started walking alongside one another. A brief period of silence overtook the space around them. He didn't mind that at all, but he could tell Max was a bit uncomfortable; she deemed it an awkward silence. 

But very soon, she must've found another topic to talk about. "You know, I think I actually walked by your house one time. It's so out of the way, but, I mean, it's cool. You've got so much free space and all that." she chuckled. "Those parties in there must be mean!" 

Alex stopped and looked at her like she was completely insane. "What?"

"Uh, well...it would be a shame, no? Invite all your friends and have the most fun!"

Hah....only if I wasn't a total unlikeable fucking loser. He sighed.

"Hm. Yeah, I guess." He looked at the sky above.

"Well, this is my spot." Max opened a gate presumably in front of her house. It was a brick house with a small patio in front. It looked very pretty; there were beautiful blossoming bushes along the path leading to the door. 

Alex was too busy admiring the purple lilac flowers to see a giant brown blob quickly approaching an unassuming Max. 

"Gah!" She yelped when she got knocked over to her knees.

"A-ah, are you okay?" Alex reached to help her, but then he heard her laugh.

"Ouch, boy, you startled me so bad, hahaha!" The large threat ended up being a giant fluffy dog. It started wildly licking her face. Alex let out a sigh of relief. 

He nevertheless helped her to her feet. 

It seemed the dog caught a whiff of Alex's unfamiliar smell and went to sniff his legs. Then, he sat in front of him and, without any warning, stood up on its hind legs and its front paws pressed up against Alex's chest.

Alex smelled its foul breath. 

"Aw, he likes you!" He heard Max say. 

Alex felt the dog wanted to start licking him as well and quickly stepped back, its paws slipping, and the dog returned to its previous dog-like stance. 

 Alex could finally freely breathe. "Oh my god."

The dog below him let out a low huff, as if grumpy at Alex's rejection. Alex had to admit it, but it was pretty cute. 

"Wah, sorry. Sam is really hyper. Would you want to come in for a sec? We have another dog that's really really chill. It's my sister's. I think Zoe'll let you see her."

.....what's with this family and 3-word names...?

"Another time, I have some stuff I need to do at home." 

"Okay, well, next time then. See you tommorow?" Max, once again, had a badly hidden hopeful expression on her face. 

"Yeah, see you. Bye-bye." He started walking away but stopped in his tracks. He turned around and petted Sam on the head. "Bye-bye, dog."

His ears turned red when he heard Max chuckle. 

Within the next few weeks, Alex slowly managed to get over most of his fear. There were still days when he couldn't bring himself to fall asleep because he was too paranoid, but those days were way more rare than common. 

A week and a half after the incident, Alex even dared to take down the boards covering the windows. The nails he frantically hammered down left nasty holes in the walls, but he didn't care that much. They were the battle scars, proof of Alex protecting himself.