[Alex's POV]
Alex grinned to himself as he was walking home on the forest path behind the park. He'd finally made a new friend!
Jasper had shown him the school building once classes were over, and it had felt like hanging out. They'd goofed around all the way to the top floor of the building, where they'd stumbled upon a temporary stand where you could buy sportswear with the school's insignia on. A lucky coincidence, because Alex still needed those. Yet another thing he could strike off of his to-do list.
"Three T-shirts? What do you need three for? I've been attending this school for years, and I only have two!" Jasper's words echoed through Alex's mind.
"Is three a lot? It isn't, right?" Alex wondered in thought. Ok, if you made sure that one T-shirt was clean while the other was being washed, then two should suffice. But what good is money if you don't use it? The third T-shirt was an acceptable buffer to make sure he'd never have to wear a T-shirt that smelled like old sweat. It wasn't like he'd spend a fortune! Or that the third piece of clothing was doomed to rot away in an overstuffed closet. It couldn't be counted as decadency. So he'd told Jasper: "I hate to smell."
Jasper seemed surprised by his answer. He started acting jittery and looked anywhere but Alex's eyes. It almost looked as if Alex had caught him doing something bad, like stealing candy from a baby.
"Ah, yes," he'd finally said. "Maybe I should buy some too. Since my old ones are starting to get too small."
But when he saw that the lady selling the sportswear had moved on to the next in line and that he would have to queue in line a second time, he quickly changed his mind again.
A strange one that Jasper. He looked well put together and confident, but the more time Alex spent with him, the more he got the feeling that Jasper had a lazy streak to him.
If he'd learned anything from the introduction games earlier that morning, it was that Jasper rarely studied for tests and that he had a habit of sleeping in.
"Ah! No, Thomas! Stop it!" a female cry had Alex frozen in his tracks and his cheeks glowing.
The sudden cry had Alex's heart beating in his throat. He swallowed it back down with difficulty. That cry had been, by far, the most alluring thing he'd ever heard before, even though his mind was telling him that it probably had no erotic context at all.
You see, Alex had no experience with girls, nor women. None at all. His own mother had vanished when he was still a baby and even in the small town he'd grown up in, girls were a rarity. So maybe the bar to his "most alluring cry" wasn't set very high.
Was doing naughty things on a desolated forest path even still a thing? Alex himself couldn't imagine doing those things anywhere else than in the privacy of his own bedroom. Ok, he'd have to suffer through his dad making jokes about it afterwards, but it was still better than being caught in public somewhere.
"Get your mind out of the gutter," Alex scolded himself quietly with a soft shake of his head and concentrated on his environment. He strongly hoped that he'd imagined the whole thing, but in the small case that he hadn't imagined it, he rather thread carefully. So that, in the very least, he'd be able to pass by unnoticed. It wasn't because he didn't have any experience with girls that he wanted to "gain experience" from a couple halfway through the act.
Alex waited and listened to see if he could spot where the cry earlier had come from, but it was eerily quiet. He took a careful step forward, still on high alert for anything that moved or made a sound. He still hadn't heard any new cries. With a bit of luck, he really had imagined the whole thing.
But no such luck. Alex literally followed a turn in the path and there they were, in plain sight, not even trying to hide: A delicate-looking girl, with a large boy looming over her.
Alex quickly ducked behind a tree.
"Crap! What now?" he thought as he searched for a way around them. But before he could find a solution, the couple's conversation caught his ear.
"No, don't try to run away. Just tell me," the boy said in a confident tone.
"There really is nothing to tell, I swear! We just met him today," the girl said. She sounded a lot less confident. Alex dared to say she sounded nervous, bordering on scared.
Alex frowned. What was that all about?
As his curiosity got the better of him, Alex dared to glance around the tree he'd been hiding behind. The large boy was looming over the girl alright, but not in a friendly way. He was holding her by the wrist and had her forced with her back against a tree.
"Even if I told you anything, the chance of the information being wrong is high. Now, let go already! You're hurting me," the girl said as she struggled to free her wrist from his grip, but the guy merely laughed.
Alex had seen enough.
"She told you to let go," he said firmly as he stepped from his hiding place.
"Move along boy, this is none of your business," the offender said as he glared at Alex over his shoulder. But his threat had completely missed its target because the tiny bit that the large boy had moved to look over his shoulder, was enough for the girl's face to come into view.
"Otto?" Alex asked incredulously as their eyes locked and she seemed to panic.
"Alex?" she asked shakily.
"Speak of the devil," Otto's offender said as he grinned widely. Alex furrowed his brow. He didn't like where this was going.
"Leave him alone, Thomas. He hasn't done anything wrong!" Otto said but winced as the tiny bit she'd struggled was met with a push in the opposite direction.
"Stop it! You're hurting her!" Alex said as he pushed Otto's offender aside, (which was much easier than he'd anticipated,) stood in between them and glared angrily at the boy Otto had called Thomas.
"Ah! Haha. Ho- there, tiger! No need to pierce me with that glare. I wasn't looking for a fight. Just having a chat with an old friend," Thomas said, holding his hands up in surrender.
A civil enough answer. Alex might have started doubting whether he had misunderstood the situation, if it weren't for the cocky grin still visible on the guy's face.
Before Alex could retort anything to Thomas, he felt Otto grab onto the bottom of his shirt. It reminded him of how a small child reached for its parent's hand when it was frightened. Alex was so surprised that his glare faltered and glanced curiously over his shoulder towards her.
"Would you look at that... Just someone you met earlier, huh?" Thomas said in a defying way. "Look at the way he's protecting you. Look at the way you're cowering behind him!"
Alex saw Otto duck her head even further behind him and turned his head to glare at Thomas again.
He didn't like this guy.
"Nothing to say? I'll take it you're the strong but silent type?" Thomas joked on, but when he was met with nothing but silence once more, he sighed.
"Ok, I get it. I know when I've outlasted my welcome," he said with a dramatic sigh and turned to leave.
"See you around, Alex," Thomas said as he looked over his shoulder one last time and raised his hand in salute, leaving Alex and Otto alone in the process.
Alex clenched and unclenched his fist. He wasn't one to throw his fists around, but that Thomas-guy certainly knew how to annoy him. He could still feel his nerves spiking. The only thing that had kept him grounded was the trembling hand still holding onto the back of his shirt.
Wait, ... trembling? Alex glanced over his shoulder towards Otto and noticed that she still looked rather out of it.
"He's gone now," he said kindly over his shoulder. He didn't want to spook her, so he made sure not to make any sudden moves. She looked up at him questioningly.
"You can let go now," he clarified with a gentle smile. Otto instantly flushed bright red and pulled her hand back hastily as if touching him had burned her.
"Sorry! I didn't realise I was still holding on to you," she said nervously.
"That's ok, I don't mind. Calm down," Alex tried to soothe her. So far his efforts not to spook her. She looked like she might have a nervous breakdown. It made him remember that she had reacted rather strongly to him that morning too.
It dawned on him that she might be more scared of him than of that Thomas-guy, so he took an experimental step backwards. If she'd noticed him doing so, she didn't mention it, but she did heave a big sigh to push down her nerves.
"Sorry," she repeated more calmly this time. "I didn't mean to involve you in any of that."
"Again, I don't mind," Alex said. "Are you ok? Did he hurt you?"
"I'm fine. He never actually hurts me," she said. She sounded disappointed with herself.
Alex didn't believe her. Even if she was talking about physical pain, it definitely left a mental mark on her. Heck, she'd been shivering not even a minute ago.
"He's done this before, hasn't he?" Alex asked. The colour instantly drained from her face.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Would you look at the time? I have to go. Bye!" she said as she theatrically looked at her watch and started walking, ignoring Alex's knowing gaze.
Well, whatever. If she didn't want to tell him, she didn't have to. So he shrugged and resumed his walk home. But it didn't take him long to notice he'd fallen into step behind Otto.
"Are you following me?" Otto asked after the third time she'd spotted him when she'd looked over her shoulder.
"So you can speak up when something is bothering you," Alex said in a mocking way.
Otto instantly halted and spun around on her heels to face him. It had been so sudden, that Alex had reacted a split second too late, resulting in the both of them standing much closer to each other than what was considered comfortable. In fact, it could be described as "nose to nose". It was a miracle that Otto hadn't flushed or ran away yet.
"Weren't you watching earlier? I did stand up to him, but he simply shoved me aside!" she yelled angrily as she poked a finger at his chest.
Alex stared into her angry, deep blue eyes for a second. He had kind of expected her to ignore him further, but she'd reacted so fiercely. Did that mean she was actually a proud person? Then why hadn't she reacted this fiercely to Thomas?
"You like him, don't you?" Alex asked. Otto's eyes turned wide as saucers. It seemed his observation had been spot on.
"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" she yelled angrily and started stomping away again.
"Ok, now you've lost me. Why the hell are you angry with me?!" Alex said, getting angry himself.
"Because you're annoying and nosy!" she shouted over her shoulder but didn't stop stomping away.
"Oh! So you can tell me I'm annoying, but you can't stand up to that Thomas-guy? I thought you said he'd never hurt you? What was that earlier anyway? Is it a daily thing for you and him to corner each other in plain sight, for everyone to see? Well, I wish you would chose a more private location next time because I totally got the wrong idea here!" Alex yelled angrily at her retreating form from where he'd stopped earlier. To his surprise, her angry strut slowed to a halt and for the longest moment, she just stood there with balled fists.
"How can you say all the things out loud that I don't even dare to think about?" she asked softly as she glanced over her shoulder at him, but quickly looked away again when a tear escaped her.
Alex stood frozen to the ground. Was she crying? He'd never seen a girl cry before. The intensity caught him entirely off guard. It made him realise he'd hurt her. It was even worse than seeing her being cornered by Thomas earlier.
Otto gave another huff, clearly dissatisfied with his lack of reaction, and started walking away again.
His body moved before his head could catch up. He'd reached her within seconds and hugged her from behind. Otto instantly panicked.
"Hey! What are you doing?! Let go!" she yelled, trying to escape his arms.
"I'm sorry, ok!" Alex said loudly so she'd definitely hear him. "Stop running away like that, I never meant to hurt you. And it pains me to see you like this."
She stopped struggling, but her posture was so stiff, it didn't take a genius to realise she wasn't comfortable with the close proximity at all. Only now did his head catch up to what he was doing and he hurriedly released her with a mumbled "sorry".
He knew she was observing him, but he couldn't meet her eyes. It took a long and awkward moment before he heard her mumble: "Apology accepted."
Alex looked up at her in surprise. Apology accepted? She looked like she still wanted to run away from him, but at least she didn't.
"Thank God," he sighed in a breath of relief and ran a hand through his hair to release some of his nervous energy. "At this point, I'm no better than that Thomas-guy."
"I wouldn't take it that far," Otto mumbled, to which Alex raised an eyebrow at her.
"Well, you're a close second," Otto admitted reluctantly. Her answer made him snort.
"At least I know where you're coming from," he said, smiling bitterly. "I wouldn't trust myself either if I were you. Too annoying and pawing."
This time Otto raised an eyebrow at him.
"No, no, no, no! I'm not saying that I am! I'm usually a very level-headed person, not annoying at all. I'm just saying that that must be what you are thinking about me. Which is wrong," he tried to defend himself but felt like he was only making things worse. His nervous rambling was interrupted by the sound of Otto giggling softly.
"Are you mocking me?" he asked, as he narrowed his eyes at her.
"No, no! I wasn't. I just couldn't help but think your rambling was cute," she said as she hid a smile behind her hand.
"You are mocking me!" he complained, even though he was glad she was laughing again. "I don't know which is worse; being thought of as 'no good' or being called 'cute' because I was trying to explain that I'm not 'no good'."
This time she laughed audibly. Alex felt like he should be angry because she was laughing at his expense, but he couldn't help the smile forming on his lips.
"Look. I know you don't trust me, but know that you have a friend in me," Alex said. "If you ever get tired of fighting off Thomas on your own, know that I'm willing to help. Ok?"
Otto frowned but said nothing. Was he being too pushy? Better quit while he was ahead.
"You don't have to say anything. Just remember that my offer stands," he said as he walked past her to leave. She looked at him skeptically but nodded.
"Ok, I will," she said.
"Well, then. I'll be heading home now if you don't mind," Alex said, not allowing a new awkward silence to start. "Unless you're afraid that Thomas might still be lurking nearby and you want a personal guard to escort you home?"
Otto gave a quick shake of her head.
"No? Ok, then I'll see you at school tomorrow. Bye!" Alex said and headed home.