Chapter 4

       I got home from school later that day, put my stuff on my bed, finished my homework, and then immediately started mapping out my idea for Alex’s poster.  I was still going to use Liz’s main thought, but I was just going to twist it around, and spell everything correctly.  My phone buzzed in my pocket.


Hey ru working on my poster?

I typed back,

Yeah, right as we speak.  What color do you want your poster to be?

I set my phone down and got the extra posters from my bedroom that I kept incase of emergency.  I got another text.

White is good.

Good, I thought, because I only have that and lime green.  I got out my markers, my pencil, and my ruler; I wanted everything to be perfect.  Not just because I liked this guy, but because I was also a perfectionist and if something even got the slightest smearing, it would be crappy in my mind and I would have to start all over.  I started writing Alex Dolile around all four edges of the poster.  When I was finished with that, I went over his name with alternating colors.  Then, in the middle I started writing, Who am I?  Right in the middle my stroke, I got another text message, I checked to see whom it was from.  It was from Alex.

Hey make sure that it looks good all right?

That was it.  First of all, not even a thank you is said (or texted) for making his poster, and then he basically demands it to look exactly the way he wants it to?  Even if he is joking it wasn’t funny.  I was getting sick and tired of this.

Stop – I wrote back

Stop what? – He replied

Stop demanding things of me.  I’m doing this as a favor for you.  Unless you wanna keep that amusingly horrible poster that Liz made you, I suggest that you say a thank you once in a while and for heavens sake be grateful!

I put my phone down and started working.  I was just finishing the I in Who am I?  when I got a call.  
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hey.”  It was Alex.  The nerve that kid had.  What was he going to complain about now?  
“So, why did you call me?” I asked impatiently.  The phone was silent for a beat.  
“I wanted to tell you that I was sorry, I was being a jerk.  I really do appreciate what you are doing for me.”  I went jelliod in the knees.  AWWWWWW he was appreciative of me. That made me fell important.  Made me fell like someone other than my family cared about me.
“Thank you for apologizing.  Now I don’t have to wreck your outstanding poster that I am making, if I do say so myself.”
He laughed.  We talked a long time after that.  We talked about next year, what it was going to be like for him in college, and me as a junior.  He said that he wanted to major in something smart, like history or science, and he wanted to go to Princeton.  I told him that next year, I was still going to be in theatre and cross country, and that I was hoping on landing a big part in a play. But I said that running was my main focus.  I was ready for his reaction, you know the, “Why would you like running?” thing, but what he said completely surprised me.
“You like running?  That’s pretty interesting. I mildly enjoy it too. What do you like about it?” he asked me.  Right then I believed that he was either my soul mate or he could hear my thoughts.  He just made me like him ten times more (if that was even possible).  He had said what I wanted everyone to say to me about running.  He didn’t make me feel like I was a freak for wanting to run.  He didn’t make me feel like I was strange for enjoying the work and the burn that came along with running.  He made me feel like I was normal, and that we shared something in common.
“Well I really like how it takes my mind off things, it clears it up, and I like the feeling of having accomplished something.”  I answered trying not to squeal too loudly.
“Yeah, that’s kinda the same reason I like basketball.  I’m in a different world you know?  No one can hurt me there, well, besides physically, but that’s not what I am talking about.”  
“Yeah, I get it.” I said.  Wow, I think I may have fallen in love.
We talked longer, for an hour and a half actually, all that time, I continued making his poster.  I told him that next year, I am not going to make any of the freshman feel left out, and if I see a freshman left out, than I will ask them to come join us.  When he asked why, I told him that it was because I knew what it was like to feel left out, and that I don’t want anyone to feel that way.  Especially as a freshman, the older people kind of scare you.
“You know something Charly?  You are a really nice person.”  He said to me.  We finished our conversation, and I noticed that it was almost ten o’clock.  We had talked for eternity!
“Well, I am going to finish up your poster and then go to bed.  I’ll give it to you tomorrow before school in the theatre okay?”
“Sounds great.”  He said to me.  We hung up.  After that, I was in a state of happiness the entire night.  He thought I was interesting and nice.  I hoped that he liked me.  I really hoped that he liked me.  I finished up the poster that I made for him.  In the end, the poster had Alex Dolile written all around the edge of the poster in different colors, in the middle I had the question, Who am I, written really big, and underneath it, I had put all of the characters he had played this year in theatre.  Off to the side I put Alex Dolile, your best choice for vice president.  I thought that I had done an outstanding job, if I may say so myself.
       I got ready for bed and was just falling asleep when my phone vibrated on the nightstand next to me.  I picked it up and read the text that Alex had sent me just seconds before.

Hey, thanks for the poster, and thank you for talking to me.  Even if it doesn’t seem like it, I really liked talking to you tonight.

       I fell asleep that night, happier than I ever felt I would be again.