By the time the lunch bell rang a few hours later, Michael's day had gotten worse. He had lost his notes for history, resulting him into failing his History test, which was pretty much expected considering that he spent most of his time thinking of ways to win back Alex's affection. He thought of buying her some other expensive object, taking her out on a nice date, study with her in class, eat with her at lunch, smile with her, laugh with her, maybe even try to actually be nice to her.

Like that would ever happen.

He had even thought of tormenting her as he had always been doing ever since he had first met her. Maybe punch her every time she even glanced into that French guy's direction. Maybe go on a frantic rampage every time she mentioned his name. Maybe even break her down so much that she wouldn't even be able to flirt with another guy again because her mouth was too swollen to do so.

He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, vaguely knowing that either way, she wouldn't return the favor with the affection that he wanted. That privilege had already been taken away from him ever since he had first laid his hands on her.

Tossing his books into his locker, Michael turned to the sounds of melodic laughter; her laughter. It hit his eardrums hard as he made his way further down the hall. There, leaning against the cool metal of the locker was the object of his desire and another oddly familiar face: Leonce, his sworn enemy and new competition.

Obviously they were having a very in-depth conversation, by the way Alex's face lit up with enthusiasm and how she gestured wildly with her minuscule hands. Michael stared in fascination all until Leonce leaned in closer, whispering something that made her laugh, blush and then playfully slug him in the shoulder. Then, Michael began to fume considerably. Unable to take it anymore, Michael intervened into the last few feet between them, silencing their conversation almost instantly.

Michael cleared his throat and smiled forcefully as he said, "Hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Alex glanced up and forced a tiny smile of her own, "Oh, hey, Michael."

God I love the way my name sounds coming from her lips.

"Michael," Leonce repeated with a ghost of a smirk playing on his lips, "You were in my history class, yes?"

Michael felt his heart race whenever he heard his ungodly voice. It sounded evil, scheming, as if he were plotting something that wasn't out of amusement but more of darkish humor. Maybe it was because he was foreign...

Or that damn emphasizing he calls an accent.

Michael nodded in agreement, "Sure was."

"I heard you got a bad grade," he remarked somewhat sympathetically but the way he had said it sounded like something of mock sorrow instead of pity but Michael wasn't certain because his accent seemed to conceal the emotion in his voice.

Michael grinned sheepishly, Well, maybe it's all because I had been so busy brainstorming of how many different ways I can kill you.

"I was a bit distracted..." Michael simply said grinning at the thought of hanging Leonce on a tree by his long flowing hair. That was certainly an admiring sight, seeing him scream to the top of his lungs as each tendril slowly peeled from his scalp.

Leonce arched a brow at the look of delight on Michael's face and nodded his head slowly, "I see..." Leonce turned to Alex, "I'll see you again tomorrow, yes?"

"You sure will."

Leonce grinned cheekily and bestowed a kiss upon both sides of her cheek and Michael could feel his blood boil.

What the hell?!

"Au revoir, cherrie," Leonce whispered to her and Alex giggled daintily and as she did so, Leonce let out his own sort of feminine chuckle that made Michael want to gag. He could imagine sticking a finger in his mouth and gagging until he was no longer able to breathe.

Once Leonce had faded from view, Alex turned towards Michael, her smile vanishing instantly, "Whats wrong?" she asked worriedly.

What's wrong? Oh, that's right. My scowl is still present on my face.

Swallowing hard, Michael shook his head and grinned reassuringly, "Nothing. What were you doing with the French guy?"

"Just talking about chemistry," she replied with a mere shrug.

"The chemistry as in the class," he said gesturing towards the direction of the science hall, "or the chemistry between you two?" he said pointing over at the spot where Leonce had been standing.

Alex couldn't avoid the urge to laugh, "There isn't any chemistry between us. We were just talking about the law of gravity."

"Oh really?" Alex nodded and Michael crossed his arms over his chest, "I didn't see any gravity pulling him away as he leaned down to smother you with slobbery kisses."

Alex laughed again and the pleasant sound made his face soften into one of slight awe, "Actually, gravity doesn't work that way. Gravity is actually a fundamental physical force that is responsible for interactions which occur because of mass of particles, between aggregations of matters such as stars and planets, and between particles such as photons and aggregations of matter, that is 10 to the power of 39 times the strength of the strong force-?!"

Michael groaned, "Is there anything you don't know?"

"I'm sure there are many things I don't know."

"And it doesn't surprise me that you know that."

Alex smiled, an admiring sight really. Small, but certainly pretty.

"Are you happy with him?" Michael abruptly asked her.

Alex jolted in surprise at the question and she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head as she pondered for a reply.

She shrugged, "Well, yeah, I guess so. Why do you ask?"

"I'm just wondering if you like him or not..." he held her uncertain gaze with his own, "Do you like him?"

"Hmm..." she said, "Well, gee. I really don't know, Michael. I mean, he seems nice and all but I can't really say that I like him, per se-?!"

"Would you rather go out with him than me?"

Alex stared at him in shock at the answer and she wasn't able to believe that those words came from his lips. She would have been less shocked if Monica would have asked that question and they were both as straight as a line. Hearing this question from Michael was not one she would have ever expected. He never ceased to amaze her.

"Well, um," she struggled for the right words to say, "I mean, uh, he's nicer to me than you and um,... he seems really nice, you know. I guess I would rather him than you, I mean, he's really nice..."

Michael struggled to hold back the tears pricking at his eyes. He couldn't believe he was about to cry in front of the girl because he had been rejected by her. He had never gotten rejected by a girl before and having it happen to him now made his heart drop to the pit of his stomach and he felt as if the weight of the world had been put on his shoulders as he shakily straightened himself up. He knew that she could see him trembling but that moment, he didn't care. All he wanted was to see her suffer, to writhe in pain, to beg him for mercy, to feel the pain that she had caused him.

"Nice, huh?" he asked as he nibbled down on his bottom lip and the fear-stricken look on her face made the adrenaline in his veins race rapidly through his body.

The petrified girl frantically shook her head, "I didn't mean that! I just meant that-?!"

"He's nicer than me so you rather not even give me a chance to prove myself worthy of the title 'boyfriend'?"

"I didn't say that-?!"

"You didn't have to!"

Silence seeped into the hallway.

"You know, I thought you believed in second chances," Michael said and he willed himself to ignore the shakiness in his voice, "Guess I thought wrong."

Alex remained silent, not knowing what else to say to reduce the tension between them. She was caught by surprise once a fist came flying at her, catching her on her cheek. She swayed slightly and his hand seized the front of her shirt and shoved her against the lockers with a loud thud. She looked up at the older boy beneath thick, ebony lashes.

"You know that boy is out of your league," he hissed, "What would he ever see in such an ugly and fat girl like you? Hell, what good is there in you? I wouldn't be surprised if he went out with you out of pity. God knows you only have friends because they feel sorry for you. I'm the only one who's treating you the way you should be treated; like shit. That's just what you are, a big piece of shit that needs nothing more than to be thrown away into the trash. Maybe if you could get rid of your ugly outer appearance, that guy could actually bear to be seen with you in public."

Michael's fist sank into her chest, and she doubled over, gasping for breath. By the time she unfolded herself, Michael was jogging away out of her reach, oblivious to her cries of agony.

She wasn't crying because of the assault or the insults he had thrown at her but because of how guilty she felt for giving him the wrong message of her feelings for Leonce. She was happy with him like she was happy with Monica; in a friendly way, no romance, no flirting, no nothing.

But apparently, Michael didn't see the same.

Alex felt something damp trickle down her cheek and she rushed to the bathroom before someone would see her crying. Tears poured from her eyes and she felt that they would never stop. A swell of voices told her the same things all over again and the ogling, disdaining faces kept appearing in her mind. Alex just sat there on the floor, crying and not caring if there was someone else in the bathroom. The bell rang, but she didn't budge a single inch.

After few minutes she finally rose up, drying her eyes with her sleeve and went to the sink.

The person in the mirror wasn't who Alex wanted to be. Her eyes were red and puffy, hair disheveled up and her body... He was right. She thought she didn't look good at all. Word 'fat' wasn't the right one to describe her, but she thought she could look much better.

When her parents had died, Alex had started to eat more because of her emotions. Food relaxed her a bit, but she didn't think she was eating a little more than the average girl would. Then she moved to her aunt's house and there, Becky cooked every day, so it was more likely that she ate more than she should. She hadn't realized that she would eventually gain weight so much.

She opened the tap and washed her face with cold water.

Mom... Dad... I miss you. What would you do if you were me? She thought, squeezing the edge of the sink so hard that her knuckles turned white.

Tears had completely stopped coming from her eyes. The last one slowly crept down her chin and dropped to the dirty tile floor.

But Alex never received a response.

The word "ugly" came to her mind and stuck there, almost bringing her into tears every time someone looked at her.

When she got home she ran to the mirror again and slipped off her shirt.

Her ribs weren't visible but when she flexed, she could barely see them.

I should lose weight... My stomach and legs are too big. I look terrible! Alex thought and felt her mood descend lower than ever.

The only way was not to eat; she didn't even want to touch the food anymore. But how could she stop eating when there were four other people who she was constantly seen by?

Sure Alex had heard about those who threw up after eating and that they lost weight... But Alex didn't know could she do that. Only way was to try, but she didn't actually want to.

Slowly and cautiously, she grabbed her toothbrush off the counter. The sooner she did this the sooner it would be over.

She jammed the toothbrush down her throat and poked further than she thought possible. She felt her stomach rebel as the bile rose up from her throat. Chunks of food entered the sink as she spewed her contents into it. The taste was horrible and sickening but Alex didn't stop. She wouldn't stop until every last bit of that disgusting food was out of her stomach.

It wasn't that she liked purging. It made her feel dirty as she forced herself to throw up. She would rather just skip meals in general but then her aunt would notice. It made her sick but she had already lost ten pounds since she started this routine three weeks ago. She wasn't going to stop until she had proven Michael that she was better than him.

Alex continued to empty the contents out of her stomach. The smell was unbearable and she felt herself become even sicker.

"Alex! Time to eat!"

Alex sighed, intent on ignoring her voice, I can't let her see me like this... She'll just get worried about me. I can't let her see me...


"Cherrie!" a voice called out in the hallway and Alex slowly turned around to face the cheerful Leonce he pranced his way towards her.

"Track tryouts are tomorrow, yes?l he asked.

"Yeah," she replied curtly and the look of concern on his face made her frown, "What?"

"Your eye... What happened?"

"Walked into a door," mumbled Alex and Leonce chuckled lightly.

"Be more careful, cherrie. You are still beautiful nonetheless."

Alex forced a tiny smile, "Are you gonna watch me during track tryouts?"

"Not only will I be watching you but I'll be trying out too."

Alex beamed, "Cool. Good luck."

"I don't need luck, just support."

"Same here."

Further down the hallway, Michael shot Alex a cold glare, one that made her skin crawl and for herself to will her gaze to the floor. She felt like a poisonous bug under his stare except unlike those particular species, he wasn't scared of her but it was the other way around.

I hope Leonce thinks I look better, Alex thought glancing over at Leonce who grinned cheekily at her.