Alexander -- part 2

Well it seemed as though the first part went down quite well, so here is the second part.

My posts seem to be getting longer and longer at the moment!!

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I reached the office around two and a half minutes later and knocked on the old oak panelled door.

"Come in," came a voice from inside. I pushed open the door. The main office was a spacious room, with a desk where the school receptionist, Mrs. Jones sat. She was a nice old lady with large round glasses and was very well spoken. I liked her a lot.

"Good morning dear, how can I help you?" She asked smiling warmly.

"Hi, I'm here to get Alexander. Mr. Shelly said that he was joining our form and asked me to show him around."

"Oh lovely. The poor dear has been in there for the best part of an hour. I'm sure he will appreciate the company, he is right in there," she said pointing to the door that led to the waiting room. I thanked her and walked past the desk. The other things that occupied this space were several large filing cabinets, containing God knows what and a large section in the corner of the room had been given up to house the copious amounts of lost property. I glanced at the mound of old P.E shirts, odd shoes and battered hockey sticks and wondered how so many things could be lost. I went over to the door, glanced back at Mrs. Jones, who sat beaming at me and turned the handle. The waiting room is a small room comprising of five or six small armchairs spread around the room, with a small coffee table in the centre, on which I noticed was a brochure about the school, and a bag, presumably the property of Alexander. It was empty save for Alexander, who sat in one of the chairs furthest away from the door, reading. He hadn't noticed that I had just entered. Despite being small, the room has a large window overlooking the playing field. Sunlight streamed through it bathing Alexander in an orange glow. I coughed politely.

"Oh!" he exclaimed and jumped at least a foot in the air. The book he had been reading went flying across the small space. It landed at my feet. He must have really been enjoying that book, I concluded.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't hear the door." He was shy. That was the first thing I noticed about him. He was not looking at me, he had his head down, eyes cast on the floor. He spoke in a quiet, hushed manner. All I could see of him was a head of bright, golden, blond hair.

"That's ok," I said picking the book up, 'Pride and Prejudice,' it said in italics on the front cover. Interesting, I didn't most boys in my school had even heard of Jane Austin, let alone have read any of her novels.

"Hi," I said. "I'm Josh, your Alexander right?"

At the mention of his name, he looked up for the first time. My mouth dropped open. My heart started racing and I could feel butterflies starting to flutter in my tummy. But I didn't understand why. All he had done was to look at me. Weird.

"Yes, I'm Alexander," he said and smiled. Again my heart leaped.

There was something about his smile that made me blushed. He noticed. "Erm, nice to meet you," I said. I walked over to him, and held out my hand. He shook it. Who knew that shaking hands could feel so intimate. His hand felt sleek and warm in mine. I didn't understand what was going on. I mean I knew that I was shaking hands with the new boy. But deep down, inside me, I could feel fireworks exploding purple and silver, sending shivers rocketing up my spine.

"Nice to meet you too Josh," Alexander said. There it was again, that shiver. He had a nice voice. It must have been in the midst of breaking. Not overly high deep, it seemed to me just the right pitch. He looked directly at me and I got to see his features close up, for the first time. His face was small and delicate. He had very brown eyes and extremely long lashes which would not have looked out of place on a girl. His nose was slightly crooked, demonstrating that he had broken it at some point. I wondered how. His lips were full and rosy. He stood as he took my hand and I noticed that he was a good three inches shorter than me. Not a dwarf by anyone standards but not small either. His uniform was in pristine condition, his tie a perfect Windsor knot and you could see your face in his shoes they were so shiny. He didn't look he belonged in my gritty comprehensive school. He looked almost like something straight out of a Dickens novel.

"Welcome to our school," I said, trying desperately not to stare at him. "Your going to be in my form, there is about twenty of us, we are all nice. First period today is English and you are taking the same subjects as me so I'll show you around and where to go. We have Mr. Shelly as a form tutor, he teaches French and is a bit crazy but you get used to him." I was generally trying to make conversation. He nodded as I spoke, smiling when I described Mr. Shelly. That smile, there was something about it that I couldn't get out of my mind. The image of it seemed to be seared into my mind.

"Sounds good," He said. "But Josh, you can let go of my hand now if you want."

"Oh sorry! Got carried away talking," I said blushing crimson. I didn't want to let go of his hand. "Oh and I think that this is yours," I handed him his book back. I was wondering why I hadn't let go of his hand. This was getting too weird.

"Thanks," he pocketed it.

"So the Alexander, what brings you to this neck of the woods?" I asked.

"Well, my dad has new job, something to do with computers," he shrugged. "So it means moving, new town, new house and new school. That's why I'm here." I liked him already, even if he was still a bit shy. I could really see him and me becoming friends. I had a few friends, but none apart from Charlie who really knew me very well. He's been my friend as long as I can remember. We went to the same junior school, and spent most of the summer together. He was tall almost six foot with short black hair and green eyes. He played sport and was a real "jock", he played number eight for the first XI rugby and he swam for the local team even at the age of fifteen. I did wonder sometimes why he hung around with me. I was a very bookish boy. Always top of the class and absolutely hopeless at sport, I was generally regarded as a bit of a "geek". I also wear glasses, so that again adds to the stigma and general stereotype. I recently adopted wearing contacts. I'm of average height, five foot eight and I have mid length dusty blond hair. My mum calls it mousy brown. She still thinks I'm her baby and has a habit of whipping out the baby pictures at the slightest possible occasion. Poor Charlie must have seen those photos of my in hideous baby grows and in the bath dozens of times. It was really embarrassing sometimes.

"So Josh," said Alexander quietly, bringing me back from my day dreaming. We had taken the long route to English around the outside of the school, down the terrace in order to enjoy the sunshine.

"Hmm?" I replied.

"What sort of things are there to do around here, you know, clubs and things?" He seemed to be getting more confident around me by the minute.

"Well, there is a variety of sports. Such as rugby, hockey, swimming and tennis etc. Or there is stuff like chess and drama if that's your thing. What sort of things are you into to?" I smiled. He returned it.

"Well, I used to swim," he said. As soon as he said this, I had a mental image of him in a pair of speedos, gliding effortlessly through the water. I shook my head, trying to expel the image. What is going on!? I thought.

"Yeah? Cool, my friend Charlie is on the swim team. I'll introduce you in a minute and perhaps he can get you in with the coach or something."

"That would be brilliant, thank you."

"No problem."

We carried on chatting as we walked down the terrace, bathed in glorious sunshine. Its golden rays bounced off Alexanders golden locks. He turned to me as we reached the end of the terrace and smiled.

"Thanks Josh," he said.

It was going to be a good day, I thought.

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Well, that concludes part 2.

Check back soon for part 3.

Love,

J xxx