"Roxie ..." Lexi would continue to mutter, even into the early morning as she was somewhat trembling at the breakfast table, staring blankly into her bowl of rice crispies with milk, "Roxie ..."
"What'd you say, dear?" Lexi's mom would ask
"Huh? Oh .. uh ... MOXIE ... Moxie cola is uh ... awful" Lexi sputtered, trying quickly to snap out of it.
But of course she was still stunned from the encounter the night before, the thrill of it all, the near death experiences ... the woman with the nice blonde hair and long legs? Wait, what? No! Ugh ...
"Are you okay hon?" Lexi's now worried mom would ask, "you look awful ..."
"Thanks mom..." a very demoralized Lexi would answer as she took small gulps of her cereal breakfast
"Well, where were you last night?" Lexi's dad would ask, joining the conversation a bit late as he sat down
"I was uh ... with Leah ... studying" Lexi nodded quickly with a smile to cover up any potential super sized secrets.
"Oh well that explains it" he would chuckle a bit
"Whattaya mean?"
"You didn't study at all! You 2 were probably up all night talking boys or something" Lexi's dad would respond
"You really think that's what we girls do all night, huh?" Lexi asked, matter of factly.
"Why yes ... yes I do" Lexi's dad would smugly smirk.
Lexi rolled her eyes as she continued to attempt focusing on her breakfast.
Honestly, some boy trouble would be welcomed at this point.
----
"I'll tell you what's NOT welcomed right now" Leah would say confidently as the duo later traveled the halls down towards their impending science lab, "some boy trouble"
"Huh?" Lexi would ask, as if to ask who was putting the hidden cameras on her conversations.
"Oh Lex, you know me..." Leah chuckled, now walking backwards to face her friend as she skipped ahead of her, "I get my mind on boys, or hell, any distraction and my grades start to crumble but not this year ... no, this'll be the year of a new Leah Henderson ... the Leah Henderson who gets ... straight A's ... I've got my eyes on the prize and I'm ready to rock!"
With that, the cute and sometimes feisty Leah would gesture heroically, her goal in mind, her focus unwavering, her best friend looking like she was quite shaken up.
"Um... Lex? You doing okay? You look awful" Leah would pout, coming in closer to inspect her.
Lexi's eyes appeared drawn, even a bit bloodshot, and her usually thin but effective coat of makeup was nowhere to be seen, not that she had needed it but her face did appear to have some scarring on it.
"Were you in a fight?" Leah asked, sincerely worried
"Huh? Me ... psh, no ..." Lexi would chuckle nervously, "you know what I always say, kill em with kindness"
"Hmm,...." Lexi would think to herself as the conversation continued, "maybe kill em with kindness could be a good slogan ... certainly better than the current one of "ahh no, please don't squish me!""
"Well, I hope somebody kills you with a hug" Leah sighs, giving her friend a spontaneous embrace. To her slight disappointment though, the hug had little to no effect. Lexi felt a bit limp even, barely responding or smiling. Something was definitely troubling her friend and while she didn't want to pry, she felt concerned.
"It's okay Leah, really" Lexi answered, eventually producing a smile and trying to usher herself into the science class with Leah. After all, it was their one class together and nothing was going to get in the way of their academic friendship enhancing time.
On an unrelated note, it wasn't soon after, that the science professor Dr. Harpin would make an announcement that would surely in no way alter that original plan for the girls.
"I'd like to introduce our new student, he's joining us a bit late but please welcome Mr. Justin Wright"
At that moment, would emerge a new contender for Leah's heart. The somewhat shy, but physically striking young Justin Wright would just kind of nod and acknowledge his existence in the class before returning to his seat, a decent distance away from the 2 chattering best friends.
"Now I trust you've all studied up and are ready for today's chem lab?" Mr. Harpin would say, "since Justin is joining us late, he'll have to pair up with an existing group..."
"Ugh God, who would volunteer to join a science class?" Lexi mumbled, her grogginess catching up with her again as her head began to slip between her arms while sitting at the desk, "I can't even keep up and I've been in this damn thing since it started..." she'd add with a drowsy slur.
Leah would normally be more attentive but something about this boy, this Justin, caught her attention. He was attractive, for sure but he wasn't smug about it, nor cocky... nor even overly confident. He also liked science or so it appeared. She tried not to stare too long in his direction, but it was only natural that he would eventually perceive someone glancing his way and when he did, Leah was quick to duck a bit, as if to pretend the stare never happened.
"Lexi..." Leah would whisper awkwardly over, "I... think I may have a problem"
Lexi would raise her head long enough to surmise the situation and come to her own conclusion.
"Huh? Him?" Lexi would shrug, before flopping her head back down on the desk, "yeah, he's alright I guess"
"Lexi.... cmon..." Leah whispered
"What happened to eyes on the prize and ready to rock ... I thought you were the new Leah Smendersons... or ..." Lexi would mumble and bumble some more, consciousness fading as her head again rested on the desk.
"Lexi that's not even my last name and you know it" a miffed Leah replied.
"Ladies ..." the stern but fair Mr. Harpin would chime in, hearing their idle chatter as it was a clear source of distraction to the rest of the class, "it would seem you're volunteering?"
"Hmm? For what?" a dazed and confused Lexi would ask
"Mr. Wright needs a lab group for today ... would you and Leah be able to cease your disruptive chatting long enough to get him up to speed?" Mr. Harpin proposed. To this, Leah would be beyond delighted.
"Sure! I mean, yes ... we could ... do that ..." the outspoken, then quickly soft spoken Leah would pipe up and blush as the student next to them vacated their seat to allow Justin to sit near them.
Lexi was happy for Leah, naturally. She wasn't showing it but Leah was definitely excited, if not a bit nervous to have the new boy joining them for the science lab. Unfortunately so many thoughts of anxiety and dread currently rattled in Lexi's brunette head that it may have suffocated any happiness she'd normally feel towards her best friend or hell, even the effort to get to know this Justin fellow. After all, she had to vet the potential new beau.
"So how long you 2 know each other?" the soft spoken Justin would ask with a curious chuckle in his voice as he sat down,
"Huh?" Leah would ask, not expecting the question
"Well it seems you 2 are like super tight... not hard to notice" Justin responded with a shrug, "think it's kinda cute"
Leah would try to contain a very odd sounding squeal and would mostly succeed, although some noise would escape from her lips. Lexi would raise a brow at this. "Keep it smooth, Leah..." she'd say in mind, somehow hoping the message would find its way into her friends head through some kind of psychic connection. Of course Leah was smart enough herself to know she was overreacting but she could feel the nerves mounting.
"We've known each other basically our whole lives" Lexi responded, perking herself up long enough to make a good showing. Tired or not, she wanted to help her friend out here. "Our parents lived next door when we were kids and ... I don't know, we just kinda started hanging out, went to grade school, high school and now college together"
"Wow, that is ... super rare" Justin nodded, seemingly impressed, "like for real ... I've been to like 4 schools in my life and never got the chance to make friends like that, then I was home schooled for a while before I finally talked my dad into letting me come here"
"Oh? What's your dad do?" Leah asked, before blushing a bit, "sorry, if that's a bit personal"
"Oh no, it's fine ... he's a therapist and uh ... has a hobby for science, I know Professor Harpin really talked me up there but I honestly don't think I'm that great at it ... I don't know a test tube from a beaker" Justin shrugged
"See? I told you it wasn't obvious!" Lexi chimed in, as if this was some great point of contention amongst the two.
As the conversation continued, the group would migrate down the hall towards the chemistry lab for the practical part of the exam. A dissheveled Lexi would fumble with her books, trying to locate her science journal before finally fishing it out. Meanwhile, Leah was seemingly more organized and maybe even gaining some confidence as she sat across from her male lab partner.
Also distracting to Lexi was the presence of a vibration in her pocket, signaling a phone call coming her way. It would ring a few times before signaling a voicemail. Shortly thereafter would be another alert, which was likely a text message. She would try to shake off the distraction as she clumsily climbed onto her seat, her fingertip on the left hand briefly sparking and causing a brief shock as she made contact with the counters metal surface. She'd yelp a bit, drawing a raised eyebrow look from both Justin and Leah.
"You okay there?" Leah asked
"Heh, yeah ... just ... that kinda morning I guess" Lexi shrugs, a goofy smile on her face. As hard as it may have been, she was determined to at least try to smile through the mental and somewhat physical pain she was in.
"Well ... hope things improve for you" Justin would chime in, trying to be friendly to both his new lab partners as he'd comb through his chemistry textbook for the chapter they were on, "so ... covalent bonds, huh?"
"Yeah ..." Leah would nod, as if she was keeping up. She had retained the term of course, but she wasn't sure she quite believed the young man who had said he wasn't proficient in science. There had to be some reason he was accepted into the college level course more than a month in.
"Um... could you two excuse me one moment?" Lexi would chuckle nervously, her vision again fluttering down to her cell phone real quick to see a few missed calls, "I need to ... check on something"
She'd dismiss herself from the lab table for the time being, passing it off as a bathroom break while also giving Leah a bit of a wink and a nod, as if to say 'now's your chance to talk to him'
Leah would nod back and Justin would quickly interject with his next line of dialogue.
"So ... Lexi, she's pretty cool, huh?" Justin would ask.
At this, Leah's heart would sink, just a little bit but she'd try to hide it as best she could, although her body language heavily suggested she was uncomfortable as she squirmed in her seat, just a tad.
"Oh? Well yeah, of course ... she's just a bit tired right now, she's usually a bit more chipper" Leah answered, trying to force a smile but it came off as more of a goofy laugh followed by a snort.
"I mean, sorry ..." Justin chuckled a bit nervously, "if that sounded a bit forward, she's just kinda ... cute... I guess"
Again, Leah's head would dip.
"Y-Yeah I get it ..." the dejected Leah sighed
"Hmm? What's wrong?" Justin asked, not expecting the reaction he got.
"Oh? It's ... nothing..." Leah answered, voice trailing off
"No, tell me" Justin insisted, his face looking sincere with concern.
Elsewhere, Lexi was off attending to her own concerns. Just who had called her? Hope? Her parents? Josh? Did his checkered past finally catch up with him? She was told to enact something called "Memory Wipe Exodus" if that were the case but she wasn't quite confident enough in remembering all those locker combinations to pull it off.
No. Instead it was Chrissy. 2 missed calls and a text.
The text said "Lexi, I'm freaking out right now ..."
Lexi would pan her head down, from inside the bathroom stall, not too unlike the circumstances under which she and Chrissy first met and she'd press the phone receiver to her ear to hear the voicemail.
"Lexi ..." Chrissy would say over the phone, her voice rattled and a bit muffled from other interference as it sounded like she was walking through a breezy alley, "I... I've been suspended from cheer team ... and I may be in trouble with the cookie shop ... they found a blunt in my jacket ... I told them it wasn't mine but ... I have no proof... shoot Lexi, I can't lose this job, and my position on cheer team, not to mention other disciplinary action ... I mean, yes I've done weed, but I don't carry it on me, I'm not that dumb, yknow? Oh shoot, I don't know why I called you, Lex, I'm really sorry, you're probably in class right now ... but you just have this bubbly way about you, I don't know ... could we maybe talk about this or something? I think I know who set me up ... but ... ugh ... I don't know why I'm talking this way, I'm really sorry ... just ignore this"
Lexi would frown deeply as she put her phone to her side.
If there's one thing Alexis Cole doesn't do (and honestly, there are many such things) its ignore a friend in need.
Giantess World
