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"Promise?"

"Promise"

It turns out that some promises cannot be kept, noAlex at a distance because Charlie, who couldnʼt bear to see me hurt, askedthat promise was Alex himself Mrs Sole loved the article so much she decided toether At first, it was just the after school library sessions to work on the articles, but it didnʼt take long for the gulf that existed between us at school to close up Soon, Alex was chatting withwith Talley andaround the library at lunch

It was a rainy Nove on our homework for Mr Beckʼs class The topic of that weekʼs article had been changing the legal drinking age to eighteen Just for fun, I took pro and Alex argued the con We had enough material on tape in five minutes

"So, I have a Calculus related question," Alex announced

I stopped beating my forehead with the eraser of my pencil and looked at him to indicate that he should proceed

"Have you ever noticed that John Davis smells funny?" Well, I supposed that since he sat between us in that class it was somewhat Calculus related "The aro You would have to bea nose not to notice"

"Play-Doh!" It was as if a cartoon light bulb went off over his head "I knew that it was a familiar smell, but I just couldnʼt place it" Alex stared off into space and started clicking his pen "But why does he smell like Play-Doh?"

"I donʼt know," I said, leaning towards hi horribly iar cinnamon Pop-Tarts superiority over the iced strawberry variety "I have sat behind him for thirteen years and he has always smelled like Play-Doh Do you think he rubs it behind his ears like cologne?"

"Maybe he eats it," Alex speculated "There was this kid I went to Kindergarten with that was always eating randoross"

"Hey, I was five I didnʼt know any better"

"I thought ere talking about soarten with" Alex shifted aardly in his seat and ran his fingers through his hair I was ue on his lips "I meant to say that he was only five and that he didnʼt know any better Not me I wasnʼt some crazy lint eater"

"So, what does pocket lint taste like?"

Alex narrowed his eyes "Scout, Iʼve got lots of hosome numbers into my calculator He did the sa with Alex was almost impossible since the more I talked to hiht, we played really well off of one another It was as if the cadences of our personalities were as si that I was just enjoying his friendship, until one day in Shakespeare I had to ad for a run through of The Taned the role of Katherina and Alex was playing Petruchio I was channelling my inner Julia Stiles when Ashley slid up between Alex and utting out like a pouting child "You havenʼt called etically "Sorry, Iʼve been really busy ork and school and stuff" I felt as though soe and misshapen, like a professional wrestler, had taken up residence in h oat-like face