Free Flicker by Arreyn Grey Page B

now, when the ups and downs of her new friendship frequently left her feeling nervous and exposed, it was downright painful. Their lip service to social expectations masked their true unwillingness to allow her to get on with her life, and the fact that they didn't trust her made her doubt herself. All in all, she knew she was better off just staying away from them.
                  That was why she had continued to keep her friendship with Alex a secret, even once she had, with relative clarity, defined their relationship. She hadn't consciously made the decision to keep hiding things from them, but then, she was really only willing to admit her parents' faults to herself when they made her angry. The rest of the time, she supposed she was just as bad as they were, pretending things were perfect for the sake of appearances. It was only when they stopped pretending that she allowed all the things she wanted to think and say to spill out. She slammed her palms into the tile walls of the shower, her fury rekindled by the realization that they even dictated the way she thought about them.
                  The rest of the morning passed in a haze of distracted clumsiness and bad luck that only served to worsen Elise's mood. The zipper stuck on her skirts, making her wrestle with it for a good five minutes; she banged her hip on the corner of the counter on her way out the door, it took her four tries to get her locker open, she realized in physics class that she'd left her homework at home, and her sociology teacher handed out a pop quiz. By the time she got to lunch, she was ready to give in and cut the rest of the day-- something she hadn't done since she was a freshman.
                  She sat down at a table without getting any food, buried her nose in Great Expectations , and tried to gather herself. She almost didn't even look when someone sat down on the other side of the table, but something made her glance up.
                  “Alex?!” She yelped. “What are you doing here?”
                  “Oh,” he said nonchalantly, leaning back in his flimsy plastic chair. “I saw you in the hallway and you looked like you could use some company. So I'm skipping anatomy class to cheer you up.”
                  Elise frowned at him. “You saw me in the hall? When? I didn't see you.”
                  He smirked. “Yes, well, I'm a ninja. Don't beat yourself up too badly.” His eyes flicked over her, and she had the sudden urge to hide as she was certain he took in the dark circles under her eyes, her mussed hair, and the cut on her finger that had resulted from her ineffective attempt to take out her frustration by slamming her locker. Embarrassed, she tucked a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. “Rough day?” He asked.
                  “A bit, yeah,” she sighed ruefully, smiling a little in spite of herself. She was touched that he'd even noticed something was wrong, let alone sought her out.
                  He “hmm”ed synthetically, and she found herself telling him about her mother's unexpected presence when he'd walked her home, and the resulting argument. “I figured it was best just to avoid them both for the rest of the night,” Elise said, and put her head down on her arms. She continued to speak, mumbling to the table and half-hoping he couldn't hear her. “Then I slept like crap and had stupid nightmares, and this morning everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I felt all gross so I had to grab a shower, so I was running late, and then my clothes didn't want to cooperate, and then the counter attacked me, and then my locker refused to open, and then physics and sociology hated me.” She finished with a huff, well aware that she was pouting and sounded ridiculous, but at the current moment not particularly caring.
                  “You're adorable,” she heard him