All I Ever Wanted

Fall Out Boy blared from the speakers of the red Volkswagen Beetle as it turned into the parking lot of the exclusive private school. The engine cut off and the doors opened. A long leg emerged, followed by its owner. She wore a denim mini with a yellow spag top and matching heels. Her black aviator shades almost hid her entire face, as her silver earrings sparkled in the sunlight. Eyes turned and cars stopped.

This was not one of the scenes of our story though, but it was close.

Alicia slammed the door of her black SUV and cursed under her breath. What little sunlight the town had danced around her black wayfarers. She adjusted her brown bomber jacket so that it fit around her red minidress perfectly. She didn't bother with heels today, choosing instead to wear a pair of white Keds which she knew her friends would not approve of. She couldn't care less though.
Such was the attitude of Alicia Renee Trayce, the most sought after sophomore in Ridgeman High. Forget cheerleading; she never understood their brainless shouting. Alicia was a member of ARTtractions, the award-winning film production club. She was the president, in fact. It was only fitting; she was its founder after all.
You've got to admit: Alicia Renee Trayce? ART? It was meant to be.

"Shit," she cursed. Mike Brennett was making a beeline for her from across the parking lot. Hastily, Alicia turned and walked swiftly towards the white colonial building that was her school.

"Leesh! Alicia!" She could hear him calling out. He weaved skillfully through the crowd and finally reached her side.

Damn his soccer skills, she thought to herself.
"He-ey, Mike."
The grin Mike was sporting probably hurt his face. "Hi, Lee- Alicia. I was wondering, did you get my message last night?"

Alicia had got it all right. She received all seven of the texts Mike had sent. It was long, with a lot of "Lol"s and "wdv"s in between but she had gotten the point in the end. Mike wanted to take Alicia out, claiming he had ideas for a short film and wanted to run it by her. And by-the-way he had made reservations at Marco Polo Seafood and couldn't back out of it so would she like to go.
Alicia knew this proposal all too well. Guys pretending to have an "interesting idea for a film" asking her out for a "friendly dinner", when in fact it was carried out more like a date.

"Oh you mean that message?" She replied, never breaking her stride. "Yea I did."
"You did?" Mike sounded surprised. "It's just that, you never responded to it."
"Yea well, I was.. busy," Yea, busy avoiding you, she thought.
"So how about it? Marco Polo Saturday, you and me?" He grinned and said the last phrase a little louder, gaining curious stares from around him.

Alicia sighed inwardly. She wished he wouldn't do that.
"Listen, Mike." She stopped walking. "I just don't feel.. up for it, this Saturday."
"Well how about Friday?" Mike was still enthusing.
"No Mike," Alicia looked directly at him, willing for him to understand. "I don't like seafood."
"Well that's okay, we can have Italian instea-... Oh." His face fell. "Ohh."

Alicia raised her eyebrows pointedly and walked off, leaving a deflated Mike Brennett in the middle of the hallway to endure the whispers. "How could he even think he had a chance?", "He asked for it, that one.", "Poor thing, put his hopes too high..."

It wasn't that Alicia didn't like Mike, she did. He was one of the best defenders in the school's soccer team. Despite his aggression on the field, he wouldn't hurt a fly out of game. In fact, Mike was one of the few guys in school Alicia would consider decent.
It wasn't Mike's problem, she knew. It was hers.
She just couldn't let a boy back into her heart after.. after what had happened.

The first bell had gone just as she slid into her seat for first period, Homeroom. Just as expected, Jake Starbright leaned in from on her right to comment on Alicia's dress sense. "Red and sneakers? Seriously?" Alicia rolled her eyes and smiled. Jayme Crew, another one of Alicia's closest friends was sitting on Alicia's left. "Shut up bitch," she whispered to Jake, "If anyone could pull it off, it would be her." Jake giggled and agreed when Hayes Reed, aka Mr Hotstuff as half of the student body called him, walked past Alicia and smiled at her.

"Seriously, Alicia." Jake reprimanded, without taking her eyes off Hayes Reed. "The guy is totally crushing. And he's actually hot if you haven't noticed." She added sarcastically.
"Yea Leesh," Jayme nodded, "a total 10/10 if you ask me."
"But I didn't, did I?" Alicia whispered hastily back as Mr Hart walked into the class. "The guy has a dick for a brain anyway, so if you ask me, it is a total 1/10."

Mr Hart called the class to order and began writing the lesson schedule on the board.

"Well, at least she gave him 1." Jake mumbled.



Alicia breathed a sigh of comfort as she opened her idle Macbook and began typing immediately. The soft tap-tapping of her fingertips on the white keyboard calmed her, made her focus on her work. She was working on her latest masterpiece, a short film called "She Would Never Know". Making these films were her solace, and so was this room.

The ARTtractions Room was situated just off the school canteen. Originally, the space had been small and cramped. Alicia's claustrophobia finally convinced her father to expand the area, making it more spacious and comfortable. Now the ART room, as the students call it, was Alicia's place of reclusion.
The room had no windows, and just a single door. To the right was a small sitting area, dotted with beanie chairs, armchairs and a tiny coffee table. Covering the entire length of the wall was a huge corkboard, its pins holding up pages and pages of storyboards. The corner behind it was a cabinet that hid the expensive film equipment. The cabinet was waterproof and fireproof of course, and had a lock only Alicia and her trusted members knew the combination to.
Despite the close proximity, Alicia could barely hear even the loudest of shouts from the canteen. Or perhaps this was merely due to her ability to block out any distractions while she was working.

This was why she didn't hear the knock the first time.


"Ms Trayce?" A man's voice called from the other side of the door. Alicia looked up and wondered who would be looking for her at this time, especially when it was lunch-time.

"Yea?" She called, "come in!"

The person who walked in next almost took all the oxygen from the room due to Alicia's sharp intake of breath.
Mr Hart, the Head of Co-curricular Activities was standing, hand on shoulder, with-

"This is Jayden Grey," the Head smiled. "He'd like to join your club."

----

The girl with the brown pleated skirt stared at the boy with the caramel eyes for a long time. Her heart beat twice as fast.

It was the first time she'd seen him in two years. She'd been dreaming about meeting him again, and now here they were.

Slowly, the boy turned his head and caught her eyes.
He frowned. Was it who he thought it was?
Then it registered. Alicia T. from primary school!

It was a fleeting moment of recognition. His bus came- he got on, stared into her eyes- and then he was gone. The girl standing on the sidewalk was left with nothing but the rich brown eyes to remember him by.

It's over, she reminded herself again, but this time with absolution. She did not want to feel that flutter in her chest when he was here, nor that heartache when he was gone, anymore. She was stronger than this, better than this. The past would not haunt her any longer.

---

Alicia's heart all but stopped when she saw him. He had changed so much since their primary school days. For starters, he had on a brown leather jacket, left unzipped, revealing a white v-neck t-shirt underneath it. His dirty blond hair was swept over, but not enough to cover his eyes. And it was his eyes- the liquid caramel- that drew Alicia in. They were the same eyes that were engraved into the back of her mind every night. They were the last things she saw when he left for good. Or so she had thought.

"Alicia?" Mr Hart was looking at her, puzzled. "You okay?"

"She's fine," Jayden grinned.

"What's that Mr Grey?" Mr Hart narrowed his eyes at him.

"Nothing, sir," Jayden said quickly, still smiling.

"I'll leave you two then." Mr Hart turned to exit, "Ms Trayce please remember to add Jayden's name to the co-curricular activities list if you choose to admit him." He shut the door on his way out. The room suddenly became very dim.

Alicia still hadn't said anything. She sat still, staring at him, shocked.

Jayden took a tentative step towards her. He put his hands in his pockets nervously.

"Hi." He said softly, offering a small smile. Alicia did not move.

"Listen, Leesh. I-"

"When you said you wanted me out of your life forever, I fulfilled my obligations." Alicia said quietly, forcefully, cutting him off. Then she stood, snatched her jacket from the back of her chair, and brushed past Jayden through the doorway.

"Alicia, don't-," protested Jayden, but she was already gone.

---

The round-faced girl laughed openly as the skinny boy in the baggy t-shirt strummed his ukelele in the school canteen, blurting out random phrases as a way of singing.

".. and then the chicken, oh yes the chicken! Crossed the roa-oh-oh-d to the kitchen!" He finished, "Thank you very much!"

"Jay!" The girl squealed as he brought the ukelele close to her ear and strummed it as though it were an electric guitar. "You're so stupid!" She scolded light-heartedly.

The boy grinned as he sat back down again, setting the ukelele to the side. "Can't help it," he shrugged, "studying is boring!" He threw his hands up at the mess of notes and textbooks they were meant to be revising.

The girl rolled her eyes, although she couldn't mask the smile on her face. "You always say that!" She said, "But you always get good grades in the end!"

"Only thanks to you, genius!" He protested.

She blushed slightly, but the boy did not seem to notice - he was too intent on looking around for the next distraction.

"And anyways," he continued, "it's not like I'm not forced to study 24/7 when I get home. There is no way my parents are gonna send me off to boarding school without instilling some competitive knowledge in me."

A wave of unspoken sadness washed through the conversation. The thought of never seeing each other again after this year was surreal - they'd been inseparable best friends since Secondary One. Alicia had stopped smiling and looked down at her notes, pretending to read the words. She could not imagine life without Jayden.

It seemed like he had found his distraction. "MIKA!" He stood and yelled across the canteen to a tall boy near the vending machines, causing curious glances and annoyed stares. "Mika! You loser!" Mika had looked up and was glaring at him, obviously embarrassed by the sudden attention. "Mika you still owe me the new Simple Plan CD! I paid $10 for it you fag! Eat shit!" Then he sat back down again, not without pointing a rude gesture at the poor boy.

Alicia rolled her eyes, trying to hold back her laughter. "You are SO stupid, Jay," she repeated.

Jay grinned, "You always say that Leesh, but the thing is, you are friends with stupid, so who's the stupid now?" He taunted. Alicia laughed, smacking him on the head with her maths textbook.


"Do you think we'd still be friends though," Alicia asked when things had calmed down and Jayden had stopped pretending to hit her back, "when you go to boarding school? D'you think we'd still keep in touch?"

"Of course we will!" said Jayden, "How else am I to know the latest gossip from this black hole we call school? I'll call you everyday!" He promised, grinning cheekily.

Alicia smiled. Of course the would still be friends. Being elsewhere did not mean they could not be! They would just be in different places, that was all. Nothing was going to change.

---

"Leesh!" Jay walked briskly down the hallway to catch up with her, battling the after-lunch school crowd. "Leesh what the hell! Wait up!"

Several heads turned as he shouted. Who was this kid?

Alicia did not want to stop and allow the boy to reach her. But she had none of her books with her for the next class, and her locker was unavoidable.

"Okay, I know I might not have been the best of friends the past few years Lee-"

"You were an asshole, Jay!" Alicia exploded. If they attracted attention before, they had drawn in an audience now. "No, you were more than an asshole. You- you are the reason I cannot think about my past because- because everytime I do it hurts, Jay. Can you imagine doing that to someone? Can you imagine being someone's pain?

"What the fuck Alicia, stop shouting at me we are in the middle of the school hallway. Just, calm down a little."

"No, what? Calm down? I have been calm for the past three years. You are the one fucking it up! And this is MY school, Jay. You don't belong here." She shoved her scripts into her locker and grabbed her books. With vengeance, she slammed the door and stormed away, leaving Jay by her locker.

"Well, okay- why do you always get the last word!" He shouted in her direction.

Awkward side glances told him that people were still staring at him. In her hurry Alicia did not even bother doing the lock on her door. The silver combination lock hung from the hook on the door, the numbers 529 forming a line on its side.

...