I wrote this story when I was about 13 or 14. :)

Alex


Boys will be boys, I always say. Some cute, some arrogant, some nice. But none of them were ever cute and nice. Until I met Alex. Alex is an exception to every rule in the universe. He’s not a normal boy. I mean, he acts, he sings and he’s really sweet. But don’t get to know him that well. You’ll never be the same. Alex will change everything for you. Let me tell you my tale. You’ll understand what I mean. It all begins on a snowy day in March…
* * * * * * * * * * *

That was the day of the auditions my playgroup was holding for Romeo and Juliet. I was trying out for Juliet. My friends and I were sitting in a group studying the script when all of a sudden I felt a cool breeze on my neck. Then the door closed with a loud bang and I turned around, thinking it was my best friend, Natasha. But the greeting froze on my lips as I saw the most gorgeous boy I had ever seen.
He was standing by the door, looking around the room and I noticed, as he turned his head my way, that he had beautiful emerald green eyes. As he noticed me watching him, he grinned at me and started towards me. My friend Annie poked me in the side with her elbow. “Look at what’s coming our way! Wow!” she whispered breathlessly. I shushed her with a Look and stood up as HE approached our group.
“Hi”, he said, flashing that grin again. “I’m Alex. Do I have to fill anything out for the audition?” I nodded.
“Just a simple sheet. You know, who you are, what parts you want. Oh, by the way. I’m Gabrielle, but you can call me Gabby. Everybody does. Probably because I talk too much. Like I’m doing right now.” I blushed.
He smiled again. “Who do I give the sheet to?” I glanced around the room for my father. He was the director of the show. I didn’t see him yet, so I turned to Alex and replied, “You can just give it to me when you’re finished. My dad, he’s the director, he’s not here yet so if you need anything, just ask me.”
Alex grinned again and gave me a little wave as he walked away to fill out the sheet. I just stood there, smiling after him, when Annie broke into my thoughts. “Ooohh…Gabby’s in love!” she teased me. I glared at her.
“I just said hi, like any nice person would. He looked lost.” Annie looked at Leena, another friend of ours and gave her a look that said, Uh-huh. We all know Gabby. I looked away just as my father started to speak. I wondered when he had gotten there.
He welcomed everyone to the auditions and they got underway. I was sitting there, lost in thought, wondering what Alex was auditioning for, and at first I didn’t realize that my father had called my name. I sat up, startled out of my daydreams, and replied, “Huh?” Annie started laughing. Joey leaned over to me and said in a loud stage whisper, “He wants you to read. And by the way, these are Romeo and Juliet auditions, not Sleeping Beauty.”
Everyone started laughing at Joey’s remark. I rolled my eyes at him and walked to the front. My father looked up from his papers. “I want you to read Juliet and…..Alex Zeigler, would you read Romeo?” he announced after he ruffled through his sheets. Alex doesn’t have to audition for Romeo, I thought. He already is. Alex smiled at me yet again as he took the script from my father. I smiled back as I wondered what Alex would look like in a wedding tuxedo.
“Gabby? Do you want to audition or not?” Once again, my father brought me out of my reverie. I blushed as I took a script from the table. “What page?” I asked my dad. This was going to be an extremely long audition, I thought, as I cleared my throat and began to read……
* * * * * *
About three hours, three LONG hours, later we were sitting around waiting for my dad to choose the parts. I didn’t like the waiting part but it was better than waiting till the next week.
Finally my dad stood and cleared his throat. I shushed my friends, who were still talking and scooted to the front of my seat. As usual, my father gave his little speech, thanking everyone who auditioned. Most of the time, I think the speech is really nice, but that day I was anxious to know who had gotten what part and most importantly, if I had gotten Juliet.
After about four hours well not really, it just felt like it, my dad got around to handing out parts. I stood and cheered when my friend Annie got Lady Montague. And I almost died when my best friend Natasha got Lady Capulet AND Juliet’s understudy. At that point, I was thinking, come on dad, who got Juliet? Then my dad smiled and I held my breath.
I swear, at first when he said my name and Alex’s, I almost stopped breathing. There was no noise in the room as I slowly got to my feet. Then my mouth broke into the biggest smile and I leaped up, threw the script I was holding into the air, and screamed, “Yippee!” Everyone laughed and started congratulating each other. When everyone calmed down, my father closed the auditions.
I was chatting with Nastasha and Annie when Annie’s mother came to pick her up. I stood at the door and waved to her until their car disappeared out of sight. I dropped my arm when I realized there was someone standing right beside me. I turned my head slowly and looked directly into Alex’s green eyes. He smiled his drop dead gorgeous smile and asked me if he could come over sometime to over lines when we were further into rehearsals. Did he even have to ask? Of course! But I maintained what little dignity I had left and told him, sure, that sounds good. He grinned again, said good-bye, and left me smiling after him.
* * * * *
A few months later, the show opened. It was a huge success and on the final night, Alex took me aside, whispered good luck in my ear and kissed me on the lips. Then he ran to the wings and left me staring after him. Someone shoved me from behind. “You’re on, Gabby!” I snapped out of my shock and stumbled onstage to deliver my final performance as Juliet.
After the show was over, we all started crying and hugging each other. I hugged Natasha and when I turned around, there was Alex with his arms wide open. I fell into them and whispered, “Good job.” He leaned over and whispered back into my ear, “Let’s get out of here and go somewhere quiet.” I leaned back to look up at him.
“But I told Natasha and Leena that I’d go for pizza with them,” I protested. “So tell ‘em you changed your mind. You’re allowed,” he replied softly as he pulled me closer to him. And it was just then that I realized how much I wanted to be with him. I looked up into his almost hypnotizing eyes and replied, “Ok.” He kissed me on the cheek and I ran off to find Natasha.
Alex and I gradually started dating after that. We went out all the time. He came home to meet my parents one night and I could tell that they were impressed with him. Alex had a way of making everybody like him. Except my friends, Natasha and Annie. I broke a lot of lunch dates and movie dates with them to be with Alex. About three months after the play, I turned 17 and Alex turned 18 a couple of weeks after me. We had our own little party in between the two dates. My friends were not very happy. They had wanted to throw a big party for me, but Alex had a party the same day so we went to that. I could have told Alex that I wanted to go to my friend’s party but I didn’t. I just had to be with him. I had an incredible urge to be around him. If I wasn’t, I cried. I would lay in my bed at night and cry myself to sleep because Alex wasn’t in my arms. It was as if an incredible force had taken over my life. I just needed Alex. And he needed me…
* * * * *
I remember the night that my life changed dramatically because of him. We were out on a date, as usual, and Alex had been drinking. We were going a little too fast so I asked him to slow down. He turned to me with a hurt look on his face. “Don’t you trust me, love” My heart melted all over again as I stared into his hypnotic eyes.
“Yes, of course, Alex. I trust you.” I replied, as if in a trance. He smiled at me. “Good,” he said and turned his eyes back to the road.
All of a sudden the glare of headlights almost blinded me as a truck came barreling out of nowhere, heading straight for us. I screamed and grabbed for Alex as the truck rammed us full force. Both cars skidded several feet. I heard a loud bang as a fuse burst and the car caught fire. It was hot, horribly hot.
Alex grabbed a hold of me as I tried to scramble out of the burning car. “Don’t leave me!” he pleaded. I saw that his seat belt was undone and he could easily escape the car at his leisure.
“Come on, love!” I begged as a burst of flame scorched my back. I screamed from pain. “Don’t worry, the fire will go away soon. Then it will only be you and I. Together forever, just the way it should be,” he said calmly, his voice full of emotion. I shook my head. Was he crazy?
“We WILL be together forever! Please, come on!” He smiled calmly, almost too calmly. An emotion way past love racked my body and I started to sob as I flung myself onto Alex. The fire was creeping closer to us.
“Please, please Alex. You’ll die! I don’t want you to die! I love you. I want you to be with me. I don’t want to die. I want to live. With you! Alex. Oh Alex!” I started to sob.
He frowned. “Don’t you want to be with me? I want you to be with me. We can’t be together out there. It’s too terrible. I want you to live in paradise with me. Forever in paradise with me,” he repeated. I could hear the wail of sirens in the distance but I paid no attention to them as I leaned forward to kiss Alex.
“Whatever makes you happy, makes me happy,” I said to him, right before I touched my lips to his and everything went black…
* * * * *
I could see a light and tried to remember what had happened. I wondered if this was the light of happiness. There were angels and I could hear music but I didn’t see my Alex. Where was my Alex? Was he waiting for me? What if he wasn’t? “Alex!” I cried out. “Alex, where are you? Alex!”
“Gabby?” someone said tentatively. I opened my eyes slowly to find a nurse standing right in front of my bed. “Gabby! You’re awake! Are you feeling all right?” she asked. “Where’s Alex?” I managed to whisper. The nurse looked uncomfortable.
“Honey, Alex is not well. He’s a hypnotic, Gabby. He can make people love him so much they’d be willing to give up their entire lives for him. He’s been taken to a mental hospital in Chicago. I’m sorry,” she concluded.
I was in shock. I couldn’t believe how close I had come to giving up my life for Alex Zeigler. But strange as it was I still loved him. “I love him,” I whispered. The nurse smiled. “I know, honey, I know.”
* * * * * *
It’s been a year and three months since it happened and I still have feelings for Alex. I won’t tell you how strong they are. All I have to say is thank goodness it’s over and my friends and I can get back to our normal lives. There’s no moral, no preaching, no learning. Just the simple fact that boys will be boys.