Alex Carter: A Red Band Society Fanfiction

Spoiled Rotten

The shiny green car wove effortlessly down a winding road, through one of the more scenic parts of California.

Jordi shifted to a more comfortable position in his seat, waiting for Alex to say something. She'd given him a good, simple lesson, and had only made other small comments to help him afterward. Other than that, complete radio silence.

"You're doing really good by the way," she finally said. "You're a fast learner."

He smiled, and looked over at her. She was staring at the trees passing by, her brown wavy hair catching the wind, and trailing behind her. He watched her ocean-blue eyes take in all the colors around her. The gold flecks in her eyes shown as they caught the sun.

She caught his eye, and stared at him, confused. "What?"

"Nothing," he answered, quickly.

"Sure it is," she said, shifting in her seat.

"What were you looking at?"

"I'm just enjoying the beauty."

"It's just outside," Jordi said.

"Yeah, see, I think we've become so spoiled rotten that we take the world and what we have for granted. And I may be spoiled rotten, but I don't want to take it for granted." She turned, and continued to stare at the sky.

Jordi sat, in awe. "You think you're spoiled rotten?" He asked, incredulously. How could she, a dying girl, sick with a terminal illness, living in a hospital, without her family, think she's spoiled rotten?

She turned toward him, and smiled, her eyes sparkling with the knowledge he was yet to learn. "I'm here," she said simply, gesturing at the world around her.

"What?" Jordi said, almost laughing at her answer.

"I'm here. I'm alive. I've lived an incredible life. I have people who care about me and are fighting for me. I've made some great friends, and if I can't appreciate that, then my life isn't worth living."

Jordi stared forward, trying to understand how someone could think like that.

"Granted," she continued, "There's not much of my life left, but I've lived it this way for so long, why should I give up now? I guess I'm a selfish person. I want to soak up as much of this life as I can. I want it to last long after my death."

Jordi looked at her, not sure how to respond.

"Are you aware the effect your words have on me?" Jordi asked.

She just smiled at him, Jordi noting the way her eyes caught the sun and sparkled.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dash followed Kara into the swanky lobby of the Apartment complex. They sat down on one of the imported loveseats, not speaking. Kara whipped out her phone and began texting to pass the time. Dash just stared, wordlessly, feeling as if he was transported into a new world, one he'd only seen from afar, never been a part of. He felt alien, in his baggy tee-shirt and snap-back. It's not like he was from the Bronx, but he wasn't from Beverly Hills, like more than half these people were. He'd admired the way Kara had marched straight up to the front desk, though he'd never tell her that. She knew how to infuse just the amount of confidence, boredom, and interest into her voice, making her unstoppable.

Kara noticed him staring in awe around himself. "Oh my gosh!" she mock gasped. "Is this your first time out of the ghetto? Should we take a selfie?"

Yeah, he was definitely not telling her he was impressed.

He was so sick of her and everyone else, for that matter, thinking he was just some ghetto kid, who was involved in gangs, and on a fast track to nowhere. He finally cracked. "B*tch I'm from Brentwood. My dad teaches Poli Sci at UCLA."

She recovered her slightly surprised expression. "Yeah, like I invented racial profiling," she said.

He rolled her eyes, and once again was shocked why he was even trying to talk to her. Oh, yeah, because she, of all people was the only one who could help him get into the Apartment.

"Whatever. You seem freakishly impressed by walnut paneling," she continued.

"Hello! Hello!" a cheery voice rang out, stopping Kara from making another comment that made Dash feel even more out of place. Kara jumped up to greet the woman, breaking into her sweet and "I'm so friendly and respectful" act. They greeted each other with some hug-kiss thing Dash had only seen in movies. He couldn't believe girls actually did that.

"Thank you so much for meeting us," Kara gushed.

"Of course!"

"Okay," Kara said, jumping into business mode, "so this is kind of on the D.L., but my moms might be looking for a little escape hatch, so I'm doing a little smidge of recon."

The realtor smiled knowingly, "Oh, say no more." She turned and looked at Dash. "And you are?"

Kara gasped. "Oh! This is Dashiell, my designer," she said, with fake excitement. "He's a genius," she added.

"Fabulous!" The realtor said, eating it up. "Shall we?" She asked, smiling.

They turned and followed her up to their "prospective" apartments.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N:

Sorry it took me so long to post, I've been super busy, and had the first part of this written, but I didn't want to update something that short. SO, I'm going to try to update some more soon! There's probably going to be some more with Leo and Emma, and Charlie! Don't forget to comment or vote! And there's been some talk about making a cover, but I'm not the best at that, so if anyone would like to try and make one for me, I would love that! Just put a little comment on my profile or down below, if you're interested! Thanks for everything, you guys are the best! <3 Nez