Don't Tell My Brother

Chapter 56 - Fine

"We haven't heard from you all weekend," Alex began, once they'd found a quiet spot to sit behind the science block. Sitting still wasn't the most comfortable, but he could handle it.

A quiet spot, Lucas presumed, because Alex didn't want them to be overheard, but also because she was preparing to yell. And technically, he was the only one sitting on the chipped wooden bench. Alex stood before him with her hands on her hips, Monna hovering awkwardly at her shoulder. She was silhouetted against the glare of the sun, forcing Lucas to squint to make out her face properly. This too, he realised, might have been an intentional choice. After all those years in the theatre, Alex was a lighting expert, and apparently all the world really was a stage.

"—and then I hear that you and Damien got into a fight with some footballers, and I texted you and texted you and texted you and you didn't answer, and I couldn't even ask you about it before school, because you were late. Late. How many times have you ever been late, Lucas?"

"Never." Mona answered, and Alex nodded.

"Exactly. Never. No times. So I'm staging an intervention."

"You are?" Lucas and Mona said in unison.

Alex gave an exasperated sigh, reaching up to tug on the end of her ponytail. "Mona, I told you I was going to do this."

"Oh. Right, yes. You did." Mona said unconvincingly, glancing to Lucas. "I definitely remember that happening."

"I literally—not the point. The point is the intervention, which I am having. For you, Lucas...Middlename Sawyer."

"Middlename?" Lucas was having trouble taking this seriously, although Alex looked very serious. "You don't know my middle name?"

"No?" Alex said, frowning slightly, momentarily distracted from her warpath. "Do you know mine?"

Lucas didn't even have to think about it. "Of course. Penelope."

Alex paused. "...yes, actually. Now I feel bad that I don't know yours. You have to tell me now."

"Do I?"

"This," Mona observed, "isn't a very successful intervention."

Lucas shot her a look, but it was too late. Alex put her hands on her hips, standing up all tall as she could, which would've been impressive if she were actually tall. Even when he was sitting down, Lucas was only a couple of inches shorter than her.

"Thank you, Mona." Alex said, putting her 'serious' voice back on. "As I was saying, this is an intervention. Are you okay? If Damien's bringing you to see his friends, and his friends do this... is Damien a bad influence?"

Lucas nearly did laugh at that, though managed to cover it because Alex looked so serious. "Sorry, what?"

"You start dating him, and now you're getting into fights, and you're late—"

"You're late about twice a month."

"That's not the point. I leave you alone for a second, and next thing I know you're punching football players—"

"Technically I wasn't the one who punched him."

"We know." Mona said, nodding sagely. "You're not strong enough to give someone a broken nose."

He couldn't argue with that.

"What we don't know," Alex continued, and Lucas wondered if she'd practiced this little speech or if her dramatic flair was taking over as her gestures became wilder and wilder, hands sweeping through the air before her, "is what happened. And as your best friends in the whole wide world, you legally have to tell us. Or I'll assume your boyfriend is making you fight, or...do cocaine, or something."