You certainly have your misgivings but something -- a bit of optimism buried deep in your mind or the erection buried in your pants -- is telling you that despite being a risk it might be a risk worth taking. Though you still can't help but to be unsure. "What have I got to lose at this point?" you ask.
"Your weekends to community service," Rae says glibly as she continues to take drags.
"God shut up Rae!" Alex hisses at her friend. "We'll just hang out, go to parties, you know have fun."
"Too bad for him that your idea of fun is warped," Rae shoots back.
"Look, okay, parties! Like I said!" protests Alex as she paces. "All that kinda shit. It's not like I'm gonna take him out to--" she stops and throws her hands up.
"Alex, he meets you and within ten minutes he's being chased by the cops," counters Rae. "When it comes to trouble you're like the pretty girl walking by construction workers. It's the natural result of you being you," she takes another drag of her cigarette and then smirks, "ex-Mutie."
You expect Alex to offer some kind of retort but she doesn't so instead you take the opportunity to jump in. "So how'd you end up at Xavier's anyway?" you ask her. "You, uh, don't really seem like the type. Were you, I don't know, working to pay your way there or something?"
You hear a loud guffaw come from Rae at that.
"Alex. Work," she muses.
"Oh fuck off," Alex grumbles.
"It's not like you have to," Izzy says with a grin, "when you're a bored rich kid."
"You too! Goddamn, what'd I even do to you?"
"Besides my near brush with the law?" quips Rae.
But you're more stunned by Izzy's jab. "You're... she's rich?" you ask in disbelief. "I wouldn't have even thought..."
"I know!" Izzy exclaims, "But her family's loaded! They make Kristy's family look middle class. They've got Greeley money, Straussler money."
A sour expression crosses Alex's face as her usually self-assured demeanor falters and she looks down at her own feet. "We're not doing that good," she mutters.
"That's right," Rae says as she looks at you with a certain spark in her eyes. "Will, your home has a helipad doesn't it? I feel like they're just so common in middle class suburbia."
"You should see it!" says Izzy excitedly as she wraps her sweater-clad arms around your own. "There's just... rooms! I don't even know what half of them are for but they're there! And I heard, like, if you go down the wrong hallway... you'll get so lost they'll never even find your starved body."
"Spooky," Rae adds.
"Some friends, huh?" Alex says to you. "Your own buddies this disrespectful?"
"Like you wouldn't believe," you answer.
Alex lets out a loud snrk! and walks over to you. Once she's next to you she reaches up an arm and plops it on your shoulder. "My man, we are like two peas in a pod," she says as she as the hand draping in front of your shoulder raises up to point at Rae, "attacked for no good reason by cruel weasels like them."
"Hey now, the reason is always good," says Izzy as she, still ensnaring your arm, yanks you closer towards her. "You think so too right? You can tell that she's nothing but trouble can't you?"
She leans forward so her face is right in front of yours, beaming at you. She is seriously cute and a fantasy runs through your head of just placing your own lips on her large, pillowy ones. But instead, nervously, you pull back from her. "Ah, well, I only just met her so I can't really say," you answer, now totally flustered, "but she does seem, uh, wild?"
"How diplomatic," states Rae as Izzy titters.
You take a breath. These three are seriously exhausting you. "So," you turn to Alex, "what's with this whole Guru thing anyway?"
"I left this flattering tag of Davina Macklin right on the STEM building facing Founders Hall," Alex says with a satisfied expression. "It was a really heartfelt piece right where she could see it when she came out of her room every morning but for some reason she took it badly."
"Can't imagine why," Rae chimes in.
"Right?" Alex continues smirking. "But I needed to sign it so I went with that. It's an acronym you know; stands for Gain Unquestionably Real Understanding."
Rae doesn't even try to choke down her laughter. "This if the first I'm hearing of this," she teases before turning her gaze towards you. "Please don't listen to her. She told me she took it from some rapper she liked."
"Again with the fucking disrespect!" Alex cries but she quickly smiles. "See this is why I'm happy I got booted for that. These two, Chris and Nadine and whoever? I push and push and they push back. There's some good people at Xavier's like Gabe and Roxy and even Joss-Moss is good for someone with snobbery embedded into their DNA. But most of 'em," she pauses and looks sour, "they suck. Sucking up to you 'cause you're richer than them or lording it over you 'cause they're richer than you and they'd all throw their grandmothers off a bridge if it'd move them up one rung."
"Funny," Rae says as she takes yet another drag. "Because the first time you brought me to your house you were all excited that I was going to see where you lived."
"And you remember what you said when we got there right?" asks Alex.
"You mean when you pointed out the fountain out front with the small statue of your great-great-grandfather on top of it?" Rae contemplates for a second before it seems she remembers. "Right, yeah I believe I said that I too want to be remembered as a gaudy lawn ornament after I die."
"And that's when I knew it," Alex turns back to you bouncing on her heels. "I knew that I was where I needed to be. These two, they're the most honest fuckers I know. They'll give it to me straight and I know they've got my back. I could lose everything and they'll be there."
"Did we ever say that?" Izzy asks Rae.
"Of course not," replies Rae, "and in fact I think we've said we'd leave you in the gutter if that happened."
The three of them, though, burst into laughter and you're struck by the fact that their camaraderie does seem to run fairly deep. After all only good friends could really get away with talking to each other the way they do, right? The shots and ribbing. Could you imagine Chelsea and her friends laughing after shit talking one another? Probably not. At the very least you don't think they're maliciously messing with you and so you're definitely willing to give them a chance even if you're still sore over what Mary pulled.
But you're still left with one question that's been eating away at you.
"Hey, so," you start after they've stopped, "uh Alex and Izzy. What are they short for?"
That causes all three to snicker again but it's Izzy who speaks first. "Isabela but I'm always Izzy with my friends or if I like you." Quickly she follows it up. "So keep calling me Izzy," she adds with a wink and again you feel yourself turn red. You have no idea how serious she's being since you've only just met but she's certainly nothing if not playful and flirty.
"Ah, yeah," you say once again flustered before turning back to Alex. "What about you?"
"Alex," she states very bluntly. "My folks thought they were getting a boy at first but I guess were like hey, it's gender neutral enough that it works for a girl. Or somethin', I don't know. I think they overcompensated with the rest of my name though." She lets out a small laugh at that. "Alex Elisabeth Josephine Day sounds pretty ridiculous don't it?"
You have to agree. Her personality is much better suited to just the first and last name.
"Anyway, we should probably be gettin' out of here and look for some real fun," she says. "Like I said, Prescott, you want to learn how to have fun then you're welcome to hang with us. You up for it?"
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