Author: ISLANDGIRL5 aka Christian
Category: Alex/Tess
Rating: Teen
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything, but we all know who does. Oh, wait, I do own the line about the fireman. LOL. You’ll know it when you get there. Feel free to laugh.
Summary: A Supply Closet and a locked door…what will they do to pass the time?
Author’s Note: This was written in response to the Haunt’s Grand Opening Challenge. I wanted to write something, but I wanted something fun and light. No seriousness here. This is what I came up with….but telling moi to write a story in 3000 words or 10 pages or less is like trying to fit a mountain into a molehill. LOL
Thanks: To Kath and Annie for opening up the Haunt, and for being Fifthwheeler fans. Thanks to Jenny (jbangelo) for being my beta, and helping me find this baby a name.
And thanks to the man of my heart, Kyle Valenti, for letting me portray him as something that’s completely the opposite of what he really is. Heeee. 
Tess Harding walked back towards the supply closet, her head bouncing in tune with the music from her I-Pod. Tonight was Homecoming, which meant that as Captain of the Varsity Cheerleading squad, she and the rest of the cheerleaders were excused from classes for the day to decorate the gym. She’d been headed to the art room to get paints and paintbrushes to finish painting the homecoming banner, but had taken a detour to the supply closet, knowing it was shorter. She wasn’t sure if they kept art supplies in this particular closet, but it was worth a try.
Humming along with tune in her ears, she bumped her hips in tune to the music and headed towards the back of the room, scanning the shelves as she went along. There didn’t appear to be much in this closet, and she wondered if it was even used at all. The shelves were full of what looked like old school projects, boxes of papers and files, and cleaning supplies. Sighing, and realizing she was going to have to walk across the school to the art room anyway, she headed towards the door, but not before stopping in front of it to dance a little to the music in her ears. She turned around and twisted the doorknob, frowning when it didn’t turn. She turned it the other way, and frowned again, this time pulling the earpieces from her ears, and letting them hang around her neck. She reached for the lock, and groaned when she realized it was self-locking.
She pulled on the door frantically, turning the doorknob to no avail, and pounding it with her open palms.
“Come on, this can’t be happening!” She started pounding on the door then, hoping someone would hear her.
Alex Whitman rounded the shelf at the back of the room, eager to see what the commotion was. He frowned when he noticed the closed door. “Don’t tell me you moved the broom.”
Tess yelped in surprise and whirled around, pushing herself flush against the door.
“Did you stop to think that maybe it was there for a reason? Are you stupid?”
Tess’s eyes widened, and she pursed her lips. She vaguely recognized the boy in front of her, and knew he was a student at school. He didn’t look dangerous, and she hoped his looks were not deceiving. “How dare you call me stupid. And why in the world would a broom be sticking out of the door on purpose? It could have tripped someone. And why were you in an empty supply closet, anyway?”
“That door,” he said, pointing behind her, “automatically locks every day at 4:00. That’s why it was propped open. It’s a school security thing. So that no one can get into the closets at night. That’s why the broom was there. To prop the door open so I wouldn’t get locked inside. And I was inside, because, obviously, I was getting…supplies”
“You need to apologize for calling me-” Tess’ eyes widened in realization as his words sunk in. “You mean, the doors locked, and we…we’re stuck in here?”
Alex clapped his hands. “Wow. So, cheerleaders can think for themselves sometimes?”
Tess ignored Alex’s snide remark. “Oh no, this can’t be happening.” She turned towards the door and started beating on it. “Help me! Help, I’m in here! Let me out!”
Alex stood back and watched as Tess beat on the door, and almost burst out in laughter when she kicked it, then recoiled her foot and grabbed it to rub at her sore toes.
“Those doors will stay locked until the weekend crew gets here to clean the school. At 9 am.”
Tess’ eyes widened in disbelief. “You mean, no one will…and we can’t…and I’ll….oh, I’m going to miss the Homecoming dance!”
“Sorry,” Alex said. “The broom, was from experience. It happened to me Freshman year. That’s why I never let the door lock behind me. At all. But just sit tight. Someone will be at least by morning.”
“Someone will find us.”
“No one knows I’m in here.”
“Well, everyone knows…” Tess’ voice faded out as she realized no one knew where she was either. They thought she had gone to the art room. She took the shortcut, now she was locked in a supply closet…and she would miss her crowning moment as Homecoming Queen!
Tess’ eyes started to tear up, and her bottom lip began to quiver, the universal sign that a girl was getting ready to cry.
“Hey, hey, don’t cry. We’ll be fine,” Alex said as he made his way over to kneel down in front of her. “It’s safe in here, it doesn’t leak. I even have some chocolate in my back pack over there,” he said, pointing towards a table in the corner.
“I’m going to miss the Homecoming Celebration,” Tess said shakily.
Alex scoffed as he sat down in front of her. “Bunch of stuck up preppy kids fighting to be part of the Homecoming Court so that they can wear a crown made of glass and wave at the student body as they walk across the football field. Well, I’d like to tell them to take that wave and--”
“I was voted Homecoming Queen.”
“—and I’m terribly sorry I’m going to miss the celebrations,” Alex finished lamely.
Tess giggled at the mortified look on Alex’s face. “Stuck up preppy kids, huh?” Tess asked, a hint of a smile in her voice.
Alex shrugged. “I’m not one of the popular kids. I’m one of the nerdy ones. I’ve spent my high school career being teased and laughed at by you people.”
Tess’ mouth opened wide in wonder. “What? Do people really still do that? Tease other kids, and stuff?”
Alex nodded absentmindedly. “Afraid so.”
“Well my friends would never do that.”
“Max Evans tripped me in the cafeteria the other day, and laughed when I spilled my lunch on the Principal. Michael Guerin locked my friend Pauly in his gym locker, and the football coach had to let him out. Kyle Valenti cheated off of my math quiz, and when our answers matched up, he went to the teacher to tell them I copied off of his paper. I got detention, and an ‘F’.”
“That’s so cruel. I had no idea.”
“That’s because you’re different from them.”
“How do you know that?”
“Alex Whitman,” he said, sticking his hand out in front of him.
“Tess Harding.” Tess frowned, wondering where she knew his name, and as she held out her hand to shake his, it hit her. “You’re the kid from Elementary School! We were in the same fifth grade class, and we used to eat our snacks together, and talk about flying into space!”
Alex nodded. “We used to be friends.”
Tess remembered Alex. She had forgotten her afternoon snack at home, on the first day of school, and he’d broken his Pop-Tart in half and shared his juice with her. They’d been fast friends, and had been with each other every day in the fifth grade. The next summer, Tess and her family had moved to the wealthier side of town, after her dad’s business success had been double what had been expected. She had forgotten all about her friend, and had jumped into the world of the ‘rich and preppy’ with both feet.
“I guess I am one of those stuck up preppy kids,” Tess said. “I forgot all about you when my family moved away, and started hanging with the rich kids.”
“I tried to talk to you. Everyday at the beginning of the sixth grade, I would try to speak to you. You always ignored me. Then one day, one of your friends tripped me, and you stood in the middle of hallway laughing with them as I picked up my books off the floor and hung my head in embarrassment. I never tried to talk to you again.”
“Wow. I guess I’m pretty rotten.”
“You changed a lot. You used to be funny, and you used to be fun, and you used to be nice to everyone.”
Tess nodded her head, realizing just how much her father’s money had changed her. She’d grown up in a middle class suburb, with friends that she saw every day at school. She remembered having some of the best times of her childhood during her fifth grade year when she’d befriended the gangly Alex, and his other friends, Maria and Liz.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d spoken to Alex, and she knew that even though she’d been in the same Biology class as Liz and Maria for the past 3 years, she’d never once spoken to them. She was a horrible person, and she was just now realizing it. As her eyes began to well up with tears, she wondered how she could have forgotten her childhood friends because of money.
“Hey, you want to see something?” Alex asked, changing the subject. He hadn’t meant to make her feel bad, and he didn’t want her to cry.
Tess looked up, not realizing he’d gotten up and walked across the room. She nodded her head, and he motioned for her to help him close the blinds. They closed the blinds, and as the building was on the backside of the school, and the sun had already come close to setting, they were plunged into almost complete darkness. Before she could react, though, the room was filled with tiny pinpoints of light as they danced across the ceilings and the walls.
“What is this?” she asked, still looking up, but turning around so that she could look at the entire room.
“It’s for astronomy. It’s a model of the fall sky for my senior project. I’ve spent all year on it, making sure I get all the stars right.”
“It’s amazing,” she whispered.
“This right here,” Alex said, standing next to Tess and pointing up at the ceiling. “Is the constellation, Taurus, the bull. You can always find it by looking for the bright red star…here,” he said, moving his finger just a bit.
“You like astrology too?”
Alex shrugged. “If it has anything to do with stars, I’m in.”
“That explains the flying into space talks in the fifth grade.”
“What can I say? I saw E.T., and the rest is history.”
“Listen, Alex, I’m so--”
“It’s okay, Tess,” Alex said cutting her off. “I know how hard it can be to climb the social ladder. You got your foot on, and kept climbing. At least someone made it to the top.”
“I know, but--”
“Who knows. Maybe by the time we get out of here, we’ll be…friends.”
Tess nodded with a smile, and turned her attention back to the ceiling as Alex pointed out more constellations and stars.
As the hours passed, it was midnight, and they were seated on the floor of the supply room, facing each other, eating Alex’s chocolate bars and telling each other stories about high school, and catching up on each other’s lives. They’d talked about their friends, their families, their hopes and dreams, and Tess realized she’d learned more about Alex Whitman in eight hours than she had in the entire six years she’d been friends with the people she called her best friends. Now they were talking about embarrassing moments.
Alex couldn’t stop watching her, remembering a time when she’d been the object of a childhood crush. She’d only gotten more beautiful as the years passed, and he realized that somewhere beneath her stuck up façade was the Tess Harding he’d been friends with. He wondered briefly what would happen next time they were around other students.
Tess watched Alex as she spoke, wondering why she’d never really noticed him before. He didn’t fit the nerd persona at all, although he was a little tall, and a bit lanky. But he had bright shining eyes, and a face that lit up when he laughed. He had thick brown hair, and a tanned complexion, that despite the wire rimmed glasses perched on his nose, allowed him to look anything but nerdy. He looked studious and intelligent.
“I swear, Halloween last year was the worst. I dressed as a cop, so Kyle, who was my date, wanted to be a firefighter,” Tess said with a smile on her face.
“What happened?”
She finished crunching on her piece of candy bar, then grimaced at the thought. “At the end of the night, when he dropped me off, Fireman Kyle offered to show me his hose.”
Alex snorted and erupted into laughter, causing Tess to giggle uncontrollably. When their laughter had died down, they looked at each other quietly. “They really are shallow. I can’t believe I’m friends with them just because we live in the same gated community. Do you know that not once since I started hanging out with them have I had this much fun just carrying on a conversation?”
“That’s because no woman can resist this Whitman charm,” Alex said, playfully thrusting his chest out.
Tess erupted into laughter again, smacking him playfully as he grabbed her arm. When she turned to look at him, she noticed the serious look on his face, and her smile faded.
“I always had the biggest crush on you,” he whispered softly.
“Alex, I…”
“When we get back around the other students Monday, what’s going to happen? Your friends don’t like the nerds. They won’t put up with us being friends. Are we, Tess? Are we friends?”
Tess never got the chance to answer him, as they heard a knock on the door. “Is anyone in there? Alex Whitman? Tess Harding?”
“We’re here!” Tess jumped out, pulling her arm from Alex’s grip. She ran to the door in time to see a police officer open it. She jumped through the door and in to the officer’s arms, happy to be out of the closet.
Alex got up and followed Tess out, wondering what, if anything, had happened between them.
*~*
Monday afternoon, Alex found himself in the gym, with the entire student body. Because the Homecoming Coronation had been put off when the Quen being crowned had gone missing, they were having another ceremony during school hours. He watched as they announced the homecoming court, and as he watched Tess being escorted by Kyle Valenti, he noticed the frown on her face.
He’d tried to call her the entire weekend, after managing to track down her phone number, but had only gotten her voice mail. He wondered if he’d imagined the tender moment between the two of them before they’d been found.
When he’d gotten to school, he’d found her locker and waited next to it, intending on talking to her there, but he’d been forced away when Michael, Max, and Kyle had all but carried him away, threatening him to go back to his astronomy club friends, and leave Tess alone.
Ten minutes later, he stood with the rest of the student body as Tess’ name was called and the crown was placed on her head. He sat down immediately, not wanting to watch as she crowned Kyle her King.
“I am the Queen, right?”
Alex stood up as he watched Tess speak nervously into the microphone. A quiet murmur went through the crowd as dozens of students hollered their approval.
“Then that means I can change the rules. The Queen always gets to crown her King, and it’s supposed to be her Escort. This year, though, I don’t want my escort as my King.”
Alex watched, and started to fiddle with his wristwatch as the rest of the homecoming court began to whisper amongst themselves. He noticed the scowl on Kyle’s face.
“I picked my escort because he was popular, and rich, and the star quarterback. But, if I’m going to be a reigning queen, I want to pick someone who’s kind, and funny, and who sees beyond my stuck-up nature to the girl he shared his Pop-Tart with.”
Alex’s heart flip flopped.
“Alex Whitman, could you please come to the stage?”
Alex’s eyes widened as the people in his vicinity that knew him turned to him with wide eyes. Slowly, and breathing heavily, he made his way towards the bottom of the bleachers. He looked at Tess who was smiling at him from the stage.
“Go Alex!” someone hollered, and as he looked around, he noticed the entire gym full of people break out into applause as they started whooping and hollering his name. Before he knew it, he’d made it to the stage, and was standing in front of Tess as the students around them grew completely silent.
“I called you,” he said softly, unaware that he could be heard through the microphone.
“I needed some time to think,” she said softly. “You made me realize how much I’d changed, and I wanted to find a way to make sure I remembered the girl I used to be. The one you used to like so much.”
“What are we doing here, Tess?” he asked, motioning to the stage, and the crowded gym full of people.
She shrugged as a smile formed on her lips. Her eyes twinkled with laughter. “I was kind of hoping that you still had crush you were talking about?”
Alex smiled as he grabbed her around the waist and kissed her on the lips in front of the entire student body and school faculty.
The next year at Homecoming, the student body all craned their neck towards the stage where the reigning King and Queen were seated to give away their crowns.
Everyone wanted to see the nerdy kid who’d been hand picked by the head cheerleader to be her Homecoming King.