Page 17 of I Always Will

Hailey didn’t need to see Alexandria’s expression to know she was going to do it. She was often difficult to get to know, she had a hard time letting people in, but, once you were in, you werein,and she would do almost anything for you. Hailey hadn’t forgotten what that was like, how magical it had been to be in her inner circle. She wasn’t there now, but Dan was.

Alexandria sighed. “Fine.Fine.I guess that’s…”

“Fine?” Dan quipped, laughing when Alexandria shot daggers at him with her eyes.

“Indeed.”

“Great,” Esme said, clapping her hands together again. “We should all exchange numbers. Oh, this is so exciting!”

Exciting. Sure. That was the word.

Why not swap numbers with your former best friend who had almost been something more—haddefinitelybeen something more, but then you’d gone and messed it up, put it away, and refused to go back there again?

Hailey pulled her phone out, somewhere between reluctant and overeager. She wasn’t going to question it. Not now, at least.

Alexandria Daley’s number. Again. Almost twenty years later. And a group chat about a wedding. All while the two of them were thirty-five and neither was wearing a wedding ring.Sure.

Six

Twenty-four years ago

Alexandria stepped out of the sports hall and breathed a sigh of relief. She did not enjoy PE. Sports in general were fine—she didn’t mind playing them with Daniel in their free time. She actually quite liked it when her cousins were around and they’d all do cartwheels and handstands and run around together, and when her eldest cousin, who had done gymnastics for years, showed them how to do flips and stuff. But PE as a class? It was torture. Things were only good if you were popular and really into netball. Alexandria wasn’t great at it. She didn’t care for it.

She missed PE from primary school.

It was drizzling as she walked across the yard towards art. She didn’t mind it. It was refreshing.

PE might be an annoying class to have on a Friday afternoon, but at least it wasn’t the last class of the day. That honour went to art, which was nice. One, relaxing class, then they got to go home and she got to shower and get out of her uniform. All in all, it wasn’t a bad Friday afternoon, even if she dreaded PE.

She wandered into art and set about gathering her things. Their teacher, Mrs. Begum, had been clear that, when they came into art class, they were to set up like artists. It was nice, really. Alexandria knew exactly what she needed on her desk and, since she practically sprinted away from PE, was one of the first there to begin setting up. They were three weeks into the school year and she’d gotten into a rhythm with it.

They were currently working with watercolours and she grabbed two palettes without having to think about it. One water jar. Two sets of brushes. As she rummaged through the pile of their sketchbooks, she grabbed her own and kept going, stopping when she found Hailey’s and brought both back to their shared desk.

PE and IT were two of the classes they didn’t have together, and, while Alexandria had been in PE, Hailey had been in IT. She wasn’t sure who Hailey had for IT, but they always seemed to let the class out late. Hailey, and everyone else from that class, always ended up running in right before the late bell.

The first time Alexandria had gathered both of their belongings, Hailey had run in, dumped her bag in her seat, and squealed to a halt—her shoes had literally screeched on the laminate flooring with how abrupt the movement had been. Alexandria had almost laughed at the look on her face as she’d taken in the scene, the perfectly laid out desk, and the fact she didn’t have to run around, scrambling, before their teacher started yelling at them for not being ready on time.

She’d thanked Alexandria a million times and, even if Alexandria hadn’t already been planning to do it every week, the relief and appreciation from Hailey would have absolutely made her do it again.

Now, it was their usual routine, and, while she would never admit it, Alexandria kind of loved it. It was theirs. Their thing.

There were only three other kids from Alexandria’s primary school that had come to Sheridan. The four of them had stuck together in the beginning since it was easier that way. But, the more weeks that passed, the more they were forming new friendships. Coming from the same primary school, it seemed, was not a particularly good foundation for a friendship. None of them were even in the same classes as Alexandria. She was certain they hated her a little bit because she was serious and something of a teacher’s pet. As such, she still sat with them at lunch to eat usually, but she felt like an outsider. And it wasn’t as though she’d made a tonne of other friends.

She was slowly becoming friends with a couple of the people in her classes—kids who were a bit more like her—but really, her closest friend was Hailey. And she wasn’t even sure Hailey thought they were friends. Hailey was nice to everyone, friendly with everyone. Alexandria didn’t know how she was doing it but she seemed to know everyone. She greeted every kid in their classes as though they were friends. They all smiled and spoke to her. They all knew her name.

But, by virtue of their surnames being next to each other alphabetically, Hailey sat next to Alexandria in most of her classes, and she smiled a lot. Even if Alexandria wasn’t as relaxed or funny as Hailey, she still seemed to be able to make Hailey laugh, and they were friends. Pretty much.

Though, when Hailey walked in and collapsed into her chair, Alexandria didn’t need to be her friend to know something was wrong. She was deflated, sadder, less smiley than usual, especially for a Friday afternoon.

She thanked Alexandria for getting her things, as always, but it was missing the usual exuberance.

“You’re welcome,” Alexandria whispered back with a frown, right before their teacher started the lesson and they were forced to pay attention.

Even as she listened to their instructions for the class and watched the demonstration, Alexandria couldn’t help but wonder about Hailey and whether she was okay. This energy wasn’t like her.

Not being able to pay attention in class wasn’t like Alexandria.

Something was very wrong.

---