Save Me From Me

[Ehela]

There was an itching in Alejandro's chest that jolted a coughing response from him. He was laying in bed, his bed being just a big mattress in the corner of the room. He was half naked under the thick blanket he slept with and was obviously a rough sleeper by the looks of his position. But as he slowly woke up, it became apparent to him that the raunchy coughing wasn't from being sick or some allergic reaction, but from the thick smoke he was breathing in. Ale [ah-leh] rubbed his eyes, was that what it was? Smoke? Ale rolled onto the other side of his mattress and tried to fall back asleep. But then it hit him... smelling smoke wasn't something normal.

Alejandro didn't remember a time where he woke up quicker. He was out of bed in an instant second, running towards his slightly opened bedroom door, and he whipped it open for just a huge cloud of smoke to reel in. He walked out of the little hall that contained only his bathroom and walked up his house more to where he heard frantic rustling in the kitchen. What he saw gave him the most relief, but also the most annoyance. His younger sister was kneeling on a stool, fanning a towel over the fire alarm on the roof while his mother was throwing something hot in the sink. Another result of plain old bad cooking.

The eighteen year old male rolled his eyes and shuffled his way back to his bedroom. He closed his door tightly and opened the only window in the room so the thin smoke wouldn't suffocate him. Then he carefully slipped into bed, taking in the warmness and comfort he'd left a few seconds ago. Ale took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Two seconds later all he heard was: BEEP BEEP BEEP

Alejandro let out an angered growl, sitting right up and jamming his palm onto the top of his alarm one hard time. There was no falling asleep now.

So he got up, pissed, got into the shower, brushed his teeth, and got dressed... that normal routine feeling way harder then usual this morning. All he could think about was going back to sleep, but no, this day out of all days his mother was awake and loud, so every five minutes she'd come into his room asking if he was getting ready. "Por supuesto, mamá!" ( Of course, mom!) Was his response every time. But finally, after maybe 45 minutes he was ready for breakfast. Already as it was though he was running late, so he had to grab breakfast and go... although not without a slick comment to his sister about this morning. "Maybe you didn't burn everything, eh pendeja?" ( Maybe you didn't burn eveything, eh stupid? ) Ale said this while studying his two waffles, but then having to quickly rush out when his sister began to throw things at him.

-x-

Alejandro took in a deep, heavy breath as he stood dead center to the main entrance of his most beloved high school. This was the place that made Ale the way he is today and it was all finally coming to the last stage in it's run. Senior year. Hell yeah, he was definitely going to make this the year, the year he took over and ran this place the way it should've always been run. So now with him being the baddest dog in the entire place plus having a brand new motorcycle, it wasn't going to be hard at all. "Shit... Haven't you missed this place, Neeco?"

The male standing beside Alejandro scoffed and rolled his eyes. This was Alejandro's best friend. "Missed this place?" Neeco asked, shaking his head in disgust. "Fuck no, hombre. ( Fuck no, man ) This place can rot in hell for all I care." He smiled at the idea and Ale laughed quietly. Maybe Alejandro made this place more wonderful than it actually was, but hey, he was actually excited for his first day for once. No one would ruin that.

-x-

Scratch that--- This day could actually be anything but exciting.

As everyone in the classroom groaned with distaste, Ale sat in the back of the classroom with his arms crossed in irritation. The friend next to him had thrown his hands up and made a face. "Unless it's one of my homies, I'm not sitting next to no Northsider." He hissed. First day and his most important class already he was hating it, since this vieja ( old lady ) of a teacher they had was giving everyone a partner they had to stick with for the entire year, a partner that the teacher specifically said would be those who don't mix. To make it more clear, North and South siders. Didn't these teachers have anything better to do than torment their students with shit like this?

"Wait, wait, wait." Alejandro said above all the noise, raising his hand for a moment or two to catch the teacher's attention. "It's like you're trying to cause problems, why?" Just by the look he got from this teacher he knew she was going to be a bitch. It was an honest question everyone was probably wondering and looking at him that way was uncalled for.

"Mr...?"

Alejandro cleared his throat. "Cecilio." He said with his heavy accent.

"...Cecilo." Mrs. Tomson tried to mimic, resulting in a few snickers to arise around the classroom.

"Dios mío, lo que es un maldito gringa." ( Oh my God, what a fucking American. ) Alejandro spat out loud nonchalantly, making the laughs louder.

The teacher just made a face, oblivious to how he'd just offended her. She went on with all the laughter happening. "You students need to learn how to work with people you don't like. Jobs in the future aren't going to deal with co-workers who are constantly conflicting, so mineaswell learn now while you can." The old lady directing the class tilted her head a bit.

"So partners, let's get to it. I will read two names at a time and when you hear yours, identify your partner and find a lab table together. Good? Good." Mrs. Tomson moved over to her podium, put on her tiny reading glasses, and shuffled through a few papers until she found was she was looking for. "Yael Morales, you will be paired with Benjamin Dun. Tyler Koller, you will be paired with Victoria Vilaygas..." A pretty Puerto Rican girl made a face and corrected her on the last name. "My apologies. Now, Ayla Matthews?" The teacher glanced up to identify the face of the girl who belonged to the pretty name. When she had, she looked back down at her list and read what Alejandro was dreading.

"Ms. Matthews, you're partner will be Mr. Cecilo."

Alejandro glanced up from the phone he'd been playing with under his temporary lab table. He caught eyes with the red headed, green eyed girl whose name had been in the same sentence as his. Without hesitation, he made a rotten face and looked back down. Great.

[Starpowerrr]

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Maddie groaned loudly as she heard the alarm clock sounding, blindly fumbling around on the night stand besides her as she attempted to to turn it off. After several failed attempts at turning the clock off, she lazily rolled over in the bed, slowly blinking her green eyes open as she finally silenced the damn thing. She lazily rubbed her face as she sat up in the bed, mindlessly mumbling a response to Maria as she entered into her room.

She stretched for a moment before giving Maria a reluctant smile, already knowing the answer to the question she was about to ask. "They're gone?"

"Your father had to go prepare for his case this morning and your mother had a meeting with a client."

Maddie couldn't help but sigh in disappointment as she made her way out of the bed, silently nodding at Maria before making her way to the bathroom to wash up. "Well, it looks like you'll be..mis parentes...again." She turned and gave Maria a sheepish grin as she stood at the entryway to the bathroom, pretty sure that she had probably just batched up the Spanish translation of "my parents" completely. She couldn't help but blush as she saw Maria chuckle and walk away after telling her breakfast was downstairs.

Despite Maddie's playfulness about the situation, her words were quite sincere and true. Ever since she could remember, her parents had been busy with long hours at work, which left Esme, and only child, home alone to fend for herself. Well, she never had to fend for herself, thanks to Maria, but a friendly maid was nothing compared to your parents. She still appreciated Maria though and treated her just as one of her family members.

After showering and brushing her teeth, Maddie was back in her room and getting dressed, settling on a pair of khaki shorts with a white off the shoulder top. After a light application of make up and putting on some wedges, she was downstairs and in the kitchen, seated at the table after fixing herself some food. She wasn't like her parents, who expected Maria to wait on them hand and foot when they were home, and always tried to help her as much as she could with the chores of the house. While Maria always refused, she still tried to make things as easy as possible for her.

After a hilarious discussion about celebrity crushes, Maddie was on her way to school, but not after giving Maria a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Bye Maria! See you after school. I don't have lacrosse today."

-x-

"No, no. Adam is way hotter than Chase. You're blind."

Maddie couldn't help but laugh as she made her way through the parking lot, glancing sideways at her best friend Abigail as she shook her head in disagreement. "You're a total liar. Chase is much hotter than Adam. Adam is scum. He cheated on you twice and you're still gaga over that guy." She smirked as she saw Abigail roll her eyes, remaining emotionless as she the blonde glance over towards a group of South Siders. "That's who's real scum. Look at them."

Maddie's eyes grew wide with surprise as she popped Abigail on the arm, her voice dropping as she gave her a look of bewilderment. "Have you lost your mind? They probably heard you!" While she knew the two sides would never get along, she did try to keep things peaceful between the two. That's just how she was. She was never a fighter..always a pacifist.

"Fuck them Maddie. They don't even belong here. Look at them...they think they're better than us."

Maddie sighed and rolled her eyes as she shook her head in defeat, knowing that this conversation was going to turn sour for the rest of their walk. "Anyway. Chase is going to throw a party this weekend. I told him we would stop by." She smiled in relief as she saw Abigail perk up, intertwining her arm with hers as they made their way inside of the school.

-x-

Maddie sat near the front of the classroom as she waited for her Chemistry teacher to begin, already prepared with a tablet and pen on her desk, instantly beginning to scribble things down in it as she began to talk about the project. She couldn't help but giggle as she heard the groans of the obviously displeasure students, tapping her pen against her chin as she watched the teacher.

She dramatically rolled her eyes as she heard someone from the back begin to give the teacher trouble, turning back slightly to see who the culprit was. Oh, him. He was nothing but trouble in class and always started something with each teacher he had. She scoffed and shook her head in disgust as she heard him call the teacher a gringa, clearly aware of what it meant due to how many times she and her friends had been called that by some of the South Side girls.

She began to jot down the instructions for the project and couldn't help but pause as she heard that the teacher had already assigned partners, her head shooting up as she eyed the teacher, silently praying that she didn't get paired with one of...them. They would surely give her a hard time and things were already rough enough for her now. She didn't need this added to her plate too.

As the teacher began to run off the names for the partners, she couldn't help but feel her heart sink when she heard who her partner was.

"Let's see. Madison Stiles and....Alexander Cecilio."

"Fuck." she muttered as she stared down at the desk, unable to fathom exactly how something this big would work between the two of them. One thing was for sure, she wasn't going to let him screw her up impeccable GPA.

[Ehela]

[ occ; omg, I've been writing Alexander. *Alejandro ]

Alejandro's eyes narrowed slightly when he'd gotten that look from Madison across the room. Since moving from Puerto Rico to Chicago, Madison and Alejandro had at least shared one class together every year since seventh grade, so they were familiar. She was this blonde little spoiled white North Sider whose only worries were what she'd have to wear, diets, and chasing after whatever boyfriend she picked up here and there. The mere thought of the lifestyle she was born into drove him insane, especially when he compares that life to his own... But Alejandro wasn't going to get into that right now.

He was pretty sure he got that look not only because of what he said but because of who he was and what he did. Since Alex was thirteen, he'd been included in a local gang. Since he was sixteen he'd been heavily included, doing things that were quite horrible. You didn't have to be a brain surgeon to realize he wasn't the most obedient kid.

Alejandro adjusted his jaw in slight discomfort while the Chemistry instructor went ahead called out the pairings. Nico, who was beside him was assigned to some smoking South Sider which was lucky but unfortunate for Alex, not that there was much hope there to get his best friend as a partner anyway. He still had high hopes that he'd get at least an acquaintance, someone from his side of town, but obviously the universe wasn't in his favor, not for this class and probably not for the rest of today either.

"...Madison Stiles and... Alejandro Cecilio."

Alex wanted to pull his hair out but for now, he would just provoke a little laughter from the class. Naturally, Alejandro was a cocky asshole and stuff like this just came to him. The eighteen-year-old rolled his r's out loudly and clearly, impersonating a cat's purr as he cocked his head up at the girl sitting in the front of the classroom. "This'll be muy divertido, hermosa." Alejandro said boldly, leaning over his lab table with his arm in front of the other as he let his strong stare rest on his new partner. Soon after he was hushed by the teacher and he lost the grin.

It was twenty minutes into class and the Chemistry teacher who Alex soon learned was identified as Mrs. Peterson, had just finished moving around the seats to where everyone was beside their partner. After she made a little announcement. "Odds are that the partner you have now will be the partner you have for every project as well as class assignments, so everyone take ten minutes to get to know each other and then each of you will introduce your partner to the class. Talk about what you did over the summer, what hobbies you have, anything interesting or unique your classmates might not know about you. Ten minutes starts now."

Alejandro bit the inside of his cheek and put his open notebook in front of the blonde he was to the right of. "Why don't we make this easier and just write about ourselves?" He let a sly smirk spread across his face as he reached out and flicked his finger underneath Madison's chin. "Ah, chica?"

[Starpowerrr]

[It's all good! I'll have the corrected name from now on.]

"This'll be muy divertido, hermosa."

Maddie glanced towards the back of the classroom as Alex began to speak, her green eyes narrowing in annoyance as she saw him place one arm before the other. He was such an asshole and he knew it, which is what bothered her the most. She smirked and opened her mouth to retort but fell quiet as she heard the teacher shush Alex, simply giving him a smug little smile as she saw his grin vanish. Well at least he had shut up...for now. There was no telling what would come out of his mind next. She couldn't help but wonder what his statement meant, only being able to catch 'hermosa' from the sentence, which she knew meant pretty..or something like that. She would have to ask Maria about what 'divertido' meant, especially since it seemed to get a few snickers out of some of the South Siders.

Madison remained emotionless as Mrs. Peterson began to move around the chairs, screaming on the inside as she saw her move her chair besides Alejandro's. She sighed softly as she took a seat besides him, her gaze towards the lab table as she began to doodle in her notebook again. The less she said, the fast this would end. Or at least she hoped it would work like that. Why in the hell did she have to get paired with Alex? He was the worst. He walked around with a huge ass chip on his shoulder just because he and his family couldn't live like she and the rest of her friends. But that wasn't her part, so why should he, or anyone else for that matter, judge her for it? She sighed again as she heard Mrs. Peterson beginning to speak again, shaking her blonde head in disbelief as she heard her mention that Alejandro would be her partner for the rest of the year. "Perfect." she muttered, the disdain oozing in her hushed voice as she continued to doodle in the tablet.

"Why don't we make this easier and just write about ourselves?"

Maddie turned in her seat and stared at him unenthusiastically, her eyebrow lifted as her eyes narrowed slightly at him, rolling her eyes at him as she saw his little smirk. "Ah, chica?" She pulled her head away from him as he flicked a finger against her chin, silently glaring at him as she pushed his hand away, well, attempted to. "Always trying to take a shortcut I see." she replied with a smirk, turning a page in her tablet as she began to to scribble on the fresh page of tablet paper, writing down a few things about herself, namely the things that the teacher had requested of them. About a minute later she was already finished and had tossed the table over to Alejandro, not even bothering to look at him as she stared ahead towards the front of the room.

If he even bothered to read what she had wrote, it would have the following:

1. I went to Veracruz this past summer with a group of my closest friends on a missionary trip.
2. My hobbies include dancing, namely ballet and tap, playing the violin, and fashion design.
3. One interesting thing about me is that I can speak three languages: English, French, and German.

She couldn't help but smirk to herself as she thought about all the countless ways he could react to what she had written, purposely writing things that pointed out just how much of an overachiever she really was. Yeah, she was being a little ugly right now, but she felt he sort of deserved it.

[Ehela]

Alejandro held his grin shamelessly. Little Miss Perfecta was a lot more easy to provoke then he remembered her ever being, which would guarantee Alex a whole year of amusement. As it seemed now, her buttons were easy to push and the fact that she couldn't understand half of the things he said in Spanish must have driven her crazy with the unknowing. He'd be sure to use that to his advantage though, to maybe torment her a bit. And who was better than Alex at making people want to pull their hair out? He knew just the right way to get under people's skin and never would he be ashamed to use that skill.

In exchange of his notebook, Alejandro got Miss Perfection's and he was actually doing the assignment. But then he got to thinking about wanting to see his partner stumble. To fumble over her words when she had to go in front of the class and introduce him. So he scribbled out everything he wrote previously. He wanted to see her go bright red and get all nervous when she actually read what he wrote for the first time. But to do this he needed to finish at the very last second and that's exactly what he did. So right before they were called up, he got to writing.

Saturday night. You and me. Driving lessons and hot sex...

Alex bit his bottom lip in anticipation, closing the notebook and handing it to Madison a lot nicer than she had done him. "Good luck." He said to her eerily, that Hispanic accent lacing those words. The male was eager to see how'd this turn out, but then as he walked up to the front of the class and realized what she'd written in his notebook. He knew he couldn't make her look like this talented of a person. Alejandro was going to have to wing this.

"Mr. Cecilio?" Mrs. Peterson asked.

Alejandro cleared his throat, closing his notebook and standing in an intimidating way with his legs spread out a bit. He let his brown eyes scan the students, his gaze stopping when he noticed Nico and his anticipating grin. "This is Madison Stiles," He began, noticing all the eyes focusing on him. "This summer she went to the mall, bought new clothes so she could expand her wardrobe, and spent her daddy's money on plastic surgery to enhance her, ahem, assets." It wasn't what she'd written in Alex's notebook, but it was probably close enough to the truth. But as Alejandro was beginning to hear chuckles from his cuates in the class he couldn't hold back grinning in amusement, knowing he must be damaging Madison's precious ego. "Her secret desire," He added, "is to date a Puerto Rican before she graduates."

And as expected, Alex's words were met by comments and low whistles from his buddies, them all being within the Latin Kings. "Way to go, Cecilio," A familiar of his named Luis barked out. Then another couldn't help but purr: "I'll date you, mamacita," Cocking his head arrogantly Blondie's way.

Alejandro glanced at Madison who he expected to have the most rotten face. He smirked at her and cocked his enticing eyebrows, making his way to his seat. Before sitting, he gave a high five to another Latin King sitting behind him and then he caught a slim female's glance, her name being Isa. She was shaking her head as if he'd done something wrong.

What? Alex thought. I'm just having a little fun with a rich girl from the north side.

[Starpowerrr]

"Madison...?"

Maddie sighed softly as she stood up from the desk, looking over at Alejandro to shoot him a quick glare before making her way towards the front of the classroom. She slowly thumbed through the notebook before finding his facts and began reading them off plainly, the enthusiasm about this assignment showing in her monotonous voice.

"Saturday night. You and me. Driving lessons and hot se-...."

She couldn't help but stumble a bit as she got to the last sentence, finally catching herself on what she was reading with the last word of what was scribbled at the bottom of the page. She could feel her creamy cheeks beginning to burn as she peeked up from the notebook and stared at the teacher, smiling sheepishly at her as she mumbled an apology and quickly rushed over to her seat, literally throwing the tablet at Alejandro as she took a seat. "What the hell was that?" she hissed quietly before turning her attention back towards the front of the classroom. Great, now everyone's gonna think I wanna bang Alejandro, she thought with a pout, folding her arms as she sat back in her chair.

Her eyes shifted to the desk as the teacher called Alejandro up, silently wishing that the ground would miraculously swallow him up whole right now or something of the sorts. Why would he even do something like that? Why was she even surprised anyway? This was Alejandro.

She was slowly beginning to regain her composure when she heard Alejandro introducing her and in just an instant felt her embarrassment wash over her again. Her mouth dropped open in pure horror as she heard his lies about her, slowly shaking her head in disbelief as she heard the snickers and comments about his little prank on her. She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she heard Luis coo at her, her fists clenching under the lab table as she took a deep breath. She refused to work with this guy for the rest of the year. They hadn't even paired together for ten minutes and he was already making her miserable.

She could feel her jaw tighten as she met his gaze, her eyes narrowing as he made his way back to his seat and high-fived one of his idiot friends. She looked over at Mrs. Peterson and shot her a warning glare, waiting for her to say something to him.

"Alejandro, you need to apologize to Miss Stiles. Apologize now or you're going to the principal's office."

Maddie scoffed and quickly gathered her things before standing up and turning to Alejandro, a look of absolute disgust lacing her facial features as she held her head up at him. Almost as if she were mockingly making it seem like she was better than him. "He doesn't have to apologize Mrs. Peterson. I don't even think he knows what the word apologize means. I mean...look at him. He can barely stay out of jail, I doubt he has knowledge of basic vocabulary." She shot him a cocky little smirk as she heard a few of the North Siders chuckle and nod in agreement, purposely flipping her blonde hair before making her way towards the front of the room to the teacher.

"I suggest you change my partner before you regret it." she nearly snarled at the woman before making her way out of the classroom, her wedges sounding loudly against the tiled floor as she made her way to her locker. "I'm so gonna tell Daddy.." she mumbled in irritation, knowing he would be able to fix all of this with the snap of a finger.