Chapter 380: In The Middle III
Being stuck as the grandson in the middle of these two grandfathers must be quite the predicament.
Fortunately, these two elders were somewhere far away whilst they were messing about.
Alexander, who was miles and miles from them, just stared off into the building before him.
But before that, he had to put some attention to his left hand.
It had been sat down on, so it was a bit numb.
A couple of shakes should do the trick.
Of course, as the sensation rushed back in, he can't help but reminisce...
About what sat on it? Nope.
It's about what was up with him today.
For some reason, he felt strange...
For starters, there's that kiss from Milla that came out of nowhere...
He managed to divert it to the cheek, something he acquiesced to... but it happened nonetheless.
Then came the consideration if it was romantic enough or if should they do it again.
As for the matter of his innocence, well... even Alexander could admit that he wasn't.
If he was, it would have been really easy to set his hands loose and push the girls back to a fair distance away.
If he was innocent, why did he opt to "suffer" in silence like that?
From the kiss, to the cheesiness, to the brazen embrace, even the sneaky grope...
What he's done is most considerably condemned, sinful, brazen, punishable, and all the patronizing labels that the holy, saintly, and honorable can dish.
Alexander didn't care for the thoughts of those people though.
What he cared about is his own.
Yet even that became rampant and out of control for some reason.
Alexander prided himself on self-control, indifference, and logic...
How come all of that became flawed and shaky on this day?
All of these are strangely uncharacteristic of him and the only time he lets go of his inhibitions like this is when he indulged in certain tendencies.
Sure, old timeline habits don't die... but even with those... Alexander had reasonable assurance that he could rein it in.
Much more so now, considering the Mind Mansion and handy Chaos that he has.
The worry about video game releases? The turbulence regarding Top Gun? The shakiness brought about by the comic bubble? The doubts about the acquisitions? The pressure during the heavy-weighted Chaos inquisition?
With all of that compounded, anyone else would have broken down already.
Still, did it compound and build up too much that he unwittingly did what he had just done?
Obviously, bottling up emotions and tribulations does more harm than good... but Chaos has yet to fail him in smoothing it out.
Then again, it just did.
From the kiss, to the cheesiness, to the brazen embrace, even the sneaky grope...
Honestly, Alexander could feel that he has yet to be satisfied... and that was admittedly bad on so many levels...
Was he some sort of less psychic-ky and more deplorable Kageyama Shigeyo? Was his tolerance gauge already over 100% and needed some sort of release?
Of course, he may just be overthinking things.
As his hand was back to normal... he looked back to the building before him again...
And there he was enlightened...
It was just the main building of this private school, where he is set for schooling and there's nothing too enlightening about it.
However... when Alexander saw his fellow middle schoolers, 6th grade and above, he found his conundrum's culprit...
With their pimples, freckles, braces...
Their developing facial hairs...
The unbalanced heights between friend groups...
And some girls being uncomfortable and irritable like it's their time of the month...
Alexander realized what can break his self-control, disturb his Mind Mansion, and even bypass the transcendent Chaos...
From the kiss, to the cheesiness, to the brazen embrace, even the sneaky grope...
As it turns out...
It's probably just sudden on-set of... hormonal... freaking puberty!
But is it really?
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At this point, Alexander wasn't too sure.
And all the while he was in the middle of being caught up with the implications...
The rest of the school is preoccupied with something else.
That's just how it is.
Even for Milla and especially for Drew.
"Hey, Milla."
"Yeah!"
"Let's have a truce?"
"What! Why?" Milla was quite surprised by that. They just left the car and entered the new school but why was she acting so different now?
Shouldn't someone like Drew be out there somewhere? Forming a mean group that will start targeting whomever Drew dislikes.
She had even started planning something like that of her own.
Drew, unlike her usual shrew-y self, seemed fidgety though. Especially with people around them starting to realize who they were.
Were all those stares and pointing uncomfortable? How was she okay walking red carpets and being a celebrity with that?
By the looks of it, Drew was really uncomfortable. A bit shaky even.
"I'm just not good with school and classmates okay!" Drew could only admit.
"So what if you're not good? What's that got to do with me?" Milla was kind but especially not that kind to someone who calls her bitch and always hangs around with Alex.
"Come on. Please. It will be better if we always hang around. If we always fight and these people tell on other people, wouldn't that be bad?" Drew reasoned as the hubbub of this school was really triggering some anxieties for her. "And what about prince... I mean... Alexander?"
Well, Milla was quick to get what she meant. Besides, with how they all enrolled themselves, they're pretty much in all the same classes and schedules...
Posing some united front seemed good. Maybe even great.
Milla wasn't too sure about bullying and all that Russian spy stuff all over again. This was a new school, after all.
Wait... didn't she say mean things like fat Drew to her before? Was she bullied by her classmates with that too?
Isn't she famous? Or did that just make the bullying worse?
Thoughtful Milla, who learned thoughtfulness from the Creeds, can't help but ruminate about the implications of it.
Maybe teaming up with this Shrew isn't so bad. Maybe she'll even owe her!
That seems great, too...
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Inevitably, the thing that kick most things off was Drew Barrymore and Milla being recognized... and the usual hubbub that arose with that!
Even with Milla not having her signature hairstyle or Drew not having too many hits... they're famous all the same.
Curiosity and intrigue are high and the reason for the duo attending here is even more curious and intriguing to speculate about.
Thankfully, the staff can still quell the excitement and things should die down... eventually.
It just so happens that this had all been accounted for.
Barring the students' interest, at least the paparazzi, gossip media, and whatnot would find it hard to do their usual heckling here.
It's a private school and it's as private as can be.
One of few in the Valley but it's not just rich and snobby. It's quite good and low-key.
Given that it's where Alexander's neighbors and country clubbers go... the specifications are quite understandable.
In any case, under these conditions, at least it isn't as lacking as it was in the public school system.
Alexander had really never been through this but given his re-life's specifications, switching from public to private was quite the necessity.
Sixth grade. Middle school. Sixth grade. Middle school.
Between the two, they're considerable milestones that people just go through.
Of course, given that it's Alexander, he's more preoccupied with his own things and just took note of a few notable things.
For one, there's Milla and Drew again.
Who seemed to have surprisingly tag-teamed for this school life. From what it looks, they must have realized the power of forming a famous girl group.
Making them more powerful together as "friends" than how they usually are.
Of course, after that notable stuff...
There's the triplets. Alexander's neighbors who seem to have a grudge against him. It seems that their grandfather that's always proud of them was always disappointed in them now.
And it's all his fault.
Geesh. What was that about?
Oh yeah... there's also two Barrys.
One is actually from the 'Ee' trio. The trio that parted on bad terms via a food fight. To think that Barry's family got rich and was now schooling here.
As for the other Barry, it's actually John. John Barry.
Born from affluence and even schooling in this place... yet ended up being a porn star...
Will things change? With Old Sullivan somewhat excising himself from porn production, will John's path remain the same?
Will Jane and him still meet? Will Jessica still exist?
Suffice to say, Alexander, a proponent of these changes, is smack dab in the middle of it.
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In just one middle school setting, things really piled up, didn't they?
Even Alexander was finding it hard to keep track but, of course, he's more concerned about his uninhibited, indulgent, and indulgent tendencies...
To help himself out, he was actually starting a journal... nay... a diary.
Is it to detail his battle with puberty? No.
Is it to note of what will come from Milla and Drew's plastic sisterhood? No.
Is it to deduce his triplet neighbor's grudges? No.
Is it to graph the two Barrys' ups and downs? No.
Is it to make a story of his day-to-day experience in middle school?
Yes... but also... no.
After all, it's not exactly his middle school and day-to-day experience that he's writing a diary about.
It's a diary about some other kid. Also around 11 years old but a wimpy one at that. With drawn pictures and all.
If anything, it's a return of the handy picture book. Not a script, comic book, or comic strip.
It's really more of a book. A potential bestseller and marks his jump to authorship and a foundational start of Creed Books.
In a sense, whilst in the middle of middle school lessons, Alexander was writing a diary of a forever middle schooler...
He could only symbolically apologize to his teachers and Jeff Kinney...
After all, to no surprise...
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is what it is.