The Adventures of Thad and Alex
 

Thad dribbled the ball down the court, his legs so tired it felt like they were gonna fall off.  They had been doing suicides the whole practice and then they had to do a scrimmage.  Thad passed the ball off to his best friend, Alex Muran, who hadn’t been paying attention due to the cheerleaders having practice on the other side of the gym.  The ball hurled towards Alex and hit him straight below the belt.   was rolling  on the floor in pain when he heard Thad yell,
“ Come on Muran, pay attention!” Alex then got up in anger and shouted, “You should’ve made sure I was looking before you passed to me!” 
      “Enough!” Coach Daniel yelled as he blew his whistle in fury.  “Thad, that pass was fine.”
  Muran, pay attention!”
As the boys continued to play, Thad and Alex began to do better as teammates.  They started to fire on all cylinders.  Making shot after shot, pass after pass, they were on fire.  Coach was impressed, they both thought they were for sure to make the varsity team.  Alex and Thad had been talking all summer about how cool it would be to make Varsity as freshman. They would be the first freshman to make it in the school’s athletic history. Practice was over and Thad and Alex were invited to a party at Radon Randell’s. They were in the locker room showering when they heard the announcement, “All roads are closed until further notice.” All of the teams parents were already there to pick them up except for Alex’s mom who was also taking Thad. This meant they were stuck at school. “Dang bro beans, we are gonna miss the party.” Thad explained.
“Ok first of all, stop saying bro beans it’s stupid.  And don’t worry, I’m sure my mom is on her way, let me call her real quick.
”Ok fine Bro Beans, but hurry! I want to make the party so I can get the ladies.”
“That wouldn’t happen even if we were on time.” Alex joked as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and began to dial in his mom’s phone number.  The phone only rang once, as if his mom was expecting him to call.  Alex hung up the phone and looked at Thad as if he was worried.  “My moms car got stuck in the snow and my dad’s at work so we can’t get a ride for a while.” 
“Well how long?”
“At least a couple of hours.”
“Are you freakin’ kidding! We’re gonna miss the whole party!”
“Well sorry man I don’t know what to do.  You wanna go play horse in the gym?”
“Ugh, fine.”

While trudging down the hallway to the gym,  Thad continued to complain more and more. 
“Alex, why does god hate us?”
“Thad, shut up, you’re being a baby.  So what we miss one party, GET OVER IT!”
Thad started crying. He was balling his eyes out and wouldn’t stop.   Alex, who was not only nervous but totally uncomfortable, tried to comfort Thad. 
“Thad……..” Alex began as Thad pulled his head out of his hands,”I’m sorry I hurt your feelings…” 
Thad looked up at him and began to clear his throat as he sniffled,
        “ It’s alright, I’m just mad that we don’t get to go!”
        “Get over it Thad!” Alex yelled. They knew they weren’t gonna be picked up for a while so they wanted to make the best of it, so they went and explored school. They started off by playing tag and Thad thought it was getting boring, so they just walked around. Suddenly, Thad tripped and fell down the stairs! He was knocked out cold.
“Oh god! Thad? Thad?” Alex cried out. He went and poured some water on his face. Thad woke up not knowing what to do or where he was.  He soon began to lightly hit Thad on the face, desperate to wake him up. Thad then woke up but still had no idea what was happening. Alex explained what was happening and Thad started to cry yet again.  But this time, in fear of not getting out.   
“Seriously Thad? grow up man it just isn’t that serious.”
“Alex what are we suppose to do? Were gonna be stuck here forever.”
“Thad we both know that isn’t true.  Worst case scenario is were stuck here the whole weekend.”
Thad then began to cry even harder as the words spewed out of Alex’s mouth. As Alex and Thad were roaming the hallway, They heard some voices coming. They hid in a classroom and waited to see who it was.
“Alex! Thats Mary and Kathy!” Thad said as he wiped the tears off his face and peaked through the window of the classroom
“Wait, wasn’t Mary’s party tonight?”  Alex said nervously as he remember how him and Mary broke up.
“ Dude! The party must’ve gotten canceled We didn’t miss anything!” Thad remembered.
Mary and Kathy were the two most popular freshmen at school.  Everyone knew who they were.  All the girls wanted to be them and all the guys wanted to date them.  Alex, who recently just got dumped Mary, felt his heart sink when Thad told him they were at the school too.  Alex remembered how horrible he felt when she broke up with him because she felt he worried too much about everything and could never relax.  Alex then began to get very nervous.  His palms were sweating like there was no tomorrow.  Although Thad, who was rather pleased to see the girls, made a B-line towards the girls as he swung the classroom door open and sprinted down the end of the hallway.  “Hey ladies!” he said in a flirty voice, “How you doin?”  as he gave the girls a wink.
“Hi Thad.”  said Mary in a very flat tone.
“well gosh what’s the matter with you?”
“Oh I don’t know Thad, it definitely isn’t because I had to cancel the party at my house so I could be stuck at school in a blizzard.”
“Oh well good to see you aren’t mad about it.”
“I’m being sarcastic you idiot!” Mary screamed as tears rushed down her face.
Alex exited the classroom to see that Mary was crying he then looked at Thad and said, “Thad, What’d you do?”
“Nothing I swear! She just started crying for no reason.”
“You made her cry you jerk!” Kathy screamed as she was hugging Mary, trying to comfort her.
“Ok lets all just calm down for a minute.” Alex began as Mary looked up from Kathy’s shoulder to listen.   “ Are parents will show up eventually you guys, we just gotta calm down.”
“K well what’re we suppose to do genius?  We’re stranded at the school with no food.  I’m starving.”  Thad said as his stomach roared like a bear.
“Ya we’re starving too.” the girls agreed.
“Ok uhhh lets see….” said Alex as he was thinking of what to do in the situation, “Oh I got it! The vending machine on the second floor of the school!  We can all just get snacks up there!”
“Oh yay, stale pretzels!” Thad exclaimed in what was probably the most sarcastic tone humanly possible.  “Ok fine Thad, stay here in the hall while we get food.”  Alex said as he marched up the stairs, taking Mary and Kathy with him.  Thad, who soon began to get scared in the hallway alone, ran after the group.  While he was running trying to catch up with Alex and the girls, he passed his science classroom.  He remembered how he had a science test that was on monday that unlike any other test, he wasn’t prepared for.  So, he ran into the science room, snooping around to find the answer key to the test.  When all of a sudden, he opened a drawer and found mushrooms in a plastic bag.  “Dang, I guess Mr. Torres forgot to eat the nasty mushrooms he always has for class in 3rd period.”  Thad said, as he remember how he would always walk in to class to find his science teacher devouring the mushrooms.   “I wonder if these are even good.”  he pulled one out of the bag and popped it into his mouth like a piece of candy.  Thad’s eyes light up with utter joy. He then began to devour the bag like a raccoon digging through the trash.  “Man, and to think I could be up at the vending machine with those losers eating nasty pretzels.”
Meanwhile at the vending machine, Alex, Mary, and Kathy were all around the machine, eating their pretzels.  Alex, who was feeling more and more awkward by the second, tried to break the silence.
“Well I guess Thad was right, these are some pretty stale pretzels.” He joked.
Mary flipped her long, blonde hair to look at him. “I actually think they’re pretty good.” She said as she took a bite out of one as she stared at him with her sharp, blue eyes.  “Oh ya me too! these are great!” Alex said
“Wait, bit I thought you said they were too sta-” Kathy began as she was interrupted by Alex.
“Well anyways, let’s go find Thad.”
As they walked back to find Thad, they heard a loud, disgusting noise, which was followed by a horrible smell.  “Ewww!” Mary yelled as she plugged up her nose.  “Is someone giving birth or something?”
Alex followed the disgusting smell to find Thad throwing up in a nearby trash can.
Alex ran over to Thad trying to figure out what was going on.  “Thad! are you alright? What happened?”
Thad went up from the trash can, gasping for air, “ I don’t even know!” he began, “ I mean, there I was eating Mr. Torres’s mushrooms, feeling like I was on top of the world.  Then next thing I know, It’s like someone just pushed me all the way down to the bottom of the earth.”
Alex had to stop because he couldn’t believe his best friends stupidity.  “Wait... you had mushrooms?”
“Yeah.  Why?”
“Thad, YOU’RE ALLERGIC TO MUSHROOMS! Remember that time a couple years ago we went to get pizza after basketball and we put mushrooms on the pizza? You threw up all over the table!”
“Oh my gosh, you’re right!” Thad said, “Man do I feel stupid.”  As he ducked his head down the trash can to vomit more.
“Great! Now what?  We have someone puking his brains out with no way to get home!”
Kathy yelled, absolutely enraged with fury.
She was right, there was nothing they could do.  The were for sure going to be stuck at school until the weekend.  Then, Alex thought of an idea that hit him as hard as a car slamming into a brick wall.  It was so obvious he couldn’t believe he didn’t think of it.
“Hey Mary,” He said as he looked up with a smile, “Can I borrow your phone?”

Alex was waiting in the hospital lobby with Kathy and Mary, waiting to see how Thad was doing.
      “Do you guys think he’ll be alright?” Alex said in a worried tone.
      “I’m sure he’s fine Alex!” Kathy exclaimed.  “Gosh it’s almost as if you two are married or something.” she said as she stormed off into the bathroom.
       “Hey listen,” Mary began as she gazed into Alex’s brown eyes.  “ I thought what you did tonight was really cool.”
        “Really?” he replied in total disbelief.
        “Well yeah,” she began to stare at the floor,  “I mean if you didn’t come up with the idea to call 911 no one would’ve gotten us from the school.”  
        Alex began to blush. “Ya, I guess I did kind of save the day and all.”
Mary then leaned over and gave Alex a kiss on the cheek. 
        Alex who was completely red at this point, looked at Mary and asked, “So, are we back together again?”
       “I guess so.” She said as she gave him a big smile. 
Alex then gave Mary the biggest hug of all time.  He was overjoyed! He finally proved to Mary that he could relax! While they were hugging, The doctor came out into the hall. 
      “Eh-hem,” He said as he noticed Alex and Mary hugging.  They then let go of each other in a split second.“Your friend is gonna be fine. he just had an allergic to reaction to the mushrooms.  Although, we will be keeping him overnight to make sure he continues to get better.” 
      “Ok thank you so much doc.”  Alex replied.
     “Don’t mention it,” He said as he looked down at his clipboard. “ it’s my job.”  As he began to walk away he shouted “Oh and by the way, your parents are here to pick you up.” from across

  Alex and Mary began to sprint out of the hospital to find both of their parents parked outside.  Kathy soon followed them as she ran out right behind them.
            “Oh ya don’t forget about me.” She said sarcastically.  As they made their way to their cars, Alex looked to Mary and shouted,
            “So I’ll see you Monday?”   Mary blushed.
            “For sure!” she said as she closed her car door and drove off to her house.
Alex then jumped into his car, greeting his mother.  “Hey mom what’s up?”
            “Nothing.  It seems like you had a pretty interesting night.”  She said smiling, knowing that Alex and Mary got back together.  Alex, who was smiling from ear to ear, looked up at his mom and said,
           “Oh man, you have no idea.”