"Maybe I started to annoy him," Alex admitted. "But I like it. I like the way I look, even if nobody else does."
Alex shrugged. "I tried, but that was before. Tried to tell him that I like Potions and figuring things out, but the pranks, not so much. But I guess he could think that. It's not what I meant."
He slouched in the chair, leaning an arm on the side, propping his cheek in one hand. "I'm tired of fighting with him," he said quietly. "We used to fight all the time, about stupid stuff. My hair, when it got long, before the colour. Me not answering to 'Fred' anymore. Stupid stuff."
He chewed at the ragged thumbnail again. "And then I got in trouble last summer. Stayed out in the treehouse by our place, writing him a letter. Trying to talk. I got grounded until camp. Which I didn't want to go to in the first place. That's where I had my first drink. Figured out that I liked how that made me feel."
He looked over at her. "God, what is it about this room that makes me spill it? Is everyone like that?"