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Alex had had a fairly busy morning.

First, the lengthy phone call to his mother, which had actually ended a lot better then he could have hoped, though he knew at some point she was probably going to make him pay for hiding so many things from her over the last couple of months. Then, when he had gotten off of the phone with her, there was the small matter of the money he decided to find and, well, basically steal out of Yin's bedroom. The thing about that, though, was that the money was technically Alex's anyways, he just wasn't supposed to spend it. He liked to think of this as more of an advanced payment then stealing, however, and promised himself he would find a way to work for whatever he spent. After that, for whatever strange reason, he had felt strongly compelled to try the thunder road course one last time. Miracle of all miracles, he'd somehow managed to pass! Which was good and bad in a way, because the one person he wanted to share his success with...well..

He decided he'd try not to think about that right now.

After the thunder road excursion, Alex found himself looking much too..frazzled..to be heading straight off to the maul, so he'd had to go back to his own dorm, take a quick shower, mostly to tame his wild and unruly hair that was sticking up in all sorts of interesting directions after being struck by lightening twice, and change into some semi-clean clothing.

Finally, after the morning had nearly passed and lunchtime was fast approaching, Alex was on his way. He had his backpack slung over one shoulder, and his skateboard tucked beneath an arm as he set out, leaving the undead dorms and making his way towards the gates to exit Amityville.

For once he walked with his shoulders straightened, his head up as he gazed around the campus that he was crossing. Was he maybe hoping to catch a glimpse of a certain weremantis? Perhaps, though he could only assume the other boil had gone back to the gymnasium.

If he was even still at the school at all.

That thought alone made something inside him hurt so bad that he nearly stopped and went back to his room. But no, he needed to do this. He needed to get out, to be around civilization again. To not have to rely on Yin to be there for him, because he didn't have that security that the other boil was going to always be there anymore. It hurt, yes, but he could deal with that hurt later. Right now he needed to just get his act together, do normal things, be normal again.

As he continued on his way, he noticed a familiar figure nearby. A familiar and quite tall figure, with dark hair and glowing green eyes. Hrrmmm, yes, he knew that boil, it was the one with the nursery rhyme name from Sex Ed class!

Alex wasn't sure if he should stop and speak to the boil or not, but well...it couldn't hurt. And he was tall, so Alex didn't have to look down on him, which was kind of awesome and a bit of a novelty, so he headed towards the demon boil with a free hand raised in greeting. "Hey! JackB!" He called, plastering a large smile on his face, even if he didn't really have much to smile about lately.

Jack's reply to Alex's hail had the almost fake smile turning into something more genuine, and he was suddenly glad that he had taken the time to greet the other boil. Something about Jack seemed slightly...different today. He didn't look quite the same as he had in the Sex Ed class they had been in together, but he couldn't quite place why, as he was not one to generally pay attention to fashion.

His own clothes were rumpled and dirty, tattered, blood stained, and unwashed. His hair was an unkempt mess of white, falling in front of both of his eyes. It was really getting much too long, but since he'd been at Amityville, he never thought about getting it cut, that being something his mom had done for him back home on a fairly regular basis. He reached up to push it out of his face and he shuffled along with his feet their usual bare selves, not having ever worn shoes in his unlife.

As he neared the other boil, he stopped, pushing his hands into his pockets and rocking back on his heels with a grin. Yes, Jack's cheerfulness seemed to be quite infectious, as Alex found himself able to push thoughts of the night before and this morning firmly out of his mind.

"Weeeellll, I was actually thinking about heading to the maul. I quite recently came to the conclusion that I have not enough clothes and too much money. If you want to tag along you're more then welcome." He actually kind of hoped that Jack would come with him. He needed to make some more friends, and was generally lacking in friends who were boils. Jack seemed like a fairly laid back, easy going, and likable sort of fellow.

Alex didn't know about whether he'd really seen better days since coming to Amityville, at least, clothing wise. He always seemed to be wearing clothes that were tattered and/or stained. Emotionally, yes, he had had far better days then today. The last two days really could not have gotten much worse unless Yin had told him that it was over between the two of them, though he was fairly confident that probably wouldn't happen.

Probably.

Though things were strained between the two of them at the moment and tensions were certainly high, it didn't mean that this was necessarily the end. And so, he would take his mothers advice and get out and do things and hopefully by that evening he and the weremantis could talk things out and make it all okay again. But for now, he shoved Yin firmly from his mind, because thinking about him was only going to be counterproductive to his intents. He grinned at the other boil, "Excellent. This day is starting to look up after all. Should we go then? Or do you need to grab anything before heading out?" He had nodded his head in the direction of the gates that led out of the school, ready to be on his way before realizing that Jack might not actually be prepared to go anywhere right at the moment.

"And ya, just us two, unless you know somebody else who might like to come along with us." He shrugged his shoulders, his hair falling into his eyes yet again. He wasn't catching the hint that Jack might be curious about where Yin was today, as he didn't really think the demon boil would care too much about it.

Alex nodded, somewhat glad that they could just be on their way now instead of having to wait until later. He really just needed to get off of campus, clear his head, and try to have a good time even if his heart wasn't truly in it just yet. Still feigning cheerfulness, however, he set his skateboard on the ground, reaching up to brush his hair out of his eyes one last time before stepping aboard, casting Jack a sheepish grin. "I hope you don't mind. I'm too slow, otherwise, and it could take us half a day to get to the maul if I don't use it." He figured that the other boil, being a cat demon and having legs as long as he did, would easily be able to keep up, however.

Much like Yin was able to...

Stop thinking about Yin. He scolded himself, suddenly frowning now as he pushed off on the ground and rolled on ahead, before Jack's next words distracted him and he was able to shake the frown away...which only made his hair fall into his eyes yet again.

That was getting a little bit irritating...

"Yes, I suppose things are hectic right now, with the exchange program coming up and everything." He nodded as they made their merry little way along and out of the gates of Amityville, towards the maul. A zomboil on his skateboard and a demon clipping along at a quickened pace beside him.

The trip didn't take long, and probably seemed to go even quicker still as Alex was finding himself quite entertained by all of the singing Jack seemed to content himself with along the journey itself. Soon they were rolling through the parking area towards the double doors. A large black and orange banner hung above the entrance, the large, capitalized words proclaiming the sales that could currently be found within.

"Looks like we came on a good day..or a bad one if you don't like crowds." Alex gestured, as he brought his skateboard to a skidding halt by leaning back on it casually, though he very nearly found himself unbalanced and had to flail his arms a little to recover.

He was a smooth one, sometimes.

Gathering up his skateboard and flicking his head back to try and move the hair out of his eyes, he cast a glance over towards the cat boil, his face suddenly very serious. "Do you think they have a place in here where I can get my hair cut? I'm almost desperate enough to do it myself, but I'm afraid the results might be a little bit disastrous"

Jack's enthusiasm was almost contagious, as Alex found himself having an easier time of smiling the more time he spent with the cat boil. And not just the forced smiles of earlier where he didn't feel the emotion that should have been attached with them. Nope, these were actual, genuine smiles that were on the very cusp of becoming face splitting grins once more. When was the last time Alex was able to smile like this? When was the last time he was able to hang out with somebody who's attitude towards life (or in Alex's case, unlife) so matched his own? He was suddenly very glad he had run into Jack today, because this trip to the maul likely would probably not have been nearly as enjoyable without him. He liked Yin, he liked spending time with him, and the weremantis made him incredibly happy, but he was just very serious, and took everything Alex had to say perhaps a little too literally.

Still, wouldn't the day have been even better if Yin had been there with them? Especially if Alex hadn't blown up on him the night before.

That had been stupid, and even these fleeting thoughts towards the events of last night and again this morning, remembering Yin just as he left the room, telling him he would not be back until later, not giving Alex a time to even respond...Those thoughts brought an unwelcome pang to his chest, wilted his smile around the edges, brought a slight pain to his eyes that anybody looking closely enough would easily be able to see. No, it was best if he just didn't think about Yin for now. There would be plenty of time to figure out what was going on between them at the days end, if Yin even wanted to have things worked out by then.

"I like crowds too." He admitted, with a large smile, "Though probably for a different reason then you." Crowds reminded him of home, of family, of the horde. Crowds meant good times and lots of food to share. These crowds were not the horde though, but still, being around large groups still provided some level of comfort for the zomboil.

And now Jack was looking at him, studying the mop of unruly white hair that sat upon his head, likely tangled from the air that had whipped past him as he had skated along. He reached up to run his fingers through it, a gesture he did when he felt nervous, or awkward. "Ya, you think so? I don't know about color.." He frowned for a moment, but then found himself grinning soon after, imagining what Jack might have looked like as a scareling, hacking away at his hair with safety scissors. The mental imagery was highly amusing, and as Jack made his way towards the door and into the maul, Alex had to shamble along at a faster pace then usual to catch up, actually laughing along with the cat boil, amazingly enough. His skateboard was securely tucked beneath one arm, and his back pack bounced along on his shoulders.

"To the barber!" He agreed, giving the cat boil a firm pat on the shoulder as they stood side by side just within the maul, his gaze flickering over the massive crowds of halloween denizens as they went about their retail therapy. "Or to the shops first, if we pass any good ones along the way?" He was pretty much falling into the old habit of being a follower at this point. Let Jack lead the way, and more then likely, make all of the decisions. Thus was the life of a zombie who always struggled along at the back of the horde, never taking the forefront for himself.

Alex immediately fell into step with Jack, or at least tried to as he had to struggle to keep up with the other boil. Where as Jacks movements were smooth, feline and lithe, Alex's were jerky, clumsy, like he could fall down at any moment. His earlier experience in climbing the thunder road had apparently done him very little good in situations such as this. Sure, he knew how to run now when he needed to, but he likely wasn't going to find much opportunity for sprinting in the middle of an overly crowded and very busy maul.

As they made their way along, Alex was often shaking his head in an attempt to flick the hair out of his eyes, or reaching up to push the still slightly damp, tangled white mess away from his face. It was a wonder he hadn't decided to come to the Maul and get it cut ages ago, or at least, gotten his own mother to do it on his last trip back home.

The cat demon was changing his course, and Alex automatically veered towards this new direction with him, a small smile still playing on his lips as he slouched along. Two tall model like teenagers ambling around indeed. "Shoes?" Alex blinked in question, glancing down at his own feet which were woefully unadorned of anything, not even a sock for the exposed bones of his left foot. The zomboil had never worn a shoe in his entire unlife, seeing no need for it, and finding that he had enough trouble walking with his skeletal leg as it was without the added hindrance of footwear. Regardless, he followed the other boil into the shop, like the good little back of the horde follower that he was.

As Jack made his way towards the shoe rack in one area of the store, Alex ambled up to a small display of running shoes located in the middle of the store. Some new invention from the brand name 'screambok', that claimed to help maintain better posture and movement, while still remaining comfortable enough to wear all day. He reached out to lift one of the shoes up, turning it over in his hands to look over the oddly shaped soles critically, before his moment of deep thought was interrupted by Jack.

The zomboil dropped the shoe that he was holding unceremoniously back on it's display rack before hobbling over towards his friend, who was now able to look down on him with his one boot on. If Jack wanted shoe advice, he was really talking to the wrong boil, and indeed, Alexander thought the demon looked utterly ridiculous, standing as he was with just one boot on, tail sticking straight out behind him. Still, the sooner they found a pair that Jack liked, the sooner Alex would no longer be asked to look at shoes, so he gave the other boil a large smile. "Looks great!" He said, as enthusiastically as possible, while thinking, Dear Jack just get me out of here.

"Shouldn't you uh...maybe try them both on instead of just the one though?" Alex thought it might at least be a good idea, so Jack could stop doing his balancing act.

Alex had to smile at the quip, though he rolled his eyes skywards even while he did so and lifted his hands to shove into his pockets. But oh, thank Jack that...well, Jack, was choosing to go with this first pair that he had tried on. Alex had been having mental images of shoe boxes strewn about the floor with the cat demon boil trying on every pair in the shop. It appeared that it was not to be the case, however, and he was more then happy to be on his way, but not before giving the other boil a curious look.

Hopping from town to town? He had no idea what a life like that might be like but...just the way Jack had said it, and the way he shifted his gaze away had seemed a little odd. Oh well, it wasn't like Alex to pry into somebody else's business, especially when he obviously had issues of his own that he was keeping to himself.

"Ya sure, sounds good. I'll just..start on my way, as I'm sure you'll easily be able to catch up to me." He grinned, only too happy to depart from the shoe store as soon as was inhumanly possible.

Alex turned and made his way out of the store, but before he could go far, a shop selling a variety of clothes with large SALE signs on display caught his attention. Well, more then likely the fact that the store appeared to sell ties among other things was what drew him in, and he impulsively veered off of his course to the barbers, towards this new shop. Before entering, he had a glance behind him to see if Jack had emerged from the shoe shop yet, and having caught a glimpse of dark hair and bright green in the not so distance, he gave the boil a wave to show him he was making a bit of a pit stop.

The store itself was massive, with some kind of heavy metal type rock music blasting from the speakers. The ties he had seen on display all had a punk type quality too them, but some of them looked fairly interesting as he ambled up for a closer inspection. Each side of the store was lined with clothes. Leather jackets, hoodies, t-shirts with popular band names, pre-ripped and faded jeans, leather pants. It was obvious that this wasn't the type of store that Alex usually frequented though he could see the appeal in some of the button up shirts that were on display.

Alex was a bit of an impulse buyer himself, so it didn't take him long to snatch up a few of the ties he had been eyeing, before he moved on to another rack with various wristbands, many like his own but others made with leather and spikes. He held the ties in one hand while his reached up with his other to pull down one of these more spiky accessories, studying it and turning it over in his hands as though deciding whether or not he should go against his usual style towards something a little different.