True
by Abelard

Part 2

Manhattan, Late 1970s, in front of the New York City Ballet

Sonny caught up to the group of schoolgirls as they were making the turn onto 62nd Street. He had no problem picking out the girl who'd run into him earlier. He recognized her long brown curls from behind, and when he tapped her on the shoulder and she spun around, he saw the warm brown eyes he remembered.

"Excuse me," he said, a little breathless, partly from his mad rush to find her again, and partly from the way it felt to just look in her deep eyes. He cleared his throat and tried to focus. "Um, you bumped into me back there, in front of the theater, and…"

"Oh, yes, um, I remember you," the girl stammered. "I'm sorry…did I…"

"No, no, you didn't do anything wrong," Sonny said quickly.

"Did I…drop something…?" the girl looked down at her small black purse, which hung from her shoulder by a thin strap; since she obviously hadn't dropped it, she looked back up Sonny questioningly.

Sonny wished she *had* dropped her purse, that would have given him the perfect excuse. *Well, no such luck, Corinthos, so make the best of it,* he told himself. "Uh, no, you didn't drop anything, but you did forget something."

The girl glanced around and Sonny followed her gaze. The entire group of uniformed schoolgirls, and the three female teachers who were clearly their chaperones, were stalled in the middle of the busy sidewalk, waiting for Sonny to finish this conversation so they could be on their way. "What, er, what exactly did I forget?" the girl asked, sounding polite but looking a little embarrassed.

Sonny took a breath and said it before he lost his nerve. "You forgot to tell me your name."

The girl's eyes widened in surprise. A few of her companions began to titter, their hands over their mouths to conceal their giggling. Sonny couldn't have made it more clear that he was interested in this schoolgirl with the brown-eyes, pretty face, and beautiful dimpled smile. Well, she wasn't smiling now, but she had earlier, when…

"It's Alexis," the girl said suddenly. She laughed nervously, then stuck out her hand. Sonny was glad to see her smile again, and he returned it as his palm met hers in a brief handshake.

"It's nice to meet you, Alexis. I'm Sonny." Their hands slid apart; Sonny let go of Alexis's a bit reluctantly. The preliminaries were done with; now what? Since Alexis's friends seemed to waiting anxiously for Sonny to make some kind of move, he thought he'd just play into their hands. He shuffled closer to Alexis and leered at her like a swinger in the movies. "So, do you come here often?"

At that, every girl in the crowd burst into laughter, including Alexis. Her laugh was rich and musical, and it reached somewhere deep inside Sonny and seemed to stay there, even when she sobered enough to talk again. "Miss Davidovich! Girls! Compose yourselves!" one of the chaperones scolded. "We have no time for this nonsense! Practice is scheduled to begin at four, sharp."

"Practice?" Sonny asked, eyebrows raised.

Alexis nodded. "Practice for our debate tournament tomorrow. The national championship - we've made it to the finals." Alexis sighed when she saw her teachers leading the group away. "I'm sorry, I have to go."

"Is the tournament here, in the city? If it is, I could come," Sonny offered eagerly.

Alexis tilted her head slightly, as if she were wondering how serious he was, or maybe how wise it would be to meet up again with a stranger. Sonny tried to put on his most charming, yet non-threatening, expression for her. Finally, Alexis said, "It's in the Public Theater, tomorrow afternoon. It'll be in the downstairs auditorium. It should be over by about three, if you want to come by." With that, Alexis, still smiling, turned and walked away with her schoolmates.

"I'll see you tomorrow at three, Alexis Davidovich!" Sonny called out. He was rewarded by the single backward glance Alexis gave him; then she was gone.

"She must have been a very pretty girl," Adela said with an understanding grin when her son returned to her side.

"She certainly was, Mama," Sonny said, and escorted her back home.

****

Sonny wasn't sure what it was about Alexis Davidovich that had him hooked so quickly. She wasn't like the girls he usually went around with. He'd always dated girls from the neighborhood, the lookers with dark hair and knockout bodies, who were tough and knew how to take care of themselves. Alexis was a looker, too, no doubt about it. She had a killer smile and gorgeous eyes and terrific cheekbones and, even in that schoolgirl outfit, Sonny knew she had a great set of curves, and legs that went on and on.

But Alexis wasn't just another pretty girl. There was something about her that was different. Actually, there was a lot about her that was different - for one thing, she was a boarding school kid, which meant she came from money, and had probably lived all her life in the kinds of buildings that had guards to keep kids like Sonny out. But there was something in the way she looked at him - in the way she looked at everything - something going on in those eyes of hers. Something he just didn't see every day, in every person. Whatever it was about her, it was drawing him to her like a lodestone. Even after just two seconds of looking at her, he knew he had to try to figure out what it was about her that was so magnetic.

So here he was, at the Public Theater in the East Village, catching the tail end of a girls' debate tournament. It was probably the least likely place any of Sonny's friends would expect him to be on a Friday afternoon. Sonny sat in the back, almost sorry that he'd decided to come a little early, for now he had to be just like all these other debate club geeks, sitting through this geekfest.

Then, Sonny saw Alexis rise from her chair and go to the microphone. She began to talk. Actually, she began to *speak*. She was speaking on a bunch of different issues…the energy crisis, White House in-fighting, the quality of health care, hostages in the Middle East, the occupation of countries Sonny had only heard of in passing, the ERA…and then somehow, she made all her different ideas tie up together into a couple of sentences, gave a pretty forceful summary of every point she'd made, pounded the podium and concluded, and the auditorium erupted with applause. Some people even stood up for Alexis. Alexis didn't react, she just walked calmly back to her folding chair, and sat down.

Sonny suddenly realized his jaw was hanging open, so he shut it. Then, a thought formed in his head: he knew what was so different about Alexis Davidovich. She was the smartest damn girl he'd ever seen.

It didn't surprise him, when, 10 minutes later, the judges gave the team trophy to Alexis's school, and first place for individual achievement to Alexis. Again, everyone in the audience applauded, but this time it was Sonny who leaped to his feet first and cheered the loudest, waving his arms so Alexis would know he was there, and he'd seen her victory. Alexis was thanking the judges and taking the trophy from them when she heard Sonny's catcalls. She peered up into the seats, saw his flailing arms, smiled, and winked.

Sonny met her backstage. She and her teammates were high-fiving and hugging each other, already beginning to celebrate their win. Their energy was high, and Alexis was glowing like the champion she was; Sonny felt glad he'd been there to see her in action. When he walked up to her, she greeted him. "Mister Corinthos," she said, "glad you could make it. Thanks for…voicing your support out there. I'm not sure my teachers appreciated it, but I did."

"You were amazing!" Sonny said, grinning. He shook his head. "I never saw anything like that before. You could be president someday!"

Alexis shrugged. "If I'd been born in this country…"

Sonny frowned, puzzled, and was about to ask her what she meant when a red-headed girl in a different school uniform approached them. "Congratulations, Davidovich," the red-head said, a little coldly.

"Congratulations, Chandler," Alexis replied. Sonny looked down at the trophy in the red-head's hand. It was for second place. Alexis said, "Sonny, this is Antoinette Chandler, from Ravenswood Prep…"

"Hi, I'm the second-best debater here," the red-head said with a kind of sarcasm and false cheerfulness. "But I'm nothing compared to the goddess, the great Miss Davidovich."

"Chandler, for God's sake, stop it," Alexis said without any meanness. "No sophomore has ever taken first *or* second place at nationals before. Can't you just be happy we're the youngest girls to take top honors?"

The red-head rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. "Well, I suppose that's true. And I do have two more years to compete against you. Although with my luck, it'll just be two more years of being your runner-up."

"Luck has nothing to do with it," Sonny said curtly. "This competition is about skill, right?" He didn't like the way this Chandler person was being so ungracious about Alexis beating her.

Anotionette Chandler gave Sonny a once-over. Sonny glanced down at himself. He was wearing faded jeans, a plain white t-shirt, and an unbuttoned dark blue shirt over it. "Who's this?" Chandler asked. "Your driver's kid?"

The red-head and Sonny glared at each other and Alexis raised her hands in the air. "That's enough. The tournament's over, Chandler. You're hereby forbidden from launching any more verbal attacks." Alexis stuck out her hand, and the red-head took it. As they shook, Alexis said, "I'll see you next year, okay?"

"Till next time, Davidovich," the red-head said, turned on her expensive patent leather heel, and strode off.

"What a snob," Sonny said.

"She may be a snob, but she's a damn good debater. I knew she'd be my toughest competition. She had me worried," Alexis said.

Sonny grinned widely. "No one could've beat you today. You were fantastic!" Alexis looked away, seeming uncomfortable with his praise, so Sonny tried another tack. "Can I take you out to celebrate tonight?"

"I, uh," Alexis looked around at the other girls in green and grey, who were getting ready to leave as a group. She bit her lip and gazed at Sonny with what he could only hope was regret. "I'm really sorry, I can't. I'm on a school trip, and there's no way the teachers will let me go off on my own. Plus, we've worked as a team all year for this - we should celebrate as a team, you know?"

Sonny nodded. "I understand, but I'd like to spend more than five seconds with you sometime, Alexis Davidovich."

"Yeah, me too," Alexis said softly, not looking at Sonny directly.

"Really?" Sonny touched his hand to her face very gently, so as not to scare her, and lifted her chin enough so he could see the honesty in her eyes.

"Yes, really," she said, and the gentle smile she gave him filled him with courage.

"Then, will you see me this weekend?" Sonny asked, looking at her intently.

"Miss Davidovich!" one of the chaperones called out.

"Coming, Mrs. Hagelund!" Alexis called back. To Sonny she said, "This weekend? I suppose I could, I'll be staying at my cousin's over the weekend, maybe he could take me. But where?"

"Alexis, come on! We're national champions! Time to start the victory party!" some of the other girls said excitedly, tugging at Alexis's sleeves and beginning to file out of the auditorium.

Sonny spotted a scrap of paper and some pens lying on one of the tables beside Alexis. He hastily scribbled an address. "Here. Meet me at two on Sunday. Can you do that?"

Alexis read the address. "Brooklyn?!" she asked, surprised. "But…"

"Come on, Alexis! Or we'll leave you behind!"

"I'm coming!" Alexis began walking in the direction of the exit. As she walked, she folded up the piece of paper and put it in her purse. Before she walked out the door, she said, "All right, Sonny Corinthos, I'll see you on Sunday at two. In Brooklyn."

"Oh, and, bring a bathing suit," Sonny said before the door closed behind her. Alexis's foot stopped the door from closing all the way, and she peeked her head back in.

"I don't have a bathing suit!"

"Find one!" Sonny said, chuckling.

"Come *on*, Alexis!" a gaggle of girls voices said from the other side of the door, and they dragged her away from the stage door.

part 3