Chapter Text
Rocks skidded out of the way as his tennis shoes hit the gravel road. Jack was running late, literally and figuratively, as he’d woken up late, a first for him. Usually he was up hours early (or, you know, he just didn’t sleep at all). His mother would be even more pissed at him if he missed the bus, so he sped up a little. Being clumsy as he was, he hit the ground, just to scramble back to his feet, brushing the rocks from his arms. He turned the corner, a bright orange shape just ahead. Of course. And then it started to move. “Shit!” he exclaimed, sprinting full speed towards the bus, and thanking every god in every religion as the bus slowed to stop. He got on, ignoring the stares and the jokes that were shared at his expense. Even the bus driver was smirking.
He found himself sitting down next to a brunette who looked thoroughly uncomfortable that he’d chosen to sit there. He cast his eyes down and away, hugging his book-bag to his chest. The seat squeaked as she moved, now she was hugging the window. His eyes travelled to her shoes. Pink converse, matching her whole pink aesthetic she had going. Slightly obnoxious. He looked around, searching for another seat, but the bus was packed as usual. “Do you want me to move?” he mumbled nervously.
“No, I’m, I’m just great,” the girl said tersely.
“I, uh, I’m sorry if I’m making you uncomtr-”
“Just shut up,” she said, glaring at him, before turning her gaze to the frost covered bus window.
“Okay,” Jack whispered. Great, another glare. She’d heard him. Fuck. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but she bit her lip and turned away. Another long bus-ride? As if I haven’t had enough of those, he thought, pulling out his mp3, and putting in an ear-bud. He could feel the girl’s eyes on him, studying him and most likely judging the music he was listening to. Panicking, he flipped from “Speed of Love” by Owl City to “I Don’t Care,” by Fall Out Boy. Think hardcore thoughts think hardcore thoughts-
“Was that Owl City?”
Fuck.
“What? Uh, nope,” he responded, flustered.
“You’re such a shitty liar,” she said, rolling her eyes, “But both are good songs.”
“So you don’t hate me?” Jack squeaked.
“I suppose I hate you a smidge less,” she replied.
“That’s good, right?” Jack said, a smile creeping onto his face.
“Take it anyway you want I guess,” the girl said, “By the way, my name is Lilliana. And I know who you are.”
“In a creepy way?”
“Low-key. But no, not really,” Lilliana said. She dropped the conversation, turning back to the window. But now she wasn’t pressed up against it, no, she was the slightly closer to Jack.
Their ride came to an end, and Jack stood up, waiting for the kids in front of him to exit and let him out. Slipping into the aisle behind a large senior, he made his way off the bus, and the salty brunette was now out of sight. He let himself be pushed into the building by the flood of students behind him. Faces flashed by, but none he recognized by name. Finally his locker came into view. Rushing over, he opened it up. He threw his backpack roughly in, shutting the door with a hard push. He glanced down the hall. The flood of bus kids had dissipated, and now the halls were barren. This excluded Mark, who was at his locker, playing around with the lock while staring at his phone. He tried not to laugh as Mark almost dropped the device when his locker popped open. Mark glanced around, presumably checking to see who had seen him, and his face heated up as he noticed Jack standing there. “You didn’t see that!” he exclaimed, shoving his phone into his pocket.
“Sure I didn’t,” Jack responded, sauntering past him, “I saw absolutely nothing.” Mark shoved his things into his locker, shaking his head.
“I’m not as graceful as I look,” he explained. Jack ran his fingers over his cut up arm.
“Yeah? At least you did trip in front a whole bus full of kids,” Jack responded, leaning against the locker to Mark’s left.
“One time I tripped down the stairs and landed on Miss Henson,” Mark replied, visibly shuddering.
“Rough. Did she try to kill you?” Jack asked, glancing over at her room, hoping she couldn’t hear their conversation.
“She looked like she was gonna slap me, but the principal was like right there, thankfully, so I lived,” Mark replied, “By the way, you should come sit with us, you know, if uh, Audrey doesn’t mind.”
“Audrey won’t care, it’s wh…” Jack stopped himself before he could say “It’s what she wants.”
“Cool. I can buy you a coffee if you want,” Mark said, as the pair started walking towards the cafeteria.
“Oh, you don’t have to, I have money-”
“It’s the nice thing to do,” Mark interrupted. “Want anything special or just plain?”
“I said you didn’t have to buy me anything,” Jack whined as Mark drug him over to the little place the FBLA kept shop.
“Go sit at my table. I’ll come back with something for you. It’ll be a surprise,” Mark insisted. Jack sighed,
“Fine. I’ll go.”
“Good. Wait there,” Mark continued, before turning to talk to the senior who was running the stand. Jack walked slowly over to the table, where a boy was already sitting.
“Hi,” the kid said, not looking up from the game he was playing.
“Uh, hi,” Jack said, nervously sitting down and hoping he didn’t steal someone’s seat. “What’re you doing?”
“Your mom,” a kid behind him said. Jack turned around. Another one of Mark’s friends. The sandy haired kid sat down next to him, snickering.
“No, I’m playing Crossy Road!” the tall kid insisted.
“So Mark finally invited you here? Took him long enough,” the sandy haired kid continued, “I’m Matthias.”
“Uh hi-”
“The kid addicted to Crossy Roads would be Wade,” Matthias continued, “Bob and Felix haven’t gotten here yet. Felix probably over-slept again.”
“Are you talking about me!?” A kid piped up from the breakfast line.
“Oh, look who it is,” Matthias said, “My fav.”
“Am I really your fav?” Felix, presumably, replied.
“The blue haired bae.”
“You better not let your girlfriend hear that,” Felix said with an obnoxious wink.
“Nah, she’d be all for a threesome,” Matthias said, choking up with laughter at his own joke.
“I’m back!” Mark suddenly announced, dramatically placing a coffee down in front of Jack. “Enjoy~.”
“It’s not nice to prank your boyfriend Mark,” Wade commented.
Mark’s face flushed, “It’s not a prank! And-uh, he’s not my boyfriend!”
“-Yet,” Felix interjected, sitting down.
“What did you do to it?” Jack asked, poking at the drink as though it was poisonous.
“Nothing! I’m innocent for once!” Mark exclaimed.
“I wouldn’t trust him,” Felix whispered loudly from across the table. Mark sighed, sitting down next to Jack.
“I swear I didn’t do anything to it,” Mark said.
“I’ll believe you,” Jack responded, lifting the drink, and expecting to taste salt or something. Nothing. It was literally fine.
“See, I told you assholes! I did nothing to it.”
“I guess he learned his lesson,” Wade commented. Mark’s face heated up again.
“What’s that mean?” Jack asked. Felix snickered.
Wade sighed, forced to explain, “Back in sixth grade a bunch of us guys dared him to ask out this girl and then prank her with some nasty kool-aid. She drank it, and then promptly spit it out all over Mark’s dress shirt, which he had to wear for his pictures. His mom was so mad-But honestly, Mark, you deserved it.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t,” Mark pouted.
Jack smiled, sipping again at the hot coffee.
“They make me look like a real douche, but I swear I’m not,” Mark insisted.
“What ever ya say Markimoo,” Jack responded casually.
“Markimoo? Giving me a nickname already?” Mark asked skeptically.
“Why not? It suits you,” Jack replied with a shrug.
“I’m not a cow??”
“I’m not changing my mind-” Jack said, interrupted by a tap on the shoulder.
“I see you left me for the bae,” Audrey said, a smirk on her face. Jack felt his cheeks redden at the word bae.
“I-uh-Sorry, I-”
“She can sit here,” Mark interrupted. She smiled sweetly, sitting down. “So Audrey, how’s your day been?”
“Shit,” she said, then quickly continuing, “I can’t believe he didn’t sit with me!”
“I said I was sorry,” Jack pouted.
“I thought it was fries before guys,” Audrey continued. Jack’s face continued to redden.
Out of the blue Wade spoke up, “Seriously though, when will you guys become cannon? I mean it’s not subtle that he’s the one leaving you those notes, Mark. I saw him leave that coffee.”
“You did-?” Jack asked, just to interrupted by Mark.
“You didn’t tell me-?”
Both of the teens look away from each other, faces glowing red. Wade laughs, “Wow guys.” The bell rings, disrupting their talk and allowing Mark and Jack to bolt from the table, leaving Audrey and Wade behind.
“You know, I could hook you up with one of my girls,” Audrey comments. “Molly’s definitely your type.”
“Is she now?”
“Oh yeah-”
...
“Caught you,” Mark said, peeking back into the band room. Jack dropped the note, and it fluttered to the floor. He reached to pick it back up, and Mark sprinted towards him, taking it from him.
“Hey!” Jack squealed, face reddening as Mark’s eyes scanned the words.
“You’re too sweet,” Mark said softly, a smile forming on his lips.
“Sweet? Me?” Jack exclaimed, “Do you know who you’re talking to? I’m hardcore!”
“Yeah, as hardcore as a cookie,” Mark responded.
“I’m sure there’s a hardcore song about cookies,” Jack shot back, crossing his arms.
“Oh yeah. Email me the link if you stumble across it,” Mark said. Jack smiled nervously, looking away. It was quiet now, and his brain searched for something to say, but Mark beat him to it. “So are we going to get, you know, serious?” Jack’s face flushed.
“I, uh, I don’t know, I mean-”
“Uh, nevermind, okay? I’ve, uh, got to get to class, and…” Mark trailed off, walking faster and faster until he disappeared in the crowd of kids.
“God fucking dammit,” Jack murmured, “Fuck me.”
“What’d you do this time?” a voice behind him. Audrey.
“I fucked it up,” Jack murmured, “I was scared.”
“Scared?” Audrey asked, “Of Mark? The two things just don’t go together-” Jack stayed quiet, trying to find a response. “Holy shit, what did he do?”
“I feel like he was asking me out but he said it weird and I panicked, okay?” Jack replied quietly. Audrey bit her lip.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine, this is Mark we’re talking about. He won’t give up that easy,” Audrey said. Jack didn’t say anything. Audrey took his hand, squeezing it. “Look at me. Seriously. It’s going to be fine. You didn’t mess everything up-”
“No hand-holding at school! That breaks PDA rules!!” Miss Henson growled. Audrey seethed, dropping his hand.
“It was fucking platonic,” she murmured, barely audibly. Jack stayed quiet. Several students eyes were on them, obviously making assumptions. Great. I’ll add this to the list of 101 reasons why Mark hates me, Jack thought, sighing.
...
The low drone of students speaking was taking its toll on him. Audrey was nowhere to be seen and Jack was alone at his table, staring silently out the window.It was all happening too fast for him and he just couldn’t process it. His chest felt tight as he breathed a shaking deep breath, and it wasn’t until the near end of the period that he was jerked back into reality by a hand on his shoulder. His heart skipped a beat, but he was thoroughly let down to find it was just the bus girl, Lilliana. “We need to talk,” she said.
“About what?” he replied, slight misery apparent in his tone.
“Audrey,” Lilliana responded in a low voice, sitting down at the table. “I don’t know where she went?”
“Oh, I just assumed she went and sat with you guys, I think I pissed her off or something,” Jack murmured.
“No, no if she was mad at you you’d certainly know,” Lilliana quickly responded, “I just haven’t seen her at lunch at all. She’s here, I mean we both saw her today, but I don’t know where she went.”
“Why are you asking me? The only reason she cares about me is because she wants to see me in a relationship. It’s kinda creepy now that I say it out loud-”
“You really are fucking blind. You want to know why she hooks people up like that?” Lilliana went quiet, looking away for a second, “She fucking can’t feel love, and it drives her insane. I can accept that she’s aromantic but for some reason she can’t. I think it’s her family. Her father pushes so hard on her to continue the family name or whatever and have children and happy relationship but, she just, doesn’t like-like anyone.” Lilliana went silent. “Don’t tell her I told you, fuck I should’ve just kept my mouth shut..” Jack bit his lip. “Seriously. But it’s kinda obvious, r-right?”
“I mean, I had no idea, but I’m not the most perceptive person,” Jack said.
“Fuck, just, uh, act normal?” Lilliana said, eyes searching frantically all around, “Just don’t talk about HER relationship. Okay?”
“Wait, is she...dating someone?” Jack asked.
“Yes,” Lilliana said tersely, “But it’s really one-sided at this point.”
“Who?”
Lilliana looked down and away, “Me.”
“You? And Audrey?” Jack asked in confusion. A sly smile formed on Lilliana’s face,
“I think it’s funny you of all people assume everyone is het.”
“So she’s bi?”
“Pan actually,” Lillian said, “Fuck, there I go, doing it again. I’m a fucking awful person. But she can’t hide in the closet forever. You treat her any different and I’ll fucking kill you.” Jack smiled nervously, relieved as the bell rung. As he sprinted down the hall, he froze, seeing Mark emerge from the bathroom. He appeared as though he’d been crying. They met eyes. Mark walked towards him.
“I-I didn’t mean to, uh, freak you out or anything like that,” Mark said.
“You didn’t, I was just surprised-”
“Look, I know it seems weird, but I’ve liked you ever since I first saw you- your bright green hair is so nice, and your eyes are so pretty, and the first time I heard you giggle, I just, I have it bad for you, and I just was so disappointed that you didn’t automatically respond that I freaked out,” Mark admitted, playing nervously with his longish hair.
“So are you okay now?” Jack asked quietly, watching Mark smile, wiping his eyes.
“Y-Yeah, I believe so,” Mark replied. Jack smiled back, taking Mark’s hand in his own and squeezing it gently.
“Good.”