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Jack was beyond annoyed at this point. His blood was boiling, face hot, and he was sure smoke was coming out of his ears.
It was April Fools’ Day, and Race — in his own words — “naturally had to prank him until he wanted to be skinned alive”.
And he was right — Jack would take death over the constant pranks by his foster brother. Sure, at the beginning of the day, the pranks were innocent.
Elmer’s glue on his alarm clock had been the first one. Though annoying, he was able to just wash the sticky substance off in the sink.
Then followed by changing his whole tube of toothpaste to some sort of slime. Jack groaned and took out one of the travel-sized toothpastes his dentist had given him to brush his teeth.
He turned on his shower to see blood red water that smelled suspiciously like KoolAid instead of the clear water that didn’t have any scent. He had to ask Charlie to use his bathroom after. Luckily, Race hadn’t done the same “prank” on him; Race hadn’t done any pranks on Charlie, for that matter.
Jack opened his pants drawer to see it empty, except for only one pair of booty shorts with the words “Hey Cutie” printed on the ass. He tried searching all through his room, to no avail. He’d worn it out to public before; once more couldn’t hurt too bad.
Race and Charlie snickered when he came to the dining table for breakfast, while Medda raised her eyebrow at his fashion choice. He knew it wasn’t her judging him. It was just unusual for Jack, but he’d worn worse.
Breakfast didn’t seem to be tainted with, but Jack wouldn’t be surprised if he woke up with salmonella the next morning.
Jack had flipped his shoe upside down to do a check, and, sure enough, those spiky tiny balls rolled out, coated in baby powder. Race pouted, acting annoyingly innocent (possibly annoyed and innocent). Jack slipped his foot into the shoe with caution, but felt nothing else shoved up the shoe. Thank god.
In a panic, he double-checked his backpack and his laptop folders, but everything seemed to be in place. (“I’m not that big of a dick,” Race chuckled when he saw Jack checking his digital schoolwork. Jack responded by flipping him off, his blue, purple, and pink tie-dye hoodie exposing his abdomen at the raised arm.)
Things got progressively worse after the 3 Larkin siblings left the house.
Highlights include:
A mix of jellybeans popping out of his locker. (That was actually a good surprise)
Stealing Jack’s binder. (Jack was glad that most of the work was now online)
Literally dumping a bucket of ice cold milk onto Jack in the middle of the hallway during passing period. (Medda had to drive to the school to give Jack a change of clothes. She even brought one of his missing jeans; apparently they were all shoved in a box underneath Race’s bed. How Race didn’t get picked up early during Medda’s visit was beyond Jack.)
Stealing Jack’s calculator. (His first period was math, so that was a bit of a backfire on Race)
Jump scaring him at every turn he could get. (Jack was naturally a loud person, so…)
Stealing Jack’s pencil case, except for one pencil and eraser. (“How considerate,” Jack grumbled, tone dripping with heavy sarcasm.)
Adding some sauce that caused his lunch to taste rotten and numb all feeling in Jack’s mouth. (Actually, Jack wasn’t sure if that was Race or the school’s non-existent budget; but he blamed it on the blonde.)
Race just slowly stealing Jack’s items throughout the day. (The older did try to see the positive side and was refreshed by how light his back was after months of hauling 10 tons around.)
Reminder: these are highlights.
Now, this brings us here: a pissed-off Jack Kelly-Larkin stomping through the hallways at the end of the school day. Students backed up, all mildly afraid at his facial expression. Sure, they were all pranked that day — it only made sense, but Jack arguably had it the worst. Race was nowhere to be seen, but where his little brother was the least of Jack’s problems.
He snapped when he felt a small tap on his back.
Jack took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, too fed up to look at his brother’s face. He turned around with a small spin on his heels and slapped him without a second thought. It emitted a small gasp. He wasn’t for violence, but he was too annoyed to care anymore.
“What the fuck, Tony? For the love of a god I don’t believe in, promise that when we get h-” Jack felt the words die in his throat when he opened his eyes and didn’t see the short, spitfire of a blonde he called one of his foster brothers. Instead: a neatly kept brunette, who stood a few inches above him. He wore a mustard yellow hoodie with a ladybug stitched over one of the breasts. His black-rimmed circular glasses sat on his nose, only enhancing the blue of his eyes. Jack saw his hand cupping a pinkish-red cheek. He could only assume that that was where he slapped him.
But instead of an angry, a hurt, or even a sympathetic expression, the boy’s lips were curled into an amused smirk.
“I find it funny that you had to emphasize that you didn’t believe in any god. Though I am Jewish, I respect that.” the boy said with a short laugh. Jack was momentarily stunned, mostly by the fact on how he doesn’t even seem to care that he bitch-slapped him
“I-I’m so sorry— god! I thought you were my — someone I know, so—”
“I figured that out when you said ‘Tony’. My name’s David.” Jack couldn’t help but sheepishly smile. The tips of his ears were probably now pink because of embarrassment and not anger. The boy — David — continued, “Just know, harm is not the way to go, even if it’s your brother.”
“Wait— you knew that Race was…”
“I think the whole school’s aware about you today,” David admitted. Jack internally groaned. David held up a plastic tupperware. Jack didn’t even notice it before, probably because he was so hyper focused on what he did to the innocent boy. “I don’t mean this as pity, but it seems like you need this a lot more than me. Of course, unless you don’t like chocolate or allergic to dairy, or something — I don’t know.” He let out an embarrassed laugh. “My sister made a batch and forced me to take some to school. I know it’s suspicious because it’s April Fools’ Day and all; but they’re good, promise.”
“I don’t know if I can…” Jack admitted truthfully. He didn’t want to get food poisoning, as kind as those stranger’s eyes looked and as sincere he sounded.
“I’d eat all of them to show you that they’re safe, but that’d defeat the purpose of giving them to you, now would it?” David smiled. He extended his hand even further, and Jack hesitantly took it with a grateful smile.
“Thank you,” Jack said, barely above a whisper.
“‘Course,” David nodded his head before pivoting on his heel and walking in the opposite direction. Jack watched his figure until he took a left at the end of the hallway and disappeared behind a building.
The brunette bit his lip as he took another glance at the container. He muttered a ‘fuck it’ and unclasped the sides of the tupperware. Inside was a few squares of chocolate brownies, all covered with sprinkles. He realized how much of a loser he probably looked like, stood in the middle of the hallway, but — as long as he didn’t get any milk poured down his shirt — he’s okay with that.
Jack picked up one of the squares, examining it, before popping it in his mouth. It was soft and chewy with a slight crunch from the sprinkles. It was chocolatey goodness and definitely not yet another prank. It was good to have that at the end of a day of constant humiliating pranks.
He went for another piece when he noticed a note taped to the back of the lid. He pulled the paper off to read it:
If you ever want to talk about little brothers, brownie recipes, or talk in general; my number.
(xxx) xxx-xxxx
Please don’t feel obliged to use it!
— David
PS: I promise you, this isn’t a random phone number.
PPS: It would be nice if you returned the container tomorrow.
PPPS: We have the same lunch period, so you’ll just have to try to find me somewhere behind the school.
PPPPS: This isn’t me luring you in to murder you. Though, I do sound suspicious though, huh…just like, trust me?
Jack couldn’t help but smile at the note and the absurd amount of PS’s. He was quick to pull out his phone and text the number.
JACK
this is jack! i hope u were telling the truth…also that was a lot of ps’s
just saying
DAVID
heyo its david. i find it hard to fib…even through notes lol
and im aware :’)
i ramble
JACK
ur hand isnt tired by now?
The 3 dots disappeared and reappeared a few times.
DAVID
surprisingly not