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His alarm rang. 5:00 am. It was time for him to get ready. Jack quickly stopped the blaring noise from ringing his ears and began to crawl out of bed. The desire of merely rotting in his bed lingered in his brain. The morning rain slowly pattered against his window as he began to get dressed for another school day. He looked over to his phone to see a message from Roger. Surprised Roger still knew how to work the damn thing. Jack practically forgot himself. He went over to his phone, but ultimately decided to just text him back later. Him and Roger usually walked to school together. It was probably Roger bailing on him because of the rain. Roger adjusted back to home life, quicker than Jack. Roger’s parents welcomed him with open arms, showing him all the things he missed. Jack however, had to walk himself home. Jack’s parents didn’t come to pick him up from the airport that day. He watched everyone have somewhere to belong, but him. Hell, even Piggy and Simon’s parents came, seeing if their boys would come home, although hearing the news that they were gone. But not Jack’s. They didn’t even bother to say they missed him. No one did. Not like he cared anyway. Jack wanted to be left alone anyway.
Jack had finished getting ready, his uniform as neat as he could possibly make it. He picked up his phone to see the messages from Roger, begging to be let in. He quickly rushed to see a shivering Roger on his porch.
“Well you finally read my message you dick.” Roger spat. Jack opened his house door wider to let the other boy in.
“Didn’t see your message until now. I was getting dressed. Sorry.” Jack reached into the hallway closet to grab a towel for Roger. “Why’d you get ready so early anyway?”
“Just wanted to keep ya company. Didn’t sleep anyway. Thought I should get up early for a change.” Roger shrugged. Jack left things as that before grabbing his book bag from upstairs. As soon as he came back, the two walked in silence out the door. Roger still had the towel draped over him. Both of them were too lazy to go back to put it back. Their walk to school was silent. Roger had put his headphones in to listen to music. Probably the same stuff he always listened to before getting stranded. Jack merely listened to the rain patter on the streets, slowly getting harder as time went by. He was soaked at this point. So was Roger. And the towel. His mum probably won’t care for the damn thing so why should he? He could always wring it out later.
They had finally approached the front gates of their school. Roger said his quick goodbyes before heading off to class. Jack watched the other boy walk off before ultimately deciding to head off where he needed to go himself. His walk was quiet, eventually joined by Maurice. Like Jack, the other boy had nothing to say, yet found some way to talk enough for the both of them. Maurice’s blabbering was a comforting noise, as much as Jack liked to deny. It never got overwhelming, to hear Maurice talk about the most useless of things. He was the only boy on that Island who kept his childish wonders. That was something that confused Jack, however he never dared to ask. Jack looked over to his right to see Ralph and his “good boy posse” as Jack liked to call it. Like him, Ralph had a hard time adjusting back to land. It was something they could bond over. They both found it hard to talk to each other, whether it be out of pure hatred for the other somedays, or the sense of guilt of what happened. Jack shot him a small wave, which was reciprocated with a soft smile and wave from Ralph. That was all the communication Jack needed from him. He had dropped Maurice off to his classroom for walking across the hall to his own
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Most of the morning had passed by, his afternoon classes rolling in. Him and Ralph shared this class together. AP Literature. It was Jack’s least favorite class. The others in his class didn’t understand how not to ask sensitive questions.
As the lesson went on, Jack’s mind went in and out, almost like their old smoke signal. He simply stared at the blank piece of paper in front of him. He raised the hand that held his pencil to rest his head on. A student near him had quickly asked after to move from near him, as the felt unsafe with the way he held pencil. Jack looked down at his hand. The tip was pointed away from him, as sharp as he could make it. He had the pencil in his hand like he was ready to stab. Like he held the old sticks they used to hunt. Like the way he held the knife above that pig the first day on their island home. Jack had dropped his pencil down and merely laid his head down in shame. Time had gone faster since then. He was now fully alert of himself and his surroundings. Jack had tried to correct every bad habit he had developed every time he felt one slip. He looked at Ralph, who was counting something unknown on his fingers. Jack wanted to know. He didn’t ask however. Jack had noticed one of Ralph’s friends giving him weird eyes, at which made the fair boy immediately stop his endless counting. Jack went back to looking down at his paper, still blank, having nothing in his head to write relating to their assignment. He began to scribble on the paper, occasionally writing whatever words came into his head. At the end of the period, all that was on his paper were drawings, similar to the ones the hunters used to draw on rocks, and a messy batch of sentences. A paragraph of pure rambling. He handed his paper in at his teacher’s desk and quickly walked out of the classroom before he could be reprimanded for his inappropriate behavior and classwork.
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The school day had finally ended. Roger and Maurice had bailed on Jack, due to having a club meeting that day. Jack had found himself walking with Ralph, in pure silence. Both of them were scared to talk. Especially from earlier. Just being in someone’s presence, made Jack content. Words were unnecessary.
“We have more in common than I thought.” Ralph mumbled softly, just loud enough to get Jack’s attention.
“What do you mean?” He cocked his head to the side in confusion.
“Like habits. From. Everything. I still pretend to blow the conch sometimes. My friends find it weird.” Ralph answered. Jack nodded back politely.
“Do you still like the bass?” He asked. Ralph nodded. “I’m still head boy. Chapter chorister.”
His false enthusiasm made Ralph giggle weakly. The two didn’t speak after that. Jack’s house was closer than Ralph’s. He quickly said bye to the boy and walked into his house. His mother was in the kitchen with his older sister, talking and laughing. Jack greeted them both, only to be reprimanded for interrupting. He nodded slowly and sat down at the kitchen table to start his homework. Jack’s mother had placed a letter in front of him. It was from his school. Something about how he could receive another scholarship if he replaced chorus for JROTC. He wasn’t interested. Although Jack had been doing Choir for what his family considered “too long for someone who’s already fighting the gay allegations” (Which Jack was indeed not) he had enjoyed it. Choir was his thing. His escape. The one thing that could possibly make him forget that god awful island one day. Jack folded the letter up and placed it away from him, indicating to his mother he read it and went back to his homework. There wasn’t much to do. Just some measly math he could work out in a few minutes. His sister put a small plate of food next to him. It wasn’t anything appealing to Jack. Just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Jack ate it anyway, although it wasn’t something he was craving. Quickly after, he finished his work. He rushed to put his things in his bag and go upstairs, to his room where he’d remain until dinner. He waltzed upstairs, throwing his things aside and flopped on his bed. Just like his day had started, he received a text from Roger.