Long Live Us

*Jacks pov*

Jack stared in awe, amazement, confusion, fear, happiness at this new boy. He had walked in, his head down and his feet shuffling awkwardly. He was shy, that was obvious, but there was something about this boy that intrigued Jack. The boy had a navy suit on which hung from his shoulders and his sleeves were rolled up, revealing his tanned, and hairy, arms. His trousers hung low around his waist, his thin figure shown off. He had light brown hair swept across his head, and Jack silently begged for the boy too look up so he could see his face. The lanky boy's wish was answered when sir asked him to introduce himself, and he looked up with a small smile. His cheeks were a light pink, probably from a blush at all the attention, his lips were tender looking, and hidden underneath was a set of perfectly aligned teeth. But Jack was mesmerised by his eyes. He had dark eyebrows, which were perfectly curved, and his eyes were a dark brown. The boy introduced himself as "Alex from Essex" and Jack couldn't help himself from shouting "shut upp!" in the stereotyped Essex accent. Most of the class laughed, but Jack saw a flash of fear cross Alex's dark eyes before the boy quickly dropped his head once more.
'Oh shit have I offended him...already?' Jack thought to himself, smiling at Alex, when he slowly looked up at him, to show he didn't mean it badly. He sighed in relief when the smile was returned. 'Thank fuck for that'.

After a few moments, Jack heard sir call his name. 'What the fuck have I done now?!' Was his initial thought, but he shook his head and pushed away from the table and walked up to the front. He felt Alex watching him, but decided not too look up, and shoved his hands into his pockets. For some reason he found himself feeling nervous, which was a rarity in Jack's life, and a feeling he wasn't used to at all. When he got up to the front he realised what was happening, so asked sir if he was being paired with Alex. The teachers always did this with Jack, he always got the new boy. He never understood why...teachers didn't like him because he was "class clown", and Jack didn't think of himself as a great role model. There were people that would be better suited to a new person, people who would be caring and supportive, whereas Jack would just hope for the guy too get on with it. He guessed he'd never know, but for now, he was with Alex. Jack mentally decided to go with the cool and collected approach, as he wanted this guy too like him.
"Er so yeah I'm Jack, I guess you can come and sit with me and Rian whilst we do all the crappy form time stuff, and yeah...Alex right?" He asked, smiling at him. Alex nodded and Jack led him to the table, introducing him to Rian, Hayley and Lucy before sitting down.

As the three boys got too know each other a bit better, Jack started to try and piece together Alex. He spoke very little, he had noticed, and it was mainly Rian talking. Alex seemed scared to Jack, which is fair enough he thought. Jack had taken in the way he ran his hands through his caramel hair, and the way his lips rounded when he smiled. He couldn't quite work out why he was so interested by this new boy, but he was, he definitely was. Jack noticed Alex would say something or laugh, then stop and look around shyly, which made Jack think that he could be confident, and had a great personality, but was uncomfortable in new situations. He considered what would happen if he joined the gang, and thought perhaps it would be a good thing considering how similar he was too all of them. He'd introduce everyone on Monday when Alex had lessons and break times with them, and Jack hoped the others would see how cool he was as well.
"Jack, helloooo anyone home?" Rian said, waving in Jack's face and bringing him out of his daydream.
"Oh shit hi sorry what?" Jack mumbled confused, running a hand over hid fringe to hide his embarrassment. Both boys were laughing at him, Rian's high chuckle and Alex's deeper snort, which made Jack smirk to himself.
"We're talking about what subjects were doing, apparently we're doing the same stuff?" Alex asked, smiling shyly at Jack. The taller boy nodded.
"Yeah that's what Wilko said." he replied, continuing to nod and smiling softly. Jack noticed that Alex's grin widened and his cheeks turned a darker shade of pink.
"How comes you call him Wilko?" The new boy asked curiously, which Rian chuckled at. Most people knew Mr Wilkinson as Wilko anyway, but only Jack would call him it to his face and in front of other teachers.
"It's his pet name. We're friends." Jack said innocently, shrugging and pulling a face.
"Yeah about that..." A voice sounded behind them, and Jack turned too see the teacher there leaning against the table, his eyebrows raised. "More like because you're rude and have very little respect." He said, laughing to show that he meant it lightly, as he moved round the table handing out various sheets. The three boys laughed, and Jack replied "you know I love you" with a cheeky smile on his face. Mr Wilkinson was one of the only teachers Jack actually got on with, him and Miss Jackson. They actually understood him, and didn't just tolerate him because he got good grades. He smiled to himself, remembering various arguments he had had with teachers in the past, shaking his head at how stupid they all were. And he was pretty certain this year wouldn't be any different.

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Jack finally reached his driveway, turned in and walked up to the door. His mum's car wasn't in the drive, so Jack knew he was going in to an empty house. This wasn't unusual, and he was often left by himself. Since his dad left, Jack's mum worked tirelessly to provide for the two of them. She was regularly working late and going in early, and sometimes sent off on weekend meetings and what nots, leaving Jack on his own for days at a time. Sometimes he hated it, and the two would often argue over it, but at the end of the day he knew he would never be able to stop her from doing whatever she wanted to do. He did love his mum dearly, and it was reciprocated, but his heart would always sink as he made dinner and watched tv alone. Jack pushed his way into the house, dropping his bag on the floor and wandering into the kitchen. Sure enough, on the table was a note, saying 'sorry Jacko, got called off on a meeting. Be back Monday evening, love you lots xxxx' Jack scoffed, folding the note up and throwing it into the bin. He opened up the fridge to see if there was any food, and ended up grabbing himself a packet of crisps from the cupboard and deciding he would make himself mac and cheese later on.

Jack walked into his living room and flopped onto the couch, beginning to channel flick and see what he would end up watching tonight. Fridays weren't bad as there was a lot of "Friday night comedy" on, so Jack was content. He considered texting Jenna to come over, but he had therapy in the morning so thought better of it. As much as he hated being alone, he hated going to therapy tired or hungover even more. His therapist always thought something had happened, and never believe Jack when he told her that he'd had friends over. To Jack, it wasn't really worth it. He could deal with nights alone - he did it all the time. Instead he settled down, made himself dinner, and let his mind drift between watching crap on the telly and checking his phone. His mind wandered from buying new shirts, to Christmas, to playing his guitar, and then, strangely, to Alex. Jack was confused, and slightly annoyed, at how he was sat wondering what the new boy was doing. He hardly knew him, he shouldn't care. He doubted he had even crossed Alex's mind since he'd waved bye on the way out of school. Jack guessed he just wanted to be friends with the light haired boy, and genuinely wanted too help him settle in. Caring much about other people wasn't really Jack's thing, because he believed everyone should stand on their own two feet, if you lean on someone else they can only let you down, so what's the point? Josh often called Jack cynical and people-hating, but then he thought most people were just stupid and naive not too see that others will only hurt you. That's why Jack had only ever really opened up to Jenna, and Rian to a certain extent, and Josh to even less of an extent. Although he treasured his friends dearly, and would feel lost without them, none of them knew all of his deepest darkest secrets, just as he assumed he didn't know theirs. Fairs fair.

As the clock reached 11, Jack decided too haul himself up and upstairs into bed. He quickly showered so he wouldn't have to in the morning, brushed his teeth, dried his hair and slipped into his boxers for bed. Jack hated the idea of actually wearing clothes to bed, and couldn't understand how people did it. He'd even sleep in just boxers when Jenna was round, because he literally couldn't do it. People told him he would have to get a tattoo somewhere so he didn't look so "plain", and he kinda liked that idea. Clambering into bed, Jack pulled the duvet up to his chin and flicked off the light. He let out a long, loud sigh, before rolling over and closing his eyes.

Notes

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