I ran out of the classroom as Colton and Alex talked about me. Their words kept running through my mind, not leaving.

“Ew! Get off of me you disgusting fag!”
“He’s disgusting.”
“Yeah, he is.”

I ran into the bathroom ignoring the weird looks I was getting and ran to a stall. Once I got in the stall, a tear rolled down my face. Why the hell am I crying? Alex never was nice to me before, did I really think that was going to change? He will always be an arrogant, ignorant, jerk.

I sat down on the toilet seat not wanting to go to next period, maybe if I call my Dad he will come pick me up? No, he’s probably at the hospital.

I sat there in the bathroom for a few more minutes before I was going to get out. I put my hand on the handle of the door but another tear rolled down my face. Stop crying! I let out a few sobs and then there was more tears rolling down my face and they weren't going to stop. I realized that I was crying for multiple reasons. One, Alex thinks I’m some disgusting faggot. Two, Mom is dying and there is nothing I can do about it. Three, no one even knows I’m in here and no one is coming to look for me. Which is understandable.

The bathroom door opened and I put my hand over my mouth to quiet my sobs.
“Where is he?” I heard Alex whisper angrily. Was he looking for me? Of course not, why would he? I heard him huff in annoyance and he started banging on stalls, one by one. He started making his way down and reached the stall I was in. I heard him sigh and knock on it.

“Jack?” He asked tapping on the stall door. He must have seen my notebook on the floor, dammit. “If you don’t open this door, I’m taking your notebook.” I quickly grabbed my notebook off the floor before he could grab it, this notebook has all my lyrics in it and no one is reading it, especially him.

He let out a sigh and said, “Jack please. I’m not leaving until you come out of the stall and let me talk to you.” I just sat on the toilet seat with all my belongings on my lap silently letting tears roll down my face, some getting on my glasses, the tears were making my vision blurry.
Alex started getting angry and banged on the door, “Jack open the door.” All the sudden the door busted open revealing an angry Alex. But it seemed that once he saw me, his face softened. I looked down to the floor, feeling pathetic.

“This all my fault.” Alex sighed running his hands through his hair. I looked back up at him with my red face and shook my head.
“I’m not c-c-crying over y-you.” I stuttered through my tears, it wasn't a complete lie.
“Whatever you have going on can’t be worse of what I have to go through every damn day!” Alex automatically snapped. I was kind of scared, what the hell could he be going through.
“A-at least your M-M-Mom isn't in the hospital, Alex.” I sighed quietly getting off the toilet and walking pass Alex.
“Jack wait-” Alex said grabbing my arm. I turned around and he let go of my arm.
“What?” I asked rubbing my eyes quickly and then pushing up my glasses.
“I’m sorry. For being such an ass.” He apologized quietly looking at the ground, he seemed hesitant, it’s like I was meeting a whole new Alex.
“Yeah.” I mumbled, I knew he didn't mean it.
“I’m being serious,” he said making eye contact with me. “You mean so much to Evan and you’re the one who kept him together when I wasn't there and I really should be nicer to you. You’re an amazing guy. You always make your friends smile and I wish I could be more like you but I can’t.”
“It’s never too late to change who you are.” I said looking him in the eyes. He had beautiful eyes.
“I’ll remember that…” He said smiling a genuine smile.
“Good.” I smiled and started walking towards the door again.
“Wait-” Alex whispered, I turned around to face him. It looked like he was having a battle with himself. “Um, uh, Mrs.Miller said you agreed to tutor m-me. Uh, can w-we, uh, studying tonight maybe? Uh, I mean if you aren't busy, you prob-” I cut him off by chuckling a bit. Why was he so nervous?
“That’ll be great, whose house?” I asked with a smile tugging at my lips.
“Yours? Shit, I just invited myself.” Alex said with a laugh.
“That works,” I smiled. I ripped a little piece of paper from my notebook and wrote my number and address on it. “Here.”
“Thanks.” He smiled at me before I walked out of the bathroom.

---

I walked into the cafeteria seeing all my friends at their normal seats. I sat in between Cass and Evan since Sally was on the end sitting next to Evan.

“Jackoo!” Rian yelled as I sat down at the table making us all laugh.
“What’s for lunch?” I asked making small talk with a smile.
“Anything we can eat before Zack sees it and takes it away from us and eats it for himself.” Cass joked punching Zack in the arm as if he even felt it.
“Hey! Rude!” Zack laughed joining the conversation.
“What do you say, all of us hang out tonight?” Sally asked us all.
“On a Monday?” Rian asked raising his eyebrows.
“Yeah, play some video games, have some pizza.” Sally smiled. They all started talking about what they were going to do tonight as I sat there quiet smiling at my lap.
“You gonna come Jackary?” Evan asked, I looked at him and shook my head.
“Can’t, gotta tutor tonight. Let’s get some lunch.” I said and he nodded.
“Who you tutoring tonight? Evan asked as we started walking up to get lunch. We passed Alex’s table and he smiled at me and I smiled back before looking back at Evan.
“Um, what?” Evan asked looking between Alex and I.
“ ‘Um, what,’ what?” I laughed.
“I seen that smile,” Evan smirked nudging my shoulder.
“It was just a friendly smile, Evan. Drop it.” I laughed and grabbed some lunch.

---

School was soon over and I arrived back home. I walked inside and was greeting by Sugar. Sugar was my Husky puppy.
“Hey girl.” I laughed as I bent down to pet her as she jumped around happily. “Anyone home?” I called out hoping Mom would walk out of the kitchen and greet me asking how my day went before everything happened. I sighed knowing Dad was probably at the hospital with her.

I walked into the kitchen with Sugar following closely behind me. I opened the fridge and got some iced tea. I sat down at the bar and drank my iced tea in silence until my phone buzzed.

From Unknown Number: Hey Jack, it’s Alex. I was wondering when you wanted to study?

I quickly added his number into my phone and ran up to my room. I quickly organized it and changed into some better looking clothes. I put on a black t-shirt and some gray skinny jeans and a pair of vans. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted him back.

To Alex G: Hey Alex, you can come over now if you want. Doesn't matter.

Almost instantly he responded.

From Alex G: I’ll be over :)

I smiled at the text message and ran over to my mirror. I grabbed a brush and quickly brushed my hair and flung it across my forehead spraying it with loads of hairspray quickly. I cleaned my glasses and went downstairs to greet Alex whenever he showed.

I sat down on the couch for a few minutes and turned on some T.V. The Nightmare Before Christmas was on so I just put that on since Halloween was just around the corner. Then, a knock was at the door and I walked over to it and answered it.

“Hey.” Alex said and my jaw dropped.
“Wow, hey.” I gasped. Alex was standing at my front door wearing a black and white plaid button up, with a black and white scarf, black skinny jeans, a black beanie and some combat boots. “Well this is a surprise.”
“Well, can I come in?” Alex laughed.
“Oh, uh, yeah.” I laughed awkwardly. “So why are you dressed like that?”
“Um, it’s a long story. I’m not going into detail because I barely know you but for some odd reason, I trust you.” Alex chuckled a bit and so did I. “Well, at school the way I act and dress is fake. The real me dresses like this, listens to punk music, and I’m not an actual jerk, I just act that way at school to blend in with the rest of the team.”
“So you don’t actually like football?” I questioned and Alex’s eyes widened.
“No, I still love football. Football is my life,” Alex smiled.
“Oh, well, so the things you say at school isn't true?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Alex questioned looking confused.
“When you bully people, you don’t mean any of it?”
“Yeah, I hate being like that to people but I kinda have to be mean to them. I don’t really mean any of the terrible things I've called you over the years either.”
“Well that’s a relief.” I laughed and so did he.
“Just don’t tell people at school, got it?” Alex said seriously.
“Yup.” I said pushing up my glasses.
“Good. Now, let’s studying.” Alex laughed.

I lead him upstairs and into my room. “Sorry, it’s kinda small compared to your house.” I apologized as I dropped my backpack on the floor and so did he.
“It’s fine, it’s cozy.” Alex smiled. He glanced around my room and his eyes widened once he seen Sugar laying on my bed.
“You have a dog?” Alex said happily.
“Yup, her name is Sugar. Want to pet her?” I asked. Alex nodded his head eagerly. He walked over to my bed and sat down on it and started petting Sugar. Sugar barked happily at him and rolled over from him to pet her belly.
“She’s so cute, Dad never approved of pets.” Alex said sadly.
“That sucks.” I said not sure of what else to say. He nodded and I grabbed our backpack and put them on the bed as well.
“Ready to study?” I asked.
“Yeah.”

We decided to listen to some Green Day while we studied since Alex likes them a lot, I prefer Blink but their cool too. Sugar sat next to Alex at the end of the bed and I sat at the head board giving him room.

That fact that he trusted me with his secret made my day. He looked even more attractive this way. He let me in and that meant the world to me. The way his hair was covered by his beanie, the way his tight jeans hugged him, just him in general was beautiful, all of his features.

“Mind if I take this off? It’s hot.” Alex asked pointing to his scarf.
“Yeah, go ahead.” I said.
“Woo!” Alex laughed flinging his scarf across the room. I just laughed at the real Alex. “Is anyone else home?”
“N-no, uh, my Dad is at the hospital visiting my Mom.”
“Oh, uh, sorry.” Alex said awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.
“It’s fine.” I said quickly, “alright let’s study Algebra II.”

---

“Make sense?” I asked after about three hours of tutoring.
“A bit.” He smile scratching his head, eyebrows furrowed.
“Good.” I smiled and glanced at my phone, “It’s six, want to grab something to eat?”
“Like go somewhere to eat?” Alex asked, he seemed a little off.
“We don’t have to, we can just eat here, or if you want to go home.” I said awkwardly, maybe I’m making him feel uncomfortable.
“I’ll eat here with yo-” he got cut off by his phone ringing. He held up one finger and answered it.
“Hi Dad. Yes, I’m with the tutor. Okay. Sorry. I’ll be home.” He sighed and closed his phone.
“Change of plans, I need to go home.” He sighed and so did I.
“Oh, alright.” I said. He put he belongings in his bag and we walked downstairs.

“Thanks for all the help, can we study again this weekend since we have that big test next Monday in Math.” Alex asked fixing his backpack strap that laid on his shoulder.
“Yeah, of course.” I smiled. “And Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for trusting me.” I smiled and so did he.
“Don’t make me regret it.” Alex laughed before leaving my house.

Little did Jack know, there was so many more walls to be broken down.

Notes

So this chapter is the longest yet. 2000+ words!
Thank you for everyone who has voted, commented, and subscribed. Remember to comment, vote, and subscribe, I love getting feedback so I know people are actually enjoying the story haha XD
What do think will happen when they go back to school the next day? Hmmm.
Happy Reading!!<3