and suddenly everything changed

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟽

    "Have you tried drinking water?" Deuce implores, leaning closer to his friend with a concerned frown.

     "Yes," Jackson grumbles, tiredly rubbing his temples and pushing up his glasses in the process.

     "Maybe we could go grab an ice pack real quick?" The gorgon suggests, "I don't think she'll be here for another..." he glances at his phone, "hour or so?"

     Jackson quickly shakes his head, dropping his hands before adjusting his glasses. "I don't see how that'll help. It's already freezing out here." He mutters with a shrug, hugging his backpack close to his chest, "I'm already starting to lose feeling in my fingers," he remarks, balling his cold hands into fists.

     "Good point," Deuce retorts, glancing around the courtyard of the school as he rolls down the sleeves to his hoodie. He then opens his backpack to pull out a green beanie; almost the exact shade as the slithering snakes he has for hair.

     Jackson scrolls idly through his phone, eventually opening up his text messages and frowning when he still finds no response from Holt. He quietly rolls his eyes, though just before he leaves the app he finds himself scanning through the last message he had sent. It was a bit... aggressive—he'll admit it—but how else was he supposed to react to Holt literally attacking his best friend? He glances back at Deuce at the thought, a small smirk tugging at his lips at the sight of the gorgon struggling to tuck each unruly snake underneath his beanie.

     Maybe Deuce was right though; maybe there was more to the story and Jackson was being a little too harsh. He chews his lip thoughtfully, his tiny smile gradually faltering as he reads through the text for a second time. A small part of him does feel kind of bad. Though there's still a huge part of him that's entirely envious of the hot-headed DJ for totally getting away with injuring Deuce's shoulder without any punishment whatsoever. Who just does that? Jackson shakes his head in distaste, glaring at the message left on 'read' with an agitated frown. Then he winces, his tight grip on the phone wavering as he raises a free hand to his head.

     Deuce pauses wrestling with the snakes to throw Jackson another worried frown. He looks down at the concrete steps beneath the two of them with his brows furrowed thoughtfully. Then almost as if a lightbulb lights up over his head, he suddenly perks up and turns back to Jackson. "Hey—Maybe taking a walk will make you feel better."

     "Huh?" Jackson grumbles, squinting up at his friend seated at his side with a brow raised in confusion. He keeps his hand gripping his head, hoping the contact would somehow ease the pain.

     The stupid headache had started during fifth period—well, more like at the end of class—but that's besides the point. It was right after that weird thing with the pen happened. He still finds himself entirely lost on how the hell he ever mustered up that much... heat? He shakes his head at the thought. Pretending it didn't happen at all seems like the best option so far since thinking any harder over the whole impossibility of the situation made the throbbing pain in his head impossibly worse.

     "Being outside and moving around—it might make your headache go away," Deuce explains, adjusting the beanie over his head.

     Jackson gives Deuce an intrigued look, "What're you trying to insinuate?" he remarks with a small smile tugging at his lips.

     "Well, I have a shift in about an hour or so—so maybe you can walk with me. I have all the work you missed yesterday too, so while I work you can get caught up and all that junk," Deuce shrugs, already moving to grab his worn black backpack from the steps below him.

     Jackson actually perks up at the idea. A walk would be a nice change of pace. Otherwise, he would probably spend all afternoon being cooped up in his room. Before he can really express any of this though, his shoulders slump at a text from his mom appearing on screen.