ʀᴀɪꜱɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴀᴋᴇꜱ ➸ Jacob Barber

𝓃𝑒𝓌𝓈𝓅𝒶𝓅𝑒𝓇

Y/N and Jacob walked to school together as they always did. There was a school bus that ran for them but they never got on it, the bus was always far too crowded for their liking so they decided to walk. Their new town was away from the city, which they both liked, but still close enough to go on a shopping spree at a moments notice. 

The route they took to school was through a park, along a gravel path surrounded by trees. When they first tried that route, Y/N couldn't wait to get out of there quick enough. Every time she blinked and looked at the leaves on the ground, near a body of water, she always used to see Ben's dead corpse sitting there waving at her with a dead and blood-stained expression. 

But after months of taking the same route, she began to stop seeing the boys face there every single morning. She began to enjoy walking that route and seeing the golden leaves and the tall trees that watched over them like giants. It was the perfect place to walk with Jacob, her friend.

It still felt weird for her to call him that, after everything they'd been through and done together. But then, it felt weird for her to call him anything else. Boyfriend? She felt uneasy at the thought. They both had the same father figure, it'd be like... like dating a brother. But then, why did her stomach feel like that every time he smiled at her?

As they always did, right on time, they both arrived at school and made their way carefully across the busy car park. The older students drove recklessly and called out to each other as if they were the only people in the entire facility. Then again, they'd both be driving in about a year or so's time, maybe they'd be acting the same way themselves.

They both arrived at the pupil entrance and headed inside of the school, met with a wave of people at their lockers- talking about the latest gossip. A few smiling passer-by's waved and smiled at Y/N. "Morning!" They greeted her before walking away again. Her sudden large group of friends still made her feel uneasy, she'd never had that many friends back home. In fact, she never thought she'd be capable of making so many friends but somehow she'd managed it. 

A lot of people greeted her as they walked through the hallway to their lockers, which were conveniently next to each others. But when they both got there, she realised once again that nobody had greeted Jacob with the same enthusiasm. Or at all, really. Y/N looked at him as he went through his locker, grabbing books. He only ever looked that sad when he thought nobody could see him. 

As they both closed their lockers, Y/N kept her gaze on him. "Do you want to come and sit with me at lunch? I'm sure my friends wouldn't mind." She offered, whole-heartedly meaning every word of what she said. 

"What? You think those football guys and girls in mini-skirts would want me at their table?" Jacob replied, his voice painted with sarcasm. He smiled and shook his head shortly. "No, thanks though. I think I'll just go over some work with Mr Wallace again. See you after school, okay?" Jacob said before taking off down the hallway, head down at the floor in order to hide his face from people.

Y/N sighed and slumped back against her locker, books held up to her chest. Mr Wallace.

She struggled to remember a lunchtime where Jacob hadn't been in that teachers classroom, sat there with a sandwich, going over math equations and the like. Sometimes she could swear those two had better conversations than she did with Jacob herself. 

Never mind. Y/N headed down the hallway herself, going to her classes for the day. 

༄༄༄༄༄

Y/N walked down the hallway, heading towards her locker to meet Jacob to walk home. If he even wanted to walk home? 

Jacob hadn't gone to last period and she couldn't help but wonder if he was okay. Where could he be? She knew that Andy would ground Jacob for twenty-seven years if the attendance officer decided to call home.

Y/N walked down the hallway, dipping her head around the doors of every classroom she passed, hunting the school for him. But she was met with nothing but empty classrooms and a few odd stares from teachers, asking if she was okay.

And then, finally, he walked out of a classroom door in front of her. Jumping out of his skin as he saw her standing there, staring at him. "Jacob! Where were you?" She asked, not being able to keep her voice steady, just relieved she'd finally found the stupid boy.

"Oh, sorry. I was going to text you, I forgot. I skipped last period to help Mr Wallace with some stuff, that okay?" He answered, acting like he'd just been interrogated at gun-point. 

Y/N sighed with relief, walking down the hallway with him to put some books back in her locker. "Yes. Sorry. Of course, that's fine. I was just worried." She smiled at him before stopping at her locker, opening it quickly so she could put her books inside and head home. "We could watch a movie later? That new one just came out, the one with the hospital and the pickpocket?" He hadn't replied to her yet. "You know, the one with that really tall guy." She turned around to look at him.

He was stood there, staring at his locker blankly. Eyes locked on a sheet of paper that had been pulled straight out of a newspaper. A news clipping of him walking out of the trial with her, Laurie and Andy. He reached forwards and pulled it down from his locker, balling it up and throwing it into a bin near them. "Idiots." He sighed to himself before finally opening his locker and throwing his books inside. 

With stuff like that still online, there was no doubt as to why Jacob was having a hard time making friends. 

Especially with a missing boy.