Emergency Medical Dad

IV: January 10th, past

hi i'm posting this as a mental equivalent to stress eating because I have to make a college deposit in 10 minutes and I don't want to go to any of my options. 

This is set 8 years prior to the 'present' start of the story. Jessie and Jorgen are juniors in high school. Both of them are seventeen.

if this starts getting confusing, tell me and I can try to reformat to make it easier to read

***

JESSIE - EIGHT YEARS PRIOR

January 10th my junior year of high school was potentially one of the most life changing days of my entire life. Not because it was any different than a normal day, no, it was very much a standard Monday after winter break, but because of one single thing. January 10th was the day that Jorgen Hadley walked straight into everyone's entire existence. One minute he's a wallflower, the next he's potentially the biggest thing that happened at St. Benedict's since its creation.

St B's functions like a lot of other catholic schools. We went to the same elementary school that funneled right up into the high school. Same kids first day to last day. Jorgen was there, somewhat, the entire way. I figure I must've had him in some classes as a kid but he didn't stand out in the slightest. I didn't care about his existence, why would I? He was the less-important Hadley brother. His brother, Peter, only two years his superior, was the quarterback of our tiny football team and controlled the school every second he was in it. He had us top to bottom convinced he was going pro.

Peter was the one with golden brown hair and a stupid-attractive smile. Peter was the athlete, the heartbreaker, the player. He was the storybook crush, so me, like many of my classmates, spent our passing periods dreaming up little scenarios and plots to end up with Peter Hadley.

I don't think I even realized Jorgen Hadley was in the same family as Peter until junior year.

Jorgen's adopted, sporting curly black hair and a year-round bronze tan that keeps him dark and gorgeous non-stop. He's got sharper features than his all-american brother, a tougher jaw, stronger nose, eyes so intense that his brother's look drawn-on in comparison. He's just... Jorgen Hadley and that's as good as it can get.

When Peter Hadley left, we were off searching again for someone to treat like a god within the walls. Jorgen Hadley was, weirdly, the natural answer.

Throughout elementary school, he was just some dork with hair he didn't know how to wash and a voice that cracked over every other word. He was into the wrong things and talked to almost nobody. His shirts were never tucked right, socks always one higher than the other. He was so easy to ignore we often forgot he was even in our grade. On more than one occasion, he was even completely forgotten about. The most horrifying of those, was our student-council-run eighth grade graduation when his name didn't appear on the list. The only reason I know about this is because his mom stood up and pointed it out. Jorgen looked like he didn't want to be there in the first place.

You'd be excited to get him in a group project with you, the kid was beyond intelligent, but after that, he was nobody.

That's why the morning of January 10th was so insane.

The only parts of the uniform that we could alter were shoes and, since it's Chicago in the winter, coats. We had to be in a sweater vest, tie, collared shirt, pleated skirt or slacks at all times. He took it and ran with it.

***

"Jess, Jess," Lila smacked my arm, catching my attention.

"Hm?" I looked up from the flashcards I was so desperately trying to memorize. "What?"