The next morning, Jackson thought it would be a normal day. It was far from ordinary. The day started with him taking his dad to the hospital. His father had a heart attack.
Jackson spent the majority of his day in the hospital with his dad. The doctors said that he would be fine, but that didn't stop Jackson from over thinking and worrying.
After spending 5 hours at the hospital, he drove back home. When he arrived his house, he tried to disassociate and focus on video games. And so, he spent the next few minutes enjoying himself and forgetting about his problems.
He later got a call from Diana, Jackson was so excited to talk to her. He knew that she could make him feel better. But happened next was far from that.
When Jackson answered, he could hear pain and sadness in her voice. That broke him even more. She told him that Alex didn't want to talk to her for as long as she stays in contact with Jackson. Even though he made it clear to everyone that he was sixteen, they had somehow just realized the age difference between Jackson (16) and Diana (18).
Jackson knew that Diana had a dark past with relationships and he knew that she needed people like Hanna and Alex in her life. Without Diana's friends, she would give up.
So, Jackson does what toxic masculinity taught him, to hurt himself to save the other person. He told Alex and Hanna anything he could to make them hate him so they would alienate him and stay with Diana.
It hurt him, like an arrow through the heart. But Jackson did it because he cared for Diana. He put her first. What a man should do I guess.
Hanna and Alex will never knew the truth. He was okay with that. He knew that they'd hate him forever, but at least they'd stay with Diana and take care of her in his absence.
Jackson was now back to the broken boy he was before he met Diana. Maybe even more broken than before.
THE END
