I Want to Feel Home

1 Ms Adelaide

The air felt stale. The white walls stared back coldly. The electronic whirring of the air conditioner as it struggled—nobody in the room was actually sure it was working. Jason's head felt heavy, like a brick had been taped to his forehead, slowly dragging his blue eyes to the maths worksheet on his desk. He'd completed it early.
There was a loud crack. Jason bolted up right, along with the students beside him, as the teacher slammed the less-than-metre ruler (the tip having broken off from previous instances) onto tired Jason's desk.
"And I suppose you know all the answers, do you now Mr Reed?" she crowed, leaning in closer than what was comfortable for the chestnut haired boy, able to smell the coffee on her breath. Unfurling shaken fingers from the sleeves of his hoodie, he slid his worksheet forward. Ms Adelaide snatched it up a little too viscerally, and took it back to her desk. Jason knew this routine all too well, since he was the first finished, he couldn't have any mistakes, or risk being publicly shamed in front of the class. That was when Alex, an outspoken blonde boy, approached the desk with his own worksheet—more so rushed than completed, as Jason's has been. The two were quite different: one, quiet and studious, the other making up for intelligence with confidence. The thing was, both considered the other popular, Alex because of his large group of friends, his position on the soccer team, this ability to talk to anyone; and Jason because the friends he did have were close, and because he was smart, and kind, people wanted to be around him.

Lunch break rolled around when maths class ended, Jason could already see Alex's girlfriend queued up at the door to meet with him. Jason didn't know a lot about Cece, but he knew he didn't like her. He caught himself with a scowl and shook himself back to reality. 'What are you doing? She's a sweet girl, let her be.' Alex gave her a wave, slinging his bag over one shoulder and bouncing over. She reached her hand out to bring him in for a hug or a kiss, but he instead took a firm grasp of her hand and dragged her along, like an excited, yet oblivious, puppy.
Jason was again startled with a bang, this time by a friend slamming his hands on the classroom window. He hurried to get the last of his things together and came out to join Izaac.
The two walked out to their usual spot to eat, rambling about the events of their classes in the last period until they met with their friend Ally on their bench, where they always sat. She and Izaac used to date, but mutually parted when they realised they'd enjoyed being friends more. There, of course, was some strain at first, and Jason felt caught in the middle, but it was mostly okay now, aside from the occasional bickering or teasing—all in good fun but sometimes crossing some boundaries. Jason thought it was admirable that they'd sorted out their differences and remained friends, but wasn't actually certain that was something he'd be able to do himself—then again, he'd never dated before, theory is often different in practice.

Jason turned his head when he felt a tap on his shoulder, green eyes meeting blue, he felt himself prickle up and flush red.
"Sorry Jason, you're doing well in Ms Adelaide's class right?" Alex mumbled.
"Oh yeah, why?" he perked up a little. Ally and Zaac exchanged glances.
"Well I kinda—well no, I do- I..." the blonde grunted in frustration, "I don't understand the assignment, and my friends are in the other class and they have different work, do you think you could help me?"
Jason went to answer but was interrupted by Izaac "we're having a sleepover at Jason's this weekend. You should come, we were gonna do some homework anyway."
"Oh!" Alex exclaimed, surprised by the invitation.
"Jace's older brother bought a kiddy pool so you can bring your trunks" Ally tacked on.
"I'll ask my dad" Alex smiled, assuming Jason was quiet because he was being his shy self. He wasn't—or well, he was rather but he was also in shock. He watched as Alex waved and headed back to his group of friends, then snapped his head around to Izaac.
"Since when are you staying over this weekend?!" Jason whined, voice cracking.
Ally gave a wicked smile "come on, it'll be fun. Your mum will be at work anyway and your brother lets us do whatever we want."
Jason looked so panicked. Did they know?! He looked off in the direction Alex had walked off in. 'Jason likes Alex~ Jason likes Alex~' the mocking singsong played in his ears. No, there was no way his friends knew that, they didn't even know he was gay, plus he talked about girls and stuff to cover his tracks. Yeah, there's no way they know.
"Just ask your mum, she's gonna say yes" Izaac's voice snapped Jason back to reality.
"Alright, alright, yeah, I'll text her" he laughed softly. He took out his phone, just a cheap $50 one from over the counter at the supermarket, and he texted his mum to ask. About to hit send, he looks up at his friends.
"What if she says no?"
"She's not gonna say no, she won't even be home, she'll be at work" Ally rolled her eyes.
"If anything you should be asking Rory for permission" Izaac added.
"I'm not asking my brother, he'd never say yes. He only 'watches' us because my mum makes him" Jason sighed and hit send. Jason made a good point, it made the two giggle. He then tucked his phone back into his backpack. Ally handed him a muesli bar from her bag and he gladly took to eating it.
"We have drama class after this" Izaac mumbled. Jason sighed.