Chasing The Stars || JJPOPE

ONE

THE SLAM OF a sheet of paper on JJ's desk caused him to glance up, seeing the stone face of his history teacher looking away, unable to meet the blonde boy's eyes. The teacher continued walking without a word spoken, causing JJ to look back down in curiosity, seeing his test face-down on the desk, hiding the written side of the paper from everyone.

JJ sighed sharply, knowing he had already failed miserably.

With his tongue hidden in his cheek angrily, he flipped the paper over, seeing a large "48" written in red on the top-left corner, along with a "F" written beside it.

"Great." He whispered, quickly flipping the paper back over. With the number swirling around his mind, seemingly having no escape, he found himself slouching back in his chair, pulling his baseball cap over his face.

It was easier to not care.

JJ once again lost his motivation, it became a regular occurrence for the boy. So as his eyes fluttered closed, he tried long and hard to forget that red "F" staring him in the face, along with many others.

_____

JJ walked along the sidewalk, his book bang slung carelessly over one shoulder, a toothpick perched in between his lips. Sunglasses sat on the bridge of his nose, hiding his icy blue eyes from the world.

He could feel the stares as he would walk by a group of kids his age. He knew he was attractive, he used it as a super power.

"Hey, loser." JJ turned at the all too familiar voice creeping up behind him, seeing none other than Sarah Cameron approaching him with a goofy grin. Her long, dark blonde hair was pulled into a messy side braid, a bright yellow crop top and a denim skirt. Cute.

"I thought we agreed to stop calling me that." JJ mentioned, stopping in his tracks as he watched the girl catch up to him.

"I didn't agree on anything." She said with an innocent smile, finally catching up to the Maybank boy. The two continued their way down the sidewalk, a small silence falling over the them.

No one could really figure out how Sarah Cameron and JJ Maybank had become such good friends. They had to be the two prettiest teenagers on the island, but their personalities were much different. Sarah seemed to be such a pure soul, while JJ... well let's just say JJ wasn't as pure.

"So... how was your day?" Sarah asked sweetly, breaking the silence. She gripped both straps of her baby blue book bag, looking to JJ for a response.

"Well... I failed another test, but I did figure out girl koalas are total lesbos." JJ answered, smiling in excitement at the end of his sentence.

"That's strange." Is all Sarah said, her smile flattering a tad. And then after a few seconds, she perked up? "Wait... you failed another test?"

"Yep, it's not that big of a deal, though." The blonde boy only shrugged, looking everywhere but Sarah's eyes.

"It kind of is, JJ." She mentioned, concern laced in her tone. Sarah had been worried for JJ recently, more than usual. His grades had been slipping far more than usual and Sarah absolutely hated to see it. JJ was a relatively smart boy, the Cameron girl knew this, and so to see him with such a loss of motivation pained her.

"I'll be fine." JJ shrugged, icy eyes meeting the bright blue sky above, admiring the fluffy looking clouds. He hadn't even noticed John Booker Routlede's van pass by the two, "I'll probably die young anyways."