A Modern Love Story

Chapter 12 - Back

Criticism spot! :)

Jack's POV

We spent Monday and Tuesday just like we had spent the past few days, both of us dreading school, but of course, Crutchie was definitely dreading it more. I had told him about Race's agreement to help, which allowed him to feel a tiny bit better about it. Finally, Wednesday came, my alarm going off and waking us up. 

"I'll go get your medicine, alright?" I said, and he nodded. 

I took my own meds before grabbing his, heading right back upstairs and into my room. He seemed to be in a different world than I was, not even looking to me when I opened and closed the door. He took his medicine right away, both of us getting changed before I went back to the bed, holding the makeup.

"This'll cover the marks on your neck, okay?" I said, and he nodded a bit, smiling. 

The bruises were still pretty bad, so I made sure to be extremely delicate with it, not wanting to hurt him. It didn't take too long to put the makeup on, and I made sure to check one last time to make sure I didn't miss anything. Once I was positive nothing was showing, I set the makeup down, pulling him in.

"You can do this," was all I said, backing away from him with a smile. I kissed him on the top of the head and we stood, leaving for my car.

Crutchie's POV

The entire drive was silent, besides the music Jack was playing. I was so nervous that I felt sick to my stomach, staring out the window and refusing to look at Jack. At one point, he took my left hand, holding it and rubbing his thumb against the back of it. Eventually, we reached the school, getting my stuff from my locker before going to where his friends hung out.

"Crutchie!" Race said, looking genuinely happy to see me. I smiled at him and we sat down, Jack putting his arm around me. "Music theory has been so boring without you."

"Well, I'm here to save you," I joked, my voice raspy. Race didn't even notice, but I could tell Romeo did from the way he overdramatically jumped back.

"Whoa, your voice!" He said, making Jack look at him. "What happened?" He asked, staring me down. 

"Just a sore throat, that's all," I answered, feeling extremely insecure about how I sounded.

"You came back at the perfect time, we did so well on that test last Monday that we get to just watch a movie in class," Race quickly jumped in, picking up on how uncomfortable I was.

"Perfect," I said with a smile, leaning against Jack.

I stayed silent for the rest of the morning, mostly because of how bad my throat hurt, but also because of how insecure I now felt about how I sounded. When the bell rang, a horrible feeling of dread overcame me, terrified of what could happen in biology. We went right to class and sat down, and I made sure to keep my eyes on my desk and not look at anyone. Weisel set down a stack of papers on my desk without a word, doing the same to Jack moments later. The second bell finally rang, my heart starting to beating out of my chest as I sat there.

"Alright, today we're watching a documentary. I expect you to take notes on it, and I will be checking tomorrow." Weisel said, sitting down at his desk and turning the lights off. The moment the video started, my phone buzzed, catching me off guard.

iMessage from ♡ Painter Boy ♡
08:27 am You've got this.

I looked up from my phone and smiled at him, and he did the same back. With a smile still on my face, I put my phone away and grabbed my notebook, actually paying attention to whatever Weisel was playing.