Poly

Chapter 20

I woke up earlier than I was used to. For some reason I was fully charged must faster than normally.  I'm not sure if it was because I was still super-charged from last nights date with Holt, my boyfriend(!), or if it was because I was nervous about talking to Jackson.

I had this buzzing and tickling feeling in my stomach, but it was probably just the electricity from my bed. I sat up on my metal slab and prepared myself for another day.

_______

I saw Jackson at his locker after first period. 

"Jackson!" I yelled. He turned around and smiled timidly. 

"Hey Frankie," I could immediately see his face flush up. He looked down at his sneakers with his hands in his pockets.

"How are you?" I tried to make eye contact with him, but he wouldn't look at me.

"Fine," he said with a dreary tone. I was used to a softer tone with Jackson, but he never sounded as mute as he did now. I put my hand on his slender arm, and could feel it immediately tighten up. 

"You don't look or sound fine."

"I have to go... class starts in a few minutes." he closed his locker door and made his exit. I let out a soft groan to myself, and trudged my way to Dead Languages. 

_______

When the last bell rang, I creeped around the monster swarm of the halls to see if I could find Jackson again. I had to talk to him! 

I saw his yellow shirt stick out from the mass and directed myself towards him.

"Jackson! Wait up!" I yelled. It looked like he heard me, but he didn't stop. I slithered clumsily through a crowd of zombies and almost knocked Jackson over. I grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him into an empty classroom. 

I might have pulled him with a little too much force, because my feet couldn't follow along. I tripped myself and fell forward. Jackson grabbed me before I fell on the floor, but that caused him to loose his balance, and we both fell to the ground. 

The floor was hard, and I landed on my tailbone.

"Urgh... I'm so sorry," I groaned through the pain and sat up. 

"You always were the clumsiest ghoul in school," his timid laughter made me chuckle as well. And soon we were both lying on the floor howling with laughter. 

"Very typical Frankie Stein," I said with a thick layer of self irony. 

I got up and helped Jackson on his feet. He was about to leave again, but I took his hand to make him stay.

"No wait!" I exclaimed louder than I meant to. I quickly closed the door and placed myself in front of it. If he wanted to exit the room, he had to go through me. Although I seriously doubted that Jackson would ever use force on anyone.

"Frankie, now is not really a good time. My mum is waiting for me outside." he begged and reached for the doorknob.

"No, please. Just a couple of minutes." I plead. Jackson sighed and settled comfortably on one of the desks. 

"Alright. What's on your mind?" he said and gestured for me to continue.

"First of all... you seem off. Like something is troubling you." I started. He immediately looked down. I wanted to tell him about Holt and I, but his troubles seemed more important.

"I guess I'm not doing so great." he admitted, still not meeting my eyes. 

"You broke up with Clair," I then said. That made him look up. His sky blue eyes were now grey.

"How did you know about that?"

"Well, she told me." I started. Jackson looked even more confused. "She paid me a visit the other day. And she seemed pretty upset about it. She thought I had made you break up with her." 

Jackson buried his face in his pale hands and let out a wretched sigh.

"I'm so sorry," he mumbled through his hands. "I didn't think she'd blame you." 

"But why would she even think I had anything to do with it?" 

Jackson slowly looked up. His posture was crooked, and looked like he was about to fall apart at any second.

"Because I might have mentioned that you took me to the museum instead of her. And then Clair must've thought it was a date or something," he admitted woefully. I let out a little smile and sat next to him. I gently patted him on his back. His sweater vest was so soft against my hand. It made me want to lay my head against his shoulder and nuzzle into the rich cashmere of his sweater. But I restrained myself. This was about Jackson, and not some silly fantasy I had.

"How are you feeling? Do you think you did the right thing?" was all I could think of saying. He slowly nodded.

"I do. We weren't meant to be together. Clair's not the ghoul for me." he then looked up and our faces where only inches aways from each other. Even through those thick glasses of his, I could see every little detail of his icy blue eyes. They were locked with mine, and neither one of us dared to look away. 

I felt his mint-cool breath on my face and a whiff of sandalwood and lemongrass perfume reached my nostrils. If I could get goosebumps, I would definitely have them all over my body. Jackson gulped and I could see his jaw tightening up. 

I wanted to say something, but didn't know what was appropriate. I felt, that sitting this close to Jackson, when I was technically in a relationship with Holt, was inappropriate. But he and Jackson was basically the same guy. So was it that inappropriate?

"Frankie, I..." Jackson then softly said. But before he could finish his sentence. His phone rang. He quickly jumped up from the desk and fumbled with his iCoffin.

"Hi mum! Right. Sorry. I'll be out in a minute." he said quickly, hung up and then turned to me again. 

"Sorry. My mum's waiting for me, so I have to go." he sounded more sorrowful than I'd expected. 

"That's totally fine. Say hi to your mum from me," I awkwardly said, trying to sound fine. When in reality I wasn't fine! What was Jackson going to say before, when we were inches from each other?

Jackson nodded with a smile. He was about to reach for the books he left next to me, when I at the same time approached them. Our hands touched and instantly electricity sparked, and made both our bodies slightly frizzle. Our eyes met again, but I quickly looked down in shame.

"I'm sorry," was all I could say as I tried to shake the buzzing feeling out of my body. 

"That's alright," he said quietly. I could feel his eyes still fixed on me. He was gently rubbing his fingers. "You didn't hurt me," he paused. "You could never hurt me," he then added.

"I need to go to my mum now, but I'll se you soon." Jackson grabbed his books and left the classroom, letting me sit alone still feeling the cool touch of his human hands on mine. 

It was so different to Holts touch, who was warm like a set newly charged bolts, or the remaining heat from when you get hit by lightning. But Jacksons touch was cool like my metal slab that I sleep on, a feeling of home-ish. Jackson was like the cold gush of the windy weather, while Holt was the hot strike of lightning. 

They were both so different, yet they both made me spark and feel electrifyingly alive! So that just left me one big question mark. How was I supposed to know who to choose?