Lullabies - A Jalex Fanfiction

Chapter 1

ALEX POV

“Dead, like a candle you’re burned out,

Spill the wax over the spaces left in place of angry words”

Alex looked up as he felt the car grind to a halt. Shutting his notebook, he looked out the window.

They had arrived at last.

Neither of Alex's parents had spoken much during the journey there. Well that wasn’t unusual, ever since Daryl left, no one had spoken much.

6 months.

It had been exactly 6 months now since Alex had come home from school to find his older brothers lifeless body. Daryl had taken an overdose, so there wasn’t any blood; however Alex knew that the image of his brother’s eyes, so lifeless and cold, would never, ever leave him. After his brother’s death, Alex’s mum developed depression; eventually she wouldn’t even leave her bed. They couldn’t stay in that town anymore, not with all the reminders of Daryl everywhere; they couldn’t even stay in the same country. So, the Gaskarths decided to move, away from London, away from England, to America. Baltimore to be precise, a new beginning, well that’s what they told themselves.

 The sound of a car door slamming shut awoke Alex from his thoughts. There was a sharp knock on the car window and Alex looked to see his dads round, angry face. It didn’t take much to get his dad angry these days.

“Hurry up and get out!” Alex heard his dad shout. Not wanting to cause any arguments, Alex opened the car door and stepped out. He felt the warm American air hit him and breathed in deeply.

“You can do this Alex, a new beginning” he muttered to himself, though he wasn’t convinced, he missed England already, Alex hadn’t wanted to move but his parents insisted.  Sighing, Alex looked up at the house, his house, he reminded himself. It wasn’t anything special, a plain, two story building with four windows and a door, nothing more, nothing less. Walking inside, Alex discovered that the inside wasn’t much different. A plain living room which lead to a kitchen. Upstairs there were two bedrooms and a bathroom. There was nothing special about it, however it was perfectly nice. But it’s not the same without Daryl; nothing will ever be the same without him. Alex felt tears well up in his eyes. “No, don’t cry, not again, you know that dad hates it when you cry” he whispered to himself. Alex was 17 years old, almost 18, and yet he was still scared of his dad. Alex walked into his bedroom; it was plain and simple, no surprise there. Looking out the window, Alex could see his new school in the distance. Alex was starting the school tomorrow and he was terrified. He’s never been good at making friends, so the thought of going to a place filled with no one he knew tomorrow scared him to death.

“Alex, come down here and help us unpack” Alex’s dad shouted from downstairs. Sighing, Alex turned and walked down the stairs, feeling slightly sick at the thought of school tomorrow.

JACK POV

Sighing, Jack pushed open the doors and entered the school. It was a Monday, the worst day of the week. Jack hated everyone in the school and they all hated him. They all thought jack was gay, and well, he was, though he never admitted it. People avoided him in the corridor as if he had a disease. Jack had no friends at this school; well he had no friends at all.

Walking up to his locker, Jack tried to ignore the mutterings around him. You’d think that he’d be used to it by now, 4 years he’d been at this school, however he just couldn’t ignore the whispers, people laughing at him as he walked past, it really upset him. However there was much worse things that Jack had to deal with, one of these things being Declan and his friends. They loved to bully jack, not just verbally but physically too. Declan’s dad was one of the teachers at the school, and he was also the deputy head, so the other teachers ‘conveniently ‘never noticed when Declan and his friends bullied Jack. At home it wasn’t much better, his parents never seemed to notice anything, they were so wrapped up in their jobs that sometimes they even forgot that they had a son.

“Hey, Barakat”

Jacks whole body tensed in fear, he knew that voice so well. He turned to see Declan and his friends. Declan was very tall with incredibly muscly arms and a handsome face. Most of the girls in the year fancied him and Declan seemed to think that jack fancied him as well, which wasn’t true. Declan used this as an excuse to bully jack constantly, at school, and then online at night.

“Fancy seeing you here” said Jason, one of Declan's friends. Declan smirked and said,

 “So you ain’t dead yet, fag?”

Jack gulped; he saw Declan raise his fist and braced himself for what he knew would be a punch.

ALEX POV

Alex wandered the corridors, lost. He was holding his timetable in front of him and looking desperately for the gym, he had P.E first lesson and had been looking for at least 10 minutes, the school was huge. The corridors were empty now so Alex had no one to ask for directions.

Alex was just thinking about going back to the office and asking them, when a boy came limping around the corridor. He was tall and skinny and had half of his black hair dyed blonde, he reminded Alex of a skunk. He was limping and looked as if he’d just been hurt.

“Hey, are you okay?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine thank you” the boy answered.

“Oh it’s just cause you’re limping, you look hurt” Alex said, still worried.

“No, I’m fine, don’t worry. My names Jack by the way, are you new?” the boy said, for some reason he looked suddenly happy, as if it was unusual that someone was talking to him.

Pushing this thought aside, Alex answered “I’m Alex, yeah I’m new, don’t suppose you could help me find the gym? I have P.E and I’m kinda lost”

Jack looked happy at the thought of helping him “oh I have maths, I could show you the way to the gym though if you’d like?”

“Yeah, thank you!” Alex replied.

Jack smiled and started to walk, well limp, forward. Alex followed.

“So are you British?” Jack asked as they walked.

“Yeah, I’m from London, how did you know?” Alex said.

“I can tell by your accent” jack smiled, Alex couldn’t help but notice that jack had a very nice smile, “anyway, here’s the gym” jack continued.

“Oh thank you, you saved my life! I would have never been able to find it” Alex said thankfully.

Jack smiled again and started to walk away “well see you around Alex” he muttered and then he was gone.

Alex stood there for a moment looking at the place where Jack disappeared. Jack looked so sad and lonely, Alex didn’t know why. A slam of a door brought Alex back to reality, he turned and walked into the gym, his first lesson, he was terrified.