One In The Same - Jess Mariano

Spend Some Time Apart

- Jess' POV

  I can faintly hear the teacher's voice calling out the words "Fifteen minutes", it's muffled from behind the door. I quietly sneak into the room after checking that she wasn't looking and slide into a seat behind Y/N's friend, Lane.

"Lane," She ignores me, so I repeat her name again, dragging it out. She shushes me, and waves her hand as if swatting away my voice. "I need a pencil,"

  "I don't have one,"

  "Then I need a pen," Our hushed conversation gets the attention of one or two people around us, but I shrug them off.

  "There's fifteen minutes left," I can see her leg shaking in irritation slightly under the desk.

  "Then I need the answers,"

  "There's a pen in my bag," She kicks it back towards my desk subtly.

  "My mother told me never go through a lady's bag... at least, not until you're a couple blocks away. I'm just kidding, she never said that. Though it sounds like pretty good advice, doesn't it?" Lane sighs, pulling a pen from her bag and holding it above her shoulder.

  "Take it and shut up,"

  "Well, I tell you, it's true, small towns sure are friendly," I whisper, and lean back in my chair, opening up my book and finally jotting down a thought that's been in my mind for way too long now.

- Third Person POV

  Luke walks into the headmaster's office at Stars Hollow High. He was familiar with it quite well, having visited it often within the first couple months of Y/N joining the school. It had been a while since he'd been in the building though, recently it had just been the occasional phone calls about Jess or Y/N (or the pair of them together) skipping classes or getting into a fight.

  "Hi, I'm not sure if you remember me, I'm Luke Danes. Jess Mariano's uncle and Y/N Hayden's guardian,"

  "Jess Mariano. Ah yes, come in." The principle  says, "Take a seat,"

  "A seat? So this is a seat thing. Okay, what's he done?"

  "Why do you assume he's done something?"

  "Oh, I don't know. You're staring at a folder that's looking a little thick there. I get a call to come right over here and talk to you, so why don't you just tell me what he's done?" Luke's speech goes at a million miles a minute as he tries to get comfortable in the chair

  "Nothing," The principal simply states, dropping the folder down onto the desk and intertwining his hands together atop of it.

  "Nothing?"

  "No homework, no class participation, his attendance record is erratic at best. His attitude towards his teachers, it ranges from indifferent to hostile. He shows no interest in school activities or most other students, and I think he's veering Y/N off track. As you know, Miss Hayden's history here didn't get off to a great start, but until recently it seemed like things were improving,"

  Luke doesn't really know what to say. He feels a pit of guilt in his stomach for not even thinking about how Y/N has been getting into more trouble again recently. He thinks it might be because he always heard about the antics she would get up to around town, and it kind of shadowed that she was getting her grades in order and actually showing up for school on time. Suddenly, the image of Jess pulling her out of classes and scheming to get her to join him in his bad behaviours popped into his head.

  He couldn't help but remember how Y/N got involved in a physical fight with Dean that Jess no doubt instigated, or at the very least escalated. He rubs his hands over his face and the teacher continues on.