Jungle Boy -Justin Bieber-

Chapter 10: Admiration

Bea Ashby: 

"What the hell is going on down there?" Jennifer asks Sunday morning when I had just returned from my morning jog.

"Construction," Noah replies, "They are building a gym." 

"A gym for who?" Curiosity gets the best of me. It's not like dad has time to work out and Noah's got a membership to some gym he goes to with his team mates. 

Noah nods his head to where Justin quietly sat at the table, eating some fruits. My dad's building a gym for Justin? So what, he could get even more buff than he already is? 

Neither Jennifer or I respond to that. Instead, I leave the kitchen without another word and upstairs to take a shower. 

After my shower, I get dressed and pick up one of the books I recently started and start to read. About fifteen minutes or so into my reading, there's a knock on my door. "Come in," I say, not bothering to look up from my book.

The door opens to reveal my farther. "Hey, kiddo." 

"Hi," 

"Are you busy?" 

I shake my head. He smiles. "Great, Justin's tutor canceled today and I was wondering if you could take over? I have to meet up with a few other people to give in Justin's progress report, they'll probably come by the house today," 

"Also, I really do you think you should take Justin out for your morning jogs." 

"But-" 

"I have to go, see you soon." Dad kisses my head before leaving the room. I sigh as soon as the door closes behind him. I don't mind if Justin comes during my jogs... it's just that Sunday morning jogs were just for myself. Jogging allows me to clear up my mind and it relaxes me. Plus, he might not even want to go out that early in the morning, and to add jogging to it? He'd probably hate it.

Setting my book down, I stand up and go downstairs to where Justin was seated at the dinning table, most probably waiting for me.

There's a book set out in front him with a notebook and a pencil. Justin's staring down at the book with a glare on his face. 

"Hi," I say, announcing my presence to him. He grunts back in acknowledgement, maybe in hatred. Or both. But considering he saved my life twice since he's been here, I don't think he hates me that much. 

I sit right across from him and slide the book over to myself to read the title. It's a children book, I remember my father reading it to me when I was younger. I still had my own copy upstairs, stored in a box up in my closet.

Rainbow Fish.

"So i'm guessing you're reading this?" 

Justin nods.  I open up the book and slide it over to him. "Start," I tilt my chin up to the book. Instead of reading the first line, Justin stares down at the book, tracing the image on the inside. His index finger linger's on the Rainbow fish's scales and he's looking at it as if it's the most interesting thing in the world. Cute.

I clear my throat and his head snaps up instantly. I nod my head to the book and he looks back down, eyeing the first word.

"F-far out i-in t-the," He stops. 

I frown. "What's wrong? You were doing good up to then." I lean over the table. Justin is staring down at the book, a scowl set on his features.

He purses his lips and doesn't say a word. "Do you need help?" He shakes his head.

I sit back in my seat and wait for him to continue. We sit in silence for a minute or so. I'm trying to give him time to pronounce the word 'sea' but he's struggling. After another moment of silence I whisper, "Can I help you?" 

Justin grunts and I take that as yes. "Sea," I say, "The word is sea. Like I see you." I explain using gesture by pointing to my eye and back to him.

"See-ah?" He tries.

I shake my head. "Sea," I repeat.

"L-like I see you," He mimics me, pointing to his eye and back at me. 

This makes me smile. "Yeah,"  I nod, "Just like that. But it's not the same meaning." Justin stays quiet and waits for me to explain. "It's salt water that covers most of the earth. Like the island you were trapped on..." 

He seems to understand what I'm saying because he nods and says, "Sea t-trapped Justin on l-land." 

From the corner of my eyes I notice Jennifer watching us. She doesn't say anything, just watches us from a distance. I ignore her and let Justin continue the reading.

"Okay, start again." I order. And he does. Justin attempts to read and I help him when he need's it. He's not a bad reader, he's doing pretty decent for someone who lacks communication skills and could barely speak from the start. 

He stutters of course and has a hard time pronouncing certain words, but it will take some time. As he continues to read, I reach over and grab the notebook laid out in front of him. I notice the writing and take a closer look.

He's starting to learn the alphabet. I trace over the messy scribbles of writing that has to be his. It's all sloppy, but that' alright. He's only learned up to 'F' and he's struggling with the letter 'E'.

"H-help," Justin says looking at me intensely and I set the notebook down. "Sorry.. what do you need help with?" He points out the part and I help him pronounce the word.

When he's almost done the book, I realize that a crowd has formed in the distance. Jennifer was still there, but this time by her side, Dad, Noah and two other doctors who i've seen before were also there, watching us. 

Neither of them said a word as they watched from a distance. I look away and back at Justin. "You want me to take it from here?" I ask.

He nods and I walk around the table to sit next to him. Not too close, but close enough with a small gap between us.

Justin hands me the book and I don't miss the small spark I feel when our fingers touch. I glup, looking away from his intense stare. "Thank you," My voice starts of frail, but I sit up straight and ignore the fact that there's a group of people watching us. I image that it's just us two. "Thank you very much!' burbled the little blue fish excitedly,"

I continued to read and I didn't miss the amazement in Justin's eyes as I did. It was so different. I wasn't use to seeing him look at something or someone like that. It was nice.

When I was on the last page I heard Justin murmur so softly, that only I could hear. "J-justin likes Avocado's v-voice," 

My eyes widen and I stop mid sentence to look up at him.  He's already looking back down at me, his brown eyes holding their stare with mine and there it was, a small smile etched onto his face. 

This is the first time i've ever seen him smile since he got here. 

And gosh, was it beautiful. 

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A/N:

GUESS WHO UPDATED??? THATS RIGHT! I DID woohoo

Guys i am on a roll aha. I just really wanted to update and I decided to make this chapter a cute chapter. ( i think it's cute anyway) so yay i hope you guys liked that. 

Let me your thoughts on this chapter :) 

Love you lots,

-Diana