(Jalex) The First Step Towards Repair

Manage me, I'm a mess.

Chapter 4

Alex

When the lesson ended, I got up and hurriedly exited the classroom, pushing past students and muttering apologies as I did so. I took out the slip of paper and scanned through the contents. Maths class. A class that I never took a liking to. All these numbers and alphabets and formulae were too complex. Nonetheless, I went on my way, somehow being able to locate the classroom.

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I noticed the class was rather empty, with the exception of the teacher along with some students seated at different areas. I made my way to the back of the class and sat near the back door to be able to leave the class quickly. Plus, nobody really notices those who sit at the far corner. I slid my hand into my pocket and took out my phone, quietly surfing the internet when I saw a movement from the corner of my eye. I glanced up and saw that Jack was the one who sat beside me. I scowled, but continued to use my phone after deciding that it was the best to ignore his presence. Soon however, my curiosity got the better of me and I placed my phone down and demanded, "Why are you sitting beside me?"

Jack seemed to be slightly taken aback by the question but he shrugged in response. "You're new here, and I thought..." he trailed off.

I arched a brow at him and folded my arms. "Well?"

He mumbled, "I want to help, and... be your friend."

My eyes lit up at that thought. "Would you really?"

Jack beamed and nodded. "I will!" he said. He seemed genuine.

I returned the grin back when suddenly, a flashback flooded my mind.
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I went to my high school with my best friend, Luke. After the first day, he would always arrive in school looking rather battered and bruised. I asked him all about it, but he would rapidly change the topic. One day, he stuttered nervously, "I-I can ask my new f-friend Rick to... to..." I gave him a smile, telling him to continue on, "give you a... a tour of the s-school," he mumbled. I nodded and shrugged. "Why not?"

During lunch break, I waited for Luke to finish his English lesson (since I was at the science laboratory) and after a while, I saw him limping with another guy who was muscular in build. The guy was supporting Luke as they made their way towards the table I was sitting. I creased my brows in concern, asking them what had happened. "I... I fell down," was the reply. I found it odd and unconvincing, but I brushed the suspicion aside.

We chatted for a while, and I found out that the guy was Rick, Luke's new friend, who was supposed to give me the school tour.

"I can help you familiarise with your surroundings," Rick said. I gratefully smiled and nodded. He motioned me to follow him out of cafeteria for a while and I did. As we strolled out of the cafeteria, I glanced back at Luke, who was still sitting at our table, eating his food quietly without looking at us. Ah well. He's probably real hungry, I thought to myself.

I didn't exactly know where we were going, but soon we reached the locker area and I looked around confusedly. "I know where this is," I said with a smile. Rick then smirked. "Your pathetic little friend," empathising on the word 'friend', "told us all about you. He decided to save his sorry litte ass by making you be our new toy. Isn't it great to be best buds with him?" Rick grinned, the heavy tone of sarcasm present in his voice.

"Luke wouldn't do that!" I defended and he burst out laughing.

"You really fucking think that?" he sneered and took out his phone, tapping his finger on various parts of the screen before he showed me the screen. A video was playing, with Rick and three other boys crowding around a shaking Luke.

"Please don't hit me," he whimpered before he said, "go to Alex instead, h-he's a better target than I am! He's... he's useless, and all these while I've just been pretending to be his friend b-because I could gain some benefits from him! Just... just leave me alone!" I stared at the phone, clenching and unclenching my fist as I felt anger, hurt and betrayal. The only thought present on my mind was, why? Why?

Rick watched with a grin obviously enjoying the pain that I felt. He glided his fingers across the screen before he put his phone back into his pocket again. "Now the fun starts," he said and he pushed me against the locker as my back painfully slammed against the metal. door I saw as three more boys approaching the locker area with a wide grin on their faces. They all started to punch me forcefully and I gasped in shock and pain before violently coughing and I slid down, clutching my stomach in pain. Rick then signalled for the boys to stop and they laughed at my pathetic state. He squatted down and grabbed my chin, pushing up my head so that I was looking at him in the eye. "Listen, you piece of fuck, you're a useless piece of trash and from now onwards, if you dare escape us when we catch sight of you, you're fucked." I didn't say anything and he punched me in the stomach again, growling, "answer me." "Y-yes..." I whimpered and he smirked, patting my cheek twice, "good boy." He and his gang then got up and left, leaving me alone on the floor bruised.

What pained me the most wasn't those physical wounds.

It was betrayal.

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My grin turned into a scowl. "You're all the fucking same," I spat angrily, "you're going to pretend to be nice as fuck, and use me, like a little toy. You're going to use me when you need entertainment before throwing me away when you don't need it anymore." I was fighting back tears as I said those words.

Jack looked shocked and hurt by my sudden outburst and frantically shook his head. "That's not--" I silenced him with a glare and he looked away sadly. My mood was horribly ruined by that repressed memory and I sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, resting my head on the table.

"It's fine... if- if you need anything, just let me know, okay?" he smiled, but still sounded sad and I felt guilty for that. He did sound like he sincerely wanted to be my friend earlier...

"Look, Jack, I'm sorry..." I said with a sigh and sat up. I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. "So... uh... friends?"

Jack's lips curled into a smile, and I smiled in return. I watched as he took his pen and scribbled something on a page of his notebook before tearing out the page and handing it to me. I arched a brow and inspected that piece of paper confusedly. "Um. This is your number?" I asked and he nodded in response, his smile growing wider by the minute.

"Why'd you give me your number?" I asked.

"So that, well, you could call me if you want to?" he shrugged.

I grabbed my phone and typed in his number into my contacts, my fingers gliding across the screen as I did so. From the corner of my eye, I could see his grin widening...

"What's your full name?"

"Jack Bassam Barakat."

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A/N:
Luke and Rick were the first names that came to my mind, so. I actually wanted to call Rick 'Richard' because its short form is 'Dick' somehow but I found it odd so I didn't. Then again, 'Rick' sounds odd as fuck. I'm not good at making up names, okay.

So... yeah.

I hope you enjoyed it!

oh my god wait this had like over 1000 words oops okay then i'll keep working on the 1000words per chapter thing