Till Then (Book 2 Of May I Have This Dance)

Chapter 12

Mark's POV
I wait in my car for Jack who seems to be taking quite a while. He soon comes out of his house with sunglasses over his eyes. I smile at him, but he doesn't return the action. When he gets in the car and buckles up I start the car so we can go to the school.
"Why are you wearing sunglasses? Did you get drunk last night," I chuckle.

"Uh..yeah."
I take a peek at him and his hood of his sweatshirt is up. Which confuses me since I have the heat blasting in here.
"Jack where's your coat?"

"It ripped."
I pull into the school and he instantly gets out. My eyebrows furrow together and quickly get out locking my car.
"Jack what is going on with you? You didn't answer any of my calls last night, there was screaming, your wrists is so small. What is going on?"

"My phone was dead and Kate and Ma got in a fight."

"Jack there was telling after she left. What's happening?"
The first bell then rings and Jack runs away going to our first period. I follow after him since I need to go to class as well, but I need to know what happened.
When I get in class I sit beside Jack who has his head tucked into his arms. The second bell rings and he lifts his head up. Our teacher walks in and notices Jack.
"Sean, you know the school policy no hoods or sunglasses in class."
He sighs and takes off his hood and sunglasses. Which revels a black eye and a few bruises on his cheek. Everyone looks at him and he just gets up and leaves. I quickly follow after him, but the teacher stops me.
"Where are you going?"

"To ask what the hell happened to my boyfriend," I yell walking out of the classroom.
***
Jack's POV
I sit in the bathroom stall hoping and praying that this is all a dream.
"Jack," I hear Mark's voice.

"What," I sniffle.

"Tell me what happened and I don't want any bullshit like with the bottle."

"I can't tell you."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because it'll just get worse if I do."

"What will?"

"I can't tell you," I sob into my hands.

"Jack unlock the door please."
My shaky hands unlock the stall and I let him in. His hand goes towards me and I flinch. Mark's face becomes confused and he slowly wraps his arms around me.
"Jack tell me what's wrong. I can help you."

"It's nothing," god please help me.

"The explain the bruises and black eye then."

"My sisters boyfriend and I were wrestling and he accidentally kicked me in the face. It's no big deal," I say with a fake smile.

"We both know that's a lie."
That's when I break down once again. I clutch onto his shirt as he hold tight to me. Maybe if I hold on long enough I'll be safe. Maybe I won't be left here with Ma. Maybe just maybe everything will be okay again. God I hope so.
Mark kisses my forehead as his fingers go through my hair. It takes a while, but I can finally talk to him.
"Jack, just tell me. I promise I can help. You just have to stop lying to me."

"C-can I tell you later tonight and can I spend the night?"

"Of course baby. Whatever you want as long as I know what's happening."
***
We basically just skipped first hour and Mark went to pick up our work, while I sit at lunch with our friends. They all keep making jokes about my eyes and bruises saying it makes me look badass. I sure don't fucking feel badass. Mark comes back and when I see him I feel a real smile on my lips. He walks over to me and sets our work down kissing the top of my head.
"God that's the first time I've seen you smile. Hey, how come you haven't hung out with us in a while," Wade comments.

"I've been busy with work."

"The grocery store won't mind if you call in sick for a few days," Bob says with a shrug.

"Yes, but I need the money."
They all go quiet and move onto a new topic which I don't want to participate in. So I just don't listen. I snap back into reality when Mark sits beside me with his lunch. My hand grasps his and he looks at me with a confused expression.
"Do you have a lunch," he whispers.

"Don't have money," I hush.
He then splits his sandwich and hands me the bigger half. I take it graciously and basically engulf it in one bite. Mark notices, but doesn't say a thing which makes me happy. Since I'd rather not have comments at thus point. Especially on how much weight I've lost.
When Mark and I finish splitting his lunch the bell rings for us to go back to our classes. He drops me off at my room and kisses my cheek with a soft expression. I enter the classroom and people do stare at me, but at thus point I'm basically used to it.
Throughout the class I just think about how I'm going to explain all this to Mark. I'm going to have to end up telling him everything. No, no you can't do that Jack. That's going to hold him back and you don't want that. Just tell him about your parents and that's it.

Alright so for some reason I feel like this book is going super fast, but I feel like it's appropriate pacing for everything I want to put in. So I'm just going to go with it and if I fuck it up well then I'm going to whine about it for a couple weeks but whatever.