Mister Masterpiece

Chapter 1 - Call Me Jack

The bell rang loudly, ending Jack's first period English class. He made his way out of the room as quickly as he could, avoiding his teacher.

'A106... A106...' He thought as he darted his way through the suddenly crowded halls. Welcome to your new high school, Jack, where you have to avoid 9,000 other students and make it to your next class in five minutes.

He tried to stay on the right side of the hall, but his mind wandered and he found himself stuck in a sea of people going the complete opposite direction of where he needed to go. Of course no one noticed him and tried to avoid him. Everyone was taller than him, they probably couldn't even see him as he darted in between people as he tried to make it to the other side of the hall. Suddenly he bumped into something and fell backwards. He dropped all of the books and notepads in his hands as he thumped to the floor.

He looked up, and his stomach lurched. There was a tall, at least six foot, man that looked like a body builder.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so, so sorry!" He apologized profusely. That voice, he hated that voice. People wondered why he kept quiet. He expected the man above him to bend down, grab him by the collar of his sweater, and let him have it,

But instead, the other boy smiled, kneeled down, and picked up one of Jack's notebooks.

"I'm so sorry, my backpack is so full of textbooks, I didn't have any room for my notebooks and I'm late for my class-" Jack rambled as he tucked his books under his arm and stood up. He suddenly realized just how much the other boy towered over him when they were both standing. Jack was at least half a foot shorter than him.

"Hey, it's okay." The boy smiled and handed Jack his notebook. His voice was deep and smooth, and surprisingly calming. "Are you going the other way?" He asked.

"Yeah, I got caught in the crowd and bumped into you." Jack said shyly.

The boy gestured for Jack to follow. He turned around and headed for the other side of the hall. People automatically moved out of his way. Jack followed behind him, right on his heels. Finally Jack pushed his way through and joined the crowd headed in the right direction. He waved to the boy quickly, then turned around and rushed to his class right as the minute warning bell rang.

----------

Later that day, Jack shuffled his way into his 7th period Algebra class. He sat in a random seat in the front and tried to catch his breath after running through the halls.

Once the bell rang, another student sat in the desk next to him. He looked over, and recognized the student from earlier. He smiled and gave Jack a small wave, and Jack waved back.

"Good afternoon class, welcome to Algebra II. My name is Ms. Vickery, and I will tolerate no nonsense in this class. You will pay attention in my class; I'm very generous with detention slips. I'm going to take attendance, listen closely!" A wrinkly old woman barked. Jack shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He hated attendance, especially on the first day. She called multiple names, and Jack waited impatiently. "Jacqueline McLoughlin?" She called, and Jack winced.

"I-I prefer Jack..." He mumbled as he raised his hand. Ms. Vickery's face twisted sourly. The feminine voice, the "preferred" name; it didn't take a genius to figure out what he was.

"Oh, really?" She spat. She brushed it off and continued attendance, and when she finished she walked to the front of the class. Instead of starting the lesson, she stood right in front of Jack's desk. "Jacqueline, please take off your sweater." She sneered. Jack pulled on the collar of his overly baggy sweater.

"B-But I'm cold, miss..." He looked down at his lap.

"Jacqueline, take it off now." She said under hear breath as she scowled. Jack blinked back tears as he unzipped his sweater and dropped it on the back of his chair. He felt exposed, his curvy arms shown by his short sleeve shirt, and his... Chest. The class gawked at him and a few people whispered. "Don't ask me to call you Jack. I will call you what I want because it's my choice." Ms. Vickery said rudely. Jack went to put his sweater back on, but she stopped him. "And you will not wear that sweater in my class, Jacqueline." She turned to the board and finally started teaching the lesson. Jack crossed his arms over his chest and sunk back in his chair, looking down at his lap and blinking back tears. He tuned out the entire lesson, only focusing on the feeling of eyes upon him. "Any questions?" Ms. Vickery asked the class as she finished the first portion of the lesson. "Yes?" She pointed to the boy next to Jack, the boy from the hallway.

"Mr. Vickery, I'm confused about-" He started.

"What did you just call me?" Ms. Vickery interrupted him.

"Mr. Vickery, sir." He grinned broadly.

"My name is MISS Vickery and you will address me as a MISS." She fumed.

"But it's my choice, sir." The boy folded his hands on his desk and leaned back in his chair.

"Both of you out in the hall, NOW!" She shouted, pointing to the door. Jack quickly put on his sweater, grabbed his things and speed walked to the door. The boy scooped up his bag and followed him, shutting the door as soon as they were both out of the room.

Jack leaned against the wall, his mouth slightly agape in shock. The boy leaned against the wall next to him with a shit-eating grin on his face. After a moment of silence Jack finally spoke.

"W-Why did you do that?" Jack muttered.

"Because what she was doing wasn't right, and I wasn't going to let that happen." The boy shrugged. "You did nothing wrong, and she had no reason to go off on you like that."

"I bumped into you in the hallway earlier." Jack sighed.

"That's okay! It was an accident and it's the first day of school. Are you new here?" He tilted his head as he looked at Jack.

"Yeah, I just moved to this school." Jack dropped his bag and books on the floor. "My other high school was so much smaller, there were only fifty graduating seniors last year."

"That's insane! We get a thousand to two-thousand graduating seniors every year, this school is huge." The boy dropped his bag as well.

"Yeah, it was the only school that would be able to pay for me." Jack shuffled his feet.

"Really? What happened?" The boy asked sympathetically. "If you don't mind me asking." He added.

"My parents got divorced when I was in middle school, and last year my mom kicked me out of her house." Jack sniffed. "Because I'm... You know..."

"That's awful." The boy sighed sadly.

"I live on my own in a tiny apartment about a block from the school. I work at the Starbucks down the street every day right after school until closing, then half day Saturday, and all day Sunday." Jack shrugged as he stared at the ground.

"When are you going to do homework?" The boy asked.

"After work. I don't sleep a whole lot, anyway." Jack bit his lip. Why was he telling this stranger so much? Did he really need to vent to someone that bad?

"If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm always here." The boy smiled kindly. Suddenly he gasped and yanked a note card off of a binder ring attatched to his backpack. He pulled out a pencil and began scribbling on the paper. "In fact, let me give you my number!" He handed Jack the note card folded in half. "Just text me and tell me it's you." He half smiled. Jack hadn't realized this before, but the other boy was actually pretty cute. Jack smiled softly as he studied the boy's face, and the boy did the same. They sat out or that in silence until finally the bell rang. The boy gave Jack a small wave, picked up his bag, and ran off to.his next class. Jack stood there, grinning stupidly and holding the paper in his fingers tightly. Finally he looked down and opened the paper. A phone number was scribbled messily, followed by the boy's signature.

-Mark

~AN~

This has been an idea I've had for a couple days now, and although I need to be writing Serendipity, I fell in love with this story idea and I want to write this as a side story. I'll just publish chapters as I write them, no schedule.

I hope you guys enjoy :)

(Also Mark is Dat Boi hahahahahahhh)

Anyway, thank you guys so much for reading and if you liked it PUNCH that vote button in the face, LIKE A BOSS! And I will see all you bosses IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!