Jacob Sartorius and Mark Thomas: A Novel

Part One: the New Kid❔

Jacob rested his soft cheeks on his palm while gazing out the classroom window. Sunlight filtered through the glass, casting shadows of cherry blossom trees on the tile floor. He watched the pink petals gently fall to the ground, and sighed happily. He had been daydreaming about his crush Mark, all English class. He loved everything about Mark; his chiseled jaw, his cute blond fuckboi hairstyle, his resemblance to Pesto from that old Disney XD show, Crash and Bernstein...



Jacob smiled and imagined all the ways he might bump into Mark and become friends.

"JACOB!" His teacher yelled, snapping him out of the daydream. "Well? What was your annotation in paragraph 3?"

"Um..." a nervous expression spread across his face while he quickly flipped the pages of his packet. Mrs. Sasso rolled her eyes.

"Jacob, you have to pay attention if you want to keep your A average. It's on page 2." Jacob nodded his head and read paragraph 3.

"When you love someone, you should tell them right away, or they might escape from you," the text read.

Jacob quickly thought of an annotation and said, "I can make a text-to-self connection. In real life, there's someone who I want to be with more than anything. Now I realize, I can't just wait, I have to go get him."

At the word "him", all the girls in the class started crying because they were sure he was talking about them until then.

Suddenly, the bell rang, and Jacob's english class was dismissed. He rose from his chair and left the classroom. Everything was in slow motion. The kid with the skate board, tripping Jacob, which changed his life forever. Jacob's foot caught on the skateboard in a moment of terror, and he felt himself falling forward, when strong, firm hands grasped him tightly. "Are you okay? You almost fell!" Mark exclaimed.

"Uh...um...yeah I-I'm alright," Jacob stammered. "Uh, thanks" he awkwardly high fived Mark, then rushed away from his locker, his cheeks burning.

After lunch, Jacob pushed through a sea of middle schoolers and entered his science classroom, wafting the fragrance of fresh deadly chemicals. Mmm. He sat down at his usual desk, which had always had an empty seat next to it.

"Okay motherfuckers, it's time for class. Oh by the way, we got some fresh meat- I mean a new student in our science class today because he moved up from regular science. Try not to bully him. Well, I mean, you can bully him, but make sure to snapchat it so we can all watch it and laugh at him. Now get out your fucking packets and copy these measurement problems. K thanks," Mrs. Bitcho explained. Jacob wrote his name at the top of his paper, involuntarily writing "Jacob Thomas."

Jacob thought he was imagining it at first, but he heard the mellifluous, sweet melody resonating from Mark's vocal chords that he knew so well from the one time Mark spoke to him an hour earlier. A wide smile spread across Jacob's face as he turned round to Mark asking "Hey bro, mind if I sit here?" Jacob was so thrilled, he wanted to squeal. Mark smiled a kind smile, and pushed his hair behind his ears. His flawless, deep ocean-blue eyes hypnotized Jacob. He counted to three in his head, took a deep breath, and managed to keep his cool.

"Yeah sure!" Jacob cheered, a little more loudly then he expected it to come out.

Throughout science class, Jacob had been doodling cherry blossom trees in his pale blue spiral notebook. He would never admit it, but he was an amazing artist. Mark turned to Jacob when Mrs. Bitcho told them to work with a partner and he immediately yelled, "Whoa! Sick! That's such a good drawing!"

Jacob blushed. "Aw thanks." His art had just been complimented by the cutest boy ever.

One thing led to another, and from discussing art in their favorite museums, they poured their feelings and stories into each other. Everyday at lunch, they would rest on the bench under the cherry blossom tree in the courtyard, where it was quiet and solitary. Jacob traded his PB & J sandwich for Mark's bowtie pasta in a thermos every day. Mark and Jacob laughed so hard they fell off the bench countless times, because they were so silly together.

After about a month of this, the spring formal came around the corner. Jacob was even more madly in love with Mark than he was at first. "Hey Mark, tonight I'm supposed to stay at school and organize clothes that were donated into boxes for charity. Wanna come?" Jacob asked while moving through the school hallways.

"Sounds cool. Maybe I will, but I think I have a game today. I gotta go to Social now, see ya!" Mark waved and turned away, stepping into class.

Jacob was not thrilled about having to spend a Friday night organizing old, dirty clothes with a bunch of moms and teachers who had no lives. If Mark could
come, it would be slightly less torturous.

TEXT MESSAGES:

jacob: where r u?
mark: sorry, coach just told me we have a game tonight, but it's on the school's fied, so maybe i'll stop inside and we can hang for a while
jacob: ok! sounds cool!

Jacob threw a sweater that was so last season into a cardboard box and exhaled deeply while falling back onto a cafeteria bench. His phone dinged and he opened it. A text from Mark read, "yo, come outside to the courtyard, i'm here." Jacob quickly snuck around the moms and opened the door to the courtyard. He was met by the light of hundreds of beautiful candles, flickering amber flames surrounding Mark. There was a large heart shape made up of cherry blossom petals on the grass, encasing the whole arrangement.

"Jacob", Mark said as he kneeled. Jacob was about to go into shock. His first thought was that it was a dream. "Will you be my date to the Spring Formal?" Jacob cried tears of joy, still in awe, that someone, let alone Mark, could ever do something like this for him. It was so romantic. The glow of the candles illuminated Mark's face, casting a deep shadow on his features. There was a warm breeze sweeping by, blowing the flower petals slightly around them. The air felt thick with joy and true love.

Jacob ran into Mark's arms and whispered, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Jacob had never felt happier. He leaned in, letting his soft, pink (and v chapped) lips touch Mark's. They still celebrate this as their anniversary now, at their house, with their two children. And Jacob's heart still beats for Mark every single day.

The End❤️❤️❤️