Only The Brave

A Beginning

For the rest of the week, and the weekend, Darren stayed in his bed where he was supposed to. He hadn't heard from Jace since that day, but when he thought of him, the only image that came to mind was that last kiss. His lips felt so right against his own, and he'd seemed so unsure. So nervous. Dare couldn't even bring himself to be angry.

Instead of switching schools, his father decided to let him use the car to get to and from school. Apparently he'd decided to carpool with a coworker until he had enough money to buy his own car, but he wanted his son to be safe each day. In a way, it was kind of cool. In another way, it was both humiliating to drive the rust bucket, and pathetic that he had to. Either way, Darren slowly got dressed that Monday morning, and pulled his backpack onto his shoulders before walking outside. His dad was standing on the porch, probably waiting to say goodbye, and Dare smiled at him, “I love you, dad. I'll see you after school.” It seemed as if his dad didn't even want him going yet, but he knew he'd held his son up in his bedroom for long enough. He had to trust him to be safe, because if anything like this happened once more time, he was going to rip him away, and move out with him to the middle of nowhere. It had been threatened all night Sunday.

“I love you, too, Darren. Be safe.”

He quickly made his way to the driver's seat, and threw his backpack next to himself, fixing his mirrors and the seat until it was perfect. He stared at his dad for a moment, hoping he wouldn't stress out too hard while he was gone. Dare would be back before he knew it, and with some effort, he got the car to come to life. It was the first time he'd driven in a while, and he was a little shaky. What would he say when he saw Jace? He doubted that the asshole he called a friend once upon a time would even bother speaking to him after all that had happened, and he couldn't say that he blamed him. He wanted to pretend that he didn't care either, but he did, and it wasn't until he saw Alex and his friends standing in the parking lot that he actually managed to stop thinking about Jace for a moment. He froze, pissing off the people waiting to get into the parking lot. For once, he was actually glad he didn't have perfect grades. He didn't mind looking for a spot outside the school parking lot, he just didn't want to be anywhere near Alex or his friends.

He was a coward, and even he knew it.

After about ten minutes of looking, Dare managed to find a nice parking space by the McDonald's about a block away. There, he relaxed for about fifteen minutes, smoking a cigarette, and preparing himself for all the stupid looks from kids he didn't know over something they knew nothing about. If his teachers were too easy on him before, he was scared to see what they were going to be like now. As much as the car really wasn't worth locking up, Darren made sure to do so before walking down to the back entrance to the school. He pulled his hood over his head, held his backpack tight to his shoulder, and made his way to his locker. He was actually surprised to get to his locker without running into one of the meat heads. Maybe they'd run off, afraid because he was so tough, he came back to school after being attacked.

Supposed he just wanted to make himself sound a little more tough than he really was, but.. Darren looked around the corner, then got into his locker and pulled out his textbook for first period, “..see, he's not dead.” He froze, glancing through his long bangs over to a pair of girls, who walked on past him, “Duh, if he were dead, Jace would be in prison.”

Darren's eyes widened, and he slammed his locker shut, “What the fuck are you talking about?” He demanded loudly, scaring the girls, who quickly fell silent and jogged away. Jace? Where would they get an idea like...? Suddenly, he felt sick to his stomach. Even if it would have been poetic justice, he couldn't help but feel like fate was biting Jace in the ass, all because of his dad.

For his first three classes, Dare didn't even notice the looks that he was getting. He didn't care anymore; all he could think about was Jace, and the fact that he hadn't gone through the normal entrance that morning, so he hadn't seen him. He'd gone so far as to defend him from the police, but was it really his job to correct a school? Should he really be so upset that people were jumping to conclusions. If Jace hadn't left him behind in the first place, no one would suspect him. He'd saved him once, wasn't that enough? Still, he couldn't help how guilty he was feeling. Of one thing, Darren was certain: he would tell anyone that is wasn't Jace, but he would tell no one who did it. Even if Jace had been a shitty friend, there was no way he could let himself sink so low.