Trust Your Instincts

-7- Mark, A Jock?

 The rest of the school week went by very fast for Mark. He was getting on great with nearly everyone at school, and, surprisingly, he was really enjoying all of his classes. Well, all but one. He wondered whether he disliked physics so much because of the teacher, or maybe it was the subject as a whole. He tried to tell himself that Jack wasn't the reason, but the prolonged awkward silences and the constant attempts to keep all of his belongings on his side of the desk didn't exactly make the class any more enjoyable.

 Jack had been eating lunch with Josh, Isaac and Felix, and so Mark decided it'd be a little more comfortable for both of them if he took up Will's offer and ate lunch with him and his friends instead. Josh only questioned Mark about it once, after the first time he ate lunch with Will, but understood when Mark explained the situation. Mark was pleasantly surprised that Josh hadn't tried to force him to sit with them, he merely nodded his head, told him that they were there should Mark need them, and that he was glad that Mark was making friends aside from the three of them. 

 Mark could tell after the first day sitting with Will's friends that there was a clear hierarchy. Will was the pack leader. He never sat at the edge of the table, and whenever someone else spoke, it seemed that they'd look hopefully in his direction, praying that he'd approve of what they'd said with an interested nod or a chuckle. 

 Always on one side of Will sat a mousy brown haired boy with light stubble and massive biceps named Blake, who Mark had pinpointed as second in command. Blake was arguably the kindest of the group, he was always soft spoken, and if Mark ever had a problem, and Isaac wasn't available, Blake would be the next person he'd run to. 

There were only four others at the table; Pete, a small ginger kid who swore after every three words and never took the time to introduce himself to Mark. Eli, a tall tanned guy with an accent Mark couldn't understand most of the time and a monobrow. He never smiled, so Mark tried his best not to sit near him. James, ironically named Slim Jim, as he was as round as he was jolly, and sold people Slim Jims in the hallway for a ridiculously high price. Mark liked James, he was the funny one, claiming that if you don't have the looks you gotta have the humour, but Mark hadn't gotten comfortable enough yet to call him by his nickname. 

 Last was Ken. Ken was the closest to normal in the group. Mark found himself talking to him most of the time, as they had the most in common. He was average height, average build, better than average looks, but still basically average, despite his beard, not as prominent as Isaac's, but dark brown in colour, making it look more impressive. Mark felt comfortable around him though. 

 He enjoyed having lunch with them. They were easy to talk to, all but Eli. The only problem that Mark had with them was that they were very judgemental. They often made homophobic jokes, sometimes even racist ones. Mark tried his best to ignore them and play them off as harmless, but he worried sometimes that they might be serious. He never joined in. Nor did Ken.

 Before Mark knew it, it was Friday. He was in his last class before the weekend, which was unfortunately physics. He felt like it had been at least six hours before the bell rang, and when it did, he looked down at his notebook to see that he had, once again, taken no notes whatsoever. He sighed and started to load his stuff back into his bag. 

 Jack looked up to the front of the class for the first time that whole lesson. Mark couldn't tell whether he was sleeping or drawing, but he didn't care. He used the table to help him to his feet and started to head towards the classroom door, excited to get home. 

 He didn't make it very far before a hand closed around his wrist. He turned around, startled. Nobody in this class talks to me, he thought to himself, but even so, he was more shocked when he realised that the hand belonged to Jack. Jack looked up at him, immediately apologising for gripping him so tightly. 

 "I know we've put it off for a week now," Jack began, trying to stifle his accent as well as he could, "but... if you'd like, we could start to work on that physics project together over the weekend? Unless you're busy or something, that is." His voice had gotten gradually quieter, to the point where Mark actually had to lean in a little in order to hear the last sentence. 

 "Yeah man, that'd be okay. Should we go to your place?" Mark replied, not wanting anyone to see the mess that his dad's house was in, and also scolding himself a little for asking it in such a stiff and unwelcoming manner.

 Jack nodded curtly, and wrote his address on a piece of paper before handing it to Mark nonchalantly and heading towards the door. He stopped halfway and turned back to Mark, who was still standing in the same position, studying Jack's neat handwriting. "Whenever you want is fine with me." he said, raising his voice a little.

 Mark smiled shyly at him before he turned and headed out of the class, his green hair disappearing into the crowd of students. Mark met up with Felix and Isaac and started to head home, Jack had obviously went with Josh.

________

A/N and there you have another chapter.

I know, I know, I introduced so many characters there, but not a lot of them are of much importance, also Ken is the only one based off a YouTuber! All you need to know is Pete's small ginger and annoying, Eli is tall tanned and ominous, Slim Jim is big, round and funny, and Blake is nice and helpful i guess??

basically, I think thats like the majority of the characters for now! 

I hope you enjoyed and I will (fingers crossed) see you in the next A/N!!