Trust Your Instincts

-18- High Tensions

 The deafening sound of his morning alarm tore Mark away from the comfort of his sleep, alerting him that it was time to get up and go to school. He washed and quickly had breakfast before leaving the house. It was just a normal day, except his dad wasn't back from his business trip yet. 

 Mark smiled as he headed along the street towards school, eager to hear how people found his party, almost unable to wait to hear himself being the talk of the school. It wasn't a tame night, and so Mark hoped it would be memorable to all.

 He made it to school with time to spare, and headed up to his first class of the week, math. He was greeted warmly by the teacher, and upon scanning the classroom, realised that he was only the second to arrive, the first being Isaac, who gripped his Costa cup, staring idly out the window. Mark sauntered up to take a seat beside the blond boy. He didn't receive a hello, or any sort of acknowledgement whatsoever, and so he figured that Isaac was in a deep daydream. 

 "Good morning!" Mark chirped cheerily, smiling widely as Isaac turned to look at his classmate. Isaac's stare was less inviting. He almost glared at Mark, his eyes filled with disgust and disappointment, before muttering a reluctant greeting.

 Mark's smile faltered slightly, but he thought that maybe Isaac was just in a bad morning mood, and his glare wasn't directed at Mark personally. He tried his best to keep the conversation alive.

 "So.... How was your Sunday?" He asked, staring intently at Isaac's face, studying every feature, trying to determine the source of his anger and cheerlessness. 

 "Uneventful." Isaac almost spat the word at Mark, sighing audibly afterwards, clearly trying to indicate to Mark that he wasn't interested in conversing any further. Mark nodded, his smile dropping altogether now, and his eyes falling to his notebook, where he began to doodle in the awkward silence that engulfed the classroom and lasted until the period finished. 

 Isaac stood as soon as the bell rang, and hurried out of the classroom, humming emotionlessly. He didn't look at Mark as he left the room, not once.

 Mark's spirits had plummeted, he hoped that he wasn't the cause of Isaac's irritation, but something inside him told him that he was to blame, though he didn't know the reason.

 The next few periods, however, cheered him up. He walked into the history classroom after math, and before he could even take his seat, he was greeted with cheers from Will, which sparked more from other party goers. Blushing, he took his seat next to Will and forced himself to hide his wide grin ever so slightly, but the satisfaction continued to show through his eyes. People came up to thank him for such an amazing night, to which Will sulked sarcastically, claiming that the whole party was a result of his handiwork.

 This praise continued over the next two periods, and by lunch, Mark had completely forgotten about Isaac's mood that morning. He began to head to lunch, to sit at the table with Felix, Josh, Isaac and Jack. He was excited to see Jack, his disappointment that the green haired boy didn't show up had subsided, and he was looking forward to talking to him about his progress in 'Shadow of the Colossus', a video game that Jack had let him borrow to play. He practically skipped from his fourth period class to the table outside where they always sat.

 As he neared it, however, he came across Jack, and called out for him to wait, smiling enthusiastically. Jack turned and waited as Mark jogged to catch up to him. He didn't share the excited smile that Mark wore, instead he looked like he was almost glaring, giving the exact same disgusted look that Isaac had given him that morning. Mark furrowed his brow, now somewhat worried that he had done something. 

 "Hey Jack," Mark panted as he caught up to him, "...are you okay?"

 "Whaddya want Mark?" Jack asked, anger clear in his voice. "You here to mock me some more?" Jack was almost yelling now, attracting some attention from the surrounding students, who were snickering covertly. 

 "...w...what?" Mark stuttered, his voice no louder than a whisper. "Jack?" 

 "Oh! Of course! You weren't there to see!" Jack spat, throwing his hands up in the air and smiling maniacally, despite his face twisting with rage. "You did your part and you missed the big show!" He was tearing up now, looking from Mark to the small audience that had gathered around the two.

 Mark was now thoroughly confused, his left eyebrow raised quizzically. "Jack what are you talking about?" He still hadn't seemed to have found his voice, he knew that Jack could barely hear, and the audience would have no chance, but he didn't care how weak he looked at the moment. He just cared about Jack's feelings, about what he had done to hurt him so much.

 "Oh don't you dare pretend you had nothing to do with it." Jack yelled. He dropped his voice slightly afterwards, the rage leaving his face, being replaced with genuine sadness and hurt. "I thought you liked me. I thought I had somehow managed to make another friend." He choked out, his voice thick with despair, and his eyes refusing to break away from Mark's own.

 He began to turn around, taking a step away from Mark. Mark realised that he was beginning to leave, and stepped forward, determined to prove to Jack that he didn't know what was going on, and he had nothing to do with whatever had took place. 

 "Jack, wait." Mark said, his voice cracked halfway through the word 'Jack', making him seem that much more weak, powerless.

 Without hesitation, Jack spun quickly on his heel, his hand curled into a fist. The speed at which he had swivelled had allowed him to gain a lot of momentum. He brought his fist up, and before Mark could even think, Jack's knuckles had connected painfully with his face, creating an ear splitting crunch, his jaw aching and blood emerging from his nostrils before he had even began to stumble back and hit the concrete. The onlookers gasped in shock. 

 When he was on the ground, he looked up. Jack was staring icily at him, his blue eyes, once full of life and joy were unforgiving. He could swear he saw them flash amber, for maybe half a second, but his mind was probably playing tricks on him. The solid impact of Jack's fist must have knocked his senses askew momentarily.

 Jack turned on his heel once more, no sign of regret or sorrow showing on his face whatsoever, just a look of pain and anger. Mark held back his tears, too deep in shock to get to his feet. He sat on the ground, watching Jack turn the corner, disappearing from his view.

 Before he could attempt standing, Will was kneeling next to him, helping him to his feet. He looked in the direction that Jack had stalked off, obviously heading for the music practice room, and growled under his breath.

 "He'll pay for this Mark, I promise you that." Will said, his voice acidic, his eyes darting back and forth as if he was insane. If it was possible for a human to spontaneously combust, Will was currently on the verge of doing so. He shook with rage, confusing Mark slightly as to why he cared so much. "Oh yes." He continued, smiling crookedly, "He will pay."

 He looked left and right, his eyes falling on what he was looking for. Mark followed his gaze, stopping when he was looking in the same direction. He looked through the dissipating crowd at Josh, rushing down the same corridor that Jack had disappeared down, obviously intending on catching up with him. 

 "And I have just the idea on how to make him pay." Will snarled, laughing crazily. Mark looked up at him, questioning his sanity slightly. It was as if something inside Will had just snapped. It was as if some sort of psychosis had taken over.

________

A/N Hello again!

 I know! Don't hate me! I promise they won't always go back to hating each other, but if you wanna get to know me then you must understand, I love this sorta slow burn rocky lead up to a romance.

 Also, I might be partial to a 'not-so-happy ever after' but we'll see how this fic ends, I might make it a happy one.

Thats a worry for future me though, we're just getting started with this story! So enjoy!! And I will see you all in the next A/N. ;D