Trust Your Instincts

-20- Apology

 "What do you want?" The words stung Ken, they hurt more than they should've, because they only reminded him how hated he was by some people. He wanted to leave, maybe it was a bad decision coming to talk to Jack. 

 "Uhhhh... hi Jack." He forced out, "My name is Ken. I don't think we've properly met." He held out a trembling hand, but Jack just glared down at it, not showing any sign of shaking it at all.

 "That's right. We've never met. But that didn't seem to stop you when you embarrassed me in front of everybody." Jack hissed, scowling at Ken, his hands balling up into fists. Ken felt tears fill his eyes, but he looked to the ground, hoping that he could hide his pathetic weakness from Jack. 

 He was lost for words, his eyes fixed on the carpet, and Jack was growing impatient, quaking with furiosity. "Say something!" He yelled. "Why are you here?" The volume of Jack's voice caused Ken to flinch a little, cowering away slightly. Jack felt a stab of pity, Ken wasn't the worst of their group, but he was part of the group nonetheless, and so he convinced himself that he shouldn't feel bad. 

 Ken didn't answer, he didn't look up. He eventually inhaled, realising that the conversation would get nowhere if he didn't get a hold of himself and get over his fears for once, but before he was able to speak, he was interrupted by another voice, as Josh walked to the doorway. He took Ken by surprise a little, Ken hadn't noticed that he was also in the room.

 "I... think I better get going. I promised my girlfriend that we'd go to the cinema tonight, and I can't be late again." Josh said, looking from Jack to Ken, sympathy not leaving his gaze, even as it shifted to the latter. He hugged Jack shortly, saying that he'd see him tomorrow, and then left, placing a hand on Ken's shoulder before walking down the corridor.

 They were left once again in silence, both of them staring down at the ground. Jack's temper had bettered slightly, he was no longer shaking, but he still spoke irritably. 

 "Ken, we're gonna get nowhere if you just stare at the floor. What did you come here for?" Jack asked, the anger was still evident in his voice, but this time he spoke more patiently.

 Ken inhaled again, rehearsing what he was going to say in his head, but when he started to speak, all of the structure and practice left his speech.

 "Okay, first I need to really sincerely apologise to you Jack. I had nothing against you and still I never stopped any of this from happening. I was scared, I was a coward, and I'm just as much to blame as everyone else. I'm not looking for your forgiveness, I just hope that in time you'll realise that I am a good person, and I never wanted to hurt you." Ken gushed, the words flooding out of his mouth at a rapid rate. He stopped for a moment to breathe, while Jack rolled his eyes, unconvinced.

 "The other reason I'm here," he continued, "...i-is that Mark had nothing to do with any of this. He didn't know the plan, and he doesn't even know what happened to you. He still thinks you never showed up at the party. He wasn't there to see Will and Eli setting up the prank. He was in the back yard with Josh at the time, he doesn't know what they did to you. They didn't tell him, they hoped to separate you because for some reason Will's determined to ruin every last one of your friendships. Mark's just as confused as he's letting on. It's not a front." Ken said softly, taking a deep breath after finishing.

 He studied Jack's face, but it was unreadable. Jack stared ahead, not looking at anything in particular. Perhaps he was trying to work out for himself whether this was true, or trying to find any form of evidence to show that Ken was lying, but eventually he came up short. 

 "How do I know you're not lying Ken?" Jack questioned, as he stared at him intently, a glimmer of hatred still in his sky blue eyes, but his stare was not as harsh as it had been minutes ago. 

 Ken thought for a moment, but all he could manage to say was "You don't, you just have my word that I'm telling the truth. I promise that I'm not lying."

Jack nodded, and went back to sit at the piano, not to play, just to sit down. He was still unconvinced, he learned long ago not to trust anyone, but Ken sounded sincere the whole time that he spoke, and his hopeful stare that still bore into Jack's eyes really did look like he wanted Jack to believe him. There's no way this could be another trap, is there? Jack thought to himself. Why would Ken do this to me? He has no reason to hate me.

 Eventually Jack decided that he believed Ken, he didn't trust him fully, and he promised himself that he would be wary around Mark regardless. Ken stood in the doorway, looking directly at Jack, waiting for him to say something, anything.

 Thank you for telling me that Ken," Jack finally said, his voice emotionless. Ken couldn't tell if he believed him or not, but the thanks was enough to make him smile a little. "And I appreciate your apology. I don't forgive you, and I sure as hell don't trust you yet, but I respect you for saying sorry." His voice sounded warmer in the last part, as if he was being genuine. Ken smiled a little more and started to head out the door, but before it closed, he leaned back into the room.

 "Oh and Jack?" He said, causing the other to look up from the ground suspiciously. "Be careful. Will's planning something to get back at you for hurting Mark. I refused to take part, and Mark doesn't know about any of it, but just... watch your back man." 

 And with that Ken was gone, leaving Jack alone with his thoughts, and his worries.

________

 A/N I'm back again with another chapter.

 I hope its not a bother that there are some chapters which don't have Mark in them and some without Jack, but I feel like the plot line would be kinda...not ruined...but not as realistic if they were constantly together and stuff. (you're writing a story about werewolves and you're worried about it being realistic)

...anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter, and I will see you in the next one!! :D