Biology

Chapter 17

The other students in the hallway were bustling around, rattling in their lockers, chatting loudly, laughing, generally enjoying their morning as they got ready for the first bell to ring.

All of that stopped the minute Jack and Hiccup stepped out into the corridor. They were still holding hands. Jack was looking down, face flushed in embarrassment, nervous and worried. Hiccup kept his head up and set his jaw, green eyes looking around them, challenging and defiant.

When everyone's attention focused in on them, he simply tightened his hand in Jack's. A current of surprise jolted through the crowd around them—and then the talking began again, just quiet murmurs and whispers that made Jack's stomach twist into a tight knot. He lowered his head even more, his free hand coming up to pull at the edge of his shirt anxiously.

"Hey," Hiccup's voice made him glance up hesitantly. The other teen shot him a little smile, just the corner of his mouth lifting slightly, trying to be reassuring. "It's okay."

Jack's own lips twitched into a very brief smile in return before he looked down again, afraid to see the reactions of the people around him. "Y-yeah."

The rest of the day wasn't easy.

Hiccup walked with him to his first class, but then had to leave for his own. Jack sat in silence for the entire period, eyes on his desk but more than aware of the stares he was getting from everyone else.

When that period ended, he hurried to his second class—this one he shared with Hiccup, so it wasn't quite as bad. At least he didn't feel completely alone the entire time he was there, though the whispers and gossip increased tenfold when the lessons ended and Hiccup made a point of giving his hand a goodbye squeeze on the way past as they headed off to their next classes.

By lunch time Jack just wanted to crawl under a rock and hide. He was dreading going to the cafeteria, but made his way there anyway, his backpack hiked up on one shoulder and his steps quick, head down.

Once there he hurried over to his corner and sat down with his back to the rest of the room. After a minute he sighed out a shaky breath, leaned until his forehead was pressed to the cold tabletop, and brought his arms up to cover his head. Hopefully no one would notice him there if he stayed quiet and didn't make eye contact.

But a few minutes later, footsteps approached. The chair next to him pulled out with a screech against the scuffed linoleum floor and Jack's entire body tensed, shoulders hunching a little more and hands tightening behind his head.

"Jack."

Hiccup's voice. Jack slowly lowered his arms and looked up a little—then relaxed some when his eyes lit on the other boy, who had seated himself next to him, set his lunch on the table and tossed his backpack on the floor by his feet. He tilted his head at Jack slightly.

"You doing okay?"

Jack shifted, looked down for a second, then back up again. He shrugged a bit. "I'm just... everyone keeps staring, you know? They won't stop." Then a frown and he chanced a quick glance across the room toward Hiccup's usual table. All of the other boy's friends and teammates sat there, too, and now they were all staring just like the rest of the room. "Shouldn't you be sitting over there?"

"Like I was going to leave you alone today." Hiccup rolled his eyes and waved a hand.

Blue eyes blinked at that—and then Jack smiled again, just slightly. "Thanks."

Lunch hour passed a little more comfortably with Hiccup next to him and Jack managed to eat his food without being harassed or feeling as if he was going to throw up. Unfortunately, it couldn't last forever, and he soon found himself back in classes with eyes boring into him from all sides for the rest of the day.