Soft Hearts | In A Heartbeat Fanfiction

3: Trois (it means 3 in french you dummy)

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From then onward, Sherwin and Jonathan walked home every day after school ended. Sherwin looked forward to listening to music tapes with Jon, especially on days when his crush brought his own cassettes he wanted to share.

One particular cloudy afternoon, as Sherwin waited at the edge of Newgate's grounds, someone besides Jonathan walked up to him. Well, two people, actually. Dante and his girlfriend, Ginny, stopped when they reached the gate, and the former loomed closer to Sherwin until he had to look up to meet his eyes.

"H-hi, Dante," Sherwin stuttered. The much larger jock had a smug look plastered across his lips as he glared down at him.

"Hey, Sherwin," Dante greeted in a silky, cold voice, "I was thinking, before you went home, we could have a quick chat. How 'bout that?" Sherwin felt that he didn't really have a choice in the matter, so he just nodded his head quickly, trying not to break eye contact.

"Alright, sweet, kid. So, I just wanted to ask if you knew that Jonathan talked to me about you the other day?" Dante asked cooly. Sherwin blushed, but before he could respond with a no, he continued. "Well, he was a bit...worried...that you still liked him after that whole fiasco last year. Remember that?" he chuckled, and Ginny smirked. "He even said that he was gettin' annoyed with you following him around all the time."

Sherwin started to shake his head in confusion. "I d-don't fol-"

"Suree you don't. But listen here, faggot," Dante whispered, getting so close Sherwin could feel his hot breath on his forehead. "Leave Jon alone. He doesn't want you, kay?" Then he proceeded to shove Sherwin in the shoulder, hard. Landing in a nearby bush, he could hear Ginny's high-pitched laughs join her boyfriend's as they sauntered away.

His cheeks red with embarrassment and anger, Sherwin stumbled to his feet and began to jog home. Obviously, Jonathan had sent Dante to tell him off because he was so disgusted by Sherwin, he probably never wanted to see his ugly, freckled face again.

Sherwin sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve, then rounded the corner to his house. He couldn't go inside looking like this. Blinking his eyes furiously, Sherwin sat behind one of the trees in his front yard, staying there until he calmed down. How could he have thought that Jonathan possibly liked him back, let alone wanted to be his friend? I'm just a regular, old nobody, Sherwin thought sadly.

Eventually, his blotchy cheeks became clear enough for him to face his family, and he headed inside. In the living room, his dad sat on the couch watching The Brady Bunch on T.V. "Hey, sonny," he said warmly, patting Sherwin on the back. "How was school?"

"It was fine," Sherwin lied. He was used to lying about school to his parents, which probably wasn't the best idea given that they assumed he actually had friends and enjoyed being there. At least Newgate was better than public school.

"That's good. Your mother's out back, by the way, go help her with the laundry, please," his dad told him, and Sherwin complied, setting his stuff down in his room and heading to the backyard.

Outside, his ginger-haired mom stood hanging linens on a clothesline. According to her, clothes dryers were apparently bad for the environment, and it was better to air dry everything. Personally, Sherwin thought this was ridiculous, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he grabbed a towel and tossed it over the line.

"Hey, mom," he said, pinning the towel down. She smiled at him, continuing to put up clothes.

"Hi, tootsie," she greeted, pecking his cheek. Sherwin grimaced at this latest nickname, but he dealt with her mild obsession of calling him and his siblings various types of candy. "You seen Bobby anywhere?"

Sherwin shook his head. His older brother was probably out with some girl. Perhaps even passed out in her bedroom this very moment. Sighing, Sherwin's mother picked up the now empty laundry basket, and Sherwin followed her inside.

Melanie, his little sister, met him on his way to his bedroom. "Where ya goin', Sherwin?" she questioned. At age nine, she was getting to be quite nosy and somewhat tiresome.

"To my room, where else?" he replied sarcastically, opening his door with a grand gesture. His annoyed tone must have missed her brain, because she tried to go in with him. "Buzz off, Melanie," Sherwin told her, and she let out a hmph and stomped away.

"You never play with me," she complained. He rolled his eyes.

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The next day, Sherwin was not looking forward to third period at all. He spent the first few hours of school staring at the clock, urging it to slow down. But, much to his dismay, it kept ticking. Eventually, he stood in front of Mr. Gregg's classroom, and taking a deep breath, he walked in.

Jonathan sat in his usual spot, but something was off about him. His head rested against the palm of his hand as he stared blankly at the chalkboard. He didn't even notice Sherwin until he sat down next to him. Almost jumping out of his seat, Jon broke into a relieved smile.

"Dude, I was wondering where you went yesterday," he started off, then went on a tangent about how he walked around looking for him, and so on. Sherwin was dumbfounded. Then he recalled what Dante told him, and figured that Jonathan was probably feeling sorry for him.

"-and so I asked Ginny if she'd seen you, but she just laughed for some strange reason and walked away. Don't you think that's weird?" Jonathan paused and looked at Sherwin. "Hey, you alright?"

Sherwin shrugged and got out his papers. "Let's just get to work, okay?" he said, not meeting Jon's eyes. If he wanted Sherwin to leave him alone, he would. Besides, what else did he expect from the most popular boy in school?

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