the Sound & the Story × A Jacky Vincent Reader ×

Chapter 2: That New Day, and that New Kid

After what seemed like the longest day ever, the bell of 8th period rang. The ride home was very quiet, and not much was said when I walked through my front door.

"Dad and I are going out! There's money on the counter for food. Call us if you need anything." I heard my mom yell, the door shutting after. I went down the stairs and snatched the cash of the counter. I got in my car and drove up to Chick Fil' A.

I was waiting on my food when I noticed something odd, a long haired brunette kid. Never did I get the chance to see his face, but he was wearing ripped jeans, a Jack Daniels shirt and a white bandanna was wrapped in his hair.

Once I paid for my meal, I climbed into the car and heard my phone buzz.  It was a text from Ronnie... Ronnie: We need to talk. Sorry for fighting with you. Please come over so we can work this out. I ignored his text, and began driving home.

When I got home, I ate my chick fil' A and passed out. I woke up the next morning, to 3 missed calls from Ronnie and a text from Scarlett that read; Scarlett: Hey b, you ok? I hope you're not mad at me b/c of my dumbass brother. I ignored them and hopped into the shower.

Eventually, I ended up in school.. I decided to smoke a cigarette and skip the beginning of first period. After a couple of long musky drags, I threw my cigarette butt in the toilet and walked myself to class.

"Well. Very nice of you to show up today Mrs. Moore, and quite perfect timing too" My professor, Mr. Lynch said shooting me a look.

As I sat down in my seat, I noticed some kid standing up next to him. A kid with long, brunette hair which had a bandanna wrapped in it. 'Could that be the kid I saw?' I asked myself, having my thoughts interrupted.

"Well class, as I was saying..." I could feel all of the eyes in the room flicker at me. "This is our new student, Jackson Vincent. Mr. Vincent, could you tell us a little about yourself?" Mr. Lynch continued, as the boy turned around.

He was nervous and you could tell, but all I could focus on was his bright blue eyes. "Ugh, Hi." He stuttered in a British accent

"Well, here where are you from, what do you miss the most about that place and what's something you enjoy?" Professor asked.

"Well, umm... I'm Jacky, and um I'm from England, and mostly I miss my family and I um, I like Starbucks." It all came out so British, but he had something about his voice that was...cool? "Then, there you have it. We have many Starbuck's around here! Perhaps Mrs. Moore could show you?" Mr. Lynch said, causing all of the attention to pan onto me.

I had known all summer I was giving tours to new students because my mom forced me to join the student council committee. "Uh huh." I nodded back seeming annoyed, because of the beady eyes staring and blinking my way.

"Mrs. Moore, well Taylor, she's the lucky young lady who was assigned to giving you your first day tour of the school!" I just wanted the staring to end, but our teacher wouldn't stop rambling. I buried my face in my bag and draped my arms around it's outline, groaning inside.

"You can sit now, Jacky you said it was?" I heard Mr. Lynch say, as I slowly picked my head up. The tall kid who called himself 'Jacky' made his way through the back of the class, to where I was sitting.

I could see Ronnie and Scarlett off to the side, in front of me. She waved to me, as he moped about pretending to read the chapter we were learning. The whole class I felt myself  wanting to say something to Jacky, but I couldn't think of anything normal enough to not scare him.

As the class began to rustle up their belongings to pass to the next period, Mr. Lynch had called for me and Jacky to stay after class. "I wrote passes so you can show Jacky around the school, you just have to put a time on it when you're done. Please don't cut class...speaking of which. Taylor I'm not easily fooled, I know the smell of a fresh cigarette." He said staring dead at me.

"Thanks Mr. L, and sorry life's stressful, I'll try to quit." I knew what I just said was a lie. I wasn't addicted, but smokes really helped calm me down.

When we left the classroom, it was very quiet and awkward. "So..." I said prancing around the hallway to entertain myself

"I'm Jacky." He said to me as we continued to walk the never ending forums of the school. "Yeah no shit. I know" I said laughing, quickly cutting it off as I could tell he was uncomfortable.

"So kid, what do you do for fun?" I asked him trying to keep a conversation going longer than 5 seconds. "I um...I play guitar." He said looking down at his feet.

"Far out man, I love guitar. In fact I'm obsessed." For some reason my attitude had shifted when I felt those words hit me like a train would strike an ongoing car.

"I love Green day, and I am like super obsessed with like post hardcore metal." "Same!" He shouted, blushing after.

"Well, Jack you're not that bad...but what about favorite movies? All time favorites are Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride and Labyrinth which you've probably never heard of but it's good." "I um...I love the nightmare before Christmas." he shuddered as we turned a corner.

"Well, we have a lot in common then." I said hitting his shoulder." "Yeah I guess so!" his accent was so smooth, yet alarming.

"Well, I don't wanna get written up again for skipping so I'll see you...Next period haha. We have the same schedule!" I blurted out as I glanced down at his grouping.

As the day went on, I told him about The Bitch Squad and how he should join band, and we connected some more over how we were alike. Before we knew it, 8th period was over.

"Yeah, my mum's cooking is great!" He told me as we got our things out from our lockers. "My 'mum' never cooks anymore." I explained throwing emphasis into the word mom.

"All day you've been making fun of my accent now its my turn!" He smiled at me. "Oh yeah, bring it?" I snapped back giggling.

"You're so short!" He laughed. "Not funny!" I whined, smiling. It was true though. Jacky was around 5'9 and i was only 5'4.

"Here! There you are Tay!" I heard come from behind me. It was Ronnie. "Oh god." I whispered to myself, Jacky turning around.

"Hey babe. Can we talk now?" He approached me asking. "I'm a little busy Ron!" I yelled at him. "What with him? Yeah right. Look bud she's mine back the fuck up." Ronnie snapped getting into Jacky's face.

"Radke! Quit it. He's just a friend." I explained, trying to pull Ronnie back. He grabbed ahold of my arm, and wouldn't let go. "Stop it!" He yelled at me. "HEY! Leave her alone!" Jacky said trying to pry Ronnie off of me.

Before I knew it, I was knocked to the ground and the boys were fighting.  The principle came out and pulled the boys in his office.

I knew I needed to go home before anyone saw my bruised arm because of Ronnie. He didn't know it, but I did. We were over and I meant it this time.

I wrote my number and name down on a piece of paper, and put the paper on Jacky's Bag. After the long stressful day, I went home and passed out, hoping I would wake up to a text from Jacky.