A Story After a Story: A Fault In Our Stars Fanfic

Chapter 4

Augustus's POV:

Today is my first day of school that I have been to for a month. I wake up with a knot in my stomach and immediately feel like I am going to throw up. I throw on a pair of khaki cargo shorts, a light blue polo shirt, and my black Nikes with black calf high socks. I make my way downstairs still feeling nervous, and my mom is sitting at the dinner table drinking coffee and reading the paper.

"Morning honey. My, my, my it's been so long since you have come downstairs looking so nice. Ready for school?" she says sipping her coffee.

"As ready as I'm going to be." I say puffing out my cheeks.

"You'll be fine, hang out with Jess. It will be a fresh start for the both of you." She says smiling. "Now eat your breakfast and get going. You don't want to be late."

I grab an apple and my book bag and wave to my mom as I walk out the door.

"Bye Gus have a good day!" she calls after me.

"Thanks!" I yell back.

I walk over to Jess's place and knock on the front door. The door flings open and she stands there still in at shirt and sweats. She gestures for me to come in.

"Hey Jess! You should probably hurry up, we've got to get going." I say looking at my phone.

"Hey, make yourself at home, I'm going to go finish getting ready quick. I promise I will try to hurry up." She says smiling and then running back up the steps.

I sit down on the couch and she comes down 10 minutes later. She's wearing skinny jeans with a few rips, a galaxy print tank top, black Vans with white laces, her strawberry hair is lightly curled and her makeup is flawless.

"Uh.. you look... you look great." I say clearing my throat. Why was I thinking like this? Hazel was my one and only... We are just friends I remind myself and that's okay.

"Why thank you!" she says dramatically. "You don't look to bad yourself." She says nodding.

"Thanks, we should really be getting going." I say pointing to the door.

"Right, let's go. Walk or bus?" she asks grabbing her bag.

"Let's take the bus." I suggest.

We walk down to the corner and get on the bus sitting next to each other.

"Are you nervous for your first day?" I ask.

"Yeah maybe a little, but I have at least one friend to hang out with." She says looking over at me.

"I know I'm nervous. I haven't been to school in like a month and everyone knows about what happened to Hazel."

"You'll be okay. Do you want to sit with me at lunch? We can catch up in between classes to." She says.

"That would be good." I say as we pull into the school. "I'll see you in a little bit."

"Alright I guess I have to go to the office and get my schedule so maybe we will be in the same classes together."

We go our separate ways, I head to my locker that I haven't been to in a month. That's when I see trouble walking down the hallway. I almost forgot about that little group, Dan and his followers.

"Yo Gussy! I see you're back in school after your little girlfriend died." He laughs a little laugh that makes my blood boil.

"She wasn't just my little girlfriend, she meant everything to me." I say trying to stay calm. Then I see Jess coming down the hall. I slam my locker and start to walk away but Jess calls my name. She runs up behind me and taps my shoulder.

"Hey there. You weren't trying to ignore me were you?" she asks.

"No, just them." I whisper.

She turns around toward Dan, the football star who thinks he's better than everybody and did something nobody would dare to do: confront him.

"Hi is there a problem here?" she asks.

"No, and who might you be?" He demands.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Jess and I'm new here."

"And what makes you think that you can just come confront me like this 'new girl'."

"Well, I saw you picking on my friend and I think that's wrong. You have no idea what he has been going through, so before you put others down, maybe you should think about what you are saying." She says confidently. "Bye now!" She waves and the three of them just stand there open mouthed.

"Let's go Gus." She tugs on my shirt and we walk down the hall.

"That was amazing, thank you." I say.

"Eh, it was no problem. That's what friends are for." She comments smiling.

And so the rest of the day coasted along nicely after Jess put Dan in his place.