Chasing Jacob (Jacob Whitesides Fanfiction)

Falling

The next two weeks were rough, but the boys were right. I didn't need Julia and apparently she didn't need us anymore. Ryan drove us to school everyday and I spent my mornings with the baseball team, minus Evan and they made me feel at home. None of them knew about my issues. They only knew that I was struggling with something and Evan and Julia backed away when I really needed them. The team was super nice. Not overly nice, but enough to make me feel okay that Julia and Evan had abandoned me and took a different side in my struggle: the one that was against me.

The best part about being friends with the baseball team was that I now had someone other than Julia to talk to in most of my classes. Math, music, and foods class weren't torture anymore when the boys were willing to sacrifice their usual partners for partner activities to make sure I wasn't stuck with Julia. Lunch was starting to feel the way that it used to, except instead of Julia, we had Emily, and I was becoming okay with that.

Ryan always drove Jacob, Dakota, and me home everyday and often dropped all of us off at Jacob's house. The only true disappointment was that Sierra was starting to like Kota more than me. Well, that and Jacob's announcement he made after school the one day.

We were all sitting in his room. Jacob was playing on his guitar and singing off and on. That sort of thing thrilled Dakota because Jacob never used to sing in front of him before. He was slowly starting to put fan art up on the walls of his room and the letters were slowly creeping around to take over. "So my last cover's been doing really well," Jacob said casually.

I smiled. "I know. It's really good."

He swallowed hard and stared down at the floor. Kota and I looked at each other. "I'm getting really serious about music though. I want to make something out of it so bad."

I gave him a strange look. "You can make it. We all know that."

He nodded but continued looking down. "I really hope you're right, but there's no way I can make it if I'm in public school. I'm thinking about switching to cyber school next year."

I was disappointed. "What about us though? We've been talking about going to high school together for years."

He sighed and strummed his guitar. "I know, but if I'm in cyber school, I can focus on music more and maybe I'll get somewhere."

Kota shifted the way he was sitting. "Are you really gonna do it though? For sure?"

Jacob shrugged. "I don't know. I really want to, but sometimes I worry about you guys forgetting me or something because I'm not at school. I don't wanna give up seeing you guys everyday."

I didn't say anything. I didn't really feel like I had to. Jacob knew I wanted him at school. I needed him. That was the only time after Julia that my number got above 6. After I left Jacob's I went straight to Ryan's instead of going home. Mom was working late again and Josh knew well enough not to ask.

I climbed through his window and laid back on his bed. He'd gone to the grocery store to pick up a few things for his parents who were also out late again and told me to wait for him. He seemed stressed when he walked in and sighed. "Number?" I asked him.

"8. You?"

I shrugged. "Almost an 8."

He came to the bed and pulled me into his chest. After a moment or two he took control much like the first night. He cried and I was relieved by the fact that I was helping him. He wasn't comfortable telling me why he reached whatever number he was at, but I felt better telling him my story. He was always patient and good at listening.

Every meeting we had was ended with him laying kisses on my scars and cuddling for a while. I always left his house at peace, but his numbers were consistently higher than normal after Julia left us. It made me wonder whether or not he was really getting what he needed.