swapped | markson

F O U R T E E N

Jackson took one deep breath, letting out a sigh as he headed into Mark's high school once again. He clenched his teeth together, as if waiting for someone to make a nasty comment about Mark, but nothing happened.

He let a smirk appear on his face. It seems his plan worked. Jackson knew that if he manipulated Mark's social status, the boy wouldn't exactly be at the bottom of the food chain. After all, everything was about social status.

On his way to his locker, Jackson was once again stopped by none other than Daniel, accompanied by the other ten members of his 'group.'

Daniel was hesitant as he spoke, "H-Hey, I wanted to apologize for...for—you know. I found another person to mess with, after all."

Jackson raised his left eyebrow, disregarding Daniel and striding right past the boy. However, something tugged at his gut inside. He recited Daniel's words under his breath, "I found another person to mess with, after all."

•-•-•-•-•-•-•

The day passed by in a flash. Sure, people were talking about Jackson—err—Mark. However this gossip was more positive than the usual negative words spouted out.

Lunch came around and Jackson sat alone in the secluded corner of the cafeteria. In the corner of his eye, he noted some girls nudging the smallest of them towards him. She finally gave up trying to argue back to them and shyly walked up to me.

"U-Um," she brought my attention to her, "A-Are you really friends with Jackson Wang?"

I raised an eyebrow, "What do you think?"

Her eyes widened, taking my words as confirmation, "W-Well, do you think you can get a bar graph—I mean—autograph for me? Oh, and we're all sorry for the things we've said."

Jackson almost laughed at the way the girl stumbled over her words, but a commotion dragged his attention towards the door.

"Stop! Leave me alone!" A voice shouted in attempt to halt the bullies from messing with him.

Jackson let out a sigh, noting that this boy was probably Daniel's new 'person to mess with.' He stood up, ignoring the girls that had tried to talk to him, walking over to the group of Daniel's bullies.

"Yah, Daniel!" He called out authoritatively. All 11 heads of the gang snapped towards Jackson's voice, "What do you think you're doing to that kid?"

"M-Mark! Uh, this is the kid I told you we were gonna mess with."

"I'm aware. Would you mind letting me talk to the boy?"

"O-Oh, we don't mind. Right, guys?" He looked to his buddies, and they all hastily nodded. Jackson noticed that Daniel clenched his fist, probably annoyed that he had to listen to what Mark said, that he wasn't in control of everyone anymore.

Nevertheless, Daniel shoved the kid towards Jackson, and Jackson was quick to steady the boy. "Follow me," he ordered.

"Why would you expect me to follow you?" The boy replied back snottily. Jackson proceeded to drag the boy by the arm down to the infirmary.