𝕸𝖆𝖈𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖘

5. a day in the life

"Things will be better for you, I'll make sure of it."

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As Jackson walked into the cafeteria, he nearly found himself disappointed. There was a lack he felt in the room. And that lack was the lack of a certain sophomore. A certain Peter Parker was lacking. His smile from earlier had dropped, sitting himself at the table Ned and Genesis sat at. And only they sat at.

Jackson's lack of enthusiasm was easy to spot for his best friend, who questioned him immediately, "Jacks? Are you okay?" She looked worried, yet she also seemed to understand.

He nodded silently, gulping as he prepared to talk, "I think I might go h-home after lunch." He didn't want to stay for his last two classes, pre-calc and chemistry. Peter Parker was in those two class periods, he couldn't bare to see him after this upset.

Genesis nodded sadly, leaving Ned utterly confused. The rest of lunch was quite silent, the sickening sound of chattering teens being the only noise present. Ned spent most of his time on his Samsung Galaxy phone, frantically texting who Jackson could only guess was him. As the bell sounded throughout the eating area, Jackson stood up immediately and rushed to his locker. He left quick enough to ignore the disappointment on his best friends face, that he made sure of.

As he slammed his locker closed, Jackson jumped at the sight of his best friend behind his locker door. He shrieked at a high pitch, earning a small giggle from Genesis, "So, since you're my one and only ride to and from school, I can assume I'm coming with you?"

Jackson breathed in and out, attempting to recover from his momentary shock. "Yeah," He breathes out, "Yeah, I'll drop you off." She nodded, slinging her backpack over her shoulder sassily. Jackson sighed, following behind her towards his car.

The drive to Genesis's home was a short one, however, the girl seemed to be able to fit a meaningful conversation in easily. As if it was nothing at this point in her life, "You know the drill, Jacks. Spill."

And so he did. He knew deep in his heart that she wouldn't have let him go without talking about it, that's just who she is. " I just want to know why Peter wasn't at lunch, okay?" Jackson started, "He just wasn't there. It makes no sense!" The thing was, it made perfect sense. In fact, Jackson knew exactly why Peter wasn't at lunch, and it's exactly why he was upset.

Peter was off doing his hero work; that Jackson knew. But just what was he doing? There wasn't any big thing going on around the city, so what 'hero work' was he up to?

In a quick fury, Jackson honked his horn repeatedly, scaring Genesis slightly. She could tell just how angry he was; however, she could also tell that wasn't the only thing making him upset, whether Jackson knew it or not. She frowned as his black Toyota came to a stop, meaning she was home.

Genesis opened the car door, stepping out and grabbing her backpack. She looked back one more time, "Call me if you need to talk, okay?" Jackson nodded, leaving her to close the door and to walk into a large building, commonly known as Miss Sarah's Home For Orphaned Girls. The moment she shut the glass doors behind her, Jackson drove off toward his home.

As he made his way home, he parked in front of his apartment building, turning off his ignition. The choir boy shut his car door and locked it behind him, heading up to the apartment. He stomped his way into the elevator, tapping his foot impatiently until it stopped at the 12th floor of the building.

Throughout the elongated hallway, he could already hear the crying infant and screaming parental figures from his place of living, the most recent accusations of his father to his mother being the ginger hair growing from his baby sisters head. The thing about his family is that not a single person in their family had ginger hair. Not on his fathers side, not on his mothers, yet, it made its way to little Reese.

Jackson unlocked the door, immediately feeling the attention fall on him. His mother spoke up first, a look of anger still on her face, "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

And at this moment, Jackson remembered just why he stayed after school most days. At approximately 3pm everyday, his mother had left for her job. That is, her 'job'. For once, he felt daring in his life, "I don't know, what do you think you're doing when you leave for 'work'?" At the word 'work', he made air quotations with his hands. The fury in his mother's eyes nearly replicated his from earlier.

His father stepped in, "Yeah, Katherine, just what do you think you're doing when you leave for this 'work'?" The man followed with the same motion as his son, leaving Jackson smirking. Reverse psychology; it seemed to be his specialty in some way. As the two continued their fight, Jackson made his way to his infant siblings crib. He picked up the young Reese from her crib, attempting to calm her. He began patting her back and bouncing her up and down, walking towards the kitchen and pulling out a pre-made bottle of formula.

Jackson let the formula heat up in the microwave as he prepared to change his little sisters diaper. He grabbed the baby powder, baby wipes, diaper rash cream, and a fresh diaper and got to work. When the front door slammed shut, he knew his mother was gone.

He sighed in relief, "Don't worry little Reese," he put on her fresh diaper and held her closely, her head tucked into the crook of his neck as she slowly fell asleep in his arms, "Things will be better for you, I'll make sure of it." Jackson smiled softly, easily tuning out his fathers angry ranting towards the phone.

I'm finally in a writing mood again and it makes me so happy. School sucks man, but I'll try to update as much as I can. I'm trying to establish an update schedule, so hopefully I'll be able to handle a new chapter every Wednesday after I get out from school? I think I can, I currently have 2 other chapters in draft. Love y'all and I hope you enjoyed this chapter 💞