𝐁𝐀𝐃 𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐒; 𝘑𝘠𝘈𝘛𝘛

ch. 16

— monday —

jaeden struggled to push the memories of friday to the back of his head. he liked jack—as a friend. he didn't want what happened to cause their friendship to become awkward or uncomfortable. so, he planned to pretend as if it didn't happen.

as jaeden walked to school, the chilly, morning air pinched his cheeks. there was a large climate drop since friday.

after what felt like forever, he arrived at the place he used to call hell, which he now calls an escape. he walked up to his locker, and dumped his things in the confined space. he closes the door and looked around, his eyes searching for jack.

it didn't take him long to find the boy. he was leaning on a locker, looking up at a guy. jaeden soon recognised him; he was on the lacrosse team. he felt intruding if he walked up to them, so he waited for the two to finish their conversation. it didn't take too long. once noah, the boy jack was talking to, left, jaeden made his way to jack. jack saw the green-eyed boy and swallowed. jack quickly spun around and headed to the bathroom, leaving jaeden confused and hurt. he had a brief idea as to why jack did that—but he didn't believe it. well, he didn't want to believe it.

as the day went on, jack continued to avoid jaeden. jaeden ate by himself at first break, but on second break sophia came over. he looked up at the green-eyed beauty. she frowned. "what are you doing?"

"eating." jaeden said, waving his sandwich around.

"don't be a smartass. why are you by yourself? where's jack?"

"i don't know."

"what do you mean 'i don't know'? isn't he at school?"

"i don't know, okay?" jaeden told her firmly, clearly annoyed.

"jaeden, talk to me." she sat next to him and noticed that jaeden actually hadn't eaten any of his lunch, which concerned her.

jaeden let out a sigh. "i can't tell you. i'm sorry."

"is he in trouble?"

"no. no, he isn't. something just happened and now i'm pretty sure he wants nothing to do with me."

"oh." sophia looked down. "it couldn't have been that bad, right?"

"apparently it was." jaeden rolled his eyes.

"i can talk to him, if you want." she suggested.

"no, it's okay. i'll sort it out. thanks, though." he smiled at her. she smiled back and shrugged. "anytime, buddy. if you ever wanna talk, don't forget i'm here."

he nodded. she tapped his shoulder a few times reassuringly and walked away.

jaeden sighed and stared at his sandwich, not wanting to eat it. after a few minutes, he scoffed and stood up, walking over to the bin. he tipped his lunch inside and walked out of the cafeteria.

— last school bell rings —

the class stood up while the teacher was still dismissing everyone. jaeden stayed in his seat, knowing the teacher was going to make everyone sit back down for not allowing her to finish. just as expected, she demanded my classmates to remain in their seats. they all groaned, rolling their eyes as they followed her orders. once she was done, she said, "now, you may leave. i'll see you all tomorrow, don't forget to read a few chapters!" before she was even done, the class was gone, except for jaeden, who was taking his time while packing up his things. the teacher sighed at the rest of the class, rubbing her temple. she glanced at the quiet boy. "jaeden, isn't it?" she was a substitute teacher for the day, so she didn't know all the student's names. jaeden looked up, surprised the teacher was talking to him. "yeah, why?"

she smiled. "he speaks."

he returned the smile faintly.

"thank you for being mature and responsible in class. i appreciate it. especially with all the distractions from other students. it must drive you crazy to have to deal with that all the time."

he shrugged. "i don't really mind it."

she nodded. "well, i hope you enjoy the rest of your day."

"you too, miss." jaeden picked up his stuff and walked out of the class. the school was much more quiet than usual, since most of the students had gone home already. jaeden enjoyed taking his time. he hated rushing.

his phone vibrated, and he checked it.

sophia: i have a surprise. come to my house. now.

jaeden: okay

jaeden frowned, confused. what surprise? he shrugged, and made his way to sophia's house.

it only took around 15-30 minutes. he arrived and knocked on the door. almost immediately, it swung open and sophia was red with sweat pouring down her face. "you're here. thank god."

"what's going on?"

"just... just give me a minute." sophia bent down, panting. she took a deep breath and stood up straight. "sorry, i ran a few kilometres from the shops."

"why?"

"don't ask why. you'll find out. just follow me." she walked to her room and opened the door. "stay in here until i tell you to come out."

[don't you even dare make a homosexual coming out comment. i see you.]

jaeden nodded and sat on her bed. she closed the door after walking out.

he fell asleep. it wasn't that sophia was taking forever, he was just exhaused. he wasn't getting any sleep lately.

— an hour later —

"i'm not doing it. i can't."

"yes, you can."

"i can't, sophia. you don't get it. he hates me."

"well, this hate is temporary. he'll get the fuck over it. just like you."

"i hurt him."

"and he hurt you too. it goes both ways, dude." [just like jaeden's sexuality.]

"how am i supposed to face him? after everything that happened, i can't just jump back into his life and ruin everything all over again. i drove him to suicide. he could've died because of me."

"it wasn't your fault he jumped off the bridge. it was his dads. but that's over now. time has passed. now let's move on."

the boy sighed heavily and rubbed his face. "goddammit, soph. you're so fucking convincing."

the red-headed girl smiled. "i know."

"i don't know. i'll try."

"good." she knocked on the door. there was a faint 'come in', so she opened it.

"wyatt?"

"hey, jaeden."

AHH IM SUCH A BITCH HAHAHHA. sorry for leaving you on this cliffhanger but i gotta keep you guys interested lmao. i'll try to update as soon as possible <33

p.s i started using my laptop around halfway through the chapter and i've noticed that the spaces get screwed up when i look at it on my ipad. sorry about that :]