It Started With a Mark- Boyf Riends soulmate AU

Chapter 10

  After a day or so, Jeremy finally let Michael go back to school. It took a lot of convincing on Michael's part, cause Jeremy didn't think he was healed enough, but Michael won in the end.
 
  And so, there they sat, in Michael's scorching hot muggy car (the air conditioning broke over the winter) driving to school, Michael's long sleeve shirt and bulky jeans didn't show him much mercy. They mentally prepared themselves for the flood of absent work, as they pulled into an empty parking spot in the shade behind the school. The two begab to gather their belongings.
 
  "Hey," Michael said as he paused the cassette tape in the radio. "thank you."
 
  Jeremy turned to him, and made an expression that said 'What for?'
 
  "For helping me. You saved my life when I was being unreasonable, so thanks."
 
  Jeremy smiled, but his eyes didn't.
 
  "Don't thank me, it was my fault."
 
  "Excuse me?" Michael said, putting on a 'bitch please' tone.
 
  "I was dumb and ignored you for a stupid reason. I should have been more cautious with my actions."
 
  "Jere, not your fault. Okay?"
 
  Jeremy sighed.
 
  "If you say so." He reached for the handle, Michael locked the door.
 
  "Repeat after me: It was not my fault, your mental state isn't in my control."
 
  "Michael..."
 
  "Say it."
 
  Jeremy groaned.
 
  "It was not my fault, your mental state isn't in my control."
 
  Michael smiled.
 
  "That wasn't hard, was it?"
 
  "You know, saying something doesn't necessarily make it true."
 
  "Oh, shut up." Michael punched Jeremy playfully in the shoulder. "Let's go."
 
  He unlocked the door, and the two left for the school doors. The cool air conditioned air swept over their bodies, it was a nice change, though it sent a chill down their spine. As they walked, they noticed a few glares and whispers.
 
  Clearly, there was some drama spread that had to do with them. Jake quickly noticed them, and walked up to the two. He tried to converse with them, but his body language showed that his focus was mainly on Michael.
 
  "Hey guys, where've ya been?" He asked, trying to hide the concern in his voice. Jeremy froze in his tracks like a deer in headlights, waiting for a good answer to find its way into his brain. It wasn't like he could really tell the truth...
 
  "It isn't really something I wanna share." Michael sort of blurted out. "So what are the rumors?" Jake nodded understandingly, and looked off as if he was in thought.
 
  "Some people just assumed you died or something," Michael almost chuckled. "some people say that y'all just f*cked for 3 days, few variations on that one, and a lot of people just think you're skipping for no particular reason. I'm quite fond of that one."
 
  Jeremy shook himself out of his trance, and looked over to see Jake and Michael just having a casual conversation. It was still weird, seeing his best friend chatting with one of the popular guys like it was some normal thing. He didn't know how it had happened.

  A few more words were exchanged, and they parted ways. Michael and Jeremy went over to their spot where they normally hung out before class started, but moved to an empty hallway when the stares started to make them uncomfortable.
 
  "Well, what are we gonna do about the gossip?" Jeremy said once everyone was out of earshot.
 
  "I guess just deal with it, not much else we can do." Michael uncomfortably tugged at his sleeves. They began to migrate to Michael's first period, which was in this hallway.
 
  "Make sure you don't tell Jake about what happened, okay? I know you're kinda close to him-"
 
  "I won't, and I'm not close to him. It's just small talk."
 
  "Okay..." They arrived at Michael's class, and the bell rang. "Bye." Jeremy waved.
 
  "Bye." They parted ways, Michael entered his class, and Jeremy went to his own. Michael sat down and began to unpack onto the desk, getting out his notebook and pencil, laptop, and copy of Be More Chill. The students slowly but surely began to flow into the room and filled the desks, giving him a suprised look as they did so.

  "Michael, hey! Where were you?" He looked over to his right in suprise, to see Peiji.

  "Oh, hey." He thought about an answer, and settled on the default of: "I was home sick." Peiji nodded.