New Boy (A Javid Story)

Epilogue

The first day back after the strike was fairly peaceful. During the first couple periods, kids asked a lot of questions. By the end of fourth period, though, things had calmed down. At the lunch table, everything was back to normal. 

"Albert! Stop taking my tater tots!" Race complained, but Albert just shrugged and took another tater tot. 

"Katherine! Can you proofread my essay?" Crutchie asked. 

"Of course." Katherine nodded, and took the essay from the blonde boy. 

"Hey, Dave, do you have painkillers?" Jojo asked. 

"Yeah, why?" Davey asked, reaching into his backpack. 

"Mush pushed me into a table a little while ago and hurt my wrist." Jojo confessed as Davey handed over the medication. 

"Hey! Gimme back my glasses!" Specs yelled. 

"No can do, Specsie." Henry shrugged, putting the glasses on his face. 

"Why. Why do you do this?" Race complained about the tater tots again.

"Because it's the one thing you can't replace." Albert responded, looking Race dead in the eye as he took another tater tot. 

"Elmer." Romeo dragged out the 'r' in his boyfriend's name. 

"What?" Elmer asked. 

"Pay attention to me." Romeo pouted. Elmer laughed and leaned down to kiss his boyfriend. 

Underneath the table, Jack took Davey's hand. He leaned his head on Davey's shoulder and watched his friends act like idiots. He turned to Crutchie, who was playing rock paper scissors with Jojo, and smiled at them. 

"Hey, Jo, you really shouldn't-" Davey started to speak up, but was cut off. 

"Let them have fun, Dave." Jack whispered. 

"But, Jackie, his wrist." Davey protested. 

"Let them have fun." Jack repeated, kissing Davey's cheek. Across the table, Katherine was texting the same person Davey had been texting on his first day of school: Sarah Jacobs. 

After school, the boys crowded around in the abandoned classroom again. As he walked inside, Davey caught the scent of old paper again. He looked around at his friends, who were as loud as ever. The first time he stepped into that classroom now felt like a lifetime ago. Katherine was sitting where she had sat the first time he was shown the room, as focused as ever on her writing. Jojo and Race were having a staring contest while Albert stole some gum from Elmer. Jack and Crutchie were arm wrestling, and Jack was losing pretty badly. Davey laughed at the fact that Jack was trying to arm wrestle his brother even though he knew that the crutch gave Crutchie extreme strength in his arm. He moved over and sat down next to Katherine, watching her work. 

"How's the article coming?" Davey asked. 

"Good." Katherine responded, obviously in a writing coma. 

"Dave!" Race came running over. "I wanna test something I saw a talk show host do. How many Avengers can you name?" 

"I dunno." Davey shrugged. "Ten?" 

"Name them." Race challenged. 

Jack, who had now lost at arm wrestling four times, was starting to make his way around the room. He made Henry finally give Specs back his glasses and stole a tater tot from Albert, who had stolen them from Race. Then, he made his way over to his boyfriend, who was now naming U.S. presidents. 

"Mind if I steal my boyfriend for a bit, Racer?" Jack asked, grabbing Davey's arm. 

"Fine." Race nodded. "But we will finish this, Davey." Davey nodded in response as Jack pulled him away. 

"Jackie?" He asked. "What's up?" 

"Nothing." Jack shook his head, hugging Davey close and burying his head in his neck. "I just wanted a hug." 

"Is something wrong?" Davey asked. 

"No." Jack shook his head again. "Nothing is wrong. Everything is perfect." He pulled his face out of Davey's neck and smiled up at him. "Just perfect." Davey laughed a little at his boyfriend before pulling him up and kissing him. It was soft and sweet and perfect, and the boys couldn't be happier. Then, they heard a loud crash coming from behind them. 

"I'm okay!" Mike yelled, but it wasn't exactly reassuring, so Davey went over to check on him. Jack started circulating the room again, watching all his friends. Tommy Boy and Ike were eating out of a king sized bag of Cheetos, and Mush and Kid Blink were sharing an armchair. The two were holding hands and whispering to each other. The sight made Jack smile. He was glad they were happy. Buttons was going around and flipping a coin, asking people to call heads or tails. Finally, Davey came back over to Jack. 

"Mikes okay." He reassured. "He nearly dropped a bookshelf on himself, but he's okay." 

"How does he nearly drop a bookshelf on himself?" Jack asked, always bewildered by what his friends managed to do. 

"I don't know." Davey shook his head, laughing. "Someone's always doing something around here." 

"Yeah, but that's how we like it." Jack pointed out. 

"Yeah, it is." Davey nodded, kissing Jack's cheek. "But hey, hey, come here." He took the shorter brunette's hand and dragged him over to the bulletin board he had been shown on his first day. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rectangular piece of paper, then handed it to his boyfriend. 

"What is this?" Jack asked. 

"Flip in over." Davey instructed. 

When Jack turned it over, he was brought face to face with a photo of all his friends. Race's grandmother had taken it the day they were painting signs. Jack and Davey were in the middle back of it, holding hands. There was a swatch of yellow paint on Jack's face and he was pressing a kiss to Davey's cheek. Race was on Albert's back, and Spot was rolling his eyes at his boyfriend. Romeo was pretending to lick a blushing Elmer's face while Crutchie was being carried by Jojo. Kid Blink and Mush had finger guns pointing at each other, and Katherine and Sarah were doing splits down in front. In between the two girls was Les, who was sitting with his chin in his hands, trying to look adorable. 

"It looks like a family photo." Jack laughed a little. 

"It is." Davey nodded. "It's our family photo. And it's my postcard for the future. Because it's where I want my future to be. Right here with all of you guys." 

"You sap." Jack rolled his eyes before kissing Davey again. Davey broke the kiss and pinned the postcard to the board. Then, holding hands, Jack and Davey turned around. "I just wish you could see it, Dave." Jack whispered. 

"See what, Jackie?" Davey asked. 

"How much I love you." Jack smiled up at his boyfriend. Davey laughed and squeezed Jack's hand, looking around. He thought about his nerves on the first day. But he was no longer the new boy. Now he was glad he transferred. After all, he had found his family. He had found his home.