Under A Paper Moon

Chapter 6

Alex's POV
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I shut our front door behind me, leaning against it and letting out a sigh of relief. It was over. I had made it through the first day of school, relatively unnoticed. Even after lunch, no one paid any attention to me. Except for Jack. Turned out we had every class after lunch together, much to both of our relief. We both took seats at the back of every class next to each other, and, we walked together from class to class. He was hesitant, though. Said he didn't want me to get caught up in anything. Though he didn't elaborate - I knew what he was talking about. The whole left side of his face was starting to bruise at the end of lunch, and wherever we walked, people would shout insults at him, or push him. Not many people paid attention to me, though. I felt bad for Jack. I knew how all that felt.

Both my mom and dad were still at work, so I had the house to myself for a couple hours. I stood up and made my way upstairs, closing the door of my room behind me and flopping down on my bed, smiling lazily. Jack was still here. And it seemed, at least, that even after 4 years, we got along so well. I took out my phone and a piece of paper where Jack had scribbled his phone number. Should I text him already? Would I seem too eager? I contemplated for a minute.

"Oh, fuck it." I mumbled to myself,
Typing in his number and sending hi a text.

To: Jack

Hey, it's Alex. c:

I waited for not even a minute before my phone buzzed.

From: Jack

Hey Gaskarth. ;P What's up?

I smiled. He used to call me by my last name all the time.

To: Jack

Nothing much. Just got back to my place. Parents aren't home yet so I'm just hanging out upstairs.

Again, my phone went off quickly.

From: Jack

This is gonna sound kinda weird but.... Do you mind if I come over for a while? If you don't think your parents would mind.

I thought for a minute. They probably wouldn't mind. Honestly - they'd be thrilled that I made a friend on the first day. Plus, this would be a perfect opportunity to see Jack again... I typed out my response.

To: Jack

Sure! They wouldn't mind. I'll wait outside.

I told Jack my address and after he said he'd be there in a few, I looked around my room. It wasn't too bad. I took a minute to put any clothes that were lying around into their proper place. After approving the state of my room, I went downstairs and opened my front door. Deciding it'd make it easier for Jack to find my place, I sat on the front steps of my house. It didn't take long for me to spot Jack walking down the street, and I smiled, standing up when I did spot him. He saw me and waved, picking up his pace and jogging the rest of the way. When he made it to our steps, he flashed me an intoxicating grin. I couldn't help but smile back, even though I noticed the selling of his face was getting worse.

"Hey, Alex." He said, still smiling widely.

"Hey," I responded, before stepping aside and motioning towards the door. "Come on in." Jack nodded and walked inside, looking around. I followed after him, closing the door behind us.

"This is really nice." He said, peeking into the kitchen. I shrugged.

"It's alright." I hesitated for a moment. "You want some ice for that bruise? It's swelling up pretty bad..." Jack turned to look at me, seeming confused for a second as to what I was talking about. He then seemed to remember about the black and blue marks covering the left side of his face.

"Oh, uhh..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm okay, it's not that bad." I raised and eyebrow at him.

"Not that bad?" I said. I rolled my eyes at him, gently grabbing his wrist, though desperately wanting to grab his hand instead, and started walking into the kitchen. "Jack, it looks like Barney came on the side of your face." He stopped walking and I looked after him. We stared at each other for a second, before we burst into laughter.

"Alex, what the fuck?! Barney?" He gasped between laughs. I laughed harder.

"I don't know what you do in your free time." He gave me a weird look, still laughing, before following me.

"Just sit there," I said, motioning towards the counter. He nodded and jumped up onto the counter, while I went over to the freezer and dug around for some ice. After an unsuccessful search, I pulled out a bag of frozen peas. "This is the best I have." I said. Jack shrugged. I closed the freezer and grabbed a cloth, wrapping it around the bag of peas. I turned around and walked back over to Jack. It wasn't until then that I really noticed how tall he had gotten. Sitting on the counter, he was still a couple inches taller than me. I reached up and gently touched the frozen peas to the wounded side of his face, and saw him wince slightly. "S-sorry." I said, pulling away. Jack shook his head.

"N-no. It's okay. Just still a bit sore." He smiled awkwardly, and I pressed the cold package to his face again. My cheeks went red, and I saw Jack's did too. Our eyes met for a moment, before he looked away. "Y-you don't have to do this, you know..." He mumbled.

"I-I know." I stammered. He looked up again, and I lost myself in his chocolate-brown eyes. I couldn't help but look down to his lips, before I forced myself to look up again. Jack started to lean forwards slowly...