You Keep Me Safe (Jalex)

7: The Halls And The Classes

Title from: "Somewhere In Neverland" -All Time Low.

The steady beeping sound is pounding in my eardrums. I slam my hand onto the alarm clock multiple times without opening my eyes, but I never hit the off button. "Shut the fuck up!" I whisper-scream at it, as if that'll help. I reluctantly open my eyes and hit the off button as hard as my sleepy self could muster. I needed to prove a point to the damn thing.

I hear a laugh and practically shit myself right then and there. The laughing intensifies as I grow terrified. I look around the room, but no one is in here with me. Where the fuck-

"Your phone, you dipshit!" I hear Jack's voice say. I glance over to my nightstand where my phone was propped up. Now, how did I not see that? Because Jack's screen was mostly dark? I sigh in relief, seeing that I wasn't about to be murdered on my first day of school. I mean, not that I'd really complain.

We'd fallen asleep on FaceTime last night as we were both feeling quite anxious about the start of school. Being in his company could calm me down in an instant. I just wish I inflicted the same effect on the cute brown-haired boy on the other side of my screen.

"Damn you, Jack! You scared me shitless," I say, laughing. I ruffle my morning hair with my hand, yawning. "You ready for this?"

"Huh?"

"Are you ready for the first day?"

"As ready as I can be," he says nervously.

"I'll be right there, okay?" I mumble. Real subtle, Alex. That was maximum level of gay.

"Thanks, Lex," he replies. God, that nickname will be the death of me. "I need to shower, so I'll pick you up in forty-five minutes, okay?"

"Don't keep me waiting for forty-six," I reply, giving him a smile before hanging up. As I stand up to stretch, my door flies open. Oh, right, I almost forgot. My dad is still home when I get up now.

"Who were you talking to?" he asks.

"A friend," I say nervously.

"Which friend?"

"Uh, J-Jack..."

"What did I tell you, Alexander? I told you not to contaminate him as well!" Contaminate? Really? Sorry for my sexuality, damn. He pushes me backwards, me hitting my head on my nightstand. A stinging pain shoots through my head. "Stop talking to him," he warns before leaving my room just as quickly as he'd entered.

I sigh and stumble to the bathroom to clean up the blood that had now started forming on my forehead. It would bruise, too. There was no hiding it, and it was already starting to swell. Great! Just what I needed on the first day!

I put on a fresh set of clothes, styling my hair to perfection. Luckily, my hair mostly covers the spot where my head had just been bleeding. I brush my teeth before putting on a gray beanie, which pushes my hair further into my forehead to hide my injury. I flop down on my bed, about to put my earbuds in, but I remember that I'd need to be able to hear Jack's car.

It's only about ten minutes before I hear a car horn, so I pocket my phone and earbuds, slinging my backpack over my shoulder. My dad was already gone for work, so I could slip out the front door without having to bid him a goodbye. Not that I would anyway.

"Morning, Lex," Jack mumbles, his grip on the wheel shaky.

"Good morning," I reply, looking at him worriedly. "Are you okay?"

He bites his lip, squeezing his deep brown eyes shut. "Y-yes, I'm okay."

"I'll drive," I say. He looks at me bewilderedly, so I motion to his shaky hands. "Let me drive, you should relax." He gives me a relieved look before sliding out the door, closing it behind him. I crawl over to the driver's side, giving Jack a warm smile as he sits down where I was just moments ago. His anxiety wasn't as bad as mine, as far as the intensity of his attacks go, but he was anxious more often. That may just be because he was starting over in a completely different town from where he spent most of his life.

We hold eye contact for a few moments before he breaks it to look out the window. I mentally sigh before starting the ignition, backing the car out of the driveway and toward the first day of our senior year.

Jack keeps his gaze fixed out the window, his body visibly shaking. I lift my hand to slide it into his, but I freeze before putting it back on the wheel. I don't want to make it worse on him. It would be awkward if I just randomly held his hand. Only couples do that, right? No, wait, friends hold hands, too, as a comforting gesture. However, I was afraid if I did hold his hand, I'd fall for him even more...

Needless to say, I didn't hold his hand.

We pull into the parking lot, but when I park the car, he doesn't move. I look toward him, but he doesn't look back at me. I want to kiss him, I want to hold him and tell him it'll be okay...

"Jack? Please look at me," I request. He complies, slowly turning his head so our eyes meet. My heart sets on fire. How did he have this effect on me? "We're going to be okay. I promise, it's not that bad."

"I don't know, Lex," he mumbles. "You see all those things about how bad bullying is, and I was never bullied before, but you said something about it a few weeks ago."

Ah, right. I'd told him that there were some bad bullies at our school, but I never told him who they were or that they bullied my friend group. I didn't want him to be scared to talk to new people just because of something I said.

"Hey, you'll be fine, okay? I'm going to be right there with you." How gay can you be, Alex?

"Okay," he whispers. "Thank you so much."

"Of course," I reply, kissing his cheek gently. Even though that's decently normal now, as it has been a comforting gesture between us since last week, it still feels weird doing it because I don't want to only kiss his cheek. I wanted to cuddle him and press kisses to his forehead and have full make out sessions with him. I wanted to be his boyfriend, not his best friend.

-=+=-

The first day with no trouble? I didn't think that was possible. I guess people didn't want to bother me, since I was showing around a new kid and didn't want to make a bad impression right away. At least they had a bit of respect. Jack has met my friends, Zack and Rian, who were more than happy to welcome Jack into our group. In all honesty, the first day couldn't have gone any better.

I'm snapped from my thoughts as Jack pulls into my driveway. I go to walk to the door alone, but he insists on coming with me.

"Thanks for driving me," I say to him as I unlock the door.

"Thanks for showing me around," he replies. I give him a smile, going to open the door, but a tight grip on my wrist stops me. Jack turns me around so I'm practically up against him and kisses me. No, this is not just a friendly, playful peck or some shit; he full-on kisses me. And I couldn't be any happier.

When I start to move my lips against his, he doesn't pull away. I have no idea what's happening. It's so... weird. I thought Jack was straight, so why the hell would he be kissing me? This is my first kiss with a guy, so I have no clue what I'm supposed to do... if it's even supposed to be different. I must be doing something right because Jack hasn't pulled away, but instead has just kissed me harder. What does this mean?

He abruptly pulls back, fear flashing in his eyes. Did I do something wrong? "Uh, shit, I'm sorry about that," he mumbles.

"Jack," I start, taking his hand. "It's okay, I-," I'm about to tell him how I feel since the kiss gave me sudden confidence, but it's quickly diminished.

"I didn't mean to do that, I don't have feelings for you, I'm straight for fuck's sake, I'm not sure what came over me. I mean, yeah, we kiss each other on the cheek or whatever, but that's friendly, right?" I reluctantly nod. "Right. That kiss was past being friendly, wasn't it?" I nod again. "I don't want that to change our friendship. I'm not sure why I just did that. We're friends, that's it, right?" I nod a third time. "I should be going."

With that, he gets in his car and drives away, leaving me on my front porch to cry.