Under Pressure - Septiplier

Chapter Fourteen

The house is an absolute mess, Sean decides. Boxes are stacked all over the place, filled to the brim with clothes, pots, pans, toiletries, anything one can think of. They'd only moved in a few years ago to accommodate the addition of Malcolm to the family. Now, Papa had finished trade school. He was done with the school part, but now he needed an apprenticeship. So, the family was moving again. This time, to the city. Where the wheel of life would only turn faster as the family grew up, Papa did his apprenticeship, and Sean would go to high school. Though, that was a couple of years down the road. He helps scoop up the last errant items, packing them up and taping off boxes with his parents, and then they load up the U-haul. Hours later, they're ready to depart. They had risen early in the morning to pack up the last bit, so by mid-morning, they were on their way. Hours drag, miserable in the packed vehicle, five kids, four being under the age of ten. Sean doodles, writes, and sketches to pass the time, having nothing else to do.

The apartment complex is nasty. The paint is peeling, the metal stair railings are rusting, the lights are tainted yellow. Jack stares up at the place with open disgust. It's gross. It's embarrassing.

"Sean, come help with the boxes," Papa calls as Mama corrals the little ones indoors and up to the apartment, getting them situated and excited about unpacking. "See, look here! You get to put all your dolls here and look, your truck can go here!"

All the usual methods of thrilling the children.

"Papa... is this really where we're living?" Jack tentatively asks, carrying a bulky box as he walks behind his father up the stairs to their flat.

"Yes, it is. I know it's cheap, and this building is not the nicest, but it's all we can afford Sean. An apprenticeship doesn't pay a lot, and your mother is still working mostly minimum wage jobs. Now that there's five of you, things are even tighter," Connor answers as they hike up.

"We're putting the couch in a kind of private spot, right?" Sean asks. Connor nods. He had been informed that he could either share a room with Simon and Malcolm, or he could have the couch. It was already a relatively large flat, with three bedrooms to accommodate the large family. One for Allison and Susan, one for the boys, and one for the parents. Jack had chosen the couch because the living room had been kind of in a corner, and he felt it was secluded enough to utilize as a bedroom.

"Of course, kiddo. I know it sucks, but we'll do our best to make it comfortable for us all," Connor answers. Great. How reassuring.

The conversation wanes, and the family unpacks. For furniture, they have the bare minimum. Beds, the couch-bed, dinner table, chairs. They plan to obtain dressers and such, presumably Ikea, since they had to sell the ones from the old house (too big). As they finish getting the basics completed, Simon groans, plopping onto Sean's couch.

"This place sucks," he hisses vehemently as Sean slowly sits down beside him.

"We're really close to school and a bunch of cool shops, though," Sean replies. He learned long ago from his parents that, no matter his personal opinion, he ought to put the best foot forward in front of his siblings.

"Sure. Shops we can't buy anything from," Simon counters. Sean shrugs.

"This is the music capital of America," he reminds.

"Doesn't make up for the fact that we are down and out on everything except for people and noise already," Simon replies. Right on cue, Susan starts crying in the room over. Sean presses his lips together, struggling to find another good thing about this crowded place.

"The schooling here is way better."

"I'm sure that thrills you," Simon mutters sarcastically.

"Don't be a Debby-downer," Jack replies tersely, almost snappishly, as he stands and pulls his box of clothes and bedding over to beside the couch. "Now, hop up, I'm going to make my bed," he says to Simon. His sibling stands, surprised by Jack's harshness. Mama calls Simon to help with dinner, and Jack is left alone with his thoughts.

Fuck, he hates this place. However, he is actually excited about school. He doesn't need to be Sean at school, he can be anyone he aspires to be. He doesn't have to be uptight, always happy, responsible for everything. He can be Jack, and for that, the next day is thrilling.

Richard Allen Middle School is terrific, from the beginning to the end of the day. In each class, roll-call takes place, and he corrects the teacher in each of them.

"I go by Jack."

"How'd you get that one?" they all ask, in some variation or another.

"Sean is the Irish version of John, and a nickname for John is Jack," he always answers, in precisely the same manner each time. It gets a nod, smile, perhaps a chuckle. They write it to the side and continue on.

Jack. Simple. Care-free. Sean always holds such burden for him at home. It's wonderful to not be called that here.

Jack arrives on "college day"- where he gets to meet a slew of college students, who all mention one thing. Scholarships. What a fabulous idea. He knew he would be working his ass off to get one. That was his plan. Get in-state tuition at the University of Texas, and get a scholarship to hopefully get a full-ride. He necessitates a full-ride. His family is in enough debt as it is.

The lunch was better here too. They also had cookies at Woodcreek Middle School, and chocolate milk, and mangos. There were so many people. Jack can get lost in the crowd, and he loves it. He learns from a kid in one of his classes that his grade alone has six-hundred students. Amidst all those individuals, Jack sticks to one like glue.

Felix Kjellberg. A Swedish kid who had spent half of his life in each place. His dad owns two businesses and split his time into segments that were now based on Felix. Pre-school and before had been America. Primary school was Sweden. Middle School is America, and Highschool will be Sweden. Blond hair, icy eyes, and a sneaky grin. They're both nerds who focus way too much on school. They sit at the corner table at lunch, and Felix helps Jack begin to review what they've learned in math so far.

"Yeah, so we talked about all the different shapes and their areas. We did volume... we did perimeter. Now we're kind of doing algebra with it. Like 'how long is this side if..."

Felix explains, pushing an assortment of papers towards Jack to show what he means. Jack follows along for the most part, but his attention is definitely split. Felix has a piece of hair that's dangling over his forehead. The rest is thoroughly combed, but this one-piece has strayed from the herd. All Jack can think about is those few strands of hair and how badly he wants to reach over, brush it back, comb his hands through Felix's hair, and fix it. Felix would look pretty with tousled hair, Jack decides. He blinks. Hell no, that's gay. He isn't a fag.

"So... yeah, that's basically it. Honestly, it's been a pretty easy year. Jack?" Felix says, looking up. Jack shakes his head and blinks again.

"Sorry, drifted off. It's all a lot to take in, y' know?"

"Yeah, I totally understand. I have a hard enough time just switching from America to Sweden between grade levels. I can't imagine switching in the middle of the year like this," Felix agrees with a grin.

"I'm gonna have to catch up on some of this," Jack mutters, looking at the simple algebra.

"I'll help you catch up with your classes and stuff. It'd be great to have a study partner," Felix says quietly, nervous. He isn't sure if Jack will accept the proposition.

"Yeah, that'd be awesome," Jack replies with a grin, meeting Felix's gaze. His eyes drift to his forehead and the one offending piece of hair. His hand twitches. He grabs a piece of paper and looks away.