Il libro di Jaylos

Promises Broken - Chapter 3

As Carlos walked through the hallways the next day he could see people out of the corner of his eye pointing and whispering about him; he felt his stomach twist and face flush under the attention.
What made matters worse was the note taped to his locker; Jay's messy scrawl of Carlos's name could be seen from across the hallway and for a faulting moment the younger boy didn't know whether to read the note or not.
Carlos gingerly touched the bruise on his throat, he check the hallway for any sign of Jay before plucking the note off his locker.
Sorry about yesterday
I'm not used to rejection
Hope I didn't hurt you too bad
I want to explain myself privately
Underneath the bold, hard pressed writing was a cell phone number and Carlos wrinkled his nose at the note as he read it again; the young De Vil couldn't even afford clothes let alone a cell phone so giving him the number was useless.
Carlos scrunched up the note and threw it into the back of his locker, still filled with the small boxes; checking he had the right books he suddenly felt a presence behind him.
Flinching away slightly he initiatively tried to shrink away but the younger boy didn't need to as it was only Evie stood there in a floaty blue and green dress covered in little gems.
"want to walk to class together?" Evie asked.
Carlos sighed softly, he did like Evie, she was very kind to him but he refused to be babied by anyone, "it's okay, you go find Doug." He told her, knowing she always met her boyfriend before classes.
Reluctantly Evie nodded and left Carlos alone to gather the rest of his books; as he entered the classroom he immediately saw Jay staring at him.
The young De Vil quickly made his way to his desk and ignored everyone but the teachers for the rest of the day; come lunch time there was nowhere to hide from Jay's prying eyes.
"did you get my note?" Jay asked as he followed the younger boy to the library.
Clutching his books tighter to his chest Carlos tried to ignore him but Jay's strides were longer than his so he easily kept pace, "I did get it." He finally said.
"oh." Jay said softly, "I never got a message from you."
"because I have nothing to say to you." Carlos stressed as they entered the library.
Carlos could feel Jay's dark eyes following him around the library as he gathered his research books and purposefully sat on a different table to the Tourney player; it didn't stop Jay from moving seat to sit too close to the younger boy.
"I said I was sorry." Jay said grumpily, very obviously not used to being ignored.
Sighing deeply Carlos wrote down a few more notes, "you tried to strangle me, it's more than a simple 'sorry' situation." He muttered not looking up.
Jay shifted uncomfortably, "I didn't mean to do that." He said pathetically.
Finally Carlos looked up, his stomach twisting so painfully he thought he was going to be sick; he hated confrontation but he hated unwanted attention more, "why are you doing this? Are you really that bored you need to torment me?"
"no! no, I want to be your friend." Jay stammered out, trying to smile but it faltered when his eyes flickered to the bruise on Carlos's neck, "I really am sorry." He gulped.
Carlos moved away from him slightly, wishing Jay would just get the message and go away but he was certainly very determined for someone who rarely did any proper work.
"fine, apology accepted, now please leave me alone." Carlos ground out and returned to his book.
"don't you want to know why I got so angry yesterday?" Jay asked slowly.
Carlos shook his head, he'd heard every excuse in the book for abuse and bullying at that point in his life, nothing Jay would say would be any different.
"it's cos the gift I got you was special." Jay continued to speak, pulling out the rectangle box from yesterday and pulled the paper off.
There was a fist edition version of Carlos's fantasy book he carried everywhere with him, it was battered around the edges, hardback and old looking but the young De Vil felt his heart flutter at the sight.
"you always seem pretty entranced by this book." Jay said gently, "here." He held out the book.
Very slowly Carlos finally took the gift from Jay, he could smell the old pages and feel the rough cover on his fingers; he felt himself relax.
"thank you." Carlos said genuinely to Jay, the pain in his stomach lessening.
The older boy gave him a wide, happy smile, not his usual smug grin, "glad you like it." He laughed awkwardly, "I'm gunna get some lunch."
Carlos watched the older boy leave with a little wave and he fully relaxed; although he still didn't trust Jay maybe there was something to him that nobody had seen.
"Carlos! Are you okay?" Evie came tottering down the hallway, a dress bag in one hand, "I saw Jay staring at you today." She seemed worried.
"I'm okay." The younger boy said slowly, gently touching the book in his shorts pocket.
Evie looked fairly unconvinced but she saw the content look on Carlos's face and didn't say anything, instead she showed him her latest creation; a floor length purple dress with dice stitched to the bodice.
Cruella had been in a particularly bad mood when the young De Vil had returned home she threw three plates at his head before shoving down the stairs; luckily it was only a few steps and Carlos wasn't hurt too badly, just a sore wrist from landing heavily.
It was the weekend so that meant no school for two whole days, two whole days of his mother targeting him so he found the smallest, hardest to get to closet in the whole house, he stole a bag of stale tortilla chips and a few apples from the kitchen along with a flashlight and read for the whole weekend.
Several times over he lost himself in the fantasy novel, savouring each word and every so often he would think of Jay; not on purpose but because he'd been kind enough to gift him such a special book.
Carlos took a cold shower early on Monday morning, trying to be as quiet as possible as not to wake his drunken mother.
"hey." Jay was waiting for him at his locker, a large black and white striped box in his hands.
The young De Vil paused, still not sure of Jay intentions, but the older boy was wearing a different smile that made Carlos feel special.
"I got you something." Jay held out the box with a hopeful face.
Carlos couldn't stop the small smile from crossing his freckled face, he'd never been given so many presents in such a short amount of time, slowly he opened his gift filled locker, "you don't have to keep buying me stuff." He told Jay kindly.
Jay's face fell a little and the bruise on the younger boy's throat throbbed, "it's not that I'm not grateful." Carlos said quickly, "it's just I don't need it all."
"okay, no more gifts." Jay said slowly, placing the bigger box amongst the little ones in Carlos's locker, "how about I take you out on a date then."
Carlos dropped his maths textbook in shock, staring wide eyed at Jay, his breath gone from his lungs again, "a date?" he managed to gasp out.
Jay laughed lightly, rubbing the back of neck nervously, "yeah, I was trying to sweeten the deal with all this but you're a tough guy to get through to."
Picking up his dropped book Carlos didn't look at the older boy, feeling embarrassed by his lack of social skills, "well, you've managed it." He said quietly.
In an excited move Jay took the bigger gift out of the locker again and presented it to Carlos with a happy grin, "at least open this one, all the others are just chocolate anyway." He told him.
Carlos smiled too, swapping his textbooks with Jay for the gift; inside was a red and white microscope, brand new and all his.
"must have cost a lot of money." Carlos said softly with a shy smile.
Jay shrugged, "that's not important."
Gently stroking the microscope Carlos jumped when he heard the bell go for first lesson, "we're going to be late." He exclaimed, quickly placing the gift in his locker and taking his books back from Jay.
"hope he's not teaching you bad habits Mr De Vil." Mr Jaq said as the two boys entered the classroom together.
During lessons Jay sat next to Carlos and although he still wasn't used to being sat with the younger boy was a little less tense and Jay even took some of his own notes.
"so are you free this weekend?" Jay asked as they left school at the end of the day.
Carlos thought for a moment about how he usual spent his weekends, hiding in cupboards and closets from his mother, "I think I can find a space to squeeze you in." He mumbled.
"great! I'll pick you up Saturday about 10." Jay told him and pulled the younger boy into a one armed hug.
Flushing at the skin contact Carlos could only nod, for once in his life wishing it was the weekend already and the good thing was that he would get to spend the school week with Jay.
Problem was Jay didn't come to school unless Tourney was happening and Coach had cancelled practice because the field had become flooded from the sudden onslaught of rain over Monday night; even with his persistent courting of Carlos didn't bring Jay to school.
Carlos finally opened the small boxes in his locker, with help from Evie, and found individual chocolates in each, from the fancy chocolatier in town.
"why are you opening them now?" Evie asked sniffing an espresso chocolate.
"he asked me on a date." Carlos told her carefully, poking a strangely green sweet.
Evie stared at the younger boy in shock, "are you sure that's wise? Jay's such a bone head, remember what he did to you?" she pointed at the healing bruise on Carlos's neck.
The young De Vil flushed with embarrassment, touching the bruise lightly, "I know but, he's being really nice." He said slowly.
The blue haired girl regarded his content freckled face and soft smile, she'd rarely seen him look happy and, even if it was Jay who made him feel like that, she would give the Tourney player a chance.