We're Just Misfits

Chapter 18 - So, so sorry

This is the big boy. 

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For once in his life, Liam had been productive. He'd actually managed to have a conversation with Elisa without getting side-tracked, and they even come up with something that they thought might get Jack back. On top of that, they'd also developed a last-resort plan that they really hoped they didn't have to use. And he meant, really. It had the potential to go so catastrophically wrong Liam hadn't even bothered thinking about the consequences as it would have kept him up all night. In fact, when El had mentioned that it might be the only way, Liam actually shivered in dread. It has chaos written all over it, and the two of them had caused plenty of that already.

After ending the call with Elisa, as much as Liam wanted to turn up on Jack's doorstep at six in the evening he thought that might be a little uncalled for. Also, the two had come to the conclusion that one of Jack's biggest problems was feeling like he was trapped. Unless he was in a pretty neutral space that he could comfortably walk away from he seemed to be pretty on edge. The last time Liam had spoken to him, for example, had been in a cramped classroom with nobody else there, and he couldn't just walk away for a second without leaving the room completely. So this time, Liam planned to only talk to the teenager if he was on the field, as that would give him space to just walk away. Elisa seemed to think that was his main struggle – he might not want to completely end the conversation, but rather take a break to gather his thoughts. And as Liam didn't have a better idea, he was going with anything he could get.

Despite talking for hours, however, the pair didn't come up with a valid reason why Jack should even talk to them anymore. After all, he'd made more friends – why the hell would he want to hang out with a guy that had only succeeded in making him cry.

For the past two weeks, Liam had no idea what to do, and time had passed and although Jack was no longer furiously angry at the boy, they didn't even speak. But then, yesterday evening, lying on his back in bed, eyes staring at the ceiling, Liam had a thought. Maybe, to win Jack's trust, he needed to do something really kind for him. The teenager knew this would be a big feat, as whatever he did couldn't involve money considering the boy could ask for whatever he wanted as his dad could surely afford it. No, rather Liam had to do something with sentimental value. He'd sifted through everything he knew, trying to come up with some idea of what Jack might want. At first he'd thought maybe giving him some tips on lessons he was struggling with. The teenager was incredibly smart, and loved to learn, but just seemed to have some difficulty with chemistry, something that Liam was top of the year in.

Liam soon realised that would be a shit idea. Oh yeah, let's give him some tips in chemistry when he could just hire a tutor and get told in exact detail what he needed to do. Furthermore, the guy realised how patronising that might be – to have someone make you incredibly miserable and then trying to make up for it by blatantly rubbing in your face that he was better than you at a subject.

Maybe not, then.

But, Liam did have two ideas he thought might be plausible. One was pretty safe, and the other was risky. And by risky, Liam meant it. He knew there was a girl in his maths class that fancied the shit out of Jack, and recently he'd made it his mission to become friends with her. As the kid was pretty much the most popular and liked guy in the school it wasn't hard, and she'd confessed her liking for Jack after about a week. Liam's last resort was to attempt to hook Jack up with the girl, and if it worked, hopefully be back in his good books. That was how much he hated Elisa's last resort – he was willing to open up a wound that most likely was still wide open.

To play it safe, he knew how much Jack loved Shakespeare's work. They were both huge English nerds, and in class the teenager saw how the guy's eyes lit up at the mention of the playwright. Liam had just happened to get some two to Othello for Christmas, his dad telling him to take whatever friend he wanted. He thought that was a pretty safe bet – even if Jack didn't want to go with him, he'd still be able to offer one of the tickets to Jack to go whenever he wanted. Liam's faith was in this plan, as there was little room to go wrong. But he also knew that meant it might make the boy a little less cold, but it wasn't guaranteed to earn his trust back.