The Fanboy.

Chapter 3

Once he quit laughing and got up, we started walking. "So, tell me again why you decided to skip school and hang off the side of a bridge."
"It's nothing" I mumbled.
He stopped suddenly and turned in front of me. "No Dakota it's not nothing. Trying to kill yourself by throwing yourself off a steep bridge Is not nothing!"
"I don't want to talk about it." I said, desperately trying to end this conversation.
"Damnit Dakota I don't care if you don't want to talk about it! You need to talk to me." He lowered his voice to a whisper, looking straight into my broken soul. "Please."
"I just can't talk about it. Not here. Not now." I pleaded with tears in my eyes.
"Fine. We'll talk about this later." His gaze shifted to a building on the side of the road, bringing a smile to his face. "For now, let's go see a movie."

I giggled. I hadn't felt this good in years. "Tone it down bubbly," he said.
I glared at him. "Oh shut up. So were missing the rest of school?"
"You seriously want to go back?" I didn't answer to that and he chuckled. Once we were seated in the movie theater I asked again what we were watching.
"You have a seriously bad memory, you know that? We're watching Mockingjay. It just came out. Any other questions?" He smirked.
"Actually yes. What's your name?" He looked shocked and I smirked back. He didn't see that question coming.
"My name? Haven't we covered that basis?" I shook my head. "Oh okay then. My name is Jason. Jason Grace. Yep I have a girl middle name, but my parents are so involved with fandoms that they thought naming me after a fictional character would get me into fandoms too. I guess it worked because I'm a total fanboy." He grinned.
I grinned back. "That's so cool. I'm a fangirl but my parents weren't. They were dentists."
"Like Hermione's parents. Speaking of parents, how are yours? Because right now, mine are out of their minds."
My smile faded. "My parents are dead. I live with my uncle who is drunken half the time anyway." Jason paled.
"I- I'm so sorry. I mean I didn't know."
I smiled thinly. "Dead just like Harry's parents right?" He forced a laugh. We sat through the rest of the movie in silence.

It was back on the street that Jason talked to me again. We were heading to his house, I had already called my uncle and cleared that I was staying over Jason's house for the night. He cleared it with his parents, then said, "You know you have to go back tomorrow. Back to school I mean."
"But tomorrow is Friday," I whined "What's the point of going back for one day?"
"There is no point, but I can't let you stay home. Not with my parents and I'm not sending you back with your uncle. He's drunk all the time right?"
I sighed, then nodded. "All the time."
"So why hasn't the state taken you off of him? I mean I know you wouldn't want to get put in a foster home, but it's dangerous living like that." There was actually fear in his eyes. Fear for me. My heart fluttered. No one had ever cared about me before.
"Well that's the thing. The state has tried to take me away from him. My uncle does drugs too. He's abusive. But he's the on,y family I have. I keep running away, getting back with my uncle. I don't know what else to do."
Jason looked purely shocked. "Does- does he hit you? Like when he's high or drunk and abusive as you said."
"Um kinda. But I've learned to hide. Lock my door and hide in my closet." His hand went up to his mouth.
"Oh my god. I have made a decision. You are staying with me." Jason declared in a firm tone.
"What?"
"I can't let you go home to a sliver of a real person. You will stay at my house until well I don't know. Until you can't anymore." Now I was the one who was shocked.
"What- I - I need to take care of my uncle though. He'll starve without me."
"We'll call the police then. They'll take him somewhere. Now hand me your phone."
"What why?" I asked as I held my phone out of Jason's reach.
"I need to call your uncle to explain things to him."
I reluctantly handed over my phone. "Aren't you going to call your parents first?" I questioned as he was searching for my uncles number.
As I pointed the number out he answered, "Believe me, they'll say yes. As long as you read, you'll be fine."
As he dialed the number, I could only hope that things went right.