Jeremy softly kicked the door shut with his heel. Pulling his hoodie further down over his face, he slunk across the back of the room to reach his desk. Slid his lengthy frame into the chair and prayed for invisibility. Not to be, of course. The bespectacled teacher stopped mid-sentence and glared across the rows of inattentive, bored teens at the eye-avoidant latecomer. Jeremy sighed inwardly and waited for the inevitable clichés. Right on cue, the teacher quipped, "Nice of you to grace us with your presence, Gilbert. To what do we owe this great honour?" Jeremy kept his eyes fixed on the desktop. "You are twenty minutes late. Did you stop at the office first?" Jeremy dragged himself to his feet and approached the front of the classroom holding out a pink slip of paper. "Missed my ride" he mumbled. "Hmm. Well, you've been missing your ride a lot lately, sir. I think this is the fourth time in the past couple of weeks that you've managed either to miss my class entirely or to arrive way past responsible. Do you have your assignment with you? The one that was due last Friday?" Jeremy shook his head slowly side-to-side and, trying for nonchalant, strolled back to his spot.
Rolling his eyes at his smirking classmates, Jeremy sank back into the uncomfortable, rather too small, mass-produced plastic chair. Pulling out a notebook, he began to doodle. A male profile emerged as the teacher continued to drone on about something. The pencil caricature was handsome in a sexy, devilish way. Dancing eyes. One eyebrow raised. Cocky grin. As Jeremy drew, his mind's eye was picturing that man. As Jeremy had left him a half hour ago. On the unmade bed. Naked. Smiling up at Jeremy, enticing him to ditch school with those wicked eyes and fake-pouting mouth. And Jeremy had resisted. Knew that if his school attendance became any worse, he would have to deal with super mom, Jenna, and cousin of the perma-furrowed brow, Elena.
Although, honestly, even the concept of attending high school in Mystic Falls did seem rather ridiculous. The town was proving to be a haven for otherworld creatures with life-threatening, ever present dramas circling and swirling around Jeremy, threatening to pull him under in an eddy of terror. It was hard to reconcile the constant undercurrent of nightmare with the more blatant horror that was high school. Jeremy couldn't remember the last time he gave a shit about vectors, dangling participles or the failings of the White House. And he was so past caring about 'fitting in', the drug scene or even getting decent grades.
Jeremy looked down at his drawing. Of course there was another reason for his mounting disdain of school and everything apparently normal. And that would be the man in this picture, or rather, the vampire it depicted. Staring at the paper, Jeremy felt a flush start in his face and spread downward to his chest, his belly, and lower. Heat started to build as he remembered the events of that morning and his several aborted attempts to get to school on time. Jeremy absently fingered the buttons of the dark silky shirt he had on, imagining he was touching the owner of the garment. Noticed that the buttons didn't line up properly. Smiled fondly. That would be the vampire's fault…he had done up the shirt for Jeremy, all the while kissing the boy leaning over him, teasing him with his tongue. Whispering into his mouth, encouraging him to stay for the morning, to 'play' a little longer.
The bell blared, causing Jeremy to jolt up. Christ. Now how was he going to stand up without revealing where his mind had been, how he clearly wasn't thinking about where the world's most active volcanoes resided? He remained in his seat as the class emptied, willing himself to think mundane thoughts. Like what he was going to say to Bonnie about ditching her last night after the movie. Or to Elena about not coming home. He unpacked his length from the cramped desk space and casually loped out of the room, ignoring the teacher reminding him yet again to hand in his wayward assignment. Made his way to his locker, shoved in his backpack and managed to locate his gym shorts and shoes buried at the bottom of the metallic container. Jumped as a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind.