Hey everyone, here's another one of my new stories (three at the same time, *Jack's voice* I am on fire, fire! xD) and I can't say why without spoiling anything, but I'm actually pretty excited about this story and where it's gonna go, since it's the first AU type story I think I've done (as well as I Kissed a Boy and I Liked it)
And all I'm gonna say, is please leave reviews (over five, shall we say, 'cause I'll need a jump-start and I really wanna get over 100 reviews on this before I finish it and it's about 9-10 chapters long) and keep an eye out for certain tiny details. (Yeah, it's one of those again, 'cause I'm a sucker for foreshadowing and making people's heads spin)
The route was almost like a program in his brain these days, telling his feet to move. He'd been so many times lately that it seemed surreal every time he actually got there. Actually felt the grass beneath his knees and the paper clutched more tightly in his fist.
The tears that burned in his eyes when the fresh paper replaced an older envelope that had never been opened were just a constant - painful - reminder that they never would be read at all, by anyone.
As common a place as it was for him to visit now, he shouldn't have been here at all. None of it made it okay.
(Three weeks earlier)
"No, dude, I'm telling you the remake sucks," Jerry argued with certainty.
"The remake is cheesy and glorified by Hollywood," Milton offered as a rebuttal.
"Duh!" Jerry said with a roll of his eyes, hitting Milton in the shoulder. "That's what makes it awesome!" he chuckled excitedly.
"You're intolerable," Milton sneered jokingly, shoving Jerry back and making to walk away.
"Hey, don't try and win this by using big words I can't understand!" Jerry said with a childish sounding whine, pulling Milton back towards him.
"Guys!" Rudy yelled loudly, breaking their stream of arguments, making them jump around and face him. "Could you focus, please?!" he pleaded with them, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "This tournament's really important," he emphasized, giving them a knowing look.
"You say that about every tournament, Rudy," Kim chuckled knowingly, whilst she was stretching her arms.
"Well, this time the winning Dojo gets put in the 'recommended' section of Karate Fancy," Rudy explained proudly, this peaking both Jack and Kim's interests. "And as a plus, I get to rub it in Ty's face!" he added with an evil-sounding chuckle, rubbing his hands together childishly.
"He's a real jerk," Milton chipped in suddenly, stepping forwards. "I don't know how you stood training with that guy, Kim," he said in wonder, looking at her.
"One of life's mysteries," she responded, folding her arms with a grin.
"Alright guys, let's get to sparring," Rudy said briskly, clapping to regain his student's attention. "For the tournament, we need to win at least two out of our three seperate rounds to win the match," he explained.
"We'll be fine," Jerry said dismissively, waving his hand. "We've got Jack, man," he said proudly, swinging an arm around his shoulders, Jack smiling at him.
"As good as he is, I still need to train the rest of you," Rudy reminded him, "What if something happens to him?" he added with a fearful glance in his direction, that had Jack looking slightly uncomfortable.
"Like Ty getting Frank to break his leg again?" Kim grumbled, folding her arms.
"He ain't gonna let a broken leg slow him down," Jerry said surely, shaking his head with a grin. "Right, Jack?"
Jack looked at him, a brief glimmer of determination flickering in his eyes, and smiled resolutely. "Right," he nodded in agreement.
"Okay, pair up," Rudy called to them, Jack moving away slightly. "Jack, you're with Kim, Jerry, you're with Milton," he announced, stepping back as Jack and Kim squared up to each other.
"Yes!" Milton cheered, leaping practically five feet into the air with joy.
"What was that for?" Jerry asked, wincing and sticking a finger in his ear as the sound of Milton's yell was still going through him.
"I don't wanna fight Kim," he said quickly, shaking his head while Kim frowned at him. "I hardly ever wanna fight you," he admitted, chuckling sheepishly.
"Not that I blame ya," Jerry said with a smug smirk. "These fists are pretty deadly," he added proudly, brandishing his fists in the air.
"Yes, to yourself," Kim chipped in dryly, rolling her eyes at him.
Jerry stuck his tongue out at her and Kim stuck hers out right back, the two of them breaking into a fit of laughter before they refocused and began sparring with their partners.
It wasn't a long while before Jerry was - thankfully - distracted by a loud groan of pain coming from across the room. He stepped to the side, Milton falling on the ground as his kick missed his target, and saw Jack doubled over, hands clasped over his stomach and his face contorted with pain.
"Ah!"
"What's wrong, did I kick you?" Kim asked worriedly, bending down to his eye-level and placing a hand on his back.
"No..." Jack managed to force out through clenched teeth, huffing out a breath. He coughed and Rudy shot over to him, helping him stand up straight; Jack's fingers clenching tightly onto his.
"Jack, maybe you should go sit down in my office for a bit?" Rudy suggested, the suggestion getting turned down with a feverent shake of Jack's head. "Milton, could you go get me an ice pack?" he called to him, glancing away from Jack for a moment.
"Sure."
"I'm fine," Jack insisted firmly, "Really," he added quickly, waving Milton back as he saw he was still going to grab an ice pack. "Just a bad stomach cramp," he explained, taking a few breaths until he was able to stand properly upright without Rudy's help.
"Your Mum cook again?" Jerry offered as a joke.
"Something like that," Jack affirmed through gulps of air, Rudy patting him on the shoulder.
"Take it a bit easier, you two," he advised Jack and Kim and they nodded, continuing to spar with each other, at a much slower pace.
"And as for you two," he turned to look at them, "Milton, stop holding back as much," he said and Milton nodded. "It won't be your friend you're fighting in the tournament, y'know," he added mischievously, walking off to supervise Jack and Kim.
Jerry had to move out of the way fast as Milton shot off like a cork out of a wine bottle, trying very hard to get his head off. He gritted his teeth and started fighting back, smiling in satisfaction when a few of his hits sucessfully landed.
"Kim!" Rudy cried out suddenly and Jerry looked over to see Jack on the floor, groaning in pain and holding his leg, narrowly missing getting kicked in the ribs.
Jerry ran over to him, as did Rudy, the two of them nearly colliding as they skidding to Jack's side on the floor. This was unsual, even for Jack; not so much that he got flipped, more to the point that he was actually showing he was in pain. He never did that, unless it was absolutely necessary - and Kim was going easy on him.
"I told you to take it easy!" he said, helping a dazed Jack sit up. He groaned again and rubbed the back of his head.
"We did," Kim said with a heavy sigh, her brows wrinkling in worry as Jack gritted his teeth. "Jack, you alright?" she asked in concern, reaching down and helping Jack to his feet.
"I'm fine, Kim," he insisted, managing to catch himself before he stumbled again from the pain. "Don't worry about me," he demanded lightly, forcing a smile.
"Go get a drink of water, Jack," Rudy advised, standing up and gently nudging him towards the locker room. "We'll wait," he added, when Jack looked back at him briefly, before disappearing into the locker room.
Too many minutes later, Jerry hopped off the mat rack and checked his watch. Jack had been gone for about twenty minutes; there was no way he was just getting a drink of water.
"Yo, Rudy, he's been in there a while," he said uneasily, glancing towards the locker room door, "I'm gonna go see if he's alright," he said, already half-way there before the time Rudy actually nodded at him.
He eased the door open, not really sure of what he was expecting to find. Not a single of the scenarios in his mind involved Jack just getting a glass of water.
"Jack, you okay in here, man?" he called to him, recieving no response. "The toilet swallow you up or something?" he joked as he got inside, the echoing sound of retching and coughing filling his ears.
"Guessin' that's a 'no'," he said, walking over to Jack worriedly as he emerged from a cubicle after flushing his vomit down, wiping his mouth with a wince.
"I'm fine," he said, waving him off dissmissively once he saw him. "Told you, it's just a stomach bug," he said lightly, walking over to the sink,
"Well, yeah but-" Jerry stopped talking and did a double-take at some of the vomit that had missed the toilet; it was red. "Dude, is that blood?" he asked in shock, eyes bulging.
"What?!" Jack yelled suddenly, neck all-but cracking as his head practically spun all the way around. His eyes softened as he saw what Jerry was looking at, but the other boy still caught the brief flash of panic in them. "Oh, no that's... that's just ketchup," he said with an uneasy smile that didn't reach his eyes.
Jerry raised an eyebrow.
"I had burger for breakfast," Jack explained with a shrug, looking at him indignantly.
Jerry chuckled and held his hands up in surrender, walking up to the sink as Jack rolled back his sleeves and started washing his hands, catching sight of a large, angry, red bruise on his arm.
"Ouch," he said with a sympathetic wince, Jack turning to look at him in confusion. "Kim give that to you?" he asked with a mischievious grin, pointing to the bruise. The great Jack Brewer, bruised by a girl.
"No," Jack said sharply - almost too quickly - once he had gotten a look at the bruise, pulling his sleeve back down and hiding it from Jerry's view. "I fell down the stairs yesterday," he explained, "Should've put my skateboard away," he added with a weak sounding chuckle.
"You sure you're okay?" Jerry asked, it starting to sound like a broken record, but that didn't look like enough injuries to have fallen down the stairs the way Jack had claimed.
"Yes," Jack nodded exaggeratedly, taking a hold of his shoulders. "And as weird as it is for you to see me ill" - he broke off as the two of them shared a smirk - "I'm okay," he said in reassurance, although it sounded much more like determination.
Jerry remained skeptical.
"You alright now, Jack?" Rudy asked when the both of them walked back into the Dojo, to which Jack could only manage a nod that was disrupted by a loud yawn. "Just spar with Milton for the time being," he said off-handedly.
"I'm not that sick," Jack said in revulsion, folding his arms.
"Hey!" Milton cried in indignation.
"You're one of the best fighters we have, Jack, I'm not taking any chances with you," Rudy said sternly, a muscle in Jack's jaw clenching as he looked down at the floor.
"Again, hey!" Milton said in annoyance, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
"And Milton's the least likely to hurt ya," Jerry put in, throwing an arm around Jack's shoulders. "The only thing the dude can make a dent in is one of those huge salads you get at the Olive Garden," he said knowingly, nodding at Jack with a huge grin. "And even then it's not that big," he joked, Kim and Rudy bursting into laughter while Jack remained silent.
"Seriously, I'm right here!" Milton yelled with a huff of frustration, folding his arms. Once again, he was ignored.
Jack cleared his throat and looked at Rudy apologetically. "Actually, I think I'm just gonna call it a day," he decided, Rudy nodding in understanding. "But I'll be back tomorrow, don't worry," he said firmly, walking away towards the Dojo's double-doors.
"Get some rest," Rudy called to him softly, Jack nodding as he left.
"The rest of you get back to work!" he called suddenly, Jerry practically teleporting over to Kim and they began sparring with each other.
"You think Jack's gonna be okay?" Kim asked Jerry and Milton the next day in the school canteen, poking her salad with her fork. "He looked pretty bad yesterday," she said and Jerry had to agree; he didn't think he'd ever heard anyone throwing up that bad before, or seen anyone that pale; and since he had Milton as a friend, that was saying something.
"Where is he, anyway?" Jerry wondered out loud, looking around the sea of heads in cafeteria for Jack, "He wasn't in History," he said with concern, although was inwardly thinking Jack was lucky. If he had to smell Mr. Howard's breath one more time, he was going to throw up.
"Wasn't in Home-Ec either," Milton said with a shrug, both him and Kim seeming much less worried about Jack than Jerry was.
"What if he got abducted by aliens or something, man?!" Jerry said frantically, his eyes widening. He was sure Jack would be able to handle himself against a bunch of green, scaly men, but what if they sucked him up into their spaceship with a tractor beam and starting experimenting on him?!
"What if he's standing in line to get something to eat?" Kim shot back with a chuckle, pointing her fork in the direction of the lunch line. Jerry's head immediately turned towards it.
"Phew," he said in exaggerated relief, wiping fake sweat off his brow, as he saw Jack being slipped a piece of cake - not so discreetly - by Marge. "Don't know what we'd do without him," he added with a grin, Kim and Milton nodding in agreement.
"Hey guys," Jack said unceremoniously as he reached their usual table, loudly dropping his tray on it and taking the empty seat next to Kim.
"Hey," Jerry greeted him back, not missing the flat tone to his voice. "Where were you this morning?" he asked.
"Doctors," he said with a pinched - and clearly forced - smile, making a start on his piece of red velvet cake. "Couldn't stop throwing up yesterday," he continued, shuddering in disgust.
"You feelin' okay now?" Kim asked, turning to look at him and ignoring her salad for a brief moment.
"Better than I was," Jack reiterated emotionlessly, licking some icing off his fingers.
"And you think red velvet cake's gonna help?" Milton asked incredulously, Jack raising his eyebrows. "That thing's covered in cream cheese icing," he said with disgust, eyeing the slice of cake on Jack's plate.
"As long as it's not blue, I'll be fine," Jack said forcefully in Milton's direction, emphatically taking a large bite out of the cake and swallowing it while Milton grimaced.
The bell rang a few minutes later and the cafeteria was filled with the sound of clattering and chatter as people began to make their way to their next lesson. Jerry was up off his seat and waiting for the others expectantly; the sooner they got to the lesson, the sooner they could leave.
"We'd better go," Kim said, pushing her tray away and grabbing her bag. "We've got Geography," she said with a distasteful grimace that looked like she'd just swallowed a bottle of vinegar.
Jack shoved the last piece of his cake in his mouth and followed the rest of them out of the cafeteria, having to jog to catch up with them..
"You started on that project for Mr. Matthews yet, Jack?" Milton asked him, turning back while walking to talk to him.
"Milton, it's not due for a month," Kim said with a roll of her eyes, grinning at him.
"Never hurts to get a head-start on things, Kim," Milton said knowingly, raising his eyebrows.
"There are things more important than projects, Milton," Jack growled in irritation, glaring at him before he started off down the hallway ahead of them, smacking into a few people on the way.
"What was all that about?" Kim asked in surprise, furrowing her eyebrows after Jack.
All Jerry could do was shrug. But there was something weird going on with Jack; he just didn't know what.
The three of them made it to Geography, Jack already seated and resting on his fist with a bored expression on his face, and took their seats as Mr. Matthews pulled down the World Map and ordered everyone to get their workbooks out. Jerry couldn't help but notice Jack seemed detached and dejected when Mr. Matthews gave them their daily reminder about their project.
"Can anyone name this state here?" he asked the class a few lectures about the fifty states of America later. Milton's hand shot up instantly.
"It's Texas, Mr. Matthews," he said with a grin and Jerry rolled his eyes. Even he could have figured that one out.
"That's right, Mr. Krupnick," he started to say, but the rest of his praise was drowned out by heavy and throaty coughing erupting from the back of the room.
Jack was doubled over, ducking behind his desk, and violently coughing - for want of a better phrase - his lungs out, covering his mouth with a fist. Jerry craned his neck to see an ashen faced Jack resurfaced.
"Mr. Brewer?" Mr. Matthews looked at him attentively.
Jack coughed again and cleared his throat. "Yes, Sir?" he asked, his voice raw.
"Why don't you go and get a drink of water?" he said suggestively, cocking his head in the direction of the door.
"No, I'll be fine, Mr-" Jack couldn't even get his sentence out before he erupted into another violent fit of coughing that had his body shaking and most of the class cringing.
"It wasn't a suggestion, Jack," Mr. Matthews called to him over the sound of his coughing, already halfway to his desk to start writing him a permission slip.
Sighing heavily, Jack shoved his workbook back into his bag and slung it over his shoulder, heading to the front of the classroom. He took the permission slip from Mr. Matthews and slammed the classroom door behind him without so much as a glance back at any of them.
Jerry leaned forwards and poked Kim in the back with his pencil. She turned to him with slightly narrowed eyes, but her expression softened when she caught sight of the worry on his face.
"You think he's okay?" he asked in a whisper.
"Yeah, it's probably just his stomach virus getting worse," Kim said with a reassuring smile, twisting in her seat to fully face him. "He should be fine in a few days, give or take," she shrugged, and turned back to her work.
Jerry twiddled his pencil between his fingers and glanced over to Jack's empty desk, pursing his lips in thought.
The bell rang half an hour later and Jerry, while wiping the drool that had dried on his chin in his boredom, packed his book away and got out of his seat. He met up with Kim and Milton outside the classroom.
"We still on for the arcade?" Milton asked the two of them eagerly, Kim nodding.
"Yeah," Jerry said with a smile. "I'm just gonna go see if Jack's still up for it," he said, patting Milton the back as he left the classroom.
He made his way down the hallway to where both his and Jack's lockers were, stopping in his tracks and then quickly doubling back behind the wall when he saw Jack was on the phone with someone.
"I know, Mum, I'm just waiting for the right time to tell them," Jack said into the phone, like he had said that enough times, rubbing a hand over his forehead. Jerry's eyebrows furrowed; who was 'them' and what did he need to tell them?
There was a moment of Jack's Mum speaking to him where Jack's face fell, and then his expression was replaced with a look of annoyance. "Just tell them the truth; they can't keep you at work for something this important," he said surely, leaning against the row of lockers behind him.
This time the gap left by Jack's silence seemed eerie. Jerry noticed his fingers clenching slightly around the phone.
"Well, let's just hope it helps," he said, a bitter, but wistful, tone to his voice. He hung up the phone and sighed to himself, there then being a loud thud! of metal - that was loud enough to make Jerry jump out of his skin - as he no-doubt punched the locker in anger.
Jerry hurried to open his locker from where he had been spying and act like he had just put some schoolbooks in as Jack walked around the corner. He stopped and looked at him with a suspicious look on his face, clearly wanting to say something, but he didn't.
Instead he just settled on, "Oh, hey, Jerry."
"Everything okay with you, man? You're a little outta whack lately," he pointed out and for the first time that day, Jack actually looked Jerry in the eyes. He looked withdrawn and downright exhausted; bags were forming under his eyes and he was slowly losing color in his face.
Jack closed his eyes for a split-second, biting his lip almost nervously. "I'll be fine," he said with that same forced smile Jerry had seen earlier, and patted him dismissively on the shoulder before he walked away.
Jerry sighed, unable to stop the churning in his gut. Why did he have such a bad feeling that what was going on with Jack was worse than a stomach virus?