Enjoy. Unbeta'd

Stress Relief.

Maggie walked into English ten minutes before the bell, hoping to finish reading the newest House of Night novel before class started and found Jasper hunched over on his desk, fast asleep. "Jasper?" she called to him softly, but he just slept on. Maggie grinned mischievously and headed to the back of the classroom. Pulling the first three volumes of The Norton Anthology of English Literature from the vast book collection, she walked back to the slumbering boy. Balancing the heavy tomes with both hands she raised the books high, over her head and let the books fall out of her hands and slam onto the floor.

The sound shocked Jasper awake, he jumped out of his seat adrenaline rushing through him. "What? Maggie?"

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself," she giggled, as she bent down to pick up the volumes. "So, why are you sleeping at you desk? Don't you want to at least wait until class starts?"

"Sorry," he apologized, giving the girl a weak smile.

"What's wrong Jasper? You look like hell."

"I didn't sleep enough last night," Jasper explained, sinking back into his seat.

"That's what you get for palying video games and reading manga until 2am," she scolded in a motherly tone.

Jasper scoffed. "Yeah, but that's not what kept me up," he admitted without thinking.

"Okay, so then what did?"

Jasper didn't reply. Instead, he stared at the tabletop of his desk. Maggie could see the tension in her friend by the way he sat in the chair, refusing to make eye contact with her. "You don't have to tell me, if-"

"It was Henry," Jasper blurted out.

Maggie blinked. "Henry?"

"I heard Henry. In the bathroom. He was making strange noises. I mean, I know it's a perfectly normal thing for teenage boys to do but it's completely different when it comes to actually hearing-"

"Oh, stop," Maggie interrupted. "Just stop talking," she insisted, covering her ears with her hands. "I really don't need that image in my head."

"Tell me about it." Jasper said, burying his head in his hands.

"Tell you about what?" Henry asked, entering the classroom.

"Nothing," both Jasper and Maggie answered in unison.

"I'm not crying, are you crazy?"

"It's okay, Jasper." Henry said, placing a hand on his cousin's shoulder. "I cry once a day," he admitted. "Sometimes twice a day."

"Really?"

"Sure," Henry grinned and nodded his head eagerly. "It's a great way to release stress. Though I usually wait until I'm at the house. I just duck into the bathroom and have a good cry. After a few minutes, the tension just flows away," he explained with hand gesture.

"So, that's why you've been locking yourself in the bathroom every night?"

"Of course," Henry replied, his brows knitted together in confusion. "Why, what did you think I was doing?"

"Uh, what? Nothing,"Jasper gave Henry a nervous smile. He and Maggie shared a look before breaking out into laughter.

Henry, knowing that he was missing something, only smiled at his friends and took his seat just as the bell rang.

Fin