CHAPTER 1

Friday, 2:55 pm

Jacob Black and six of his inmates, followed by two guards, trudged their way from their cellblock to the building where another of their weekly session of life-skills training were about to commence.

The bright May sun was invading the large yard of the Twin Groves Juvenile Correction Center. Today was the first time in a week that Jacob felt more disinclined than usual to go back inside the cold grey walls of a building - especially after having spent the first six hours of his day in another one just like it.

It really had nothing to do with the course itself - Jacob didn't hate it. The teacher, a stout and affable middle-aged woman was investing her heart and soul into teaching the kids in her class something that could prove useful in their post-juvie lives. It wasn't completely useless as it gave Jacob the chance to study for the driving license exam he planned on taking as soon as he got out. Mrs. Quigley had been kind enough to regularly provide him with car magazines. She knew cars were his main interest and it gave her a sense of fulfilment to see that she could support the kids in any of their interests.

No, this definitely wasn't a waste of time, Jacob thought sarcastically. That's what group therapy or counseleing, as they called it, was. Jacob winced to himself at the mere thought of it.

Jacob was looking at the the narrow strip of grass-covered hills visible between the clear blue sky and the razor barbed wire coils atop the high fence, when a movement turned his attention to the main gate. As he watched the two guards enter, he noticed they were escorting a new inmate to join the ranks. The shrill orange color of his uniform made that clear.

They were taking him to the check-in point, which was in the same building where they were going for their course. As the three of them approached his group, Jacob got a closer look at the newbie's face. He was short and scrawny, his skin color and features clearly showing that he was Native American too. Jacob couldn't tell the age of the kid - from the distance he looked 13 or 14 - but he was probably a little older. The very big glasses and the two long braids of hair made him look like a little school girl.

His inmates' jokes and snickers centered precisely on that fact. On their way to the building they continued to taunt the boy, until one of the guards barked at them to put a cork in it and move their asses into class.

For the next hour, Jacob's mind was solely focused on the subject discussed in the life-skills course: applying and interviewing for a job. He continued to think about what he'd heard the teacher say and about the subject of the assignment she'd given them.

When he entered the room, Jacob was shocked at the sight in front of him. The newbie with braids was comfortably lounging on his bed, arms folded under his head and one foot dangling off the edge. The creaking of the door as Jacob closed it, caused him to jump out of his contemplation and turn to face Jacob with a broad, silly smile on his face.

Before Jacob could verbalize the indignation that was all too discernible on his face, the new kid spoke:

„Hey, so you're my roommate! Officer Doherty was right that you'd be like an older brother to me!" he exclaimed with a wide, enthusiastic smile.

Jacob was starting to see in a slightly red coloring,. He knew he needed to set some things straight, or get out of the room before he inflicted some serious damage to the poor bastard sitting on his bed.

„First of all, I'm not your brother." Jacob uttered slowly through clenched teeth. „And second, no matter what bullshit officer Doherty fed you, this is no pajama party, so get the fuck off my bed!"

Throughout his speech, Jacob stared the newbie dead in the eyes, intending to leave him no doubts as to how unwelcome he was here. However, after a few seconds, the ridiculousness of the situation became too hard to ignore. There was no need for Jacob to talk him down. If the size difference wasn't enough, the look on the boy's face made it clear that he was completely clueless. He didn't have any intention of provoking Jacob, and Jacob in turn was not a bully. Sure, it never hurt to be extra-cautious here, but in this case, it would be bordering on paranoia.

After a few silent seconds of staring up at Jacob's stern face through his big glasses, the newbie remembered first to breath and then to remove himself from the foreign bed. As soon as he was standing, he regained his speech:

„I-I didn't mean to bother you... it's just that I saw a little yellow spot there on my sheets and I didn't know if it was new or if it's one of those that don't come out, or maybe they forgot to change the sheets before I came. So I thought I'd ask you, and that's why I sat on your bed till you came back. Oh, and there's a small tear-hole down there too. Nope, these sheets definitely don't look new to me".

The boy finally managed to cease his prattle and was now hoping to get some sort of answer from Jacob. He looked at him from the corner of his eye and saw that Jacob was ignoring him completely. Wearing the same sombre look on his face, he proceeded to arrange some papers into his notebooks, then putting them back on his shelf with his other books, all the while acting like he was alone in the room and nobody had ever spoken a word to him.

After a few silent moments, the newbie decided he should try a different approach - a more direct one this time - so with an awkward smile on his face, he continued:

„Hey, your bedspread looks different. I mean, not only no stains or holes in it, but the color too. Did you get it from home or do older guys get better sheets? Like, you've got that cool dark blue uniform, while they gave me this orange one. I mean jeez, I look like a new basketball ..."

Jacob had gone from seeing red to seeing tiny sparkles on top of it. After he stoically tried to endure the newbie's logorrhea - that was getting worse than the screeching of chalk on board with every second - he lost it. In the blink of an eye he'd grabbed the annoying geek by the front of his shirt and lifted him up until he was standing on tiptoes.

"Can you just SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Jacob shouted in his face. The newbie blinked repeatedly and squinted nervously, as if expecting a punch in the face.

„Did you know that there is no rhyme in English for orange ? Same with purple..." the kid mumbled, leaving Jacob stupefied. With a short hiss, he released him abruptly and turned his back to him, trying to recollect his thoughts. The kid obviously couldn't stop talking when he got nervous. He just couldn't help it, and roughing him up would be utterly useless.

Great! Jacob told himself. He knew he wouldn't be this kid's worst fear in this place and he could think of quite a few who wouldn't stretch their patience even this far.

He ran his hand over his face, trying to dispel the tension, then turned around to the newbie who was curiously staring at him.

„Look... I never asked for a roommate. I don't know how or why you got here, but until I find out, let's get a few things straight. I don't ever want to see you near my bed, or my stuff and I want to hear you as little as possible. So I won't take none of that shit you just pulled. Got it?"

Half-turning to leave the room, Jacob remembered:

„And in case you haven't noticed, this isn't summer camp. So if you don't like your sheets, throw them, burn'em or whatever the fuck you want, it's not my problem to take care of."

When he was almost at the door, he looked over his shoulder and added with a tinge of amusement:

„You can always try to smooth-talk the warden into letting you have your spideys from home, but unless your grandma was his shorty, I doubt that he'll pass on it."

He got out of the room without taking a second look at his new roommate. but As soon as he had closed the door behind him, he felt a heaviness in the pit of his stomach that was different from the one he'd felt the day when they served some dubious burgers in the cafeteria. He knew it had nothing to do with food now, and everything to do with feeling like a jerk. He also knew that he was failing to see in what way he could have gone about this differently, but thoughts like 'it's for the better to not make friends in this place" and „a roommate/friend/brother don't fit into the scheme right now" were interfering with any other possible thinking processes. He was also late now, so he sprinted down the halls towards the gym, leaving all other considerations for later.

One hour and a shower later, Jacob entered the dining hall a tad more relaxed. He was about to follow his usual meal routine of almost two years now. This meant grabbing a tray and putting on it whatever they were serving at the cafeteria and taking it to the seat nearest to the window. He had his usual stern face on and was prepared to stare down any idiot who'd dare let his eyes linger on him more than the inevitable first second.

Just as he was getting in line at the serving area, Jacob saw and heard something that brought the reddish veil over his vision for the second time that day. His roommate was first in line and had struck up a conversation with the two guys in charge of serving the food. Jacob knew them well, they were around his age and on the job, hoping to earn some much needed points for good behavior.

„Hey newbie, nice braids you got there. What's your name?" the fat one crowed, plastering a nauseating smile on his greasy face.

„ Oh, me? I'm Jebediah Wilber!" the newbie replied pleasantly, surprised by the attention.

Jacob realized that it was the first time he had heard the kid's name. A second later he realized that the poor kid had one more reason to feel unlucky, besides his looks and poor wits. The two guys behind the counter seemed to believe exactly the same, and they showed it. One burst into a belly of laughter, and the other into a creepy chortle.

„Was that your name or did you stutter?" the fat guy taunted, his ear-to-ear grin still in place.

„I don't stutter..." Jebediah smiled awkwardly, obviously clueless about the nature of this conversation.

„And where're you from, braids?" the fat guy asked again, as the lanky-slouchy one preferred to just titter stupidly and listen.

„I'm from Boise, but I grew up in Glenns Ferry" the gullible boy continued, dispensing an unnecessary amount of information out of simple courtesy.

„Glenns Ferry you said? There was this one girl I knew from there, what was her name?..." he scrunched his face pretending to concentrate on remembering the name.

„Ah, Britney! Yo Nick! Do you remember Britney?" he looked over his shoulder to the guy who was now bobbing his head in recognition and flashing his chainsaw teeth with a wide grin.

„So, do you know Britney?" he asked Jebediah again with a rude grin.

„I might..." Jebediah replied not really knowing what he was expected to say.

The answer seemed to satisfy the two, as they once again erupted in horselaughter.

Jacob knew all too well that Britney wasn't an actual girl from Glenns Ferry, but the bullies' code name for ‚newbie with chances of becoming their bitch'.

The whole scene was cringeworthy to say the least, and Jacob knew he couldn't take one more second of this scornfest, when his hands squeezed the tray so hard he felt the edges starting to deform. It was not like him to do this, but he pushed past the two kids in front of him in line. When he was right behind Jebediah, he growled lowly:

„Move or get the fuck out of the line."

Jebediah seemed to snap back to reality. Looking worried, he moved the plate onto his tray and stepped aside to make way for the rest of the line.

„Oh c'mon Black, we're just trying to make friends with your lil'bro. You don't have to be all up in his ass like that..." the fat boy half-mouthed what he intended to be a pun.

Jacob didn't bother to answer as he knew that neither of the two pricks dared to even speak to him outside of public contexts like this. He chose to just throw them a murderous look instead, then snatched his tray and went to sit at his usual place.

In passing by, he didn't notice Jebediah standing with his tray in his hands. He was thoughtfully analyzing the free seats, hoping to figure out where it would be safe for him to sit down and have his dinner.

Minutes later, Jacob was yet again stunned to see his roommate casually place his tray at his table and sit on the seat in front of him. He couldn't even be impressed by Jebediah's ballsiness - the kid just had no sense of self-preservation, and Jacob was truly starting to pity him.

„Remind me, when did I invite you to join me for dinner?" Jacob spoke in his usual low voice, actually managing to not sound angry this time.

For the seemingly one hundredth time, Jebediah looked back at him with a dazed expression.

„The free seats were all in this area and I only know you so –„

„Never mind" Jacob interrupted, trying to prevent another word flood from coming his way.

They ate in silence for the next few minutes, until Jebediah decided that he should do something to lighten up the atmosphere, since Jacob seemed to be exclusively engaged in the task of clearing up his plate as quick as possible. He eyed the tea cup on his tray and the idea lit his face like a light bulb:

„Did you know that when tea was first introduced in England, people threw away the liquid of the infusion but kept the leaves, and ate them seasoned with salt and pepper?"

Jacob slowly lifted his head to look at Jebediah's smiling face. Before he could formulate an answer, his eyes slipped past his roomie's head, distracted by what he saw some ten feet away from their table. Sitting at a parallel row of tables, were a particular cluster of assholes that Jacob knew all too well. They were Leon and his gang, or as Jacob saw it, Leon, his younger protege Diego, and a variable flock of bootlickers.

Leon was his oldest 'acquaintance' from the group. He was a few months older than Jacob and was already in the facility when Jacob got there. Immediately, he had tried to persuade Jacob to join his 'cool gang'. Jacob had felt nothing but rage and comtempt toward the place and the people in it, not to mention the people who had put him there, since his first weeks in juvie, so Leon's attempts were met with nothing but stiff resistance.

Getting on his bad side was just a small step from there, and two weeks after arriving at Twin Groves, Jacob took that step.

It all started with Jacob's sister, Rachel's, first visit in this place and concluded with Jacob breaking Leon's nose after hearing him say that his sister was 'a fine piece of ass' and that he'd make sure to get her number next time.

There were few things that made Jacob fly off the handle like that, and hearing someone talk shit about his family was the first one. Nevertheless, he got himself a day of time-out for this, which meant being locked in a small, empty room with virtually no light and nothing but a toilet, a sink and a matress. But he still didn't regret his deed.

Leon, however, had plans to make Jacob regret it, and fear his name for the rest of his stay in the hall. As a show of Leon's power, Jacob was rendered unconscious in the shower one day. He was fortunate that his elder roommate came in just in time to stop them and take him to the infirmary.

Leon got two days in solitary and a two month extension of his time for this, but Jacob was sure that it only made him feel more proud that the reputation he wanted for himself would thrive as a consequence. Jacob could now read him like an open book: all his ambitions in life were limited to his gang, his badass reputation and how he could scare or push around the weaker kids. He would probably do what it took to carry that on to prison, as Jacob didn't believe Leon had a real chance of making it outside. There were bigger fish in the real world.

Now, same as always, Leon and his pets were sitting at the neighbouring row of tables, staring at Jacob's roommate and now dinner companion. All the while they were sneering, snickering like hyenas and whispering to each other. Jacob could understand it all perfectly without having to actually hear the words.

The sight made him lose the last bit of appetite. His gaze shifted to Jebediah, who was now casually rolling his eyes around him, studying the faces of other inmates who were eating there, completely oblivious to the ones behind him.

Jacob just couldn't fathom the reasons why warden Crawley had decided to put this kid in his room. How was this going to help him keep a low profile and not draw any unneeded attention to himself, he had no idea ...

However, it was not his own safety that he felt threatened for right now. He had stopped seeing Leon and his shifty gang as a personal threat to himself a while ago, after he'd gone through the craziest growth spurt of his life, and probably of all the kids in the place.

As a result, he was not only one of the tallest boys in the establishment, but also pretty buff. He could look quite intimidating without even trying. He had taken the advice of the only friend he'd ever had in this place, and started hitting the gym regularly. It seemed to pay off, as no one else dared to cross him after the episode with Leon.

Up until this moment, even Leon had somehow ignored his existence. Probably because he was unwilling to expose himself to the public humiliation of having to face a Jacob who'd be towering over him with a ten inches height advantage.

Leaning forward to speak to Jebediah without Leon or his stooges reading his lips, he faced very large lenses and the eyes that seemed to widen impossibly underneath them.

„If you don't want to get into some serious trouble, finish eating that crap you got there, or throw it away, then move your ass to the room in the next two minutes".

He rose from his chair, emptied his tray into the bin, placed it on the counter on top of other dirty trays and started towards the exit.

Jebediah stood in place for a few seconds, trying to comprehend the reasons why Jacob had talked to him in that tone again. He had no idea, and fearing the consequences of what would happen if he chose to disobey, he followed Jacob's same sequence of movements and cleared out of the place.

The rest of the evening went by peacefully. Jacob engrossed himself in reading some books and magazines in search of information he needed for his homework. Jebediah unpacked his things and just waited for time to go by, all the while making great efforts to not ask Jacob the thousand questions that went through his mind.

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Special thanks to my lovely betas Pooks79 and Willow2883 for being incredibly patient and helpful and a big shout-out to evermine, TheMightyRen and Naranwien, who inspired and supported me to write and post this story :*