"Naomi is wanting to hang around a freak. I'm not just saying that, he pulled a knife on a guy at his old school."
Naomi glared daggers at Nick from across the dinner table as their parents listened to Nick's accusations. "Jack is not a freak, he's a nice boy and I like talking to them. He's just quiet because today was his first day of school, there's no proof he threatened a guy with a knife, only a rumor. He told me that he had to move because of his dad's job."
Mr. Lawson sighed and Mrs. Lawson began cleaning up the kitchen while speaking. "Nick, if your sister wants to hang around this boy, then just leave them alone. The thing about the knife seems like it was made up by kids that he didn't leave a good first impression on." She turned her attention to Naomi. "Naomi, if he does anything that would hint the story about him threatening a boy with a knife is true, you need to stay far away from him. I trust that you will keep your distance from him if he does anything to make you uncomfortable."
Naomi nodded in agreement, "I will."
Nick stared down at his plate in annoyance. "Dad, your thoughts on this?"
Mr. Lawson cleared his throat, "I agree with and support your mother's decision fully."
Nick stood up from the table and proceeded to take his plate and glass into the kitchen. "You just wait until something happens to her because of this Jack guy."
Mr. Lawson hit his fist on the table, making everyone jump at the unexpected noise. "You stop talking so badly about that boy right now, Nick. As I was told by you and your sister, it was his first day at a new school. It is far too soon to be forming a solid opinion about him and talking badly of him. I want you to give the kid a chance and if he does something that he deserves to be judged for, then you can judge him accordingly, but not until then. Understand?"
Nick closed his eyes tightly. "Me and all of our friends get a bad feeling from him and just think he'd be the type to bring a gun to school."
Naomi sat at the table silently, she knew her brother was wrong but there was no point in arguing with him. Mr. Lawson stood up in front of his son, towering over the eighteen year old boy. "That is enough, Nicholas."
Nick backed away from his father almost sheepishly, "Ok dad, I'm sorry. I was just trying to look out for my sister is all."
Mr. Lawson nodded slowly. "I understand that son, but when it comes to guys, girls have to learn about them by themselves."
…
Naomi woke up the next morning at 5:30, thirty minutes earlier than usual so she would have more time to get ready before going to school. Of course school alone wasn't the reason she was taking extra time to look her best… there was Jack. She was going to see Jack at school.
Just as the seventeen year old girl finished perfecting herself to the best of her ability, there was knocking on the door. She sighed, checking herself in the mirror once again. "What?"
Nick spoke from the other side of the door, "Are you ready? We have to leave in a couple minutes and you're taking forever in there."
Naomi yanked the door open. "Yea, let's go."
Nick stood in place for a moment, just staring at his sister who looked to have put more effort into her appearance than usual. "Why are you looking all… are you trying to impress that boy?"
Naomi smiled as she walked past her older brother but didn't bother to answer his question. "Common, we're going to be late."
After a moments hesitation, Nick shook his head and followed after his sister, a look of disapproval upon his handsome face.
…
Courtney nudged Naomi, trying to get her attention off of Jack Napier who had just entered the crafts room. Naomi looked over at her friend in slight annoyance, "What?"
Courtney rolled her eyes. "Can you focus on anything besides him? I asked you what you're going to work on today."
Jack took a seat at the one person table away from everyone. Naomi averted her eyes from him although she found it hard to do so. Even with his blonde hair messy, his pants a little too low and baggy, along with his T-shirt having several holes, Naomi found him attractive. "I'm probably just going to work on my paper machae."
Courtney nodded and looked over at the lonely looking boy herself. "Are you going to go talk to him?"
Naomi looked over at Jack again. "Oh, I don't know… I'm going to eat lunch with him next period so I don't want to overdo it."
"What do you mean by that?"
Naomi shrugged, "I just don't want him to think I'm being clingy or anything."
Courtney laughed quietly. "I'm sorry Naomi, but I doubt anyone has ever been clingy with that boy. He probably wouldn't mind."
Naomi narrowed her eyes in a glare cast at her best friend. "What are you trying to say?"
Courtney began going through her binder in search of her pencil. "I'm saying that I don't see what there is to like about him. He don't have a good fashion sense, he's quiet, and he looks beaten plus he has bad hair."
Naomi was digging her fingernails into her own skin. "All of that is about his looks except for the fact he's quiet, so what if he's shy? He's probably nervous. And have you even noticed his face? He has a really nice face."
Courtney laughed, "No, I haven't gotten a good look at his face but since you seem so attracted to him, I'll take your word that he has a nice face. Now why don't you go talk to your boy toy? Can't hurt to talk two periods in a row, it's not like we're in middle school still."
Naomi smiled as she got up off of her stool and retrieved her paper machae project that still needed to be painted. Instead of returning to the table that she and Courtney sat at, Naomi grabbed a spare stool with her free hand and pulled it up to Jack's table.
Jack looked over at her when she sat beside him and placed her project on the table. "What are you making?"
Naomi smiled, fighting not to blush, and shrugged. "It's supposed to be a clown."
Jack laughed, "A clown?"
Naomi nodded, laughing as well. "Yea, why?"
"Well, uh-" He licked his lips quickly. "I don't really think it looks like a clown yet, probably because you haven't painted it."
Naomi shrugged as she stared at her unpainted clown sculpture. "Yea, I guess, it kind of looks like an evil clown to me."
He chuckled, the sound coming from within his chest and making Naomi's heart rate quicken. "How so?"
Naomi cleared her throat before moving the paper machae clown to the center of the table so Jack could see where she was pointing as she spoke. "There's the eyes… the nose… mouth, and… hair. Now do you see it?"
Jack nodded after studying the shape of the clown. He smiled a genuine smile. "I guess you've got yourself a killer clown."
Naomi didn't speak for a moment as she was captivated by the smile of the secretly beautiful boy sitting right next to her. She smiled back genuinely as well, "I guess I do... I'll be right back."
When Naomi returned to the table with paint and paintbrushes, she looked over at Jack who was making random little designs on his binder absentmindedly. "You aren't doing a project yet, are you?"
He looked over at her. "Nope, not until the next assignment."
"Do you maybe want to help me paint?"
Jack laughed slightly. "I thought girls had a different painting style than guys, you know, a different idea of what looks good."
Naomi shrugged. "Maybe, but we can still paint together."
"What if I mess it up?"
Naomi laughed as she passed him a few bottles of paint. "He's a killer clown, remember? The paint don't have to look perfect."
Jack nodded, "Yea, I remember but if I'm doing something wrong then just let me know."
Naomi was about to tell him that he could paint the clown however he wanted forwards. When Jack reached forwards for a paintbrush however, Naomi noticed three small dark circles on his left forearm. She knew very well what the marks were, cigarette burns.
She realized that she had been staring when Jack spoke knowlingly, "You noticed the burns, huh?"
Naomi nodded, remaining silent. Realizing that she wasn't going to say anything, Jack shook his head. "It's ok, I'm a smoker but I'm trying to quit so every time I smokw a cigarette, I burn myself. I am trying to to teach myself that with smoking comes pain. No big deal."
Naomi nodded but didn't look too convinced that it was no big deal. "Do you have to actually hurt yourself every time you smoke though? Why don't you just like not watch TV or something?"
Jack laughed shortly, "Do you not see how I dress? We don't really have money for a TV."
Naomi looked away awkwardly, "I don't think you dress bad."
There was silence from the boy for a minute. "Just because you're nice to me doesn't mean you don't think I dress badly."
Naomi fidgeted with her hands. "I honestly don't think you dress bad but I have a job, if you want we can go to the mall sometime and get you some new clothes."
Jack turned on his stool to face the girl next to him. "You want me to look better so you won't be judged when you're seen with me."
She shook her head in honest denial. "No, I don't care what people think. I'm just trying to be nice to you."
He blinked once as he dipped his paint brush into the white paint. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why are you trying yo be nice to me?"
Naomi shrugged as she dipped her own paintbrush into the white paint and began painting. "Friends are nice to each other, we are friends… Right?"
Jack nodded as he continued to coat the clown in white paint. "I guess so, I haven't really had many friends, so excuse me if I mess up."
Naomi smiled sympathetically, "You're not going to mess up... We're still going to the football game Friday, right?"
He nodded again. "As far as I know. I mean as long as you still want to."
"And the mall?"
"You really want to buy me clothes?"
Naomi turned the clown so that the unpainted side was facing them. "If you'll let me… I'm not trying to be mean, Jack, but you seem to have so little confidence and maybe a new look would help you some?"
He dipped his brush back into the paint. "Maybe, why does it matter to you though?"
Naomi bit her bottom lip in thought. "Because we're friends and I want you to be more confident with yourself. No one has fun without confidence."
"That's it?"
Naomi nodded although that wasn't the whole truth. A wanted to make Jack look attractive to everyone else so they would recognize him as good looking and want him like Naomi already did. Jack was already good enough for Naomi, but she wanted others to view him as good enough as well. Not that the other girls would get him, Jack Napier was hers, even if he didn't know it yet. She smiled before answering him, "Yes, that's it."
Jack took a deep breath, "I guess we can go sometime but I don't want you spending much on me."
At that, the crafts teacher, Mr. Fondlow spoke. "Ok class, the bell is going to ring in five minutes so start cleaning up."
Jack and Naomi got up from the table, Naomi grabbing the paper machae clown by a part that was dry. She took her project to the table that everyone else's projects were on while Jack took it upon himself to put the paints back.
Naomi grabbed the paintbrushes off of the table and took them over to the sink to rinse them. She was only there a moment before Jack walked up, gently taking one of the brushes from her. "I'll help you."
She turned to the handsome boy, smiling as they rinsed off their brushes together, white paint mixing with water and swirling down the drain. "Thank you."
...
Disclaimer: I do not own Jack Napier/ Joker or anything else DC related.
