A/N: I'm glad that you all liked the last chapter. I wasn't sure if I'd do a good job, but apparently I did! I hope you all like this one as well. R&R. Enjoy!

Chapter Seven

In Which Jack Has a Good Day

Closing the door behind him, Jack turned around and saw North leaning against the railing of the stairs, trying, and miserably failing, to look as innocent as a new born babe.

"Really, Dad?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow as he did so. His dad raised his hands up as though he were surrendering.

"What? I did nothing," he said. Jack wasn't fooled at all. With a roll of his eyes, Jack shook his head and sat down on the couch.

"Uh-huh. Sure. So I guess the porch light was flickering on and off by itself, right?" North laughed.

"Of course not, Jack! Dere is nothing wrong with the porch light." Jack looked over at him as his dad made his way into the kitchen. "The house is haunted. It was the ghosts."

"Ghosts. Yeah, right!" Jack mumbled under his breath. "Next time, don't make it so obvious that you're eavesdropping!" he called out loud enough so that his dad could hear him. The only response he got was thundering Russian laughter.

But Jack couldn't stop smiling despite his dad being ridiculous and overprotective. His thoughts didn't linger on how his dad kept flickering the porch light, but on Aster and how wonderful their date had been. Oh hell, wonderful couldn't even begin to describe it. Jack had had the time of his life! He thought it would've been awkward and uncomfortable, but it really wasn't. It was quite the opposite actually; Jack felt at home when he was with Aster and like he could be himself. So what if he had only just met Aster? Never before had he felt such a connection to another person, at least not romantically like this. Yes, he felt connected to Jamie, Tooth, and Sandy, but in the friendly way and not the I-want-you-to-draw-me-like-one-of-your-French-girls way.

He just hoped that he wouldn't do or say anything to mess this up because that would really suck.

…

By the time Monday rolled around, Jack was more than happy to have an excuse to not look at his English research packet. Mrs. Campbell had told them to start looking for reliable resources for their paper, something that should have been pathetically easy. And it would've been had there not been so much information on Robert E. Lee. There was a crap ton! Like, seriously, there was way too much and it gave Jack an enormous headache. Was it even possible to have too much info on one guy? Jack was starting to think so.

Thankfully, or in his case luckily, he only needed a minimum of six resources and one of them had to be a book. Jack had no problem with finding the right book; his dad had a few books on the American Civil War and, naturally, they had a lot of stuff about the famous Confederate general. On Sunday night just before bed, Jack printed out his five internet resources and made his bibliography to hand in the next day. Six sources was more than enough for him and he couldn't wait until the whole research thing was done and over with. His dreams were plagued with horrible images of papers and computer screens filled with too much information.

But aside from not having to bother anymore with his English research until, well, English class, Jack was more than happy to see Aster again. Yes, they had been texting during the weekend, but that wasn't enough. Not for him, at least. As soon as his dad had dropped him off, Jamie and Tooth came rushing up to him wearing grins on their faces and both waggling their eyebrows at him. It was like a mini whirlwind of questions, but Jack honestly didn't mind. They made him laugh and smile and they were his friends. Real friends.

"So, how was the date, Romeo?" Jamie asked.

"Aster told me you went to the movies? What did you see? Did you hold hands during the movie? Where did you go afterwards? Oooh! Did he take you to his coffee shop?" Tooth asked him, her excitement oozing out of her. "I bet he did!"

"He probably did. You know that Aster's addicted to that place," Jamie reminded her, giving Tooth a friendly eye roll.

"I know that, but it's not like Aster takes everyone there. It took him a while for him to tell us that he went there and we have been going there for, like, ever!" Tooth exclaimed before she turned her violet eyes back to Jack. "Sooooo? Are you gonna leave us hanging or what?"

"We went to see that new Tom Cruise movie, and it was pretty awesome for a Tom Cruise film," Jack told them. Jamie's eyes lightened up.

"Really? I'm not a huge Tom Cruise fan, but the previews for Jack Reacher looked pretty sweet," Jamie said and they began walking towards the entrance to the school.

"I don't like Tom Cruise much either. He's too full of himself, but it was a pretty good movie," Jack agreed with him. Tooth sighed.

"How can you not like Tom Cruise? He is just so handsome and talented…" Jack and Jamie shared a look and shook their heads.

"You're on crack," Jack told her.

"You've been breathing too much of that laughing gas dentists use on their patients," Jamie commented.

"You should lay off of that stuff. It could kill ya," Jack snickered softly.

"And then who would have to hide your body? Us, that's who," Jamie added.

"I may be a girl, but I pack a pretty mean punch. Just ask Pitch. I knocked a few of his baby teeth out in elementary school for putting gum in my hair and he's been afraid of me since," Tooth said in a sickeningly sweet voice and with a smile that belied the intentions behind her words. Jack and Jamie looked at her before all three of them started laughing. They were still laughing about it when they entered the school lobby. Aster and Sandy walked over to them once they heard them.

"What're you all giggling about?" Aster asked them. Jack and Jamie shared another look before they started to explain.

"Tooth thinks Tom Cruise is hot," Jamie explained. Aster lifted an eyebrow at her and she smiled innocently up at him.

"Um, ew." Aster made a disgusted faced and Tooth giggled.

"You just don't appreciate good acting talent and cute butts when you see it," she said.

"Oh, I appreciate cute butts all right," Aster said, sending a wink Jack's way, which made his cheeks redden slightly. "But Tom Cruise is a bigger jackass than Pitch and that's saying something."

"Anyway," Jamie interrupted them, holding on 'y' for a few seconds before he continued. "Jack and I told her to lay off the crack and dentist laughing gas and then Tooth told us that she'd knock a few of our teeth out like she did to Pitch back in the first grade." Sandy laughed softly while Aster let loose. A few of their fellow students turned to look at them as they made their way to class, but none of them noticed.

"I remember that. That was a pretty mean swing, Tooth," Aster said.

"I wish I coulda seen that. I bet it was hilarious," Jack said. Aster grinned down at him.

"Oh, it was. I can still see tears running down his face as he cried and ran to the teacher."

As the others kept talking about it, Jack couldn't help but think to himself that he kind of felt a little sorry for Pitch. After all, Jack was more than well accustomed to being the brunt of a lot of teasing and torment. Even though he told himself that, more than likely, Pitch kind of deserved being punched by Tooth, he still felt bad for him. It made him wonder if Pitch had become what he was now – a creeper – because of what he had gone through when he was younger. Or maybe he had been that weird outsider kid that no one liked and would do anything to get attention, even if that meant saying or doing something creepy.

"Well, I'll catch you guys later," Jamie told them. "See ya!" They called their good-bye after him before they stepped into the Alg. 2 classroom. The bell rang as soon as they sat down.

"Good morning, everyone! I hope you all had a nice weekend," Mr. Penn said as he stepped into the room. The morning announcements began, interrupting most of the conversations in the room.

After the announcements were over, Mr. Penn started them on the new unit: Polynomials and Polynomial Functions. Lovely. It wasn't all that bad, however; Aster and Jack kept sharing glances and small little smiles as though they both knew a secret that they weren't going to tell. By the end of Alg. 2, Jack was feeling pretty damn good. Not even having to sit in front of Pitch in Soc and deal with his very existence could put a damper on his mood. Pitch must've been off his game or something, or maybe it was because it was a Monday, but he seemed a bit lethargic. He was unusually quiet, that was for sure, and Jack didn't feel him staring at him, which meant that he was either focused on the board or his notes.

Gym was, well, gym. As much as Jack wish he could've enjoy physical education, he just didn't. But not because he was lazy, even though he could totally be lazy. Hello! He was an American teenager after all. It was just that he and Aster had been singled out (again) to be the objects of the stupid jocks' stupid old jokes. Jack could care less if he was picked on, he had been dealing with it for, like, ever, but he didn't like it when they made fun of Aster. Aster may have stopped playing sports to pursue his love for art, but he could still play like he belonged in the NBA or NFL. And he looked good doing it too. If questioned, Jack would freely admit that he had been staring at Aster – and his cute butt – all throughout gym class with no shame whatsoever.

Chemistry hadn't been too bad either and Jack was pretty happy by the time Our Near Neighbor began. And then he remembered that they'd be turning in their bibliographies and note cards today. Craaaap! Once again, they were ushered out of the classroom, but instead of going to the library, they went to one of two computer labs that the school had. Jack walked with Aster and Sandy as they made the short trek to the lab.

"Man, I wasn't even finished getting all of my research done," Jack mumbled. Aster patted his back and Sandy gave him an encouraging smile and a wave of the hand.

"Sandy's right. Don't worry about it, Jack. It's almost over, thank God, so there's nothin' to worry about," Aster said, trying to console him. It worked somewhat.

"You're right, Aster," Jack lifted his head up and gave the taller teen a smile. "It is almost over and that means that I won't have to put up with Pitch for much longer."

"There ya go, mate!" Sandy tugged on Jack's sleeve and tried to sign something to him that Jack just couldn't understand. Aster did though, and he happily translated.

"Oh yeah, that's right. Tooth, Jamie, and Sandy are all free on Saturday. We can go roamin' the town and show ya around if ya still want," Aster said with a big smile on his face. That definitely cheered Jack and he felt himself perking up.

"That would be great! I am so excited now." Aster grinned at him.

"I knew that'd make you feel better."

They entered the computer lab and sat down with their perspective partners. As Pitch sat down on Jack's left, the white haired teen noticed that he looked a bit…haggard, almost as though he didn't get enough sleep. Pitch ran a hand over his face before he logged onto the computer. Mrs. McFair stood at the white board in the lab and instructed them on how to do a bibliography, going as far as to write down how it should look on the page.

"Do you remember your resources?" Pitch asked Jack.

"Uh, yeah. I printed them out, actually," Jack said as he opened his folder and pulled his stuff out.

"You may use Easy Bib to assist you with your bibliographies," Mrs. McFair told them. "Just don't forget that your resourced must be in alphabetical order or else you'll lose points."

Pitch opened the web browser and a Microsoft Word document before he typed Easy Bib into Google. As they plugged their resourced in, Jack couldn't help but realize that he and Pitch were actually working together. Not just that, but they were working pretty well together too, which was kinda weird. Wasn't it just a few days ago or so that Jack had told Pitch off? And now, there was a comfortable atmosphere around them and Jack didn't feel on edge or jumpy. Maybe that was because they were focused on getting their bibs done, something that only took a couple of minutes. Or maybe it was because computer labs in general were usually comfortable and had an easy atmosphere environment. Whatever it was, Jack was glad that they were able to get work done and not tear each others' throats out.

Not that Jack wouldn't give Pitch a piece of his mind; a guy could only take so much before he was forced to speak his mind. Jack didn't feel as though Pitch was going to give him a hard time though, and for that, he was grateful. Because they were both getting along – and Jack was still surprised about that! – he was able to get his note cards done. Granted, his portion of the project wasn't that large compared to Pitch's, so he was done sooner, but still. They got done and that was a very good thing. He even helped Pitch add or remove info that they'd need for their paper and their Power Point. Before the bell rang, they had turned their bib in and their note cards and Jack wished things could go that smooth and easy every day. When the bell rang, Jack made his way to English walking in between Aster and Jamie. He told them about how well class had gone and the topic shifted from English research papers to Pitch.

"Maybe he started smoking pot," Jamie said. "It would explain why he was kind of out of it and why he was so chillax today."

"No one in their right mind says 'chillax' anymore, Jamie," Jack told him, a grin beginning to form on his face.

"Jamie's never been in his right mind, Jack," Aster told him, grinning down at the brunette. "He's an art geek. What can ya say?"

"Hey! You're an art geek too. The biggest one, actually. So that makes you the King of Art Geeks!" Jamie said.

Jack was smiling and laughing when he sat down at his desk in English. He wasn't even worried about the bibliography he had to turn in or about doing the research paper for the class. All he could think about was how well he fit in with Aster and Jamie and Sandy and Tooth and how grateful he was that his dad decided to move them to this town.