Second semester was a lot more fun for Jackson. He and Isaac were friends again, so he didn't have to avoid his gaze in the hallways, and they actually got to eat lunch together. Lacrosse season had also started, which occupied a lot of Jackson's time, and he loved every second of it. He managed to keep any strange thoughts he had at bay, even if one or two managed to sneak by every now and again.

Jackson blinked, and it was summer again. He had since, grown six inches, and now towered above Isaac, who still looked ten years old. And Jackson realised he now looked four years older than Isaac, and his thoughts were starting to get pretty fucked up. He was having a hard time convincing himself that it wasn't gay, because he knew it was. He wondered if Danny felt like this towards anyone, but he wouldn't ask.

He knew Danny was noticing his strange, spastic behaviour at times, but never brought it up, bless him.

The summer before eighth grade went pretty much like the summer before. He shared his time equally between Isaac and Danny, playing a lot of lacrosse and games with Danny, and spending a lot of time showing Isaac Beacon Hills, the kid hadn't ever actually gotten to go places.

Jackson took a lot of time analysing Danny, looking for signs of being gay, but he really couldn't see any.

From TV, Jackson knew gay guys tended to be like girls, hated sports, and had high voices, but Danny didn't conform to anything of the sort. He loved lacrosse, he loved video games, and his voice was getting much deeper.

Isaac, on the other hand, was terrible at video games, didn't care about any sports really, and his voice was still pretty high. But Isaac wasn't gay, and Jackson was totally thrown off. He figured he couldn't compare kids to adults in this type of situation.

Jackson fought his struggle all summer, but he kept it internal. Asking Danny again would be too obvious, and he definitely wasn't going to approach Isaac with it.

Jackson was disappointed to find out he had no classes this year with Isaac, and he only had one with Danny. Danny was put in every single advanced class, besides science.

The first day, Jackson spent lunch with Danny, as they had planned to meet buy the front doors after fourth bell.

On the second day, however, he wanted to sit with Isaac. Jackson ended up spending the whole lunch period walking around the school in search of the boy. He texted him three times, never getting a response.

Isaac responded to the texts in the next class period, apologising and saying he had his phone turned off. Who turned their phone off for lunch, and on for class? Jackson didn't respond, maybe he was a little upset.

They were finally free from school and Jackson was exiting the building, when he heard his name called. He whirled around, a little too eagerly, and was facing Isaac.

"Sorry about lunch," he apologised, rubbing the back of his neck. "Tomorrow?" Jackson shrugged, playing it off.

"Sure." Isaac grinned.

"Cool, I want you to meet someone!" Jackson's face dropped. Meet someone? Isaac started walking with Jackson, before realising he was heading to the lacrosse field. "Bye!" He seemed to be in a fantastic mood.

Jackson spent all of lacrosse practise thinking about whom Isaac had wanted him to meet. It was the third day of school, how could he already have replaced Jackson? Replaced? No, not the right word. He was getting all worked up over nothing, it was nothing, right?

At the end of practise, Jackson and Danny opted to go collect the balls that had been chucked far from the lot.

"What's up?" Jackson picked up a ball and threw it as far in field as he could.

"Nothing really," he looked at Danny, who was raising an eyebrow. He shrugged. "Just some…nothing, it's really nothing." Danny narrowed his eyes, obviously contemplating whether or not to press the issue. "Can I copy your science homework later?" Danny rolled his eyes and chucked a ball.

"I'll give it to you tomorrow morning, but get here at half past six." Jackson curtly nodded and then started jogging back towards the building.

Jackson spent the next morning stressing, not because he hadn't done his science homework or his maths, because he was meeting someone today. Not just someone, someone Isaac was friends with, talked with, trusted?

His stomach felt as if it had been twisted into a knot, he blindly copied the answers from Danny's paper, and crumpled the sheet into his bag. The morning went by slower than the last day of school had come last year, and that was immensely slow.

When the lunch bell rang, Jackson realised he didn't even know where to go. He texted Isaac.

To Isaac 12.31:

Where r you?

It took Isaac less than a minute to reply.

Received from Isaac 12.31

Meet outside the art room doors in the courtyard area?

Jackson took off, eager to get there as fast as possible. But, as he approached the hall to the art room, he realised he may not want to meet Isaac's friend, what if he had a girlfriend? What if? So what if he did?

Sure enough, there was a door right next to the art room, which led to an outside courtyard area. It was big, and there were a lot of projects scattered on the floor or on benches, obviously drying in the sun.

Jackson tapped his foot nervously, keeping an eye on the door at all times. He checked his watch, had it really only been two minutes? The door lurched forward and Jackson heart went with it, something he had never felt before, and it was a really strange feeling; Jackson wasn't sure he liked it.

Isaac came through, smiling. Jackson smiled until he saw a blond girl trailing him, his face dropped. Isaac noticed and gave him a quizzical look, which Jackson shrugged off. So it was a girlfriend? Why did that make Jackson upset? He should be happy for Isaac.

The girl had wild hair, and her clothes looked lopsided on her. She looked super nervous, as if she were to crack any moment. Jackson raised an eyebrow.

"This is Erica, Jackson." Jackson gave Erica a fake smile, she didn't return one. "Erica is new this year, and she's in a lot of my classes. I decided to show her around." Jackson's smile turned genuine, it was great hearing Isaac so happy, like he wasn't the one that was in need of help anymore, and Jackson could see why he had taken a liking to Erica. She looked worse off than he did. She was skinny, skinny to the point where all her bones stuck out. She looked one tap away from collapsing, and she seemed to be shaking non-stop.

"So your classes been good?" Isaac smiled, and sat down on the brick by Jackson's feet, leaving space next to him. Jackson was about to move there, when Erica scurried around and threw herself down, Jackson scrunched his nose and cleared his throat.

"Yeah, only got one with Danny though…and nothing with you…" Isaac nodded.

"It sucks, not fair. And you've got lacrosse until my dad gets home, isn't lacrosse like a spring thing or something?" Jackson huffed out laughter.

"Yeah but it's off-season, so we just practise, run, throw balls, get ready for the spring." Isaac made a farting noise with his mouth.

"Boring." Jackson noticed too well how confident Isaac was becoming, of course his dad was still affecting him immensely, but he seemed to be pushing that totally away, in order to make Erica feel comfortable.

Erica tucked her knees to her chest, she stared at Isaac, and then switched her gaze to Jackson, it slightly creeped him out.

Isaac talked most of the lunch break, Erica seemed too scared to speak, and Jackson felt as if he did, Erica would have a fit.

Jackson had never been happier to part from Isaac, he just needed to get out of there. As soon as the bell rang, he was gone. He got a text from Isaac the next class period

Received from Isaac 1.53:

Are you okay? You were acting strange at lunch.

To Isaac 1.55:

I'm fine. Erica was a little strange? Was she ok?

Jackson looked up from his lap, only to be face-to-face with his teacher. She gave him an annoyed look and snatched his phone.

"You can get it tomorrow," she snapped, throwing the phone in her desk drawer. Jackson's mouth dropped open. Tomorrow? Were teachers even allowed to do that? He spend the rest of the day in a bad mood. What if he had needed his phone to get home? He almost contemplating telling his parents, but he knew they would make a bigger fuss than it was even worth.

—-

Isaac started to worry around two-thirty, Jackson was normally very prompt when replying to texts, maybe he was mad about Erica? But what could have happened that Jackson would be mad about? Sure, Erica was awkward and shy, but she was epileptic, she couldn't help it. Maybe he just needed to explain it to Jackson.

But what could explain the way Jackson's face dropped when Isaac said he met someone? Had Jackson thought a girlfriend maybe? But if it was a girlfriend, wouldn't Jackson have been proud? Isaac shook his head, breaking the realm of his thoughts, maybe Jackson was just busy in class.

The bell rang, signalling the end of class, and Isaac texted Jackson again, this time just a question mark. He was looking down at his phone, when he felt someone hovering over him. He was surprised to see Jackson, inches from his face.

"My phone got taken until tomorrow," he explained, breathing heavily.

"It's okay. Was everything alright with you and Erica? You were acting a little strange…" Jackson frowned.

"Yeah, sure? Nothing's wrong…what? No, I mean…is she okay?" Jackson was stumbling over his words, obviously unsure on how he should answer the question.

"She has epilepsy," Isaac explained, fidgeting with his phone. Jackson opened his mouth to speak again, but Isaac cut in. "But don't talk about it, okay? She doesn't really have many friends because of it, and I think we can be her friends?" Jackson nodded slowly, like he wasn't quite sure he wanted to be Erica's friend.

"I have to go to practise, but I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" With that, Jackson was gone, running off in the opposite direction.

Isaac had a weird feeling that Jackson didn't like Erica, he couldn't figure out why though.

As promised, they saw each other the next morning. Isaac briefly noticed a look of relief on Jackson's face when he showed up alone, and again, it shook Isaac. They talked about nothing of real importance, all the way until the bell rang. Just hearing Jackson's voice made Isaac happy, but he didn't understand why.

He sat with Erica again at lunch (mainly because they had the class period before together) but this time Jackson didn't join them. Isaac waited patiently all lunch for the boy to show up, but he never did. It annoyed him slightly, that he may have something against Erica, but then he remembered Jackson did have other friends.

The next few weeks passed just like that, Isaac and Jackson would talk most mornings, but he never joined them for lunch again. Erica seemed to become more introverted, and Isaac noticed a lot of kids gave her weird looks, or talked about her crudely.

Mid-October, Isaac started to notice kids hung around him less as well, and seeing Jackson in the morning was becoming a rare occasion.

Isaac was at Jackson's house one evening (a rare night when his dad was out) when he decided to bring it up.

"Is there something wrong with me?" Jackson dropped his controller to look at Isaac.

"What are you talking about? Wrong with you?"

"I mean like, with Erica. People are rude to her, and now kids avoid me because I'm friends with her." Jackson shrugged.

"She's just not cool, Isaac. She's weird and-" He stopped talking when he realised Isaac was glaring at him.

"So I'm not cool enough for you?" Isaac's voice was becoming sharp. Jackson sighed.

"Isaac, I don't mean it like that. I'm just popular, you know? It doesn't make sense for me to hang out with people that aren't…"

"And you can't hang out with me because I'm not a douche to other kids? Because I'm one of those weird kids with problems?" Tears started pooling in Isaac's eyes, and he hastily wiped them away.

"No! But you have Erica, I have Danny and Greenberg and the other guys on the team. I'm apart of a team, so I'm friends with them, okay? Isaac, you're one of my best friends, there's just a difference between school friends and home friends." Isaac nodded, although he really didn't want to. Why couldn't school friends be the same as home friends? Isaac cursed himself for not being good at sports or video games, he knew Jackson would be friends with him at school if he was.

"I don't even want to be friends with your friends," Isaac mumbled. Jackson cleared his throat.

"So, are you and Erica…dating?"

"What?" So maybe that was the reason Jackson didn't like her? "No, no…"

"Oh," Isaac could say Jackson sounded relieved, but he was probably just making it up. "Do you like her?"

"No! I mean yes, as a friend. I don't want to, and I'm not going to, date her," he tried to clarify.

"Okay, cool," he again, sounded slightly relieved, but like he was trying to poorly cover it up.

Isaac went home shortly after, running over the conversation in his mind. Jackson had definitely seemed relieved that he wasn't dating Erica, but why? He didn't want to read into it, but somehow his mind kept circling back.