Jack decided to convey the news of his new car by picking Jamie up that morning before school. Usually he just got a ride with his mom since she worked at the school anyway, but Jack wanted to beat her to the punch and surprise Jamie.

Hey, come outside

A few seconds later Jamie replied with a "why" but came out before Jack responded anyway. His face went from confused, to surprised, to excited all in the matter of seconds and he ran over to get a good look at it.

"Wow, Jack, is this yours?" Jamie grinned and opened the door to slide in. "This is nice. I like it. Jamie approves of this transportation vehicle."

Jack laughed slightly before putting the car in park and turning the engine off. "Yes, this is mine and yes it is nice and I'm glad you approve of it." He smiled at Jamie who was looking through the glove box and pressing the buttons, even though the car was currently off. "Turns out it was my Uncle that was in town. He came to deliver my birthday and Christmas present that he and Bunny bought."

"Ah, very nice." Jamie stopped fiddling with everything and looked back at Jack. "That's pretty cool that they bought you a car. Actually, it's better than cool. It's freaking amazing."

"Yeah, it really is. I'm kind of still in shock. The world is now in the palm of my hand."

"And you know what that means?"

"What?"

"We can go and do things alone instead of being stuck in Burgess."

"Yes, yes we can." Jack grinned and leaned in to give Jamie a quick kiss. "Okay, you should get your backpack before we're late."

"Will do." Jamie said before opening the door and hurrying back inside to grab his things. Within a few minutes he was back, and they were driving off to meet the last day of the week.

Friday wasn't too difficult, but with the prospect of going over to Jamie's house for Sophie's birthday party looming over his head, Jack couldn't focus during the last period of the day. He couldn't care less about balancing an equation or whatever they were doing. His eyes kept flicking over to the clock and the only thing he was doing was tapping his pencil on a blank sheet of notebook paper with his other hand propping up his head. He almost didn't notice the girl talking to him until she tapped his shoulder.

"What? Sorry, I was spacing out." Jack quickly sat up before looking at her. She had a cream colored knit cap on that looked well-worn and chin length brown hair.

She kind of laughed a little; something that she didn't mean to be heard like some girls did. "Hi, Jack," She said quietly and sat down after thinking it over, "I've been meaning to talk to you for a while."

"Oh, uh, yeah?" Jack mumbled hesitantly and put down the pencil he wasn't really using anyway.

"It's been a whole semester and I haven't really spoken to you." She said, and Jack nodded. No one had really spoken to him. "I don't really know you, but you seem like a nice person. I heard you came from the West Coast."

Jack had no idea where that rumor came from, and it amazed him even more that people had been talking about him and assuming where he came from. Not one actually asked, besides Jamie.

"I actually came from the other side of the state. Small country town. I've never seen the West Coast." Jack said, and her face became slightly embarrassed and intrigued.

"Oh, well, that's… interesting. Is that where you were born?"

"Close. I was born in Eastern Ohio. But we moved there when I was in second grade."

"Do you miss it?"

"No, not really. Sometimes, but I think I've been better off since I moved here." He shrugged and figured he was getting too personal. He barely knew this girl.

"Well I'm happy about that." She smiled slightly and tugged on the rim of her hat, a gesture that was probably a nervous habit of hers. "Burgess isn't too bad. Usually people leave here instead of move here though." She gently gestured at him.

"Yeah." Jack said simply and looked at the math book at the problems he was supposed to be doing, and then looked at the clock. Ten minutes. Thank sweet baby Jesus. He figured it couldn't hurt to start slowly packing up.

"Did you need any help with your math?" She pointed at his numberless notebook page.

"Uh, I think I'm doing okay with it."

She looked as though she didn't believe him, but let it go.

"I'm Pippa, by the way." She smiled, a little shy, and tugged on her hat again.

"It's nice to meet you." Jack said, smiled for a moment, then put his notebook in his backpack.

She sat a few more seconds in silence before deciding to get up to move back to her own table. "I'll talk to you later then?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

Jack couldn't quite put his finger on it, but she reminded him of someone he knew and couldn't help but feel a little something towards her. Not quite sympathy. Empathy? Compassion? He wasn't sure, but it brought out a soft spot in his heart that he wasn't sure he liked.

After school, Jack drove Jamie back to the house, so they could get ready for everything. Sophie demanded that everything should be fairy themed, since she had a dream about a fairy coming into her room and taking her to a castle and had been obsessed with them for weeks now. Sophie was to have the royal treatment, and six of her school friends were coming over that evening to enjoy the festivities and get hyped up on sugar. With the way she was acting about her birthday, she made it seem like it was her Sweet Sixteen instead of her ninth birthday party.

"She acts like this every birthday. I swear, she thinks that the whole world cares about it. She's going to be heartbroken when she finds out it's not an actual holiday."

"You told her it was a real holiday?"

"That was my first mistake." Jamie said and shook his head. "The second was reassuring her every year since. It's only gotten worse."

Jack laughed at that and hung up another streamer. "Then you have no one to blame but yourself." He said, but Jamie wasn't listening.

"She's going to be here any minute. I better get Abby ready."

"Abby?"

"Yeah, the greyhound. I swear, she's the cutest thing ever."

"Isn't Sophie supposed to name her?"

"She was born to be named Abby. Everything about her screams Abby. Her name is Abby."

Jack smiled and continued to decorate as Jamie got everything set up for "Abby". He brought out the kennel with her in it and then stuck a big pink bow on top.

"Perfect," He nodded his head and looked it over. "Sophie's going to love her."

Jack nodded with him and came down off the ladder. He put his arm around Jamie's shoulder and kissed the side of his head. Jamie subconsciously leaned into him. Just then Sophie came banging through the front door and Jack pulled away from him.

"IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" She yelled and jumped onto Jack's leg, both her backpack and shoes still on.

Jack laughed and picked her up. "Yeah, so I heard. Happy birthday."

"What did you get me?"

"Okay Soph, that's enough." Jamie took her from Jack's hands and set her down. "How do you like the decorating?"

She finally looked around the room, and her mouth dropped open. In reality, it wasn't much, just a lot of streamers (like, a lot) and store bought decorations posted on the walls. The table had a fairy themed tablecloth and the napkins had little flower prints on them along with matching plates and cups.

"Wow," she said quietly, and spun around to take in the whole room. Her eyes bypassed the kennel in the corner of the room, as she was too preoccupied with the fairies that were hung from the ceiling.

Jamie's mom came into the living room and directed Sophie into the bathroom so she could clean up a bit before the guests started coming over. The young girl complained, but Angeline wouldn't have it any other way.

"I guess I should put the food out." Jamie said and made his way into the kitchen. In a few minutes, everything was set on the table, but he kept the cupcakes that were for later in the kitchen so no one tried to take one before it was time.

"These ended up looking great." Jamie said.

"You told me that when I made them." Jack said and picked one up, admiring his handiwork.

"But, c'mon, they're really cool. I like them."

The frosting on them was made to look like a little patch of grass with flowers on it. It wasn't extremely impressive, but they were cute and suited the theme.

"I only really did the grass. They're candied flowers."

"Still cool."

Jack set down the cupcake. There was a knock at the door and Jamie looked at Jack with confusion before going to open it, saying, "It's too early for any of the kids to be here."

When he opened it, Jack could hear Jamie's surprised but pleased greeting.

"I didn't think you'd be able to make it." He said, and Jack came around the corner to see who it was.

"Oh, I couldn't miss my niece's birthday. Besides, I heard it was fairy themed." She said with a smile, speaking melodically. "It looks beautiful in here. Did you do this?"

"Jack and I did." He gestured over to him, and Tooth looked over.

"Oh hello, I didn't see you over there. It's nice to see you again."

Jack smiled at her and waved a little. Tooth smiled back and walked into the house completely. Joining the blue stripe in her hair were feathers that weaved into her long strands, and she was wearing a purple dress that matched her eyes.

"Where's Pitch today?" Jamie asked and sat down at the couch. She sighed and joined him, and Jack made his way into the living room as well.

"He's got a lot of work on his plate right now. He just needs some time alone to finish it up." She shrugged.

Angeline came into the room, following a now clean and dressed up Sophie whose eyes lit up when she saw her aunt.

"Auntie, Auntie! You came!" She threw herself on the couch next to her and excitedly bounced up and down.

"Of course I did! I wouldn't miss it for the world!" Tooth tapped Sophie's nose and brought out a small wrapped up gift from her bag. "This is for you, but you can't open it till later okay?"

Sophie looked at it and pursed her lips before nodding. "Okay. I promise I won't open it now. But I really want to." She took it and put it in the space that was reserved for her gifts.

Jamie coughed and looked at Jack. He returned his gaze, and the brown-haired teenager discreetly pointed at the kennel that still went unnoticed. Jack laughed a little at her obliviousness.

It wasn't until three kids had already shown up that Sophie noticed it.

"What is that?" She pointed at it and looked at Jamie.

"Go take a look." He said and Jack and him watched carefully as she made her way over. Cautiously, she bent over to peer in the cage.

"Is that… a puppy?!" She jumped up and down and tried to unlock the latch. Abby started moving around and barking at the excitement, and Jamie went over to open the door for her. Jack was surprised that she hadn't made any noise until this point and was even more surprised that Sophie hadn't seen it earlier. All the anticipation was worth it though. Sophie was all bright eyes and smiles, and the dog wouldn't stop licking her face and hands. Jamie smiled approvingly and nodded at Jack, as if to say, "I told you she'd love her". Jack just shook his head with a grin plastered on his face.

"She's soooooo cute!" Sophie giggled and hugged Abby around her neck. She quickly wrestled her way out of that and began inspecting her surroundings.

"Her name is Abby and she's the best and you better love her." Jamie said and went to go pet her.

"I love her." Sophie stated matter of fact like and quickly thanked him and her mom.

"She is cute." Jack said, and Jamie nodded.

"I know how to pick 'em." Jamie winked at Jack and elbowed him lightly. Jack just rolled his eyes with a little twitch of his lip.

The rest of the party went as smoothly as it could possibly go with seven young kids in one house. By the time six o'clock came around though, everyone was tired and they were thankful that the party had reached its end. Even Sophie was a little ragged around the edges, and she fought to keep her eyes open, but by eight she was passed out on the rug, snuggled up next to Abby. Jack stayed to help clean up, but at eleven he figured he should be going home. No matter how much he didn't want to. He said goodnight to Tooth and Ms. Bennett and gave Jamie a quick goodnight peck before driving home. It had been a long day and he was feeling a little more than tired and the buzz from the party had worn off. Coming back home felt like dragging a weight from his ankles and he tried his best to make as little noise as possible when he opened the door. No one was awake. He sighed with relief and went into his bedroom. Jack didn't bother with putting anything on to sleep in, or even taking out his contacts. He let his clothes drop to the floor and slid into bed. It wasn't five minutes before he had fallen asleep.

The next morning at nine thirty seven, Jack woke up. For a second, everything felt good. For a second, he thought about going into the kitchen where his mom was to get a bowl of cereal. He thought about taking it to the kitchen table where his dad was sitting, enjoying the meal he always ate Saturday morning. He thought about joking with him about some movie that they had seen the night before. For a second, nothing had happened between them.

For a second, Jack felt happy about his family.

Then the next second, he felt bitter.

Jack sat up and rubbed his eyes before standing up to go to the bathroom. He was going to take a shower, and then he was going to Jamie's. He would try to avoid contact with his parents. Jack and Jamie would have a nice relaxing day, and then Jack was going to come back home in the evening and lock himself in his room. He nodded a few times to himself, as if to reaffirm his plan, and stepped out into the hallway to begin getting ready. He made it to the bathroom and back without seeing them, so he figured he was on a good track. He finished getting ready and grabbed his keys and phone, quickly texting Jamie to inform him that he was coming over, and walked into the living room. His parents were in the kitchen, like he knew they were going to be, and he tried his best to be quiet, but his mother heard him.

"Jack, could you-"

He walked out the door and shut it behind him. There was still left-over snow clinging to the driveway, and he treaded carefully to his car. For a moment, he felt bad about closing the door on his mom. He didn't usually do things like that. But he didn't want to deal with all of that so early in the morning.

The drive over to Jamie's was quiet, with just the whur of the heater and the laughing of children playing in the snow piercing the silence. Jack kept both hands firmly grasped on the steering wheel and his lips were pulled tight together. He was trying to keep himself from thinking about his family, but he found it difficult to pull his thoughts away. Thankfully, before things turned too dark, he arrived at Jamie's place.

He knocked twice before letting himself in. Ms. Bennett was already out of the house, doing a few errands, and she had taken Sophie with her. Jamie was sitting on the couch and looked up when he saw his boyfriend. Immediately, he knew something was on his mind.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Jack shrugged before going over to sit next to him. Jamie put his hand on his shoulder and rubbed his thumb against the fabric of his jacket.

"You can tell me. Is it your parents? Did they say anything?"

Jack shook his head. "No. I mean, she tried to, but I left. I can't… I can't deal with that right now. I don't want to. I just want to ignore everything."

"I'm sorry that they're being like… that." Jamie bit his lip. He didn't really know what to say. He didn't know how to comfort. His mother had been so understanding, and he hadn't really had a whole bunch of experience with making people more tolerant. People just didn't change.

"I just… I don't really want to talk about it. Could we just try to pretend that this isn't happening? I just want to have some fun. Get away."

"O-okay. Yeah. Sure." Jamie nodded slowly. "What do you want to do?"

"Let's go into the city. I want to walk around the park with the snow all around and drink hot chocolate out of a to-go cup and hum Christmas music even though it's not Christmas. Can we do that?"

The "city" was nearly an hour away, and yet wasn't as big as the ones that were several more hours away. Jamie knew that Jack just wanted to try and escape his problems, but he let him do that, at least for today.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Let me just get my coat." He texted his mom and told her that they were going out and that he wouldn't be back till later. Jack waited in the car for Jamie to finish getting ready, and wasted no time in leaving once he was buckled in.

"I think the city will be good." He said and kept his eyes forward.

Jamie knew something felt different. He could feel it prickle the hairs on his arm.

The time dragged on while they were in the car. Jack didn't say much, and Jamie gave up trying to strike up conversations after the first half hour. Finally, they arrived where Jack deemed their destination was and parked the car downtown. He sat there for several seconds before unbuckling and getting out. Jamie followed suit.

"Let's get the hot chocolate first. I think that will be good." Jack started off and Jamie trailed behind. He went into the first shop he saw that catered to his specific need. He bought both of theirs and they left, still in awkward silence.

"A park. We should walk in the park." Jack took off to where the park was, back in the direction of the car. He sipped on his drink, but Jamie did nothing but hold it between his chilly fingers. It was only warm, and he knew that Jack liked his scalding.

They followed down the trail, this time Jack slowing down the pace, but the snow was nothing more than muddy slush, packed down with footprints. Jamie could tell that Jack was getting aggravated more and more by the little disappointments. He felt himself not in the mood to hum Christmas songs, and his mood diminished to a smoldering heap stuck at the base of his throat.

Several minutes passed in this manner, and Jamie grabbed Jack's arm to get his attention.

"Jack, I don't think this is the fun you're looking for."

The white-haired teen cleared his throat and rubbed his nose.

"I don't think we should be in the city. It feels wrong. Maybe we should go back." He started to move again but Jamie stopped him once more.

"You can't keep trying to run from your issues Jack. It's not going to work. A new view isn't going to make it all go away. When you go back home, it's still going to be there."

Jack stood silently at that and looked away. He knew Jamie was right, but he just didn't feel like talking about that.

"Let's go back to your place, okay?"

"Jack," Jamie said firmly, and tried to catch the gaze of his boyfriend, "You need to face this. We need to face this."

"I will, okay? Just not now. Give me a little time." Jack started heading back to the car before Jamie could say anything else, and the younger teen quickened his pace to keep up. This time he kept his mouth shut.

"I thought you were going to be gone all day?"

"We came back early. Not much to do." Jamie said to his mother with a shrug. "We're just going to watch some movies."

She could tell that something was up by the distant look in Jack's eyes and the less than sparkly way Jamie was acting. She decided that whatever was going on, she would let them figure it out for themselves until they asked for help and continued to read her book.

Jamie gently closed the door to his room behind them. When he turned around Jack was sitting at the foot of his bed with that faraway look in his eyes.

"Jack."

The teenager looked up.

"Can you please talk to me? I'm really worried."

"I'm okay. I just need time."

"You keep on saying that."

"I need to think things through."

Jamie sat down.

"Talk them through with me. I'm here for you. We're in this together, remember?"

Jack sighed and opened his mouth. He closed it. He opened it and took a breath.

"I just… I don't know how to explain to them that this is what I want. I don't know how to reassure them that everything's fine. I don't know how to convince them that I'm not making a mistake and that I care about you. That this isn't some phase." He sighed again. "I haven't been okay. I haven't for a long time. But you… you make me feel better. You make me feel worth something. I want them to know that, but I honestly don't know how to explain that I've been hating myself for the past few years and that this is the only thing that's made me feel remotely close to content."

He took a breath and looked at Jamie.

"You make me feel amazing. You take my mind off of everything that brings me down. Well, I mean, most of the time. I'm sorry that I've been gone in my head lately. I'm just…. I need to pluck up the bravery to talk to them. I'm not very good at expressing my feelings like that. I try burying everything inside and I know I can't do that with you, but I do it anyway. And I'm going to try to stop that, okay?"

Jamie nodded.

"I love you." Jack said and brought their foreheads together.

"I love you too."

"I need time. But I'll get to it."

"Okay."

11/1/18