Disclaimer: Jack, Bobby, Jerry, and Angel are not mine. Sorry. Lol!
A/N: Hey! I'm glad you guys liked chapter one! This is turning out to be longer than I thought, so it will be a total of three chapters. Then, you guys have "A Night Alone" to look forward to! I had an awesome time seeing David Copperfield! If you guys ever get the chance to see him, take it. It's worth it! It was just incredible! Anyway, here's chapter two. Chapter three will be on shortly. Hope you enjoy it! Sorry the music lyrics at the beginning are short, but I divided the words of the chorus up for chapters 2 and 3. Enjoy it anyway!
"Don't you want somebody to love?
Don't you need somebody to love?"
Jack hurried into the cafeteria when it was time for lunch, wanting to get away from the classroom as soon as he could. He looked around, wondering where he could go to avoid Eric when he seemed to be everywhere. The youngest Mercer gasped when he saw him at the table nearest him, talking and laughing with two other boys that looked like they were at the high school level. Before they could see him, he quickly ducked into the crowd.
There was one thing that Jack hated about being new, and he knew that this was it. He didn't know who to sit with, if there was anyone at all. He knew no one. Suddenly, a glimmer of hope appeared. At a table near him, he saw Bobby eating with one of his friends, talking loudly and laughing. Jack immediately walked over to the table, sitting in the small, empty space on the end of the table next to his oldest brother.
"What the hell, Jackie?" Bobby said in surprise, looking down at his brother. "Why are you trying to fit into that small of a space? You're skinny, but I don't think even you can sit there comfortably."
"No reason." Jack muttered, squeezing in as close to Bobby as he could get. The warmth coming from the oldest Mercer felt comforting to him.
Bobby was confused, a little embarrassed that Jack was doing this in front of his friends. "Instead of snuggling up to me, why don't you sit across the table from me?" he suggested. "Look at all of that room over there!"
"No. That's all right." Jack said quietly. "I'm fine." If he moved over to the other side of the table, he would be all the more closer to Eric, which he wanted to avoid at all costs.
Before Bobby could protest, Jerry and Angel came to the table and sat down where all of the space had previously been. "Hey, Jackie has this lunch too?" the younger of the two asked. "That's great!"
"Yeah." Bobby muttered, watching curiously as Jack continued to move as close as possible to hi while he ate. He knew something was wrong, but he didn't know what. 'Jackie…' he thought to himself when it dawned on him. 'What are you afraid of?'
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When lunch ended, Jack slowly got to his feet, felling slightly cramped from sitting so near to his older brother. Bobby slowly got up as well, silently looking at Jack as he stood by himself, not really looking at anyone. Jerry then walked over to the young boy and placed his hand on his shoulder, smiling warmly as he looked up at him. "So, how's your first day of school going, kiddo?" he asked.
Jack shrugged. "All right…" he answered without much enthusiasm. "I guess…"
Jerry looked at him with a tad bit of worry. "Is there something that you want to talk about?" he said.
The youngest Mercer looked past his older brother, his eyes turning fearful as they landed on Eric. The larger boy gave him an almost evil smirk as he threw his garbage away and walked out of the cafeteria. "No." Jack finally muttered, slowly walking toward the door. "I'm all right…"
Jerry watched him, only looking away when Angel joined him. "You okay, man?" the younger Mercer greeted.
"Fine." Jerry replied. "But I think something's wrong with Jackie. Something just doesn't feel right to me…"
Angel looked at his younger brother for a minute, then smiled. "Bobby told me that he has one of his previous teachers. That can't be too enjoyable." he told him. "I wouldn't worry about it. If something was truly wrong, he would tell us."
"If you say so…"
Bobby was walking through the doors of the cafeteria the same time Jack was, and he was startled when the younger boy stuck close to him, seeming to follow him. "Jackie, what the hell are you doing?" he hissed in a whisper. "Get to class!"
Jack looked up at his brother, an unreadable expression on his face. "Bobby, can I go to your classes with you?" he asked softly, almost desperately.
The oldest Mercer was shocked by this question. "No, Jack. You have to go to your own class." Bobby answered. "Why do you want to go with me anyway? My classes are boring!"
"No reason. Never mind…" Jack muttered, downcast as he walked away from his brother. "I'll see you later, Bobby…"
Bobby watched Jack disappear into the crowd with worry, wondering what was happening. Jack was acting very strange… Then, he quickly hurried back toward the cafeteria, hoping to catch his other brothers.
Jerry and Angel were just leaving as Bobby came back, and they were instantly nervous when they saw that he had been running. "Bobby, what's wrong?" Angel asked. "You're making me nervous, man…"
"I think there's something wrong with Jack." Bobby answered, looking from one of his brothers to the other.
Jerry sighed. "You noticed it too?" he said quietly.
"Yeah." Bobby muttered, confused. "So, I'm not the only one that he appears to be acting strangely to, huh?"
"Do you know what's wrong?" Angel wondered. "Has he said anything?"
"No." Bobby replied heavily. "But he just asked me if he could go to my classes with me. My guess is that he doesn't want to go back to his own. Something must be wrong there."
"Doesn't he have one of your old teachers?" Jerry asked.
Bobby nodded in answer, his expression angry. "If she's not treating him right…" he muttered in an almost threatening way.
"I don't think a teacher would be cruel to him, Bobby," Angel said. "even though he is your brother. It almost seems to be a curse to be related to you."
Then, the three brothers jumped when a loud noise echoed throughout the empty hallway. It was the bell.
"Damn it!" Jerry exclaimed. "We're late to class!" He had never been late before… never.
"I'm sorry if this puts a mark on your record, Jer," Bobby told him without feeling, "but this is for Jack. What matters to you more, your attendance or your little brother?"
Jerry looked at Bobby with disbelief. "Do I really have to answer that, man?" he said. "Of course Jackie's more important to me! I just don't like the idea of missing class…"
Bobby shook his head in annoyance. "All right, girls. We'll keep an eye on Jack's classroom, but we can't get caught." he told his brothers. "Divide up if you have to, but no matter what, keep an eye on it. Let's go!"
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Jack sighed and set his pencil down, having finished his worksheet. He glanced around, seeing that Eric was still working. Good. That meant that he was distracted. Not being able to calm down the anxiety rising within him, he got to his feet and walked to the teacher's desk in the front of the room to hand in his worksheet. He was also going to ask if he could possibly change seats.
When she heard him approach, Miss Green looked away from her computer, almost in an annoyed manner. "What?" she asked, not in the friendliest way.
The youngest Mercer slowly set down his worksheet and merely looked at his teacher, not sure if he wanted to mention it anymore. "I was just wondering if I could…" Jack began, but stopped when Miss Green raised her hand to stop him.
"Jack, the school day's going to end in a couple of minutes." she said. "Go sit down. Whatever it is can wait until tomorrow."
Jack sighed and slowly walked back to his seat, trying to ignore Eric as much as possible. But the bigger boy had other plans.
"Mercer, tell me the rest of these answers." he muttered, holding out his almost blank paper.
Jack inwardly cringed, trying to act like he hadn't heard him. If he ignored him, nothing could happen.
Eric grew angry. "Mercer! Give me the answers!" he hissed in a forceful whisper so the teacher couldn't hear him.
Before either one of them could say anything more, the final bell rang. Jack sprang to his feet and rushed out the door with the other kids, not really hearing Miss Green wish them a good rest of the day. There was only one thing on his mind: he had to get to Bobby… Jerry… Angel… then, he would be safe.
Eric was after him in a flash. He kept the young boy in his sights and followed him as he weaved through the halls, wondering where he was going in such a hurry.
Suddenly, he stopped when he saw an older boy come around the corner and in his direction, one that he knew very well. Bobby Mercer. He smiled and called out Jack's name when he saw him, and Eric knew that there wasn't any way he could do anything now. Instead, he slunk back into the crowded hall.
Jack's heart leapt when he heard his name over the mass of the students' chatter, and Bobby appeared in the hall like a beacon of light through a dense fog. He hurried forward, clinging to him as soon as he reached him. Finally, he felt safe and protected with his older brother.
Bobby immediately knew now that something was definitely wrong. He and Jerry had been right, but even though they had staked out the classroom, they hadn't found anything that could have been scaring him. He placed a sturdy hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. "Are you all right, Jackie?" he asked.
The youngest Mercer didn't raise his gaze to meet Bobby's eyes. He just wanted to keep his eyes closed, hopefully being able to hide from Eric that way. "Bobby… I don't want to come back to school tomorrow." Jack finally whispered.
Bobby looked sadly down on his brother. What had scared him so much that he didn't want to come back? Then, he looked up when he heard their two other brothers approach, both wearing identical serious expressions. "We saw a boy following pretty close to Jack, then hurry away when he saw you." Jerry reported.
"Okay." Bobby muttered, nodding thoughtfully. Then, he turned his attention to his youngest brother. "Jack, is there someone giving you a hard time?" he said.
Jack was silent for a moment, but then shook his head. He was too scared to say anything, and he didn't want Bobby to get involved.
The older Mercer sighed, then knelt down in front of him so that he could be eye level with him. Jack closed his eyes and turned away. "Look at me, Jack." Bobby said. "I know that something's wrong, and I wish you would trust me."
He waited patiently, watching as Jack ever so slowly turned to face him, a confused expression on his face. Bobby gave him a small smile, one of the actual true smiles he gave instead of his playful smirks. "We may not be bound by blood, Jackie, but our bond runs deeper." he muttered. "We're brothers."
When Jack heard these words, tears formed in his eyes as he tried to keep from crying. Bobby gently pulled him into a hug, rubbing his hand on his back as he continued to cry into his shoulder. He looked up at Jerry and Angel, and he immediately knew that they were thinking the same thing he was. Whoever had made their youngest brother this upset was going to pay for it.
A/N: Well, hope you liked it! I'll try to get chapter three on as soon as possible, then I'll start "A Night Alone". Thanks!