CS,DC Chapter 3:

A/N: I would like to give. My brother credit for the ending. he helped me when I had a short writers block. Any scene that insinuates a couple, don't think of it like that. I can't decide if I want KICK or JackxJerry. thanks. Longest chapter yet! 2,125 wordFirsts gifts chap was 662, second was somewhere around 800.

Previously on Chapter 2:
"So did you find out what was wrong with your parents?" Eddie asked after a few tense minutes.
"Yeah. They ummm...they wanna get a divorce," I muttered, stumbling over the words, while staring interested at my sneakers.
After some time, the silence became to much to handle. I looked up, only to be surprised by the looks I was receiving...
Chapter 3:
Looking up at my friends faces, I saw that all of them were concerned, which had surprised me because I had expected some scorn. Kim was the picture of complete shock. So, when I turned to look at Jerry, my best friend, who was standing next to me and not in front of me, he pulled me into a tight, bone-crushing hug. For some reason, I felt completely and utterly safe in his arms. Without warning, tears started running down my cheeks and I clung to his shirt desperately right before my body started to shake with sobs. He started rubbing soothing circles on my back and eventually I calmed down and stopped crying.
"Sorry," I said embarrassed after I had let go of Jerry and took a few steps back. I had been holding it in since they had told me. I didn't want them to rethink their choice because of me breaking down. But, I had actually been calm about it before. I hadn't had enough time to process it completely so I didn't have enough time to even think about breaking down. But, Jerry's hug had somehow broke through all the confusion and made it distress.
"Did they tell you why?" Jerry asked.
"No," I lied. If they didn't hate me for my parents choice, then one of them was bound to hate me for my father being gay. I had never asked if any of them were homophobic before because it never mattered before. Plus, I still had to sort through everything I had been told. I didn't want to say something and then regret it later.
"That sucks, man. Did they tell you when they're gonna file the papers?" Milton asked.
"Yeah. I asked them that. They're going to get them filed today," I answered in a monotone voice.
"How are they going to tell Thomas?" Kim asked. She had been over my house enough to have been introduced to my little brother.
"When I asked them that, they said they were just gonna tell him that it's not working out, gently," I answered.
With that conversation, we all went our separate ways.
The rest of the day flew by. With the thoughts swimming around in my head, I couldn't even think about concentrating on anything. I was the first person out of my chair and out the door.
Rushing at my locker to avoid my friends, who i knew would try to talk to me about my day, and running out the front doors of the school to the dojo.
When I got to the dojo, it was unlocked, walking in, I saw no one there, which meant that Rudy was either in his office or at Falafel Phil's.
Deciding that it was safe to do what I wanted, I went to curl up in the corner where the mats are stored. This left me alone with only my thoughts for comfort.
When Rudy came back, the bell above the door rang and shook me out of my thoughts. I tried staying silent so he wouldn't notice me, but when he walked to his office, he walked by the extra mats.
"Jack?" he questioned when he saw the tear tracks on my face. I tried fruitlessly to wipe them away. "Jack, what's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing," I murmured.
"C'mon something has to be wr-," Rudy was interrupted by the phone in his office ringing. "I'll be right back, don't move." I didn't plan on it. It wasn't like I had anything better to do than sit here wallowing in my own misery.
Rudy came back ten minutes later. "Alright Jack, can you tell me what's wrong now? And don't evade the question," he said firmly.
'So this is one of the moments where he's actually serious' I thought. 'Of course he's serious. He walked in here to fond one of his students crying. He cares about all of his students and that includes you' my conscience supplied. Well, better tell him now before he asks the others and they tell him the truth. No use in lying. "Well, you see, Rudy, my parents are...I didn't know how to say it. "They're getting a divorce. I found out last night," not noticing the fresh tears rolling down my cheeks.
"That sucks, buddy. How 'bout we practice. You can pretend the dummy is all of your demons. Then we can have a practice match. What do ya say?" I knew he was trying to encourage me to do something other than brood, and, surprisingly enough, it worked. The thought of practicing, especially beating down on my inner demons made me perk up a little.
"Why not." When I stood up, I was surprised to see Rudy holding his arms put as if inviting me to hug him. I took the invitation. The warmth his arms held almost made me breakdown like I had earlier with Jerry. Instead, I ended up clinging to his shirt tightly. In a few minutes, my legs gave out and Rudy slowly sank down to the floor, still holding me, my head buried in his chest.
Eventually, I brought my self out of his arms. "You ready now, Jack?" Rudy asked, holding me at arms length.
"Yeah," looking down, ashamed.
"Hey, look at me," he used his index finger to lift my chin up so I had no choice but to look him in the eye. "Everyone has the right to be hurt over things, to breakdown. Growing up, I had only my mother. She always told me that my deadbeat father walked out a few months after I was born. Look at it like this, you still have both your parents. Yeah, maybe they are separating, but both of them are still here, and both of them care about you," he said comfortingly. "Now let's get practicing."
"Okay. Where's the dummy?" I asked quickly, searching the room frantically for one.
"Calm down. They're right here, okay," Rudy said calmly and put the dummy in front of me. "Now punch it like it's the thing you hate most in the world," as soon as those words were said, the head of the dummy was flying across the room and into the locker.
"Do you feel better now?" Rudy asked me as I stood there, leaning over and panting, despite the previous action involving zero to none exertion.
"Yeah, I actually do Rudy. Thank you," I said sincerely. Rudy came over to me and patted me on the shoulder. "No problem. That's what friends do right," he said, grinning widely at me. Next thing I knew, Rudy came up to me with a flying sidekick. The battle had begun. We continued to spar for about a half hour until the rest of the gang walked in.
"Hey Jack," they chirped in unison.
"Hey guys," I waved at them.
Practice continued for another two hours. Everyone did their own thing. Each member if the gang left a few minutes after the dojo closed.
Making it home, I was happy to see that my parents didn't wait up for me, despite me not telling them that I was going to the dojo after school.

Later the next day, I found myself hiding in the supply closet during lunch. Some Black Dragon in my fifth period class kept making comments to some kid about his parents.
FLASHBACK
I was sitting in the corner of the room in my assigned seat, listening to music. Yet, I wasn't really hearing the music. With headphones in, people left me alone. If i'm gonna wear headphones, why not listen to music. Okay, back to the story.
I was sitting in my seat, trying to sort out my thoughts, not that I wanted to, but I figured it would help me. Suppressing your emotions is never a good thing, I knew that. But, I was finally solving my problems.
Hearing a kid scream something, probably a comeback, I thought as I looked up and saw one of Frank's cronies that I had never bothered to learn the name of. Let's call him Thing 1. I took out my headphones so I could hear the rest of the argument.
"Who's this, your deadbeat mother?" Thing 1 questioned the poor kid who looked ready to cry.
"NO! My mother would never leave me!" the kid, Ashton, I think his name was, cried.
"What about your father than? Did he hate you so much that he ran away from both you and your mother?" The poor kid was ready to break down now.
By now I couldn't stand to watch. Bullying a kid and using their parents as bait was just plain cruel. Parents should be treasured. They take care of us day in and day out. But I guess the saying 'You don't know what you have until it's gone' is true. I stood up and walked over to the area where a small crowd had formed around bully and victim.
"Hey," I said, shoving my way through the wave of people. Thing 1 turned to look at me.
"Oh, hey Jack," the crony looked up and said casually as if we were the best of friends and talking about the weather.
All I remember after that was looking at him with such loathing, and next thing I knew I was attacking the crony. Now, I didn't beat him up THAT bad, just a little bruise, but him being the wimp he is, ran to the nurses office. I then walked out of the classroom with a smug look on my face after defending some kid I didn't even know.
END FLASHBACK
'I hope he doesn't mention me, I have enough problems now as it is,' I thought. Well, I haven't heard my name on the announcements yet, so that must mean I'm safe.
After that thought, I let my thoughts wander. Almost all of them revolved around what had happened the past few days. Some were about my friends and their reactions, especially Rudy's. another big portion of my thoughts was centered around the breakdowns I had had. One when Jerry hugged me and the other when Rudy hugged me. What was confusing was the fact that I had felt warm and safe in both of their arms.
The question of Rudy's hug was pretty easy to answer if you think about it. I mean, I see him how often, how many times a week? I guess somewhere during that span of time since I had joined the dojo, I must've subconsciously started to think of Rudy as somewhat of a father figure, despite already having a dad. The thing that I COULDN'T figure out was why I had felt safe wrapped in Jerry's arms. His strong arms. Wait, where the heck did that thought come from? Whatever. Anyway, back to more important things.
Why had I felt safe in Jerry's arms? That was the hard part. Maybe it was because if the close bond between me and him. There's no chance that I could possibly LIKE Jerry, I like Kim, right? Plus, I've never expressed any interest in the identical gender, always the opposite gender. It's all so confusing. I need time to understand what's going on with me.
Another thought soon struck me. Why did it matter what gender my father preferred? Not every argument they had had to involve my dads sexuality. The only reason a divorce would be needed was if my dad had a lover, or partner, other than my mom.
Letting myself process what logic had just figured out, one thought came to mind. 'Dad wouldn't cheat on Mom, would he?'
In my heart, I truly believed that my father was and still is loyal to my mother.
Thinking about it logically, it seemed like a plausible reason. The only reason, really.
For the next few minutes, my thoughts kept running through other reasons, with no luck.
The sound of the door opening cut through my thoughts. I looked up into the hazel eyes of my archenemy...