Author's Note: Hello world of fanfiction. :). I hope you're all doing well this weekend (or week? lol). I have some news for you all. There will be no Forgotten Hope update this weekend because of certain circumstances that I cannot discuss or I might have to send Greg over and kill you, ;). We're making the chapter perfect for posting.
So, instead, this weekend we will be posting outtakes. It will be either 2 or 3 and this is the first one. I went by the votes on my profile for what outtake POV you wanted next and you said Jasper, of course. Here is your first outtake: Jasper meets Nick!
JPOV
I quietly pulled a shirt over my head, getting ready for school. I was starting to like school.
Well, maybe not like school. I was becoming content with attending school though. It was better than being at home.
I used to love coming home from school and watching TV and wrestling with Steve. Mom would always cook us dinner and we'd eat as a family. I was happy, even without Daddy around anymore. He never called and he never came back-- just like mom said he wouldn't.
I always hoped he would though.
I really hoped so now, too. Once Mom was gone, Steve had changed. He had started getting really angry and mean all the time.
And he drank a lot. He had never done that before. I thought maybe it was because he was sad that Mom was gone... he had been sad for a long time. I was sad too.
I tiptoed out of my room and headed toward the kitchen. It was too early for Steve to be up. He had been out late last night. I didn't want to wake him up though. He got really mad when he was woken up early. I didn't want him to hit me today....
I turned the coffee pot on and made it so that Steve could have some when he woke up. It made him feel better in the mornings.
I then grabbed an apple out of the fridge. I didn't pack a lunch for school because I knew he would notice the food missing. He always noticed.
Once the coffee was ready in the pot, I crept into the living room where Steve was lying on the couch and scribbled a note in my messy handwriting that there was coffee in the kitchen and that I was at school.
Then I was off to school. I slung my heavy backpack over my shoulder and put my hood up, ready for the rain. I had seen out of the window that it was pouring outside. The moment I was out the door, a chill ran through my body as the icy rain started to fall on me.
I sighed softly and crossed my arms tightly across my chest as I braced myself and began to walk through the cold rainstorm towards school. School wasn't too far from my house though, which was good. It only took me ten minutes to get there.
I was dripping wet as I opened the front door of the school and entered it. The crowds of kids made me stiffen and the giggling and yelling only made things worse.
I've been thinking lately that something's wrong with me now. I was always so scared... and anxious. Loud noises bothered me and I always had this dark feeling inside of me. I was probably losing my sanity at the age of eleven. That was how crazy I was. Crazy, stupid, and a disappointment. That was what Steve always said anyway. I was probably going to just drop out and end up with nothing. I was already losing it. I couldn't be around a lot of people without feeling uneasy. I couldn't smile much anymore either. I used to smile a lot when Mom was around, but now I was always so sad.
I wasn't a regular kid anymore. I was messed up. Troubled.... I had behavior problems now. That's what the teachers called it. They made me talk to the school counselor because they thought I had lost it too. They were right....
Slowly, I walked to my locker, dragging my wet feet across the hallway floor. Once I got to my locker I shoved my backpack in it and peeled my wet sweater off. I hoped my stuff hadn't gotten too wet in my backpack. I cringed as I opened it, seeing that my papers were a little soggy. Crap.
I pulled them and everything else I needed for my class out of the bag before shoving it back into my locker. I had such great luck these days. Everything always had to go wrong.
I quickly walked over to my class, hoping I wasn't late. My teacher gave me a wary look when I walked in soaking wet, but luckily, I wasn't late.
"Jasper..." Mrs. Anderson paused, looking me up and down before shaking her head. She didn't continue though.
"Sorry," I whispered as I placed my damp homework on her desk and then headed towards my desk. It was the farthest desk from the front. The one in the back left corner. I had pushed it away from anyone else's. I didn't like to talk much... Steve said I shouldn't talk a lot. It hurt his head and it was annoying and very disrespectful. Mom always told me to be respectful.
I sat silently in my desk as everyone else came in with their friends, smiling. I ducked my head down and looked at the paper on my desk blankly, trying to push myself out of the noise around me.
Eventually, after what seemed like hours, class began and the teacher silenced everyone. I looked up as she cleared her throat for our attention. Always respect your elders.
"Class, today we have a new student who just transferred here. This is Nicholas Graham. So everyone welcome him and help him out if he needs anything." The teacher smiled warmly at the new boy. He was about my age... well, obviously, 'cause he was in my class....
"You can call me Nick," the boy stated politely to the teacher and the rest of the class.
I was about to lose all attention of what was going on until his brown eyes landed on me. They didn't move away like anyone else's would have though. He tilted his head slightly to the side and his eyes looked closely over me. I slouched down in the chair, trying to avoid anyone's gaze. It was uncomfortable.
"Well then, Nick, why don't you go sit over there?" Mrs. Anderson said to the boy, getting his attention back. She pointed to a desk near the front of the room and I watched Nick frown.
"Could I sit there?" he asked her hesitantly, pointing to the desk beside mine.
Please say no. My mind begged of the teacher. I had a bad feeling he was going to try to talk to me. What if he even wanted to be my friend? He couldn't be my friend. No one could. I was crazy. And it was too dangerous. What if he came over and then Steve got angry? He might get hurt or he might tell people and I would get in big trouble. I couldn't have friends....
No one would want to be my friend anyways.
The teacher nodded at the new boy, giving permission for him to sit at the desk beside mine. The boy--Nick--shot the teacher a grateful grin and walked quickly over to the desk.
"Hi," he whispered to me.
"Hi," I mumbled back and then ducked my head. Maybe he would get the hint.
"I'm Nick," he informed me, apparently ignoring the fact that I was trying to disappear. I just nodded stiffly, picking my head up to look at the teacher, who was beginning to talk.
"What's your name?" Nick continued. This kid couldn't take a hint, could he? Either that or he just didn't care.
"Jasper," I replied keeping my eyes glued to the teacher. I was hoping I wasn't going to get in trouble for talking. I could not get in trouble because if the school called Steve I would be in even bigger trouble at home.
"Jasper? That's a cool name," Nick told me with a wide grin before finally turning away to look at the teacher.
The rest of the morning continued this way. Nick would point out random things or ask me questions. When he wasn't talking he kept looking at me.
Why was he talking to me? There were plenty of other people in this room that he could talk to. I almost shouted out a thank you when our teacher dismissed us for lunch.
I practically ran out of the room and to the cafeteria. I had no lunch, but I still had to be in there. I found the farthest table. It was still empty because I had gotten here so fast. I flipped my binder open that I had brought from class and concentrated on it. No one would bother me. No one talked to me here. I knew it was because I was quiet and weird... it was better this way.
"Hey! Can I sit with you?" I heard someone say, but ignored it, knowing they weren't talking to me. I picked up my pencil and began to answer one of the homework questions on the page.
After a second, though, I felt something come in contact with my shoulder and quickly recoiled, putting my hands up defensively. Fear rushed through me and I felt my heart stop beating. Who was behind me?
I had to take a few deep breaths to recover once I noticed that it was only the new boy.
"Oh... sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," Nick said sadly, his eyes full of apologies.
My body relaxed. He wasn't going to hurt me. His eyes told the truth, I could tell. "I was just wondering if I could sit with you? I don't really know anyone here...." His voice trailed off and there was a broken sound to his voice.
"Okay," I said before I could process what that meant. Great. But I couldn't say no. He looked upset.
Nick smiled and sat on the chair beside me. I watched him open his backpack and pull out a lunch. His eyes trailed to me as he did so though.
"Where's your lunch?" he asked me, puzzled.
I shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm not really hungry."
Nick's eyes narrowed as if the words were foreign to him, but he let it go. He began to pull things out of his lunch bag and I quickly looked away, knowing the sight of food would make me even hungrier. Obviously I had lied. I was hungry. All I had eaten today was an apple.
I went back to my homework, finishing the answer I had previously started to write. I was able to finish a few questions before Nick began to talk again.
"Do you want half of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich? I made it myself," Nick offered, reaching over to hand me half of a piece of a sandwich.
I blinked at his kindness. He was giving me part of his lunch?
"Thanks," I said quietly, accepting the piece of the sandwich and taking a small bite of it. My eyes fluttered shut. I loved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and I hadn't had one in a long time....
"You can have my orange too if you want. I don't really want it. I like my chips better. I just brought it because my--" Nick's words stopped as if they were caught in his throat and his eyes grew and stared blankly down at the orange. "My mom said I should always have fruit with my lunch...." he whispered, gently putting the orange beside my binder.
Nick was silent, picking at the edges of his sandwich. He had gone from happy to sad so fast.
I chewed slowly on the sandwich, suddenly feeling very concerned for this kid that I hardly knew. I closed my binder and put the rest of the piece of the sandwich on top of it.
I cleared my throat nervously and Nick's head popped up. His eyes were a bit red. Was he crying? Oh....
"So, why'd you change schools, Nick?" I asked with a weak smile, trying to bring him back to the good mood he had been in earlier.
Nick sniffed quietly. "Umm... I was in a different school, but I had to move to my grandpa's and my school is far away from my grandpa's. This school's closer. My grandpa lives around the corner from here so they put me in here," Nick explained, opening his bag of chips, still not looking very happy.
I nodded, understanding, and took another bite of the sandwich. I wasn't really sure what else to say. I wasn't used to talking to people anymore.
"Why did you move to your Grandpa's?" I asked him after I finally came up with another question.
That didn't seem like a good question though. Nick's eyes got sad again and I regretted asking.
"Never mind," I mumbled, turning in my seat so that I wasn't facing him anymore. I shouldn't bother trying to help him. I was just going to make things worse. I always made everything worse!
"No, it's okay," Nick said hurriedly with a sad smile. "I just... I had to move in with my grandpa because my parents died a few months ago."
I stopped chewing the piece of sandwich. His parents had died.
Flashbacks of the day my mom died started to fill my mind. My fists clenched so tightly that I could feel my fingernails ripping into the skin of my palm. I squeezed my eyelids shut, trying to make the memories disappear. It made my heart hurt and I would start missing her again.
"I'm sorry," I whispered politely, keeping my eyes shut and ducking my head so I didn't look like a freak. Don't think of her. It'll only make everything worse.
"It's okay," I heard Nick mumbled. There was silence for a few minutes before I was finally able to open my eyes and face reality again. It was hard sometimes not thinking about my mom, but I knew it would only lead to tears and tears got me nowhere. All it got me was Steve yelling at me or hitting me and I didn't want that.
"My mom died too," I told him then my jaw dropped in shock. Did I really just tell him that? I had never talked to anyone about that before. I looked up at him with wide eyes, hoping he wouldn't be mad at me. People didn't want to hear about my problems....
Nick's brown eyes softened though. I hadn't seen someone look at me like that in a long time. My mom always looked at me like that. No one else did. But here was this new kid, looking at me like he was actually apologetic... like he actually cared if I was okay.
"I'm sorry," he apologized and once again I felt his hand on my shoulder. This time I didn't flinch away. I had seen it coming and I didn't move away. It brought me a comforted feeling. A good feeling... something I hadn't felt in a while. Lately, I had only been feeling sadness, or loneliness, or pain... I liked this new feeling.
I cracked a small smile at Nick. "Don't worry about it," I assured him with a nonchalant shrug. I'd be okay. I was always okay.
I began to eat my sandwich again as Nick withdrew his hand from my shoulder and began to eat as well.
A minute later, Nick slapped the table, causing a loud echo to shoot through the lunchroom. I took a deep breath, getting a hold of myself from the surprise of the loud noise.
"You know what? We should play football. It always makes me feel better!" Nick announced with a bright smile, starting to pack his lunch back up.
Play a game? The words seemed almost foreign to me. It was like I had forgotten about playing. I used to always play football with Steve... and before that I had always played it with my daddy. He was the best football player, ever. He could be famous.
Nick hesitated when I didn't look as eager as he was. "Oh," he murmured, looking down. "Only if you want to?" he questioned me politely, wringing his hands nervously. He was sad again. It hurt my heart. Why did it hurt? I didn't even know him....
It was because he cared about me. It seemed like no one cared about me, but he did. I didn't want to make him sad. I liked when he was happy because it made me feel happy too....
"Okay. We can play." I smiled encouragingly at him, picking my binder up off of the lunch table and finishing the last bite of my sandwich.
Nick jumped out of his chair with the biggest grin I had ever seen in my life. "Awesome!" he exclaimed, grabbing his lunch bag in a hurry.
"Come on! I've got a football in my backpack!" he announced, starting to speed walk through the room. I jogged quickly after him, not being able to keep the smile off of my face. Nick's smile made me smile. I was going to have fun playing with Nick. I knew I would because I knew if he was having fun then I would be too.
There was something about him... something that connected us. Maybe it was because both of us had lost our mommies and daddies. I didn't know.
I knew I shouldn't want to be his friend, but I didn't care. I just wouldn't let him come to my house. I wouldn't tell him about Steve. It would be okay. I just... I wanted to be Nick's friend. I wanted him to be my best friend.
Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed part 1 of no Forgotten Hope update this weekend, lol! Leave a review because everyone loves to get reviews.
I'll give you guys a heads up. The next outtake to be posted this weekend will be a Mack one because he was the other most voted person for the next outtake. Haha, I see some of you love our adorable, dimpled friend from Forks. One last thing though, if we happen to post a third outtake this week (no promise, but maybe!) who would you like it to be about? Tell us in your review!
Have a great day/night! :)