Leighton Academy
Chapter Two by xCharleex
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Leighton Academy is a pre-eminent establishment for the education—BLAH! BLAH! What crap! But, crummy education beats rotting in a cell. And Leighton had another perk too—I'd never admit it—but there sure wassomethingabout Jesse Andersen...
[JxJ] [Sex, Violence, Death] [Language]
So long since an update. But don't worry. I'm back bebeh. And it's the reviewers that bring me back. So keep reviewing, and I'll always come back :) You don't know how much it means to read them, so thankyou thankyou to all of you, and that's why I take the time to respond to each one, so if you've reviewed the previous chapter, check out my response below :D
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Review Responses
Sakural7865:you got it, thanks very much and I'll be sure to update more frequently in the future!
Dork Girl:thanks thanks thanks thanks :D And don't worry, I'll do my best to improve my horrible horrible update rate :)
Luving Randomness:welcome back! So glad to have a return reader :D Haha yesh Jaden's had a harsh life. Poor guy. Oh well haha.
ILuvJadenandJesse:Of course! Jaden can fix anything haha, well… And I LOVE writing dream sequences haha, and Jaden's character in this fic is a heap of fun to write as well. Thanks for reading and I hope you like the update :)
chrisandersenyuki: Haha, yesss! I do love writing Jaden in this one. I'll get to have fun with Jesse too as well when I write from his POV, I hope you like that also.
Araide-san: Wow thankyou very much—I am a terrible terrible updater, but I DO finish things eventually haha, so thanks for the kind words from Destiny—hope you stick with Leighton :)
Luving Randomness: I could write dream-sequences ALL YEAR LONG. Hahha, yeah Jess' dad…Hmm Hmmm interesting :) Guess you'll have to wait and see if he makes an appearance ;)
Oak-chan: Haha, he'll be OK, he's got Jaden as a room-mate now :D I updated…finally :P
PrincessAnime08: YES! It can only get better for them both from here :) …or perhaps not :O
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Chapter Two: People – Jesse Andersen, Jaden Yuki.
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"Mornin'," I called cheerily to my new roommate's back as I stepped from my room.
Jaden Yuki, transfer student, and now my permanent roommate (according to Shepherd) swiveled around on his barstool, simultaneously pushing another half of toast into his mouth...a whole half. Wow.
I stood sort of still while he looked me up and down—still chewing—"Ah…hey…" he said slowly between mouthfuls. I couldn't quite figure out whether he kept looking at my stomach or my arm and the hated golden bracer that encircled it, not that it really mattered. Maybe he was admiring my abs—
"Yo! Space out much, dude?"—or not.
The brunette glanced at me askance as I blinked and shook my head a little. "Sorry. Totally gone. What'd you say?"
"I said where's your cat at?" he turned his head a little, as though sizing me up from a different angle, "Say...you're not...like...a total head case are you?"
"You better hope not," I laughed, "and as for Ruby—she'll be around sometime later. At least—if she wants feedin' she will."
Jaden half smiled, looking almost reluctant "Yeah well…remind me to get a lock for my door. Just in case." I wasn't entirely sure if he was being serious.
We both tried to ignore each other while I made my own breakfast—egg whites, muesli, oats, sultanas and a dollop of plain yoghurt blended together. I couldn't help but glance his way every few seconds—just to check whether he was still staring—and each and every time we caught each other's eyes for a fraction of a second before looking away. That was normal. We were just...sizing each other up.
"You're not actually gonna drink that are you?" a distinctly Jaden-esque voice sounded from behind me as I poured my finished concoction into a cup. I turned to meet his eyes one more time that morning, but this time neither of us looked away.
In answer I just smiled and downed the whole thing.
Jaden was impressed.
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I was horrified. No wait. I was disgusted with my new room-mate. Not only had he kept looking at me nervously while he made his (putrid) breakfast, but he seemed to have decided he was catching me looking at him, when it was obviously the other way around.
Still, he'd seemed OK before then, and last night too...apart from his various psychopathic issues relating to his family, being a prince (still totally weird to me) and generally having no proper sense of humor. Maybe he was growing on me. Maybe that was why, underneath my urge to throw up, I sort of wanted to laugh, or smile, or...something!
He put down his massive steel cup, the kind that milkshakes usually come in, not foul egg and oat monstrosities. I was pretty sure he was smirking—sometimes it's hard to distinguish between a smirk and a smile.
But still. I was pretty sure it was a smirk, and a totally undeserved one at that. And we were still watching each other.
OK. I take it back. He wasn't growing on me; this Jesse kid was a total space case-it would've just been safer to spend 3 months in pris—
A loud thumping on the door interrupted my internal monologue. I hated that, but at least it distracted emerald eyes.
No sooner had he glanced in the general direction of (our) front door, had it burst open, ushering in a tall, handsome brunette boy. Handsome—like…in a classical sense. Not like I thought he was handsome—just that it was possible to tell.
"So it's true!" Handsome announced in a tone of revelation, pointing directly at me and obviously addressing my room mate.
"Rude to point," I pointed out loudly. Handsome took the hint, surprisingly, and seemed to look at me properly for the first time. He walked closer, Jesse said something—probably introducing me or something.
"Well Jaden," he rolled my name around his mouth, "let me be the first to welcome you to Leighton Academy."
What a dork. And aside from that, did he really think he was the first? "Uh. Thanks." I replied, which was pretty nice of me, but Handsome wasn't listening, he was back to talking to my room mate again. Were all the rich people at this school (except Jesse) obnoxious?
"When we found out there was a new kid we just knew you'd get stuck with him. Guess your lucky streak's finally over, huh Jesse?"
Wait. What was that supposed to mean? Had I just been insulted? Man I knew I hated rich people for some reason, "And what's unlucky about having me as a room mate?" I enquired delicately. Just kidding. I sounded pretty menacing. Apparently Handsome thought so too.
"Nothing, Jaden" Jesse clarified, cracking a smile; completely unmenaced, "I was just the only one in our year who had a dorm to themselves this year. That's all Atticus meant."
Atticus? Who the hell was—
"Ohhhh," Atticus was Handsome, I'd cracked the case. But I nodded to show I understood about the whole room/luck situation too. I disagreed that Jesse's lucky streak was over. In my three months at this crappy school, I'd probably make him into a whole new (much better) person—complete with a sense of humor, and totally devoid of psychological issues.
Well...maybe not totally. I mean, he was pretty messed up.
"Yeah. That's right," Atticus insisted nervously, "Err—so, anyway, up for a beach sesh this morning?"
"Hmm? What do we have?"
"Maths."
"Beach or Math? You had to ask?"
I couldn't believe my ears. Someone needed to stick these kids on instant replay because I really could not believe my ears. These two... Psycho-messed-up Prince and Handsome coward, rich kids at one of the top schools ever were ditching the very first lesson of the morning.
"Uhh—Jaden?" Jesse laughed. I couldn't help the ridiculous grin that had spread across my face. I couldn't believe my luck. Of all the square, crappy, useless rich kids to get stuck with, I get stuck with the only one who isn't square, crappy and useless. Which just left richness. Oh, and various psychological issues, but we were working on those already!
"How about you, Jaden? Feel like hitting up the bea—"
"Yes!"
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Well, I had to hand it to Jaden. He snuck out like a pro. The three of us, Atticus, Jaden and I, had left the dorm almost immediately, stopping only to grab the barest of beach essentials. But getting out of Leighton Academy was almost as hard as getting in.
We crouched into the undergrowth of the school's bordering forest, skirting it's edge, and staying low as we moved parallel to the five-story high completely glass wall of Leighton. If someone noticed a head, a toe, or even a hair sticking out the edge of the forest where we crawled, the game would be up. But Atticus and I had done it a thousand times, and Jaden was obviously pretty used to skulking around as well.
Atticus reached the wall first, Jaden followed and me, bringing up the rear. Speaking of rears—Jaden's was directly in front of me as he waited for Atticus to navigate the far wall. Leighton's high wall theoretically prevented students getting out without authorization. Of course, it wasn't a very good theory, since ivory climbers and a couple of well-placed trees from the forest made it a pretty simple obstacle to navigate.
After a bit of climbing—and a tense moment when Jaden lost his grip and fell down onto me, kicking my shoulder with his size 12 sneakers ("Argh FUCK!" – "Oops, sorry Jesse")—we were perched on a sturdy branch, overlooking the wall.
"Now's the tricky part," I whispered into Jaden's ear on the right. You had to whisper because security had acoustic sensors placed along the wall, just to make sure nobody was tunneling into the school. No. Seriously, that's why.
"You see that camera there," I pointed to a camera on part of the main building, angling down towards the path to the service gate—a path which ran parallel to the forest we'd just crawled through, "there's another camera on this section of the wall, but you can't see it from here. Fortunately it's on exactly the same timer as that camera over there, which means...if you time your jump just right, and run down the far stairs, the camera misses you completely."
"Oh don't look like that," I punched him lightly on the shoulder, still whispering, "I'll tell you when." I stopped as Atticus nodded to us both and leapt off the tree branch. He hit the ground with a crouch and, without a second's hesitation, ran directly forwards, reaching a great flight of concrete steps that ran down towards the main road. He was out of sight by the time the camera swiveled back.
"OK," I whispered again, "Together...on three...one...two...three!"
Jaden jumped a fraction of a second after I did, I watched out the corner of my eye as he landed lightly and sprung right back up to begin his mad dash for the stairs. We ran together, falling into one another's strides. I glanced at the brunette, my new room mate for the foreseeable future—his face was transformed; his eyes were lit right up, cheeks lightly flushed from running, a wide smile tearing at his lips— I laughed as he met my eye and grinned. We made it easily, but I flung myself down the steps for good measure, and slumped on the bottom one, sitting next to Atticus who had apparently already recovered from his own dash.
"That was awesome," Jaden laughed, panting a little, bending over on the step above us.
Atticus jumped up first, "Thought that was cool—wait til we have to get back in! Now let's go!"
And with that, he was off, Jaden leapt over me and was right after him, legs pumping hard to hit each step. The smaller brunette glanced back at me as he ran, grinning wickedly as he realized I was still sitting down, totally dazed.
I launched myself off the bottom step and took three at a time to catch up. I'll admit, I was impressed—there weren't many people that could keep up with Atticus and I. I remembered when Syrus had tried, and failed...and broken his ankle. Good times.
I overtook Atticus—Whoa! When had Jaden overtaken him? My pace quickened and I saw a flash of the younger brunette's smirk as I flew past him, the wind tearing at my hair and face as the three of us jumped the last steps of Leighton, and emerged onto the main street that lead into the city proper, blending with the few people who meandered along the sidewalk. Nobody here, or in the city, would know us as students at Leighton, which meant just one thing. Freedom.
And, as I stole a glance back at my two companions, I realized I'd somehow (almost accidentally, really) found someone else who felt that same exhilaration; that wild abandon which came only when you were free—I'd found someone who'd make my existence at Leighton just a little less dull—I'd found Jaden Yuki.
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