A few pointers:

1. I know they don't (or at least I don't think they do) have Dollar General stores in Canada, but I couldn't find what I was looking for in Canada so I just got the name of an American store.

2. IDK if an eight grader and a ninth grader could possibly have the same lunch period, but for the sake of the story Jay and Alex have to.

Thanks for all the reviews!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!

You're Blind – Run DMC

September 2002
Alex: 14
Jay: 15

Jay wasn't sure if it was healthy to feel this normal after the death of a parent. Or more so, after the death of both parents. Things didn't feel any different to before Jackson died. He and Alex were still going around together like they had, and his life was continuing as it had done. The only thing was, he was finally expected to go back to school. He believed this was what they called the grace period coming to an end.

Alex knocked on Jay's door at 8.15 on Monday morning and was not only surprised to find he was awake, but looked half way to being alive too.

"Wow, you're early." Jay commented through a huge yawn.

"I should have been here at eight, but I figured I'd let you have that extra quarter hour."

"Oh, you're too kind." Jay smiled sarcastically.

Alex punched his arm softly and as she did, Jay saw she had her charm bracelet on. The glint of the early morning sun hit the 'A' charm and caught his eye.

"Hey, you're wearing it." He mused, grabbing her wrist maybe a little more roughly than he had meant to.

"Yeah, you bet." Alex smiled and tugged at if affectionately. "Where did you get it from again? You never said."

Jay panicked, so leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"Jay! Stop doing that!"

"Stop what? Am I not allowed to kiss you now?" His temper was flaring.

"Not when you use it as an excuse to ignore my question that you so obviously don't wanna answer." Alex spoke clearly.

"It's not a big deal!"

"Look, it doesn't matter, just drop it, OK?"

"Jay, you did something bad to get this, didn't you?"

"No!" Jay exclaimed, his voice wavering as it hit a high note.

"Don't lie to me, Jay!"

"I'm not lying!"

"Tell me where you got it then!"

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?"

"You're the one making a big deal out of this, Alex!" Jay threw back angrily.

"Tell me where you stole it from, Jay!"

"I didn't steal it from anywhere!"

"Who did you steal it from then?"

"I didn't steal it!"

"Tell me then!" Alex screamed exasperated.

"Look, it's from Dollar General, OK?" Jay finally snapped, stepping away from Alex angrily.

Alex was taken aback. She wasn't expecting that.

Jay turned back and watched the look on Alex's face. "Told you I didn't steal it."

"Jay, why didn't you tell me that in the first place?"

"Cuz it's cheap and crap. I just wanted you to like your present."

"Jay, it doesn't matter where the hell you got it from. I don't care if it's from Dollar General or fucking Tiffany's."

"OK, I don't know where that is." Jay laughed pulling in Alex close.

"You don't need to know, trust me." Alex said allowing herself to be uncomfortably close to Jay. "I'm sorry to break the mood, but we need to get to school."

Sean and Ellie hadn't seen much of Jay and Alex in a while. It was still going well, if 'well' was the right word to use. Tracker had been gone six weeks and Ellie had been his "roomie" for about three weeks. The first night, they were up all night. Same went for the second. The third night, they were already asleep on the couch from finally conking out at five pm.

But now, sleep wasn't an option. It was 8.35 and they were officially late for school. Sean was twirling chaotically around the bedroom looking for a clean shirt, while Ellie was stood in the open doorway jangling the keys noisily.

"Sean, we're really late!" Ellie called out as the second hand on the clock crept nearer to the nine than the eight.

"I can't leave the house without a shirt, Ellie!" Sean called back shortly.

"Just put any old shirt on, Sean!"

He didn't respond, but a series of crashes, bangs and curses followed the silence. He emerged a few moments later with a white tee and gray hoodie.

"Finally! Come on, let's go!"

Jay wasn't a huge fan of school or education. He rocked up to Mr. Raditch's office ten minutes after the bell rang. He sauntered in and took a seat.

He was given a time table, with fourth period lunch. Damn, that rang a bell. Did Alex...?

"OK, Mr Hogart? One last thing before you go. I'm letting you back to this school to start afresh this term because I believe you can do well. Don't let me down, son."

Mr. Raditch's power speech was too mushy for Jay. He just nodded and agreed and escaped to his first class: English with... Ms. Kwan. Yeah, Jay remember her. He hoped that she maybe had quit teaching in the time he was in Oregon, but no. She was still here teaching.

He shuffled toward the door hesitantly. His hand hovered over the handle and he looked through the thin panel of frosted glass, even though he couldn't see through it. He could hear Kwan's voice grating like nails down a blackboard. He took a deep breath and burst through the door unexpectedly.

Ms. Kwan leaped off the desk like it had suddenly burst into flames and rushed over to Jay enthusiastically. Oh great, she was trying so, so hard for him to like the class and actually finish his year this time, she was really pushing the boat out. "Jason! Welcome back!" She whooped.

"Hey, Ms. K..." Jay scanned the class, not one familiar face. Oh shit...

"You came just in time, Jason-"

"Please, miss, it's Jay." He cut in and stopped her before she could carry on calling him that God awful name.

"Sorry, Jay, I should remember. Uh, Jay, you have come back at just the right time, nothing too strenuous for the first week of the semester. Take that spare seat at the back and take these books with you." Kwan took a stack of reading and writing materials and thrust them in Jay's arms. He followed basic instruction and sat down right in the left hand corner at the back like he had been told too. Nice place to sit. So far things were going pretty well.

He gave the backs of the heads of his new class mates the once over as he glazed over what Kwan was saying. There was still no-one he knew, even upon second inspection.

He decided it may be best if he tuned back into what Kwan was talking about, if he was gonna stand any chance of passing this year and not having to – God forbid – repeat grade nine. She was saying something about Shakespeare... Romeo and Juliet... oh my God, how cringe-worthy!

Jay's thoughts were interrupted by the guy in front of him turning around to attract his attention.

"Hey, dude, have you got a pen?" He spoke slow and dopily, his speech very long and strung out, like he was coming down from being on sedatives. Jay saw when he spoke that he had a tongue piercing, as well as two rings in one ear and one in the other. His hair was wild and out of control, and he was wearing basic generic skater gear, Van's, cargo pants and a faded, discolored burgundy hoodie.

Jay rooted around in his pockets and pulled out a pen and handed it over without saying anything.

"Thanks Jay, dude." The guy said.

Jay presumed he knew his name because of Kwan's über-friendly introduction, but when he looked closer, he realized he vaguely knew this kid. "Spinner?"

"Yeah, dude! Do you remember me, dude?"

"Of course I do, man!" Jay enthused, but in his mind he was thinking, 'only vaguely'.

"How have you been, dude?" Spinner asked with a broad smile on his face. Jay was already sick to the back teeth of the word 'dude', with Spinner having used it five times in the space of about thirty seconds. He considered that question for a minute, then thought about how he could respond. He pondered it for a few more seconds, before deciding on "Alright thanks, you?"

"Awesome dude, yeah. Got a sweet honey, Paige." Spinner jerked his thumb toward the blonde girl perched tentatively on her chair in the next aisle on the same row as Spinner. Upon hearing her name, the blonde spun around. Her long hair was straight, her blue-green eyes needed to make up their minds what color they wanted to be, and Jay couldn't quite decide if she was stunning or butt-ugly. He didn't need to worry about being introduced, because Kwan was headed their way.

"Paige, Gavin – please don't distract Jason on his first day back." She requested. Jay cringed at the name Jason cropping up again.

Spinner just smiled hopelessly and swiveled back round in his chair.

"So how were you're first three lessons?" Alex asked as Jay collapsed in a chair next to her on their joint fourth period lunch break. Sean and Ellie's third period lunch had just ended, and Alex was temporarily left sat alone.

"Ugh, don't even go there!" Jay exclaimed dramatically. "English, Math and Geography!"

"Oh right..." Alex mused taking a swig of her Diet Coke through a straw.

"I tell ya, whoever thought up the idea that we needed to learn about all the different types of rock formations was a horrible, horrible man."

"Who do you have next?"

"MI, Simpson, then Science." Jay said bluntly. That wouldn't be so bad. And hey, he had a study period last, and he knew what that meant: leave early!

"Where shall I meet you then?" Alex asked as if it was perfectly normal.

Jay, on the other hand was a little freaked out. Last time he was at school, he didn't associate with Alex. Now they were dating, he'd never presumed that she'd want to actually do stuff with him, much less meet him from school. So to say the least, this question threw him. "Just come round. I'll be in." He continued to explain his free period during last lesson of the day.

"OK, see ya then." Alex rose from the table feeling a little bit deflated. Just as she was feeling sorry for herself, Jay grabbed her down and pulled her back down. She fell into the chair unflatteringly and he kissed her, rather embarrassingly, in front of the entire canteen. A few people wolf-whistled, and Alex felt her cheeks growing hotter and hotter.

"See ya at three then." Jay said, sending Alex on her way with a cheeky pat on the butt.

Alex sat in History still mortified with Jay's display in the canteen. She was trying to focus on what Mr. Henderson was saying about Charles the first, but her mind was elsewhere. The argument with Jay this morning, the flirting in the cafeteria, Jay's apparent ignorance of his dad's death... none of it made sense. Angry, sad, flirty, hateful, open, enclosed. If Jay wasn't one thing, he was another.

October 2002
Alex: 14
Jay: 15

Jay was only meant to work at the garage until seven, but it was getting on for nine-thirty, and he still wasn't done. He made a half-assed attempt at his tasks, and thus, the time it took him to work was multiplied.

He was supposed to be shining the body of a '98 Toyota Camry, a simple enough mission, but so far he'd buffed just the hood and the left hand drivers door, and he'd been at it for over an hour and a half. He whistled a tune to himself and scuffed the toe of his work boots against the floor, causing an irritating squeaking sound. Every so often, Tony his boss would pass through and shout certain "motivating" taunts at Jay, who'd pick up the pace for a minute, before returning back to his slacker attitude when Tony had disappeared again.

He just wasn't in the mood to work today. The threat of what tomorrow was hanging over him like a huge lingering black rain cloud. Every time he tried to think about something else, his mind kept getting infected with disturbing thoughts that he didn't want to think, but he had no choice.

"Look, Jason. I've had enough with the inspirational quotes, OK?" Tony's angry face popped up again, seemingly out of nowhere, and he did not look best pleased. "If you don't get your ass into gear, boy, you'll be out of a job. I close up at ten, if you haven't finished that car and vacuumed inside before then, it'll be you're job, OK?"

"Whatever." Jay muttered under his breath. Tony stormed out again and Jay heard him clanging around in the back room. Despite his negative 'fuck-the-world' attitude, Jay knew where his loyalties lied. He got his work finished by ten to ten, and Tony assured him his job would still be there tentatively for him the next day. Jay decided to neglect telling Tony what tomorrow was, for fear of letting it get in the way of his work, and ruin his chances of carrying on a normal life, so he promised he'd be back tomorrow, and in a better frame of mind.

(Next Day) October 2002
Alex: 14
Jay: 15

Jay woke up on the next morning, the anniversary of his mom's death, and the last thing on his mind was going to school. Tony's voice was ringing in his from the previous evening. He knew that if he didn't show his face at school, he inevitably wouldn't get the grades he needed, and he wouldn't be able to keep his job at the garage, despite Tony's apparent sympathy at the end o the day yesterday. He also knew that he didn't want to go to school. Not just today, because of what today was, but ever. He didn't want to go back to that shit hole, with adults running around telling him what to do like they were superior to him, and where little rich kid princesses ran around with their noses in the air, judging you if you came from the gutter. Like they were really much better. Parents who slept in separate beds, debts sky high that weren't aided by the three Jaguar's on the drive.

He rolled out of bed awkwardly and found himself face to face with the cold hard floor. He straightened himself out achingly and pulled himself off the floor, which in itself was a mammoth task and a half. He kept his covers wrapped around him and staggered sleepily into the kitchen area to make himself breakfast. Although, it was looking more like lunch now. He studied the clock for a moment, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. He'd slept right through to 2.15pm. Alex'd be home from school in three quarters of an hour.

Surely enough, at five after three, Jay was interrupted by a loud, incessant knocking on the door.

"Where were you today?" Alex asked as soon as he opened the door. She brushed past him and set down her stuff on the table. "I knocked this morning! A lot of times!"

"Yeah, hi to you too." Jay muttered as she barged past him. "I couldn't face school today."

"How many times am I gonna hear that, Jay?"

"As many times as I feel like using it as an excuse." Jay shot back smartly.

"Jay what will happen if you don't go to school?"

"Was that a rhetorical question?" Jay asked cockily.

"Jay, you'll lose your job, and then you'll lose this place!"

"Alex, don't worry about it!"

"But I do worry! If you lose this place you'll have to go back to Melissa and Cory's in Portland."

Jay was silent for a minute as he processed all this in his brain. "I get what this is about!" He exclaimed with a wide grin on his face.

"This is about me not wanting to lose you again!"

"You don't want me to go back to Portland to Sunny do you?" Jay taunted unfairly. "Don't you trust me, Alex?"

Alex sighed loudly. Of course she trusted Jay. She wanted to trust Jay. But when he was being so annoying, and on purpose, it was difficult to get across your tree feelings accurately.

"Jay, you need to come to school tomorrow, OK?"

"Fine..." Jay sighed reluctantly.

"That didn't sound in the least bit convincing, Jason."

"It's Jay, for one thing. And another; I will be there tomorrow, OK? So you can stop with the mistrust."

"Jay, drop this thing about trust!"

"Alex, you're making a big deal out of little things again!" Jay warned Alex.

"Bye, Jay." Alex turned and headed toward the door. She opened it grandly and stormed out, leaving the door wide open, not even being predictable enough to slam the door.

Jay had since closed the door, and was enjoying a cigarette. This apartment was non-smoking, but he was non-caring. He had work at four, and he was still sat in sweat pants and no shirt. He studied the clock face, and it was getting nearer and nearer to 1600 hours, but he felt absolutely no compliance to get up off his ass and go to work, despite everything Tony had said and done for him yesterday.

He was stuck in that arrogant bubble of ignorance, where he thought that even if he sat around doing nothing and eventually fell into wrack and ruin, things would be OK because he was Jay and things always worked out in the end.

He was blind to the way things were crashing down around him.

That was long! What did ya think? Please everyone review! I love to read them!