Warning, this is a darker chapter and thus may be crappier, but honestly, if it is, no flames please!
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"Everybody, open a new page in your books, we're going to review etre seeing as half of you couldn't even form a simple sentence in your last exam." The rare winter sun seeped through the windows warming the entire class room. The kids in class were barely paying attention, indulging in their own personal activities, some making up homework for other classes and some passing notes. To put it in the least, Mrs. Andrews was livid. Normally she couldn't care less if a single student was failing but when the whole class failed on something that they should've learned at the beginning of the year, she let her pent up anger escape. "Mr. Clarke, stop dilly-dallying with that piece of paper or I shall read it to the whole class. Now, how do you conjugate the verb in accordance to a male?"
Jerome tapped his pencil on the copy of his text-book and stared wide-eyed back at her. Secretly, Jerome loved speaking French, the language of politics, the language of love, and yet, his grades were purposefully driven down to Cs on average. He didn't need anyone asking for French help. "Il est." He stated, plainly, leaning back in his chair, his hands supporting his head shooting he a smirk of pure defiance.
Mrs. Andrews was taken aback. Jerome never actually answered her questions in her class. It was a first. "Very good Clarke, now sit properly." She turned around and walked back down the aisle while he rolled his eyes, smirk playing at his lips. For a while he knew that she wouldn't ask him any questions, already being amazed at his linguistic skills. That gave him more time to stare. Not as much stare but steal the occasional glance. Steals glances at the girl who was... Unattainable per say.
With her silky long blonde hair to her charming smile, she was the package of materialistic beauty, yet, knowing her for years, he knew how loyal she was. Today, he noticed, she had braided her hair in a strange way that made it look like a mermaid's tail (A/N I'm assuming that he doesn't know what a fishtail is). Every so often, he could see her whipping out her phone texting violently as Mrs. Andrews wrote something on the board, slipping it back subtly as Mrs. Andrews turned back abruptly.
His feelings for her were strange. Strange how? Strange as in he felt nervous around her. Nervous that she would see everything inside of him that was broken inside. Nevertheless, he didn't have to worry about that ever happening because, he had to face it, there were still parts of her that longed for both Mick and Alfie, and because of this, pushed anyone else away. But, Jerome countered thinking for a minute, didn't Alfie dump her? Right in the middle of the hall, publicly and shamelessly. Alfie though, would not be happy if he ever pursued her. Besides, who was he more than the betrayer? The one that wasn't in the group anymore, the one that she would never ever want to be with.
"Mr. Clarke. Since you and Ms. Jaffray are the only ones that know how to apply etre, why don't you recite them. Mr. Clarke? You start." Her sneer was obvious and Jerome could've stormed out then and there. Mrs. Andrews never liked him, that was a fact. After shooting her a glower, he started," Tu est, Il est, Elle est, on est, nous sommes, vous etes, ils sont, elles sont." The class looked at him with wide-eyed shock as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair, willing them to look at something else. "And Ms. Jaffray, the translations?" Mara droned on for what seemed like hours explaining all the contexts and conjugations for past and future tense as well.
Half the class was on the verge of sleep before the bell finally rang out loud and clear and for once Jerome finally found himself cherishing the brash fire alarm like sound that filled the class. "Dude, let's prank someone today, I need an energy boost." Jerome looked over at Alfie who really did look like he needed an energy boost from the bags that collected under his eyes. His eyes in general looked zombie like and almost bloodshot. "You really have to stop watching Horror movies, Alfie. I mean, you look like you have blinked for days." Alfie almost shuddered and merely mumbled," Blame the angels, Jerome, blaming the angels."
They walked out of the classroom, Alfie obviously set on eating something when Amber approached them. Jerome found it hard not to fidget when he was around her. "Yeah... Amber?" Alfie had ceased calling Amber 'Ams' when he realized the severity of what he had done. "Oh, um, Nina, Patricia and Fabian want you." Alfie seemed to nod at this, understanding something secret between them before walking off. Jerome started the catch up to Alfie before he felt a hand grasp his own.
It was Amber, her hand grabbing his in a very intimate way. Jerome recoiled as if she had burned him when in reality all he was afraid of was her reading him like an open book. "What?" He asked, hoping to repel her with his spiteful tone. "Excuse me Jerome? I refuse to be spoken to like that." She folded her arms around her chest and stared at him, waiting for her well-deserved apology. After he glared at her, he apologized quickly wanting to get it over with. "What did you say Jerome?" Amber said, almost announcing it to the whole hallway. Jerome snorted retorting," You've got something in your front teeth."
Amber seemed to shrink in embarrassment. "Oh my God please don't be true." She muttered her voice hitching as she ran to the bathroom. It only took a little bit to set her off these days, and usually he was the one that made her go into this state of delusion, mostly due to his reflexs. Her fault anyway, he thought. As Alfie finally caught up with him, he asked," What was with Amber running to the bathroom?" Jerome waved it off as if to say it wasn't important, which it wasn't, but the feeling that came along with causing her the pain was somewhat stinging.
"Nothing, let's get some food." And the two set off, both in silence as they walked. The subject was Amber was obviously still a very touchy subject with Alfie. The air outside was cold, and yet it was the weather the Jerome loved. That made it excruciatingly hard to bear the summers where the air was stagnant and dry, and so Jerome always made the most out of the beautiful weather. "Alfie, what were you talking to Nina and the crew about?" Jerome asked hinting at sarcasm but desperate to hear the answer. It was obvious the old gang was up to something again, and Jerome desperately wanted to be a part of it.
He just knew, though, that if they were united once again and he was being left out, it was because they didn't trust him, and after everything he did to them last year with Rufus, he couldn't blame them. Trustworthy was obviously not his middle name. "Erm… We were talking about this year's school play, you know, Nina and Amber's sort of thing?" Jerome nodded simply although he could tell that Alfie was lying, quite badly he might add. "Let's prank someone Alfie. I mean, it's been a long time, hasn't it?" Alfie nodded solemnly remembering all the consequences that had come with the last prank they had pulled.
Apparently, it wasn't acceptable to decorate Mr. Winkler's office with posters of Justin Bieber and Nick Jonas. Jerome laughed as he remembered Amber and other girls alike squealing with laughter and adoration at the pictures of their favorite celebrities. Jerome had simply chuckled in the corner, trying his hardest not to incriminate himself but was ultimately turned in by Mara who saw them the previous night when she was grabbing her chemistry textbook the night before. "Who?" Was the simple question Jerome asked towards Alfie who was quiet as him, thinking of ideas. "Someone from Anubis, Amber?"
Jerome backed up silently and stared at Alfie as if to say, 'What?' Alfie shrugged and kept on walking not listening to Jerome's babbling about how that was an idiotic move on his part. Pranking his ex-girlfriend would be like committing social murder. Everyone would gang up on them, even if it wasn't Jerome's idea, he just knew. "Jerome, remember? We have to do a girl this time. We just did Mr. Winkler. It'll be fine Jerome, she'll just have more reason to hate me, which, by the way, I'm fine with, I mean, I think I like…" Patricia, Jerome mentally filled in, rolling his eyes.
Patricia was obviously taken with the new American boy Eddie so there was no chance in hell that Alfie would get anything out of the relationship. Jerome grunted as if to agree but he still felt guilty. He would be literally killing his chances with Amber if he pulled a prank on her but the pranker's Code, as Alfie had written in the seventh grade, stated that if one pranker came up with an idea, the accomplice had to accept, it didn't matter if someone had a said crush on someone else. In Alfie's mind, what he said was law, so Jerome grudgingly accepted. "So what's your brilliant idea Mr. Lewis, to prank our very own Ms. Millington? The stock standard?" Alfie seemed to grin evilly to which Jerome almost flinched.
"I have a great idea. So, I was hanging out in Amber's room once when we were…" Jerome stiffened. He did, would not hear about Alfie and Ambers snogging sessions. That was just too much for him. "Go on," Jerome motioned, hoping Alfie didn't notice his hesitation. "Anyway, she had to go to the bathroom so I was looking through an old photo album on her bedside table and I found the mother of all brace face." Jerome stared at Alfie in confusion as he clarified," Of her before all the Amber-ness. It was horrendous, and she walked in and basically wrenched it out of my hands, telling me to leave, but I know where she keeps it." He groaned internally as he realized what Alfie was suggesting.
"You sure about this? She probably won't even look at you normally without wanting to strangle you after this?" Nodding in conformation, Jerome tried to suppress the sigh that was threatening to escape his lips. He knew, he just knew, that Amber would pin this on him, but somehow manage to forgive Alfie. See, in Jerome's eye, it was Alfie who was the deceptive one. He oozed childlike innocence without even trying and yet still came up with demented plans that could ruin someone's social life. "Go get the picture and copy it then, I need to go back to class to get my… Algebra homework." He smoothly lied, giving Alfie a curt goodbye before walking back the red brick building.
Jerome walked past people, not giving a damn if they were saying hello to him or not. He just didn't want to be around Alfie when he stole the picture. May as well be as far away from the crime, he thought slyly, finally walking up to his locker. Entering the code and grabbing his book, he was intent on stalling even more, not wanting to go back to the house just yet. It was at that moment that he heard a soft whimper coming from down the hall. He followed the sound, expecting to find a home sick first year who would be intimidated by Jerome and leave, but instead, heard the sound coming from the girls bathroom. Considering that the hall was empty, he walked in.
Only one of the four stalls were occupied, the one farthest from the door. The smell was what struck him. He knew the pungent smell of vomit anywhere, seeing as he had induced Alfie into a state of vomiting when forcing him to do the cinnamon challenge. He could still hear soft sobs and knowing that something was severely wrong, dropped his prankster façade and called out. "Hello?" He asked into the silence. After a few minutes when the certain girl hadn't exited the stall he took it upon himself to find out. Walking into the neighboring stall, he stood up on the toilet and using his height, easily peering into the stall. There, Amber sat, on the toilet her head in her hands, crying her eyes out. Ducking down so she wouldn't see him, he tried as quietly as he could to exit the stall without her noticing him. It would be bad enough to deal with confrontation, but now Jerome knew.
She had been starving herself. Why? Self-image, he guessed. The pressure to be the prettiest, the most popular girl at school had gotten to her; the pressure to be perfect in every way. He immediately returned to Anubis, trying desperately to find Alfie. Knowing him, he probably had most of the pictures printed already and was heading out to paste them all over the school. Lunch would be over in half an hour, just enough time for Alfie to work his magic. Running in his room, he realized that he wasn't there. Alfie had gone to the school. How perfect, Jerome thought, running back to the school, feeling his shuddery breath travel through his chest.
Barely running through the doors, he saw the immediate effect. Quickly as he could, he stripped most of the walls of the posters rushing. Every once in a while he would see a student staring at it or taking a picture of it, undoubtedly trying to upload the pictures to facebook, to which he grabbed the phone and deleted it, taking the poster into front of the kid down. "You bastard," Jerome muttered to one kid who gave him the finger for taking his phone. When Jerome finished, he sighed in relief, happy that Amber wouldn't have to deal with the torture of kids laughing at her. He realized then and there that he did care about her immensely, and that scared him. Hadn't he liked Mara before all this? What did Amber do that made him love her so much? Pondering these questions, he walked back to drama class, where he sat hungry and tired. "Did you see that picture of her? Complete fake," A first year said walking past him. He reached for her arm and caught it in his steel like grip. "What?" He asked. "There were pictures of Amber Millington all over the school, it's on Facebook if you want to see," She looked afraid as she spoke quickly, her eyes closed. "Do me a favor and delete that picture, yeah?" He asked with an icy tone before dropping her arm abruptly.
She nodded and ran off, obviously perturbed at the whole experience. Jerome seethed as he looked for Amber. He desperately hoped that she hadn't seen the pictures but felt his hope die with every step he took. She's seen it, she hates you, he chanted in his mind. On a whim, he walked outside where he did find her. Again, she sat on the ground, leaning against the wall for support, her head in her hands, crying her eyes out. Amber always seemed so happy and because of that was rarely known to cry. Amber, though, was known to Jerome to be secretive, she obviously had secrets that killed her inside. "Amber?" He asked, his tone quiet. She shot him a glower and only then had he seen the real damage the pictures inflicted. Mascara and eyeliner combined streaked down her face in tracks. Her eyes were bloodshot and brimmed with even more tears that were now threatening to spill over.
Guilt riled within him as he realized this. Was he really such a heartless bastard? "What?" She asked, her voice still small but venomous. "I'm… Amber, this is hard for me to say, but I'm… sorry." He sat beside her in a similar fashion and held her hand. It was delicate, pale, and extremely skinny, too skinny for his liking. "How long've you been doing this to yourself?" She muttered and didn't look at him. "The whole year, I've been purging… I just… ever since Mick and now Alfie left me I just feel so worthless, you know? It was like I wasn't good enough for them, like I was just something that they could use? An instrument of popularity, but does anyone actually care about my feelings? So I used the picture that I had to motivate myself, to tell myself that I wasn't good enough for anyone, and you know what? It worked, but I felt that it wasn't enough, I still felt like that fat girl in the picture," Her words were barely comprehensible by now as tears rolled down her cheeks at an alarming rate.
While he was listening, Jerome felt his hope in humanity fade. When had self-image taken over society? Amber, the girl that he was helplessly in love with couldn't have felt any less loved, and now, because of a stupid picture, the whole world had the wrong image of her. "Amber, you're perfect, no one cares about that picture," Amber managed a scoff and looked at him menacingly. "You're just saying that Jerome. People may act like they don't care but they do, it's all about your image at this school. Only takes a small slip to ruin everything." Jerome couldn't believe any of the words that were escaping Amber's lips. And he had carelessly thought she was a ditzy blond.
"I can prove that I'm not just saying that," He tilted her chin up and made her look him in the eyes. "How?" Was the simple question she asked. How? Such a simple question, one that Jerome Clarke didn't know how to answer entirely. He pressed his lips to hers softly, something he had wanted to do for a long time. Her body still shook from tears and he pulled her closer, wanting to comfort her. The kiss sent shivers up his spine. Timidly, Amber started kissing back, not sobbing now but still upset. His hands cupped her cheeks as he felt the desperate need to pull her even closer to him. His hands slid down and rested on the small of her back as her hands eventually snaked up into his hair, tousling it. After what seemed like minutes, he broke the kiss and leaned his forehead on hers, still staring at her eyes, still bloodshot, yet happier, relieved of pain and torture that had obviously weighed her down. "Is that proof enough for you?" He questioned teasingly.
In response, she let her lips brush his once again. "Thank you Jerome," was all she could answer, and she genuinely felt happier. Not once had Alfie or Mick told her that she was worth it, and Jerome, he made her feel. Made her feel all the emotions that she bottled up, made her feel capable. Her issues felt tinnier and easier to manage around him, all because he cared. And to Amber, that meant the world.
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Dedicated to Jamber111 because obviously she loves Jamber and that just makes sense. Oh my god I made this on a whim because I was tired. Please review, and any Jerina fans that read this, Jerina is obviously next so keep that in mind and I will try to update as soon as I possibly can (Which might be soon because I like to write the drafts in English when I'm supposed to be doing something else)
Kthxbai,
z3stygurl97