Author's Note:
Disclaimer: I don't own Kickin It
Now onto the story
Bayview Mall
Bobby Wasabi Martial Arts Academy
Tuesday, February 26th, 2013
"My man, my man Jack you're on fire!" Jerry enthused
Jack smiled politely at his friend, barely stopping himself from cringing as he was clapped on the shoulder by him. Another training session has come to an end and Jack won against Brody in a sparring match. All the extra one on one sparring lessons were really starting to pay off. This was the fourth time Jack has won against him but it's never easy. Brody puts up a good fight.
"Yeah not only did you win the last tournament but now you're making a solid comeback for number two." Eddie adds causing Jerry to start snickering uncontrollably as he leaned into Eddie's shoulder
Eddie glared half heartedly at him then shoved him off. "Jerry, stop acting like you're ten." He chastised
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry it's just number two!"
Jack would usually indulge his friends antics. He would find it funny and rolls his eyes fondly but not today. All he feels lately is numbness. Numbness even though as Jerry so eloquently put it he's making a comeback for number two. He's repeatedly beaten Brody in sparring and earned the most points in their dojo's last tournament. He was in fact hailed the winner and has a big trophy for proof but he didn't feel excitement when he was gifted it.
He felt nothing.
Nothing as his friends huddled around him, buzzing with excitement and cheering in victory. Nothing even when Kim gave him a quick hug of congrats before moving on to hug Milton. Nothing at their victory dinner and nothing when he arrived home and stared at his first place trophy in the privacy of his bedroom.
"Okay well as much fun as this has been I gotta go." Jack drawls
"Wait dude before you go Eddie and I were thinking Pizza Palace? You in?"
"Ah no I can't. I got studying to do."
Jerry makes a fart noise in reply. "Boring." He insults. Then adds, "Your loss bro." And turns his attention to two other Wasabi Warriors still sitting on the mat.
Jerry points at them with two fingers then wiggles them. "Yo Milton, Kim? Pizza Palace. You in?"
Kim stares coolly at Eddie in consideration. Milton places a gentle hand on her wrist and whispers something to her. She glanced over at him and the two seem to have a silent conversation that ended with Kim huffing in defeat.
Milton smiles over at Eddie and Jerry. "Sure." He agrees
"I guess." Kim adds in reluctance before brightening as her gaze swivels over to Sloane who was typing on her phone by the lockers
"Hey Sloane do you wanna join us?" The blonde asks hopefully
"No." Was the girl in question's blunt reply without ever looking up from her phone.
That caused Kim's shoulders to droop in disappointment before she brightened again. This time she turned to Brody who was sitting on one of the benches. "What about you Brody?"
Brody's shock at the question was clear on his face. He nervously licked his lips as he considered the question. "Oh uh yeah sure. I'm down…if you guys are okay with it?" He belatedly adds
This time Jerry and Eddie were the one to exchange glances. They had a quick silent conversation made up of raised eyebrows, widening of eyes and quirking of lips before turning back in sync towards Brody. "Sure man! That would be…swawesome." Jerry enthused a bit forcefully
Jack rolls his eyes but remains silent as he walked into the locker room. He quickly undressed then stepped into the shower and braced himself for the ice cold water spewing from the shower head. His opinion on the matter isn't needed. And either way he doesn't really dislike Brody anymore. He really meant it when he said he was leaving all those ill feelings in 2012. That was the old Jack. Right now he just doesn't feel anything towards him. He hasn't really felt much of anything lately.
He took a quick five minute shower, focusing on washing the important bits before turning the water off. After wrapping a towel around his waist he headed towards his locker to grab his change of clothes and deodorant. None of his other friends have entered the locker room yet he didn't rush. He lathered on lotion because only heathens don't put lotion on after showing. He was quick getting dressed so he'd have more time doing his hair.
By the time he finished his hair Eddie and Milton have entered the locker room animatedly chatting with one another. Jack passes by them with a silent head nod as he exited the locker room. Jack's eyes briefly lingered on Kim, who was now sitting on one of the red benches talking and smiling with Brody. He tore his eyes away and headed out the dojo's front doors, Audrey hot on his heels. They were gonna to sit at the tables outside the dojos as they waited for their mom to pick them up.
"So you're missing out on another get together with your friends?" Audrey was quick to point out
Jack gritted his teeth. He didn't turn around as he pulled out one of the seats. "Audrey, don't."
Being the annoying little sister that she is, she of course didn't. "Seriously Jack I can't remember the last time you actually hung out with them outside of training. I can't remember you hanging out with anyone really."
Jack clenched his jaw as he drummed his fingers on the table, praying for patience. "So what are you stalking me now? Creepy much sis?"
Audrey huffed then rolled her eyes as she plopped down in the seat across from him. She crossed her arms as she level him with a look. "You're turning into a freaky loner."
Finally Jack looked up from the table to meet his sister's eyes. "Fine if you must now know my reasoning so freaking badly I have homework to make up."
Jack was hoping the confession would get Audrey off his back but he should've known better.
"You mean homework you have to make-up for because of the extra training you've been doing only because you've been lying to mom about keeping on top of said homework." She retorted while crossing her arms
Jack glowered at her. "Again Audrey creepy much!"
Audrey scowls and narrows her eyes. "It's only because I'm worried about you, you jerk."
There it was again. That stupid word. If Jack had a nickel for every time he's been told that exact same sentence he'd have enough money to buy a new skateboard. Jack knows he should be grateful to have people care about him so much but he's not. He's sick of it.
Jack closes his eyes as he tries to calm himself down. "You have nothing to worry about, I'm fine." He grits out
Audrey snorts. "You're an idiot if you really think that Jack and I know you're smarter than that."
That was unfortunately for Audrey the wrong thing to say to him. The calm he was desperately trying to cling onto disappeared instantly.
He slammed his hands down hard onto the table causing his sister to startle. "I. Am. Fine. So why don't you keep your wiseass comments to yourself and stop acting like a brat!"
Hurt sparked in his sister's brown eyes at his harsh words. But for once Jack didn't feel anything at seeing it. The hurt melted away to anger as Audrey's jaw clenches. "Fine spiral into insanity, see if I care."
Jack didn't say thing just pulled out his phone to stare unseeingly at the screen as he wills his racing heart to slow down. The siblings fell into a tense silence as they waited for their mom's arrival.
Seaford High
Corridor
Wednesday, February 27th, 2013
Finally he saw the girl he was anxiously waiting for. A blonde haired girl with a blue and purple backpack slung over one of her shoulders. Next to her was a girl with black and red ombre hair dressed in black jeans and a band tee with a gray backpack covered in band stickers. They were chatting as they walked over to the blonde's lockers and after watching them for a minute locker Eddie rose from his seat. He wiped his sweaty hands on his pants, rehearsed what he was going to say in his head a final time then walked over to them.
He cleared his throat to get the girls' attention. "Hey Kelsey. And Donna."
"Fuck off Eddie." Donna snarls
Eddie tries not to cower under the full weight of the murderous glare the emo girl sent him. It might've been worse than any glare Kim threw him.
To calm his rising heartbeat he tried to zero in on Kelsey completely and block Donna out. "Can I talk to you Kelsey?" He was proud that his voice only slightly wavered
Kelsey barely glanced at him when she answered. "No."
Eddie instinctively reached a hand out with the intention of touching Kelsey to stop her from leaving but the evil glare she sent him stopped him. Donna looked seconds away from decking him.
He awkwardly lowered his hand then raised both of his hands in a sign of surrender. Eddie took a small step back then gulped nervously. This already wasn't going as planned. "Please, it'll only take a second." He pleaded
Donna puts a hand on Kelsey's upper arm as she turns to look at the blonde. "You don't have to listen to a single thing he says. We can go right now."
Eddie clenches his teeth in frustration. Was she always this annoying? He used to think she was cool. Now he wanted to shout at Donna to just go away and stop interrupting them.
In a surprising turn of events Kelsey shook her head before giving her head a tense smile. "No it's, it's fine."
Hope surged up in his chest as he smiled in relief. But Donna remained standing next to her and Kelsey made no moves to walk somewhere alone. "Uh, can we talk in private?"
Kelsey crosses her arms then juts her chin out defiantly. "No you wanna talk so talk."
Donna copies Kelsey by crossing her arms too and two pairs of icy blue eyes were glaring at him. Eddie tried not to feel completely uneasy and uncomfortable by the intimidating girls in front him. Ha. Who would've though he'd call Kelsey Vargas intimidating. Maybe the world did end in December.
"Okay then." Eddie inhales a steadying breath. "Look about what went down with Grace and the others in October…I'm sorry. It never should've happened. It was wrong."
Donna scoffs and rolls her eyes. "It only took four months for you to finally figure that out." She snarks acidicly and Eddie barely managed to keep from scowling
Kelsey's face remained blank. "Is that all?" She asks in a neutral tone
That snapped his attention back to her as his anger drains away and instantly replaced with nerves. "Yeah, that's all."
Kelsey nods once then uncrosses her arms. She looks him straight in the eyes. "Okay. Well I don't forgive you."
Eddie's eyes widened in shock. He opens and closed his mouth with no sounds coming out. He finally managed to croak out a weak "What?-"
Kelsey didn't spare him anymore time or attention as she turned and started walking away from him. Donna follows close behind but not before sending Eddie an ice glare.
4th period gym
PE used to be Jack's favorite class. He'll take playing running the mile, playing basketball, heck even playing dodgeball over sitting in class any day. He loves the rush of adrenaline and the thrill of the competition that comes with the games. Not even Coach Fundeburk's 'peaked in high school' personality could ruin his love of the class. The only person that did make the class slightly unbearable was now in juvie. Today they were playing his favorite game, basketball, so Jack should be jumping for joy right now.
Only he wasn't. His head was not really in the game right now. He wasn't getting the rush of excitement that usually came when playing basketball. He wasn't losing himself in the routine of dribbling, dodging opposing teammates, and passing or shooting the ball. He just didn't care. He didn't care about the game or care about winning.
He felt nothing.
Still he tried to put in some effort for his teammates. Kevin passed the ball to him and Jack caught it. He aimed to throw the ball in the net but out of nowhere Victor jumped in front of him. The Black Dragon blocked his attempt by slamming his hand down on the ball. That caused the ball to collide right into his face causing him to fall on the ground.
After the shock wore off anger seeped right in. He jumped to his feet and stalked over to Victor and used his extra five inches of height to glare down at him. "What the hell, Straffman?!"
Frustratingly the Black Dragon remained as unaffected as usual. "Ooh church boy cursing? Isn't that what you call a sin?" Victor taunts with a dumb smirk
Coach Funderburk blew his whistle. "Alright break it up." He orders half heartedly before pointing at Kevin. "Hopkins, get the ball."
Milton, who watched the scene take place off a few feet away walked over to the long haired boy. "You okay Jack?" He asks
Jack waved the concern away. "Yeah I'm fine."
The rest of the game passed by uneventfully. Unfortunately Victor's team won by two points and Jack wanted to punch the smug look off of Victor's stupid face. Jack didn't even realize his hands were balled into fists until Milton cautioned him about it. Jack forced himself to take some calming breaths as he followed the other boys into the locker room to change. He dragged out freshening up and getting redressed as he waited with slight impatience for the locker room to clear out.
Victor was usually one of the last few to leave and Jack needed to have words with him. When only said jerk and a few of his buddies were still lingering Jack decided to confront him. Jack slammed his locker shut and stalked over to him.
"Okay Straffman I had had it up to here with your shit." Jack spits out. "Frank's gone and he's been gone for months get over it already! If you don't so help me God I will kick your ass and you know I'm good for it."
His two minions immediately tensed up, ready to strike at Victor's word. Jack ignored them in order to glare at Victor, his buddies were harmless. In a surprising turn of events Victor's face didn't contort in anger and he didn't blow up at him. He remained calm as he stared at Jack. Amusement seeped into his eyes as his lips curled into a smirk.
"Are you okay Jack?" The black Dragon asked patronizingly. "You're not acting like your golden boy self. I think you need help man."
One of Victor's minions nodded. "Reputations matter." He agreed
"It's bad enough your girl chose someone else over you." Victor continues to taunt
Jack furrowed his brows in confusion as he stared questioningly at him. He pushed away the first person that came to mind at Victor's words and ignored the way they made him feel. "What are you talking about?"
"You don't know?" Victor asks in surprise. Seeing Jack's earnestness he cackles gleefully. "Wow you guys really aren't close anymore huh?"
Jack barely concealed the flinch at the Black Dagon's words as if they were a physical dagger to his chest. He hid his hurt behind anger. "Victor." Jack growls and steps closer
The Black Dragon holds his hands up in mock surrender. "She has a new whipped puppy; Carlson."
"Yeah we saw them sucking face by his lockers." The other minion, Ryan maybe, added with a smug smile
Jack narrowed his eyes as his heart thumped wildly in his chest. Heat crept up his neck as he flushed from anger. "You're lying."
Victor just smirked triumphantly at him. "I'm not the liar Brewer, that's all you."
"Besides you can't be that surprised it was obvious to everyone." Ryan(?), gloated with then snickered
Jack just stared, rendered completely speechless. Victor and his minions walked out of the locker room snickering amongst themselves as they relished in their victory over him.
Seaford High Amphitheatre
"Can you believe it?" Eddie asked indignantly after he finished his rant about what happened with Kelsey earlier
Milton's new permanent lunch spot was the amphitheater with the Swathmore Rejects. Eddie had many complicated feelings about that which is why he usually sits with Jerry even though that means having to deal with Randy. Ever since getting kicked off the dance team Jerry has been acting stranger than usual. Or careless would be a better word or if you asked Milton he'd say foolish.
Jerry's been skipping classes more and sometimes school altogether. It became normal for a skunky smell to waft from his clothes and his eyes to be bloodshot that he started carrying eye drops. Now it was almost hard to catch Jerry who instead chose to hangout with Randy, Zane, and Ethan over them. Eddie was becoming concerned and so was Milton as their friend continued- in Milton's word's- his reckless behavior. Today for lunch Jerry was probably hanging underneath the bleachers with Zane to smoke a joint. So that left Eddie to sit with Milton because there no way in heck he'll sit alone in the cafeteria or with Albert and Sidney.
Milton calmly unscrewed the top on his bottle and took a sip before answering. "Actually yeah I can."
Eddie turned on the steps to gape incredulously at the traitor he thought was his best friend. "What? Milton, you're supposed to be on my side!"
The scot rolled his eyes at his dramatics. "Eddie, you used her obvious crush on you to lure her to the park so you and Grace and her friends can pelt her with water balloons." He reminds him in a flat tone
"I know what I did. I was there." Eddie snaps trying to push down the guilt that bubbled at the reminder of his previous actions
"Then you didn't apologize until four months later. You're just now realizing what you did was wrong." Milton continues on. "You can't expect her to just forgive you now."
"Why can't I? I said I was sorry, I learned from my mistakes." Eddie whined
Eddie really thought after apologizing that would be the end of it. Isn't that what you're taught in school? Apologize then forgive, forget and move on. He's not saying he wants to be friends with the girl, though she is starting to dress differently, less freakishly and now like a normal girl. It made him realize she's actually kind off…pretty, she could maybe even be hot if she wears the right clothes. Plus not to mention with the tighter shirts she's wearing now shows just how big her chest is.
But he was getting sidetracked. The point is that an apology is supposed to fix everything. Kelsey was supposed to accept his apology so that Kim would finally stop hating him and everything would go back to normal. That way he could finish his last four months in Seaford making the best memories with the first people he ever called his best friends. But Kelsey was ruining his plans.
He could feel Milton burning two holes in the side of his head. "Four months later." Milton enunciates. "That's too little too late."
Eddie scowls "So what? I shouldn't have apologized? It's useless now?!" He snapped then shifted uncomfortably, the freaking stone steps was hurting his butt
Milton huffs then looked heavenward as if praying for patience because Eddie was a dumb child. "I didn't say that. It's good you apologized, it's just gonna take more than that now. Words aren't enough, you gotta show it with actions."
Eddie groans impatiently but before he could say anything else Nigel and Arthur came walking up the steps towards them. Eddie's face instinctively twisted into a scowl when he spotted Arthur but thankfully the prep was talking to Nigel and didn't notice it. Milton did though and nudged him with his elbow. By the time the two were looking at them Eddie's face smoothed out but he had his fork in a death grip.
He still hated Arthur. He was a snooty, cocky jerk whose head was too big for his body. He will never forgive him for trying to close down their dojo and even so he never even apologized for it! When Eddie brought it up one time when he was eating lunch with them Arthur just laughed it off as if it was a funny memory. Playing it off as that was just him being a rebellious kid like it was a normal thing to do. Eddie was gonna throttle him if Milton didn't have a death grip on his arm.
He's not sure how Milton could even be friends with the jerk but Milton likes to see the best in people. It's one of the best and worst things about him.
The two preps greeted them as they sat on Milton's right. Eddie wanted nothing more than for them to disappear. He knows that for now this was the end of their conversation and Eddie was left to figure out what to do about Kelsey on his own.
8th Period Study Hall
Jack is forever grateful that he has study hall this semester. For multiple reasons he's been falling behind on his homework and schoolwork so he actually uses this period to catch up on his work. Unlike half the other students in this class who uses this period as free time. Scrolling on their phones, listening to music, talking, or sleeping. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on who you asked) their advisor was coach Funderburk. So he doesn't care about what the students were doing as long as they kept their volume to a minimum.
Coach spends his time playing on his computer, texting the newest woman he's dating or even going as far as to step out to call them. He'd be bragging to the football players in the study hall about the women he's seeing. Jack was torn between feeling disgusted that a grown man was bragging to freshmen about the hot women he's dating and giving them terrible women advice and pity that he needs validation from them.
There were a handful of students that were actually studying too, one of them being Milton. Or usually Milton, the ginger haired boy has been sending him not- so-secretive glances that he thinks he doesn't see. Jack tries to ignore it, either Milton will finally talk or will stop and focus on his own work. But ten minutes later Milton still kept glancing over at him and it was making it really difficult to focus on his science worksheet. Well that and he couldn't stop thinking about what Victor said to him in PE.
Reaching his limit of creepy staring Jack huffs out an irritated breath and aggressively sets his pencil down on the desk. "Okay Milton out with it."
"What do you mean
"You've been wanting to say something since we first got here. You're terrible at hiding things, your face says it all so what is it?"
"I just…I'm worried about you."
If Jack still had his pencil in his hand he would've snapped it in half. "I'm gonna tell you the same thing I told Audrey. I'm fine. There's nothing for you guys to be worried about."
"But that's just not true Jack. You're different…and not in a good way. I've barely seen you these past few months outside of the dojo and school. All you seem to do is train, train, train and the panic attac-"
"I though we agreed to never talk about that!" Jack snaps
"We did but It's-it's not something I can just pretend didn't happen. I'm saying this to you as a friend that cares about you I think you should talk to your mom-"
"Milton I appreciate your concern or whatever." Jack says in a tone that conveys the complete opposite. "But what I would appreciate more is people minding their own damn business and stop trying to Dr. Phil me. I'm fine. One hundred percent fine. Alright?"
"Okay." Milton eventually concedes. "Sorry."
Jack harrumphs his acknowledgement then focused back on his assignment sheet. Thankfully Milton does the same. They fell into a tense silence as they both worked on their separate assignments. Jack goes through the motions of penciling the first answers that come to mind. Victory's smug punchable face keeps popping in his mind. 'She has a new whipped puppy, Carlson'. Carlson, Carlson, Carlson. Perfect Carlson. He finishes his science then moves on to his history report in what felt like a blink. He tries to read the directions but the words kept blurring.
Victor had to be lying. He was lying. Kim hasn't changed her Facebook status or posted any new pics of her being lovey dovey with Carlson. But this was Kim and she wasn't like that. She wasn't like other girls which was one of the reasons he liked-er liked her so much. He shouldn't care- he doesn't care. They broke up months ago and are better off as friends. They both agreed to that so it's fine. He's fine. He needs to focus on his work and he's gonna do that-
"Are Kim and Brody dating?" Jack blurts out before cringing as he flushed from the neck up in embarrassment
Milton's head shot up from his papers to swivel in his direction, his eyes widened in shock. "What?"
Jack coughed and kept his eyes trained on his paper. "Victor told me he saw them kissing by Brody's lockers." He revealed. "But he probably just told me that to mess with me right?"
Milton's jaw snapped shut with a click. He looked guilty down at his papers then pulled nervously at his shirt collar. "Uhhh..."
Ice flooded Jack's veins at the confirmation as his heart twisted painfully in his chest. He hated how unsurprising the news was to him. "Oh." He breathes
"I'm sorry Jack I thought you knew."
"Yeah cuz apparently everyone did." The black belt sasses
"Probably not Jerry." Milton weakly offers
Jack couldn't even muster up a fake smile at that. "Yeah that's not a huge comfort."
Milton didn't say anything to that. Jack stared down at his paper, trying to figure out what he was feeling and what to say. He ran his tongue over the front of his teeth then clears his throat. "How long have they been…together?"
Jack finally gets the courage to look at Milton. Milton couldn't meet his gaze and he was flushing from nervousness. "Not that long. Since uh Valentine's Day."
Jack nods absentmindedly as his eyes strayed back over to his paper. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah of course I'm fine. I mean we broke up months ago so… if she's happy then I'm happy."
Milton looks like he didn't believe him
"We're supposed to be studying right? Let's just get back to that."
"Okay."
The remainder of the class was spent with Jack robotically finishing his homework as a familiar painful ache grew in his chest. By the the time the bell rang he haphazardly shoved his homework in his backpack then jumped out of his seat. In his haste he didn't even spare a goodbye to Milton. He was fine. He was fine. He was completely fine he recited to himself as he sped over to his locker.
It took a few tries before he entered his correct locker combination. As he opened his locker something fell and hit him in the face. His eyebrows scrunched in confusion then he looked down to see what it was and stilled. His breath stuttered as the blood in his veins turn to ice and a ringing sound echoed in his ears. The ache in his chest came back with a vengeance as flashes the Incident played in his mind.
"Someone's got to shut you up!"
There lying in the ground was a plastic knife.
Seaford High Courtyard
Eddie tapped his fingers impatiently on the picnic table as he stared at the school front doors.
Finally Kelsey exited the double doors and surprisingly she wasn't talking to Donna or Kim but Cotillion Carrie. Eddie shakes his head but pushes out the not so nice things he was thinking about the weird brown haired girl. He's on a mission and right now he needs to focus on that. He hops up from his table and nearly falls backwards from his enthusiasm.
"Kelsey!" He calls out. The girl pauses mid step then her eyes closed shut as her face completely shut down. Carrie curiously looked in his direction then said something to Kelsey.
Kelsey says something back then starts walking in the opposite direction of him. Eddie hurriedly grabs his backpack and speeds walks over towards her. Eddie muses a bit bitterly at how the roles were now reversed. Here Eddie was chasing after Kelsey. If you would've told Eddie that five months ago Kelsey will want nothing to do with him he would've shouted in relief.
"Wait Kelsey." He calls
He hears a loud huff before the girl reluctantly turned towards him. "Are you stalking me now Eddie?" Kelsey asks exhaustedly
Eddie nearly snorted at her choice of words. What he was doing was nothing that she did to him just a few months ago. Eddie had to scope out the halls after class just to make sure she wasn't waiting there to 'run into him'. Now she won't even look at him. He bit back the snarky reply and instead inhaled a calming breath through his nose.
"No! Er- maybe. I just really need to talk to you."
"And I don't have anything to say so please can you just-" She turns halfway away from him and takes a step but Eddie grabs onto her forearm to stop her
"Just give me five minutes of your time please!" Eddie pathetically pleads
Kelsey tenses under his touch as her eyes immediately zeroed in on his hand on her arm. Eddie dumbly thinks that this is his first time ever touching her. She was…warm. His stomach churned with an unexplainable feeling. He quickly releases her arm.
The bottle blonde girls works her jaw as her blue eyes were fixed on a spot over his shoulder. "Fine."
Relief flooded Eddie at her agreement. He inhaled a deep breath as he tried to memorize the script he wrote in his health class. It was a bit hard at the clear disinterest on the girl's face. She wouldn't even look at him
"Look I know there's no way I can make it up to you but I really want to. And action speaks louder than words so I'll let you water balloon me."
Kelsey just stared blankly at him. Eddie was expecting a bit more of a reaction. Maybe a smile, hug, or heck even tears of joy. But more specifically he was waiting for forgiveness.
Instead the blonde scoffs. She finally looked him in the eyes but now Eddie kinda wishes she wouldn't have. He still hasn't gotten used to the coldness in them after months of heart eyes. She looked at him like any other girl did now. As if he was beneath her, like she was out of her league.
Eddie hated it.
"Really Eddie? You think that's what's gonna make us okay? That that is what this is about?" She asks incredulously, eyes widening
The boy in question blinked then coughed awkwardly. "Well isn't it?"
Kelsey laughs humorlessly. Eddie hated the sound, it was grating to his ears. It sounded nothing like her actual laugh or the laugh she used to give when she pretended what he said was hilarious.
"Eddie I had the biggest crush on you for a year. I was freakishly obsessed with you. And you knew that. You used my feelings for you so you could trick me to come to Shore park to embarrass me to impress Grace freaking Overland. You broke my heart in the cruelest way possible and didn't care for months! Months!"
Guilt bubbled up in his chest at the reminder. It crawled up his throat making it almost difficult to breathe. "I know but-"
"No I don't think you do. You don't understand how that made me felt. I was crushed, so embarrassed and heartbroken I wanted to die!"
Her outburst gathered a few curious stares from students close by. If Eddie had a paler complexion he would be flushing red.
Kelsey squeezes her eyes shut but Eddie still saw a tear rolling down her cheek. She hastily wipes it away. "I hate you. I hate you so fucking much." Kelsey spits out then opens her eyes. They were glistening blue.
She crosses her arms over her chest. "And I will never forgive you for that. Good for you for finally getting your head out of your butt and realizing you're a piece of crap for that. But I don't care."
Eddie almost doesn't recognize the girl standing in front of him. It wasn't just her clothes but also the way she carried herself. The way she was coldly staring at him was so different from months ago.
"If you really mean what you said then stay away from me. We can co-exist or whatever but if you see me walk the other way. And I'll do the same." Without waiting for a response she walked away from without looking back
Eddie just stared helplessly after her.
Brewer Residence
Jack burst into his bedroom with a vengeance. His breathing is coming out in short, sharp, bursts while his chest felt like it was constricting. He's been teetering on the edge of a panic attack ever since he left school. He was paranoid the rest of the day, constantly watching his surroundings and jumpy.
On the car ride home he was silent, not engaging in any conversations with his mom. For once he didn't put up a fight for the passenger's seat which immediately signaled to them that something was wrong with him. But Audrey was still mad at him for yesterday so she refused to acknowledge him. Jack didn't care at the moment as he was just trying his best to not have a full breakdown in the car. His mom didn't even fully put the car in park before Jack jumped out of it and rushed to the front door of his house.
He didn't remember opening the door or stalking up the stairs but he somehow arrived in his room all the same. He slammed his door shut and dropped his backpack off his shoulder with shaky hands. He slid to the floor with his back against his door and drew his knees up to his chest. He buried his hands in his hair and pulled painfully at the strands to try and ground himself. His heart felt like it was trying to burst from his chest with how fast it was beating.
He hated feeling like this. Hated how easy it was for him to be reduced to a weak little fearful boy. It was pathetic. He was pathetic. Ever since freaking October he's been broken. Frank got what he wanted and had broken him. No matter what he did and how hard he tried he hasn't been able to fix himself since. When he released his hair and unburied his face from his knees he saw that his hands were shaking. His chest was aching and if he didn't know any better he would think he was having a heart attack.
His thoughts were jumbled and his lungs ached, he couldn't catch his breath. Once again his eyes caught onto the big, ugly yellow trophy sitting on his shelf. Anger bubbled in his chest at the sight of it. It didn't work. Everything the trophy stood for didn't work. Training incessantly was supposed to make him feel better. Feel safe. It was supposed to prove that he was fully capable of taking care of himself and he didn't need to be afraid anymore. Yet he was on the edge of a freaking panic attack because of a plastic knife. The trophy didn't work. Training didn't work.
Before he was fully aware of what he was doing Jack wobbly stood to his feet. He stomped over to his shelf, grabbed the trophy and threw it against the far left wall. It instantly broke into pieces by the impact but it didn't even give him any sick sense of satisfaction. Jack impulsively swiped the other trophies off his shelf and threw the medals hanging on the hooks against the other wall too. He didn't stop at his awards, in his crazed fury he threw books, clothes hanging from his chair, and tore his blankets off his bed followed by his pillows.
So caught up in his spiral of destruction he didn't hear his mom bound up the stairs and throwing the door open to his room. "Jackson!" She exclaimed
Jack spun around to face his mom. She was taken aback by the wild look in his eyes. "It didn't work mom! It didn't work!" He nearly shouted
She cautiously stepped into his room but stayed near the doorway. "What didn't work?"
"It was supposed to work! I was supposed to- I was-" Jack trailed off as he started hyperventilating and a wave of dizziness washed over him
He all but dropped down onto his bed causing his mom to rush over to him. "Breathe, honey."
Jack shook his head. "I ca-can't." He painfully wheezes. He was dying. There was no air, it was if all of it was sucked out of the room.
He clawed at his throat in panic before his mom grabbed both his hands with her own. "You can breathe, honey, I promise you. There's air."
Jack shook his head, vision blurry from sudden tears forming in his eyes. "I-I mom-"
"I'm here baby, I'm here." Quinn coos, cupping his face and wiping the tears from his cheeks. "Please copy me okay?" She inhales a long, dramatic breath
Jack first attempt was choppy and he barely opened his mouth. But his mom continued inhaling deep breaths and in between breathing she encouraged him. His mom's soothing, gentle voice slowly broke through the hurricane of chaos inside of him. Her words echoed in his mind, breathe, there's air, you can breathe, and he started to believe her. Her words were a balm to him, slowing his racing heart and breaking the ironclad grip his panic had on his lungs. Finally air painfully returned as he still felt blood rushing in his ear.
He distantly heard his mom whispering sweet nothings to him as she cradled him in his arms and gently rocked them back and forth. Wrapped in his mother's arms as if he was a five year old boy again Jack finally admitted what he's been desperately denying for months. "I'm not okay." He finally choked out