Fire and Freedom - Book One of the Café Latte Trilogy

Chapter Five - Jasper

Chapter Five – Jasper

I had been so distracted by thoughts of turning up at school after last night, I had forgotten to say a proper goodbye to anyone at the cafe. Before I realised what I'd done, I was in Jenny's car on the way to classes. I took a deep breath and leaned back in the seat. The thought of being in class, acting like it was any other day, was bizarre to me now. I felt different.

"Hey," Tom nudged me. "You okay? Last night was good, yeah?"

"So good," I couldn't help smiling. "It's just weird slotting back into my day and the whole closet thing. God, I can't wait for this sodding year to be over so we can just get on with life."

"Don't worry about that," he replied, looking sympathetic. "Mum and I are going to drop you a few streets away from the school, so you don't get seen driving in with me."

I blinked; I hadn't even considered that. I hadn't considered what would happen if I turned up to school with Tom. I hadn't even really thought about how school would change now I was friends with Tom. "No!" I blurted out, horrified at the thought of him asking his mother to drop me off so I wasn't seen with him.

"Jazz, it's fine," he replied gently. "I get wanting to keep it on the DL. It's all good, I promise."

"No," I repeated, and looked at Jenny pleadingly. "Don't drop me off away from the school, I promise, it's fine. I'm not going to be 'secret friends' with you, that's ridiculous."

Tom exchanged a wary glance with Jenny. "I don't want to be the reason you're subjected to rumours flying," he said carefully. "It's not... I don't want you to feel pressured. We're fine with protecting you from that."

"No," I said firmly, my face heating up. "I - the world can handle me having a gay friend, Jesus."

"I don't think Jesus is available to be your gay friend," Tom joked.

"Well, I'll settle for you until Jesus comes around," I gripped the handle of my bag firmly and repeated, "I'm not going to be 'secret friends' with you. We're good. I'll drive in with you. If someone says something... well, we're only stuck here for another few months, and then we're free, right?"

Jenny hesitated, but continued to drive towards the school. Tom sat back in his seat, saying, "It's up to you," but I felt so much better about my decision when I saw a small smile creep onto his face.

"Your friends seem awesome," I commented, trying to distract myself from the increasing feeling of dread as we rolled into the car park. "I like Edward a lot, the whole drag thing was so cool."

"Yeah, they're great," Tom grinned. "Ed is hilarious, he was actually quite subdued around you. My mothers have known Ross - what, ten years?"

Jenny nodded, smoothly reversing into a parking space. "Since he was your age, really. Lucie and I were somewhat protective over Ross and Harper - and then Ed joined the group a couple years later, with Raven coming along shortly after. We had just opened the café, so we became the mothers of the group. Right - get on out, you're going to be late otherwise."

Tom leaned forwards to kiss his mother on the cheek, and I did the same, because I felt just hopping out of the car with a 'thank you' didn't seem like quite enough. She looked very pleased when we got out, smiling widely with an enthusiastic wave.

"Sorry," Tom laughed a little at her expression, as we closed the doors and started walking through the car park. "She's very excited that I have a friend at school."

I felt a stab of guilt. "I'm sorry I didn't talk to you before..." I trailed off uncomfortably, and then sighed. "I was very caught up in protecting myself, I didn't think of anyone else."