The Leaking Heart

Chapter Eight

Jason was so happy that he felt like soaring over the highest cloud.
They walked outside and danced under the stars on the grass nearby.
"Lucy... I've got something to tell you." He said while they danced.
"What is it?" She asked curiously.
"I'm in love with you." He confessed.
Lucy gasped as her heart started to beat faster.
"Y-you... You're..." She stammered.
"I get that you don't feel the same way, but at least allow me your friendship and the courage for telling you." He said.
Lucy smiled as she reached up to touch his cheek.
"Who said I don't feel the same way?" She asked.
Jason's eyes widened as he gazed upon her smooth face.
"I just thought that maybe you weren't in the market for a guy." He said and she chuckled slightly.
"Not a bad observation, but no one can choose if love will come at the right time... It just happens... They just do." She said.
"May I kiss you Lucy Adams?" He asked while smirking.
"Yes you may, Jason Clifton." She answered with a smile.
Jason leaned in and tilted his head slightly to the side, until his soft lips touched hers fot the first time.
He had kissed many girls, but no kiss can come close to the one he shared with Lucy.
Her kiss was gentle and soft, not needy or filled with lust.
He pulled away, with his forehead sticking to hers.
"You still have to ask me properly." She reminded and he smiled.
"Of course I will." He assured her and they kept on dancing.
The rest of the night, they danced and talked about various different topics.
He asked her about her past and she told him how awful the treatment was.
She asked him about his brother and he told her how much he still cares for the man.
The next day, Lucy came downstairs and stepped into something in front of her, she reached out and felt a flower.
"Mom!" She shouted.
"Would you mind telling me what happened?" She asked and her mother scoffed.
"I was hoping you could tell me, they're all addressed to you." She said, handing Lucy a card that was written in braille.
My dearest Lucy, please accept these seventeen scarlet Guinee roses as an apology for not arriving in your life sooner.
A rose for each of the years I missed, will you be mine?
Lucy smiled as her fingers grazed over the writing.
"He must be some charmer to do this for you." Her father said as he passed by her.
Lucy laughed and joined her parents for breakfast.
"Mom would you help me clean this up later?" She asked.
"Sure honey, have a lovely day today." She said.
Lucy walked out of the door and got in the car with her dad, who drove her to school.
Jason waited patiently for her to arrive and once he saw her, a wide smile spread over his face.
"Thou art more lovely that the sun setting in the east, or the flowers blooming in spring." He said and she laughed.
"I didn't peg you for a Shakespeare fan." She said.
"Oh, I'm not. It's just a line from the poem we're doing."He said.
Lucy stood in front of him and leaned up to kiss him, but he bent down and kissed her hand instead.
"What? No hello kiss?" She asked.
"No... One never kisses a Lady in puplic, especially not in front of the eyes of many, many single men." He said causing her to blush.
"Very well, you win." She said and took hold of his arm as they walked.
"So! It finally happened!" Goose said as he came in between them, putting and arm arounf both their necks.
"What are you talking about?" Jason asked.
"Oh nothing, just the fact that the two of you are dating now..." He stated.
"Well, Lucy have yet to give me an answer."
"You shall receive one in an adequate matter." She replied.
"What's with the boring-20th - century talk?" Goose asked and both of them laughed.
"Oh no..." He said as he saw Bobby flirting with girls way out of his league before one slapped him across the face.
"I better go rescue the damsel in de-stress before he gets himself expelled." Goosed said.
"Bobby!" He shouted while running towards the little trouble maker.
Jason held onto Lucy's hand as they walked down the halls together.
Suddenly someone dumped water all over Lucy and she stood still, frozen on the spot.
Jason on the other hand yanked the guys aside and pulled bim against the lockers, holding onto his shirt.
"What the hell Luke!" He shouted.
"Calm down dude, it was just a joke." Luke said.
"When my girlfriend's the joke then I take it pretty seriously Luke. Who set you up to this?" Jason asked.
"No one."
"No offense but you're not clever enough to plan something like this out, now who did it!?" Jason demanded as he pushed Luke harder against the lockers.
"Alright, Alright... It was Veronica." He said and Jason slowly let go.
That's when it cmae to him, Lucy was covered in food because Veronica didn't like her.
She was the one behind it all.
Jason rushed to Lucy's side as she walked with drenched clothes to her locker.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"I'm fine... Just soaked." She said with a smile.
This girl was too good to be in this messed up world.
"Even after that, you're still smiling?" He asked.
"Life's too short to get angry over small insignificant stuff that won't even matter in a few years." She stated.
Jason nodded in agreement, before trying to take her to the bathroom so that she could change but she pulled away.
"I'll be fine on my own, don't worry." She said.
Jason took her word for it and got to class as fast as he could.
Goose covered for him since he was a little late.
"Hey, are you going to Brett's party tonight?" Goose asked him while whispering.
"No, I don't think so." Jason replied.
"Come one man, Bobby and I really want to go."
"So... Go..."
"Are you kidding? They won't let us in, but if you're with us... Whole different story." He said.
Jason sighed.
"I can't, Lucy needs me." He whispered back.
"Just bring her along, I'm sure she won't mind coming." Goose suggested.
"I'll talk to her about it and I'll let you know." Jason said.
"Jason!" Bobby said next to him.
"Take one for the team dude."
"I've always taken one for the team." Jason said with a smirk.
"Yeah, but it's different. A party man!" He said a little too loud causing Mr. Stevens to turn around.
"Bobby O'Hara... If your story is more interesting than the work I'm discussing... Please feel free to share, unless you can tell me what I've been explaining these past few minutes while you were talking."
Goose silently laughed as Bobby struggled to get a word out.
"Detention." Mr. Stevens said and Bobby groaned in defeat.
"Looks like one for the team Bobby." Jason said.
"Mr. Clifton, do yoy have something to say?"
"The Trojan Horse is named wrong sir."
"How so?"
"The original inventor of the horse was the  Achians or the Creeks as we know them. They build the horse to get inside the walls of Troy and concur the Trojans from within the city walls. The horse was found in the possession of the Trojans, but they didn't make it, therefore the name is wrong. "Jason said and Mr. Stevens nodded his head.
"Excellent theory Jason, not bad at all. What he says is true..." Mr Stevens said and continued with the lesson.
"Nerd..." Goose whispered and Jason laughed.
The day went by quickly and Lucy met up with Jason as well as his friends at lunch.
Only, she looked tired.
Her hair was standing up, like it was static through the cause of electricity.
"Hey guys." She said and took a seat next to Jason.
"What happened to your hair?" Goose asked.
"Oh just some kids goofing around in the science lab." She answered.
"If that's so then why do you look so worn down?" Jason asked.
"They also put glue on my chair, so I'm currently walking in my pajama pants." She said.
Jason looked down and smiled upon seeing a multi colored satin short, covered with small pineapples.
"Why would you wear your pajama pants under your regular pants?" Bobby asked.
Jason just showed them to be quiet and not worry about it.
"Do you know who did this, I mean have you heard their voice?" Jason asked.
"It was the same people from before with the food incident." She said.
Jason got up and walked away.
"Where's he going?" Lucy asked.
"I think he knows who it is and I don't want to be them right now." Goose said.
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.
"Oh, Jason used to be a boxer as well but he quit because it kept interfering with his gymnastics." Goose explained.
"Wow! So he really is an athlete." Lucy commented.
"Oh yeah, some of the fights he did were... Ummm... Illegal." Goose whispered.
"Why would he do it then?" Lucy asked.
"He loved the sport, but once he punched half of the men he fought in hospital... I figured he didn't want to end up killing someone." Goose said and a look of fear swept over Lucy's face.
Jason marched right up to Veronica.
"Hey! You!" He said and she turned to look at him.
"Hey Jason, came to check out the flavor?" She asked.
"If you ever do anything mean to my girl again, I'll end your social life." He warned.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"Don't play dumb, Luke told me you're the one behind all these... Incidents that kept on happening to Lucy."
"She deserves it." Veronica said in a bitchy tone.
"What did she so to deserve something like that!? What did she ever do to you, to make you do those mean things to her!?" He asked.
"She stole you from me!" Veronica said.
"Veronica, you and I were never going to work and she didn't steal me she tried to keep me away from her. I was the one who went after her." Jason explained.
"Be that as it may, but I think you made a mistake."
"Let me be the one to find that out, just leave her alone!" Jason said a little louder.
"Fine." Veronica agreed and walked away.
Jason went back, only to see that Lucy wasn't there anymore.
"Where did she go?" He asked Bobby and Goose.
"Don't know man, she just took off." Bobby answered.
Jason searched the school, but didn't find her.
The bell rang and he had to get  back to class.
He finally found her in English class and walked over to her.
"Hey, you  disappeared on me... Why is that?" He asked.
"First, if you want me to be your girlfriend, you will have to tell me the truth about everything and not lie to me." She said and Jason frowned.
"What are you talking about?" He asked.
"Goose told me. About your fights... Also why you quit."
Jason sighed heavily.
"That's part of my past, I didn't tell you cause I was ashamed of it." He said.
"You should've just told me." She said calmly.
"I didn't think you'd like me if you knew."
"Don't be such a girl. Why did you give it up? Goose said that you were afraid that you might kill someone someday."
"That's half true, bit it also became dangerous for the people I cared about. If you get mixed up in something like that... Mean people will start coming for you."
"Because you lost?"
"No, just the opposite. If you win you take their money and they lose the bet."
"So it's like a bookies and underground cage fighting?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah, but the rules are strict."
"What do you mean?"
"It's bare-knuckle fights or glass fights." He said.
Her face turned into a frown and he leaned in closer so that he could whisper it to her.
"Bare-knuckle fights are pretty bad and you've got to be tough to last long enough. Glass fights are more painful and a little different, they wrap your hands in bandages and dip them in hot glue before dipping them in broken glass." He explained.
Lucy made a strange hissing sound that relates to sympathy for something that could be painful.
"Did you ever fight like that?" She asked.
Jason suddenly took her hand and placed it on his forehead, by his hairline.
"There's a scar." She said and he nodded his head.
"Ten stitches later."
"Ouch, why did you do it in the first place?" She asked.
"I don't know, guess I just liked the adrenaline." He replied.
"Promise me you'll never do something like that again." She said.
"I promise, I left that life behind."
The day flew by quickly and the two of them went home together.
"I have a competition coming up, will you be there?" He asked.
"When is it?"
"Next week." He answered.
"I can't... I have a doctors appointment."
Jason nodded his head, knowing how important it was for her to go.
"What are you doing this weekend?" He asked.
"I'm hanging out with the boy I like." She said.
"Well cancel it, you're coming out with me." He said and she laughed.
Jason got off the bus with her and walked her to her house.
"So I'll see you tomorrow and tell that boy that you have other plans this weekend." He said with a smirk.
Lucy laughed as she stood on her toes to kiss him.
Jason didn't want the kiss to end, he just wanted it to continue until his lips were numb.
"Good evening valiant knight." She said.
"Rest well My Lady." He said as he watched her walk inside the house.
The rest of the week flew by in a blink of an eye.
Veronica left Lucy alone and it was like peace at school for both Jason and Lucy.
They were all over each other and hardly left the other alone.
Goose called them infected - lovesick - birds.
"You're gonna spread the virus and since it's not infecting anyone yet, we'll be good. Just to state the obvious, I'm chick crazy and I wouldn't want to be all over Bobby if you two were contagious- not gay." He said causing both Jason and Lucy to laugh.
"Neither am I dude." Bobby said in his defence.
"Yeah, bit at the rate their going, you will have no free will of choice!" Goose said and ran off.
"Freedom!" He shouted.
Jason took hold of his shirt and pulled him back down.
"Okay Braveheart, time to take a break from fighting." He said and they all laughed.
It wasn't long till the weekend arrived and Jason couldn't wait to surprise Lucy.