Beautiful Scars (A Jack Barakat Fanfic)

2). Hitchhikers Ditch

Nora's POV

Groaning, I collapsed into the familiar black sheets of my bed. A month had gone by since the start of school. Jack and Alex had already gotten the most detentions in the entire school. Not to mention, the idiots got suspended for a week by putting fireworks in Stacey's locker. To be honest, I wish they put the fireworks in her mouth, maybe then she would stop talking shit.

In that week where Alex and Jack were away, I learned a lot from Rian, who seemed to know everyone and their secrets. Apparently, Brendon the weird dude from art that always hit on any teacher, and by any, I literally meant any. Had a crush on Ryan Ross, which I could only see ending in heartbreak.  Rian also told me about, how Stacey had been caught in the janitor's closet with some guy called Derrick. I have no idea how he knew all these things but Rian was definitely the gossip king.

The week hadn't even been eventful. Yet here I was lying in bed on a Saturday morning, staring at the little plastic stars that littered the ceiling, wondering how I had got so caught. Nothing was wrong and that was what was bothering the most, I felt like I should be crying or screaming but I wasn't. Instead, I stared into blank space listening to my brother, Ben, chattering to his best friend downstairs. They were talking about baseball and general gossip that went around Towson High.

 I never really knew why Ben and I went to different schools, I didn't hate the blonde hair dork, we just were never close. It almost seemed at times we weren't related at all, we shared the same womb and house but somehow we lived worlds apart. Ben wasn't entirely the complete opposite of me; we shared the same music taste, the same love of sports, we both achieved average grades and yet I feel as if I don't even know him.  I can't actually remember the last time we had a full conversation that wasn't 'who drank the last of the chocolate milk' or 'where's the remote'.

Beside me, my phone buzzed a familiar pattern, signalling that Jack wanted to talk. Rolling over I checked making sure my assumption was correct and like always I was.  A message was displayed in a little box saying:

Jack Skullington;

 Noraaaaaaaaaaaa, can you meet me at the hitchhiker's ditch? Ri can't come and Lex bailed. Please, I wanna get out of the house but I don't want to go alone.

I quickly texted back a yes. Mom and Dad were visiting my sister Ruby, at college, before going to see one of my many uncles. So it was just me and Ben home for the weekend, meaning I had nothing better to do.  Plus we hadn't been to the hiker's ditch in forever, the place itself was just a big hole in the ground where Jack, Alex, Rian, and my old friend Sally had pulled branches over making a makeshift hut. It became a safe haven for all of us, for when our homes became too much and we wanted to disappear for a while.

Not only that, the hut became childhood nostalgia, it was filled with so many memories of better days. Like the time I told Jack a horror story about a dead hitchhiker and he slept on his sisters floor for weeks, or the time where Sally moved away, it even hosted more recent remembers of sharing a bottle of Jack Daniels and getting so drunk that Jack had to give me a piggyback home because I couldn't stand.

Pulling on a brown coat over my old Mickey Mouse shirt that once read 'Disney' but because of the countless times of it being in the washing machine the words had chipped off into a happier version of 'Di  e' with the slight red mark of where Y was, all the other letters had been destroyed by the washing machine long ago. Grabbing my backpack, I headed down the stairs planning on packing in some snacks from the kitchen, walking past Ben and his friend Zack, who always seemed so quiet. I muttered out "I'm going out, do you need the car?".

Ben not really acknowledging my existence just nodded before giving me a half-arsed reply of "Yep".

Rolling my eyes, I continued searching through the kitchen before deciding I had enough food.  Making my way out the door I yelled back "I'll just walk then, lock up if you're going" before disappearing, I didn't really care if he heard me.

Jack's POV

Sitting on the ground, I wondered how long Nora was going to take. I didn't really mind her lateness; it was 1000 times better than being at home. I had gotten into another argument with my parents, it was the typical ' You need to get better grades', 'you should start thinking about college' and of course 'Music isn't a stable career'. I knew they were doing it in the best interest but I couldn't help but feel mad.

So maybe we didn't have a bass player yet and our band sucked but you have to start somewhere. Venting out my anger on an innocent twig that had been lying on the ground, I snapped it into tiny pieces, feeling a sense of accomplishment when it was no more. "Jack" A voice announced, causing me to jump. Looking up I saw Nora grinning, I swear some days that she secretly a Ninja because you can never hear her arrival.

"Nora!" I yell, a little too loudly but what could I say, I was happy that someone else was here to distract me from my thoughts and it was an upside it was the girl who I had the biggest crush on.

"I brought snacks. Also, I have to tell you about the week you and Lex were away" she said, sitting down next to me and handing over her backpack filled with food. Quickly stuffing my face with potato chips, I nodded for her to go on.  "Okay, so you know Aubrey?" she asked, shuffling slightly to get comfortable

"Uh, the one with the shit personality but hot body?" I asked trying to work out who Aubrey was.

"Seeing you consider any girl with a pulse and boobs, hot. I'm going to say Aubrey with ginger hair seems nice but can be a general bitch. Anyway, apparently" she said adding quotations marks with her fingers "She was caught practising making out with a broom, I don't think it's true though"

"Alex has boob and a pulse but I don't consider him hot. Also, that sounds like a stupid rumour" I say grinning at the fact Alex wasn't here to hit me.

"We all know you consider Alex the hottest" Nora said laughing.

"Totally" I admit sarcastically. Remembering the question I was going to ask her, I continue speaking "Nora do you know anyone who can play bass?" I say,  hopeful that maybe if we get a bass player, my parents would stop doubting my dreams so much.

I watch her frown slightly, making cute creases on her forehead. "Actually I might do, I pretty sure Ben's best friend Zack does," She said before continuing "I'm not sure how well he would get on with you guys antics but you would have to ask Ben, you get on with him better than me"

We talked like that for ages, just sitting in our fort. It didn't matter that we were no longer little kids, our fort still felt like a safe castle.