Revolution: Genesis (Published)

Chapter 10: Our Thing

AZURA

Gratitude isn't something that comes to you. Gratitude is something you find in situations you have lived through and still are living by. It isn't a revelation of being thankful all of the sudden. It is finding the thing like a needle in haystack and appreciating it, because when everything crumbles, it is that found needle that makes you strong enough to break through the gravitational pull.

*'*'*

A week or so had passed by since our little interaction, or specifically, the last I had ignored my sense of seeing. Mason was still living with us and fortunately some of his mental stress was taking a break. We hadn't let him see his parents yet, because for all we knew, seeing them would once again put him in the same position as before.

I still couldn't let go of the horror I had seen and stopped. I had already lost to the tragedy once. I didn't even want to think of another occurring in my life. Had I not been there at right time, God knows what could've happened.

Shuddering at the memory, I walked around the hallways of the school in order to meet my friends. Just as I exchanged my books from the locker—according to the lessons—and turned around after shutting its door, I bumped into someone. Once again a toned chest hit me as I lost my bag to the ground. Ouch.

"It's starting to become our thing." I heard a chuckle as I bent to pick my books up. To think I'd be used to it by now but, disappointingly, no I wasn't. Surprised at the familiarity of the voice I looked up to see the source which was Jack. He was at my eye level helping me with my fallen things by the time I stopped gaping at his appearance.

Embarrassed yet again, I let out a laugh.

"What are you doing here?" I asked knowing what it'd be however I wanted to hear from him just to make sure. "I was going to stop by the office to pick up some books but I got held up." He gestured between us and smirked, making me laugh.

"Hey, I thought you weren't thinking of joining?" Suddenly amused, I asked as the thought of our last conversation filled my head. With an eyebrow raised, I saw him getting flustered right before my eyes and I resisted my sudden urge to pull his cheeks.

"Well...uh... I decided to give it a try. Yeah. And um I'm not permanently enrolled." He held up his hands in defense as I mock nodded. "Just going to try and take some test classes to check if I fit in." His eyes shone in excitement and whether or not he joined this school, I felt the satisfaction of being one of the reasons for him to be here. I gave him a sincere nod this time as I finished collecting my books and asked if I could be of any help.

"Well not really. Addison gave me a map of the school so I could navigate through it. Otherwise if I need anything, I know who to call." He ended with a wink; a playful wink which broke a smile on my face. After that we both went our separate ways after that, he most probably to the office and I to my class.

For someone who had a hard time fitting in, I wondered how anyone could cast him out. He had a joyful persona and warmth that made the person in his contact comfortable. Either he had a humongous change in him or the people he had interacted with here were idiots.

It made me think how I hardly knew Jack at all. We had known each other for a few weeks and we actually met for days less than half a week and all I knew was that he was Addison's brother with a rough past. However, I still considered him a friend. It didn't matter to me about the time and contact, all that mattered was that I felt responsible for him.

During class, my eyes wandered and landed on one of our newest addition who focused on our last lecture before lunch. People had been staring at him shamelessly. It did make the poor guy twitch but as per my request, Charles made it his duty to go out of his way to make Jack comfortable—