No Exceptions(Adopted by Jack Barakat)

Chapter Five: Parents' Day

The next morning I got ready for school in record time. I speed ate my breakfast and was ready to leave before Leo had even finished getting dressed. He called me a lunatic, jokingly. When he was finally ready and we set out for school I couldn't stop myself from skipping.
"I don't know you. If anyone asks we've never met." He said with a smile. I giggled.
"I'm gonna miss you Leo." I started walking backwards.
"I'll miss you too, Annie, but we'll keep in contact. We can call each other and we'll still see each other at school." I nodded.
"That's true, but you're two grades ahead of me." The school came into sight and there was Jack leaning against his car with his sunglasses on. He waved when he saw me.
"I'll see you at lunch?" I asked Leo. He nodded.
"Of course you will." I gave him a hug. He kissed me on the forehead and then I jogged over to Jack.
"Hi!"
"Hey!" He gave me a hug. "So what all is gonna happen today?" He asked.
"Well there's gonna be an assembly first and then the parents can visit the various classrooms and see the projects we've done the past few months, then there's a parent-child project in the science lab," he had a mischievous grin on his face when I said that part, "then we'll eat lunch and after lunch the ninth and tenth graders are putting on a play. It's about two hours long and when that's over we can go." He nodded.
"Sounds fun."
"It usually is pretty entertaining to watch all the moms of the snots and dickheads coo about how amazing their 'precious angels' are. Makes me want to vomit." Jack chuckles.
"Well today I'm gonna be that mom." He announces as we walk toward my locker.
"Oh dear god no. Anything but that." He laughed and poked me in the side, which tickled and caused me to giggle. We reached my locker and I shoved my back pack inside.
"Where to first, Captain?" He asked.
"The lunchroom for the assembly." The bell rang and people started pushing past us.
"I feel like I'm gonna lose you in this crowd." Jack mumbled, more to himself than to me. Then he looked at me. "Why don't you get on my back?" He suggested and then without waiting for a response he turned around and crouched down a bit. I got on his back and wrapped my arms around his neck loosely. He put his hands under my thighs to support me and joined the crowd of parents and kids. We reached the lunchroom which, for the time being, had been emptied of tables and filled with folding chairs. Jack found a spot for us and set me back on the ground. We took our seats and waited while everyone else filled in.
"Good morning." The principal spoke once everyone was seated. There were a few replies, but most of us stayed quiet. "Thank you all for coming. We have a few things planned. First you can look around the classrooms and-" I stopped listening after that. After an agonizing thirty minutes the principal finally shut up and Jack and I headed toward the math room. We made our way down the hall, pushing past other parents and kids. We stepped into the math classroom and the math teacher, Mrs. Campbell, looked up. She smiled.
"Hello. You must be Mr. Dane." I couldn't help but cringe as she said that.
"No. I'm Jack." He said and placed a hand on my shoulder. Mrs. Campbell got a confused look on her face. Not surprising since Jack and I looked nothing alike and he had just told her he wasn't Mr. Dane.
"Alright well we're very pleased to have you with us today. Please have a seat." She gestured behind us. Beside each desk was a folding chair. Jack unfolded it and sat down. I sat at my desk. The last few people filtered in and Mrs. Campbell started talking about stuff I couldn't care less about. After math was history. Also boring. Although Jack accidentally slammed his fingers in my desk and then had to go to the nurse and get an ice pack. After history was science. The 'project' was to make a potato battery. You would think it wouldn't be that difficult, but all Jack and I managed to do was completely mutilate our potato. The teacher was not very happy with us, but we didn't care.
Then we had lunch. Leo sat with us. Unlike Leo and I Jack didn't have a lunch so he resorted to buying something from the school cafeteria. He told us he ordered the lasagna, but the pile of goo on his plate did not look anything like lasagna. Despite several protests from me and Leo he still ate. And then spent the next half hour in the bathroom. He missed the first ten minutes of the play, but it was fine. I had a minor roll. I only had a half dozen lines, but I had to stay on the stage and pretend to talk to a group of extras in the background. It was fun though. When the play was over we had to stay so that parents could get pictures. I giggled a bit when I noticed that Jack was taking pictures too. Once everyone who wanted pictures had taken pictures we were allowed to go get changed. I ran to the bathroom and quickly changed back into my jeans and t-shirt. As I left the girls' locker room I ran into Leo. Literally.
"You did amazing, Annie."
"Thanks." He gave me a hug and rested his chin on my head. Jack walked up to us and I tried to get out of Leo's grip. He held on tighter.
"Help me, Jack. He's suffocating me."
"I'm sorry I can't. I've been in his position and therefore couldn't justify helping you." I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him.
"Useless." I mumbled and kept struggling. Eventually I managed to duck under his arms and get away from him. Then I stood between him and Jack and glared at them both.
"I really liked the play." Jack said. "You looked really nice?" He tried. "You're not actually mad are you?" I glared at him for a few seconds longer and then burst into fits of laughter. Jack rolled his eyes playfully and then enveloped me in a hug.
"So what are we doing today?" I asked him after he let me go.
"Unfortunately we can't do anything this afternoon because I've got previous engagements as it were, but I can give you and Leo a ride back to Allison's if you'd like." I shook my head.
"That's okay. We don't mind walking." I said and smiled up at him.
"Alright then. See you Friday after school."
"Okay." I gave him another hug and then drug Leo out towards the lockers. I left in front of his locker so he could grab his stuff and then while he did that I went to get my stuff. We met up by the front doors and headed for Allison's.
"I'm gonna miss this." Leo whispered. I grabbed his hand and leaned my head on his arm.
"Me too." We walked in silence for a few minutes and then Leo said.
"I lost my job."
"What?! Why?!" Leo shrugged.
"They gave me a whole list of reasons that I don't feel like repeating right now."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault." He gave my hand a squeeze. We didn't talk again until after dinner. Not because we didn't want to talk, but because we had things other things to do.
Later that evening right before bed I slipped and fell down the stairs. I bruised my left leg and both my butt cheeks, but otherwise I was fine. Leo nearly died laughing. I think what I hurt most that night was my pride, but honestly those are the memories that stuck with me the longest. And not because they embarrass me, but because of the little things. Like making Leo laugh as hard as I did. It was wonderful feeling and nothing could make it fade.