It Started With Counting Numbers....

Chapter Three

Friday. The day I've been waiting for since Monday.

I tapped my pencil impatiently on my Collections book and watched everyone continue to the conversation.

"I think Tom actually heard Ben, dude, he was pretending to be a steamboat." Alan said flipping the pages in his book.

Austin nodded and agreed.

I continued to tap my pencil and watch as everyone began to talk about something else in the story. I took my pencil and wrote down a few answers and elaborated on my theory why. Alan, Austin, and James all did the same.

"It's a fuckin' Friday and she's making us do this packet of shit." James said, his accent flowing casually as he spoke.

"Are you guys going to Danny's party?" Austin asked as Alan finished scribbling down his answers.

"Yeah. Are you, Alex?"

I shrugged.

"Dunno."

If Jack was gonna go, then maybe I'd go for a little bit. My stomach twisted as I thought about disobeying my anxiety, but I pushed it back and smiled at them.

Alan returned the smile and the bell rang. James left first, probably to go meet up with Sam, and Austin picked up Alan's stuff.

I threw my pencil in my pencil case and left the class room, putting my paper on the teacher's desk. The halls were filled with students laughing and fist-bumping. Also with couples holding hands and walking out together. The boy's basketball team were getting ready for their game whilst the cheerleaders filled up on water.

I went to my locker and did the combination. I opened it, shut it, and repeated the process. I did this a few times, and ignored the looks from passing students.

Just as I was about to close it, Jack put his hand on the locker door and grabbed it.

"Come on, Lexi. You don't need to do that. Want to spend the night?" Jack asked as he grabbed my book bag. He was careful not to touch the Doctor Who pins and mess then up.

"I need to go to my house to get cloths but yeah." I smiled.

Jack grinned and threw my book bag over his shoulders. He was so nice. Jack always carried my things, and looked out for me; Jack made sure I ate everyday and drank glasses of water. He also protected me from the few bullies our school had, and helped me recover from panic attacks.

We left the building and I took in a sharp breath as cold wind hit my face. Jack smiled and wrapped his scarf around my neck so I wasn't that cold. I smiled and blushed.

So you love him, fag?

Stop it, Maxx. It's cute.

Ugly, ugly, ugly.

He's out to get you.

"Dude we're gonna have a lot of fun! We can take our boards to the store and get snacks and maybe play video games and watch movies!" Jack said.

I forgot about the voices and giggled as Jack rambled on about what we were gonna do. I smiled and ignored the voices.

Coming up on ice, Jack scooped me up and began to carry me. I clutched onto him and laughed.

"I don't want you to slip!" Jack chuckled as he walked over the ice.

In our luck, he fell and I crashed on top of him. Jack laughed with me and wrapped his arms around me as I tried to get up.

"Sorry about that." He smiled as I giggled again.

"It's okay, Jacky." I smiled at him as I helped him up.

I almost slipped again, but Jack caught me and steadied me.

"Let's walk on the road." I said as we stomped through snow. Jack pulled me on his left side so I was away from the road.

I saw him blush and smile to himself as we turned the road to his house. I saw the two story house come in view as we both trotted through the grass to get to the door.

Jack took out his keys and opened the door. It took a few minutes since the lock was frozen over, and Jack's hands were really cold.

The door swung open and warm air rushed out and hit us. We both hurried inside and kicked off our shoes, and hugged ourselves to get warm.

"I'll take the spare car so we can get to your house and the store faster." Jack smiled as he grabbed the keys.

We both put our shoes back on and left.

-------

"Do you have your meds?" My mom asked as I grabbed them from the top of the microwave.

"Now I do."

"Your phone charged?"

"98 percent." I nodded.

"Okay, if you start freaking out call me honey. Love you."

"Love you too." I said and walked outside in the cold again.

The sun was just beginning to set so it was getting a little colder. The cold air nipped through my jacket and went to my skin.

I shivered and opened the car door and quickly shut it so I can get warm. Jack smiled at me sweetly and began to drive off.

------

About thirty bucks later, we were carrying bags of snacks in his house and to his room.

We both discussed Danny's party and decided against it, for I didn't want to deal with people and Jack wanted to stay home.

So we began to play Mortal Combat and eat Cheetos.