A/N: Lyric credit goes to Panic! At The Disco, song in the side.
Jack P.O.V.
Now I'm of consenting age to be forgetting you in a cabaret
Somewhere downtown where a burlesque queen may even ask my name
As she sheds her skin on stage
I'm seated and sweating to a dance song on the club's P.A.
The strip joint veteran sits two away
Smirking between dignified sips of his dignified peach and lime daiquiri
Brendon Urie's singing voice started blasting out my phone and without moving the rest of my body, I threw an arm out to the side and yanked my phone off charge and silenced it. I peeked at the time and sighed, realising I wasn't going to get the pleasure of going back to sleep for another half an hour or so since I had slept through my earlier alarms. It had to be said that I was a deep sleeper but almost always my last alarm that screamed at me at 8am on weekdays wakes me up, but on weekends, the hour doesn't exist and my days begin at 1pm earliest if I find the energy to get out of bed.
I threw the duvet off me and walked over to the speakers and turned on some music to make me more alert. It was a routine since I didn't have anyone to do it for me — I was an only child and my parents practically lived at work, appearing in the evenings where they would usually shower me with money and gifts that I didn't need. In a lot of ways it felt like I lived alone, but I hardly cared since I usually had friends round after school and went out on weekends. I hated being lonely, and my huge number of friends proved it.
I put on my school uniform and brushed out my hair, wanting to look good since it was the first day back since the Christmas holidays. It was Wednesday 7th January and I was hating myself for the terrible sleeping pattern I had adapted over the few weeks we had off school since I was now exhausted after falling asleep at 4am.
4 hours later falling asleep I was stumbling downstairs with the polo shirt on which had the school's logo that looked something like a tree embroidered on it and it was layered with my own hoodie to keep me warm in the freezing month. I had my usual bowl of cereal and grabbed my bag from the utility room where I had dumped it somewhere in the middle of the previous December and hadn't been touched since. I threw out loose sheets of paper and forgotten undone homework and set off to school, the time now nearing 8:15am.
I only lived a 5 minute walk away from school, but I always left early because I didn't want to be late. My attendance and punctuality was near perfect, which was probably unusual for boy of my type at 14. I wasn't a huge fan of school and learning, but I kept my good report, since according to my parents that I hardly saw, employers and universities like that kind of quality in someone.
I always avoided the university topic if I could but when it was brought up at the dinner table and I was being stared down by parents about what I wanted to do, I would feel pressured to say something that required intelligence and got good pay in return and would mumble something about being a lawyer or a doctor and that I hadn't quite made up my mind. Then they would say something along the lines of me getting into Cambridge or Oxford University and I would just keep my head down, biting my tongue as hard as I could so I wouldn't laugh. I didn't want to be a lawyer or a doctor or anything boring, I wanted to do something that was creative like film-making or directing, but they would never approve.
A lot of the time I felt I was forced to be someone I wasn't, the power and expectations of my parents forever looming in my choices and the back of my mind and taking place in conscious often. I didn't want to go against they said and be different from their ideal perfect son, so I played football and worked hard at school, getting trophies in sports and high grades in tests with plenty of guy friends and crushes on girls.
I didn't want to be abnormal — or a freak, in that matter — and did other stereotypical boy things like playing video games and watching TV, sometimes arguing with parents and staying out late. But I suppose as no one was getting hurt apart from my inner self that didn't matter to anyone else, I was perfectly okay and normal apart from maybe having a smarter side to me.
The school gates make it look like I'm going to hell, I thought to myself as the black iron railings towered above me, making them look somewhat intimidating.
"Jack!" I lifted my head up and smirked at Cory who was running towards me. He was a scrawny kid, average student, nothing remotely interesting about him apart from that he seemed to want to be friends with everyone. He hadn't gone past my acquaintance boundaries yet despite his efforts, but he was good at conversation if I ever felt the need of discussion, however unfortunately for his talkative characteristic that could get on my nerves, I wasn't in the mood and aimed to get out of his presence as fast as I could without offending him.
I tried to stay in everyone's good books since I learned from primary school that having enemies wasn't a particularly good thing. I didn't have to work very hard to achieve people's respect since everybody seemed to want to be friends with me anyway, but there were the odd one or two people now and then who disliked me for no reason whatsoever, but I settled on the fact you couldn't make everyone like you.
"Hey Cory, have you seen Felix?" Felix was one of my closer friends, but I would never consider anyone to be my best friend. I didn't see the point in them, and the whole idea of someone apparently knowing more about me than I did weirded me out. I also enjoyed having secrets about myself, it made me appear just that bit more mysterious.
I didn't always like people who put everything about them on show and talked about themselves 24/7, I enjoyed figuring people out for myself and unlocking all their movements and reading in between the lines of their personality to find out what makes them tick. Humans were fascinating really, I could never get enough of them. The fact they were all different and unique with their own ideas and history would never bore me.
If I got the chance to in lessons, I would try and talk to some of the quieter classmates that sat alone and hardly ever spoke unless they needed to. These were more complex and interesting people, because I got the sense they spent more time with their thoughts than any of the rowdy people I secretly couldn't stand. One of my most recent studies in English class saw the world in a completely light than I did, making me reconsider my own attitude to life.
"Felix is with Cayden, can I-?"
"Thanks Core, see you later!" I stalked off inside the school building, smiling at the familiar faces of classmates I knew and smiling at others who were in younger years. I was in Year 9, an older year group, but still not quite. The Year 10s and 11s scowled at everyone who weren't their friends and walked around like they owned the place, whereas the Year 7s who were the youngest in the school, and always acted scared and timid, but you couldn't always see them with their backpacks that looked like they were made to pack their entire house contents.
It took a couple of minutes searching when I realised I didn't actually know where Felix and Cayden were and that Cory was the most unhelpful person ever. I gave up looking and went to form and found Fraser standing outside playing on his phone, looking bored.
"Hey Fraser!" He looked up and grinned at me, giving his full attention as I stood next to him.
"Jack, I hear we've got a new kid."
"What? Another one? Have you seen them?"
"Yeah, he's really short, bit of an emo."
"Sounds like a fag," Felix piped up out of nowhere and stood next to me.
"Yeah, he really sounds like a cigarette," I said rolling my eyes. I hated judgemental people and wouldn't base someone off what I had heard.
"Jack, you know what I meant you idiot," Felix hit my playfully and I laughed before going into the classroom and sat in my usual seat in the back where I could observe everyone, closely followed by Fraser and Felix.
A girl taller than most smiled at me from across the room but I hardly noticed as I kept my eyes on the door and watched as other students poured in.
"Jack! She totally likes you!" Fraser nudged me and when I looked at him I could see he seemed fairly annoyed that I hadn't been participating in their conversation. I looked in direction where he had jerked his head and gave a one-sided smile to the blonde who giggled and flushed a deep shade of red. She was pretty, but not really my type.
"Eh," I replied.
"'Eh'? What do you mean 'eh'?!"
"I don't like her."
"Why not? She's hot!"
"There's more to someone than just looks Fraser," I couldn't understand why no one else seemed to know that. Sure, she was good looking, but she could also be the most boring person alive. I would prefer to spend hours having an easy conversation about the wonders of the world with someone than drool over someone's appearance.
"What? Are you gay?"
"No!"
"Whatever," he mumbled as our teacher came in and started taking the register. Time dragged as Fraser was giving me the silent treatment and Felix was too focused on staring at a girl who he apparently considered attractive. I put my head on the desk and sighed.
This was going to be a very long day.