a/n:
•so, it's been a long time
•i'm writing this little part because i felt bad that i never told you guys what happened to jason after the whole bunch graduated (remember, he was a junior when they were seniors) and there had been so many people asking for a sequel
•Jason was really a last minute decision of mine, but i grew to love him . . . so without further ado, i present you with a bonus chapter for jason byers
—
~Jason's pov~
I stared at the windshield of my new car, the crappy minivan my mom and dad bought during the summer. I thought over the day ahead of me. Will they make fun of me? Will my friends treat me differently? Will I have to change schools?
'Mikayla,' I thought, turning in my idea of the general direction of New York City, 'why did you have to graduate?' I frowned at the thought of her and Jacob, happy together and out of this little, miserable town.
"You'll be fine," Julie, my little sister, declared. She was a freshman and even she was more confident of the first day than I was.
Last year, on the very last day of school, I ran out of Mr. Martin's class, thanking everything that I will probably never have to see that man again. That thought alone had me happy enough to do the craziest of things . . . which I did. I kissed him. I'm so stupid. Why are you so stupid, Jason? I know you've liked him for the longest, but that doesn't make him gay like you.
I was always the one hearing the gossip from other people, never the other way around. And why now? Why, of all the other years it could have happened to me, in my senior year? The year I was supposed to have fun, and cry because—Dear god applying to colleges and universities is so hard. This was supposed to be my year.
It's your fault, my conscious bit back.
I hadn't even noticed when Julie left my car. I worried for a little before remembering she had gone to orientation with my mom two weeks before summer ended.
I sighed when I read the clock on the dashboard. Half-an-hour before the warning bell rang. Better go get my schedule and see if they changed the combinations to the lockers this year like they did last year. On my way down the hall, I saw a flash of red hair.
Heart stopped. Breathing quickened. Ears reddened.
Almost threw up . . .
There was Erik. Thank goodness he wasn't looking up and instead staring down at his schedule. I'm pretty sure if he saw me, he would run the other way.
Erik Brennor. Erik was a guy I knew since freshman year, Erik was a guy who was my best friend, Eric was the guy who had me realizing I was gay.
Erik was the guy I kissed on the last day of school.
I sighed and shook my head, looking down on my way to the main office to pick up my class schedule. Thankfully though, Erik never looked up once, and when he did the door to the office was already closing, taking him from my view. There was a rather large line, one that didn't have Julie so she must have came earlier than everyone else.
When I had finally gotten to the front of the line and told the lady at the desk my name, Cheryl gave me my schedule and told me we had the same combination as last year with a smile. One friendly smile down, six hundred more to go (like I said, small town).
When I shoved my way out of the office that had gotten more crowded, I looked down at my schedule, hoping I had a free period because I finished all the English classes the school required to graduate. And maybe for art. The art teacher here is really awesome.
I almost did my happy dance when I had exactly what I wished for. My free period was fourth, so I could just leave earlier than most students, and art was my third period. Hallelujah.
Spirits were brought down when I saw my first period was Martin for Math. I felt my shoulders sag and my smile drop. Seeing that man everyday, in the morning when I was still trying to fight off the sleep as he was yelling in my face with that god awful breath of his? . . . Lovely.
Please, I hope you got the sarcasm I said with that.
I looked up when I saw my locker was near, but what had my smile back on my face was when I saw Dezrae, one of my closest friends, waving and grinning at me. Two smiles, five-hundred and ninety-nine to go . . . .
"Dezrae!" I yelled when she came running at me, arms open wide. I caught her, thankfully, when she jumped in my arms. It seemed she still wanted more hugging-time when I let one arm fall because I needed to get to my locker and stuff my things in there. I decided I would carry her the rest of the distance to my locker and if she still didn't let go by then, I would let her go all together. It wasn't like she would hurt herself at five-foot-nine and I at six-foot.
Fortunately, she got the hint when we reached my locker. I opened my locker, combination glued in my memory from last year. The small academy I was in was kind enough to put the books in the lockers of their students (the school was divided in to five groups of students, making the student population look even smaller).
"I'm so sorry," Dezrae said immediately when I closed my locker after grudgingly grabbing my math book.
I furrowed my brows. "About what?" I asked, concern etched in my voice at how serious she was. I began asking myself, Did any family members die this summer?
When I came up with no one, I gave her the same look I gave her before, and she returned it with this Are you stupid? look. "Erik and Jasmine started dating during the summer," she stated hesitantly.
I bit my lip. I hadn't known at all. I was completely anti-social-media this summer. Nothing. There must have been pictures that hinted they were dating, or maybe relationship statuses that said they were but the only socializing I did was with my family.
Just then, Erik turned the corner of the corridor, and instantly our eyes met. That's when I remembered Erik's locker was the one across mine. This was a one story building, full of lockers and no classrooms, so I knew for fact that he was only here to pick up a book.
Ten eternities later, he finally pulled his eyes from mine and turned a corner that led to an exit. Jeez, it couldn't get any more embarrassing.
I turned and gently banged my head against a locker.
* * *
I don't know which one was worse: Having Martin at the beginning of the day, or having Erik in the same class.
When I walked in the class, five minutes early, Martin surprised me by saying a hello, going even further and bewildering me because he remembered my name and pointed me to my assigned seat. I sat down and watched as more kids filled in the class, one by one or by groups. Just a minute before the bell rang, Erik ran in, looking relieved that he made it because Martin made a huge deal when you were late. He was probably almost late because he had to wait for me to leave my locker so he could go to his. I slumped in my seat in hopes that would make him not notice me.
Once everyone was seated, Martin looked at his seating chart, glancing at it then at the seat next to me. Just ten seconds before the bell rang, in walked a gorgeous specimen. The already-quiet class became more silent as they watched him calmly walk in. Obviously, this guy wasn't from around here because he wasn't in a rush to get to this class. That, or he just didn't care.
"Luke Whalum?" Martin asked as the bell rang, looking down at his seating chart again.
'Luke' must have caught on that Martin was serious, I don't think he would have responded with the "Yes, sir" that he did.
"Jason Byers, raise your hand!"
There was an eerie creak as students turned to me when I raised my hand, and I could just feel Erik's eyes burning into me.
"Your seat's next to his," the ex-army man said gruffly before shuffling back over to the front of the classroom.
As Luke walked over to me, I decided to take in his appearance. Khaki skinny jeans, and a black sweatshirt with the name of a band Mikayla liked printed on it, 'The Killers'. He had pale skin that contrasted from his black hair that had a red beanie on top, and the black hair contrasted greatly from his blue eyes.
"Hey," he greeted when he reached the seat.
I opened my mouth to reply when Martin yelled, "Boy, take that hat off!"
Swiftly, Luke pushed the beanie off his head and sat it down on his lap.
"Hi." I paused before asking, "Not from around here are you?"
He shook his head. "No, I live here. I'm just from the private school—is he always such an ass?"
I didn't think of the possibility of him coming from the private school. "Sorry. And, yes, welcome to hell, enjoy your stay for the rest of the school year."
He leaned back in his chair. "Luckily for me, it's only a semester," he said then smiled. When he saw my confused stare, he went on to explaining. "I was supposed to graduate last year but I didn't have enough credits in my math class. My school was going to hold me back, but I found out this school has that program where people who couldn't graduate can earn the credits they need to graduate. The only thing bad about it is I won't be graduating on stage or anything."
"You Deserve It?"
"What?" he asked, confusion sprawled along his face, and a hint of anger.
"The program offered here, that's what it's called," I explained. Honestly, I was scared he was going to take it the wrong way and beat me up because he was that scary. It wasn't my fault the school was so un-creative and gave the program a crappy name, making it sound like I was asking if he deserved to even get a second chance.
"I guess." He shrugged. He stuck his hand out. "Luke Whalum. Don't make fun of my last name or I'll be forced to punch you," he introduced.
I shook his hand slowly. "Jason Byers. Don't ask if I'm Micheal Myers in disguise, 'cause I'm not," I attempted.
He smiled at my lame version of his introduction. "Really, if it were up to me I wouldn't even be here. My sister Madison is the one who convinced me, and if I weren't so desperate to be close to her I wouldn't have agreed."
Madison? Luke . . . ?
"You seem familiar now," I said, thinking hard about where I had seen him.
He shrugged. "You've probably seen me around. Ya know, small town."
I shook my head. I swear I've seen him before. With one more look at his eyes, I remembered I'd seen him at the hospital when I was visiting Mikayla and later realized that he was the Luke she was telling me about the Monday after the party when she went over to visit Madison, a girl Jacob knew.
"What?" Luke asked when he decided I was looking a little too long into his eyes. How could I forget such beautiful eyes?
"You know Mikayla and Jacob?" I asked to make sure.
His eyes widened before recognition took over his face. "Oh, yeah! I have seen you before. You were at the hospital when Mikayla was there . . . . How're her and Jacob?" he asked.
"They went to New York together with some of their friends, they're still together." I thought about the time Mikayla was telling me about Luke and remembered her telling me Jacob and Luke completely disliked each other. "Didn't you not like Jacob?"
He nodded. "Use to. But we got to talking and I apologized to him one time we were at the hospital. I knew I had to be cool with him to be a better brother."
I nodded. I remembered Mikayla telling me he and Madison didn't get along.
* * *
Luke leaned back in his chair again, nodding somewhere behind me. "Ron Weasley keeps looking over at you," he notified. I looked just in time to see Erik just turning his head away from me. Instantly, my spirits dampened a little bit.
"Ron Weasley?" I asked in confusion.
Luke nodded, rubbing his hair. "He's a red head."
A cute one at that.
"I mean, I can't blame him, you're cute." Luke winked.
I felt heat rise to my neck and cheeks. Bewildered, I began, "Wha—"
Just as the bell rang, Luke replied. "I didn't know for sure, but you just confirmed." And without anything else, he swung his backpack over his shoulder and was one of the first ones to leave the classroom.
Okay, I thought, maybe first period won't be so bad after all.
-
Posted: Oct. 24, 2015g
a/n:
•hehe, i made luke bi
•follow me on instagram (shutupdehlia) for news and more
•don't you worry, THE SPINOFF IS CALLED HAPPY AGAIN