{Chapter song> Dear True Love by Sleeping at Last}
Dear true love,
I'm a writer without any words,
I'm a story that nobody heard
When I'm without you.
I am a voice,
I am a voice without any sound.
I'm a treasure map that nobody found
When I'm without you.
Dear true love,
I'm a lantern without any light,
I'm a boxer much too afraid to fight
When I'm without you.
Dear true love,
I'm an artist without any paint,
I'm the deal that everyone breaks
When I'm without you.
I am a whisper,
I'm a secret that nobody keeps.
I'm a dreamer of someone else's dreams
When I'm without you.
Dear true love,
I'm a farewell that came all too soon.
I'm a hand-me-down that dreams of being new
When I'm without you.
* * *
Slipping on her favorite pair of blue denim overalls, Julie was ready to tackle the day. She wasn't exactly sure how it would go and that was something exciting for her. Normally school seemed boring and everything seemed exactly the same as the day before. Every class was dreary and long, weekdays dragging on and on.
The popular girls would walk by in bunches, their faces caked with makeup, their phones in hand, the brand name clothing they wore exactly identical.
Then there were the jocks, usally showoffs, the bookworms, the sport divas, the hipsters and of course the loners. They all always had their friends by their sides, even the ones who didn't seem to have any. All Julie had was Jack.
It had seemed like all she had ever needed was Jack. She hadn't needed girlfriends who talked about clothes and boys, she'd just needed someone who would listen to her. Someone who was real. And it just so happened that it was Jack.
As she walked to school, she lifted her head to see the familiar face framed with golden curls waiting patiently for her at their usual spot. He saw her and gave her that small, timid smile that she had grown to love.
Jack didn't smile enough, she thought. Especially not lately with everything that was going on with his parents. Julie didn't push him too hard about that. She could see that he didn't really fancy talking about it.
She kept walking and he easily stepped into stride with her, re-adjusting that old jean jacket of his that he always wore. Her mother always joked that Jack and Julie could easily be fraternal twins, Julie with her overalls and Jack with his jacket.
The walk was quiter than usual but Julie didn't mind much. They communicated well enough in the smiles and sighs they exchanged. Then something caught Julie's curiousity. Like something always caught Julie's curiosity.
"Hey Jack... do you have anything new to show me?"
She glanced over at him eargerly and he blushed, looking down quite quickly before meeting her eyes again.
"Umm.. Yeah. Do.. did you want to, umm, look at it?" he cleared his throat.
"Of course! Can you do lunch?" she asked
"Um sure." he said, scratching the back of his neck nervously.
"Great," she said "Glad that's settled."
They arrived at the doors to school and said their goodbyes, promising to see each other at lunch. As she walked down the hallways, Julie was literally bouncing on the balls of her feet. It wasn't just that she was going to see Jack at lunch (that was pretty normal) but the fact that the guy that sat beside her in photography class would most likely show up today. And she had photography first period.
Julie entered class and her eyes immediately to the seat next to hers. It was empty. She was admittedly pretty dissapointed, and didn't realize that she had sighed quite loudly in the remote silence of the classroom. Grabbing her seat and swinging her binder on to her desk, she whipped out her phone and immediatedly texted Jack.
Julie: Hot photography boy has not yet entered the scene. Will keep you updated on possible changes.
Jack: What if he's not here today?
Julie: He's got to be here.
Jack: Oh no. Jules, don't you dare decide to go full out stalker on this poor guy.
Julie: I'm not going to! Seriously Harris. What kind of person do you think I am?
Jack: I dunno. One who gets what she wants?
Julie: Shut up. Am not.
Jack: We're not arguing this now. I have algebra in two minutes. And I admit that this once, my homework isn't finished.
Julie: OHMYGOODNESS. THAT'S A FIRST.
Julie smirked. Jack never forgot to do his homework. Ever. This was a big accomplishment for him.
Jack: Don't rub it in. I'm not going to let it become a habit.
Julie: Harris! Loosen up a bit! Live a little! This is a step in the right direction!
Jack: For your standards, maybe.
Julie: Oh haha. Wait a second!? RED ALERT! CODE RED! THE HOT PHOTOGRAPHY GUY HAD ENTERED THE PREMISES! I'll have to get back to you on arguing about my philosophy. Right now I must go learn this guy's name, so we can stop calling him, hot photography guy.
Jack: Have fun. See you at lunch! Don't say anything I wouldn't say.
Julie had to laugh at that last one. Jack never said anything to strangers and there wasn't a thing in hell that could stop her from talking to this boy. She was curious. And when ever Julie got curious, there was no way she could stop it from getting the better of her.
She pretended to be looking interestedly at the novel from english class sitting on top of her binder as she heard footsteps to her left. When she was sure he had sat down and was occupied with soemthing else, she tried to quickly sneek a glance at the boy.
She had only first noticed him when he had started to sit beside her in class, which had only been in the last week. Just her luck. She finally gets a cute boy sitting next to her, but there are only like two more classes left. Like seriously, screw seating plans.
It was like in grade two, when she had thought it would be Jack who would sit next to her and it turns out that the name on the board had actually been Jason, not Jackson.
This year, so far she had sat next to one drug addict, one sleeper, two hippies (both who had encouraged her to try various herbal tea blends), a couple loners and finally the guy who she realized she was still staring at. Shit.
Photography boy was tall and lean, with dark messy hair that fell in waves, framing his face. He had paisley blue converses, just like hers and his imitation jean backpack had several buttons pinned on to the fabric, a few of which she actually recognized. He was wearing a t-shirt which bore the design of a sketched postcard, and the old film camera that was sat on the corner of his desk, caught her interest. His lips were pink and lucious, his eyelashes long, and his eyes, very, very green. Also, on sidenote, they were staring directly at her.
She immediately looked away, hating being looked at. Especially by a boy she thought, was probably wondering why she was such a weirdo. She took a deep breath and met his eyes. She would not do what Jack had said and not talk to the boy. For the most part, his advice sucked.
His emerald green irirses were startling and intense, with a hint of something else mixed in.
Wait a minute.
Her eyes immediately narrowed. She knew that look. She saw it in Jack's eyes every two minutes.
His eyes were laughing at her.
Right away, she wanted to smack the smug grin that was now spreading across his perfect lips, completely off his face. She fought the urge.
There was only like a minute till the bell that signaled the start of class, would ring. She decided to take the risk. She needed to walk the walk. She complained to Jack far too often that he ought to put himself out there, and who was she to say that, if she didn't do it herself once in a while.
So she stood up, and slipping her phone into the pocket of her overalls, she walked the two feet to his desk with as much confidence as she could muster. Placing her hands on the top of the boy's desk, she met his emerald eyes for the third time. They were still teasing her. One eyebrow was raised in curiousity and Julie was immediately jealous. Why couldn't she do that? Why, genetics, why?
"So what's your deal?" she said, keeping her tone light and balanced.
The boy leaned back in his chair, pressing a finger to his lips as he gave her a once over.
"Have you always sat beside me?" he asked, completely ignoring her question.
Julie scowled, "Of course not! Where have you been living? The moon? We moved desks last week."
He chuckled, "Okay, I knew that. I'm Charlie. Charlie Wilcox."
Charlie. Charlie Wilcox. She ran the name over a couple times in her mind. Nope, she had never met a Charlie Wilcox before.
"Nice to meet you, Charlie Wilcox. I'm Julie Wilder."
A sliver of recognition appeared on his face and he gave her a smug look.
"Ahh. Julie Wilder, of the famous Wilder brothers. I didn't know they had a sister."
She scowled, "Most people don't"
He laughed again, his eyes twinkling at her as he sat up straight in his desk.
"Well I'm sure you'll live up to my expectations, anyways. What is Marshall majoring in again?"
"Give it a rest, Wilcox."
"Do you always call people by their last names?"
She shot him a very unamused look. "It's a personal preference. I dunno... I call my best friend by his last name."
That raised his eyebrows. "His last name?"
"It's Harris."
"That's not what I meant."
'I know."
"So is he your boyfriend...Or...?"
She could have slapped him right then an there.
"I said bestfriend, not boyfriend, idiot!"
He shot her a dazzling smile which only managed to make her more frustrated.
"Geez.. Why does everyone assume that we are dating?"
He shrugged "Uh, I dunno... Maybe because you said that you were bestfriends with a guy. Most people will take that as a sign that you at least like like the guy in that way.."
"Jackson Harris and I are not together!" she practically yelled out, exactly when the bell rang.
Mr. Finnley, the photography teacher gently encouraged Julie to take a seat, so that class could begin. She walked back to her desk, feeling the entire classes eyes on the back of her head. She could just tell that Charlie Wilcox was smirking at her, without even looking. She immediately took out her phone to text Jack, but that resulted very quickly in it getting confiscated. Honestly, could the day get any worse.
After spending a long and dreary hour in a class that she usually enjoyed, she hopped off to the school library to meet Jack for lunch, managing to avoid Charlie Wilcox as she walked out of the class. Seeing the familiar blue eyes poured over a book at their usual table, she hurried over and snuck up on him quietly, whispering something loudly in his ear.
Jack almost jumped out of his seat before his eyes narrowed at her and his cheeks turned a deep rosy red.
"Oh I hate you." he remarked quietly. "You could have at least texted me to let me know you were coming."
"Oh suck it up, Harris. Besides, my phone got confiscated till the end of the day."
Jack's eyes widened before he sighed, shaking his head at her.
"What? Don't give me that look! I was actually defending myself. And you too, for that matter."
His deep blue eyes were teasing her now.
"Suuuuuuure. What could you possibly needed to say?" he said
"I was talking to the photography guy, Charlie's his name by the way, he's a complete arse, and he thought we were dating."
"Oh." Jack's voice was small and constricted, he blushed and went to scratch the back of his neck again.
Then a farmiliar voice chirped in. "Aren't you?"
It was Lucy, the librarian. Her old, wiry silouhette appearing over their shoulders, her eyes teasing.
" Me and Jack, Luce? Come on. That would be practically incest."
Jack was nodding silently beside her which was odd because Lucy was one of the only people Jack wasn't afraid to talk to. Julie watched as Lucy exchanged a knowing glance with him, and wondered what that was about. She sighed and raised her hands dramatically.
"This is what? The third time today I've been asked? I mean, seriously Jack. Do you think we ought to invest in some t-shirts? Specifically ones that say and I quote exactly: No, Jack and Julie are not dating. They'd appreciate it if you'd stop asking."