Jackson Was Here

Chapter 1- A Sunny Day

It was a sunny day. Bright, warm everything you want in late summer. It made the fact that it was the first day of school bearable for most of the other students. Personally, I’m not a big fan of bright summer days. I had a headache, I was stressed and anxious. Plus I got in trouble for dress code violation. I felt so out of place. But then again, I almost always felt out of place.

I walked out the door of the cafeteria and pulled a rope out of my backpack. Tied a quick noose (I had been practicing) and threw the other end of the rope over a tree. Taking a breath in I slipped the noose over my head and jumped off the bench that I had been standing on. The last thing I heard was a popping noise and then… nothing.

Chapter 2- An Un-Funeral

My eyes open. I see a white ceiling and the tops of some pale blue curtains. I can’t move, I can’t speak. My head hurts. After closer investigation, I realized that I was in a hospital and it all comes rushing back. My throat is sore, thoughts are rushing in my mind. Where am I? Am I dead? Right then I hear a conversation seemingly coming from behind a previously unnoticed door. “I heard that he’s only 16!” “Were do you think his parents are?” “I heard that he got expelled!” just some gossip, and then I realised that they were talking about me. It dawned on me where I was. I could piece together what happened now. It seemed that I was in a hospital room. My thoughts were cut off by the sound of the door opening. “Oh my god he’s awake!” a nurse, who immediately presses a button on her pager. Soon I am instructed to go home.

The next day I get a call telling me that I would be attending a new school, a school “filled with other kids kicked out of school for similar reasons” I didn’t know what the hell that meant but I also didn’t want to talk to the man on the other end for any longer. I just laid down on the couch and watched TV for the rest of the day. Great, expelled on the first day. New record I guess. It was Saturday. I’d been in the hospital for almost a week. Awesome. My parents probably didn’t even know. They left me to live in their old house when I was twelve. I haven’t seen them ever since. Which is fine, I don’t really care.

Chapter 3- The 2nd 1st Day Of School

First day of school, again. Whatever. Not like this will be any different. It’ll be the same as all the other schools I’ve been to. So, there’s really no point to take part in all the hype. We’ve now gotten to the present. I am standing in front of the school, there’s a sign in the front saying “Westborne High School” great. The first place that I’m supposed to go is the counselor's office. Which I obviously won’t do. So instead I take my sweet time walking around the perimeter of the school, being careful not to run into anyone. I’ve already started to map out the schoolyard. It’s something I do at every school, it gets pretty useful sometimes.

As I walk around cliques are easy to identify, the popular girls, the smart kids, the jocks. Basicaly anything you would see in some dumb teen romance movie. I can't stand their superficial conversations, so I put in my headphones and turn on a My Chemical Romance playlist on Spotify. Better I guess. After a few minutes a short boy carrying so many books that I can’t even see his face. I guess he can’t see me either because he immediately bumps into me and drops everything. Reluctantly, I help him pick his stuff up (I’m not heartless).

“Thanks!” he says, “I’m Asher, what’s you're name?” ugggghhhhhhhh, fine “I’m Jackson”. I look him up and down. He has blond hair that you can tell is natural, he’s wearing jeans and a pale blue sweatshirt that is way too big for him. He is thin and almost a foot shorter than me, Asher looks as if he hadn’t eaten for weeks. “We should hang out today!” he says interrupting my evaluation. “Uh sure” crap, what am I saying? “Cool” and he walks toward the lockers. I almost want to go help him put his stuff away, there’s just something about him.

Chapter 4- Asher Williams

I ended up missing the counseling session but went to all of my classes. Then Asher met up with me outside the school’s main doors, truthfully I had been thinking about him a lot. He’s actually kind of adorable. (What is wrong with me?) When he spots me he smiles and waves. I walk over and he grabs my hand and pulls me toward a dark blue car. Inside its clean and almost empty.

“Where are we going?” I ask breaking the silence. He replies quickly with, “my house, if that’s okay of course,” why wouldn't it be? “Sure” I say. After a few minutes of awkward silence in his car, we reach his house. It is pale yellow with a bright blue door. When he unlocks the door, it looks nothing like what I imagined. It was, in short, messy. Asher frowned when he saw and without saying anything took me up the stairs to his room. It was hard to believe that i was still in the same house. It was almost empty and completely white. He sat down on his bed and smiled at me. “Come sit down with me” so I walk over and hesitantly sit down. After having a brief conversation he stands up to get some water. After some brief awkward conversations I head home.

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