And the Stars up Above

March 24th, 1986
Mike

”Get out of the way! OUT OF THE WAY!” Mike looked around and found the source of the sound just in time to have it running right in to him. He was pushed over, fell backwards and got the other boy over himself. Their heads were smacked together and books and papers were scattered all over the floor.

“I told you to get out of the way” the boy on top of him muttered.

“Get off of me!” Mike growled “Why the fuck where you running like that anyway?” The boy crawled off of him and said casually;

“Oh, no reason…” He looked down the hall nervously “No reason at all…” He bent down and started picking up his stuff but continued looking around. Mike stumbled to his feet a bit dizzy from hitting his head. He was just about to open his mouth and say something sarcastic when the other boy let out a small yelp and jumped in behind Mike, obviously trying to hide from something. Mike looked down the hall and saw what the boy was trying to hide from, and suddenly he realised why the boy had been running. John and his gang were walking down the hall. People automatically jumped out of their way but John didn’t seem to notice them. He was looking straight towards Mike and the boy behind him.

“But Jassy-boy, why are you running from us? We just want to play!” he said as if he was talking to a five year old. The boy behind Mike squealed and hugged the books he’d picked up tightly. Mike felt the anger rise inside of him; he hated those guys. Absolutely hated. They’d never done anything to him though, but they had to Billie Joe, and when somebody hurt Billie they hurt him too, more than they knew. Everything came back to him in a heartbeat; the nicknames, the beating, the destruction of belongings. Nobody should ever have to endure something like that.

“Leave him alone, John” he said surprisingly calm.

“Well if it isn’t Mr. Rescuer. Get out of the way, moron.”

“No.”

“I said; get out of the fucking way!”

“No.” Mike repeated calmly. “I’m not moving, but you are. Out of this hall and then out of this boy’s life. Got it?” John obviously didn’t get it; he didn’t walk away, he stepped closer.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Mike. Just get out of the way and hand him over.” He nodded towards the boy behind Mike’s back who was looking absolutely terrified. “And we’ll forget that you got yourself involved in this, alright?” They we’re staring into each others eyes, having a speechless battle. Mike wasn’t going to look away.

“John, I think I’m the one to say that I don’t want to hurt you. Remember last time?” Mike raised an eyebrow. “Do you remember that? I’m pretty damn sure that I wasn’t the one who had to go to the nurse that time, now was I?” The determination in John’s eyes slowly disappeared and he hesitated before opening his mouth to answer, his eyes darting from Mike to the boy behind Mike, to his friends, to the rest of the people in the hall and back to Mike again.

“We’ll be leaving for now. My class starts soon.” He turned around and started to walk away but just as the boy behind Mike started to relax he shouted;

“Oh, and Jassy-boy?” he turned around with a pleased smile. “Little Mikey here won’t always be around to protect you, ya know. If I we’re you I’d start watching my back.” And with that he turned around again, walking off with his friends like a tail behind him.

Mike didn’t move until all of them had turned around the corner, then he turned to the boy behind him.

“Are you alright?” he asked, a bit concerned since the boy was still trembling.

“Yeah sure, I’m fine. Absolutely fine…” Mike waited for him to continue, to say thanks or to introduce himself, but it didn’t seem like he was going to.

“So…” Mike said, rather unsure. “My class starts soon so I gotta’ get going.” He picked up the only book from the mess on the floor that was his and started to walk away. Just as he was about to turn around the corner he heard;

“Wait! Hey, Mike, wait up!” the boy came running after him and started walking beside him. “I jus-“

“How do you know my name?” Mike cut him off. The boy looked at him as if he was from another planet.

“‘I don’t want to hurt you, Mike.’” he said, impersonating John extremely well. “I’m not deaf you know, I heard him just as well as you did.”

“You did? Damn, I thought my back was soundproof!” Mike chuckled and the boy smiled. “I guess I just kinda forgot about you since you didn’t say anything…” he continued, and yet again the boy looked at him as if he was from another planet, and Mike was starting to feel stupid.

“What’d you expect me to say? ‘Yeah, get the fuck out of here or I’ll have my new friend of two minutes beat the shit out of you!’ I’m not really sure if that would’ve worked, you know.” Mike laughed, he liked this kid.

“What’s your name, kid?” he asked.

“Jason, and I’m not a kid thank-you-very-much. I’m pretty sure I’m just as old as you are.”

“Oh yeah?” Mike said, not believing him. “Then how old are you, kid?”

“Fourteen.” Jason said, putting Mike into shock.

“What? But so am I!” Jason gave him the ‘I told you so’-look. Actually Mike wasn't fourteen yet, he wouldn’t be until May, but he wasn’t going to tell Jason that he was younger than him. Mike eyed him closely and thought that now that he knew, he could see that Jason was short but that there was something about him that actually made him look about fourteen, though he never would have seen it if he hadn’t known he was.

“So, what class do you have now?” Mike asked.

“Math…”

“Sucks”

“You don’t say? Well I better get going or I’ll have detention again.” Jason said, sighted and started to walk away. Mike eyed him closely. This boy was cool, but didn’t seem to have many friends considering the John situation, John only went for those who didn’t have friends or had friends that were likely to leave them. Mike had no idea what John had been thinking of when he decided that Billie Joe was his next victim, but Mike didn’t care, he had made sure that John realised that he had picked the wrong person. Mike would never leave a friend.
He watched Jason as he started moving away from Mike at a faster pace, and Mike quickly made up his mind.

“You can join me for lunch, if you want!”

March 24th, 1986
Jason

Jason started walking away from Mike, feeling those blue eyes burning in his back. He wanted to stay, he wanted to continue to talk to Mike, but something was stopping him. He thought about going back there and just continue from before the “I better get going”. But he didn’t. He couldn’t. He’d seem like a complete moron, wouldn’t he? Besides, he would never be able to be late to a class, he never had, and he had never had detention. He had lied to Mike, to seem cooler. Not that Jason considered detention a cool thing; he was ‘a good boy’, as his mum always used to say. But that didn’t mean that Mike didn’t think it was.
He continued to walk, making sure that his life continued the same way it always had; he being a sap without any friends. Great, he thought as he felt his heart sink, I could just have made a new friend and I blew it. Fan-fucking-tastic. Just as he was about to mentally kick himself he heard Mike’s voice behind him.

“You can join me for lunch, if you want!” Jason stopped in his tracks. His heart started beating faster as he turned around. He could feel a huge smile appearing on his lips, he did the best he could to hide it, to avoid looking like a lunatic. He failed. Completely.
He felt like he had just won a million on the lottery, or like he had saved the world!Or like Mike just saved the world…