Flesh & Bone

Jocelyn sat with her head down on the desk, avoiding the teacher's lecture. It had been two years since Alex had turned into the biggest asshole. Over the past two years, Alex had given her hell. And she had given it back. Since senior year was coming up next year, she was excited to get far away from him.

Alex was sitting in the far corner of the room, quietly whispering to some of his friends. Jocelyn lifted her head off of the desk and shot a quick glance back at him. Once their eyes had met, he gave her a smirk and she knew that he was whispering about her. Most of the time he'd call her names, push, and shove her. Harmless physically, but hurtful emotionally.

She turned her attention back to the teacher, ignoring Alex and his glares. Mr. Dominic was explaining to the inattentive class about the tortures the Nazi's committed on the Jews. Something Jocelyn wasn't really interested in. Really, the only torture she wanted to not endure anymore is the torture from Alex at this moment.

The bell rang abruptly and Jocelyn bolted out of her seat and out of the classroom, making sure to escape Alex and his friends. It was now lunchtime, therefore she headed toward the cafeteria. She sat down at her normal seat, the small round table near the window. However this time, her friend, Nick had a seat next her. As she sat her stuff down she smiled over at him.

Nick was average height and had jet black hair. His blue eyes could pierce ice daggers right into your skin. And even though he was a baseball player, he wasn't all that muscular.

“How was US History with Mr. Douche?” Nick questioned Jocelyn as he snorted a chuckle. Jocelyn rolled her eyes as she sat down.

“Like always. He gives me glares, whispering about me, et cetera,” she said, playing around with a string that hung from her bag. She just wasn't certain why Alex started acting the way he did. He got mixed up in the “bad” crowd. You know, where the kids do drugs, drink, and do mischievous activities that would get them in trouble with the law.

Jocelyn sighed a long, heavy sigh and looked over at the table where Alex sat. She didn't know why he had turned into such a prick. But it had happened and it's not like she could stop it. Actually, she had tried to talk to him about it last year, but he had just ignored her and shoved past her. She knew she couldn't get the answer out of him.

Pulling her lunch box out of her bag, she discovered she had forgot to grab a spoon this morning for her pudding. “Hey, I'm going to go get a spoon,” she called to Nick as she got up from the table. She walked over to the island near the entrance of the food line, where the condiments and plasticware were. There were a bunch of people surrounding it as she approached, so she stood with her arms crossed, waiting for the mob to disperse.

“Yo, Wanor,” she heard from behind her. Jocelyn turned her head to see Alex walking up the aisle toward her, giving her a dirty glare and smirking. She gave him a stern look and turned her head back around to the island. Alex shoved right into her as he walked past then he turned around so he was walking backwards. He stopped walking and stood about 10 feet away from her.

“Why don't you answer someone when they call your name?” he snapped, giving a glare in return.

“Maybe because the person who called my name is someone who I refuse to answer to,” Jocelyn spat, dropping her arms so they were by her side and clenching her hands into fists. She stepped towards him, trying to get in his face. She could feel that some kids were staring to realize the tension between her and Alex and began to stare. He gave her a nasty glare and stepped towards her so now their faces were just inches apart.

“Listen, if you don't get out of my face, my fist will be in your face,” Jocelyn snarled, raising one of her fists from her side.

“Woah, woah, hold up,” a voice called from beside them. Jocelyn felt a hand on her shoulder as she was being pushed away from Alex. She sighed from relief as she looked from the hand to the face of one of the aids that patrolled the cafeteria. She didn't feel like getting in a fist fight with Alex today anyway, she served too much time in detention and a lot of suspensions for those.

“Now apologize to each other and walk back to your seats,” the aid said calmly. Jocelyn gave a glare to the aid. Why did she have to apologize to this dick? He was the one that provoked her. She grunted and said a quick sorry to Alex through clenched teeth, not close to meaning it. Alex just stared at her and said sorry, not meaning it either.

As the aid turned his back around, Jocelyn shot up her middle finger at Alex and then walked back to her seat next to Nick. Not really caring to see Alex's reaction. Nick just laughed as she approached him and went back to eating his food.

Jocelyn had finished eating her sandwich when she realized since she got into the argument with Alex, she forgot all about getting a spoon. She got up and walked back to the island.

“Nice, almost fist fight,” a voice chuckled from beside her. She didn't recognized the voice, so she turned her head to see a tall, lanky boy with a blond streaks through his dark hair.

“Uh yeah, quiet impressive. I know,” Jocelyn replied, giving the boy a smile. She grabbed for a spoon and turned towards the boy.

“I'm Jack,” the boy told her, holding out his hand and grinning.

“Jocelyn,” she said with a smile, taking Jack's hand and shaking it.