Flesh & Bone

“You should really return that, he might realize it's missing.”

Jocelyn heard Jack say from next to her but, she wasn't really paying any attention. She was staring at the notebook all night. How was she going to return it anyway? It was too late now. There was no way of going back into that house.

“Well, I can't now. It's fine, Jack. I don't know why you're completely mental about it,” laughed Jocelyn nervously. The movie had flicked to the credits and Jack just shook his head as he got up to eject the DVD.

The movie wasn't as terrifying as she thought it would have been. Her mind was on other things anyway. She moved her eyes from the notebook to Jack as he out the disc back in it's case and set it on the shelf. The room had suddenly become dark as Jack turned off the TV.

“So, now what?” Jack questioned as he made his way to the couch and sat down Indian style. Jocelyn's eyes again returned to the notebook. She sighed heavily. Should she just forget about the notebook? Was it worth the trouble? Her shoulders shrugged.

“Something to get my mind on something else...” her words trailed off as she looked down at her hands. Jack sat awkwardly next to her, shifting his weight from one side to another. Jocelyn started biting her lip. The awkward silence had crept in unexpectedly and was weighing down the room.

Jack suddenly stood up and held out his hand. “Come on, get's see if we can get try to play MarioKart again,” he smiled wide and Jocelyn's lips curled into a smile and took his hand, the awkwardness had lifted out of the room.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

The weekend had flown by and as soon as Jocelyn knew it, it was Monday. Her alarm blared from beside the bed. She slammed her hand down on the snooze and buried her face deep in her pillow. A few minutes later, her alarm was blaring once again. This time, she turned the alarm off and rolled herself out of bed.

“Fuck,” murmured Jocelyn as she stretched her arms over her head. She was started gathering her clothes for the shower when she stumbled across the little pink notebook again. Why was it bothering her so much? She tossed it aside and continued to pick out her clothes for the day.

After showering and getting ready for the school day, Jocelyn made her way down to the kitchen. Her dad was sitting at the table, drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper.

“Mornan', kid,” he spoke without looking up from his paper. Jocelyn just nodded and went straight for the cabinet. She made herself a bowl of cereal and sat across the table from her dad. The silence was always there between Jocelyn and her dad, ever since her mom left a few years ago. Their relationship grew stronger after that because they needed each other.

Jocelyn thought about her mother a lot, wondered were she was and if she ever thought about them. Her family was in a bad place and the only way her mother knew how to cope was to just run away. It was the most selfish and cowardly way to fix a problem. Jocelyn will never forgive her for abruptly getting up and leaving.

Once she was finished with her cereal, Jocelyn put the bowl in the sink and headed toward the living room to retrieve her messenger bag. If she didn't hurry up, she'd miss the bus. Before heading out the door, she yelled a “goodbye” to her dad and started to walk to the bus stop. Fortunately, she got there early and nobody was around.

Jocelyn rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, waiting for the arrival of the bus. There came a tap on her right shoulder, she froze. Who the hell... She turned around to find no one, nothing. Sighing, she turned back around and there stood a too perky Jack. Jocelyn jumped and her mouth gave a small yelp.

“What the FUCK,” yelled Jocelyn, pushing Jack a little, making him wobble. His mouth curled into a satisfying smile.

“Did I scare you?” he teased her, pushing her back. She gave him a death glare and she crossed her arms. Nodding, she pushed her bottom lip into a pout.

“What are you doing here anyway? Don't you get driven to school?” Jocelyn asked suspiciously with her arms still crossed. Jack's smile grew wider.

“Not today, my mom had to go to an appointment. Lucky me, I get to ride the bus with Miss Jocelyn Wanor today.”

Jocelyn grinned and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, “Get ready for one crazy bus ride, then.”

Just then, in coincidence, the bus rolled up to the stop. Jocelyn looked around and noticed only one student was standing with them. The kid climbed up the bus stairs first. Unwrapping her arm from Jack's shoulder, Jocelyn climbed inside the bus, Jack trailing along behind her.

The bus wasn't pack as it is on most Mondays. The seats hold 3 people per seat and today there were only one student in every other seat. Jocelyn found the nearest seat and sat down. Jack slid in next to her.

“I'm guessing everybody caught something, nobody's here...” Jocelyn mentioned, laying her messenger bag in her lap. Jack flung his bag around to lay on his lap but, flung it too hard and hit Jocelyn straight in the chest.

“OW! What the fuck!” she screeched, rubbing her chest. It started like a really quiet snicker then a hardy laugh erupted from Jack's chest. Jocelyn's face turned from a stern look into a smile and light giggles had escaped from her mouth. She leaned into him as she started to laugh harder. Wiping tears from her eyes, she sat back up and bit her lip to hold back the laughter. Jack's died down too, again to a soft chuckle.

Jocelyn shook her head and punched him playfully on the arm. “You're alright, ya know?”

“Thanks,” Jack simply replied, with a small grin on his face.

Jocelyn smiled back at him then slumped her head against the window to look outside. The fields seemed to stretch on for miles, making it seem like that's all there was. Until they neared the school and it suddenly became a twisted jungle. The bus rolled up to the school and stopped, opening up the doors. Jack slid out of the seat to let Jocelyn out first, she did, then he walked closely behind her.

The pair entered the school together, then before spitting up, they both stopped in the middle of the hallway and quickly they both said goodbye. Jack stood there awkwardly, for a second then unexpectedly he embraced Jocelyn's shoulders tightly. Wrapping her arms around his skinny torso, she took in his scent and smiled into his chest. They both let go and took a step back.

“Uh, see you at lunch then?” Jack asked, scratching the back of his neck.

“Yeah,” breathed Jocelyn as she bit the bottom of her lip.

“Cool.”

They both nodded then turned away from each other at the same time. As she walked away, Jocelyn turned her head back around and her heart leapt as her eyes met Jack's. She looked away bashfully and continued walking to her first class.

The next few classes went by and Jocelyn found herself walking into her US History class. This was the first time she's seen his since she stole the notebook. As she walked in, she noticed it was already packed. Glancing around the room, she froze in horror. The only seat that was left was right next to the devil himself.

Puffing air out from her lungs, she made her way to the back of the class. She cautiously sat down and placed her things next to her on the floor. Jocelyn tried to distract herself but, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alex realize who was sitting next to him.

“Hey dollface,” she heard Alex's snicker in his voice.

“What do you want?” Jocelyn stared straight at him. All memories of the notebook had vanished from her memory. Alex gave her a dirty glare and opened his mouth to say something, then stopped. His attention snapped to the teacher as he slammed the door with a loud bang and entered the room.

“Hello, kiddos. Guess what? I've decided to give you guys a partner project,” he announced happily. The room started buzzing and all the students talked about pairing up with each other. But, they were interrupted.

“However, I will be assigning the pairs.”

The whole room let out a big groan. Jocelyn's heart stopped, Do not pair me with Alex, please. Mr. Dominick started reading down the list of names he had in front of him, pairing up people while taking attendance. As the names seemed to dwindle, Jocelyn's heart rate sped up in pace as her name wasn't called. Then, there were only two names left to be called.

“Oh, so that leaves Mr. Gaskarth and Miss Wanor,” beamed Mr. Dominick at the front of the room. Jocelyn's hands clenched into fists as she turned her head towards Alex. The deviant smile on his face told Jocelyn that he couldn't wait to work with her. Mr. Dominick went on to explain the projects.

Fortunately, Alex didn't bother her much during the rest of the class period, but she thought he was just saving the fun for when they were going to work together. The bell rang and Jocelyn stood up quickly and grabbed her things, avoiding Alex completely. She knew she couldn't do this for long, they had a project to do.

Before she could enter the cafeteria for lunch, she found herself being tackled to the ground. She let out a groan to find Jack on top of her.

“Excuse me, what the hell was that?” she huffed, pushing him off of her and getting to her feet.

“I was just excited to see you,” Jack said, still on the ground and smiling brightly up at her. Jocelyn shook her head with a smile that twitched at her lips and held out her hand to help him up. He accepted it by placing his hand in hers and she pulled him to his feet.

“Let's go get our table, I have some not-so-exciting news to tell you,” Jocelyn admitted, getting a curious look from Jack.

“What happened?”

“You'll find out, come on,” said Jocelyn, linking her arm with Jack's. They walked down the steps of the cafeteria and headed toward their table. Nick was sitting at their usual table, already chowing down on his food. Jocelyn unlinked their arms and sat down next to Nick, and Jack then occupied the seat next to her.

“So, listen,” she started, making Nick look up from the taco he was eating. “We have to do this dumb partner project for US History and guess who was the lucky person to get paired with you-know-who?”

“Fuck, are you serious?” Nick commented after almost choking on his taco. Jocelyn nodded and her chest gave a sigh. Her attention turned to Jack.

“You should blackmail him or something. Since you're gonna be in his house or whatever,” suggested Jack with a devilish grin on his face. She shook her head and laughed a little.

Her thoughts turned back to the notebook. Should she reveal to Alex that she took it? No, that wouldn't be a very ideal thing to do. But maybe being his partner for this project was a semi-good thing. She needed to find out what it meant and she had to make him tell her without him knowing she knew anything.