Running From Lions

It was the first day of senior year, and Alex Gaskarth was definitely not prepared for this.
He woke up in the morning with his alarm clock ringing in his ears. “Where the fuck did summer go?” He grumbled to himself as he trudged out of bed. Wasn’t it only yesterday when Alex and his friends were sitting beside Jack’s pool, sharing a case of beer and listening to music? Where had the time gone? He yawned and began to get dressed. He walked to his dresser, carefully selecting a back-to-school outfit. It was only September so the weather was still chilly in Baltimore, Maryland. He reached for a red long-sleeved shirt and a pair of ripped up black skinny jeans, his favorite. He smiled and made his way to the bathroom so that he could begin the long process of styling his perfect hair.
After eating breakfast and packing his lunch, Alex took his cell phone out and gave Jack a call
“Hey man!” He said smiling over the phone. Thoughts towards Jack continued to build up as the summer ended, no matter how much time was spent talking about girls, Alex just couldn’t shake the feeling of want towards his best friend. He tried day after day to leave it alone, but something inside of him just kept reaching out for more… more of Jack.
“Hey loser” Jack chimed back “Where you at?”
“Just about to leave” Alex said closing the door behind him “are you walking?”
“Yup, we should be getting there at the exact same time.”
“Cool” Alex said into the phone “Meet you at the usual spot?”
“Duh” Jack echoed. “Catcha in a bit!” And with that the line was dead.
Alex shoved his phone into his pocket and walked his way up the street, once he was at school he found his best friend sitting at their normal picnic table, right outside the music room.
“Lexxy!” Jack called, running to his best friend and hugging him as if they hadn’t spent the last week together.
“Hey Jack” Alex blushed pulling away from his best friend and running his hands through his perfectly styled hair.
“How are you?” He asked as the two boys sat down together on opposite sides of the table.
“great” Jack smiled. “ Rumour has it, we have a few Swedish exchange babes coming this year” He raised his eye brows up and down quickly.
Alex couldn’t help but notice how his best friend was dressed, he was tall and lanky for his age but he almost looked… sexy in the long sleeved blue shirt he was wearing.
‘sexy!?’ Alex screamed at himself from inside. ‘you did not just refer to Jack Barakat as sexy. You need to calm the fuck down.’ He sighed heavily and closed his eyes.
“You okay man?” Jack questioned his weary friend. Alex’s eyes shot open.
“Yep” he said “wonderful, great, fanfuckingtastic, hmm is Tay here today?” He said to Jack, trying to change the subject from his well-being.
“Yeah I passed by her on the way in… she looked… interesting.”
“Interesting?” Alex questioned the younger boy.
“Yeah she… did something to her hair, never mind, you’ll see it in homeroom. Hey there’s Rian and Zackky” Jack nodded towards the two other boys who were approaching the table.
“Morning boys!” Rian smiled, showing off his pearly whites “How are we today?” Rian plunked himself down beside Jack and Zack took his usual spot beside Alex. The boys all high-fived each other, happy to be back at school. Seeing one-another was the best start to everyday. They chatted amongst themselves, Alex keeping quiet to himself, trying not to pay too much attention to Jack, in fear that the other boys might noticed.

Almost a half an hour later and the 9:00 bell rang off, giving the boys a five minute notice to get to their homeroom. Jack and Alex always had homeroom together, along with Tay and a few other friends they had grown up with throughout high school. No matter what, throughout the four years of high school, homeroom always stayed the same. The two boys walked into the room and made their way to the usual spots in the back of the class. Other students chattered around them then suddenly the sound of heels thwacking the ground, entered the room. Alex looked up to see Tay Jardine. She was wearing bright yellow skinny jeans which made her thighs look like giant high-liters. On top she wore a blue hoodie. Her feet were topped off with shiny red heels. Alex muffled a laugh when she entered the room, shooting him a death glare. Her hair was the same deep chocolate brown color, but today it was highlighted with streaks of blonde.
“Only the Jack master can pull off the black and blonde” Jack smiled sarcastically and snorted a laugh.
Alex burst out in giggles and tried not to be obvious about what he thought of Tay’s recent appearance, but she could hear the boys from the front of the room.
“Oh shut up” She directed at them. Stella and Maria followed behind the queen bee quickly and they all took their places at the front of the room.
Alex and Jack just gave each other funny looks and burst out laughing again. Alex thought to himself, what an amazing way to start the year.

“Alright kids” Mr. Smith walked in the classroom and took his place at the front of the room, leaning on his desk. “You know the drill. This is your last year so you better wise up and get all your work done in your classes, or else you’ll be hearing from me.” He directed the last sentence towards Jack.
“Oh come on Mr.S!” Jack cried out. “You know I’m a perfect angel.” Jack batted his eyelashes sarcastically.
Mr. Smith had always been Alex’s favorite teacher. Along with homeroom, he also taught various music lessons at Baltimore High. He was the first one to ever teach Alex to play guitar, and for that, he adored him.
“Oh I know Mr.Barakat, I expect to see some amazing effort from you this year” Mr. Smith sighed.
“Now if you’ll all pay attention for a few more minutes, I have your class schedules all here. So when I call your name please come grab them! Then when the bell goes you’re welcome to get going. Remember, all sessions only last for twenty minutes today. Just a short intro to each class and then you’re free to go.”
“No lunch?” a boy from the second row asked.
“No lunch, not today kiddos!” He said smiling at the classroom in front of him. He began calling names slowly one by one, Jack was one of the first.
“Thanks Mr.S!” Jack called out as he grabbed the papers from his hands, he didn’t leave the class right away though, he waited with Alex until his name was called a few short seconds later. The two boys took their schedules and walked to their regular lockers. Lockers were always kept the same through the four years of high school. Alex’s was next to Jack’s who was next to Rian’s who was next to Zack’s, it all worked perfectly.

“What have you got this semester?” Jack asked Alex, grabbing the older boys papers from his hands.
“English… Music….Math…and History?” He checked over his own schedule.
“Awesome dude, we have Music, and history together.” Alex smiled at his best friend. Almost every year they had music classes together, that’s where the band had begun, anyhow.
Rian walked up to his friends, Zack trailing shortly behind.
“Hey guys!” He smiled, placing his hands on his friends shoulders. “Bio, Chem, Law and History!” He said quickly.
“AWESOME” Jack said “We have history and Bio together.” Jack high fived Rian, “Alex is in our history class, also” He smiled at his best friend.
“Sick!” Rian fist pumped “And you know what makes that even better? Zack has it too!”
“No fucking way!” Jack wrapped his arms around Zack, giving him an overly tight bear hug. “Fucking greatest way to end a day” He smiled. “Hey Zackky what have you got?” He asked his friend.
“English, Math, Law and then History” He grinned at his friends. Zack, along with Rian, we’re into taking heavier classes, unlike Jack who’s schedule included: Phys Ed, Music, Art and History. Jack wouldn’t admit it to anyone other than Alex, but he loved to paint. Other than music, it was one of Jacks passions in life. He found it strangely calming for him, taking the brush into his hands, he could create anything he wanted. It was kind of the same pleasure he gained from guitar.
Well Alex sighed heavily. “I guess I’ve got to go off to English, Jack I’ll see you in music! And then I’ll see you boys in History. He nodded at his friends and then made his way down the hallway, happier than ever.

As soon as Alex walked into his English class a high-pitched squealing rose from the room.
“LEXYY!” Cassadee Pope screamed, running at Alex and jumping on him.
“Cass!” He yelled out. He pulled her into a hug that lasted for quite a long time. He hadn’t seen her all summer, even after he arrived home, Cassadee had been on tour with her own band, Hey Monday. They were slightly more popular than All Time Low, they had just escaped the garage-band scene, and were making their way to finding a label to sign them onto. They had been touring the states, playing at different coffee shops and small bars. It was pretty low-class, but Cassadee loved it.
“I have missed you so much!” The short girl said. She was wearing dark navy skinny jeans and a red short sleeved top. She looked lovely, her hair was cut to a shorter length than when Alex had last seen her, and she had put a few blonde streaks underneath, it looked much nicer than Tay’s new style.
“You look awesome” Alex commented, looking her up and down.
“I could say the same thing to you!” She said, she noticed that Alex looked much happier than he had before when she left to go on tour.
“So I guess we should find seats…” She said looking around the class, it was filling up quickly with kids. Some new faces, some old, Alex didn’t care much about who was in his class now that Cassadee was with him. He took her by the arm and dragged her to the back of the classroom where they sat down next to each other. Suddenly Alex felt a change in the room, he looked up and sure enough, Tay Jardine was hobbling in on her four inch heels. She glared at Alex and took a place in the front of the room as she always did.
“Ouch,” Cassadee whispered. “What a death glare that was” Alex just laughed and shook his head.
“She’s a bitch” he shrugged. “And I am so sick of seeing her face everywhere I turn.” He grimaced.
Cassadee placed her hand on top of Alex’s
“Don’t you worry your pretty little mind, she’ll lay off of you soon enough, anyways this whole thing is her problem… if she hadn’t gone off and…” Cassadee paused when she noticed the slight frown on Alex’s face. “Well, you know the story” She sighed. “Is she why you went to L.A? Ri would never tell me..” she trailed off. Alex laughed, what a good friend Rian was.
“Yeah” He said slowly “Mum wanted me to stay away from here, after… well I just got really bad eventually and I couldn’t deal with the stress anymore. You know? I just needed a getaway.”
“I got it” Cassadee nodded. “Totally understand.” She smiled and blinked her eyelashes at the boy.
Just then, their English teacher walked in. She introduced herself as “Mrs.Heron” and began Introduction to English 12.

Jack walked into his music class with a big smile on his face. This was his favorite class of the day. This very classroom had started his inspiration to form a band. He found Alex sitting in a chair behind a music stand right away, plucking at one of the schools old acoustic guitars.
“Damn” Jack said “don’t you wish you brought your own?” He laughed while watching Alex struggle to pluck at the nylon strings.
“I fucking hate these things” Alex grumbled, placing it on the floor beside him. He high-fived his best friend. “How was P.E?” He asked. Jack shrugged
“Same as always” He said. “But I might drop it, its so lame this year, we’re doing all the same stuff as last year. Maybe I could switch into your English class? I have to take it next semester anyways.” Alex nodded immediately.
“That would be sick!” He cried out, almost too enthusiastically. “Cassadee is in that class… Tay too, but we just sit at the back and make fun of her.” Jack smiled at that thought.
“Good old Cass” He said “I saw her this morning, she missed us a lot.” He sighed happily. Cassadee had always been one of the guy, always friendly and hanging around for band rehearsals, she had always just been like another guy friend to Zack, Jack and Alex… but not to Rian. Oh No, Rian and Cassadee had been together since freshmen year when he first laid eyes on her at an assembly. Because of her beautiful voice, she had been asked to sing the national anthem. Rian was shy at first, but after hearing her performance, he fell in love. After the assembly he rushed to find her, talk to her, and It had been history ever since.
“Alright” Jack nodded “I think I’ll do that, It would be better that way anyways.” He gave a sly smile to his friend, as if there was hidden meaning behind his sentence. Alex just ignored it and focused his attention to Mr.Smith who was now standing at the front of the music room.

“Alright” He said slowly. “Now this is a smaller class as you guys can see, but that doesn’t mean I don’t expect the same amount of effort! There will be quite a few projects assigned, but the main focus will be growth, expression and of course…” he paused and glanced at Alex for a moment. “Passion” he stated. “You all are here for the same reason, because you love music. I’m not going to make you go through theory exams or any of that kind of material, what I really need you to find is your passion to create. Got it?” He looked at the class of only fifteen students. They all nodded and smiled at their music teacher. “Good” he said. “Well that was all I had planned for my intro” he laughed looking at his watch. Each class ran for twenty minutes that day and there was still ten minutes left. “Might as well take a guitar and have fun!” He nodded towards the cabinets which held the instruments. “See you’ve already made your self at home Mr.Gaskarth?” He laughed, eyeing the guitar that sat at Alex’s feet. Alex just blushed and nodded. “Well, carry on” And with that Mr.Smith went back to his desk, picked up a book and began to read.
“Sick” Jack nodded. Mr.Smith had also been Jack’s first guitar coach back in grade nine, he was his number one hero… after Mark Hoppus of course. The boys strummed their way through the ten minutes, then the bell went off and the class was over.

At the end of the day Alex, Zack, Jack and Rian left their history class smiling like they had never been happier. Their history teacher was awesome. Mr.Horton was full of wacky ideas and he was happy to welcome the four boys into his class. He didn’t even have a problem with them goofing off in the back row, as long as they did their work, they were good. The boys took their usual place at their picnic table, but this time Cassadee joined in, she sat on Rian’s lap, happily running her hands through his hair and giving him occasional kisses.
“Oh god save us all” Zack groaned “It has begun.”
“Don’t get herpes” Jack nodded towards the couple. “Who knows what Cassadee picked up on tour!” Cassadee whipped her head around and glared at the blonde-and-black-haired boy.
“Fuck off Jack!” She laughed. “I haven’t kissed anyone other than Rian for four years.”
Alex laughed “wow” he said in a sarcastic tone, as if that had been a bad thing. In reality, Alex longed for a love that would last as long as that. His past relationships had never been good enough for him. Short or meaningless, and he refused to go back to casually fucking girls he barely knew at parties. Alex looked at Rian and Cassadee in envy. He sighed heavily and moved his vision towards Jack, who was sitting with his arms crossed and a smug smile on his face. Alex had never been fond of anyone as much as he had been with Jack, and these last few weeks just proved that something was going on with Alex’s mind.

‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’ Alex thought to himself later while he was walking home. The boys had split off, agreeing to catch up after dinner for a short band practice. For now, Alex was on his own, walking down the street to get to his house. He couldn’t stop thinking about Jack. Jack and his cute smile, Jack and his spikey hair, Jack and his fucking amazing personality. Jack Jack Jack. Alex almost screamed.
‘stop it.’ He said to himself. ‘stop it right now. You can’t like your best friend. You just… can’t. You’ aren’t even gay. You like girls. Remember? Girls? Remember how great Tay’s tits used to feel in your hands?!’ He sighed heavily... they never did really feel that great, and to be honest, he never was really turned on by her in the first place. She was always too pushy and… stressful to be around when they were fooling around. He wished he could just be with someone more relaxed, someone who would be a good cuddler in the middle of the night, and who would never let go… someone like Jack!
“GOD FUCKING DAMNIT” Alex screamed this time out loud. He couldn’t get him out of his head, no matter what he did. What was this new obsession? And why had it only just begun after four years of being best friends? Alex needed to figure this out, and he needed to figure it out fast. The longer he waited the more intense the petty crush would become, and he wouldn’t ever let it become more than just a crush.
“Alex and Jack” He sighed to himself. “That’s all you’ll ever be. Best friends... best friends… best friends..”
Yet, when he said it out loud to himself, it didn't sound quite right. Alex knew deep inside, that he wanted more.