I'm Happy if You're Happy with Yourself

3rd POV

Alex Gaskarth was your average high school teenager. Okay, maybe not exactly average. He liked being alone more than being with other people, he had more problems than most, his own family hates him, he hurts himself purposely, and to top it all off he’s gay.

The major problem Alex had was the fact that he loved being alone. He didn’t know why he did, he just did. When he was alone all he did was over think, which led to negative thoughts of himself, which led to him hurting himself. Yet even after all of this, he still loved being by himself and hated socializing.

Hating socialization with other people would obviously mean that Alex had little friends. He did have 2 other friends, however - Rian and Zack. Although the three had been best friends since they were five, and now they’re in their junior year of high school, none of them knew what Alex did when he was alone. Alex always wanted to tell them, but how would he? “Hey guys, I cut myself.” No, of course he wouldn’t say that, but there was really no other way so he just kept quiet.

Rian and Zack just went along with Alex rarely wanting to hang out and him being distant at times. Sometimes at lunch they would all be in a conversation and Alex would just zone out. He’d stare off into space and it would take a few calls of his name and maybe a poke or two to his side to get him to pay attention. The two never brought it up, though. They just figured that Alex just didn’t like to pay attention too much.

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Jack Barakat, however, was the complete opposite of Alex. He had everything going for him. He was the star quarterback on the school’s football team, and if he kept playing like he was then he could easily get a scholarship to some major sport school. Despite constantly playing football, Jack still had good grades and was on the honor roll.

Being the quarterback for a team whose school focused solely on football definitely had its benefits. Jack was easily the most popular kid in school. He had a lot of friends, but he didn’t exactly have many best friends. Everyone wanted to be close to him, probably for his popularity, but his only best friends were Vic and Kellin. The bad part about having just them as friends? They’re both gay and dating each other, so Jack constantly felt like the third wheel when around them.

Jack wasn’t homophobic at all, the two were his best friends, but he did feel kind of uncomfortable when they got all mushy around him, so Jack was most often found tossing around a football or just lying around his house on weekends and studying and doing homework during the week. Occasionally, though, Jack would agree to some of the many requests to hang out with people who he barely knew. Oh well, at least he got something to do.

Overall, Jack didn’t feel as popular as he was. He barely talked the the people that liked him and only opened up to Vic and Kellin. You could say he was very… solitary. Kind of like Alex. But you’d never expect the two to be together would you? A football star and a lonely, sad, much too skinny boy. They were complete opposites. So no, you’d probably never expect that they’d end up together. Here’s the thing though, neither did they.