Dawsons Creek

There is no way Jack's going to shake hands with some pretentious rich boy who thinks he's all that and more. He promised his mother he'd behave, but it's not like she's going to find out and what's the kid gonna do, tell his babysitter?

The boy, Alex, is the poster child for rich people with horses everywhere. He probably goes to some fancy private school and only comes home on weekends to laugh at the everyday people who come here. Or are coerced into coming here, like Jack.

“Well Jack, any chance you want to help me pull some of these jumps down?”

“Don't you have people for that?” Jack says snarkily, because really, he is not going to be roped into doing anyones dirty work.

To his surprise, Alex laughs, his whole face lighting up.

“I am the people”

Jack's puzzled, until of course, rich boy is trying to be all homely and nice.

“Whatever” Jack says, spinning on his heels and striding away. Or, he had hoped to be striding but he's not used to walking in sand and so he keeps slipping and he ignores the continued laughter from behind him. He hopes Alex gets trampled.

Jack ends up in Honey's barn, idly picking bits of her hair out of a soft, round brush. It's kind of gross, but his mother's lesson isn't done yet, and well, he might be hiding from Alex. He needs to try and recapture some of his dignity before they meet again, which knowing how Jack's life goes, they definitely will be.

He's managed to de-hair all the brushes, fingers dirty with dry yet somehow sticky horse dirt, and refill Honey's water bucket by the time he can hear voices and hooves clacking across the paved area outside the barn, and then his mother leading honey down the walkway.

“Please tell me we can go home now” He whines as soon as she's in earshot.

“If you lose the attitude and help me brush Honey down”

“I already helped, i'm not touching her” Jack gestures to the row of brushes and the water bucket, and his mother sighs.

“Well, it's a start but i'm not going to rush, you'll just have to wait”

Jack remains silent, knows that any protest from this point onward will only lead to having to be here longer.

“I'm gonna wait in the car.” He says, and his mother waves him off, distracted by fumbling with the assorted straps that keep the saddle tied to Honey's back.

Of course, it's Jacks luck that the minute he steps out of the barn, Alex is there. He's chatting to Mr Dawson, hands waving animatedly and Jack tries to sneak past them, but to no avail.

“Jack!” Comes Mr Dawsons booming voice, and Jack tries not to wince. He slinks over to the two of them, putting a smile on his face because he doubts his mother will be impressed if he insults the owner of this place.

“Alex, this is Joyce Barakats son Jack, you know Honey, and Jack, this is my son Alex.”

In a rare moment, Jack is actually unable to form words. Alex is Rian's brother. Mr Dawsons son. Of all the people to pick a theoretical fight with, he's gone straight to the top.

“We've met” Alex says cheerfully, “Nice to see you again Jack”

“Uh, yeah” Jack says, eloquently.

Mr Dawson claps his hand onto Jack's shoulder and smiles, “You'll have to try and get Jack to join the dark side, he's immune to Honey's charms as of yet”

Alex grins at him, and Jack attempts to very subtly convey how much he hates him right now.

Mr Dawson leaves them then, about to be late for his next lesson and Jack's left standing next to a very cheerful looking Alex.

“Looks like we'll be spending a lot more time together” Alex says, before doing what Jack had failed at before, turning on his heels and sashaying across the yard.

Jack has a feeling Saturdays are about to become a strange, unusual form of torture.

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That night at dinner, Rian having finally returned from his day with Zack, Alex starts formulating a plan. He quizzes Rian about Jack, to find out that all Rian really knows is that Jack's the same age as them, goes to the high school across the other side of town, and that his mother drags him to the stables every Saturday to 'keep him out of trouble'. Oh, and he doesn't like horses.

It's not a lot to go on, but it's enough. It's obvious that Jack thinks he's some poncy rich kid, and being one of the owners sons pretty much seals the deal. As much as Alex wants to leap straight into turning Jack to the proverbial dark side, which is more like the fun side, he wants to play first.

He can't wait until next week.