If I Said Your Smile's All That Mattered, Would You Save My Life?

The name Jack seemed to haunt me wherever I go. The first person I saw when I was born was named Jack. He was the best doctor in the state of New York. Then after that, I saw my father the bastard of a man that left me and my mum when I was six. His name was Jack Swift.

Then after me and my mum moved, a week or so after my dad left, our next door neighbors had a son named Jack. He slowly became my best friend. Then, as I grew up, Jack Black quickly became my favourite actor.

On top of that, my first date, first kiss, first boyfriend was with a guy named Jack Thomas. And last, my favourite singer/musician started a new band and named it Jack's Mannequin. It was officially haunting me.

And right now, as the sound of small rocks pelting me window caused me to wake, I was glad that I only knew one Alex. He was the only one that would have been outside of my window at such an unreasonable hour. I slowly got out of bed and went to the window. And as sure day, Alex was standing there, a pizza box in hand.

"What do you want?" I asked, my voice cracking.

"You," he said. Despite the dim light, I could see the smirk on his face.

"I think you want Jack. He lives next door, idiot."

Alex laughed. "No, babe, you're all I want. And this pizza. Come outside so we can eat it. I got extra pepperoni for you."

I smiled at him. "I'll be out in a sec." I closed my window and threw on my large purple hoodie. It was always cold out at night. I went to my mum's room, slightly shaking her awake once I arrived. "I'm going to eat pizza with Alex," I whispered, "I'll be back in an hour." I kissed her forehead and headed out, not waiting for a response.

Alex was sitting on my lawn, already eating away at the pizza. I sat down next to him, Indian style, and grabbed a slice of pizza. He had lied, thought; there was no pepperoni, just lots and lots of sausage. I pick off each, one by one, and threw them all at Alex. It was more fun then it should have been.

Alex just laughed and smiled about it, too in love with his sausage to throw any at me. "You're such a loser, Connie," he commented. I winced at the name and glared at him. He knew how much I hated that name. Every memory of my father included him calling me Connie. And every memory was a bad one, the last one of the day he left. Even though I could never bring myself to explain why I hated the name, Alex knew better.

Without saying a word, I got up off the ground, throwing what was left of my latest slice of pizza at Alex's face. "Constantine," he yelled. I didn't look back him, just entered the house. Alex yelled my name again, which I replied to by slamming the door as loud as could. I hoped I woke the whole neighborhood.

I lied back down in bed, the need for sleep great. Then I heard Alex start to sing. At first, I couldn't understand what he was saying, although the tune sounded so familiar. Then it hit me. He was singing happy birthday.

It was my birthday and I hadn't even noticed.

x/X\x

It was utterly lame to have school start on the same day as my birthday. I remember back when Harry Potter first came out, I thought it was the coolest thing ever that Hogwarts always started on the same day as my birthday. But now, as I woke up at five thirty and got ready for a lame day at school, I couldn't help but be mad that any school would start on September first.

Jack arrived at my house, exactly at seven. I rushed out of the house, not bothering to say goodbye to my sleeping mother. I knew how rare and important sleep was for her.

The second I left the house, Jack pulled me into a bone crushing hug. "Happy birthday. Oh, happy birthday, Constantine," he half sung, half said to me. He let me go and just smiled at me. "I got you the best gift ever, by the way," he told me as we hopped into his car.

My eyes lip up. "And when shall I get said present?"

"Later," he started up the car and began to drive over to the school. "I was thinking that all of us could do something fun tonight. I just don't know what."

"Pizza and a movie?" I suggested. It was what we always did. "And then end up in Rian's basement, you guys playing me a rocked out version of happy birthday and multiple Blink covers."

"Hey," he said a bit defensive, "you know love you love those Blink covers."

I laughed. "That I do." Jack smiled and put a CD into the played. I smiled the second Andrew started to play. "You know me too well." I laughed again.

The two of us became silent as Hurricane wafted through the car. I hummed along to the music, too embarrassed to actually sing along. The music played on the whole way there, neither of us wanting to disrupt the music with our voices.

Once we arrived, I was mobbed by hugs once more by Rian and Zack, both of them shouting 'happy birthday' at the top of their lungs. After what felt like forever, the two of them let go of me. Then Alex came up to me, and hugged me. He didn't mention last night, no sorries for lying or calling me Connie. I hadn't expected him to, to be honest. It wasn't his nature.

Alex stopped hugging me, but kept his arm around me as we walked into school. I could already see the flood of girls asking me if Alex and I were dating. Even though everyone knew we were good friends, if he so much as placed his hand on my shoulder, people would within seconds ask if we were dating. I could already see the relieved look on the girl's faces when I told them we weren't, all of them wanting to get into Alex's pants themselves.

I must admit, I never understood why. Sure, Alex was hot, but he was also one of the biggest jerks I knew. Zack, Rian, and Jack were equally good looking give or take a bit and so much nicer than Alex. And yet they weren't stalked endlessly by girl. Alex said it was his charm. I didn't see that, either.

As the bell rang, Alex did something extremely stupid. He pulled me into his arms and said, in a loud, dramatic voice, "'Oh, Constantine, how I love thee." He then dipped me down and kissed me lightly. On the lips. In front of what I was sure was the whole school.

I officially hated Alex Gaskarth.