The Boy by the Window.

The two didn't see each other in a whole week after their little meet up. Alex was busying himself by working extra hours at the restaurant, claiming that he needed money to go see his dying grandma across the country although in reality he only needed the money for his own personal whim. Jack hadn't left his house the whole week other than to go to classes due to his exams being the following week, so he really didn't have the time to do anything but stay in his room and study.

It was a Friday afternoon and Zack was over at Jack's place revising English for the following week's exam. They took a little break from it after revising for what seemed like forever when they had only been revising for half an hour. They opened up the food they got on their way home and Jack turned the TV on for a few minutes. Some silly sitcom came on but neither of them really minded since they just wanted to disconnect from studying.

"So, anything new happening in your life? I haven't seen you outside of school in a while" Zack asked the younger as he chewed on some of his super healthy rice cakes topped with peanut butter. Jack grimaced at his disgustingly healthy food choice and shrugged his shoulders.

"I've hung out with Alex a few times" He said and grabbed a handful of Cheetos.

"What?" Zack choked and looked at Jack with wide eyes.

"Calm your manly tits. Our parents have dinner together every now and then so I joined them and we spent time together. We hung out the other day and smoked weed" Jack said casually.

"Jack! Are you serious? And you didn't tell me? YOU smoked weed?"

"Zack, it's not that big of a deal" Jack rolled his yes.

"Dude, you are a saint and Alex is the devil, you aren't supposed to be friends with him"

"Who said we are friends?"

"Well, you two get along well enough to smoke weed together"

"He just wanted me to give it a try, so I did. I won't do it again" Jack reassured the other.

"Did he make you do it?" Zack wondered, now taking a hold of the younger's wrists and looking straight into his eyes.

"Do you think I would let him make me do anything?" Jack looked at his friend as if he were drunk.

"I guess not. I still can't believe you've smoked, you don't even drink"

"Let's get back to work"

-

It was now the exam week and Jack had never been so stressed in his entire life. He had maths and geography on Monday, history on Tuesday, geometry and Latin on Wednesday, English and Spanish on Thursday and Art on Friday. It was Monday afternoon and he had already done his geography exam, which went well in his opinion, but he was having trouble with an important maths exercise he knew they were going to ask in the exam and he had no longer than thirty minutes to revise and get to class.

He tried calling Zack and some of his classmates but no one answered. Calling Alex was his last choice: he had called the elder on his phone, he had shouted through the window in hopes that he would be home, but he got no answer. He then remembered that he had to work that afternoon and ceased trying to get help. He cursed and left the house to go to class.

-

"Hello Jack" The elder smiled sheepishly when he got home after two long hours of thinking and writing.

"I'm not in the mood" Jack muttered under his breath and got out his history notes to get on with studying again.

"Is someone butthurt?" He asked lighting a cigarette and pouting.

"Exam week" He simply said and gathered everything he needed on his desk.

"I see. You're always studying though"He said matter of factly.

"I had problems with maths just before the exam and I couldn't ask anyone for help"

"When was that?"

"This afternoon"

"You could have asked me for help"

"I called you and shouted through the window. I thought you were at work"

"I've been here all afternoon, I must have fallen asleep" He yawned on purpose and smirked at Jack, who rolled his eyes and glared at him.

"You are a heavy sleeper then because I called you like four times"

"I'm sure you did well enough"

"No, I didn't, I'm definitely failing maths"

"Nah, you are not"

"Whatever, Alex"

"Sorry" He chuckled. Jack was certain that the elder was already high and didn't mean lo laugh as he tried to pull a serious face immediatelly.

"Sure"

"Don't be so pissy, I couldn't have done anything"

"You could have answered your damn phone and helped me. Anyway, I'm going to study"

"What subject?"

"History"

"Need help?"

"No"

Annoyed, Jack closed his window to block the sound coming from the street and ignored Alex's cries for his name. He had never failed an exam before, he was so angry at himself that he laid on his bed and fell asleep instantly, exhaustion getting the best of him and stopping him from revising for his next exam.