Bad Guys

Jack was content to have made some friends right away. He wasn't too keen on spending the year here all by himself. Even if Alex and Josh were a little silly, the three of them fit together like the pieces of a long lost puzzle.

"Did you just move to Baltimore?" Josh asks. The three of them are at lunch now, seated at a rectangular table. Alex and Josh devour their lunch like a couple of wolves while Jack merely picks at his, not wanting to bother with it.

Jack shakes his head. "Born and raised." He answers quietly. He sets his fork down onto his lunch tray and lets out a small sigh. He wants to wonder why he's not hungry, but he already knows. Jack never really found himself to be hungry anymore, he never craved anything, never wanted to snack. His stomach just wouldn't allow it. He ignores it.

"Us too." Alex smiles warmly, which Jack gladly returns. Jack liked both Alex and Josh, but Alex had something special about him. Something that Jack was uncontrollably drawn to, an invisible force pulling his interest toward the other boy. He ignores that, too. "Where do you live around?"

"Only a mile or two away, right off of Thames." Jack answers.

"Us too." Alex says, smiling again. Jack doesn't return it this time, but he nods on acknowledgment and says 'Cool'.

To Jack's relief, lunch was over fairly quickly after that. Not that Alex and Josh were bothering him, it was quite the opposite. Despite their unrelenting kindness toward him, he still didn't quite believe that he wasn't irritating them. That they just felt sympathy for the new kid and were tolerating him out of the goodness of their hearts. Alex and Josh were the only two who knew that this wasn't the case.

Jack scuttled off to his Honors history class while Alex and Josh sauntered over to the math hallway. Jack was good at history, he liked history. History was factual and unchanging. It was reliable and there was nothing Jack liked more than stability. Probably because he lacked so much stability in his own life.

History class was interesting enough to get Jack's mind off of his own troubles and start thinking about ones from two hundred years ago instead. His life was a nap in the park compared to some things that had happened in history. It isn't as bad as it could be, he figures.

He only had Calculus left, and he was less than excited to go home. He was hesitant to see his parents. Despite his unconditional love for them, they still didn't treat him right and that dawned on him quite often. Jack found the Calculus room quickly and introduced himself to the teacher, Mrs. Danielson. She told him to sit anywhere he'd like, and he did just that.

He found a nice desk in the back right corner of the room, somewhere under the radar, out of sight. Jack didn't want to cause any kind of commotion in his new school. However, to his surprise, Josh sauntered into the room.

Josh's eyes light up when he sees Jack sitting all by himself in the corner of the room, and he heads over. "Hey, man." He says cautiously, not wanting to come off too strong.

"Hello, Josh." Jack smiles politely. "Would you like to sit by me?"

Josh nods. "Yeah," He says, setting down his calculus textbook on the desk next to Jack's.

Soon after their work time had started, Josh turns to look at Jack.

"Hey, what are you doing after school?" He asks.

Jack licks his lips, a nervous habit. "Um, nothing?" He says curiously. "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering if you'd wanna come to my house with Alex and I later." Josh answers with a smile. "You're gonna need a couple friends to help you through this nightmare anyway."

If he only knew the half of it.

Nonetheless, Jack's cheeks heat up in a blush and his stomach flutters with excitement. "Yeah," He says. "I'd love to."

"Great," Josh says. "Just follow me out to my car after class. Alex will meet us there."

A half an hour of studying later and the school day was over. Jack followed Josh silently out to his car, an old Honda Civic. Luckily, Jack had parked a few spots away from Josh. Alex was already waiting outside of Josh's car.

"I'll just follow you guys, okay?" Jack suggests meekly, pulling his car keys out of his pocket.

"Yeah, dude. No problem." Josh smiles, unlocking the doors of his car. "We'll see you there."

Josh didn't live too far away from the school, but it was still enough time for Jack to light a cigarette and get halfway through it before it was time for him to get out of his car and follow Josh and Alex into Josh's house.

He soon found himself sitting in the basement, which was Josh's room. It was quiet and cold but the posters on the walls were similar enough to his own that it wasn't uncomfortable.

Jack reached forward toward the coffee table to retrieve his water bottle. His sweatshirt sleeve pulls up a little bit and the black and purple beaten skin of his inner forearm was put on a clear display directly to Alex, who was sitting on the other side of Jack with his lips pressed together in a thin line. His eyes were wide and his shocked expression was enough to make Jack want to curl up and die. Jack's stomach tightened but he didn't say anything. Alex didn't say anything either, which was somewhat relieving. But in all honestly, what do you say when you see something like that? Jack didn't blame Alex for keeping his mouth shut.

Jack silently recalls how he had even gotten the bruises in the first place. His grades were beginning to slip, the voice inside of his head was stronger than ever and his parents weren't helping. He was resting in bed when his dad had stormed up into his room, report card in hand. He had yelled a tangle of curse words, insults, and incredibly degrading things that the neighbors had definitely heard. Then, he pulled Jack out of bed by his wrist and onto the floor, not even giving him a chance to stand up before dragging him out of his bedroom and down the hallway toward the stairs, where he was abruptly tossed down them by his wrist, also resulting in the scrapes and bruises covering his hands and body. Usually Jack just tries to forget about these things, but now someone else had seen his dirty little secret. This was unforgettable.

"Hey, are you guys hungry?" Josh calls down from the top of the stairs, snapping Jack out of his memory.

"Uh," Alex trails off, staring at Jack with wide eyes. "Yeah, man."

"Alright, I'll whip something up," Josh answers before turning around and heading back up the stairs.

In the meantime, Alex watches Jack fiddle with his sweatshirt sleeves. Jack's nails are short, bitten short enough to the point of bleeding. His hands were skinny and delicate, yet rough and bruised all at the same time. A few of his knuckles were scraped up and there were a couple cuts on one of his fingers. Alex hums in thought, unknowingly drawing Jack's attention.

"What are you thinking about?" Jack asks softly.

Alex looks up at Jack's face instead of at his hands and forces a smile. "Uh, you." He says truthfully.

Jack's cheeks flush. "Oh, um, do you mind if I ask why?"

"What happened to your hands?"

Jack smiles and lets out a weak laugh. "I guess I'm somewhat of a klutz." The lie is smooth, easy, effortless. "My friend Zack was trying to teach me how to skateboard and I guess I'm not doing an incredible job so far."

Alex nods in understanding. He knows that Jack isn't telling him the complete story, but he refuses to push him any further, especially since he just met him. A silence settles over the two of them for a few moments before Josh comes back downstairs carrying a plate full of pizza rolls.

"Niiiiiiice," Alex laughs, flashing a wide, toothy grin at his best friend.

"Only the finest cuisine is served at the House of Dun," Josh winks, setting down the tray on the coffee table in the middle of the basement. "Help yourselves, guys. There's hella pizza rolls."

Alex immediately reaches forward and grabs a fistful of pizza rolls and begins to snack. Jack just sits there with his hands crossed in his lap.

"You can go ahead and have some, Jack." Alex says softly.

Josh nods in agreement.

"I'm sorry guys," Jack says sheepishly. "I'm not really all that hungry."

"You didn't eat at lunch either, though." Josh points out. He tilts his head to the side and frowns. "Are you sure you're not hungry?"

"I'm sure," Jack lies easily, shoving his hands into his front pockets. He licks his lips and tries to ignore the disappointed looks on his new friends faces. Truth is, he's been hungry for three or four days now. He just hasn't eaten. Not because he wants to lose weight or because there's no food in his house, only because he just doesn't have the desire to. He wants to eat, he wants the empty feeling inside of his stomach to go away but he's worried that once he fills himself up with food, the same empty feeling won't go away.

Ever since the beginning of time it's felt like Jack has always been trying to hide the darkness inside of him. And to be completely honest, he's doing a pretty good job. No one would ever guess that the shyest boy in Baltimore has a crippling emptiness inside of him. No one would ever know that this is the reason why he needs cigarettes, or booze, or music turned up so loud that he can't fucking think. No one would ever know that Jack was rotting himself away from the inside out.