Bad Guys

Fake You Out

Jack had been attending Dulaney for a week now and he found himself coming to like it. The classes were quiet and medium sized, everyone kept to themselves, and no one really seemed to notice him. He liked it this way. However, on the other side, Alex and Josh often spoke to one another about Jack's strange and detached demeanor.

"It's so strange," Alex says, dragging his pencil up and down the side of his paper. "One minute he's laughing and talking to us and the next minute he's on a different planet." The lead of Alex's pencil breaks. "I just don't know what to do."

Josh smiles softly and gently brushes the broken piece of lead off of the table. "I know what you mean," He hums in response. "He just thinks a lot, that's all. You can relate to that, can't you?"

"Yeah," Alex chuckles. He refrains from telling Josh about the bruises on Jack's wrist only to protect Jack's privacy. If Jack wanted anyone to know about his so called 'skateboarding accidents' he would tell them.

"Speak of the devil," Josh murmurs softly.

Alex looks up from his drawing to find Jack entering the art room. The light was glinting off the lenses of his glasses par usual and he was wearing a Baltimore Ravens crew neck sweatshirt.

"Good morning," Jack says quietly. He sets his backpack down onto the floor before sitting down at one the stools.

"Hey, Jack." Alex forces a smile while Josh murmurs a greeting in response. Alex looks up at Jack, noticing the dark gray circles around his eyes and the defeated look on his face. "Rough night?" Alex asks.

Jack smiles weakly. "You could say that."

"Feel like telling us about it?" Josh butts in. Alex looks
over at his best friend and raises his eyebrows. "What? We're his friends now, Lex. He can tell us anything." Josh says, flashing Jack that signature goofy smile.

Jack's heart swells, but stops just as quickly as he comes to the sudden realization that it would be best for him not to get attached. He reminds himself that no one really stays for any long period of time, so he bites his lip and shakes his head. "Didn't sleep very well, that's all. I have a test in history that I don't think I'll do very well on." He lies.

Just by the look on both Alex and Josh's faces he can tell that they know what he told them was lie. They knew that it was just a diversion from what was really going on inside of Jack's head, but neither one of them chose to say anything about it. Besides, Jack's business was his own.

"I'm sure you'll do alright, Jack." Josh says, breaking the silence that had settled over them. "You're a smart kid. Smartest I know."

Jack blushes. "Thank you."

"So," Alex continues. "What did you do last night?"

Jack hums quietly. "I went home, painted a little, and went to bed." An honest answer.

"Awesome!" Alex smiles at the younger boy. "What'd
you paint?"

"A dog," Jack smiles. "Dogs are my favorite."

"No way, dude! I have a sick dog encyclopedia in my locker!" Josh exclaims, getting up out of his seat. "I'm gonna go get it!"

Once Josh was out of the room, a comfortable quiet settled over both the boys. Jack chewed on the inside of his lip while he worked on his picture.

"So, um, Jack," Alex asks softly. "I was meaning to ask you, can we talk for a minute?"

Jack's heart began to race. "Yeah, of course." He says nervously. "What's going on?"

Alex took a deep breath. "Y'know, you, Josh and I are friends now, right?"

"Of course, Alex." Jack answers. His heart sunk deep down into his stomach. Was this what he thought it was going to be? His mind buzzed with questions. Maybe they don't wanna be friends anymore? Or one of them has a terminal illness? He was confused.

"And you know that you can tell Josh and I anything, right? And that we won't judge you?" Alex asks, hope gleaming brightly in his eyes. Jack examined Alex's eyes. They were bright, a medium brown in color. No dark circles, no bruises, no doubt. It was just Alex. Jack felt like they were the only two in the world.

"Yeah, for sure." Jack lies again. He felt as though he was more than easily able to be judged.

"So, is there anything you need to get off your chest?"

There's a short silence.

"No, not that I can think of." Jack lies softly, one-hundred percent certain that Alex wasn't going to fall for it. Jack didn't blame him. The bruises on his wrists proved that he was definitely hiding something. "But I'll let you know when there is, okay?"

Alex looked at Jack with disappointment. He recognized that Jack didn't have to tell him, but he would have been pleased if he would have at least said that he couldn't talk about it, or that he wasn't quite comfortable with it yet. He felt discouraged that Jack didn't trust him enough yet to tell him his dirty little secrets. He wanted to know all he could about Jack, even if it had only been a couple days.

Jack on the other hand, was more than disappointed in himself. He was scared that maybe Josh and Alex wouldn't want to be his friends anymore if they figured out that Jack couldn't even stand up to his own parents. That he let them use him as their own personal punching bag. Jack had been submissive all of his life. But the look in Alex's eyes had him determined to change himself for the better.