That girl, Cyrindil, was in gym the next day. The class had been allowed to cut up and do whatever they wanted while Coach Kell was on the phone trying to get his kids a trampoline and having an extremely difficult time doing so because of customer service. Cyrindil had chosen to talk to Jack, and he was getting a little wary of her. She wanted to know him a little too well.
"So, everyone in every class I have is talking about the guy who has a sex fiend for a girlfriend. Care to explain?" she inquired.
"Look, not that I have anything against you, and really, I don't. But please don't ask me about my girlfriend," Jack replied.
"I know your secret. Meet me in the boys bathroom in three minutes or I will reveal you to the appropriate powers." Before Jack could even lift a finger, she stood up and left the gymnasium. Jack looked at the clock and cursed.
Damnit, fuck girls.
After three minutes however, he compliantly stood up and walked to the bathroom without a word. When he entered, the door shut behind him faster than usual and a tendril of darkness receded back into one of the stalls. Jack followed the thing and opened the door, where Cyrindil sat with her legs crossed, hands in her lap.
"What do you want? A quick fuck? Is that why you called me out here?" Jack growled, grabbing her by the neck. He lifted her up and put her against the wall, glaring. She grabbed his hand and struggled to pry his fingers away, even using the black things coming out of her back. It was no use. Jack's grip was like steel.
"Please...stop," she breathed. Jack let her down and she caught her breath slowly.
"I'm gonna leave if you don't tell me what you are now," Jack threatened. "And I don't care if you tell anyone my secret."
"I am a vampire. I can almost taste your blood it runs so strongly through you. It makes my mouth water thinking about your blood, mortal."
"No." Jack stared her down.
"No what? I only want a little!" she whined. Jack refused again, standing his ground.
"No means no. You're not getting anything from me," Jack declared, turning to leave. Something curled around his neck tenderly.
"I know that you have a werewolf or something living with you at home. I don't care. Werewolf, another vampire, a demon, it doesn't matter. I just want a little bit of blood, not much. Please...I'm begging you." She sounded like she was crying now. If the circumstances had been even the slightest bit different, Jack would have turned around.
"I'm sorry. But I have three succubi at home that want my full attention. I can't do it. Sorry." He pulled the spectral thing from his neck and left the bathroom. When he returned to the gym, he sat down next to Tom.
"Fuck everything," he groaned. Tom put a big hand on his shoulder.
"I know what you mean," he sighed. Jack arched a brow.
"What's up your ass today? You're always trying to bust outta that shirt in front of everyone like some golden god."
"Sam's mad at me," he replied. Jack's face paled.
"You don't..." Jack stopped before he could say anything else. Jesus Christ, this was serious.
"Don't tell anyone, okay?" Tom said in a shy voice that almost made Jack afraid for the guy. He'd never heard such a thing from Tom! What the fuck!
"You're in love with Samantha?!" Jack whispered. Tom flushed red.
"Don't tell her. I...wanna do that myself. Okay?"
"Sure. But what's she mad at you over?"
"Well," Tom began. "I asked her who she liked, and said I'd go drag them in here for her, as a joke. And then she got all mad at me and slapped me and walked away to the girls locker room." Tom looked down at the floor.
"I'll go talk to her," Jack said. He stood up, but Tom grabbed his wrist.
"Don't tell her," he pleaded. Jack nodded and then left for the girls locker room. At the door, he paused. Fuck it. He opened the door and closed it curtly behind him. On the bench sat Samantha with her knees pulled up to her chest, crying. Jack walked over to her.
"Hey."
"Fuck off Jack. I'm not in the mood to talk to you of all people right now," she said, wiping tears away from her eyes. Jack sat down next to her and put his hands on his knees. Sam turned away from him and stuck her face between her knees.
"Okay then, we'll sit here until you want to talk, or I get arrested. Either way, I get to sit in the girls locker room for a while." Jack tapped his fingers on his knee for a while before Sam punched him in the arm, hard.
"I told you, go away. I don't want to talk to you."
"I'm not leaving," Jack stated firmly. Sam grabbed his collar and turned to him. She glared at him so hard that he thought he was about to get the life beaten from his poor body. Instead of hitting him though, she pushed her face into his shirt and began to cry. Jack let out a sigh in relief and she pulled herself into his lap. Jack put his arms around her.
"Jack! He broke up with me!" she cried. The bell rang, but Jack made no move to get up. Sam cried into his shirt, sobbing.
"Who broke up with you?" Jack asked. He hadn't known she had a boyfriend.
"Michael did. I told him I was sorry, but he hit me," she admitted. Jack's arms went slack.
"What class is he in?" Jack growled.
"No, Jack don-"
"What class, is he in?" Jack repeated through gritted teeth. Sam bit her lips and looked up at him through teary, puffy eyes.
"Mrs. Tori's English, but please don't go there!" Jack stood up and let her plop down against the bench again. "Jack! Don't!"
"He hit you, damnit. Fuck him. He's dead." Jack opened the door and a group of girls looked at him like he had just killed someone. He glared at them and walked down the hallway. There was a period of three minutes where everyone got ready to leave school. Michael would still be in his class. Jack gritted his teeth.
At the classroom's door, he paused to rethink things. He realized that he didn't want to think; he just wanted to go. After a second, he grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door open. The class' attention turned to him and he walked over to Michael, a grim expression on his face.
He grabbed Michael by the hair and pulled him out of his desk.
"What the fuck man!" he yelled. Jack dragged him wordlessly out the door and tossed him across the floor. Mrs. Tori, five months pregnant, didn't do anything but watch. Michael got to his feet and punched Jack in the face. Now, Micheal was a big boy, to say the least. He gave Tom a run for his money when it came to size, and he was a horse when it came to strength. Micheal punched Jack again, splitting his lip.
"You hit Sam?" Jack asked, ignoring the punishing hits he had already taken and kicking Michael in the ribs. The teen collapsed to the floor. Jack pulled him up by the collar, fists balled tightly.
"Fuck you, and her," Michael said weakly. Jack punched him in the face and blood came streaming out of his nose.
"You too, asshole," Jack grunted as he kneed Michael in the chin. He dropped his beaten classmate and wiped the blood from his mouth. He walked back to the gym and redressed in his normal clothes.
He left school by hopping a chain-link fence by the gymnasium and walking around the park to make sure none of the faculty stopped him. He stopped by his grandfather's grave and told the old man about his week and how he wished the old man was still alive.
It wasn't often that he did this, talking to his grandfather out here. Only when he had bad days did he ever blow off steam like this, by talking to a dead man in a grave. But, it worked, and sometimes he even laughed like he was still with his grandfather, like the old man was still alive and didn't have two bullet holes in his chest.
"Man, granddad, I wish you were still here. God knows I need more help than I can possibly get," Jack said while a tear rolled down his cheek. He sighed. "But, not everything bad. I still have my friends, and I made good ones like you told me to, life-lasting ones I hope. Rob still thinks that you were a Navy Seal or something. That guy..."
Jack let his head fall and he began to cry. "God, I wish you were here so much. I don't know what to do half the time. And now I have these three girls, and all they are is a mess of trouble. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about them."
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Elassa watched from a few rows away in the cemetery as Jack spilled his guts to the silent stone marker that showed the burial place of his grandfather. She felt a little sorry for him. As he told the stone everything about her, Fain and Niaf, he spoke of them like they were precious things to him. He said that he loved them and that they were all so dear to his heart. He spoke of how if they suddenly left him that he'd be crushed.
Elassa placed a hand on her breast, right over her heart. She was touched. She hadn't ever heard anything like this before. Jack had no idea that she and the other two were listening to him. Jack said that they had saved him at his job and how it was annoying and relieving to have them there. He said he loved them too much to let go, to let go of any of them.
She smiled genuinely and sank back behind the gravestone, hand still over her heart. She blinked tears out of her eyes.
"So, the kid likes us, eh?" Niaf reiterated crudely.
