Twenty-Two

Grame

(N.)

[2] Sorrow

Isaac had said he was okay but Jess was still worried. He sat all throughout third hour concerned.

When Tally had come up to him immediately after second hour Jess was a bit confused. They did talk on occasion but Tally was rushing up to him. When the boy told him there was a rumor going around about him and Isaac he knew exactly what it was.

'Apparently Jace told Mason that you turned Isaac gay.'

Jess had to confirm the story and then rushed off to find Isaac. Even when the boy told him he was okay, Jess didn't believe him. His eyes were hurt.

Of course he was hurt. He'd just lost his only close friends. Jess knew he would be hurt but he was still very concerned. Isaac seemed set on acting like he was fine when he wasn't.

Jess knew firsthand how tiring the act could be. There were countless days he had to come into school and whenever people would talk to him he would have to act like he wasn't feeling shitty from a screaming match with his mother the night before. It was exhausting.

He didn't want Isaac to feel like he had to keep up the act. At least not around him.

The bell rang and Jess snapped out of his thoughts. He sighed to himself. One more hour and he could sit down with Isaac and talk about it. One more hour.

He bumped into Ki Lendev in the hall. He took a step back and Ki looked him up and down, recognition making its way to his expression. Finally the boy scoffed and walked off.

It wasn't what Jess had been expecting. He had been thinking that he'd get called a slur and maybe some pushing or shoving. Ki seemed a little mad at him but not really.

The fuck?

He wouldn't overthink good luck. So instead he fell into step and began walking to his fourth hour. He slipped into the class and on his way to his desk someone shouldered past him.

He looked up and saw the back of Ethan Malan. An athletic kid. Of course.

The sudden reminder had him thinking back to his athletic kid. He frowned and really hoped Isaac hadn't been getting this kind of treatment.

"Dude, watch where you're going." A voice cut in and both Jess and Ethan looked back to see Mason.

Jess knew Mason. He was friends with Tally and so he had heard a bit about him. He was also dating Kristi Wilkins who Jess kinda knew. They didn't talk much but when they did she seemed nice. She also talked to Maria and Hailee.

"Did you hear about him?" Ethan looked at the dark haired boy before looking back at Mason.

"Yeah, so what?"

"He's dating Zack." Ethan said and a few kids in the class looked up with shock. Not everyone had heard yet apparently.

"So? What's your problem, did you want him or something?"

Ethan seemed genuinely disgusted at that idea. "Whatever man. Be friends with the fairy if you want."

"Aren't you friends with Zack? Shouldn't you be happy for him?" Mason's voice was even but his face showed he was mad.

"Fuck off." Ethan said simply and went to sit in the corner of the room.

Jess slowly made his way to his usual chair and noticed Mason sitting next to him. The boy leaned over and spoke to Jess, "I'm sorry. He's an idiot."

Jess shrugged it off. "I'm fine. Do you think Isaac's getting treated like that?"

Mason shrugged. "He's probably just getting avoided. Kids in athletics seem to avoid really starting shit between each other because if the coaches hear about it then we all get shit. If anyone does have the balls to do something though I know Zack will stick up for himself."

Jess nodded a little. It wasn't Isaac not sticking up for himself he was concerned about it. It was Isaac's mental health.

"That's not what you seem worried about." Mason said, his focus on Jess. Jess just looked at him, he wasn't sure how he felt about speaking to Mason. "I've talked to Tally, he's been talking to Zack in between classes. Dagger apparently has been too. The boy's an idiot but I guess he understands bigotry."

Jess smiled a little. That did make him feel better.

"People around here are dumb but everyone likes Zack. This will only last a couple days at most before they get bored with the new drama and move on. Most people don't actually care that much."

It calmed Jess down a bit. "You think so?"

"Yeah." Mason nodded with a little smile. Jess gave him a tiny one back. He still wasn't totally at east but Mason had helped.

I get why Tally says he's his best friend now.

Their class period went by without them saying anything else to each other. When the bell rang Jess tried to not make it obvious he was in a rush but, well he was. He hurried down to the library and took a seat at their usual table once he realized Isaac wasn't there yet.

When the boy did get there he looked worse than before. A heavy frown was sat on his face and based on the fact he hadn't tried to hide it, something else had happened. Jess felt his heart ache for the boy.

He stood up from the table and opened his arms up as a silent invitation. Isaac fell into them and wrapped his around Jess's waist. He hid his face in the other's neck.

"They just keep talking." Isaac said with a tired mumble. "Acting like I can't hear everything they're saying."

Jess didn't need to ask who. It was everyone. Everyone was talking.

"I think the group's avoiding me and Luke and Ethan have both looked at me like I'm the scum of the Earth."

Luke, who's Luke? An image of a sophomore kid pooped up after some thinking. Oh. Another football player.

Jess ran his hand up to run through Isaac's hair. "I'm sorry, babe."

The name seemed to work a bit as a distraction considering Jess felt Isaac smile against his skin.

"Is the offer for ditching still there?" His voice was smaller than it ever had been before. It hurt Jess to hear.

"Of course."

"Can we go back to my house?"

Jess hummed as a yes and turned his head to kiss the side of Isaac's. They pulled away after a minute and Isaac grabbed Jess's hand. He lead the way out of the school and back to his car.

Once they were in his car Isaac unzipped his bag and pulled out a bag of cheese itz. "You can't skip lunch."

Jess gave him a small smile and opened the bag. He started eating as Isaac began to drive off. The radio was quietly humming in the background but Jess cruching on the crackers was louder than the music.

"You want some?" Jess offered, grabbing a small handful.

Isaac smiled and opened his mouth, angling it slightly in Jess's direction without moving his eyes off the road. Jess chuckled but fed him the crackers. He smiled while eating them.

They made it back to Isaac's and he put it in park. He turned off the car and pulled his keys out before they both stepped out. Jess finished his cheese itz on the walk in and threw the bag away.

Isaac tugged on his shirt and brought him over to the couch where they sat down. Jess noted the fact that there was a new chair in the living room but didn't ask about it. He was brought to straddle Isaac's lap and the brunette wrapped his arms around his waist to hold him in place. He pressed his face against Jess's chest.

Jess stopped holding himself up, falling to a complete sitting position on top of Isaac as it was more comfortable. Isaac rested his head on top of Jess's shoulder and Jess reached his hand up to run through the other's hair.

"I'm sorry." Jess mumbled because he really felt bad.

"It's not your fault. They're just assholes."

"But you wanted them to accept you." Jess pointed out.

"Yeah, but they didn't. I understand that, and I'll move on."

"You don't have to, not immediately. You can let yourself feel bad if you want."

"Just for today." Isaac said after a moment. Jess would take what he could get.

After a while Jess offered to take a nap. Isaac agreed immediately and they moved to his room. Isaac went to lay down since he was in shorts and Jess moved over to the dresser. He found a pair of sweats and changed into them.

Isaac smiled at him after he had gotten the joggers on and started crawling into bed next to him. The boy wrapped his arms around Isaac and he melted into the embrace.

"Can you stay for the day? I just kinda wanna lay around all day." Isaac said from where his head was resting on Jess's chest.

"Of course." Jess agreed. He could never say no to Isaac, especially when he asked like that.

"Thank you." His voice was smaller again.

Jess ran his hands up and down Isaac's back. He felt the boy's muscles slowly relaxing as his hands slid up and down. Isaac hummed when Jess's one hand went up to the back of his neck and lightly scratched the skin there.

Eventually Isaac did fall asleep. Jess could both hear and feel his breathing get slower and more even. He closed his eyes and used the warmth from Isaac's sleeping body next to him to lull himself to sleep.

They only napped for about an hour before Isaac's phone ringing woke them up. Jess opened his eyes when the weight on him moved. Isaac had sat up in bed as he answered the phone.

"I'm at home." He was speaking to the person on the other side of the line.

Jess reached his arm over and ran his hand along Isaac's back. The brown haired boy's muscles moved in his back along with Jess's hand.

"No."

Jess didn’t know who he was talking to but he didn't sound annoyed. To occupy himself Jess brought his hand down to slip under Isaac's shirt. Isaac's back was warm against Jess's slightly cold hand.

"Can we talk about it later?"

Jess's hand went up and down the bare skin of Isaac's back. He knew he was right about his hand being cold when he could feel goosebumps forming. Isaac didn't push him away.

"I love you too. Bye."

When he hung up the phone he glanced over his shoulder and met eyes with Jess. "Your dad?"

"Yeah, he wanted to know if I was sick since I was skipping school."

"Oh." Jess kept moving his hand and since Isaac didn't move he assumed the boy didn't want him to stop. "Is he going to be upset with you?"

"Not when I tell him why."

"Mkay." Jess hummed.

"Is your mom going to be mad?"

"She probably won't even know." Jess answered honestly. "Her phone number changed since freshman year and I got her old one. She never updated the school on it so all the notifications about me get sent to my phone instead."

"Oh, well then I guess it makes it easy for you to get away with things."

"It does. Not that there's much I need to get away with though."

"Yeah." Isaac let out a sigh. "If I move will you keep rubbing my back?"

Jess chuckled quietly. "Yes." Then he moved his hand away from Isaac so he could move.

The brunette crawled back over to curl into Jess and he brought his hand back to Isaac's back. He ran down his shirt once before slipping under it. He softly moved his hand like he had before and Isaac let out a sigh.

"Did you get to tell Ray that you made me fruity?" Isaac asked after some quiet. Jess chuckled.

"No, I was going to after lunch. He probably heard though. I'm sure he's spamming my phone freaking out. Too bad it's on silent."

Isaac chuckled softly and his warm breath hit Jess's neck. The boy shivered a little at the feeling. "If what everyone says about him is true, I'm sure I'll get harassed about it in the morning."

"You will." Jess agreed. "He's exactly like everyone portrays him to be."

"Yeah."

"I talked to Mason today." Jess said once the topic seemed to be slipping away.

"Yeah? He didn't say anything did he?" Jess smiled at the way Isaac's voice sounded a bit more protective than before.

"Not like that. He was nice."

Isaac sighed of relief. "Yeah, he's a nice guy. I've talked to him more than Tally but from what I gathered today they're personalities are pretty similar."

"Yeah, I got that too." Jess nodded.

"Tally said if I wanted to hangout with them I could." Isaac said. "I've hung around with Mason before and it was chill. I might take him up on that."

"You should. Tally is a good guy and Mason seems like he is too." Jess was speaking softly. It seemed impossible to use any other tone with the current environment. The atmosphere at the moment was too soft for anything else.

"Yeah." Isaac's voice drifted off.

"Are you going to fall asleep again?"

"Maybe." This time he yawned after talking. "That okay?"

"Definitely." Jess kept rubbing his back. He ended up drifting off before Isaac but he knew the boy wasn't far from it when he did. They both napped for most of the day.

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Another short chapter but I wasn't sure what else to add.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed!

Love you ♡

- Z