CHAPTER III
Theo pants as he hurries towards his classroom. His test starts in less than ten minutes and he still wants to go over a few notes to make sure he knows everything. He curses under his breath remembering the time he wasted at lunch, eating and talking to Keith.
He hears a girl shout his name, running after him.
“Theo!” He turns around to the panting girl, startled.
“What’s wrong?” He looks at her anxiously waiting for her to say something.
“I’m sorry! The teacher asked me to search for you!” She explains. “The- The new guy… Vince? He just passed out.”
“What? What happened?”
“I’m not sure, it happened out of nowhere.” She breathes out. “It was so scary. Teacher asked me to get you, because the principle wants to hear from you, as you were supervising him.”
“Oh god. Thank you for letting me know, I’ll figure something out, tell the teacher to keep him company at the nursery until me or someone else gets there, please?”
The girl nods furiously and starts running back.
Theo bites his lips nervously. He cannot miss this test. But he can’t leave the poor guy alone either.
He sighs, knowing Keith will also be taking a test this period. He can only ask for Jack to help him.
He just hopes the other is willing to.
He grabs his phone and calls.
“Hello?”
“Jack! I need your help.”
“What’s up?”
“Vince. He passed out and I’m supposed to be with him at the nurse room until the principle arrives to tell him what happened but I have a math test starting in like five minutes and-“
“Theo, breathe! What do you need?”
“I need you to go to the nurse room. I mean, if you’re done hooking up with that chick.”
“Okay. Yeah, of course I’ll help. And I am done hooking up with her, thank you very much.”
Jack’s laugh at the other end makes Theo roll his eyes.
“What am I supposed to say to the principle, though?”
“Apparently he started choking in the middle of class. Like he couldn’t breathe.”
“Shit.”
“I know.”
“Well, I’m heading there. Try to meet us quickly.”
“Okay. Thank you!”
He hangs up.
Theo feels worried, somehow for the both of them. But he needs to focus for now – math test.
|||
Vince wakes up with a dizzying headache that hits him as soon as he opens his eyes. It takes him a minute to remember what happened and realize where he is. He stares at the ceiling, feeling too tired to move.
Why did this have to happen? Why does his soulmate keep doing this to him? He's tired of questioning it. If he does, a scary thought comes through - maybe he deserves it. He deserves that the person who was meant to love him more than anyone else ended up hating him. Before they even met.
These thoughts keep haunting him and he sighs heavily, regretting it immediately, because he’s really not in condition to do that, his lungs not yet recovered. He starts coughing.
"Oh shit, you're awake!" He hears someone next to him say.
"Here, they told me to give you this if you started coughing."
Vince manages to lift his head to see who was talking to him, and he sees the boy he met earlier, Theo's friend, anxiously shoving an oxygen mask on his face.
He hurriedly takes the mask and adjusts it on his mouth. He closes his eyes as he feels his breath slowly getting back to normal.
Jack stands beside him, watching closely, ready to help if the boy needed, even though he doubts he could be of any help.
Once he starts feeling better, Vince puts the mask aside, relieved, and clears his throat. "Thank you." His voice still comes out hoarse.
He smiles nervously at the boy still next to him, feeling sorry he had to see such a scene.
Jack lets out a heavy sigh as if he's been waiting for the other to say something.
"You scared me there." He laughs nervously, sitting down on a chair next to the other's bed. "Are you feeling better? Sure you don't need more of this?"
He tries to grab the mask again, but Vince stops him.
"I'm fine now." He says, "Sorry I scared you." Jack still looks worried, but sits back down.
“Aren’t you feeling suffocated with that scarf?” Jack points at the fabric loosely wrapped around the other’s neck. “I asked the nurse why she put it on you and she said it was because you might be cold.” Jack looks at him and Vince mentally thanks the nurse. He doesn’t need anyone seeing his ugly bruised skin, especially someone he barely just met.
“It’s okay. I am kind of cold.” Vince says quietly. “Thank you.”
They sit in silence after that. Vince is confused as to why the boy is there, but feels too awkward to ask him.
"Oh, you're probably wondering what I'm doing here." Jack starts suddenly, as if he was reading Vince’s mind. It startles him a little.
"Theo had a test so he couldn't come,” He continues, “And as he was in charge of supervising you on your first day, the principle wanted to hear from him what happened. So he asked me to come."
"Thank you for coming. Sorry you're missing class." Vince looks away.
Jack lets out a breathy laugh, which surprises the other. "You shouldn't feel sorry. I don’t. I like it here better than the classroom."
Vince looks at him, puzzled. Why would he like a nurse room better than a classroom? "Oh? Okay."
The other just smiles.
"So, Vince. That's your name, right?"
"And you're Jack." Vince smiles weakly, adjusting his body on the bed in a way he can look at the other better.
"You remember!" Jack smiles. Vince thinks his smile is weird. He's never seen anyone smile so wide and easily before. It almost looks fake, like there’s something hiding behind it.
"We just met, of course I remember." He laughs quietly at the other, careful not to overuse his lungs again.
"Right..." Jack scratches the back of his head awkwardly, and the position he's in now makes a lipstick mark on the side of his neck very visible to Vince.
He can’t help but stare at it, and the other realizes.
"What?"
"Nothing!" Vince shakes his head, blushing. "I'm sorry. It's just...." He clears his throat.
"Do you need something?" Jack asks, growing worried again.
"I-It's your neck. There's a lipstick mark."
"Oh!" Jack chuckles, starting to rub his neck with his fingers in an attempt to get the mark off. "Thanks for letting me know. If the principle saw this, I'd be in trouble." He smiles, embarrassed.
Vince can’t help but keep staring. Jack is so lucky to have already found his soulmate. She’s probably beautiful and loves him with all her heart, and can't help but kiss him all the time.
That's something he'll never have.
"What's wrong?" Jack asks, noticing the boy's expression.
Vince bites his lip nervously.
"How is she like?" He asks, barely whispering.
"Who?" Jack stares at him confusedly.
"Your soulmate. What is she like?"
Jack feels his heart getting heavy on his chest. For some reason, the idea of telling Vince that the lipstick mark isn't from his soulmate makes him nauseous. He doesn't want him to think of him as the awful person he is.
"Oh. She's great!" he says, forcing another smile.
Vince smiles sweetly in a way that makes Jack’s breath falter. He blames it on feeling guilty.
Suddenly he feels overwhelmed with need to get away from the other's presence.
"So, Vince.” He clears his throat, getting up. "I'm gonna talk to the principle. Tell him you're awake. Wait here, okay?"
Vince keeps his smile on and nods, watching as the boy leaves the room. He feels so much better now. It wasn't such a bad first day after all, if he got to meet someone as lucky as Jack.
He can't wait to know more about him and his soulmate. He focuses on that instead of the burning pain he feels around his neck.
After all, it’s all there’s left for him - hearing about other people’s stories, other people’s perfect love.
But Vince can’t help but feel jealous of this kind of luck.