Chapter 7

Jason sat in his seat staring at the back of Karson's head. He had been finding it hard to get the boy out of his head. He hasn't spoken to him since the day on the bleachers and that was only two days ago. But he missed talking to him. He sighed and layed his head on the desk. Eventually he drifted off to sleep.

"Jason? Wake up!" The teacher, Mrs. Lee said loudly. Karson turned around and saw him sleeping soundly. He smiled mischievously. "Don't worry Mrs. Lee I'll wake him up" He said, politely. "Thank you Karson. Okay class back to the lesson" She said. Karson picked up his pen and drew a small stars on his hand, near his thumb. He smiled at his art, as he was about to draw something else a hand grabbed his wrist. "What do you think your doing?" Jason asked, his voice deep and low, having just woken up.

"I'm sorry" Karson squeaked out, trying to hold back his laughter. Jason looked up at him. His face seemed emotion less but there was a small glint of amusement in his eyes. Jason looked down at his hand and noticed the two stars. "You actually draw good" He said, nodding, accepting the art. Karson smiled. Which caused Jason to give him a small smile.

The bell rang before he could say anything. He scoffed. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘢 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥? 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨? He thought. "Jason you there" Karson said, waving his hand in front of his face. "Shut up" Jason replied as he stood up. "No" Karson smiled. He skipped to the door, humming a random tune. Jason stared at him for a second before following him. "Jase? Can I call you that?" He asked, turning to face him, a smile on his face.

"Whatever" He shrugged as he looked around. He avoided looking at him. 𝘩𝘮𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦? 𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩? Karson thought. Saddened by his own thoughts. "Well I have to get home. See you tomorrow" Karson put on a fake smile. Jason was going to say something but he didn't have time because Karson already ran off.

"Now I feel bad. Should I leave him alone" Karson mumbled. He walked the rest of the way to work. "Good afternoon" He greeted, a smile making its way onto his face. "Karson thank god your here. I have to go now. Don't forget to lock up the store" Jenny, his coworker, replied. She rushed around gathering all her belongings. "Okay. Have a safe trip home" He smiled, as he set his things down. "Yeah, yeah bye" She waved, exiting the store. He put on his vest and began fixing the shelves.

He was lucky the afternoon didn't have many people visiting the store. But for him the day went so slow. He sat down at the cash register and did his homework. He didn't notice how much time had passed until he checked the time. It was already night time. The store bell dinged causing him to put on a smile. "Welcome" He greeted, looking up a smile on his face. It instantly dropped when he saw it was one of Aidan's followers, Max. "Oh Karson. I didn't know you work here" He smirked as he approached him.

"Uhm are you going to purchase anything if not please leave" Karson said his voice shaking slightly. "You don't tell me what to do" He laughed. Karson looked down. "Look my manager's in the back room. I'll call him if you don't leave or purchase-" Karson was cut off when Max pulled him forward by his collar. "Call him then. I don't care" He spat. Karson froze in his spot. Unsure of what to do.

"That's what I thought" He laughed. He pushed him back hard. Causing Karson to hit the glass case behind him. He fell to the ground in pain. Max left the store laughing. Karson turned around thankful the case didn't break. He sighed as he stood up. The bell dinged again and he held his breath as he turned around.

"Welcome" He said his lips pulled into a tight smile. "You don't seem to happy to see me. Should I go?" Jason asked. "Oh it's just you" He said a breath of relief escaped his lips. "Yeah. Hey are you okay?" Jason asked confused. "Yes of course" Karson smiled as he sat on his seat. Jason hummed in response as he walked to the back of the store. Karson nodded as he stood up. He carried a basket to the food shelves. After his dad sent him to work. He had to buy his own things.

He would eat the food that expired the same day from the store and use the money he would make to buy important necessities. He picked up a few and went back to the register. Jason was there patiently waiting. "Oh sorry for the wait" He apologized. Karson scanned the items. "I didn't know you worked here" Jason suddenly said as he pulled out his wallet. "Yeah I recently started last week" Karson smiled. "Cool" Jason nodded.

"How are you?" Jason asked. "I'm fine. You?" He asked as he put his items in a bag. "Same here" Jason said, nodding. "That'll be $8.95" Karson smiled. Jason handed him the money as he took his bag. "This is for you" He placed a strawberry candy in front him. Before Karson could reply Jason was gone. He pouted a small blush on his cheeks. He never received this type of kindness from someone his age.

His night went on as usual after that. He left the store after locking it. He flinched when he saw Aiden and Max on the floor beat up. "W-what the hell happened here?" Karson asked confused. "Fuck off" Aiden scoffed as he ran off with Max. Karson stood there confused. "What the fuck" He mumbled, shocked at what he just witnessed.

He began his walk him home when he stepped on something. He looked down and picked up a ring. Not just any ring. Jason's ring and it was covered in blood. 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵. 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯-... 𝘰𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵. Karson panicked. But he didn't know how he was supposed to find him. He didn't have his phone number or anything.

𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘕𝘪𝘬𝘪. He thought. Karson was going to pull out his phone but froze. He cursed under his breath. He remembered Niki had a break down when he saw Jason. After Niki told him that he did his best to refrain from bringing up Jason at all. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 Karson thought. He left out a defeated sigh as he put his phone away. He felt useless. He couldn't do anything but worry.

When Karson got home he couldn't sleep a wink. Time seemed to pass so slow. 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵. 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮. He thought. Karson sat up quickly making him light headed. He grabbed his phone and searched through. He finally found him.

"Huh I follow him already" He mumbled. He clicked his profile and texted him a 'Hey I found youre ring. It was cover in blood are you okay?' He waited for a response that never came.