Old Friends, New Struggles

On Monday morning, Jackson was still quite sore, and even with his crutches, his stride was gimpier than usual.

Whilst his mad dash around the back garden was freeing and exhilarating in the moment, turns out, it wasn't the smartest decision. Throughout the school day, he still felt the ill effects of said decision.

No one seemed to notice, or if they did, they didn't say anything, and other than the faint throbbing pain in his leg, the day went by fairly normally.

However, by the end of it, he left his final classroom and made his way towards the school's exit with Eddie, Marcus, and Sachin hanging back to stick with him.

It was their day off from Track practice, and with their friendship recently renewed, they thought it was the perfect time to have an after-school gaming sesh at Jackson's. It had been almost two months since the last one, and they'd been getting withdrawals.

There was only one problem with that—their bikes couldn't all fit in the back of Mrs Woods's car.

Usually, when they did this in the past, they'd all ride back to Jackson's or whoever's from school, and whilst Eddie, Marcus, and Sachin could still do that, Jackson couldn't, for obvious reasons.

And even though Jackson's mom would've been more than happy to drive them all, there was no way to fit their bikes as well.

Eddie sighed heavily. 'Alright, how about instead of trying to fit all the bikes in, we just …'

For a moment, Jackson's breath caught in his throat as he thought Eddie might cancel the whole thing and send everyone on their separate ways back to their own homes.

'…Ride there and catch up with you later?'

Jackson breathed a sigh of relief.

'That might be for the best,' Mrs Woods said.

The boys said they'd see Jackson soon, and then the two groups split off and headed for Jackson's home.

As Jackson sat in the car, he watched the others race to keep up with the car on their bikes.

He wished he could've been out there, flying along with them. Those thoughts brought his mind back to the last bike ride they'd all shared. He shuddered and looked away; he still needed a new bike.

With Jackson and his mom having to pick up his little sister, Chrissy, from school too, they eventually arrived home around the same time the three boys arrived on their bikes.

As Mrs Woods let the boys into the house, she smiled warmly. 'Oh, it's so good to see you all again. It's been too long since we've had you all around, I hope high school has been treating you right.'

The boys smiled and told her it was always great to be welcomed into her home, and that they were grateful for her hospitality and how she made them feel like a part of the family.

As they went inside, Chrissy stared at Marcus. 'Hiii Marcus.' She grinned up at him.

The other boys snickered and nudged Marcus. Marcus chuckled bashfully and looked away. 'Uhh, hey.'

Mom stepped in and took Chrissy by the shoulders, guiding her away from the boys. 'Now now, you let the boys play together, they're here to spend time with your brother, but I'm sure they'll be more than happy to play with you another time.'

'But that's not fair! They ALWAYS play with him.' Chrissy whined.

'And that's because they're HIS friends, sweetie,' Mom said as she dragged Chrissy to the other room.

'Ah, thanks, Mrs Woods. And Chrissy, I promise we'll play next time,' Marcus said as he followed the others towards Jackson's room.

'Pinky promise?!' Chrissy shouted.

'Pinky promise!'

As they got further into the house, the other boys broke out into laughter, shoving and nudging Marcus playfully. 'Hey bro, I think she likes you,' Eddie said.

'Yeah, when are you inviting us to the wedding?' Jackson said.

'Man, fuck you guys.' They stepped into Jackson's room, the others still laughing. 'Shit, I bet she'd be hella pissed if she knew I had a girl already.'

Jackson blinked. 'You what?'

'Yo, hold up, why haven't we heard about this? Who is this chick?' Sachin asked.

'Huh? Oh, I mean, it's only like, been a couple of weeks I guess. And she's someone from the track team, don't worry, you guys will meet her when she's ready, damn. Chill though, it ain't that big of a deal, man. What, you guys don't have girls?'

There was an awkward silence.

'Oh, I guess I shouldn't expect much from you ugly motherfuckers.' Marcus was the only one with a shit-eating grin now.

'Bruh…'

Jackson looked around at Sachin and Eddie. 'You guys don't have secret girlfriend's too?'

They both shook their head, then all three boys stared inquisitively at Jackson. 'What about you?'

'Or are you as lonely as these other losers?' Marcus's extra comment earned him a couple of whacks from Eddie and Sachin.

'Uhh…' Jackson blushed and looked away.

'No way…'

'Bro, seriously?'

'Nah, ain't no way, bruh.'

'It's not like that! I mean, she's not my girlfriend or anything … I don't think.'

'You don't think? Man either she is or she isn't, it ain't that hard.'

'So there is a girl though, it's just, not official?' Eddie asked.

'There is a girl, but we're just friends … for now. I mean, I don't even know if she likes me like that.'

'Yo! What's she like?'

'Bro, who is she?'

'Hey, is she hot?'

The others stared at Sachin.

'What?' he said.

'This why you ain't got a girl.'

'Bruh!'

Though Jackson wasn't let off the hook that easily, and the questions kept coming in about this mysterious girl he liked, however, no matter how many questions they bombarded him with, he didn't give up any further details about Jasmine, not even telling the others her name.

Eventually, the focus returned to Marcus's girlfriend, and while the others tried to figure out who exactly it was from the track team, Jackson set up their game of COD zombies.

It was old-school, classic fun. The type of fun that brought them years into the past, spending all night crowded around the small screen of Tommy's TV, thankful that he was letting them play his game. Back then they'd spend more time running scared, reviving each other, and laughing at one another than actually killing the zombies.

Though now that they were a few years older, with four-person split-screen, it felt like they were all playing on a mobile with how small the screen was divided.

Even with that downside, it didn't get in the way of their fun, and they were having a blast getting into the groove of things and smashing their highest-round record.

They didn't even notice when Tommy arrived, only when he spoke up did they realise he was watching them from the doorway.

'Hah, this takes me back. At least you guys won't be keeping me up all night with your playing.'

'Thomas the Tank Engine!' The game was paused as the other boys looked over at Tommy.

Tommy shook his head. 'I still don't get that stupid nickname.' He couldn't help but laugh and smile, however. 'Hey, you guys mind if I borrow Jackson for a minute? I just have to talk with him with him about something.'

Jackson was surprised, but the others shrugged. 'Man, I forgot how nice it is to be able to pause these games.' Marcus stood up, stretching his legs. He'd been one of the unlucky two stuck sitting on the floor, along with Eddie, whilst Sachin and Jackson, of course, got chairs.

Sachin got up, excusing himself to the bathroom.

'Hey, get me a drink while you're at it,' Eddie said.

'Bruh, get your own drink, lazy ass.'

Eddie rolled his eyes, getting up and leaving the room as well.

Seeing as he was the last one stopping the brothers from having their private moment, Marcus decided it was best for him to leave as well, so he stepped outside too.

Tommy sat in the empty chair next to Jackson.

'What's up?' Jackson asked.

'How's your leg feeling? I noticed you were limping last night … and this morning too.'

Jackson looked down, scratching the back of his head. With more than a bit of embarrassment, he explained his backyard run from the other night and the repercussions he was still dealing with.

Tommy smiled and patted Jackson's back. 'I'm glad you're so eager to get back on your feet, though maybe we should go about it a bit smarter. Maybe we should visit the doc again and see what they think about your recovery so far?'

'Uh, y-yeah, that'd be good.' Jackson nodded.

'Cool, I'll set it up then. And, if that's all it is, there's no worries. I'm sure it'll stop hurting with a bit more rest, yeah?'

'Y-Yeah.'

Tommy smiled. 'But it felt good in the moment, yeah? Running again?'

Jackson couldn't contain his grin. 'It felt amazing.'

Tommy chuckled. 'Heh, awesome. Alright, I'll let you know when the doc can see you.' He stood up, then leaned down and hugged Jackson. 'I love you, little bro.'

Jackson hugged back, burying his face against Tommy's shoulder. 'I love you too.'

With that, Tommy left the room, passing Marcus and Sachin in the hall. He apologised for interrupting, and wished them luck with the rest of their zombie hunting.

Eddie soon returned with cans of soft drink for everyone, and while they resumed their zombie slaying, they didn't last much longer before they all went down.

However, they transitioned into 1v1's in private lobbies of multiplayer, taking it in turns to face off against each other. Some rounds had no rules, other times they agreed that only snipers or sometimes knives could be used.

With this competitive style of game, things got a bit more heated and animated as some accusations of "screen-cheating" were thrown around due to the split-screen nature of the contests, and as the night dragged on, there were even attempts to find a bit of cardboard to stick in the middle of the screen to have a physical separator between the split-screens to prevent any cheating.

But it was all in good fun, and nobody was truly upset over losing or the cheating accusations, whether they were warranted or not. Eventually, the night had to end, and when Mrs Woods asked if the boys would be staying for dinner, that's when they realised it was time to head back to their own homes.

Jackson saw them all off in the driveway as they climbed back onto their bikes. They promised to do it again soon, and to make this a regular part of their routine like it used to be.

Jackson's smile stretched from ear to ear as he watched them all disappear around corners on their different paths back home. He felt as if things were finally getting back on track, back to how they had used to be.