~FlAsHbAcK~

Jocelyn was just getting dinner ready when she got the call.

"Hello is this Jocelyn Skitz? Mother of Brandon Skitz?" The woman speaking on the other end sounded hesitant as she spoke.

"Yes.. This is her." Jocelyn didn't really think anything of calls from her son's schools. He would get into some trouble every now and then but she blamed it in his friend, Giovanni.

"Hi, I was just calling to check if you had received the letter that we recently sent about your son not passing onto the 8th grade." Jocelyn almost dropped the pot of soup when she heard this but she kept her calm.

"E-excuse me? Is there a mistake? My son said he was passing." Usually she knew better than to believe her child, as she isn't an oblivious mother.

"I'm sorry Mrs.Skitz but he must've been lying to you. Not only are his grades poor, but his behavior over the past year was enough to get him to stay back. I'm sure this is very hard news to hear, especially since your son has been untrustworthy."

"B-but... I haven't heard of any of these things. What do you mean his behavior?"

"Well it appears he's been disrupting class, giving other students a hard time, and causing chaos in the lunchrooms with his little friend Giovanni Gallaway." The mother stopped listening at the mention of her son's friend.

"You mean to tell me Brandon isn't passing because of Giovanni? Is this a joke!?" She was in denial over the fact that her son could ever be anything other than a nice boy.

"Well ma'am it appeared Brandon sta-" The woman on the line was cut off when Jocelyn started to get worked up.

"No no no! You people are the ones who have got it wrong. My son is being poorly influenced by Gio. And if you cannot see that, then shame on you!" Jocelyn hung up and tried to regain her breath.

-

(Y/n) woke up and looked at the time; 6:40am. She yawned and got ready for school. She said goodbye to her father as she and her mother walked out to see that Brandon wasn't there! Had the gods heard her prayers? "Oh, he must be sick today. Be safe walking to school, sweetheart." Harriot smiled and walked away to her car, driving off to her job. (Y/n) felt like she could actually breathe as she stepped out of her yard and onto the pavement in front of it. She walked to school, problem free and wondered what she had done to be so blessed.

-

The day went by pretty soomthly, so far. (Y/n) hadn't seen Brandon all day and felt like a weight was off her shoulders. The time for figuring out mystery boys name was upon her, and everything that was happening around her was just background noise... That was until someone made it a point to bring her back to reality.

"(Y/n)!" Bethany yelled to try and get the girl's attention. She shook her head and finally paid attention. "What's up with you today? All you've been doing since we left the library this morning was stare unto nothingness."

"She's got a dAtE~ after school." Genevieve spoke in a rather cold tone. She played with her food a bit as she glanced over to her friend.

"Its not a date! And I said I was sorry for making you late to lunch yesterday, Genevieve! You would've made me stay if you were talking to a boy."

"Probably not, the only guy I like is Brandon and you have some weird grudge against him." Everyone at the table became visibly uncomfortable at the passive aggressive comments being thrown around. "But... Whatever I guess I would. You own me tho, now if I get the change you'll have to stand by me when I talk to Brandon."

"Yeah... Ok. Speaking of which is he out today? Or is god smiling upon me and making me not run into him?"

"He's out. He wasn't in English earlier." Connor answered.

"Wait... What happened between you two, (Y/n)? I think you may have mentioned it before but I don't remember why you hate Brandon." (Y/n) peered over to Lainy as if she had insulted her.

"Oh he's just the devil walking on earth that's all!" The female joked, earning a sigh from half the group. Allison and Bethany were the only two who somewhat believed what (Y/n) had been saying this whole time. The two of them never really trusted him, but didn't have any evidence to mkae their final judgment. From the confusion on her face, (Y/n) chose to elaborate. "He's bullied me since I was born and everytime I try to say something, no one listens to me!" She looked over to Genevieve to see that she wasn't even looking at any them. "But... Genevieve, I'll go see what was up with him today if you want." Her friend perked up and smiled.

"Text me right after! Have fun with your date!~" Genevieve packed up and left the lunchroom, which prompted everyone to eventually disperse. The day continued at a surprisingly slow pace until it was finally 7th period. (Y/n) walked into History and saw him looking down with a goofy smile. You walked to the seat behind him and smiled to yourself. After a few minutes hey turned around snd handed her a piece of paper.

The letter J was written on it, and nothing else. She looked up to see him smile and turn around. She wrote down a few names as guesses;

Jeremy

Jake

Jacob

Jared

Josh

Jarron

Jack

She handed it back and waited for him to tell her which one it was. The whole class went by and he still hadn't given her the paper. It was nearing the end of class when the teacher finally announced what she had been waiting for. "Ok class, time for us to pick partners for the new project." He started by asking the people in the front row, and went to the back until he said it. "Jackson, who do you want to be partners with?"

"(Y/n)." The teacher nodded and went on with asking as Jackson turned around and smiled. "My secrets out I suppose."

"Why didn't you tell me?! I was so close with Jack, all I needed was 3 letters." (Y/n) laughed. The rest of class sped by, and the two decided to go over (Y/n)'s house to begin the assignment.

~