I woke up with harsh light cast across my face. I realized I had forgotten to close Jack's blinds, and his room was brightly lit up. I rolled over and checked my phone for the time. It was 10:48. Jack was still fast asleep, snoring softly. I knew he wouldn't be up for a while, and when he did wake up, he'd be in a lot of pain from the night before. I got out of bed, looking out his window to see if his parent's cars were outside. They weren't, meaning we had the house to ourselves. I closed the blinds so it could be darker for Jack, then crept downstairs into the kitchen and made myself a bowl of cereal before returning to Jack's room, bringing a glass of water and some advil with me for when he woke up. I knew I shouldn't leave until he was up, so I sat on his bed and watched him sleep for a while, in a non-creepy way, I promise. I noticed how messy his nightstand was, and decided to tidy up for him. Before I knew it, I was deep cleaning his entire room. I cleared his desk, throwing out old tests and notebooks, I folded his clothes thrown in his closet, and I even swept his floor. By the time I was done, his room looked straight out of an Ikea ad. Almost. As I organized his pencils and pens, I began to wonder if this is what life would be like when- if- when? if? we ever got married. Obviously not the Jack is passed out drunk part, but the taking care of him part. It felt good to look after him, and I knew he felt the same for me. Just as I had done the finishing touches, Jack awoke.

"Good morning, or, afternoon," I laughed, gliding over to him and promptly handing him with water I had gotten earlier.

"Hi. What time is it?" he said groggily, bringing up his hand and covering his eyes from the light. I checked my phone. It was 1:27.

"Almost one thirty. Here, have some advil," I told him, handing him two pills.

"My head hurts," he whined, gladly accepting the medicine and downing it with a gulp of water.

"Look, I cleaned your room for you! And your essay is all done," I said proudly. He smiled weakly.

"I really don't deserve you. Come here," he instructed, shifting over so I would have room to lay next to him. I slipped under the covers next to him, and he put his arm over me. His eyes fluttered shut again, and soon his soft breathing filled the room. I curled up into his shirt, and soon my eyes were beginning to feel heavy.

I blinked awake, disoriented for a few seconds as to where I was. Jack was awake, doing something on his phone. He looked much better than he had before I fell asleep.

"Nice of you to finally wake up," he grinned.

"How long was I sleeping," I blinked, rubbing my eyes.

"Well, its 4:46 now."

"Oh god. I have to get home," I sighed, getting up quickly and collecting my things at the foot of his bed.

"Thanks for everything. I love you so much," he said.

"Love you. See you tomorrow." I kissed him on the cheek before leaving and walking home.

Monday morning was off to a good start. I had gotten up before my alarm, made my favorite breakfast, and was in a cheerful mood. But when I got to the bus stop, Jack was nowhere to be found. I assumed he had just been stupid and missed the bus, so I waited until the second stop. Still no Jack. By the time Finn and Ellie had boarded, Jack was still missing.

"Do you know where Jack is?" I asked them desperately.

"His spanish class is on a field trip, remember?" Finn reminded me.

"What? I had no idea that was a thing," I groaned. I hadn't gone a day without Jack at school in a while. Thinking about it now, I realize that Jack was pretty much my only friend. Besides Finn and Ellie, who I both met through Jack. Sure, I was friendly with some people, but he was the person I put all of my time and energy into. But I should be able to survive one day without him. Right?

English was terrible. Without Jack's jokes to entertain me, I was bored out of my mind. It turns out our teacher had decided to give us extra class time to work on our essays, so I had written Jack's whole thing for nothing. I ended up talking to Asher, who I hadn't seen in a while, but I was still pretty unamused. Gym was pretty bad, because usually I had Jack to be my partner. This time I had to be in a group of three with this kids I barely knew. They were nice enough, but I was still miserable. The classes that I didn't have with Jack anyways weren't too bad, but by lunch it was obvious I was in a bad mood. I sat down next to Finn, slamming my bag on the table and not saying hi.

"Stop moping around," Ellie sniffed. She was sitting across from us, eating a bagel.

"Life sucks without Jack," I frowned. Finn scoffed.

"It's been half a fucking day. And you still have us," he said, throwing me a sidelong glance and a soft smile.

"I know. I just miss him," I sighed.

"Hey, don't be sad, you have us. Want some fruit snacks?" Finn offered. I smiled.

"You never give me any fruit snacks," Ellie huffed. He shrugged, and handed me a small handful of his candy. Finn began to tell me about his weekend, and how fun the party was. Ellie interjected every so often to add in details. By the end of lunch, my mood had improved greatly and I was laughing along with them.

"See? It's not so bad without Jack," he said, pulling me into a sort of side hug where his arm was around mine. I rested my head on his shoulder comfortably. I surprisingly really liked being around him. He turned out to actually be a good friend, even after how he had treated me.

"Alright, time for class," Ellie said loudly, standing up a little violently. "Finn, let's go," she snapped.

"Want me to walk you to class?" he asked me as he got up.

"If you wouldn't mind, that'd be great," I said thankfully. Ellie scowled and stormed off.

"What's her deal?" I questioned. Finn shrugged.

"Beats me."

The rest of the day wasn't too bad. I sat in Jack's usual seat during college prep, and Finn continued to cheer me up. He even let me draw on his hand, which was something he used to hate because the ink apparently took forever to come off. He offered me an airpod on the way to the bus, and we listened to music together like old times. He sat next to me on the bus so I didn't have to sit alone.

"Look, I drew on his hand!" I showed Ellie proudly when she slid into her usual seat across from us.

"Great," she said cooly, not even looking up to see my masterpiece and staring down at her phone.

"Is she ok?" I asked Finn, confused and a little concerned.

"No idea. She's probably just moody or something," he guessed. When the bus pulled up to Finn's stop, I thanked him for being so nice to me all day.

"No problem. That's what friends are for, right?" he grinned, leaning down to hug me from the isle before exiting the bus. Ellie glared at me before following him angrily. I had no clue what I had done, but honestly I wasn't too worried. I knew she'd get over it soon.

Jack was back on tuesday, and from there the week went fairly smoothly. Our workload was beginning to increase steadily, and all the teachers had begun discussing finals.

"All this school bullshit is giving me a headache," Jack whined. It was friday, and we were sitting on my bedroom floor, eating chinese food we had ordered for dinner.

"I know," I sighed. We had completed all our homework an hour ago, but Jack had decided to stay for dinner.

"I need a break. Which is whyyyy," he said, and I knew what was coming next, "we need to go to that party tonight."

"Why are there so many fucking parties all the time," I groaned.

"Because summers almost here! Consider this 'party preseason'," he explained. I rolled my eyes.

"Who else is going?"

"Everyone, I'm pretty sure. Come on, it should be fun. But I don't want to pressure you or anything," he added hastily.

"No it's fine, we can go," I smiled. Now that I thought about it, going to a party wouldn't be so bad. It would be nice to relax for a few hours.

"I love you," he said, kissing my cheek.

"Love you too."