Monday morning, Jack was on the news again. Except this time the news vans were lined up outside. I watched the chaos unfold from my bedroom. They weren't even home, but I guess they're waiting for his arrival. He was at the courthouse this morning from what the news said and what they showed.

            I had my TV on, showing all of it. His parents shielded him while the reporters shoved recorders and microphones in their face. Eventually the lawyer got through and attempted to push them aside. "No comment!" He proceeded to get the family through and into the waiting vehicle. Whether Jack did it or not, he didn't really deserve to be hounded. It's bad enough he has me to deal with.

            The reporter on the scene started talking about the case from the beginning. Stating who had been killed and talked about the suspects. Three pictures lined up on the screen, one of them being Jack's. The other two suspects looked too old to be friends with Jack, so I ruled that out. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that Jack doesn't even know.

            Or how do I even know he's telling the truth?

            I have no reason to trust Jack, but for some odd reason, I believe him.

            Moments later, a car comes down the street and people in the news vans come pouring out like ants. Another car followed behind them. Jack was the first one to get out and run inside as fast as he could. The people in the car behind them got out and ushered the news people back. One was the lawyer and I wasn't sure who the woman was.

            His parents rushed inside with Anna following behind. After they got the crowd to calm down, he stepped forward and was surrounded by microphones. "The McKinnon family is in desperate need of privacy. I would appreciate it you would step back—"

            "We need a little something!" I heard one guy yell.

The lawyer shook his head. "No comment." He then turned around and walked inside with the woman in front of him.

            The news vans didn't leave. They stayed parked, thinking they might actually get a story. Well I have bad news for them.

            Jack appeared in his room and I took the opportunity. I pushed my window open and waved my hand to get his attention. He did a double take, but walked to the window and opened it. He lifted his phone up and pointed to it before pointing to me. Jack conveniently had my number programmed in his phone after our last tutoring session. Never leaving my phone unsupervised again.

A few seconds later, my phone was vibrating next to me. I answered it quickly. "Are you okay?" I asked.

I watched him nod. "For the most part anyway."

            "Hopefully they leave soon," I mumbled.

He poked his head out of his window, trying to get a good look at the lineup. "I think there's more than there was before."

I took the chance to take a look and noticed a few new vans. "There are only so many news channels near us," I assured him.

            "Since they're not on our property, there's nothing we can do about it."

I opened my mouth to apologize, but Jack spoke again. "What are you doing today?"

The question kind of shocked me, so it took me a moment to answer. "Um, I have to go to work in a hour..." I trailed off. "Why?"

            "No reason," He answered quickly. "I gotta go, I'll see you tomorrow." He sent me a small wave and closed his window. He hung up before I even got another word out. I was left there, curiosity eating away at me. Why Jack asked me what I was doing today is beyond me.

            I stepped down from my window seat and started my way down the stairs. When I walked into the kitchen, James was dabbing at his forearm and a curse word slipped from his lips. "You okay?" I asked.

He jumped a little and turned around quickly. "Yeah, sorry."

            I took a few steps closer to him. "May I?" I asked, moving my hands towards his arm.

He nodded and I took his forearm in my hand. "What did you do?"

            "I told your grandpa I can handle cutting a couple of wooden boards for him while they ran to the store. Clearly, I can't."

I shook my head and bit back a laugh. "I don't need to know anymore."

            I brought him to the breakfast table and rested his arm on a dishtowel. I proceeded to retrieve the first aid kit and sit down next to him. "Where's Meredith?" I opened up the kit to get the peroxide.

            "Shopping is what she does best, so I'm sure you can guess."

I laughed a little. "Sounds like Lindy."

            I cleaned him up the best I could and patched up his wound. "So," James started. "A guy was here for you this morning."

I looked at him curiously. "What was his name?"

            "Michael. That your boyfriend?"

            "Nope."

James raised a brow. "You sure about that?"

            "Yep." Definitely wasn't going to talk about Michael with James.

            James stood up and helped me clean up the mess we made. Or, more like James made. "Do you need a ride to work? I don't think they'll be back before you have to leave," James offered.

I smiled up at him. "That would be great, thank you."

            I walked back upstairs to get ready. I already had my clothes laid out, black shorts and a white shirt that clung to my skin. I got dressed, put on my shoes, and tied my hair back into a tight ponytail. I checked my appearance to make sure I didn't scare away any customers. I did my best to cover the bags under my eyes, but I'm not sure concealer is going to do them justice.

            James was waiting by the door for me. Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, we went outside to his car. I looked across the street and noticed all the news vans were finally gone. The McKinnon's must be happy about that. Shoot, I'm even happy about it.

Before I got into the passenger side, the sound of talking caught my attention. And being the creeper I am, I looked over at Jack's. He was in a heated conversation with Paxton, the obnoxious cousin. Whatever they were talking about, must be really important to be lashing out outside.

When James closed his door, the sound brought me out of my trance.  I hurried to open my door and hop in but it wasn't long before I heard my name. James and I turned our heads at the same time. "Who's that?"James asked as he started the car.

            Paxton is the one that called my name and he sent a wild wave in my direction. I returned the wave and forced a smile on my face. Jack looked mad as usual. He didn't acknowledge me at all, but that's understandable. I did tell him no one was to know. But Paxton didn't know that, and here he is, waving like a mad man to get my attention.

            The relief I felt when James pulled out of the driveway felt like a weight being lifted from my chest. "That was Paxton."

            "And you know him, too? Who knew you liked to hang out with the bad guys." I saw the smirk on his face from the corner of my eye.

I leaned my head against the window and let out a sigh. "Not a fan of Paxton."

            "He seemed to be a fan of you." He laughed. "You've got Michael, Jack, and now Paxton? Seems like you have a lot of fans."

I lifted my head up from the window and looked at him. I scrunched up my nose. "None of them are like that. So, maybe I had a little crush on Michael." Little was an understatement. "But Jack, never in a million years. And I just met Paxton yesterday and I don't like him—Wait, I don't have to explain myself to you."

            "It was just a joke, Juliet. Calm down." He paused. "And maybe I meant it as a compliment."

I felt the blood rush to my cheeks, "Thanks I think?"

James laughed again.

            Our conversation was cut short when he pulled into the diner parking lot. I thanked him before getting out. He told me he would be here to pick me up at the end of my shift. I walked inside just in time for the lunch rush, like always. Just in time for any rush.

            I walked straight to the back to clock in and get my things I needed. I tied the apron around my waist and placed the order pad in the front pocket. When I walked back through the double doors to enter the dining area, I heard Jack's name. I looked at the TV located above the bar and saw the news from just a couple of hours ago.

            The whispers going around the people at the bar made me nervous.

            "That kid's no good," And older woman whispered to a group of her friends. "Wouldn't surprise me if he did do it." The group of women burst out laughing like it was the funniest thing they've heard all week.

            Anger was bubbling up inside me and I couldn't figure out why. They know nothing.

            I don't either, but it doesn't give them room to judge.    

            I walked right by them and headed for my first table. It was another table that consisted of women, but younger. Women that looked like they worked in an office all day. And of course, they had Jack's name in their mouths too. "That McKinnon boy is nothing but trouble. I wondered how long it would take—"

            I cleared my throat to interrupt. "What can I get you?" I tried to hide my sour tone, but she wasn't having it.

            They rattled off their drink orders and their food orders as I wrote them down. I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything. I walked back to the kitchen to place their food orders and retrieve their drinks. I brought them to their table and walked away as quick as possible.

            I was relieved when my next table was a small out of town family just visiting for the week. They had giant smiles on their faces and I had to force one to match. Today just wasn't a good day.

 * * *

Jack's story played throughout the day. My shift was dreadful and full of judgmental people. I didn't snap at any of them, thankfully. I didn't want to lose my job over Jack. None of these people knew him, they know what the news has told them. But then again, I don't know him as well as I feel I do. I feel defensive over Jack and I don't know why.

            My shift was over in fifteen minutes and I couldn't wait to get out of here.

            Madison walked up to me as I was filling up some cups with a confused look on her face. "What's up?" I asked.

            "Um, table six requested you."

That's never happened before. "Was it Michael?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm not sure who it is."

            I asked her to take the drinks to my table while I dealt with whoever this was. If it's not Michael, I have no idea who it could be.

            I steadied my breathing and walked to the table. My heart sped up when I noticed the back of Paxton's head. I hesitated for a moment and walked into his view. A smile crept on his face when he noticed me. "Juliet."

I kept the pen in my hand as steady as possible. "What can I get you?"

            "Your number."

The laugh burst out of my mouth before I could stop it. "Excuse me?"

His face contorted into what looked like confusion. "I want to get to know you. Is that so bad?"

            "It is when I have a boyfriend," I blurted.

            And the stupidest thing I've done all year is...

            Paxton looked surprised. "Of course you do."

            "Is that why you're here? And how did you even know where I was?"

Paxton was on the boarder of stalking. And I just met the guy yesterday. He gave me weird vibes then and now it felt like spiders crawling all over my skin. "Jack mentioned where you work before and I saw your uniform earlier. Kind of put two and two together." I don't know what's creepier, Jack talking about where I worked or Paxton showing up here.

            The bell to the door dinged when a new customer came in. I looked over to see James, scanning for what I'm assuming would be me. When he saw me, I waved him over. "You ready?" He asked.

Paxton glanced between us and pointed at James. "Is this him?"

I nodded quickly.

            Paxton looked at James again but with a giant grin on his face. "You're very lucky." Paxton then stood up and turned to me. "See you around, Juliet." He gave James another look and left the diner.

            When I looked at James, he had his mouth opened ready to speak. "In the car," I whispered.

            I clocked out and got rid of my apron before meeting James at his car. I slid in and waited to speak until he pulled out of the parking lot. "I may or may not have told Paxton you were my boyfriend," I mumbled.

James just snorted. "And why would you do that?"

            I went into the full story, explaining why I thought Paxton was a bit scary, and how he showed up and asked for me. "So that's why he said I was lucky..." James sudden realization made me laugh.

            "So now you see why I said that. It's honestly sad that I had to lie. He just scared me."

            "I don't blame you for what you did. I think I could probably kick his ass if I had to."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't inflate your own ego."

            When we got home, James and I parted ways. He had plans and I just wanted to bury myself in junk food and Netflix. I changed out of my work clothes and grabbed my computer before getting situated in bed. Lindy had texted me earlier, asking if I wanted to go to a party. I lied and told her I had plans because I really just wanted to stay home.

            I was on my 5th episode of House when I fell asleep.

            But the sound of something slamming next door woke me up a few hours later.

            The clock on my bedside table read 2 A.M. and I wondered how in the world I could've slept that long. A two-hour nap turned into triple that. I climbed out of bed and walked to my window. I pushed one curtain to the side to get a view of next door. Jack was pacing his driveway before eventually just sitting down. I let the curtain fall back to its original place and moved.

            I pulled my sweatshirt over my head and tiptoed down the stairs. I quietly opened the front door and slowly closed it behind me once I made it outside. With my arms crossed against my chest, I made my way over to Jack and sat down in front of him without hesitating.

            His eyes moved to me, no shock was evident in his expression. "I'm not okay," He whispered.

            I let the words sink into me. They had a bigger effect than you would think. Three simple words together made a statement that wasn't simple. It was a statement that cut deeper.

            Jack was just the boy next door with too many problems to count.

            I didn't think, and just acted. I slowly grabbed his trembling hand from his thigh and squeezed it between my own. He didn't pull away. If anything, I felt his fingers still. He just looked at me and I wasn't sure what I saw in his eyes. Relief? Maybe.

            I couldn't help what I did next.

            I dropped his hand and wrapped my arms around his shoulders tightly. He didn't respond at first, but seconds later, I felt his arms around me. It may have looked weird, but something about his expression twisted my stomach. I have no idea what Jack has done, or what he will do. "I know we aren't exactly friends," I muttered, still hugging him. "but you can trust me."

            I squeezed Jack gently before pulling away slowly.

            He looked a bit hopeful now. "We were friends once, remember?" He slowly grinned.

            "I do remember. And then you decided it was funny to pour sand down my shirt. You basically made fun of me until I left that high school."

Jack eased up and let out a laugh. "I didn't make fun of you. I teased you, there's a difference."

            "I don't really see a difference, Jack."

            "Of course you don't."

            "What's that supposed to mean?"

Jack was back to normal. Not human, but as normal as he can get. "Parents left this morning to California." He changed the subject quickly.

            "And what's the have to do with anything?"

            "If you're not doing anything, you should come over. Unless you have plans." I could see the raise of his brow faintly from the moonlight.

This again? "I don't know. I'll see what Meredith and James—"

            "Forgot about them." Jack quickly stood up on his feet. "Tell James I said hi." He started walking back to his house and I stopped him.

            "Wait!" I called out and he froze. "I'll come over tomorrow. We can study then instead of in the middle of the night. I'll just say I'm with Lindy."

He just waved back as he walked inside his house.

            Talk about a pain in the ass.

—————-

Yay an update!! I'm trying to update at least once a week because of school, sorry if chapters are late. :/

I hope you liked this chapter! The comments on the last chapter made my day, so thanks so much for that! And can't forget about all the votes, thanks sooooo much!

P.S. I'm gonna start adding music again in the next chapter!

See you in the next chapter! :)

Parted roughly edited Nov. 8th, 2015.