Kieran

'You can't ignore me forever, Kieran. I will find you. Besides, I just want to talk; it's been far too long.'

That was what appeared in my iCoffin messages when I got to school the next day. It was exactly as Bram and Gory had said to me in the Coffin Bean that day — the man was persistent. But I wasn't going to fall for this. Being someone who'd put up a façade for centuries on end, I knew very well how to recognize when someone else did the same.

According to Bram, who I'd gotten a bit better acquainted with, he'd left Transylvania ages ago. Bram also confirmed my suspicions as to who was behind the recent murder and the blood bank theft. My father hadn't clued in to where I was yet, but he knew it wasn't there. I knew that eventually he'd find me properly. It was inevitable.

I knew I had to warn Jackson of this sooner or later, and I would. I really cared about him, and the last thing I wanted was for either him or Holt to get hurt.

Speaking of Holt, I had finally gotten the chance to begin socializing with him more in music class and study howl (since they were the only ones we consistently had together). He'd started to warm up to me more as well and we were able to hold friendly conversations no problem by this point.

Jackson was immensely glad that Holt and I were getting along so well, and he told me so as we were walking to lunch with Deuce and Heath the next day. The two of them had started sitting with Jackson, Spelldon and me, which was rather nice. 

"Oh, Kieran, I didn't even get the chance to tell you yet - guess what role I actually managed to land in the play?" Jackson asked me, eyes alight with enthusiasm. The three had been discussing the play - something they did a lot nowadays which only made sense given how much work had to be done.

His question piqued my curiosity at once. "Which one?"

"Dr. Jekyll! And Mr. Hyde, though I don't know yet if he wants me to have Holt play him, or if I'm doing both, but still - I'm looking forward to it."

"As you should, that's fangtastic!" I told him with a grin, and I meant it. Especially since it clearly made him so happy. 

According to Jackson, the drama class was to start rehearsing today. Everyone was asked to work on the songs on their own time as well as in class, and Deuce mentioned that Cleo was already working hard to memorize all of the ones she was singing.

"Have you guys gotten the actual script yet?" I asked.

"We're supposed to be getting them today, but since it's mostly the songs we've sort of got a head start," explained Jackson, "It's mostly just the dialogue we won't know until we have them. Except for the scene with the wedding reception—that's all dialogue."

"Speaking of singing, I never knew you had pipes, dude!" Heath grinned, "I thought that was all Holt."

"Well, they do share the same vocal chords," I pointed out.

"To be fair, I don't do a whole lot of singing, so that's probably why he assumed I couldn't," Jackson replied, "But I appreciate the compliment, Heath, thanks."

"No problem, Cuz," said Heath. "And then there's me, who can't sing for shit."

"If that was true, dude, you wouldn't have been picked to play Utterson," said Deuce, "Trust me, I heard your audition. You can sing."

I had yet to hear any of the drama class sing, including the three of them, so I couldn't really bring much to the conversation at the moment. Entertained nonetheless, I allowed the three to continue talking, and merely listened.

After lunch, Jackson invited me to visit his house after school, an offer which I accepted. When he, Clair, Chad and I had hung out on Halloween, we'd gone to Chad's place, so I hadn't been to Jackson's before. This would be a first for me.

I texted my mom, letting her know where I'd be, and after school Jackson and I made our way to his house. His mother was home when we arrived, so I was able to meet her as soon as we stepped inside.

"Hi, Jackson," Sydney greeted him when she saw us; "I see you brought a friend. I'm Sydney," she added to me, holding out her hand.

I shook it. "Kieran Valentine," I said, "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," she replied. She and Jackson led me further into the living room. His father wasn't home, but I knew he wouldn't be, since he always worked a double shift on Wednesdays, something Jackson had told me at some point. "I'm guessing you two know each other from school?"

"Yeah," said Jackson, "He was the one I went to hang out with in the Coffin Bean that day, remember?"

"Yeah, I do," Sydney nodded.

"Speaking of which, why don't we give my mom that list of baby names we talked about?" Jackson sent a grin my way.

"What list?"

"You'll see," I said, "And just so you know, none of these are mine; they're all Serena's."

Jackson and I then proceeded to go through the list, saving the funniest ones for last, and as predicted her reaction was just as priceless as Jackson's had been.

"I'm going to have to write all these down so I can show them to Aidan later," said Sydney once we all stopped laughing. "But I'm not naming my baby any of these, just so we're clear."

"Yeah, somehow I didn't think you would," I replied, "What ones are you guys considering, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Not at all," smiled Sydney, "Well, for a girl, I really like 'Emily' and 'Violet', and for a boy I've considered 'Liam' and 'Gideon'."

"I like the last one," said Jackson.

"So does your dad," said Sydney, "He also likes 'D.J.' although that was one of the ones I disagreed with him on."

I thought of one. "What about 'Hailey' for a girl?"

"Not a bad idea," Sydney replied, "I'll keep that in mind. Now, um..." She pulled out her laptop, "I hate to have to do this, but I have a couple of things I need to finish up here, so—"

"No problem," said Jackson. He and I then went upstairs to where his room was, in order to let Sydney finish the bit of work she had to do.

"Your mom's really nice," I said as I followed him into his room.

"Yeah, she's pretty awesome," he agreed. He then seemed to remember something. "Oh, hey, I have the script for the play. You want to see it?"

"Yeah, sure," I replied, taking a seat in the desk chair. Jackson opened his bag in search of his script, and I took that opportunity to glance around the room a bit out of curiosity.

The desk I was sitting at contained Jackson's laptop, which was currently plugged into the power bar under the desk. Also plugged into it was his iCoffin charger, but he hadn't had the chance to plug his phone into it yet. There was a glass tank on the dresser which was home to a chameleon, and a TV sat on a stand near the wall opposite the bed. There was also a sketchpad lying open next to his laptop, accompanied by an array of oil pastels. I picked up the sketchpad out of curiosity and smiled at what I saw. He had been drawing a portrait of me, and it was extremely well done. "Jackson, this...this looks amazing."

"Thanks," Jackson blushed a little bit, "I forgot I left that open, to be honest."

"Was this done purely from memory?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Yeah, it was. Oh, here--I found it," replied Jackson, who handed me the script. As I was reading through it, I was able to picture how the play would appear onstage, and I had a better understanding of why the set changes would be so much work. There was a lot going into the sets this year, much more than normal.

"We're going to have the woodshop teacher help build some of the stuff," said Jackson, "We're trying to find ways to make it easier on us, so I'm hoping it won't be too bad."

"Yeah, hopefully," I agreed, "I also think the script is pretty good. I'm glad Mr. Where thought to throw the song lyrics in there for you guys. As for the songs themselves, I have yet to hear any of them."

"They're not too bad," said Jackson, taking out his phone, "Here, I'll play one. If you want me to," he added.

"Yeah, I'd like to hear one," I said.

We ended up listening to both 'Confrontation' and 'Façade' and I had to admit, I liked them. For comparison's sake we listened to David Hasselhoff's version of 'Confrontation' as well. Even though Hasselhoff was trying his best, Jackson and I agreed that Anthony Warlow sounded much better as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

After a few more minutes, Jackson set down his iCoffin. Our eyes met and I smiled at him. "I think you're going to do really well."

He smiled back. "Thanks, Kieran. That means a lot."

As I gazed into his amethyst blue eyes I realized, for the first time in my existence, what falling in love was truly like.

For I had fallen for Jackson Jekyll and Holt Hyde.