Chapter Seven

"H-Hii Max."

"Hi."

I said it involuntarily. I just replied, hearing it. No-one had spoken to me yet and I didn't expect anyone to do so either.

I had been at the canteen, picking at the food in my tray when I heard his voice. It sounded familiar and when I looked up, I was even more surprised to see a boy smiling at me. Not just any boy, someone who could answer my questions.  It was the boy whose name I remembered as Jake. He was grinning ear to ear. Here I was, trying the shut out the world from around me, and here was this guy who could maybe confirm my doubts about my brother being in this town. Many people from the nearby tables were craning their necks to get a look at what was happening at my table. 

Jake: Hey Max!

Me: Hi?! Jake,I guess it is?

Jake: (Smiling) Yes

Me: Anything you need?

Jake: (Shocked ) (Shaking his head) Oh n-no!!! N-nothing.....I just th-th-thought that i will come and speak to you s-since you  were  sitting al-alone.... I'm...I'm..I'm s-sorry for disturb-bing..... 

He started moving away from where I was sitting and people were sniggering. This was something I always hated. People putting their noses into businesses they shouldn't be bothered by. I felt like I insulted him and so, I decided to make it up to him. Show these people that I wouldn't insult someone who did make an attempt to talk to me even if I do act as a bitch to all.

"Ummm...Jake can you wait up a bit?", I called out. He turned and took a step towards me. I gazed into his eyes- he seemed nervous. I have to admit that that boy looked good. It felt like forever since I had ever felt a guy look appealing and attractive and I was surprised at myself. I motioned at him to come back to my table which he did. It was evident that he wanted to talk to me; that he hadn't come up to my table to simply greet me because he felt I was lonely. No, there was some other reason to it and like hell, I was gonna find out about it. He stood opposite me and offered me a weak smile which I didn't return. Instead, I took to observing him. He was flexing his fingers one minute , clutching at the table the other. Guess my staring had started to creep him out because he called out my name again to which I replied, " It's alright Jacob. Sit. You weren't disturbing. I'm free. You can talk."

He relaxed a bit, smiled again, drew out the chair and sat opposite me. He kept his hands on the table but folded his fingers and for the moment I had more to worry about than his fingers.

Me: What classes have you got after lunch today?

Jake: I've got Block Biology and I don't know what else. Why?

Me: I have P.E., Arts and a free hour to cover what I missed last year. Mind skipping your classes? We could go out and do something you know. Roll some joints or have a couple beers maybe?

Jake seemed startled and seemed to be considering my offer. This guy was hot and that's when I noticed that he hadn't stuttered even once since I asked him to sit. As far as I could remember, he used to stutter a lot in class, but right now, that wasn't the case. I wanted to ask him about it but, boy, he looked confident now. I didn't want him to feel uncomfortable again.

Jake: I'd like to go out with you for a drink or two. But, how do we skip school? Umm.. if..if you could come up with a plausible explanation, I would love to come with you.

I have to admit I hadn't expected that. I had expected him to refuse. Surely a guy like him would have gotten asked out by girls way too many times for him to accept MY asking him out? For fucks sake, Max. He accepted to share a drink with you, not a bed.  I hit myself on the head and smiled at him to show him I would get it under control. 

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Running out of the school gates, Jake asked me," You sure that wasn't stupid?" 

"Yepp!!! Totally. It's chill. Don't worry. I have got it all under control."

To be honest, I myself couldn't believe my luck. All I had to do was walk into the nurse's room with Jake and she was like, " Oh it was you both?  All right. Get going. You never gave me the 50 and I never saw you both leave." When I heard talks that Nurse Sally used to let couples skip school for just 50 bucks, I didn't believe it . But when, Jake accepted to skip school, I had no other option to get us both out without something like this.

"Allright Maxie", was all I heard because with that he grasped my hand, pulled me and ran away from the gates and stopped after putting putting quite some yards between us and the school gates. He suddenly left my hand, hung his head down and clasping both his palms together started something along the lines of, "I'm sorry...I'm...Please..forgive..Max I am..I didn't mean...Please.." I didn't bother to listen to the rest because instead I held his shoulders between my hands and shook him. "Jake, it's okay. Don't apologise. You haven't done nothing wrong. You were excited. It's understandable. It's okay.", and with that I gave his shoulders a tight squeeze and released him. 

He smiled meekly and nodded his head. "So, tell me Jake. How does this sound? Let's go to my place and have a couple beers, roll some joints and you know just get wasted or do you wanna go out somewhere and just chill, grab a burger and stuff? What do you choose?", I asked looking at him. " I don't smoke or drink Max. I am sorry. I have never even had a cigarette." He seemed embarrassed that he didn't do all that. He hung his dead down in shame and took to looking at his shoes. I didn't want him to get embarrassed . There's indeed nothing wrong in not doing all that. So, I told him, "Boy, it's okay. Let's grab a burger and just loiter around. Nothing's wrong with not doing all that." With that, I grabbed his hand and started walking towards a busier street from where we could hail a cab to go to my favorite burger joint.