Counselling Jack: submission 3
Dear readers, I realise that the title of the series is called 'counselling Jack' and although there has been little mention of him so far, the relationship is something which will develop over the series. A lot of this is coming from my personal experience, and thus I don't want to miss out the important details leading up to the actual counselling of Jack. Up to now, the story been fairly accurate in portraying real life events, but later on when the relationship between the two boys develop there will be more fiction, since a sexual relationship isn't the true outcome of the story, simply a fantasy.
The next note is regarding the setting of the story. It is set in the UK so there will be some terminology that you may not understand. If this applies to you, feel free to drop an email to ask about it.
Finally, I realise it's frustrating for an author to write parts of the story and post them, leaving long gaps between each submission, but this is unavoidable in my case, given my workload which is especially big for the next few months. It also allows me to listen to your suggestions and advice in between chapters should you decide to email me, which again, I encourage you to do; I like hearing your views and knowing a little about those that are reading my work.
Don't forget to donate, as always, to ensure the site remains open for people such as yourselves to use.
Chapter 3
I met Ben at the gate at the top of the school at 3:00; I had to wait an hour for his lesson to finish since mine ended an hour earlier than his. As the crowds poured out like horses at the start of a race, I was occasionally greeted by various students that I'd now taught for PE, although the majority were year 7s who were a little more impressionable than the older years and were more eager to talk to me. They were mainly asking how often I'd be taking their lessons, and that they really wanted me to teach them again because it had been so good. I honestly felt like one of the teachers standing at the gate who were there making sure there weren't any fights as students left. (Yes this was an issue).
After a few more minutes, the crowds began to die down, until the last few who'd probably been kept back for detention or had been talking to teachers emerged. I wondered what was taking Ben so long, until I received a text from him saying he'd been talking to my sociology teacher to ask if he could change one of his A-level subjects... Again. Ben had always been indecisive, and only decided two days before the sign up date for sixth form that he actually wanted to join, similarly to how he decided to go on a school football trip to Villarreal a week before the flight. I didn't bother replying to his text since I'd see him in a few minutes.
As I put my phone in my pocket, I was surprised to see that Jack had appeared from the long winding road coming out of the school, out of the music department, carrying a guitar case which I presumed contained a guitar. He looked to be in his own world, staring at the floor and then back up to the sky, allowing me to see different angles of his face. He approached me with the wind blowing his blond hair in several different directions, and suddenly looked up at me to give a slight smile in acknowledgement. I realised at this point just how fucking good he looked. Thick, slightly parted lips, long, dark eyelashes which contrasted with his blond hair, and slightly thinker eyebrows than usual which gave his face a slight effeminate look. I also noticed he walked with his head arched back, his chin pointing outwards as he looked around, as if he were constantly proud. I found myself mesmerised by his facial features and how perfect he looked, that I forgot to smile back and instead followed him with my eyes as he walked past me and down the road leading away from the school. I physically moved my body so that I was facing him as he walked in the opposite direction to me; talk about unsubtle. I was still staring, fixated on nothing but Jack and this unique feel that I got from him. I continued staring as Ben snuck up behind me and grabbed my shoulders, shouting "DAN WE'VE GOT TO GO."
"Jesus fucking Christ Ben I nearly shit myself. You took your time."
"Yeah I dropped psychology, gonna try socio instead. Psychology was shit, only went on about mother-child attachments and something about memory."
"What about memory?"
"Just about some techniques that stop your brain from picking up information or something. I don't know.. I've forgot, ha! Come on, let's go."
And with Ben's insightful comment about the complexity of the human memory, we left and caught the bus to the gym, where, as predicted, I managed to out-lift him. I moved on to other weights and eventually used the indoor rowing machine, which tired me out completely so I called it a day. I didn't do any running on the treadmill for obvious reasons though.
We were there for a few hours before I took the bus back home. I picked up a salad from subway so just ate that when I arrived home so my mum didn't have to make me anything. I was tired too, so quickly ate my salad, finished off some work due for the next day and then headed to bed without taking a shower; I'd have one in the morning after my run.
I woke up early on Tuesday and carried out my usual routine, although I added some new music to my running playlist to keep me motivated while I ran. I also had to delete a few songs that had been put on by my friends; I shared a Spotify account so Ben, Conor and James could all access my playlists, which was particularly annoying when I played music in my room and suddenly some weird Mexican music starts to blast out of my speakers. Fuck my friends are annoying.
I ran about 5 miles at a slow pace, meaning I returned about an hour later and quickly showered, shaved got dressed and left, opting to grab an apple on my way out.
I went into school a little later than usual; I was going to be there until 4:00 because of a sixth period so I wasn't going to spend any more unnecessary time there. I passed through the crowds, finding myself getting annoyed by slow walkers and kids messing about in the hallways. I finally ended up at the humanities department where my registration class was, and ended up walking behind a group of year 8 boys, where I'd immediately spotted Jack's dark blue bag which again caused me to become fixated on his face again. I noticed he was kind of awkwardly walking with the others, as if he didn't really belong in the group. He was certainly one of their friends, but he seemed very much alone and in his own world, just as I'd realised the day before. Admittedly, I actually began to walk slower so that I could remain behind the group, finding myself unable to stop looking at Jack. I'd made a note to myself to remember his face simply because of how perfect it was. It was hard to stare at him without making it obvious should any of them look behind, but I made sure to subtly but surely take in his beauty for as long as a dared to, before he disappeared into his registration classroom, two rooms away from my own.
I eventually sat down at my desk where Ben was already waiting. "What's up with you? You look lost." He asked, clearing referring to my distant state, thanks to the fact that I was trying to savour the mental image of Jack in my head and revelling in this new lust that had come over me.
"Erm nothing. I'm good. Just erm, tired is all." I said, trailing each word as if I didn't mean a word that came out of my mouth.
I was quickly brought back to the present when my registration teacher entered the room. Well, one of them. See, I have two 'reg' teachers: one of them called Mr Robson and the other called Miss May. The interesting part is that Mr Robson is actually James' dad, so it was incredibly strange to see him every morning and also to be taught sociology by him too. He was a nice man, a decent teacher and the best part was that myself and Ben were given special treatment by him given our closeness to his son. He often let us off with various assignments if they weren't handed in on time and conveniently filled us in on various stories about James growing up, which, of course we used against him at every opportunity. The other teacher, Miss May, wasn't so nice. A young teacher with the attitude of sticking to the rules at all times and quickly resorting to punishment if people didn't follow them. She took registration on Mondays and Tuesday's, so came in shortly after I did. After settling her things down, she made her way over to my desk and said,
"So I emailed Mr Hutchins yesterday after you told me you were both volunteering, to verify your excuse, and he said that only you volunteered, not Ben."
"Erm, he was supposed to but..." I replied after a brief pause, although she really wasn't buying it.
"Save the excuses boys. I don't like being lied to and because you've clearly lied, I'm stopping you from volunteering on Mondays after registration since you can't be trusted."
"Ahh come on miss, Mr Hutchins needs me there since he has meetings on Mondays.." I responded, although a little confused as to why I was so bothered. I think I was actually looking forward to it...
"I'm sure he'll find another student or member of staff." She ended as she walked away to talk to the class about various notices.
As she moved away far enough so that she wouldn't hear, Ben nudged me in the ribs and giggled, "At least I've got you out of teaching the little shits in year 7."
I sighed a deep breath and smiled at him in agreement, even though I wasn't happy about what he'd just gotten me out of. Besides, I couldn't exactly explain to him that I wanted to teach them because I liked being around them in their PE kits...
The rest of the day was spent going through various topics in different subjects. I had two hours of biology at the end of the day and didn't finish until 4. By the time I got home it was about 5 o'clock since I stopped at a nearby supermarket to get some ingredients for my dinner. My parents were both working late and they'd asked me to cook something for Robert and myself since they'd be too tired when they came in. I wasn't too bothered by this; it was Robert who wasn't a fan of my food. He much prefers disgusting, frozen, plastic food rather than the healthy stuff I make. I decided to compromise and decided to make two homemade pizzas, and I'd let him put whatever he wanted on his and I'd do the same with mine. We sat down at the table together and ate, while I asked him about his day and he did the same.
"My friends were asking about you. They said they saw you at the track on Saturday doing sprints."
"Yeah I only recognised a few of them." I realised this was my chance to find out a little more about Jack without it seeming a little odd. "That Jack kid was there. You said you knew him well?"
"Not very well... He only really talks to a few people in my year group. And he never goes out with the big group of us on a weekend."
"Why not?"
"I don't know..."
"Do you know if he goes out with anyone else on a weekend or?.."
"Jesus I don't know. Why are you so bothered? Planning on replacing me as your brother?" He shot back with a mocking smile.
"Wish I could bro." I responded causing us both to laugh.
I offered to wash up as he rushed upstairs to go on his PlayStation and to talk to his friends online. I could hear him talking through my bedroom wall when I went up and noticed he mentioned the name 'Sam' a few times. He was the other kid I wanted to ask Robert about...
The next day was a carbon copy of the day before, two hours of Biology in the morning this time, and German and Politics in the afternoon. The only think that got me through the day was knowing I had volunteering with year 9 period 5.
On my way down, I was again caught behind another gaggle of year 8s, and guess who was there? I noticed he was talking to one other boy in the group, slightly taller than him, with short, scraggly blonde hair. They were joking on with each other and started to grapple each other in the corridor until they were right in front of me, where the other kid tripped Jack with an out-swinging leg, causing Jack to slam against the locker and fall to the floor. The other boys erupted into laughter including his friend, until they saw me approaching Jack, where they all fled to their next lesson, tying to suppress their giggles.
I walked up to Jack who was perched against the metal locker holding his head, and looking as if he were about to cry of embarrassment. The corridors were pretty much empty since the bell had went a few minutes ago. His friend was still there too, just standing and waiting for Jack to get up with a look of concern as he noticed Jack slightly wincing.
"Sore head?" I joked as I knelt down to take a closer look. He reluctantly smiled, and when I motioned for him to move his hand away, he looked me up and down for a second, then complied. For the first time since I'd laid eyes on him, he was actually doing the same, intently watching me as I peered to see the cut from the impact of the locker. There was a decent sized cut at the crown of his head, and the area it was in caused quite a lot of blood to come out so the back of his hair had trickles of it running down.
I shifted my attention from the back of his head and back on to the front, almost stuttering as I spoke, once again found myself lusting after his perfect face which was now actually focused on me. "It looks fixable, come on, let's get it cleaned up and then I'll take you to your next lesson when we're done." I said, subsequently standing up and offering him a hand to help him stand. His friend was still standing there, guilt plastered across his face as if expecting a telling off. I looked at him and asked, "what's your name?"
"Erm, Jacob. " he said, looking down at his feet.
"Since you're the one that caused this mess, you can help. Do you two have the same lesson now?"
"Yeah, history."
"Can you tell your teacher Jack's going to be a little late and that I'll drop him off in about ten minutes."
"Yeah sure. And erm, sorry Daniel."
"I think that should be aimed at Jack to be honest." I said, smiling.
He smiled back, and set off to his next lesson. Jack was still silent, I'm pretty sure I hadn't heard him speak yet, but this was my chance, after all, I'd already managed to get him to make eye contact with me.
"Come on, I've got a year 9 class that I'm covering for, I'll set them off and we'll go into the changing rooms to wash the blood off your hair."
"There's blood?" Damn, expectedly, his voice was higher than mine, and hadn't completely broken. But there was a hint of deepness which suggested he was definitely on his way.
His eyes lit up at the mention of blood, at first I thought he was concerned that he was bleeding, but I soon realised, once he began to smile, that he found it pretty cool. Kind of like a battle scar, that he could later show off to his friends.
"Yeah, it's dripping onto your neck, see?" I said, as I showed him my fingers from where I'd touched the area on his head.
"Woah shit... I mean, erm.."
I simply laughed at his outburst to show him I wasn't bothered, and started walking, signalling him to follow me. I told him to sit down on the desks outside of the changing rooms as I eventually made it the year 9 class that I'd kept waiting for the last 5 minutes. They were already changed so I just had to tell them to start without me. I sought out Fraser, the kid who'd asked me about taking the school teams rugby training the previous week. I asked him to lead the group and just to start a game and I'd meet them outside once I'd helped out Jack. They followed my instructions and I went back to Jack, taking him into the changing rooms to clean up his cut. I quickly took a detour to the first aid cupboard and took out a few things too.
I took him over to the sink and told him to lean over it so his shirt wouldn't get wet. He was still pretty quiet so I tried to get him to talk while I dabbed his cut and the surrounding hair with a wet wipe.
"So, are you normally this clumsy? First the incident in PE with Sam and now this."
He smiled slightly before responding, "not really. You just seem to be in the right place at the wrong time."
"Not all of the time... I don't think you fell over on Saturday at the track."
He smiled again, but this time I presume it came from the fact I noticed him at the track. Which was confirmed by his reply.
"I didn't think you'd seen me.."
"Yeah I saw. You're a pretty good runner too. You do competitions?"
"I will be. I only started running about a year ago. But I don't know whether I'll be good enough to compete in the regionals next month. I need to cut my completion time by like 30 seconds to qualify... And the coach doesn't really help."
"With the right training you should be able to shave that time easily. I could give you some tips if you want."
"Really?"
"Yeah, well, I'd have to see you run first."
"Will you be at the track on Saturday?"
"Yeah I will."
"If I go like half an hour earlier can you show me then? So I can try it when everyone else gets there?"
"I don't see why not. Just don't tell the others, I don't want another group of boys to teach!"
He smiled, before asking sincerely, "Why do you take the PE lessons? Is Hutchins just being lazy."
I laughed, before responding, "I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason. It's for volunteering hours, I need them for my university application in 2 years."
"Sounds boring.. So how's it only you taking the lessons and not any other sixth former?"
"I have no idea... Why? Am I not good enough?" I asked, with a mocked hurt expression on my face, adding to his genuine look of pain as I finished putting a clear anti-septic liquid onto his cut before covering it with a small plaster.
"Nah you're good enough, as far as I've seen." He added, with a sly grin.
I smiled dismissively, before telling him that I'd finished, and he could go back to his lesson. He picked up his bag and started to walk, leading the way to his classroom. When we reached the history department, Jack stopped until I was closer to the door he was at, and asked, "Can you go in first?"
I gave him a questioning look, before agreeing and then knocking on the door. It was actually Mr Richard's room, my own history teacher and ex-mentor who helped me get over my anxiety. I was greeted by a warm smile from the teacher, and the emergence of Jack behind me resulted in the rest of the class to erupt into whisper at various stories they'd heard about what happened to Jack in the hallway. I take it Jacob couldn't help bending the truth a little.
"Alright sir, there was an accident on the way to your lesson and we had to clean up his cut and the blood on his head. Sorry he's so late."
"Not a problem, these things can't be helped." He responded, still smiling, almost with pride at the level of responsibility I showed to help a kid I didn't know, (as far as he was concerned)
"Right, thanks Sir, see you tomorrow." I concluded, before glancing over at Jack, where I received a nod of acknowledgement. I left the room and headed back to the PE department, still ridiculously happy about the experience I'd just had with this kid that I'd been obsessing about for the last few days. He seemed like a nice kid, and I couldn't help but draw comparisons to myself when I was about his age. I also now had his picture perfect face imprinted on my mind after being so close to him, and I could still see his ice blue eyes etched into my mind. There was something about him, something different...
I made it back out onto the rugby field, and as I came into sight, I heard various 'weeyyy he's made it' and 'took your time Raymond'
I hadn't had a chance to get changed, so I remained in my uniform. I just allowed them to carry on with their game, shouting various pointers to them to help them improve. They seemed to be listening, so I stopped them occasionally to show them new techniques and plays that they could do with each other. By the end of the game, they were fairly pleased, and I think I made up for missing the first half of their lesson.
Fraser approached me after the game, who, I should add, is definitely the most attractive in year 9. He plays football for an academy, so had a decent physique and was certainly eager with his fitness. He has short, almost dirty blonde hair and his jawline is sharp and appealing. He handed me the bag of rugby balls and smiled at me the way a small child would in the hope of their parents buying them candy from a shop.
"Yes?..." I asked, a concerned tone in my voice.
"You said you'd think about coaching us.. Have you decided yet?"
"I don't know.. It would depend on the day."
"Come on.. You've just showed how much you know and we'll need you to help us. We're shit honestly. Nobody knows what they're doing. And we'll train whenever suits you?"
I sighed, knowing I had no valid excuse to say no, so I said, "fine, it'll have to be after school on a Wednesday, straight after your PE lessons."
"That's perfect actually! Except try and turn up for our lessons in future?" He added with a cheeky grin, before I mockingly moved in for a rugby tackle making him jump out of the way and run back to the changing room, shouting "cheers Dan." On the way.
As I didn't have to get changed, I popped my head into the changing room and told the lads to leave whenever they were ready: something I wasn't supposed to do since I was under strict instructions to let them go at 3:00 exactly. This meant they could get to the school busses first and pick the best seats, so they were definitely happy about this. Before I managed to mention one last thing, Fraser came around the corner of the room, wearing just his underwear and socks. My eyes were immediately drawn to his package, which was clearly a decent size for a 13 or 14 year old. He was wearing plain white boxers which were tight fitting, leaving little to my imagination. I looked back up to his face just as quickly as I'd looked down at his crotch, to make sure he didn't notice I was staring. He then asked me, "Are you gonna tell them about training?"
"Oh yeah, listen up lads. Before I forget, anyone on the school rugby team, I've agreed to do training sessions every Wednesday after this lesson. I'll see Greenwood and tell him I'll be taking over his work too I guess."
"You should ask for a percentage of their wage." Fraser joked, before disappearing back around to get changed again, allowing me full view of his bubble butt.
"right, see you all next week." I said, before heading home, with enough pleasant images encircling my mind to last until tomorrow where I'd be given the pleasure of teaching the year 10s again, and subsequently seeing them get changed since I felt it would be acceptable for me to do so.
End of chapter 3.