Title: Glass Roses

Author: Shades of Hades

Date: January, 2007

A/N: Ever since I wrote the last chapter, Ever Be has been threatening to do me bodily harm if I didn't write chapter six and FINALLY make them kiss. So here's chapter six for her, because if I come to bodily harm, I can't write anymore... or draw, and that would make me sad... and fail all my classes. Which would suck. ^.^

Chapter Six: A Complication Arises

The bell for lunch rang and I found myself lost in thought as I followed the crowd towards the cafeteria. Yesterday had been most unusual to say the least, but today... Today was a normal day, which worried me. No paranormal activity, no almost kisses, no friends.
Guilt at yesterday's harsh words hung over my head and the burning desire (the much more recent and unusual of the two feelings) to kiss him, was rising up in me every moment that the day drug on. The most unusual of my feelings was the fact that I had realized during English that the kiss that we almost shared was far from unwanted, in fact, quite welcome.
It sounds so strange, even in my own head, but the fact still remains that I had WANTED to kiss a ghost. A spirit. A dead man. It was necrophilia at it's finest and I was starting to wonder if I should check myself into a mental hospital, because surely it was a hallucination.
I blushed deeply at my far from pure thoughts about my new friend, trying hard to distract myself from my thoughts with the dull roar coming from the other students. As hard as I tried, I found that even the loud lunch crowd could not properly drown out my thoughts.
It disturbed me to the very core to realize that all those years of teasing by the other kids had turned out to be true. Not that I didn't suspect that something like this would happen, but until it really did, I had no clue how true it was. I was attracted to boys. Not that you could call Gabriel a boy, since he's not really alive anymore, but he was still male none-the-less. I had heard once though, that you always fall for you first real friend. Before this, I didn't have the pleasure of growing up with some gorgeous girl that lived next door to me like in all the movies. Gabriel was hardly the girl next door. Maybe if he had been, things would have been different. Maybe I would be attracted to girls. Or maybe it didn't matter. Maybe I was just born like this. I really wasn't sure what I believed anymore. I mean, just a few days ago, I was miserable, ghosts didn't exist and I was fairly certain I at least liked girls. My whole life had been thrown off kilter by Gabriel's very existence.
I was jarred from my thoughts by a smooth baritone voice from my left. “Hey, you, come here, man.”
The voice was not familiar to me, and neither was the boy it was coming from. I pointed to myself, looking around me wondering if he was really talking to me.
“Yeah, you. New kid, come sit with us,” said as he waved me over.
I blinked. He was definately talking to me.
“Y—you sure?” I asked him as I timidly walked towards him. It's not that I had never been asked to sit at someone's table before, but I have never had a good experience with it. They always either want something from me, or they shun me after the first day. It was no wonder that I was a little weary of anyone that wanted to be my friend.
“Yeah, of course I'm sure, just sit down already!” He huffed impatiently as I stood at the edge of the table, unsure of myself.
This has to be a joke, I told myself as I looked at him. He smiled at me, one of those award winning smiles that would make any girl swoon, but as I looked around, I only found the girls rolling their eyes at him. I nervously smiled back at him, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, the girls only making me even more nervous then I was before.
“You can sit down, I'm not gonna bite ya,” he told me, never taking his eyes off me.
I slid on to the bench across from him, resting my hands on the table, tapping my fingers against the tabletop.
“Quit doin' that,” he told me as he grabbed my hands, holding them still. “You're makin' me nervous.”
I blushed at the contact, staring down at his painted nails. Black. He's probably one of those “hardcore punk” types. That's probably why he asked me to sit with him. He saw my peircings, and the way I was dressed and decided he wanted to be friends with me. I hate these guys almost worst then that rednecks and hicks that I usually find at these schools. At least they're honest about the people they like or don't like.
I pulled my hand away from his and he only smiled at me, cheeks tinted red.
“Sorry,” he said, “I didn't mean to-- I mean--”
“It's alright,” I told him more calmly then I really felt, unable to meet his eyes. I was uneasy at this new “friendship,” I had with him.
He gave a soft laugh. “You're a very serious kinda guy, aren't ya?” He gave me a crooked smile as he rested his hands on either side of his bag lunch. “I'm Derek, by the way.” He wiped his hands on the front of his tattered Led Zeppelin t-shirt and stuck his right hand out in front of him.
I shook it cautiously.
“Jackson,” I told him, still not able to meet his eyes, least I notice exactly how blue and perfect they really were. I was confused enough being attracted to Gabriel, but now I had a real person in front of me that made my stomach flutter in a weird way.
“That's an unusual name.”
I only grunted in response, staring blankly at my hands and far away from his handsome face.
“You have a nickname?”
“What?” I asked with a raised eyebrow, looking up to see his face.
He grinned. “I asked what your nickname was. Do people call you Jack?”
“N-- no,” I stuttered out, caught in his eyes.
“You don't like to look at people when you talk to them, do you?”
I shook my head, blushing at his directness. Most people are never this blunt about things.
“I don't talk to people much.” I tell him, looking away.
“That's too bad,” he answered back, and I was left wondering exactly what that meant. “Where did you go to school before this, Jackson?”
“Well,” I started, not exactly sure how to answer that question. “I went to school in Chicago for a bit.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked, leaning forward in interest. “Is that where you're from?”
“No,” I told him curtly. “It's just one of the places I've lived in the past year. After Chicago I lived in a suburb near Detroit, then in a small town in Ohio. That town was at least bigger than this town, though. They at least had a Macdonald's.” My stomach growled as I mentioned the place. Eating out had always been a treat for me growing up, one of the few times my mother decided she wanted to spend time with me. Those few times had been some of the rare happy memories that I had.
“Man,” he's voice brought me out of my thoughts. “You've lived more places then I've been.” He smiled, leaning back in amazement. “It's not so bad here though. The town next to us as a Macdonald's AND a Burger King, and I heard that they might be getting a Taco Bell soon,” he leaned forward and put his hand over his mouth as he spoke, like it was a big secret. There was a certain excitement in his voice that I just didn't understand and probably never would.
“Those are only the places I've lived this school year.” I told him, leaning forward as well, with a soft smile. I couldn't help myself. He was one of the few people that had ever been this polite to me, and I couldn't stop myself from showing off.
“Holy shit!” he nearly shouted and one of the lunch ladies, a stern older woman with a sour demeanor, glared at him. He gave a sheepish grin and laughed as he looked at her. “All those places in just this one year?” He gave a low whistle as he leaned in close to me again. “That's so cool. You must have a lot of good stories to tell.”
I leaned back a scratched my arm, not wanting to look at him. “Some great stories, yeah,” I told him, realizing that I had backed myself into a corner. I didn't have great stories to tell before I came here.
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“I'd really like to hear them some time,” he said with a sweet smile and I felt guilty for lying to him. “I bet you got expelled from your other schools, that's why you're here, right?”
“No!” I told him quickly, shaking my head, “It's nothing like that, honestly!” My mind was racing. Here was the part where he found out what a whore my mother was and told me to “Fuck off,” like everyone else.
I squeezed my eyes shut, not believing what I had gotten myself into. It was so much easier when everyone just ignored my existence.
Opening my mouth to tell him, I was rudely interrupted by his shout, “Hey! Yo, I'm over here!”
I opened my eyes and stared at him. He was gesturing wildly, and I followed his gaze across the lunch room. My eyes landing on a tall, leggy blond.
“Rachel!” He said loudly as she drew nearer. “This is Jackson (he's new here)!”
Her eyes raked over my body, and I'd never felt more naked in my life. There was an unfamiliar glint in her eyes as she addressed me. “It's nice to meet you,” she said, setting her tray down and holding her hand out to me. “I'm Rachel, one of Derek's friends.”
I gently took her hand, as her lips curled up into a smile.
She sat next to Derek as I let go of her hand, her eyes instantly going back to me.
“So, you're new here, huh?” She leaned forward much like Derek had done before as if hanging on my every word. “Got a girlfriend yet?”
My eyes widened and my heart beat harder. Of all the questions I was expecting that was far from one I thought she would ask.
“No, not exactly,” I told her quickly, and started to stand, realizing now the danger I had put myself into. She was only interested in one thing from me. That's what that glint in her eyes meant as she looked at me.
Derek grabbed my wrist. “Please don't go, man. I'm sorry if the question upset you.”
I glared at the girl across from me as I sat back down, really uncomfortable with my new “friends”.
“I'm sorry,” she told me, never taking her eyes off me. “I shouldn't have asked so bluntly. I have a bad tendency to do that.” She smiled at me and I glared harder. “So, do you have a boyfriend then?”
Rachel's smile widened to a grin and I could only bury my face in my hands in embarrassment. Who the hell does this girl think she is asking me questions like that? We've only just met!
“I take that as a 'no'?” Derek asks me, and I nod vigorously. “I'm sorry she said that,” he said, and put his hands on mine, pulling them from my face. “She had no right to.”
Derek glared at Rachel and pushed her a little.
“It was an honest question!” Rachel told him with a huff.
I blushed, unable to look at either of them.
“The guy's gonna die of embarrassment over here! Poor boy's obviously really shy and you had ta ask him that,” he huffed right back in her face.
Derek let go of my hand as he turned, in full fighting mode, the “poor boy” across from him completely forgotten as he lost himself in the argument.
I buried my face in my hands again, never wanting to crawl into a hole and die so much in my life.
They argued for the rest of the lunch period, and when the bell rang for classes to start again, I was never so relieved. I quickly got up and tried to walk away, only to find that Derek had a hold of my wrist again.
Letting go of my wrist, it was his turn to be uncomfortable as he stood up, and slung his bag over his shoulder. “I'm sorry she treated you like that. She can be such a bitch sometimes.”
Rachel made an indignant noise behind him.
“Look,” he said, shifting from foot to foot much like I had done earlier in the lunch break, “I like you, and I want to get to know you better. If Rachel makes you uncomfortable, maybe we could hang out sometime, after school, without her?”
I narrowed my eyes at him, suspicious of him.
“I guess,” I tired to sound dismissive, but only came off as sounding unsure of myself.
A smile blossomed across his face at my words. “Really?” He sounded surprised and I wondered what exactly I was agreeing to. “How about tomorrow? I'll meet you at the doors!”
He gave me one last smile before he ran off towards the hallway, leaving me to wonder what the hell just happened.


******

I had spent most of the rest of the school day thinking about what had happened at lunch. It was a nice distraction from my problems with Gabriel, but I had only dug myself into a deeper hole. If anything, this distraction only created more problems for me. There was no denying that Derek was attractive, a thought which made me blush as I stepped off the bus, but it was Gabriel that I was really interested in.
That thought made me stop for a moment as I walked up my drive-way. I wanted Gabriel. I wanted someone who I could never have, because said person wasn't even alive.
Shaking my head, I tried to force myself back to reality. It didn't matter whether he was alive or not, because he was never going to talk to me again after last night.
Mentally kicking myself, I pushed the key into the lock and turned it.
I wouldn't blame him if he didn't. I was a jerk and I said some really stupid things to him. And now, this whole thing with Derek was happening. I just didn't know what to do.
Pushing the door opened I must have jumped half a foot as I saw Gabriel standing before me, head low, arms hanging limply at his side.
I tried to calm my heart as I closed the door and worked up the courage to face him.
“I'm sorry,” I told him quietly as staring at the floor.
He didn't speak.
Instead, my eyes went wide as he wrapped his arms around me and placed his lips on mine.

A/N: Now that this chapter is written and Ever Be is happy, I will re-write chapter three. I promise.