Bad Luck: You Can't See Me (Open)

[Deleted]

Jackson couldn't believe it. He couldn't get the images out of his head. Which meant...that nobody else could either. They wouldn't. They'd recognize him and point fingers and laugh until he cried. They were all going to laugh at him! And why the heck couldn't he think that without hearing the creepy mom's voice from the movie Carrie?? The old one, not the new one! Anyway...

Picture this: Jackson. Alone. In his bedroom. Of course like that, he'd be in nothing but his boxers. But now imagine that he's dancing like a sassy black woman to Beyonce's "Single Ladies", with his hands in the air and a hairbrush being used as a microphone. One of his friends thought it'd be hilarious to capture the moment on his iphone. Following, they creak open the door and stand there until Jackson finally notices...whereupon he cringes and screams like a little girl, throws the hairbrush at the camera, then proceeds to chase the offenders out of his room, slamming the door behind him.

Jackson never thought they'd upload it on youtube. He didn't even realize it was there until one of his classmates pointed it out to him - Jackson was wondering why everyone was staring at him. And of course, this was only after it'd gotten over 2 million views...

Nooooooo~~

He couldn't show his face in public anymore~! He could barely show his face in private anymore! He needed to change his face and his name, and hope that nobody unveiled him as the the "Single Ladies Screamer", as they were starting to label it now.

Jackson curled in on himself even further as he sat beneath the stairs, hiding from the lunchtime crowds. He'd go back to the classrooms after the final bell rang. He didn't care if he was late or if he got detention. If that's what he had to do to avoid the stares and laughs, then he'd do it without thought...even though he didn't want to miss class. A low whimper escaped his throat as he pouted down at his pathetic PB&J sandwich. He took a small bite and sniffled.

[Neil Villanueva-Harris]

Being on campus was, quite honestly, at the very bottom of Neil’s list of things to do for the day. If it even made the list at all. Nope, the man’s original plan was to cuddle in bed with his husband until noon, have lunch at The Burger Shack (the place where they had their first real date; Neil was ecstatic when he learned that the place was still open after all these years), take his husband to the lake to reminisce about old times, then stop by the grocery to fill his pantry. Maybe go check the clubs out later tonight if Lionel’s not too jetlagged yet.

But all that changed when he got an email at 10am telling him that his shipment of relatively expensive glassware and other science equipment arrived. Part of him wanted to just leave it in the staff room and deal with it some other day, but his somewhat paranoid, somewhat excited side won and off to the Institute he went. He did promise his husband that he ate a huge breakfast and thus he’d be back before 1 so they can still go on about their original plans.

He ate a breakfast good for at least four people cause, well, he needed at least three bodies to get all of it sorted out in less than three hours. Fingers crossed his bodies wouldn’t get into an argument to see who carries the heaviest boxes and how to place them all in his designated classroom though.

Once in the staff lounge, the man replicated into three beings and started grabbing the boxes.

All three of Neil’s bodies passed through the boy’s little hiding spot, but if it weren’t for his phone buzzing causing his third body to stop, he wouldn’t have noticed the low whimper and the accompanying sniffle. “Everything ok here?” he asked, nodding to tell his two other bodies to go on as he put the box down and squatted in front of the boy, “Sandwich not to your liking?”

[Deleted]

How long did it take for rumors to die down? It’s possible that by next…..year, everyone would completely forget his face and forget about the video as well. So…all Jackson had to do was eat his lunches under the stairs for a year. Maybe wear a mask too. Or just not show up for school. Ahhh, noooo~ Jackson didn’t wanna repeat a graaade~!

A single tear trailed down the side of the boy’s face as he considered his lunch. A voice came soon after and Jackson rose his head in a slight panic to see just who it was that had found him in such a miserable state.

“Huh? N-no…that’s not…” Jackson fell silent, unwilling to immediately divulge the reason for why he was hiding. This was a teacher. How likely was it that he would have seen the video too? Did teachers even go on You Tube? Jackson forced out a smile. “I’m okay,” he lied with a shrug. “I just felt like being alone today. It’s too crowded out there.” He looked out to the hallway, which at this point had only a few students lingering around, then back up to the teacher and took a hearty bite of his sandwich to prove his point. Mmm…peanut butter.

[Neil Villanueva-Harris]

Had he been anywhere else, the boy’s short response would’ve been enough to get Neil off his back. The man simply wasn’t an intrusive person, and he’d rather not risk hypocrisy poking into a stranger’s business when he spent years and years trying to get his loving parents off his back. (In fact, his particular brand of nonchalance and refusal to prod for more intimate details irked his husband during the early part of their dating life. Like why couldn’t he get Neil jealous?).

But, he wasn’t just anywhere else now. And he wasn’t just anyone else. He’s in Hammel. As an authority figure. With responsibilities.

The sensitivity and suicide prevention training he swore he didn’t sleep through (almost did, but didn’t!) quickly flashed in his head. He couldn’t risk the kid doing anything stupid. Not when he’s just a new teacher. When he had the chance to intervene. One quick scan of his mind would show he’s partly at fault.

So maybe the man was overthinking it. He’s new ok, and the man wants to prove to his sister that he can actually excel at something despite being “in retirement” for half a decade.

“Good to hear. ‘Cause I’m not in the mood to talk with the head chef of the cafeteria. I heard he’s quite the man-eater.” Not that he’s had any bad encounters with the man. Or had any encounters with him at all. But making fun of other people was how he made friends back in his day, so it’s just logical that that’s still how kids warm up to other people, right?

His two other bodies passed by him, boxes already unloaded in his future classroom, giving him his version of a stank eye as they went back to the staff lounge. Something along the lines of ‘And who said you can rest?’. “Well that’s a shame, cause I can really use the help.” He rotated his shoulders before squatting to pick the box up, heaving slightly as he did. “There’s still quite a few boxes downstairs. And I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to give extra credit to students who show initiative. You are taking a science class next semester right?”

There. No one can say he didn’t try now.

[Deleted]

“Ha ha…” Jackson mustered up a laugh to the teacher’s joke. He assumed the man was a teacher. He was obviously too old to be a student, after all. However, Jackson’s responses were only done in a desperate effort to portray himself as being “okay” when really he just wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there until next century.

He wasn’t really that hungry either. But eating…he had to do it now otherwise he wouldn’t get another chance for a while. And that could be dangerous for his health. Wouldn’t want to pass out in the middle of class, right? Or have to make a quick run down to the vending machines. All that would do is cause a commotion that he wouldn’t welcome even if he wasn’t trying to avoid people right now.

“Hmm?” Jackson looked a little confused, sitting there with his cheeks full of bread, peanut butter, and grape jelly. “Oh…do you need help?” That was the magic word to get Jackson going. He liked being helpful and often volunteered for tasks like this when nobody else wanted to do them. He nodded. “Yeah, I think I am.” So this was the science teacher? He wondered which subjects specifically he taught. “If you give me a second to finish my sandwich, I can help you with those boxes,” he offered sincerely. He would have done it anyway, but especially now, he wanted to do something to take his mind off that stupid You Tube video.

[Neil Villanueva-Harris]

And it worked. It seemed like a really crude plan, but it worked.

Damn. And Charlie said he couldn’t handle angsty teens.

As he couldn’t really pat himself at the back at the moment, the man settled for an almost Cheshire like grin as he lifted the box off the ground. “Oh no rush. Indigestion is never a fun thing to have.” Which, Neil just realized, would also get traced back to him. And get him in trouble once more. ‘Cause you know, he was an authority figure and him asking the boy for help could be construed as subtle coercion.

Ugh. Why must life be so complicated now?

Hopefully he’s just being paranoid. He blames The Good Wife to be honest. They way those lawyers twisted every tiny loophole possible were interesting yet horrible all at the same time.

“You can either head off to Room210 or down by the Staff Lounge; one of me should be there. Just say cat sweater sent you.” Distinguishing between his copies had been quite the struggle when he was just starting out; as they didn’t have a hive mind yet they all share the same stubborn personality, arguments about identifiers happened a lot. And they got pretty nasty. Especially when one of him insisted he be called Neil-Prime. So now he’s resolved to identifying his bodies based on what they’re wearing.

And yes, he knew the sweater wasn’t exactly age-appropriate. But he was out in a rush and it was among the first few things he managed to grab. And in his defense, it was his husband’s, not his.

He was just about to walk away when he realized he hasn’t even introduced himself to the boy yet. “I’m Mr.-“ He paused. He never really thought about how he’d like to be addressed. His hyphenated last name was a mouthful, no thanks to his Filipino heritage, but calling himself just as ‘Mr. Harris’ somehow hurt his pride. ‘Cause you know, he still loved his tongue-twister of a surname. “Mr. Villanueva-Harris. But you can call me Mr. Vee.”

Shit. Did he just insist he be called with the first letter of his name like those teachers of him back in the 90s in an effort to be ‘cool’ with the crowd.

Good lord. Lionel will not let him hear the end of this.

[Deleted]

Jackson was one of those students who would always be the last one in the classroom to leave just to see if there was anything he could help the teacher with. He’d been called ‘teacher’s pet’ before, but he never let that sort of thing bother him. Because he couldn’t exactly deny it. Though it might’ve also been because he would do what he could to help his classmates as well. It wasn’t really that much more effort to do someone else’s homework while he was doing his own, right? And he always offered to go over the material with them later, so they were still learning the material. After all, he couldn’t take their exams for them too, so it was important they learn.

Busywork helped keep his mind of things as well. Things we’re not going to go into here.

“I don’t know. I can’t say I get that too much, honestly.” Jackson shrugged. It wasn’t indigestion he was worried about. It was crashing, because he timed his meal wrong with the taking of his medicine. And if he hadn’t left his meter in his room(as he frequently did), then Jackson would have that worry in the first place.

Jackson nodded, not completely understanding. “‘Cat sweater’,” he repeated. “So, you have more than one you?” What was the power that allowed that? Or was he a form of Gestalt? Jackson still didn’t have a good grasp on the different powers that were around.

Jackson continued scarfing down his sandwich, caught in mid-nom when the teacher finally introduced himself. He swallowed quickly so he could answer. “Villanueva-Harris….right, Mr. Vee it is then.” He smiled up at Mr. Vee, not thinking it strange at all that he ask to be called that. He’d had teachers in the past with complicated last names as well, and they did the same thing. Aside from that, it really didn’t matter what Jackson thought, that’s what Mr. Vee wanted to be called, so Jackson would call him that.

It wouldn't take him much longer to finish his sandwich. After which, he would head down to room 210 in search of one of the Mr. Vees, and knock hesitantly on the door as he stepped inside.