This Is How You Do It (Michelle)

[Deleted]

"Oh, and Jackson crosses left, feints right, and whooaaa! Right down the middle, that boy is on fire!" Jackson dribbled the basketball as he ran across the court by himself, visualizing himself playing a game of epic proportions, all where, of course, he was the star. The man of the hour! The next Michael Jordan! If only he was about a foot taller...

"Oh, no, it's not looking good for him now. They've got him completely blocked off. He looks left to pass, then right. There isn't a open man anywhere. Looks likes he as good as stuck." He bounced the ball between his left and right hands, under his legs as he spun around and inched his way back against his 'opponent'. "Is there no way out? Wait! It looks like he's going...yes! He's going for it, but the question is, ladies and gentleman, can he make it? With only five seconds left on the clock, does he have enough time?" Jackson spun around again, cradling the ball lightly between his hands as they got into position to shoot. "They're not gonna make it easy for him, that's for sure. And here they come, can he get it out...yes! He does! And that ball is....it's in! He scores!" Jackson shot his arms into the air and ran a quick circle to high-five his 'team-mates'. "With an amazing three-point-shot, Jackson has won the World Cup! It's amazing! This is one for the books, ladies and gentleman! This man is going down in history as one of the best players ever, for sure! I look forward to seeing this young man's career!"

Jackson swooped in and caught the basketball that was still bouncing around after having passed through the net and spun it on his finger as he traipsed across the court to put it away. That was a good warm up. And lucky! There was nobody around for that embarrassing display of fantasy. He looked at the time. Five more minutes before people should start showing up for class. Right. Perfect!

....he had time enough for one more round, right?

A smile crossed his face. The ball dropped behind him and he quickly spun to pick it back up in his rhythm. "And now...the moment you've all been waiting for. It's Jaacksoooon~" he announced to no one, dribbling the ball across the court and ending his introduction with a fabulous lay-up. "And the crowd's going wild, have you ever seen anything like it?" Jackson mimicked the sound of a cheering audience. He let the ball bounce once before catching it again to make another cross to do the same move on the other side. That's when he noticed that he hadn't been as alone as he thought.

His eyes went wide and for a moment, his concentration was lost. Not by much but enough for him to lose his grip on the ball and have it run away from him. Dangit! Jackson scuttled after it, but in his rush he ended up tripping over nothing and skidding on his chest across the gymnasium floor. Well...at least now he had a better reason for his face to be nearly completely red from embarrassment.

[Michelle Reed]

Gym class. The hour of hell. The bane of Michelle's existence. There were a thousand different ways for her to describe her least favourite subject in school. Of course, she understood the importance of keeping fit and daily physical activity, but it didn't mean she had to enjoy it. Michelle preferred the gentler forms; going on a walk or run by herself, lifting weights or yoga. Not team organized sports, the worst of all being dodge ball. Whose idea was it for a bunch of teenagers whipping balls at each other?

She stared at her reflection in the mirror, having arrived early to change. Self consciously, Michelle tugged at the hem of her shorts with a sigh. For as long as the Canadian could remember, she always came fifteen minutes early. Ten, if she was rushed. Michelle hated changing in front of the other girls; girls who confidently strutted through the change room with perfect hair and thin waists and tiny legs. It made her want to hide in a corner. Glancing at the clock, Michelle let out another sigh as she gathered the strands of her hair into a ponytail. Time for the fun to begin, almost. Other girls were beginning to enter, chattering away and she took her cue to leave.

Usually, she was the first one in the gym. To her surprise, a boy was already on the floor, dribbling a basketball enthusiastically. She quietly stepped aside, watching from the wall. He started talking to himself, and it took Michelle a moment to realize he was pretending that there was a crowd. A smile dragged across her lips, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Jackson was, presumably, his name. He crossed the floor with ease, sinking a basket. She was fine just watching him to his thing.

Until his eyes landed on her. Michelle's eyes widened, mirroring his, and she felt the colour rise to her cheeks. Caught watching; he probably thought she was some weirdo now. Before she had time to overthink the situation and panic, the boy lost control of the ball. Then, he tripped and fell. Hard. She winced, knowing the pain of hitting the wood floor. Ouch. It didn't take long for her nurturing instinct to kick in, and the Canadian was jogging over to see if he needed any help. If he was okay.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked, voice quiet. Standing in front of him, Michelle extended a hand, offering to help him up.

[Deleted]

This was something he used to do back at home. Well, didn’t everybody? Dream out fantasies of grandeur and the act them out when they thought no one was watching? Because no matter who you were, getting caught doing something so lame was liable to completely end your social life, if you ever had one to begin with. Jackson liked to think he had one. At least, he had friends and people he felt comfortable talking casually with. Yeah, he had lots of those, so one might say he had lots of friends, right? Though, any one of them would probably laugh at him if they caught the shorter boy talking to himself like he’d just been doing.

So of course, having a girl of all people witness him doing something so shameful…his face instantly went aflame just prior to Jackson losing his footing and skidding across the polished wood floor.

Jackson had had falls before, so this was nothing. He could just pick himself right back up and dust off and be on his way. But he was stalling because he had no idea how long that girl was going to be there. Watching him. Judging him. Darnit! He was so totally uncool right now! He was never going to get himself a girl if he kept doing stupid things like this!

And now she was coming over and Jackson felt himself heat up even more. He snapped up when she voiced her concern. “Uh…yeah! Yeah! I’m fine! Totally fine! Ha ha!” Yup, play it off, nice and easy now. “I do that all the time in fact.” ARG, wrong! She didn’t need to think he was always clumsy. “Uh, I mean, I’ve fallen enough times that I’m pretty cool on handling it. No…no need to worry here.” Jackson tried to demonstrate by snapping up to his feet and standing as firm as he could on the floor.

Which resulted in him tilting and then stumbling again to the side on account of a sudden head-rush from standing too fast. He caught himself, though, with a couple steps, but still, his hand flew up to steady his dizzying head. “I’m okay…I…just a little dizzy, is all.” Nothing to worry about here, nope! Still, the room was spinning and he blinked several times to get it to stop.

[Michelle Reed]

If it was any reassurance, Jackson didn't have to feel self conscious about the embarrassing situation. Michelle lived in fear of those everyday, and actively avoided any and all possibilities to run into embarrassing moments. Living life on the fringe of the crowd, just watching it pass by was the way she preferred it to be. Michelle wouldn't even be surprised if Jackson didn't know who she was or if he'd ever seen her before.

There was no going back as she quickly made her way over to the boy on the ground, concern painting her features. Maybe it would have been better for him if she didn't approach and let him run off before the other students would make their way into the gym. Too late now. Michelle retracted her hand as he assured her that she was okay. She noticed the way he maintained casual composure; for her it was, anyway. Letting her hand fall awkwardly to her side, she just watched as Jackson quickly jumped to his feet and almost fell.

Her hand shot forward, grabbing onto his forearm. To stabilize. "Sorry!" Michelle quickly apologized, letting go once she was sure he wouldn't plummet to the floor again. "Do.. do you need some water or something?" She asked, hesitant to leave him alone, even just for a minute. What if he had a concussion or something? "Want me to grab our teacher?" Should he sit down?

It was a rare talkative bout for the Canadian. Since there was the possibility of him being hurt, Michelle just wanted to make sure he'd be okay before the rest of the class filed out of the changerooms.

[Deleted]

If the guys hears about this, he’d never live it down! Every time Jackson came across them, they’d be asking if he needed any help staying upright or something. He liked his friends, of course, but they could be such jerks sometimes. Especially when it came to impressing girls. And this was definitely not the way to be doing it.

But lucky for him, Jackson was a smooth kind of fellow and totally saved face on that fall. Yes, just like a cat, he meant to do that! And she didn’t have to know that he totally flopped because he was startled and suddenly embarrassed….because getting embarrassed…you know, that wasn’t cool at all.

This was all just false bravado, however, because as soon as he tried standing, he was falling all over again. Head-rush much? Or did he really hurt himself during his first fall? “Nah…it’s okay. I’m…totally okay! Ha ha, talk about falling for a girl, huh?” Durnit, why did he say that? Now she was going to think he was either a moron or a playboy, neither of which accurately described Jackson.

He managed to straighten himself out, mentally kicking himself for saying such idiotic things. Jackson shook his head. “It okay, no need to get the teacher.” Though honestly, he was still feeling a little dizzy. “I probably should sit down, y’know? Don’t wanna risk hitting my head, right?” In fact, Jackson was already feeling himself starting to tip over again, and he reached out to get some support from the girl’s shoulder. “Sorry! I’m not trying to be weird or nothing, I just…” He nodded towards the bleachers. “My bag is over there, and I don’t have the confidence that I can walk over without pitching again.” Pitching? What was he saying even?

[Michelle Reed]

Michelle was a bit hesitant to let go of his arm, until he gained some sort of sense of equilibrium back. She also didn't want to hold on in case he assume she was some sort of quiet creep who went around holding people. No, that was ridiculous. The thought alone made her cheeks burn with colour. Jackson's reassurance that he was alright did little to ease the Canadian's worry, but she still let go. The falling for a girl part only deepened the redness on her cheeks, as she let out a nervous laugh. Not because of what he said, because of who he was saying that about. Who in their right mind would fall for her? Even if Jackson was just joking.

Had her hair been down, Michelle would've hid behind the strands. But that wasn't an option right now. "Okay." She said, taking a deep breath. To try and will away the embarrassment. "Yeah, exactly. I don't want you to hurt yourself, again. If you fall it could make it worse." She rambled with a nod. God, why didn't she ever know what to do or say in these situations.

There was sudden pressure on her shoulder, and for a moment, Michelle was startled, caught off guard by the physical contact. Then, Jackson was apologizing and she calmed down. "It's okay, it's okay." Michelle repeated, her own arm going around him to provide a sense of stability. She just didn't know if she was the best person, but it would have to do. "I'll help you walk over there. We'll take it easy and you can sit down and I'll stay with you to make sure it's okay."

With her arm secured around Jackson, Michelle looked up. "You good?" She asked before motioning towards the bleachers. "We can start walking whenever you're ready." The panicked undertones to her voice were beginning to fade. Hopefully he would be okay. If he passed out, she had no idea what she was suppose to do.

[Deleted]

Stupid stupid stupid! Who was he, thinking he could go around saying stuff like that like he was some suave Casanova or Don Juan or someone cool like that. Jackson was just Jackson, a short, mixed-race, nerd who apparently talked to himself while playing basketball by himself. There was no way a cute girl like this would think he was anything other than a rambling dork, right?

Because yes, she was definitely cute, and sweet, and completely his type. Just like Ginny. Not like Riley. And definitely not like….

Jackson felt his face flush again at the memory of his last encounter with that person, his hand moving up to rub the cheek where lips were so gently planted. What in the world was he thinking about right now? Actually, he really didn’t know what he was thinking about right now. His thoughts were all over the place, it seemed, which was usually a bad sign. Jackson nodded along with her, agreeing with something about hurting himself and making it worse.

Gahh! Stopit! he tried to scold himself and organize his focus. He wasn’t being very effective…

“Thanks…sorry about this…I guess I wasn’t paying attention and overdid it…” It happened sometimes. Jackson didn’t need to lean on her, he could walk(probably), it was just his coordination was a little unbalanced and he needed something to hold onto in order to maintain it. But…he wasn’t going to complain about a girl putting her arm around his shoulders. Sick or not, this was swell. And she was going to stay with him too? Whee!

No no, that wasn’t the right way to think. Besides, he wasn’t exactly in the right position to be enjoying anything right now. “Yeah, I’m good,” he assured her. The walk wasn’t far, and he did a lot better than he thought he would, though the quick speed at which he walked might’ve just been to get there as quickly as possible so that 1) he could take care of himself sooner, and 2) to alleviate the awkwardness that he sensed between the two students. When they reached the bleachers, Jackson quickly took a seat and started fumbling into his bag with uncooperative fingers, and pulled out his grape(the best flavor) G2 gatorade. He downed the whole thing in one sitting. “Ahh! I’m alive again!” he exclaimed upon finishing. That was an exaggeration, but give it a few minutes and he should be fine. Jackson smiled over to her. “Thanks! Um…” He blinked, slowly processing his next sentence. “You’re…you’re in my class, right? Sorry, I don’t know your name. I’m Jackson.” He fiddled with the empty bottle in his hands.

[Michelle Reed]

"You don't have to apologize." Michelle assured Jackson with a gentle smile. What had happened was an accident, and if anything, he didn't have to apologize for something like falling. She understood where he was coming from though, since her own actions would have mirrored his. Flustered. Definitely flustered.

She hoped that she was providing enough stability. The last thing Michelle wanted was for the pair to start walking towards the bleachers and to have him fall over in disorientation again. Besides, the Canadian felt a little guilty since the reason he fell was because she was watching from the sidelines. "I just hope you're actually okay, well, kind of okay right now." She'd hate for him to downplay his pain. He confirmed that he was alright to start walking, and so, the pair began walking towards the bleachers. The pace was quicker than Michelle expected, given that he felt a little woozy only minutes ago. But she went with it, keeping her eye out for any warning signs.

Thankfully, they made it to the bleachers in one piece. Once there, Michelle loosened her hold on him, taking a step back. She watched him go to his bag and remove a sports drink. After the brief hesitation, Michelle took a seat next to him on the bleachers, watching in amazement as he chugged the entire contents of the bottle. "Oh wow." She said, with a small laugh. "Watching you do that just gave me a stomachache." Then again, she'd never been a fan of those kind of beverages. A smile lit up her features, with a nod. "Good. I'm glad you're feeling okay then. Had me worried back there."

At his next question, Michelle couldn't help but to let out another nervous laugh. The fact that she blended into the background, never really standing out in any crowd, was commonplace. It was how she preferred things to be. "Sorry, just a common question. But yeah, I'm in gym block right now." Michelle wrinkled her nose. Jackson was his name. She nodded, again. Of course, from eavesdropping earlier, she figured, but it was nice to be formally introduced. "My name's Michelle." Was it too formal for a handshake? She played with her fingers momentarily before extending an arm, palm out for a handshake. If he wanted.

[Deleted]

Jackson smiled, meekly. Even if that was so, Jackson was still causing her trouble, as in, being an inconvenience. This girl was so nice to be wiling to help him, even though she didn’t have to. He’d have to pay her back somehow.

“I’m okay, really, it’s nothing terrible. I’m just taking extra precautions, y’know?” It was strange like that. He was doing just fine a minute ago, but as soon as he stopped running around, suddenly it all caught up with him. Jackson had a suspicion that he may not have been doing fine for a while now, it’s just he hadn’t noticed. That happened sometimes. At least, that’s what he thought was happening, there was still a chance that he could be overreacting, but it was probably best to not take chances with his illness.

“Sorry,” he said again when she expressed her unease with watching him down a whole gatorade in one sitting. “I kinda had to.” Jackson wondered if he should tell her? “Ha ha…yeah…I’ll be fine in a minute.” Hopefully. Judging by his shaking fingers(he still hadn’t managed to put the cap back on the bottle), and cool breeze on the back of his neck, his initial suspicions had been accurate. If he really wanted to be sure, then he’d take out his BG meter to check, but….he knew he needed to, but somehow it was always…uncomfortable doing these things in front of other people. Either way, he was sure he was going to be fine, for now. Jackson may just have to sit out the first 10 to 20 minutes of gym class….shoot.

“Oh….I’m sorry, I guess that’s not….” He inadvertently hit a sour spot, didn’t he? Was it? She was laughing about it, so it was hard to tell. “Sorry, I should’ve known before.” He felt bad for not having paid attention sooner. “Michelle,” he repeated with a nod. “That’s pretty.” Jackson looked down to see her extend her hand. Not thinking about it, Jackson offered her his hand too, clasping theirs together with a light grip. She may have noticed then that his hand was trembling slightly, and that his palm was a bit clammy. On closer inspection, one might see that he his breathing was a bit irregular, though Jackson was trying to keep it stable. He swallowed. “It’s really nice to meet you.”

[Michelle Reed]

"Better safe than sorry." Michelle agreed. It was always better to be on the safe side, to take extra care instead of diving in too soon. She let out a small sigh of relief, seeing that he was okay. She felt more assured and confident that he wasn't lying to her for her benefit, but telling the truth.

She felt her cheeks go red as he noticed her staring at him while chugging down the Gatorade. "Sorry, no.. that was rude of me to stare and point out." Michelle apologized, her gaze falling to her lap. What kind of a reaction was that? She smoothed down her gym shirt, taking a minute to recollect herself. To make up for that embarrassing comment. "I promise you I didn't mean it in a bad way or anything." She started to correct, "Just... I always found those kind of drinks to be super sweet. So whenever I see someone drink it it's like... crazy." Crazy? Maybe that was the wrong word choice. "Not crazy but.. you know."

Her gaze moved to his shaking fingers, her own mirroring for different reasons. An uneasy expression crossed the Canadian's face; had he been lying again? Maybe not for her benefit, but his own. She wanted to point it out, but figured she'd committed enough social faux pas for the day.

She was laughing, for good reason. Michelle found it amusing that she managed to blend into the background so well. She didn't try to stand out, especially in gym class. Torture. Running around with a bunch of her fit and attractive peers? Wasn't her idea of fun. Team sports were awful and the only thing worse than that was fitness testing. "I hide out as much as I can. There are some days where I'm noticed, though." Like today. She smiled as Jackson accepted her hand, noticing the slight clamminess, attributing it to the fact that moments ago he'd been running around with the basketball. Letting go of his hand, Michelle nodded in agreement. "It's nice to meet you as well. Maybe we can both try and get through this hour of suffering together." She joked with a smile.

[Deleted]

Jackson shook his head. “No, it’s okay…I’m..it’s okay, really….” She didn’t have to apologize for looking at something. That was just silly for him, or anyone, to get upset over. Jackson smiled to offer some reassurance. “If you think that was fast, you should see me eat a chocolate cake!” he said brightly. That was at a friends birthday party once, they had a cake eating contest. Leave it to the diabetic to inhale it faster than anyone else. He’d spent the rest of the afternoon regretting it, though. Jackson laughed, rounding up his cheeks merrily. “I love sweet things.” Jackson took no offense by her words. He knew that not everybody liked them.

She didn’t say anything about his trembling, and Jackson wasn’t going to offer an explanation either, unless she asked. So he continued to fiddle with the cap and bottle, not really making any progress with it, and not really trying to anyway.

He smiled again. It was a shame that she said such a thing about herself. Jackson didn’t think that she should have to blend into the background and go unnoticed. But the truth of the matter is that she had gone unnoticed, by Jackson, until this very moment. Jackson felt bad for that, he really should be more perceptive and try to reach out to all of his classmates. “I’m sorry I didn’t notice earlier,” he offered again. “It’s…I like to know who everyone is,” he explained, then chuckled softly. “So it’s kind of a blow to my pride that someone got away from me, y’know?” He wouldn’t forget about her now, though. Now that they’ve met officially, Jackson was very unlikely to forget her. Jackson nodded. “Yeah, I mean…” He looked out to the gymnasium floor where crowds of students were starting to congregate. “Well…” Jackson hesitated, wondering if he should really ask. His face tinted a subtle pink. “If you wanna work together, I’d like that. Y’know, after…after warm-up and stuff.” Warm-ups that Jackson was going to be sitting out for, it looked like. Well, he was already pretty warmed up, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

[Michelle Reed]

At this point, Michelle wanted to untie her hair and let the long strands of brown hair hide her expression. Her surely flustered expression. She could tell from the heat prickling down the back of her neck, and the way she was rambling. All tell tale signs; Michelle didn't need a mirror to see this. He tried to ease the situation by making a joke about cake, which got a chuckle out of the quiet girl. "Chocolate cake is pretty good." She admitted with a nod. Everyone had their vices; hers were pumpkin spice lattes. Warm and sweet. Michelle liked it in moderation, but had always found sports drinks to be overwhelmingly so.

Her gaze diverted to the cap and bottle in hand. She wondered if Jackson needed help, but didn't want to embarrass him again. She had already done enough of that today and so, didn't say anything. He was probably still shaky from the whole falling incident.

"Oh no, you don't have to apologize, believe me." Michelle offered a sweet smile. "I work to keep myself hidden, you know. Just... there. Usually making bracelets in some corner." And now she spilled about her unusual hobby. "Like, I work super hard. So don't be surprised. I'm sure you've met like, everyone else in the class. And I'm here now so..." She stopped before her rambling could get out of hand again.

Working together sounded like a great idea to Michelle. She beamed, nodding eagerly. Usually, she worked by herself until she could sneak away early to the locker room. Her attendance record for gym was spotty, considering how many times she left early. "I like that idea. Maybe you can teach me some stuff, or something. I'm useless when it comes to physical activity."

[Deleted]

“Isn’t it?” he agreed with enthusiasm. “Though, I think that marble cake - you know, the kind with both vanilla and chocolate swirled around? - those are the best of everything!” Jackson could talk about cake all day. It was funny how the things he couldn’t have were the things he was most interested in. Well…it was true for a lot of things for Jackson, not just with cake. What was that saying? Something about how we always wanted the things we couldn’t have? Or was it more clever than that? Jackson couldn’t remember that right now, but he could keep talking about cake. “With buttercream, of course. Whipped is good too, but it’s not as sweet, y’know? And the texture is a little blaah, y’know what I’m saying?” Now it was Jackson’s turn to ramble.

Jackson, of course, thought he was being subtle with his trouble with the cap and bottle, pretending like he was playing around with it. Perception was not his strong point, unfortunately, so that Michelle was watching him was completely lost on the boy. After a few tries, he finally got the cap on the empty bottle of gatorade and turned to put it back in his bag. He’d use it again for water or one of those powder sports drinks later.

“Now why would you do something like that?” he asked curiously, tilting his head. “Not the bracelet thing, that sound pretty cool, actually! But the ‘hiding’ part.” Jackson thought of that as pretty unusual. Didn’t everyone like to be noticed? It made him a bit sad that there was someone who could essentially be invisible to everyone in the room, as if she didn’t exist. “Isn’t that lonely?” It never occurred to him that some people simply preferred to not stand out and that it didn’t bother them much to be alone. Jackson was obviously the exact opposite. He liked being noticed(not when he was doing embarrassing things, of course, like today), he liked being recognized for the things he did, he liked having people to talk to, and disliked it when he was forced to do things that prevented him from hanging out with his friends. Like homework. Or running errands for the teachers…

If he disliked it so much, then why did he always volunteer for it? Bleeeh…

Moving on, Jackson had an opportunity now to reach out to one of the wallflowers of the class and hopefully integrate her more into the crowd. She and Jackson could be friends, and then he’d introduce her to his friends, and then they’d be set, right? He nodded. “Great! I’ll teach you whatever you want! Sports and stuff is what I’m good at!” Jackson beamed, excited about this idea now. He looked up when the coach blew the whistle for them to gather up and start their warm-ups. “Ah..” He swallowed. “You better go before…before the teacher gets on you.” They could meet up after. Jackson would be staying right where he was for a while though, so if Michelle left, he wouldn’t follow.

[Michelle Reed]

Michelle let Jackson go on about the cake; maybe talking about something else other than him falling and possibly almost passing out. Maybe it was providing some sort of distraction, or he was enthusiastic about cake. Either way, she nodded along to what he was saying with a smile on her face. "Chocolate and vanilla are a good combination. I really like that ice cream... neopolitan? I think that's what it's called. Anyway, it's really good. With the strawberry too." Ice cream was a different subject than cake, but still a sweet dessert. "it is really good." Michelle said, with a small laugh. "You're making me crave cake now with ice cream." Maybe they could skip the rest of gym class and get dessert.

But, Jackson really did appear to be into gym class, in contrast to herself. Like he really enjoyed spending his time here. A lot of people liked gym class. Just not Michelle, clearly. Her lips pulled back, revealing more teeth, as she began fiddling with one of the bracelets around her wrist. "It's fun. Keeps me busy." She admitted. And there was the added bonus of solitude.

She was trying to put herself out there more, though. The Canadian hadn't run away from the conversation yet and that had to count for something. Shrugging, Michelle's gaze fell to her lap. "Uhm, sometimes I guess. But.. most days I prefer it that way." It was lonely at times, but it saved her from being a social embarrassment. "I don't say the right things all the time, you know? Less embarrassing."

The teacher blew his whistle for warmups to begin. Instinctively, she frowned. Running laps and stretching out muscles before the torture began? "I'll hold you to it." Michelle said, a nervous sort of laugh escaping through her lips. "Really, I'll probably end up following you around. You might think I'm exaggerating.. but I'm a mess. So you can lead the way." It would be better that way.

She shook her head back and forth. "No, no, it's okay. I don't want to leave you behind or anything." Michelle looked up from her lap again. While Jackson did look better, she didn't want to chance it. She could explain that he wasn't feeling well and wanted to keep an eye on him. That would work, right? Not to mention, staying behind with him also meant less gym time. But that was a secondary thought. "Unless.. you want some time alone or something. Then I can go."

[Deleted]

Couldn’t it be both? Jackson loved cake! But it was true, he needed the distraction otherwise he’d just be concentrating on how he wasn’t feeling so hot right now. And also, the not-feeling-so-hot was making him a bit loopy and not thinking completely straight. Hence, rambling. “Yeah! Neopolitan! Th-the stuff with the strawberry in the middle.” Which he honestly disliked. He didn’t dislike strawberries, but he disliked strawberry ice-cream and in most neopolitan ice-creams, it was right smack in the middle of the good flavors. “Ha ha, sorry, I like sweets ’n stuff. I mean, who doesn’t, right?”

Oh. There was a smile. It was…pretty nice, actually. Jackson couldn’t help but smile in return, one that was a lot less dopey and a lot more….wow. “That’s….that’s good, I guess. I mean, the bracelet thing…..it’s good you find it fun.” Hobbies were nice. Jackson had those, but…anything that just involved sitting and not moving was….not something he did well. But other people… “Hey! Maybe you could make me one sometime?” he asked hopefully.

Jackson nodded. “Yeah…I think I get that. I don’t really do that that well either.” Jackson said the wrong thing all the time. More than all the time, actually. It got pretty embarrassing sometimes, but…well, it was just a little embarrassment, right? No big deal. At least, Jackson didn’t think so. “I’m sure you’re not as bad as you think, though.”

He chuckled. “That’s fine, I don’t mind being followed by a cute girl.” Speaking of saying the wrong thing. Jackson dipped his head, vaguely feeling a flush on his cheeks and wishing he had more control over his mouth. Damn, why did he say that? Jackson was going to chalk it up to not feeling well or thinking straight. But…she was going to be gone soon anyway, right? To go join the rest of the class for warm-ups, so…that would give them both time to let the awkward moment….

Or maybe not, because she was insisting to stay behind with him. “No…it’s okay, I….this happens all the time….” he muttered, still with his head down. That wasn’t exactly comforting. “But….I don’t know, if you want to, then that’s fine…..I don’t mind…” Though maybe she didn’t want to anymore? Ahh….stupid brain, stupid mouth.