The dreaded English essay... FROM HELL [Jackson]

[Genevieve Duval]

Genevieve walked down the aisle of the library without really seeing where she was going. Her eyes were stuck in the sheet of paper she was holding in front of her, messily torn from when she took it from her notebook, where she'd written her next English assignment. English, just remembering the word made her wince. This was why she liked math. Math was simple, it was international, it spoke just one language,... uh, math language. But English? English was complicated and demanding and had the oddest grammatical rules she'd ever seen in any language ever, even though it was just her second one, and why was everything written backwards? That made no sense! She sighed for the thousand time already since she got this assignment. Not only did she have to choose a book to read, a novel to be exact, but she also had to do a review on it, talk about it's 'intention', whatever that meant. Why did every literature or whatever teacher thought every story had a double meaning? Sometimes a raven is a raven! Though according to her last exam, nope, it wasn't and now she was failing the silly subject. 

She turned to the next aisle, wanting to look up what book she could read. Something easy would be good for her, but an easy book wouldn't have much of an 'intention' and that would leave her without anything to write about. So what to choose? 

With her eyes still focused on the piece of paper she'd been holding, she pulled it up to her face as she read the assignment for the tenth time. A book. An ENTIRE book. In English. There was no justice in Hammel. Seriously, back in her homeland, this would call for a war, a civil revolution, a- She really shouldn't be walking with stuff in front of her, because as she took another step, she crashed against someone. Okay, maybe it wasn't JUST the assignment that was silly. Maybe it was Genevieve who was silly. 

[Deleted]

Sighh….

Jackson didn’t really want to work on his homework today. He would rather go out and play some soccer or basketball…or overall just do some good old romping around with his friends. But with all the snow lately, outside activities had pretty much been suspended, and he didn’t feel like going to the training rooms to work by himself….things were always much more fun with a friend or two to joke around with. So the only thing left to do was…homework.

Bleeeeehhh…

Don’t get him wrong, Jackson liked school(to a point), but even he would rather run around playing than be stuck in a desk all day reading a thick textbook about things that happened a millennia ago. And again, don’t get him wrong, Jackson liked reading as much as the next person, but…well, there was always a mood for these things, and Jackson just wasn’t in the mood for being a book-nerd today.

But he dragged himself to the library anyway, hoping that the atmosphere of other students working would peer pressure him into concentrating on this assignment. He’d do it. He’d get it done. He just didn’t want to do it now. And his lack for wanting to work was making him drag his feet through the library, through the stacks, searching for something that he didn’t think he’d feel like putting down after the first ten pages. Jackson’s eyes were down, on the bottom shelf, as he stepped forward, moving slowly through the aisle of fiction novels. So it wasn’t just Genevieve’s fault. Jackson wasn’t paying attention either.

Jackson bounced back a step after the initial crash and snapped up his head, immediately prepared to apologize for his carelessness. “Sorry! I wasn’t paying attention!” he shot out quickly, before realizing exactly who it was standing in front of him. “Ginny!” he said with delight. “Hi! What are you doing here?” A dumb question and Jackson immediately regretted asking it. Why else would she be here if not for homework or something of the like. “How are you?” That was a better question, yup.

[Genevieve Duval]

Genevieve looked up with a deep blush. "Je suis desolé! Je ne- ah! Sorry! Sorry!" She was in America! Ugh, what a clutz! She forgot for a second there and- "Osiris!" She exclaimed with wide eyes. Oh no. Now he was going to hate her, wasn't he? Her blush deepened and she looked down, still feeling mortified. "I am sorry. I did not- um... did not see you." Still, being called Ginny made her feel giddy inside. She had a nickname! And he was using it. She smiled gently at him.

"I still have clothes!" She blurted out with a smile and then blushed again. Idiot! "I- your clothes... Um..." Someone had shushed her because of her outburst and she blushed again. Yeah, she wasn't going to live this down, was she? "I am not wearing of course." And now she sounded like a creep. Perfect. "I mean... they are in my room." Not helping her case. "I washed- yes? Uh... I give back. The clothes." And there went that friendship.

He asked his own question and she blinked at him in surprise before looking down at the paper on her hand. "Well-" He changed the question. Oh. That was an easy one. She smiled gently again. "I am good. And you?" It sounded like she was repeating the basic question she'd learned when she started taking English lessons back in Kocher. Oh well. "You are making assignment, yes?" She asked, wondering if he had the same as she did. Not that she thought he wouldn't come to the library just to read of course, she just pictured Osiris to be a tad more... active than that.

[Deleted]

Ah, and there it was! That accent, that language, that made her seem much younger and innocent than she probably was…no, she was just a little girl, so what else could she possibly be? Adorable, that’s what. But hearing his name, his real name, spoken out loud brought a blush of his own to his cheeks and he looked to the side and over his shoulder, wondering if anybody else had heard that, specifically anybody he knew. Why had he given her that name? Was it too late to ask her to call him ‘Jackson’ like he told everyone else.

But the conversation wasn’t quite going in that direction, as Ginny suddenly exclaimed her possession of clothes. Oh, his clothes. That’s right! She still had his clothes. Wow….a cute girl had Jackson’s clothes…that was….when had that ever happened before? It made him tickle inside. “Well, no, of course you aren’t…” Why would she wear his clothes if she didn’t have to? And what in the world was he thinking, with Ginny wearing his clothes and….washing them….of course she used the machine, but he suddenly got this image of her hand washing them in a bucket or something. Like in the old days, and why was this a thing he was thinking about? “You didn’t have to go through that kind of trouble…” he said meekly, chuckling through the silliness. “But…I should probably get those back sometime. But there’s no rush, not really.” Not really? Jackson only had so many clothes, so it was honestly more trouble than he was letting on.

No, Jackson wasn’t going to make a fuss about it. That wasn’t cool, he’d give her all the time she needed, and she seemed so intent on doing so that if he just left it alone, she’d probably give the clothes back on her own soon anyway.

Besides, she was so darned cute.

“I’m okay.” Kind of. He’d been in a slightly sour mood before, and that hadn’t really gone away, but he wasn’t very well going to take that out on Ginny. Or let on to it. That’d only make her worry, right? He smiled brightly upon the girl and nodded. "Yeah, I'm making, uh...I mean, I'm working on an assignment. The one for English, actually!" He didn't know if she knew the one he was talking about, but they were in the same year, so there was a high chance they had the same assignments, even if they didn't necessarily have the same class together. "Are you...too?" he asked curiously. Maybe they could work on it together? That always seemed to make something so tedious move along a lot faster.

[Genevieve Duval]

He chuckled and her flushed face turned into a darker shade of red. He was laughing at her now. Why was she always messing things up with her friends. "But it is good, no?" She wondered, mortified that she'd done something wrong. "Forgive me! I did not know you did not wanted- I am sorry!" What was so bad about her washing clothes she didn't know. And she'd gone through the trouble of reading the soap instructions and trying her best to make his clothes smell nice too...

He agreed that she could give him back the clothes later and she smiled up at him gently. He was so nice! "We go?" She asked, pointing at the exit, except... she frowned looking down at the piece of paper in her hand. "After." She added.

He mentioned he was okay and she frowned. "Just okay?" She wondered. Were people really okay when they said 'okay'? She didn't know, but Osiris felt like the kind of person who had too much energy for just okay. But then he mentioned he was working on his English assignment and her eyes sparkled.

"Me too!" She screamed excitedly, only to be shushed again and she blushed and recoiled. "Me too..." She repeated in a lower tone, stretching her hand out to give him the sheet of paper where she'd written down the assignment. "I cannot find a book. You choose one yet?" Not to mention she was sure her horrible grammar was going to ruin her report anyway. But... She sent him a look, if he helped... "Maybe we work together, yes?" She grabbed his wrist, wanting to pull him along. "We choose books! And we help each other. We- ah... I can help too, yes?" She pointed at herself, still holding his wrist, though she wasn't sure what good she could bring to the table.

[Deleted]

It wasn't Jackson's intention to make her feel like her effort was unappreciated. It was simply that he hadn't expected it. And having a stranger(though she wasn't really a stranger, so it might be better to say 'someone else') wash his dirty clothes was just...incredibly embarrassing.  What if there were weird stains on them? Jackson didn't think there would be, but some kinds of stains may be mistaken for others...and besides that, it was just...what if she, for some reason, decided to judge him based on how soiled his clothing was? And the fact that she washed them, Jackson really didn't feel like it was okay to make anyone have to deal with whatever filth he happened to get them in. 

Ahhh, was he really freaking out so much(on the inside) about washed clothes?? Jackson should really just leave it be, it wasn't a problem, really. "It's okay," he tried to assure her. "I appreciate it, I just wasn't expecting you to do that." He smiled. "No harm done, not at all." Nope. But yes, they should wait until after making some progress on their respective assignments. After all, it would defeat the purpose of them coming to the library otherwise. Jackson nodded. “Yes, after.”

He nodded again when his answer of being ‘okay’ was challenged, hoping that she might just drop the subject. It wasn’t anything to talk about, really, just that he wanted to be anywhere other than at the library. But if he said that, then Ginny might take offense and think that she was somehow the cause of it or that she was making it worse by bothering him. Which wasn’t…exactly…the case. Although now that he had ‘supervision’, so to speak, Jackson wasn’t going to be able to get away with slacking off on the assignment like he would have if left to his own devices. So that part was a bit of a bother.

"Okay! We can help each other, then!" Helping the French girl with her English homework wasn’t too bad, and he was sure she’d appreciate it. Actually, Ginny already seemed to be excessively grateful for the company. “So….what kind of book are you thinking you want to read?” Jackson had read a few of these already, so it was going to be a challenge to find one for himself that he was interested in that he also hadn’t already read. Or he could always cheat and choose one of those that he hadn’t done a report on since being at Hammel. Yeah, that was a good plan! Jackson would still need the book for reference, though…sigh…

“I think I’m going to try…this one…” Jackson reached up and pulled out a book from the second-to-top shelf, and held it out to her. “The Hunt For Red October,” he announced smugly. It wasn’t exactly one of the classics, but it was a fun read. Jackson wasn’t going to read it, though. He’d just watch the movie as a refresher. Finding one for Ginny was going to be the hard one, since he was taking into consideration her lack of English skills.

[Genevieve Duval]

He agreed to help and she beamed at him, resisting the urge to just jump and hug him. Instead she grabbed one hand and shook it with both of hers, unsure of what she was supposed to do to show how grateful she was. "Merci!" She was so pleased, "I thank you, Osiris! You are the very best friend."

He asked her what kind of book she was looking for and she stopped grinning, freezing in place. Ah... a book. She dropped his hand and pouted as she sent a slight glare at the shelves with books. "I do not know..." She admitted, feeling insecure about this little project. English was her worst subject and it was pretty obvious why. "I wanted... need a hard book, yes?" She said, looking at the titles half heartedly, "So I get good grade. But easy... because my English is not... um..." She looked down in embarrassment. She so shouldn't had left her home.

The French girl sighed sadly, turning to give Osiris an awkward smile as he showed her the book he'd selected. "What is about"? She wondered, reading the title. 'The hunt for red october'. That sounded rather... dark? Or maybe red october referred to fall? She didn't know, but she was pretty sure that wasn't her type of book. Just thinking of herself having a 'type of book' made her sad again.

"I should not have left France." She muttered under her breath, sending a glare at the shelves with the English titles. In Kocher she'd done well enough with school. Here, every subject became a pain.

[Deleted]

She looked so happy. So happy over something so simple. That alone brought a smile to Jackson’s face. If Ginny could get that happy just form getting a little bit of homework help, then it was worth it. He supposed he could stand to be cooped up in the library with a bunch of old, dusty books. “Ha ha ha ha….best friend?” Jackson scratched the back of his head, laughing and blushing shyly. “Gee…thanks that makes me really…I’m glad you think so!”

But, this assignment wasn’t going to be easy if she didn’t at least have an idea of what she wanted to read. Didn’t she know her preferences? “Well….not necessarily. It would be unfair to make you read something like…” What was a good example? “A Tale Of Two Cities.” Because Dickens was not something to start her out on. “But if we give you something like…I don’t know, Hatchet, or Where The Red Fern Grows, I think you’ll be okay.” Those were honestly books that one usually read in late elementary or middle school. He didn’t know if it would be okay for high school, though. But it was also important to find something she liked, so she wasn’t likely to give up on it halfway through.

Like with what Jackson was doing, though honestly he’d already read this Tom Clancy novel. He might just forego the whole thing and watch the movie to refresh his memory. It was a good story. “Um…it’s about a guy in the CIA who helps find a hiding Soviet submarine that is on the run and presumed to be trying to attack the US. But! The twist is that the crew of that sub are actually trying to defect from the Union, so they’re trying to outsmart the Soviet Navy who wants to blow up the submarine so that it doesn’t fall into the hands of the enemy. Oh yeah, and the submarine is supposed to be made from this new technology that makes it invisible to sonar!” That was a pretty good summary, right? Jackson blushed, suddenly embarrassed that he’d gotten so caught up in explaining the story to her that he’d nearly forgotten that he was supposed to be helping her find one too.

“Hmm?” He didn’t quite hear what she said, and Jackson cocked his head curiously. Jackson thought for a second. “So…what kind of stories do you like then? I think if you’re going to read something, then it may as well be something you like, right?”

[Genevieve Duval]

Genevieve smiled gently at him. He was always helping her out, a true gentleman. Not to mention his smile and energy was so contagious... Wait! They were looking for books. She blinked at the mention of A tale of two cities and smiled. "I read that." She said automatically, still smiling. "Well... I read Un conte de deux villes. But... never in English." Her smile turned sheepish. "Is not hard reading." She said sheepishly, "Is hard reading English. I do not- um, mind yes? The books. It is languages." She still smiled though at his suggestions. Maybe those wouldn't get her a good grade though.

"I need hard book." She insisted, turning her attention back to the shelves. "I have bad grade..." She turned shyly at him, feeling slightly embarrassed. Would he think her stupid now? She wasn't sure. "I need good report. Ah, 'a' good report, yes?"

He explained his book and she giggled, again impressed at his excitement and enthusiasm. She wished she was as open and full of life as he was. She was sure nothing was hard for Osiris, making friends or being liked, talking in public and approaching others. She used to be like that, she thought, before her powers kicked in and people started running away from her.

"Sounds exciting." She said with a wide smile, trying to get over her petty memories. But she hadn't understand half of what he was saying. Wait... he had say a lot, hadn't he? "You already read assignment?" She wondered, thinking he'd known even the twists... hadn't he? Or was her English failing her again?

What kind of stories did she like? Genevieve licked her lips, looking up at the ceiling as she thought about it. What DID she like? "Romance!" She said suddenly, turning to him with bright eyes and a wide smile, "And magic! Fantasy yes? But with stories of love and heroes!" That sounded about right. She giggled, blushing a bit in embarrassment. "It is very, ah, feminine yes? Um... Girl- girly. I cannot help it. I really like that." She smiled again and turned her attention to the shelf. Would it be too silly to do her report on a romance novel? Maybe it would...

[Deleted]

Of course he was a gentleman. That’s exactly what his Grams always taught him to be, a gentleman. She always emphasized how important it was to treat girls, no matter what. And that the reward for it was their smile.

A smile…not quite a chocolate cake, but Ginny was pretty damn sweet all by herself it almost didn’t matter.

“You did? Ha ha! Well, sorry for assuming then.” Geeze, now he was embarrassed for recommending a book she’d already read before, as if it was something completely beyond her comprehension in any language. Whoops. He hoped she wouldn’t hold it against him.

“A hard book…for a bad grade. Are you sure you want to go that route? If you choose a hard book and don’t do well on it…personally, I’d say it was safer to do an easy book or something in between, something you know you can do well, rather than something you might not do well on.” The difficulty level of the book often didn’t matter…well, he supposed it did, but as long as it was on the list of approved reading books, why choose the hard one over the easier one? If the easy one guaranteed you getting a good grade, then why put in the extra effort?

Jackson shouldn’t be thinking like that. It was swell that Ginny wanted to challenge herself. Everyone could learn from her example, even Jackson who had pretty high grades himself.

He nodded. “It is!” he said with a bright smile. But then came the question he should have expected. “Hmm? Uh…..yeah, I read this….a few years ago. Before I came to Hammel,” he explained. Jackson chuckled. “I had to write a report on it then too. I’m pretty sure I still have it on a jump drive somewhere, so if I just use that as a base, I’m pretty much halfway done already.” Jackson was not intending to brag, though it probably came across that way. He was just getting carried away with explaining his brilliant plan to shortcut the assignment.

Romance? Ahh, he should’ve known. Ginny was a girl, after all. Girls liked that sort of thing. “Okay…Romance…” Romance with….magic…and fantasy? Love and heroes? That was completely different from Jackson’s tastes. He liked mystery and suspense more than fantastical dream-like stories. Did he know any like that? Maybe Twilight? No, hell, no, he wouldn’t subject her to that. “Lemme think…” he muttered, putting his hand to his chin. “Oh! I know!” he said suddenly. Jackson knelt down and searched the shelves. When he returned, he held up the book he had in mind. “This one. Stardust by Neil Gaiman. It’s a great, fantastical story with uh…falling stars, sky pirates, and witches, and princes….I think you’ll love it.” Unless she read that one before too…or saw the movie. Jackson had only seen the movie, and he….it was a chick flick. Completely.

[Genevieve Duval]

He'd assumed she couldn't read something hard. She smiled at him sadly, since she hadn't realised exactly why he'd said the book was hard for her until he apologised. "Is no problem." She said, though it'd made her feel bad. She sighed and turned her attention to the shelves, just to hide her sad face, letting the curls around her face fall over to hide her expression. She knew she wasn't the brightest person around, but she'd never considered herself stupid until she arrived to Hammel. Her grades were always good enough in Kocher, so why couldn't she get the same in Hammel? She'd been good with maths and sciences, well... good enough. She was no genius, but she'd managed with average effort. Now everything seemed far too difficult, particularly when following instructions was involved. And yes, she'd taken her foreign language exam to get into the exchange program and had barely passed that one, but living in the place was entirely a different thing. It was so difficult knowing how stupid she must sound to others around her. Americans seemed to be a tad more patient and gentle with her, but they also must had an impression of her that was not completely right.

He recommended something easier and she shook her head. "I can do." She said with conviction, "Is just hard work, yes?" Genevieve turned back to the shelf. "I want to impress." She added, "Easy do not impress."

Osiris admitted he'd already read the book and that, in fact, he already had a report on it. "But is cheating." She said without thinking and then flushed, looking down at the floor. "Forgive me." She added awkwardly. This was exactly why no one liked her. Not only did she sound stupid, but also judgemental. "It is good." She tried, "You are done, yes?" Well, half way there at least. She still had to select a book. And he'd tried to help too. It almost made her not want to accept it because it didn't seem like a hard enough book, more like something she would read in her free time, but she'd already made herself look stupid and had called him a cheater, so if she wanted to stay friends with him, she felt forced to agree.

"Thank you." She added with a small smile, grabbing the book from his hands. The cover seemed odd, but she wasn't about to mention anything for it. Plus, she kind of wanted to get the interaction short, considering she still was feeling down about his assumption. She didn't mention it though, since it would only help make him feel bad about saying it. Well, maybe she could just read this book on her free time and read something more difficult for the subject without him knowing. She so didn't want to offend.

"I go read then." She added with her small, fake smile, nodding to a nearby empty table, intending to just leave and make all the sad faces she wanted. She turned for a second and then remembered his clothes. "Um..." She spoke over her shoulder, "I can bring clothes today afternoon, if you want." Not like there was any need for her to have them, "To boy's room? Or co-ed?" Was it too forward of her to ask to go to his bedroom? Maybe it was, but she didn't see anything wrong with it.

[Deleted]

Jackson was certainly underestimating her, and yes it was all completely based on the fact that she didn’t speak English well. He knew logically that in French she could possibly the most intelligent person in the world, but the broken English interfered with that reality and it affected his impression of her capabilities. Unfortunately, Jackson was also completely unaware of this bias he had. He thought he was just being helpful to someone who needed help. So when she asserted her desire to do something hard, he sighed and nodded. “Okay, then. If that’s what you want to do,” he relented with sad eyes. He still worried that she was getting in over her head by insisting on a hard book.

What was hard anyway? What did people consider to be a hard book? Sure there were children’s books, and then young adults, but after that how did they determine it? Jackson just read what he thought was interesting. He liked stories. And usually, he liked stories that went places, that sparked interest and imagination, which provoked thought and had a bit of mystery to them as well. He didn’t like boring books. A lot of the books that were assigned to students were boring. All Quiet On The Western Front and The Old Man and the Sea were boring. Jane Eyre was boring. Gone With the Wind was boring.

The Hunt For Red October was not boring. It’s why he’d read it again if he had to. But he probably wouldn’t. “Cheating?” he repeated, blinking down at the girl. Was it really? Jackson thought it was a pretty good plan, but he not once thought of it as cheating. But then she tried to dismiss it as nothing. “No, no..wait a second,” he insisted, arching himself to look her in the face. He wasn’t angry(not really), and only a little irritated by the accusation, but mostly he was interested. “Why do you think it’s cheating?” He wanted to know why she thought his idea was wrong! It would bother him even more not knowing than it would just being told up front. Yes, the thing was already written, mostly, but he wasn’t stupid enough to turn it in as is. He was going to go in and revise it so that it complied with the assignment, and then edit so that the writing level was higher than that of a middle schooler. Jackson actually had a bit of work to do on it before turning it in. The fact that he had a skeleton to work off of just made it go faster. At least, that’s how he saw it.

Jackson had given the book to her hoping that she’d take his suggestion and give it a try. No, he hadn’t read it himself, but he knew what it was about and it fit with her tastes perfectly, didn’t it? And Neil Gaiman was a bestselling author, so that meant that it had to be more difficult than a young adult book, right? If he’d known that she had no intention of using for the assignment, then he would definitely be upset, to find out that his help wasn’t useful, or possibly even welcome. Fortunately, he was in the mind state of thinking that he’d done a good job helping. He also wasn’t perceptive enough to spot a fake smile when he saw one.

So he kept his smile on, pleased more with himself than anything. “Oh, my clothes? Yeah, that’s fine!” He nodded. “Yeah, I’m in the boy’s dorm, um…room 505,” he offered. Ahh, he’d just given a girl his room number! Which mean that she was going to come to his dorm! Which meant he had to make sure it was clean and there was no dirty underwear lying on the floor. Which meant he should hurry up and get out of here too so he could go take care of that right away. All thoughts of actually doing any homework today were completely overtaken by the idea of a girl coming to his room. Because that was the most important!

[Genevieve Duval]

Genevieve turned to him when he asked her to wait. She would wait, gulping down her pain, hoping he wouldn't notice. He didn't. In fact, he seemed far more interested in what she'd said. It made her look down at the floor shyly. Why did she think it was cheating? Well, "It is not doing the assignment, yes?" She said, finally raising her eyes to his. "What you do, it is practical, but dishonest. We um- study yes? To learn. Making teacher think he- ah, you read a new book is lying. And- uh," How hard was it to express her ethics in another language. No wonder he thought of her stupid. "You are not learning any new lesson. You are just-" She shrugged, "Studying again a subject you already know." Was that good enough? Genevieve sighed, looking down again after her speech. He was going to hate her now. "I do not mean to offend." She added shyly, "It is a matter of- um... of what you think good or bad, yes?" She looked away, still upset from his previous comment. "If I fail... with a hard book, I fail but trying. You... You will pass without trying. That is not- uh... just." It wasn't to her or to any other classmate.

She was already leaving, feeling sadder than she had since arriving to Hammel and sent him a sad smile over her shoulders, her eyes shiny. She nodded in understanding. "Five Zero five. Yes." And she turned, hiding her expression again and lowering her head further. Anyone paying attention to her would've noticed the sad stance and the slow pace she moved as she walked to the table she'd nodded at and sat down on the empty chair. That's when a small sob escaped her. She almost smiled sadly at the moment. It brought back memories of Kocher. Just how many times did she sat alone in the library with a book and tears in her eyes?

[Deleted]

Jackson stared at her, somewhat shocked to hear what she was saying. Truthfully, he’d never thought of school that way. As in, as a place to learn new things. No, he knew what school was for, but didn’t see it as an opportunity like she was describing. Rather, it was a place where they taught you things(regardless if you wanted to know it or not). Jackson didn’t get bad grades, not in the least. He was probably in the top 25% of his class easily, if not the top 10%. He even did the whole ‘go above and beyond’ thing and get extra credit to bring his grades up even higher. But….why did he do it, if not because he enjoyed learning? No…it was because…he liked hearing the words “good job, you did well”. He liked the position. He liked the praise. He liked how it made him a ‘good boy’.

But good boys don’t cheat, did they? Jackson had to reconsider this. He didn’t think it was cheating himself. He thought it was practical, like Ginny said. But…since Ginny thought it was cheating, other people probably did too. After a moment of thinking with his eyes lowered to the ground thoughtfully, Jackson raised his head again. “Okay,” he said simply. “I’ll read a new book then.” He really didn’t want to, the thought of reading a new book and possibly wasting his time on one he didn’t like was unappealing, but he’d do it. If it made Ginny happy.

But finding a new book to read was going to have to wait until later. Now that he was expecting company(in the form of a girl), Jackson had other things to worry about. He’d….figure out the assignment later. They still had plenty of time to work on it, and Jackson was confident that he could even get it done the weekend before it was due, so starting early was just him being ‘responsible’ about it. Jackson wasn’t a very perceptive lad, however, and didn’t notice that there was anything amiss with Ginny as she wandered away with her demure(sad) smile. She really was so shy, wasn’t she? he thought with a smile to himself. This had turned into a great meeting. He was glad to have helped his friend with her assignment, and also got some well-needed advice from her. Jackson was gone by the time the sob came from the saddened girl, rushing back to his dorm(without the book) to take care of more important things. Like cleaning his room.