Jack was exhausted.

The night before he had gotten a total of four hours of sleep, if that. He couldn't get his stupid brain to shut up, already feeling the excruciating pressure of the spring semester. He never wanted any of this. He wished he could manage to make a genuine friend who likes him for the real him, not his looks and grades.

Sighing, he splashed some water in his face, forcing his panic to be shoved in the back of his brain. He wiped his face off, glanced quickly at the mirror to make sure it wasn't too obvious how crappy he felt before giving up and walking out of the restroom.

Crap. He apparently had timed his exit really badly.

He ran into Stella and her giant mob of friends, who were surrounding one poor individual in the middle. What was his name again? ...Charles?

They instantly shoved the kid out of their group, and came over to talk to him.

"Hey, Jack!" Stella enthusiastically flung herself at him, tucking a strand of her long dark hair behind her ear.

"Oh, uh...hi," he sighed. He learned a long time ago that despite how obviously he disliked her, she would keep on pestering him no matter what. He was already feeling drained.

Stella glanced over at the ginger-haired boy as he nearly ran into a locker, and the whole group of girls erupted into laughter. The boy flinched from the noise, and looked behind him at the group of cackling teen girls.

Stella muttered "Faggot," in his general direction, and he obviously understood what she had said because he immediately whipped himself around and stumbled out of sight.

Jack felt terrible. Here he was, a gay guy, watching another member of the LGBT community get bullied by a group of girls who where being obnoxious homophobic drama queens, who also happened to also have a very obvious crush on him.

Jack shifted his feet uncomfortably. "Hey, why are you bullying that kid?" he asked quietly.

Stella snapped her head around, looking shocked. "What do you mean, Jacky?" she uttered through gritted teeth, her left eye twitching.

Jack tried his best not to gag at the nickname, feeling increasingly uncomfortable. "Uh... I was just wondering why you were being so mean to him, that's all," he stammered.

Stella laughed. "Oh, come on, Jack! You can be too much of a goodie-two-shoes some times," she giggled. "Besides, Charlie is super annoying. It's his fault for being gay, not mine," she said the word as if it left a foul taste in her mouth, shuddering with obvious disgust.

Jack felt scorching anger rise up in his chest. He had to restrain himself to not yell in her face, or better yet, slap her. Luckily for him, the bell rang, and he muttered a quick 'good-bye' before retreating to the other end of the hallway to get to his first class.

As if being gay was something you choose, he thought furiously. He hadn't heard of a single gay guy who wanted to be gay just for the fun of it. They couldn't help who they were attracted to.

He sighed. This is going to be a long semester, he thought bitterly.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Lunch.

The worst time of the day.

Jack took a brief break in the bathroom, to get his frantic thoughts together. It had become a routine of his to escape to the bathroom as much as he possibly could throughout the average school-day.

He stared at his reflection in the mirror. What did everyone see in him?

Yes, he was fairly good looking, but not by a ton. Yes, he had good grades, but that was only because of all the pressure of being in the spotlight 24/7. Before becoming a freshman here, he was probably the most laid-back student you could meet. He had genuine friends, average grades, and best of all he was considered average. But as soon as he stepped foot in this school, he suddenly became a big deal for literally no reason. His old friends became too intimidated by him, since they were the 'nerd' group. He wanted to scream 'No! I'm still a nerd, please leave me alone and let me watch Doctor Who and anime and read my books!'.

He couldn't help but laugh. Here he was, the school's most cherished student, wondering where it all went wrong.

He sighed. Welp, I might as well head to lunch, he thought glumly.