Friend-Zoned

[29]

Mark walked out door of the classroom, leaving as the bell rung obnoxiously to alert the students third period was over. He was the last as always.

Merely moments of walking down the hall, small, nimble hands snatched the back of his shirt and pulled him into the janitor's closet.

"What the fu-" said hand clasped over his mouth with a following 'shhh.'

There was no light but the crack under the door. Mark could still tell who had pulled him into the closet.

Jack McLoughlin.

Mark grunted, his own hand prying away Jack's sweaty one. "Jack, what the hell?" Jack sharply looked at him with a hiss.

Mark growled and rolled his eyes. He hadn't any time for this right now. He had P.E class now.

Two sets of footsteps passed the door, one of them speaking out gruffly. "Dammit, where'd he go?" Mark couldn't identify the person.

Eventually, they scattered away, Jack exhaled as if he had been holding his breath.

Mark shook his head, "who was that? Why were you hiding from them?" Jack shot him a 'are you fucking serious' look. "It was Lee and his mini-me, Niall. Assholes. I guess you'd call them my personal bullies or some sob-story shit."

Mark grabbed Jack by the side of his face and turned him to look in his direction. "Hold the phone. Lee? Your ex, Lee? He's been picking on you?" The smaller nodded, face blank. He wouldn't look at Mark though, sort of ticking him off. "Did he hurt you? What'd he do? Why's he chasing you? Why'd you get me stuck in a locked closet with the most annoying thing on planet earth?"

Jack ripped his face from Mark's gradually tightening grip. "Stop, that's my face you're squeezing!" The boy muttered a 'sorry' before Jack sighed and continued. "No, he didn't hurt me. I'm fine, stop being such a bitch all the time. Don't worry 'bout the door either. Ned will come around in about two hours. And Lee didn't do anything, Mark, he's all bark and no bite. He knows better than to punch me if you're around. I may have told a little fib just to piss him off." Mark paled.

"What in God's holy name did you say, Jack?"

Jack winced. Mark'd never used that tone of voice before... He sounded serious and quite scary in Jack's opinion. "I-I may or may not have said I had someone else that was better than him and would kick his damned ass if he laid a finger on me..." Jack furrowed his eyebrows, an innocent smile playing on his lips. Mark stared at him before gripping his forehead. "Dammit. You're nothing but trouble, you know that?" The paleness from before quickly turned to red.

"Ah, come on, pretty boy," Jack nudged Mark with his elbow, hitting him directly in the side, "you like how much of a troublemaker I am." He cocked an eyebrow, earning a frown from Mark. "Yeah, I guess. Troublemakers are the best kind of people, though, I suppose." He shrugged.

Jack tilted his head, frowning. "What do you mean?" He squeaked mid-sentence when the taller boy pinned him back against the wall, hands on his hips. A sly smirk on his features. "Bad boys get punished. Don't you know the rules, McLoughlin?" Jack's eyes grew, stunned Mark went from zero to one hundred in eight seconds flat.Despite having a broom jabbing painfully into his back, he was pretty turned on. Jack hardly noticed the slight stab.

What made him even redder was the fact he had to look up at Mark and knew the taller boy had that cocky smirk 'cause he knew exactly what he was doing; pushing every little button Jack had.

"First you lie to your ex to make him jealous, dragging me into your mess, then you lock me inside of a closet that's so small that there's only six inches of space when two people are trapped inside of it? What are you implying, Jack?"

Jack didn't even know himself.

"What're you saying, whore?" Jack sneered, lips curving into a smirk of his own. "I'm saying you're asking for something here, slut. Might as well say it. I don't bite that much."

Jack bit the inside of his cheek, beginning to think. He then - as cheekily and innocent as possible - smiled, blurting out what he had intended to ask Mark before the incident fell into place itself.

"So... You wanna skip Gym and make out in the janitor's closet?"