No Exceptions(Adopted by Jack Barakat)

Chapter Six: The Last Day Of School

Before I knew it Friday was there. I couldn't sit still or stop smiling. I kept bouncing my legs and drumming my fingers on my knees. Three and a half hours and then I could go home. Home. Something I hadn't had in years. Not really at least. Time seemed to drag on. If it hadn't been the last day of school I probably would have gotten detention.
   Finally we all headed into the gym for the last assembly. We all filled into the bleachers and sat down. The principal was handed a mic and took his place in the middle of the floor.
"Let me start by saying congratulations for passing another year." At least half the students scoffed, "It has been a wonderful year and I know you're all ready to leave so I'll keep this brief." It wasn't brief. It was twenty minutes long and he said pretty much nothing.
"So I suppose to finish I'll just say have a good summer and we'll see you next year!" The gym erupted in cheers. Everyone headed for the doors and I got carried with them. Students ran off in various directions either to meet up with friends or find their parents. Leo caught up with and helped me look for Jack.
"He's over that way." Leo said and gestured to the right. He grabbed my hand as we maneuvered through the crowd of rowdy students. We finally escaped the crowd and I saw Jack leaning against his car, arms crossed, smiling wide. I let go of Leo and ran up to Jack, wrapping my arms around his waist.
"Ready to go?"
"You have no idea." He chuckled and then looked over my head at Leo.
"Want a ride to Allison's place? We have to run by anyway and pick up Anna's stuff." That was the first time he'd ever called me Anna. Leo nodded and walked over. "Great hop in and we'll get going." Jack opened my door for me and then went around and got in his side while Leo got in the back. The drive to Allison's was quiet aside from Jack humming and softly tapping on the steering wheel. When we arrived all three of us got out. Jack went inside to grab my boxes(I only had two) while I said goodbye to Leo. I hugged him and buried my face in his chest, trying not to cry.
"I'm gonna miss you." I mumbled.
"I'll miss you too, Annie."
"Allison gave me the number for the house so I'll call when I can, okay?" I pulled back a bit and looked up at him. He nodded. He opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment Jack came carrying both boxes stacked rather precariously. Leo and I broke apart.
"Is this all you have?" Jack asked. I sighed.
"Yeah. That's it." He popped the trunk and then very unceremoniously dropped both boxes into it. When he'd adjusted them he closed the trunk and turned it look at us.
"You good?" I looked up at Leo, who smiled and grabbed my hand.
"I guess so." I glanced up at Leo one last time and smiled softly. I pushed myself up onto my tiptoes and gently pressed my lips to his cheek. I took a step back and giggled softly upon seeing him blush.
"Later alligator." I whispered.
"In a while crocodile." He mumbled back. I gave his hand one last squeeze before letting go of it and getting in the car. Jack gave me a knowing look, but didn't say anything. He fiddled with the CD player and then a song I vaguely recognized started playing.
"What song is this?" I asked.
"Backseat Serenade by my band."
"Oh. I like it. This is Alex singing, right?"
"Yep."
He's really good. Does he do all the vocals?"
"Most of them. Zack does backing vocals, but otherwise it's just Alex." I nodded. "Oh fuck." Jack said after a few seconds.
"What? What's wrong?"
"I just missed my turn. I blame you. You distracted me." I giggled and stuck my tongue out at him. He smiled then started studying our surroundings. After making three turns we ended up on cute, suburban street lined with adorable little houses. Each house had a well kept lawn and flowers under the windows. A few kids toys or bikes in the yards as well. Safe to say I was shocked when we pulled into the driveway of creamy yellow house.
"Is this your house?" I asked, shock evident in my voice. He chuckled.
"Not what you were expecting?"
"Not really. I mean, you're a single guy. I was expecting more like an apartment." He nodded and got out. I followed suit.
"I did have an apartment for a few years, but after awhile it didn't seem worth it." He popped the trunk and grabbed one of my boxes. I grabbed the other one and followed him to the door. He unlocked it and stepped in. It was a lot neater than I expected. Jack sat the box on the floor and I sat the other one on top of it. He kicked off his shoes so I took off mine.
"So. A quick tour. To your right we have the living room complete with tv and a wide variety of movies for your viewing pleasures. To the left we have the dining room connected to the kitchen. Down the hall you'll find five doors. My room, my "office","he put air quotes around office, "The bathroom, the closet and the guest room which will be yours. In the kitchen there's a door that leads downstairs, but the only things down there are the washing machine and dryer and another bathroom." He hung up his jacket and then picked up both boxes. "Follow me to your room, Anna." I peeked into the living room as we passed. It was nice and cute in a bachelor pad kind of way. There were band posters and platinum records and other awards decorating the walls and various bookshelves. There were movie posters as well and a fascinating collection of books and comics adorned the shelves. A few random knick knacks filled the gaps between books and awards. To sum it up it was very Jack and I loved every bit of it.
My room had white walls and tan carpet. The bed was made with navy sheets and a white comforter. There was one nightstand and desk. It was plain, but nice.
"So I apologize that there's no dresser, but I'll be fixing that soon I promise. Also we can paint and decorate it at some point too if you want." I looked up at him.
"We can paint?!" He smiled at my excitement.
"Duh. It's my house."
"Right."
"You hungry?" I nodded.
"Great. Let's go see what's in the kitchen. Onward!" He exclaimed and ran from the room. I laughed and followed him. I found searching through the fridge. The kitchen was nice. It was open and it had a bar. There was big window above the sink. It was one of those ones that's deep and then has a little shelf built into it. The shelf was covered in little plants of various sizes and colors. It threw me. I didn't think he was the kind to have plants. But I knew I didn't know everything there was to know about him yet.
"Turns out I need to go grocery shopping so there isn't much in the way of food. I do have some leftover Chinese and a frozen pizza though? Thoughts?"
"Could we have pizza?!" I asked and started rocking from my heels to my toes.
"Sure." He pulled the pizza from the freezer, "Do you not get pizza often?"
"It's a treat on very rare occasions. Allison doesn't have much leeway in her budget." He nodded and than began busying himself with preparing the pizza. He started humming and swaying his hips. I hid a giggle behind my hand and then decided to examine the living room more thoroughly. I found a few more small plants in the there too. I was studying the bookshelf and then turned to look at the couch. There was a large white box with a pale blue ribbon wrapped around it.
"Hey, Jack?" I heard him hum in response so I kept going,"What's this box on the couch?" I heard a door slam and then Jack came running into the room.
"I completely forgot about that. It's a welcome home present I got for you."
"Really? You didn't need to do that."
"I know, but I wanted too. Go ahead open it." I sat down beside it and slowly undid the bow. Something inside the box started rustling. I lifted the lid and gasped in shock. Inside the box were three kittens. A grey tabby with a pale pink collar, a completely grey one with a pale green collar and one that was white and orange with a pale blue collar.
"You bought me kittens?!" I could barely believe what I was seeing.
"Yep. They already have names, but you can rename them if you want."
"What are their names?" I asked as a I reached into the box and pulled the tabby out.
"That one is Tesla. It's the only girl. The grey one is Castle and the other one is Rory."
"I like those names." I sat Tesla on couch beside me and took the other two out of the box.
"I've got all the stuff for them down in the basement. I'll bring it up after lunch. Except for the litterbox. I think I'll leave that down there." I nodded, but I was a but preoccupied. I was holding Rory to my chest and scratching behind his ears. He was purring. I smiled and looked over at Jack. He was smiling too. Then he jumped up.
"Shit." He exclaimed as he headed for the kitchen.
"What's wrong?"
"I forgot to set a timer on the pizza." Still holding Rory I followed him out into the kitchen. He was peering into the oven.
"Ready?" I asked. He closed the door and turned around.
"Not yet."
"You know you don't strike me as a plant guy." I said without thinking. He chuckled.
"Everyone needs a hobby, right? This an alternative to a pet, because I'm gone a lot I figured this way I can have Lisa or my sister come once a week and water them rather then every day to feed and walk a dog or something."
"Makes sense.
"I've actually managed to keep them all alive. It's been nice to have something to look after you know? And now I've got you so I'll actually have to start cooking and doing more cleaning, so . . ." He trailed off and glanced around the kitchen.
"I can cook and clean too. I can't cook much, but that's what cookbooks are for. And every Tuesday after school we had to help Allison clean the house, so I'm pretty good at cleaning."
"Cool." He opened the oven again and the delicious smell of pizza filled the room. He grabbed a red pot mitt off the counter and took the pizza out.
"Lunch is ready." He opened a drawer to the left of the stove an dug around before pulling out a pizza cutter.
"Which cupboard are the plates in?" I asked and he pointed to the cupboard beside the fridge. I got out two plates and sat them on the counter beside Jack.
"Cups?"
"Beside the sink." I found the glasses and got water. I took the glasses and went to the table. Jack brought over the plates with pizza on them.
    That day has stayed with me for many reasons. 1) because it was my first day in my new home, but also because half way through lunch I knocked my cup over and filled my plate with water as well as soaked my shirt and jeans. Jack rushed to stand up and get a towel, knocked his cup over and flooded the table. It took two bath towels to clean up the mess, but eventually we did. I started giggling hysterically which caused him to laugh too. It was a good day.
    That night I tossed and turned and I didn't get to sleep till four a.m. At first I couldn't figure out why I had so much trouble sleeping, but I realized I was used to sleeping with someone else in the bed. Without Leo's arms around me I couldn't get to sleep. It was about two in the morning when I realized and I began thinking about Leo and how I wouldn't see him till school started. I cried until about four and then fell asleep.