jump|lams hamilton au|rewrite

☀️☁️ tᥕꪮ ☁️☀️

"Daddy, will you play cars with me?" I batted my eyelashes at my father, excited, since my mother had gotten me these new little toy hot wheels for my birthday.

Peering at me from behind the newspaper, my father looked at me with disinterest. "Bug off." He simply said. "I'm reading the paper." He sighed, as he leaned back into his arm chair. My face slightly twisted into a frown, but used to that kind of answer, I just skipped along and went to go talk to my mother.

"Mommy, why won't daddy ever play with me?" I groan, laying my head on the dinner table and she cooked dinner for the family. She shook her head gently, shrugging her shoulders a bit. "I'm not sure, Jack. He's just tired from his job." She sighed, glancing back at him in the living room. She pursed her lips together- at that moment, I really couldn't read her face. It's always been so hard to tell what she was thinking or how she was feeling. She's always been that way.

My childhood wasn't that tough, but it definitely was lacking some things a normal child would have.

Like my father. He wasn't.. exactly a father to me in all my years. He hasn't acted like one, at least. Yeah, yeah. He'll have his sweet moments- where he'll acknowledge us. But then the other- he's too interested in his job and the tv to pay attention to us.

Sometimes I wonder if he just made us all to have mini versions of him. Maybe to be his assistants and work for him. Make money for him. He shows a bit of dislike towards me, he kind of favors James, my younger brother. He shows resentment towards me because I decided I won't work for him like I was made to do, I told him that straight to his face.

And, let's just say, he didn't like that.

Ever since that moment, he's always been somewhat rude to me. Doesn't talk to me much. Doesn't look at me.

But, that's okay. I've got Ma'. She and the internet's all the company I need.

I'm a bit nervous about school. I'm supposed to start tomorrow. Just the fact that I won't know anyone there makes me nervous. I'm the shark in the fish tank. Everyone's gonna be looking at me differently because- well, I'm different. I bet the people here don't see southerners too much.

All I can do to repress the anxiety is just lay in bed and listen to music, while staring at my ceiling.

"John!" My mothers gentle voice calls from downstairs. "I need you!"

Exhaling out of my nose, I rise up from my bed, swing my legs over, and get up. I stretch quickly, then rush my way downstairs.

"Yeah?" I grumble, after making my way around the corner and into the kitchen. Mother spent most of her time in the kitchen.

"We need to do a bit of school shopping today. I've got new stuff on your supplies list, that the school's given me." She said, turning around from the stove, and handing me a paper that appeared to be the supplies I needed.

"Oh." Is all I said. I looked up at her. "When do we need to go?" I sat down at the dining table, looking over the rest of the list. "Well, today. Tomorrow's when you start, you know." I nodded.

"Make sure you're ready by.. oh, let's say.. 4:30." I glanced over the stove clock, and it read 1:34. I nodded, and got up. " 'Kay, Ma'." I planted the list on the table, and ran back upstairs. I flung myself on my bed, being hit with sudden drowsiness. "A little nap wouldn't hurt.." I threw my hair out of my ponytail, and turned on my bed, laying on my side.

——

I woke up to my mom shaking my arm. "Jack! It's 4:13, you need to get ready!" I stirred for a second until I realized what she was talking about. "Ight." She skidded our of my room, and downstairs. I closed my door and locked it, getting dressed in my dark red hoodie that had white lettering saying 'OK BOOMER',  ripped black jeans, black socks, and my Nike slides. I kept my hair out of a ponytail- because why not.

It was only a 40 minute drive to Target, because mom had to use the GPS and was confused by it. When we arrived at Target, mom of course had to stop at the Starbucks first before shopping. She ordered her and I something, and then we were off to the school supplies section.

Of course, it took at least 15 minutes to get to the school supplies, because mom stopped every single time she saw clothes and started talking about how well it would be to have it or how good I would look in it. She mainly stopped for herself, though.

As we were walking down the isle, mom found another area full of clothes. She ran into it, looking at all of them. I followed her in, my patience slowly wearing off.

I glanced around my surroundings, bored out of my mind. But my eyes landed on two particular men.

"..you should buy this for Ma'!" One of the boys exclaimed. He had short, shaggy brown hair. He chuckled, and the other boy, the one with shoulder-length black hair, scoffed. They both had a bit tan skin.

I watched them for a bit, watching them joke around. Huh. They seem really close.