Week Four: Tuesday When: Just before sunset Where: Outdoors, one of Jaspers favorite spots Who: Jasper and Micah
Jasper had been keeping to himself lately. That in itself was really not all that unusual but when you factored in that he was scarcely even visiting the library and he'd not answered any requests for tutoring....that’s when it became a bit strange for him. Jasper rarely if ever did not reply to people and there hadn't been even one week since he'd been at the school that he hadn't gone to the library to help out for a few hours. But he didn't exactly want to be around people today. He hadn't wanted to be around others yesterday either. He hadn't gone to classes; he'd stayed tucked away to various spots outdoors. The beach, the gardens, a few caves or secluded trails.
He was too distracted to be of any use to anyone. He knew he could use the distraction of trying to help but...he didn't feel it was fair to only give others half of his attention. There were others that could help them with their studies better then he could anyways. Thankfully he was so far ahead in his classes that none of the teachers and tried to contact him about missing classes. At least not yet. He figured eventually they would and he'd find some answer to make them happy and likely show again the next day.
For now though he just wanted to stay where he was.
He knew that he shouldn’t let Grey get under his skin like he had but it wasn’t even really the man himself that bugged Jasper. It was just…what he represented. It was what the sight of him made Jasper remember. He had gone for years now saying he was okay, that he’d gotten over it all and had just moved forward. What else was there for him to do? In this life you survived or you fell and never went anywhere at all and Jasper had wanted to move somewhere. He needed to move somehow from the shape he’d been in before. He did well in classes, he was friendly enough, a bit secluded but lots of people into their studies were. Most would never think anything wrong.
That was exactly how Jasper had wanted it. He didn’t want anyone to know, he hadn’t even spoken to Micah about it for a long time. It didn’t do any real good to go rehashing the past. Of course he’d read enough books and spoken with enough of the teachers to know that just pushing all of it aside was not healthy but when that seemed the easiest solution it was difficult to say no to doing so.
It had worked, hadn’t it? Jasper wasn’t so sure. But he was attempting to convince himself that after a few days he’d be able to get all of this out of his head again and just go back to how he’d been before. Go back to his books, to helping out teachers or tutoring. Maybe he’d look into actually becoming a teacher’s aid rather then just sort of helping out whenever. A few days was all he needed.
Today, despite the weather, Jasper was still outdoors. He was to one of his favorite spots, a large tree a bit away from the school. The limbs of the weeping willow tree were massive, giving adequate places for Jasper to sit without anyone at all below him able to see him. Plus the way the tree was most of the falling rain was deflected, though not all of it. Jaspers hair was still wet and the cigarette at his lips continued to threaten to go out before he could finish it up.
A bag was hanging from a branch not all that far from him. Heavy in weight it was filled with textbooks but none were currently out. The bag was closed; Jasper didn’t feel like reading right now. Instead he was leaning back against the tree, staring out across the distance. Just vaguely, far out there, he could see the ocean through the rain.