(Mark's P.O.V.)

I stare at the open door to the astronomy classroom. It's 7:32, and I know Jack's still in there. I just need to get enough courage to go in myself. I sigh, putting my hands around my backpack straps on my shoulder, taking some of the weight off my shoulders literally. My hope here is to get some of the weight off my shoulders metaphorically, so why not literally too? 

I put one foot in front of the other, and then another foot, and I walk into the classroom. It's darker in the room, since there are no lights on and the only light is coming in through the hall. I look around. It's a normal classroom basically. Except that Jack is standing in the middle of the classroom, his back turned to me, looking up, up at the model planets hanging from the ceiling. It's silent. Until, without looking at me, he starts speaking. 

"You know..." He pauses. "The astronomy nerds did a really good job with these models." He says. I nod. 

"Yeah, they did." I say. He turns away from Jupiter and looks at me, smiling, smiling an actual smile. 

"I didn't think you'd come." He says, staying where he is. I shrug, walking further into the classroom, towards Jack. Why the hell am I walking towards him? I'm practically begging for him to hit me! But he doesn't, not even when he walks closer to me until he's only about eight inches away. "Why did you come?" He asks quietly. I shrug again, testing him. I know he hates it when he doesn't get an actual answer, trust me I've been hit many times because of this pet peeve, but he doesn't hit me, doesn't even scold me. He just nods, as if he understands. 

"That's fair. When I first asked you to meet me here I just wanted to see you but there are things I want to talk about, actually talk about." He says, looking at me. I tilt my head to the side a bit. 

"Like what?" I ask, genuinely curious. I have no clue what the hell he'd want to talk to me about. Actually, that's a lie, there are many things I can come up with. What I meant was, which one of my scenarios is true? He sighs and lets his shoulders fall, looking away from me. 

"Like how sorry I am." He says it quietly, as if he isn't used to apologizing, which he probably isn't. 

"What?" I ask. I didn't expect an apology. He looks at me, no longer smiling. 

"I'm sorry Mark." He says. I shake my head a bit. 

"What do you mean?" I ask, practically begging for answers. Jack backs away a bit, deciding that we're to close apparently. 

"I'm sorry for everything. For bullying you, for messaging you...." I cut him off. 

"Who did give you my Kik by the way?" I ask. He chuckles. 

"Felix." He answers. Felix you dirty little... I think Jack picks up on my anger. "Don't be mad at him. I threatened him at first, that's when he gave it to me. But then I told him I liked you and explained a little bit and he became a kind of double agent." He says, shrugging. But it's what he says in the middle of that sentence that sparked my interest. 

"So... You do actually like me?" I ask. He looks away and nods. 

"Everything I said on Kik, every little thing, even when I said I was an idiot... It was all true." He says it quietly. I want to feel hurt but I don't. I just feel confusion. 

"But then why the hell did you bully me? And for being gay no less." I ask, that really being the only thing on my mind. Jack shakes his head. 

"It was never about you being gay, that was just a cover up. There were other reasons... I regret every single one of them though..." He says, looking at me, practically begging for forgiveness. I don't want to forgive him, not until I know why he did all of that. 

"What were those reasons?" I ask, more like demand. I want to know why. He nods a bit. 

"I'll tell you. I promise." He assures. I nod. 

"Okay. Tell me then, right now." I say. He nods, thinking for a second. 

"Okay. Back in Ireland, when I was in middle school, I got bullied. And I mean, it was bad, as bad as I've been bullying you. I didn't know how to stop it. So I started bullying them. I started sticking up for myself, using bullying instead of words. I quickly became the top of the food chain there and I didn't want to lose that title here. So my first day I looked for some easy prey, I saw you." He finishes explaining. I scoff a bit.

"That doesn't explain why you kept it up though." I say, still wanting more and more answers. He shrugs. 

"I guess it became a habit, pushing you against the lockers each day. Bob, Wade and Ken joined in, and then it was a whole thing about reputation. Which, I still don't want to lose which sounds stupid and idiotic, but..." I finish his sentence for him. 

"You don't want to be the victim." I say. He looks at me and nods. It's silent for a minute. "You still did all that when you liked me though?" I ask then. He nods. 

"Again, I regret it all. But by then, it was reputation, habit, expectations, and... As silly as it sounds... I wanted to protect you." He says. I stare at him wide-eyed. 

"Protect me? How does bullying me protect me?" I ask. Jack chuckles. 

"Mark you have no clue how many people in this school wants to bully you and beat you. By bullying you, I was claiming you as my prey, made the others back off." He says. It sounds so bad, what he just said, but I can't help but feel the slightest bit grateful. It's bad enough he beats me, I couldn't even imagine four times that or something. 

"Well then... Thanks I guess..." I say. He shakes his head. 

"Please do not thank me, it makes me feel worse." He says, sitting down on one of the desks. He puts his head in his hands, just kind of sitting there. I sigh. I should stop asking questions... But there are so many of them... 

"What about everything you said? Two weeks ago? All the verbal bullying?" I ask. He chuckles. 

"I'm fricken jealous. Or I was." He says, lifting his head up. I frown. 

"Jealous?" I ask. Why would he be jealous of me?

"Yeah. Jealous. Jealous of you. Mark you stood up and you said "I'm gay, I'm proud" even though so many people hate you because of it, and you still do. You stand up even when people knock you down. I couldn't do that. I still can't." He says, frowning. 

"That's why you're always the guy to push people down." I say, earning a nod. I sigh, going over and sitting on the desk next to the one Jack's sitting on. "Listen, I... I understand now. Not completely, there's still some things that need to be cleared up but... I understand enough to know." I say. He looks at me. 

"Enough to know what?" He asks somewhat worriedly. I smile. 

"Enough to know that I'm working on forgiving you." I say, and he grins. It's weird, seeing him genuinely happy. 

"Really?" He asks, doubtful. I nod. 

"Yeah. I'm not there yet, you really did scar me but... I'm working on it." I say, but I leave out the reason why. The reason being because I still like him, and I think even more now that I know his story, or part of it at least. 

"You know... One thing that makes me feel even worse about all this..." I turn to Jack and he turns to me. "Is that you went through so much and there I was, making it all even worse..." He finishes. That's right... I told him everything... He's the only one I've told everything too... I nod a bit, remembering the conversation. 

"Yeah. Yeah, you made it worse. But at least I know why now. I'm sorry about everything I said about you." I say, also remembering everything I said about Jack. He chuckles. 

"Don't be. Everything you said was true." He says it quietly. 

I'm sitting here next to the guy I've hated for as long as I've been in high school, the guy I used to care less about. Now, he's also the guy I have a crush on and I never noticed, couldn't even think it be possible, how much he hates himself. I kind of want to reach out for his hand but I don't. 

"Listen. I have a proposal." I say. He looks at me. 

"Mm hm?" He asks, quietly urging me to continue. I sigh. 

"Let's get to know each other better, learn who the other really is. And we'll see how it goes from there." I say. Jack smiles and nods. 

"Yeah. Yeah I like that idea." He says and takes his bag, standing up. He turns to me, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. "I'll get the other three to back off of you, but I probably won't talk to you out in public." He says. I chuckle. 

"Yeah that's fine. Reputation and all." I say, shrugging. He nods. 

"Yeah." He says it quietly and with that he turns and walks out of the classroom. Well... That went a lot better then I thought it would.