Everything was going absolutely shitty for James, he had spent most of his time trying to pretend like he was losing his mind. After the trip to France, he returned home and practically passed out the second he laid down on his bed. He didn't care about anything else except finally letting himself rest.

So waking up with a massive headache and his body aching made him groan as he sat up. He could hear Andrew walking around the kitchen, likely making toast or cereal before he runs off to Maeve's. He had a habit of making sure the girl was alive and well every morning before they all left for school.

James walked out of his room to find Andrew sitting down on the counter as he spread butter onto his toast. "You were snoring pretty loud last night" James chuckled at the boy's words as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed the cup of coffee for him.

"Normally I try my best to not snore since it's always waking you but the air in my room was dry. I didn't wake you did I?". Andrew shook his head as he stood up "I just sorta woke up and heard it before I went back to bed. I'm gonna go see Maeve real quick before we leave, don't forget to eat something".

Andrew ran off and when the door shut James wavered as he leaned into the counter for support. He sighed deeply as he rubbed at his head to ease the ache it was experiencing. He always was good at covering up how he was feeling around Andrew.

He walked into the bathroom and showered before he put his uniform on. For the most part at least he could tie it properly this time, he always had trouble with it and Maeve would do it for him in the car. At least for once he was capable of doing something on his own again, even if it was a small task.

The sound of knocking on his door made him quickly walk towards it "did you forget your key again Andrew?" he opened the door. Daisy smiled at him slightly as she waved "morning, I figured you'd be here still given it's pretty early".

James frowned deeply "what are you doing here? I thought you were staying in France for another day since you didn't feel like coming back and dealing with your mother". Daisy shrugged as she walked inside "I'm technically not suspended anymore but there's no way I'm going back to school yet. Look I just came here to talk real quick and I'll be outta here and on my way back to France".

"Of course, what did you wanna talk about?" He grabbed his cup of coffee from the counter "I'm pregnant, and before you try pulling the are you sure card, I'm like very positive about it. And yes you're the father and I'm keeping it to prove to my bitch of a mother I don't need her for anything. We can like a coparent or something, or even just get married...".

James couldn't focus, his mind was spinning like crazy and Daisy kept going on about babies and marriage and it made him move forward. "What! There's no way we're getting married, or even remotely getting together, I barely know you and we only slept together like one time".

Daisy laughed lightly "oh but we will, because this thing inside of me is from you. And I didn't just sleep with you for nothing, so you're going to help me raise this baby the second it's born, I don't care if you don't want to, if you even try to deny it I'll literally ruin your stupid life. I'm sure one little word to the right person and little Andrew will be thrown into foster care. You'll be all alone in this disgusting trailer. Ruby will never get back with you again".

"Are you threatening me, what the fuck you're literally insane" Daisy walked towards him "you'll lose everything if you don't help me, and I'm pretty good at getting what I want. You're stuck with me until the day you die James, we'll get married inside a nice chapel and I'll name the baby something pretty".

She kissed his cheek before she walked towards the doorway "if you try to even remotely back out, I will have Andrew taken away from you, I'll make sure you never see him again, and that's a promise. Because I'm pretty damn resourceful these days, and I will ruin you so badly you'll never test me again".

She left and James let out a shaky breath as he leaned into the counter for support. There's no way she was even being remotely truthful, she couldn't just throw this all on him so suddenly. He didn't even know this girl and he was for the most part doing good with raising Andrew. His head felt so damn dizzy as he grabbed his key cars and quickly ran outside.

—

"What! She can't do that!" James groaned as he ran his hand along his hair "that's what I said, but the bitch is crazy and she seemed like she meant everything she said. This is why I gotta stop fucking girls whenever I'm feeling shitty in life".

He smacked his face into his locker as Maeve sighed deeply "we can figure this out together, maybe you can reason with her or we could file a police report". James looked at Maeve "like they'd take me seriously, I know for a fact she'll likely have them confirm the baby is mine. I could lie and say I've never slept with her but again, if it's actually mine...".

He huffed "I just gotta pretend like my life isn't going down the drain, I'll see you later, I need to clear my damn head before I lose my shit about this. I'm never trusting blondes again after this, they're evil!".

He walked off down the hallway and when he turned the corner Hope sighed deeply as she walked towards him. "James what have I told you about wearing your uniform properly, your sleeves are a mess. Do you really want your first day back to cause issues already?". He groaned "I didn't have time to iron the damn thing this morning, I was busy dealing with personal matters. It's just wrinkles, it's not a big deal".

"It is if you're going to be representing this school, come on then, take it off. I'll get you a new one". James felt small under her gaze "I'd rather not, the one I'm wearing is perfectly fine. It's just wrinkles, which I'm sure you have a few given you're old".

"Okay take it off! I will not ask you again. I will get you a new one from my office and you are to stay here until I return, this behavior will not be tolerated".

James rolled his eyes as he angrily took the jacket off "this is ridiculous, you're crazy just like your daughter". He handed her the jacket and he could see the way she looked at him with such annoyance. At first glance, it was annoyance she expressed until her eyes looked at the marks all over his arms.

Habits always had a way of turning against him, even with his system being clean after a rough few days and nights. He felt so judged and ashamed until her gaze as she walked away towards her office. He pushed his arms into himself hoping they were covered as he waited for her to return.

When she did return he put the new jacket on so quickly he nearly punched himself in the face. "I'm glad you're capable of listening to James, you could be such a remarkable student but you lack respect".

She walked away and he sighed deeply as he watched her with such annoyance. He hated her so much, she was ruining everything with her attitude and picture perfect school. He knew deep down everything would likely crash and burn for this place, he had hoped at least the students would be the cause.

The day was going smoothly until Hope decided to call for an assembly. James would normally loathe having to sit on the hard ass chairs in the gymnasium. But since it got him out of class he didn't really mind it, despite being forced to sit beside Otis.

Hope cleared her throat as she grabbed the microphone from the podium in front of her. She smiled brightly making James roll his eyes even more as he waited for what she was gonna complain about next. She was always complaining about everything that happened in Moordale.

"I've asked you all here to announce a new direction for your school. A fresh start that is desperately needed to achieve success. Moordale Secondary will soon be known as Sparkside Academy".

James looked around as students all began to whisper to one another, he could hear the complaining already and the way everyone was upset, he wasn't a fan of Moordale to begin with so he didn't care what happened.

"I'm sure you will have many questions, but our goals for Sparkside will be made clear at our upcoming open day. We will also be inviting the press to show them that "Sex School" is a thing of the past".

James chuckled under his breath because no amount of remodeling or name changing would make this place any less appealing. They were the literal definition of a fucked up school and yet everyone here was perfectly happy and proud, for the most part.

"And speaking of press, I'm sure you're all aware that our school once again made the news today" Hope sighed deeply as she showed the newspaper of the day. James didn't have the chance to read it due to him finding it utterly pointless and boring but he knew that it wasn't anything remotely good.

"Take me now, Lord Vanon!" James rolled his eyes "fucking dumbass". Everyone was laughing and James didn't really care about the article or what it was about, he's never once judged anyone for something they find passion in.

"Yes, it was very funny, wasn't it? However, the part where they called us an "institution full of sexual deviants" was not very funny at all. It seems that there are some students here who get a kick out of giving us a bad name. And it has to stop".

Hope sighed deeply and gosh James wanted to smack that grin off her face when he saw her look down at the piece of paper in her hand. Almost as if everything she was saying needed to be absolutely perfect.

"So, Lily Iglehart, Cal Bowman, Adam Groff, and James Simmons come to the stage, please" James scoffed as he stood up and followed along the other three students who were also called.

This entire thing was stupid and he knew he'd rather get it over with then deal with it later "take a seat, please". James sat down at the end of the row of chairs as he weakly leaned back and rolled his eyes.

"From now on, punishment will be dealt with differently on this campus" she handed a sign to Cal as she smiled "will you read that out, please, Cal?".

James frowned deeply as Cal looked down at the sign with confusion "I am a slovenly troublemaker--" Hope sighed "a little louder, please, so your peers can hear what you have to say". Cal stands up angrily "I am a slovenly troublemaker who doesn't care about my peers!". Jackson stood up angrily in the crowd of students "this is fucked up!".

"Sit down, Jackson!" Hope turned towards Cal as she sighed in annoyance "put the sign on, Cal". Hope handed a sign to Lily where the girl looked down at it with such sadness and disbelief "I don't think my story was dirty" Hope looked down at Lily with such an evil expression it made James wanna throw up.

"Then why is everyone laughing at you? Go on then, read it" Lily let out a shaky breath before she looked down at the sign "I wrote dirty and disgusting words which have brought shame on my peers".

She weakly put the sign on and James could see the girl holding back tears as she looked down in shame. Adam scratched at his head as he looked at Hope with confusion "um, I can't read that word".

"It says that you are unhygienic. Because what you did in France was filthy and put your peers at risk". Rahim stood up "enough!" Hope turned "sit back down" Rahim looked at Adam then at Hope.

"It's supposed to be school, not somewhere we should be afraid" Hope scoffed "okay, you're suspended" everyone gasped. "Leave" Rahim was hesitant before Hope angrily looked at him "I said, leave!".

James let out a heavy breath as Adam put the sign around his neck "I am unhygienic and put my peers at risk". Hope walked towards James and the boy scoffed as she handed him the sign "this is stupid".

His words grew short when he saw what was written on the sign he looked up with such rage he could feel himself shutting down into despair. "I'm not saying that shit!" He threw the sign down onto the stage.

"Would you rather show your peers how much of a shame you've brought upon yourself, read the sign". James let out a heavy breath, had the room always been this warm? Did his body ache before he sat down on this chair, or was this new?

He gritted his teeth angrily "fuck you", his head was spinning and the world was going fuzzy. "Leave him alone!" Ruby's voice made James relax, but despite the girl's words, James was helpless.

"Read the sign James! I know you're stable enough to read a few little words, pick up the sign" James couldn't breathe, he wanted to melt away into the chair as he looked down at the sign. He couldn't form any words and his mouth felt so dry as he watched Hope grab the sign from the ground.

She pushed it into his hands "read it" he blinked as he looked down at the words with such disgust. He threw it angrily into Hopes face as he stood up "you're a fucking psycho! I'm not reading shit".

"You truly are a shame to everyone here, you can't even take responsibility for your actions. For the things you do to yourself that you clearly can't see are wrong and are causing harm to others, your actions most always have consequences James".

He felt his body shutting down as Hope grabbed his jacket and pulled it off so his arms could be seen by everyone. "Don't fucking touch me" James went to move back but Hope stopped him by tugging him forward so everyone could see him.

He could see the looks, hear the whispers and gasps as Hope placed the ripped sign around his neck "I bring shame to my peers for the disgusting behavior I do to myself and I am a terrible human being for setting an example for my son who will likely take after his junkie father, you see James it's not so hard to say those words, it's not easy seeing the truth".

He could feel the tears forming in his eyes as the world around him began to shake. He wanted to scream to rip out his hair or anything so he could feel anything except the pain he was feeling.

It came in like waves, he cried and then he was angry with the world as he grabbed the chair from behind him and threw it across the stage. "Fuck you!" he stormed off the stage ripping the sign off his neck and letting it fall along the ground as he ran into the hallway. He screamed the second he went outside, his hands grasped his head as he sobbed and crumbled into the ground. He held onto himself with such desperation as the world went silent.

—
authors notes:
My ocs will have be going through it I swear, no amount of anything will be remotely good for James sake. Trauma is the detention of James, like seriously I wanna give him a big ass hug (I hate hugs deeply). But he deserves one badly, I could be nice and make his life easier but that's boring! Don't worry things for the most part will work out eventually for James, it's literally 6AM..... I've been writing for this all night, I'm gonna sleep now and enjoy my last day off from work. So likely no more updates for this today! Unless I wake up at a decent hour and have nothing else to do, but we'll see how that goes. Also Daisy is hopes daughter after all so it's not surprising she's kinda crazy of course while I don't address it in the story Daisy is adopted. We all know it was a big plot that Hope couldn't have children unfortunately. Also as for what Daisy looks like, not really important since she's a side character mainly, I rarely give my side characters Faceclaims. I'm also lazy, another reason why Andrew also doesn't have a Faceclaim set really, so just use your imagination.