Dissonance - Part 1
May. 3rd, 2009 01:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
surevestaTitle: Dissonance - 1
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
surevesta
Rating: PG-16
Fandom: CW RPS
Word Count: 7,749 (this part)
Pairing: J2
Main Characters: Jensen, Jared, Danneel, Sandy, Kripke, Chad, Mike, Chris, Sophia, Hayden, Adair, Rainbow, Allie
Other Characters: Samantha Ferris, Samantha Smith, Tom and Jaime, Aaron, Shawn, Kristin K., Kristin B., Alexis, JDM, and an assortment of other RPS regulars and CW actors/actresses.
Betas:anyothergirl415 and darkmerrick
Disclaimer: The story and plot is mine, the characters are based off of real people and belong to themselves. The places are also based off of real places. I know almost nothing of the foster care system.
Summary: The world of High School through the eyes of violist Jensen Ackles. Life is just notes on a page, waiting to be read and interpreted.
Master Post
*****
Particles of sticky dust meshed into the cotton fabric of Jensen’s over shirt. Worn tennis shoes covered in smudges of ground in dirt were tapping, quick and light against linoleum covered concrete.
One and two and three and one and…
The rhythm was divided by quick staccato notes, double up bows, and deft fingers. The world around Jensen had fallen away. Stuffy air and the musty scent of decades of stored sheet music that covered the walls of the small store room were gone for the moment.
Green eyes, hidden behind black rimmed glasses that were thick and out of style, jumped across the notes covering the tattered pages of sheet music in front of him. The fraying hair of the long sweeping bow spit rosin across the dull wood of the instrument and out into the stale air.
A moment, three beats of silence filled the air before the sounds returned. The music Jensen’s movements produced is not melodic and sweet. Notes chimed on the off beats and didn’t quite go together. Something was missing from the equation.
Jensen let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as he drew the bow across the strings of his instrument, his fingers bent to find two separate notes on the lowest strings. A vibrant low tone filled the air broken by a squeal of delight.
“You are so good!” Danneel’s voice startled Jensen. The bow he was holding in his right hand, clattered against the metal music stand and onto the floor. “Oh god, Jen- you must be spending hours practicing.”
Danneel slipped through the cracked door and set her violin onto the only chair in the room. She grinned at him as he knelt down to snatch up his bow.
A bright blush spread high across Jensen’s cheeks contrasting with the pale tone of his skin and covering splatters of freckles. “I’m not that good Dani.”
She rolled her eyes and twisted the end of a mahogany bow to tighten the long hairs. “You’ve got to be the best high school age violist in the area and you know it.”
Jensen shook his head as he carefully removed a broken hair from his bow. He grimaced as a line of rosin was left behind. Danneel made a face at him, “Jen, you use too much of that stuff.”
“It’s the only way I can get a good sound,” He shrugged rubbing his fingers onto the worn denim of his jeans. “Need an ‘A’? I just tuned up before I started the last run through.”
“Sure,” Danneel turned a sly smile his way. “Unless you want to just tune it for me?”
Jensen just grinned, “Practice makes perfect, you’re never going to figure it out if you hand off tuning to someone else every time.”
She made a playful face at him, “You’re no fun Jen. Mike would tune it for me.”
“Mike happens to find you quite attractive,” Jensen chuckled softly as she stuck her tongue out at him. He lifted his bow and drew it slow and steady across the highest string of his viola as another blush colored his cheeks. Danneel’s focus shifted to her instrument, biting her lip as her fingers twisted the fine tuners.
A bright note filled the air and was joined by a warping tone that soon matched perfectly in pitch.
*****
“I’m really sorry I can’t give you a ride today,” Danneel apologized for the hundredth time as she unlocked her car door. “After my last ticket I’m not allowed to have anyone in the car with me.”
Jensen just shrugged; the battered black instrument case banged against his knee. “It isn’t a big deal Dani, I don’t live that far away.” He shifted the strap of his book bag on his shoulder with his free hand and motioned down the road. “Just a thirty minute walk max. It’s not going to kill me.”
“Still, I feel kind of bad,” Danneel’s violin case hit the passenger side door as she shoved it across the seat. Jensen winced slightly in sympathy for the instrument. It was brand new; Danneel's father had gotten it for her just this past summer. She had been utterly ecstatic about not having to use one of the schools violins anymore.
“Careful,” He murmured and she glared at him. Jensen stood back as she closed the car door.
“Of course I’m going to be careful,” Her eyes rolled as the car started. “I’ll see you in class tomorrow. I’m also going to have a chat with Mike about showing up for practice. No way am I letting that loser ruin our quartet. It’s bad enough Chris is in that stupid Jazz ensemble half the time.”
As Jensen watched her drive out of the student parking lot and couldn’t help but think she miss understood him. He shrugged his shoulders in an attempt to adjust his backpack. It had definitely seen better days, one of the straps had frayed off at the end and snapped. It wasn’t exactly the most comfortable thing in the world to walk home with a full backpack and an awkward viola case bumping into your side.
It was already late in the day, practice having taken about two hours of their time. The number of cars still in the parking lot attested to other extra curricular activities which were either still going on or just getting out.
The gravel crunched beneath his sneakers and he kicked out, launching jagged pebbles across the ground like rocks skipping over water. Jensen shifted his pack and zipped up his hoodie. It wasn't exactly cold out yet since it was still September, but the dark clouds overhead spoke of rain. He only hoped that the clouds would hold off till he was closer to home.
A truck skittered backwards in the gravel, swerving towards him. Jensen jumped back sharply, his backpack slid off his shoulder onto the ground with a loud thump. Red tail lights were nearly in his face before the driver shifted gears and roared off.
“You alright?”
Jensen blinked and turned his head to the side, one of the football players was staring at him intently, poised to open the door to a green Mazda, key already in the lock. A light flush spread across his cheeks as he nodded, “Yeah... I'm fine, thanks.”
The guy rolled his eyes, shaggy hair damp from post practice shower flopping against his forehead. Jensen recognized him from several of his classes, Jared Padalecki an honors student and the star quarterback of the football team.
“Chad's not exactly the most observant driver. You might want to try walking in front of the cars so you don't get run over.” The taller teen watched as he picked up his bag and readjusted the broken zipper to keep his books in, “Ever think of getting a new backpack?”
Jensen nodded and shrugged his pack back onto his shoulder and ducked his head. He slipped between two parked cars and made his way towards the side walk eyes firmly planted on the ground in front of him.
*****
The walk from school to his foster home took about twenty-five minutes and it was raining by the time he unlocked the front door. The blue hoodie Jensen wore was pulled tight over his head and covered in dark splotches. A sigh escaped his lips as he used his shoulder to levee the heavy wood door open. It was old, like the rest of the house, and in need of repairs due to the house shifting over the years. The hinge creaked and the glass pane shuddered slightly. Jensen glanced at it wearily as he locked it behind him.
He had been living in this house for the last three years, almost his entire high school career. His guardians were nice enough, both worked full time at just above minimum wage jobs and used the foster system to supplement their income. They provided for the kids in their care, though, and did their best to give them a good life. They had three meals a day plus snacks, a bed to sleep in, the ability to join after school activities, and someone who asked how their day went- and meant it. All in all the Orchards were a lot better than most of the people Jensen had stayed with over the years.
“Jensen!” He stopped on the stairs and leaned on the railing. A preteen was standing in the door to the kitchen, perfectly arched eyebrow raised.
“Hayden, what's up?”
“You needing a new fashion sense?”
“Ha, ha. Where's Rain and Adair?” Jensen pushed his hood off running his fingers through his dirty blond hair. It was getting a little longer than he normally wore it.
“Rain has soccer practice till five and Margaret said she'd pick him up after her shift at the hospital,” Hayden shrugged, leaning against the door jamb. “Adair's over at her friend Sarah's, her Mom said she'd drop her off before dinner. Are you going to be home in time for dinner?”
Jensen shook his head, “I have the closing shift tonight, won't be done till eleven”
“Ick, I don't know how you do it, Jensen,” Hayden wrinkled her nose. “I could slap together a Pb&j for you if you want?”
“That'd be awesome, it'd save me some time. I only have fifteen minutes to get to the bus stop.”
“Go get ready, I was just making a snack for myself so it shouldn't take long for me to throw one together for you,” She waved him off and slipped back into the kitchen, long blond curls bouncing against her back.
Making his way up stairs Jensen tried to be as quiet as possible. While his foster mother had a morning shift at the hospital, his foster father, Denis, worked the graveyard shift as a manager at a gas station mini mart. There were three bedrooms upstairs and a good sized bathroom that he shared with his three foster siblings. Luckily, the master bedroom had its own bath so there weren't six people sharing the same shower. The downstairs of the home was open, a kitchen and a small dining room adjacent to the living room and a small study off to the left of the stairs. It didn't hold much and worked as a place for guests to sleep on occasion. The old house also had a basement but it wasn't in very good shape and certainly wasn't up to code to be used as a living space. Jensen was helping his foster parents fix it up on the weekends when they had time. It was the least he could do, they were going to let him stay till the end of the year even though his eighteenth birthday was March 1st.
His room was the last room on the right, next to the bathroom, and he shared it with his foster brother, a ten year old named Rainbow. The kid refused to answer to anything other than Rain, which Jensen could definitely understand. It was the smaller of the two 'regular' rooms but the space was used well. There was a bunk bed shoved up against the inner wall, the cheap metal kind where the bottom bed is a full size futon. Jensen dropped his back on the bottom bed near the pillows, blankets smoothed neatly over the mattress. He gently set his viola case on the floor and slipped it under his bed. It was less likely to be in the way of rambunctious pre-teens that way.
There was a single dresser in the corner adjacent to the bed, a window partly obscured by worn wood. Two desks sat against the far wall, simple fake wood with a single drawer, and two folding metal chairs with cheap pillow cushions held on by ties to the back. He slipped off his tennis shoes without undoing the laces and pulled his shirts and hoodie over his head. Moving over to the dresser he pulled out a clean pair of jeans, one without any holes or tares, and a clean shirt and button up.
Jensen undid his belt and shimmied out of his jeans, he sighed as he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror hanging on the outside of the closest. It had been there before he arrived, probably there since Margaret's biological daughter Muriel went off to college.
There were a few spots from dried raindrops on his glasses, but they barely disrupted his view. His skin was pale, marred only by a scattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks, shoulders and upper back. A few spots splattered down his chest and arms, over his lanky body. Jensen wasn't one for working out, didn't really have time to. He did have some muscle definition from everyday activities but he wasn't anything to look at.
Scrubbing a hand over his face Jensen dislodged his glasses, slipping them off and using a small rag to clean them. He set them back on his nose and stepped into the fresh pair of jeans and pulled them up over his thin hips. Once he was dressed, Jensen pulled on a clean pair of socks and snagged a pair of boots from beneath his bed. They were his only other pair of shoes, a pair of black steal toed boots that he reserved for work and concerts. While the boots weren't quite dress shoes they blended in just fine with the black slacks and pressed white shirt he wore as per the dress code.
He adjusted his glasses and glanced at the alarm clock on Rain's desk, Jensen still had about five minutes before he had to go downstairs, since the bus stop was only a block away- less than a three minute walk. A sigh escaped his lips as he picked up his dirty clothes and tossed them into a wicker basket near the closet. It was almost time for him to do laundry again, tomorrow after practice might be a good time since he didn't have work. He snagged a light jacket out of the closet, it was a few years old and a size too small, but it had a hood and was water proof. Wearing the bright lime green color would be better than getting drenched on the way to work. The left pocket was heavy, he slipped a hand in and pulled out a leather bracelet. It was old, almost too small, a relic of the family he used to have.
Jensen had been shuttled into the foster system just before his eighth birthday. His parents had died in a car crash, nothing extraordinary, a hit and run by a drunk driver running a red light. He had been orphaned along with his older brother and baby sister, left under the care of an over burdened aunt. She hadn't been able to care for them all with two kids of her own and an absent husband. Instead he and Josh, his older brother, had been put into the foster system. A supposed temporary measure that had lasted for the last ten years. She had taken in his baby sister, barely a year old, not wanting Mackenzie to grow up without knowing her family. He had managed to stay with Josh for the first three homes they went to, then they were separated. Split up into different homes, another temporary measure. Jensen hadn't seen or heard from Josh in six years, his brother hadn't come to find him when he left the system like promised. He hadn't seen Mackenzie since she was three.
He slipped the band over his wrist, it was a tight fit but it made it with a little force. His thumb brushed over a tarnished wooden bead surrounded by knots, memories of his mother helping him make it at vacation bible school flitting through his mind. Scrubbing fingers through his hair Jensen glanced in the mirror to make sure it wasn't too messy before darting out of the room, pushing his wallet into his back pocket as he went.
Moving quickly but quietly Jensen hurried down the stairs, skipping two at a time. Before he could open the door Hayden appeared, bottle of water and a plastic baggie with his sandwich inside. Jensen grinned at her, lips quirked up on the right side, “Thanks Hayden.”
“No problem,” She grinned holding up a sandwich of her own. “It's not like it was really any trouble.”
“I gotta get to the bus or I'm going to be late, I should be back before midnight, if I'm not could you double check on Rain? Make sure he's actually asleep?” Jensen asked, holding the door open. “He has a game after school tomorrow.”
“Duh, of course I will,” She rolled her eyes. “You better get out of here. I really don't want to have to explain to Sophia why you're late again. Get outta here.”
*****
Jensen leaned back against the counter and glared at the clock, it was fifteen minutes before closing and there were only a few people left at the small coffee shop. A couple of college students were studying in the corner, although he thought the guy was more interested in looking down the girls shirt than actually studying.
“I really don't want to think about who was in the bathroom,” Sophia frowned as she moved behind the counter, walking over to the industrial sink in the back near the oven. She glanced over her shoulder as she scrubbed her hands under hot water. “It was just disgusting, I swear someone-”
“Do I really want to hear this?” Jensen furrowed his brow, a wince twisting his features.
She laughed, “Probably not. Anyway, the bathroom's clean. Just need to scrub things down here. You wanna wipe down the tables and put the chairs up? We can start shooing people out in just a bit.”
“Sounds good to me,” He leaned under the counter to grab a clean rag from the bin. Grinning Jensen reached around the petite brunette to snag a squirt bottle full of cleaning solution. She flicked water at him as she dried her hands, a grin wide on her face till he swatted her butt with his rag.
“Hey!”
*****
It was almost twelve thirty by the time Jensen got home, the house was dark and quiet, his foster siblings and mother were already in bed and his foster Dad had left for work over an hour ago. He managed not to wake Rain as he got ready for bed in the dark. He stripped down to his boxers and threw on an old t-shirt, edges frayed with time, the fabric worn and comfortable. Minutes later Jensen was out, fast asleep on top of the sheets, only his comforter pulled haphazardly up to his shoulders, pillow tucked under his head, arms crossed beneath.
Morning came with the loud beeping of the alarm, claiming the time was six a.m. Jensen groaned, stumbling out of bed and over to the desk to shut it off. Really, it was the only way to make sure he actually got up in the morning. He wasn't a morning person, far from it, but he needed to get up and finish his homework before the bus came.
He glanced over his shoulder as Rain peaked over the top rail, blinking sleepily at him, “Time to get up yet?”
“Nah,” Jensen shook his head, sentence broken by a yawn. “I'll wake you up in forty five minutes, kid. Get a bit more shut eye.” Blankets ruffled and moved audibly as the youngster burrowed back down into them.
Pulling out his math book and spiral bound, Jensen sat them on his desk and rubbed a hand over his eyes. He blinked a couple of times before moving to the dresser to locate his glasses. Settling into his seat he ran a hand through his hair, which was in need of a trim, and pushed it out of his eyes before figuring out what problems he needed to do on his calculus homework.
Half an hour later he clipped the completed assignment into a binder and stuffed it, along with his textbook, into his bag. Jensen snagged a pair of pants and a clean shirt before heading to the bathroom. It was already slightly damp, Hayden was up early as usual, he could hear the faint sound of a hair dryer from the girls room and a curler was heating up on the counter next to the sink. Locking the door behind him, Jensen undressed before slipping into the shower. The water was still warm and he was quick and thorough, scrubbing himself down with soap and washing his hair. Before getting out Jensen shifted the water to cold, letting it play over his skin. The warmth of the shower had woken his cock and he just didn't have the time to deal with it at the moment.
He dried quickly and dressed, pulling on a clean pair of boxer briefs and his last pair of jeans. Not wanting to get his shirt wet, Jensen brushed his teeth and toweled his hair till the damp strands no longer let drops of water slide down his neck and back. He pulled his t-shirt over the head just before opening the door, Hayden and Adair were there, the younger girl hoping slightly up and down.
“Morning!” Came the clipped reply from the bouncy brunette before both girls slipped through the door and Hayden shut it behind them. It was a busy house and growing up with virtual strangers meant that sharing a bathroom with siblings- especially when there was limited time to get ready and only one bathroom- didn't leave room for a whole lot of privacy.
Padding his way across the painted wood floor, Jensen entered his room and checked the time. Perfect. Fifteen minutes till seven. “Hey buddy,” He reached up to poke at the lump of covers on the top bunk. “Time to get up Rain.”
Brown eyes blinked at him from under a comforter, “Five more min'ts?”
“Sorry, dude, gotta get up and get ready,” Jensen shook his head. “You took a shower last night, right?”
Rain sat up and yawned, a small hand scrubbed over short dark hair, “Yeah 'ayden made me after practice.”
“Good, how about you get dressed and we can head downstairs and get some cereal for breakfast?” Jensen grinned. “I saw Margaret went shopping, there was lucky charms on the counter when I got home last night.”
*****
The bus arrived, as usual, at 7:10 and got to the school by 7:20. His stop was the last for the first period bus and it arrived at the school just five minutes before first period started. Unlike some students, Jensen took a full seven classes. Most seniors got away with five or six, at the most, unless they were taking running start or online courses. He had decided early on to make the most of the free schooling by taking a full four years of Math and Science when only two were required for graduation. He was also taking AP English, a one semester history class offered opposite American Government, a course on music theory, and, of course, Orchestra. To round out his day Jensen also took a computer class that would garner him credits from the local community college and time to type up papers for his other classes. His foster parents didn't have a computer so using the library or computer lab was his only options. The assignments seemed relatively easy so far and Jensen had no doubt he'd continue to finish up with plenty of time to spare in the class.
It wasn't that Jensen wanted to spend a whole lot of time studying, he just wanted to get as much out of his education as he could. Taking a full load of classes and doing well on them would look good on his college and scholarship applications. Jensen was relying on his meager savings from his part time job at the coffee shop and Orchestra to get him into college. He really didn't want to spend the rest of his life working or just going to the community college. The state university had a pretty good music program and Jensen really hoped he'd be able to afford it. A scholarship would be the only way as he still needed to purchase a new viola as he wouldn't be able to use the school district's instruments next year.
The bus stop wasn't that far from the auditorium, even with the small amount of time he had after being dropped off, Jensen easily made it to class on time. The room was in constant use during the school day between the two Orchestra classes and five choir groups the school had. First period was for the main Orchestra, a class of about twenty five students. There were two sections of Violins, five each, four cellists, two bass players, and four violists. The room was already being re-organized, stands being distributed between pairs of chairs. Extra chairs were being stacked along the side of the room. There were five very wide steps going to down a 'pit' of sorts where a piano stood, binders of music, a box of short stubby pencils, and a conductors wand perched on top.
Jensen sent a small smile to Danneel as she lowered her stand into position and adjusted it's angle, she grinned widely at him in return. He slipped down the stairs and reached the pit where his stand partner, Allie, had already set up their chairs and stand, music folder perched perfectly and a book opened to a complicated set of scales and rhythm exercises.
“Morning Jensen,” the blond spoke, barely looking up from where she was adjusting the tuning peg for the 'c' string. Her viola was across her lap like a guitar, the bow was set on the music stand in front of them. He winced at the sound the instrument made when she plucked the string. “I accidentally left it in my brother's car last night. Not exactly the best thing in the world.”
He nodded and sat down, dropping his back pack to the ground and pushing it beneath his chair. Instead of placing his instrument case on the ground, Jensen pulled it onto his lap and undid the latches.
“Where's Mrs. Smith?”
“Talking to Ms. Ferris, I think,” Allie glanced up at him. “I think they're going over details for the competitions this fall. Making sure everything is filled out correctly and all that. I think they're trying to see if there is anyway to fit one or two of the choirs and us in the same bus.”
He groaned pulling out his bow and rosin and setting them on the stand. They awkwardly fit over Allie's, the bow tilting a little before settling. At least it wasn't in danger of falling off the small ledge. Jensen pulled his instrument out and held it over his case as he shut it, latching the locks and leaning over to slide it under his seat next to his bag. It poked out quite a bit due to its size, but it was better than being where someone could trip over it, “At least we won't have to ride with the band?”
“Don't count that out yet,” one of the cellists interrupted them. He sat down next to Jensen, and grinned over at them. His name was Mike, second chair only because he refused to take the first chair. There wasn't really any reason for him to, Mike claimed that it was harder for him to read the music from the other side. Which wasn't true, Mike just liked being in the middle of things and sitting in the first chair would keep him away from the bulk of the group. “There might not be as many band geeks going to the competitions as usual, I hear Mr. Morgan is really cracking down on them. Making them pass some sort of test or something before they go.”
Allie groaned, “Oh god, I'd hate to get stuck on a bus with them again.” Jensen had to agree with her, even if he didn't say it aloud. In comparison to the choir, which had a lot of the preppy 'popular' crowd girls in it, the band was obsessed with sex. They were worse than Mike, and considering the number of times in one class period Mike got away with sexual innuendo involving instruments, music, and musical notation terms, that was really saying something.
Their discussion was cut short by the arrival of their music teacher, Samantha Smith. She grinned at them as she walked into the room, hall door swinging shut behind her, “You guys have one minute to get those instruments tuned before we run scales. Hop to it people.”
*****
Most of the students started their day with second period, the official 'home room' class. It was an extra ten minutes long so that the announcements could be read over the intercom, pledge of allegiance recited, and so that the teachers could go over any important news or handouts issues by the school office or school board without cutting into the time that should have been devoted to lessons. Jensen's second period was AP English, a class that most of the advanced track students tended to opt out of as the Junior level AP English worked just as well for college credit if you scored high enough. Instead of the previous years two AP classes, there was now only one and it was filled with a lot of the people Jensen had thus far avoided having most classes with. Kids like Kristen Kruek, Tom Welling, and Jared Padalecki. The cheerleaders and jocks that actually worked hard in school rather than coast by.
Mr Kripke wasn't interested in school announcements, in fact he'd threatened to dismantle the intercom speakers at least fifteen times since the first day of school. Jensen was sure the teacher would have actually followed through with the threat if it hadn't been the guys first year teaching here. He obviously didn't want to get in trouble with the administration, not while his predecessor was still young enough to come out of retirement anyway.
The class wasn't anything out of the ordinary, they had weekly vocab assignments, a book list to read through, and several essays spanned across both of the semester. There was nothing about the class that stood out as something Jensen should actually worry about. In fact the only thing Kripke seemed to do differently than the previous teachers he'd had was how they were supposed to do their research. Forcing the students to get any web based citations approved prior to writing a paper? Priceless. Jensen was sure there were going to be some unhappy students who had been relying on cliff note and wikipedia type sites for way too long.
Jensen's seat was next to a long paned set of windows on the left side of the room, right in front of Kripke's desk and in the back row, across the room from the door. It wasn't exactly ideal seating for him, but it did mean he was out of the major flow of traffic. It also meant that no one really paid attention to him, which Jensen didn't exactly mind at all.
He was looking out the window into the court yard, fingers absently tapping a beat, a fugue, out on the graffiti covered fake wood of his desk. There were a couple of students milling around across the building, under the covered walk, near the office. Student government officers or perhaps teacher assistants, Jensen didn't recognize them.
“Hey!” The student in front of him was thrusting a couple of stapled packets half a dozen pages thick under his nose.
He snatched at it, a slight blush across his nose, “Sorry.” Setting one on his desk Jensen glanced around the room before passing the extra to the student on his right. Finally he let his eyes drop to the top of the page. The title described it as being the big project for this semester and Jensen hoped he hadn't missed anything important, he hadn't even noticed the transition form the loud speaker to Mr. Kripke's overly excited voice.
There were six pages, five covered back and front, detailing out how to go about researching and writing this semesters big project. Jensen had figured the seven to ten page essay listed on the syllabus wouldn't be too difficult to accomplish. He'd done his fair share of research and book reading over the years, and if anything confused him the college students he worked with at the coffee shop were generally happy to give advice. This assignment was nothing like he expected. It was nothing like he expected from any English teacher, to be honest.
Kripke was speaking again, voice covering a chorus of groans. Jensen snapped his gaze up to his teacher, green eyes wide with unease behind the black frames of his glasses.
“Settle down, this isn't going to be that difficult,” The teacher spoke as he collected the extra packets from the other side of the room. He moved to the front and leaned back against the black board, barely keeping his shirt from touching the shiny white surface. “It's actually quite simple really. I'm going to pair you off into groups of two, pairs of my choosing, not yours. From there you'll follow the directions listed in the packet, you'll get to know your partner by spending the equivalent of a week observing their life and taking notes. When you're done you'll write a paper about them, analyzing their social interactions and discussing their day to day life. I know this doesn't seem like a normal assignment,” he waved off a couple of hands that had shot into the air, “and that would be because it isn't. The goal of this is to get you to do first hand research, to stop you from relying on books, articles, and websites. To force you to look beyond the surface and get to know the underneath. You'll also be doing an interview with your partner which will help you put together what you see with who they think they are. Mr. Welling?”
“What if we already know the person really well?”
Kripke smiled, “I can pretty much guarantee that you don't. The reason I waited almost a month to hand this assignment out was so that I could observe you. While my observations may not be perfect, I think I have a pretty good handle on who all of you tend to associate yourselves with. That being said, I'm going to start reading off your partners. I want you guys to spend the next fifteen minutes to come up with a time to meet outside of class. I'm not going to give you a whole lot of time to do this in class. You'll also have to compare class schedules and come talk to me in your free time, we'll need to organize a day each of you can spend following around your classmate during school hours. Alright, Miss Tal and Miss Hawkins...”
That unease Jensen had been feeling since he got the packet? Tripled and quadrupled several times over during Kripke's speech. He suddenly found himself wishing he had just gone for the easy 'A' of regular English class. Really, he didn't need the AP to spruce up his transcript that much. Flipping through the packet, Jensen groaned inwardly. This was a bad idea, he already didn't have that many friends and letting a stranger find out his sordid life tale wasn't on his list of things he wanted to do anytime in the near future.
“...Mr. Ackles and Mr. Padalecki...”
His head shot up, if Jensen hadn't been terrified before, he certainly was now. Just what he needed, the star quarterback knowing everything about him and telling all of his friends. The football team ignored him now and that was just fine with him, he didn't want to give them a reason to tease or bully him. Warily, Jensen glanced across the room to where Jared Padalecki sat. The guy was looking around and Jensen wondered if he even knew who Jensen was.
“Now remember, the only person other than yourself and me that will read your paper is your partner, if you choose to let them. The last page of your packet is an agreement to that you should both sign and turn in before you leave today,” Kripke let his gaze travel across the room, settling it on a couple of the jocks. His features were set in a serious expression, lips pressed into a thin line. “Alright, you guys should join your partner now to get things started. Make sure to put your desks back in place before you skip out of here.”
With that the room was full of noise, low voiced complaints and discussions starting up and the sound of desks and chairs being pushed together. Jensen let his eyes fall shut for a moment, desperately wishing this could all be some horrible dream.
“Hey, you're Ackles, right?” his eyes shot open as a presence appeared to the right of his desk. Jared was standing there with a half smile on his face.
“Y-yeah,” Jensen nodded. “Jensen. I'm Jensen Ackles.”
Jared sighed and took the recently abandoned desk in front of him and spun it around. The fake wood made a solid 'thunk' as it met the edge of Jensen's desk, jarring him slightly and causing his packet and notebook to slide a couple inches across the surface. The quarterback slid into the connected chair and slid down the seat, legs splaying out to find some semblance of a comfortable position. While Jensen was pretty tall, nearly six feet and still growing, Jared was giant. The other guy was at least three inches taller than him and probably hadn't even reached his full height either.
“I knew your first name, just wasn't sure about your last name,” Jared set his notebook down in front of him and dropped a mechanical pencil down on top. “Kinda guessed you were Ackles by process of elimination, to be honest.”
Jensen shrugged, it wasn't a big deal to him, “S'alright. If you hadn't figured it out I would have gone over there.”
“Sorry, man, I'm not trying to be mean or anything-”
“You just don't know me,” Jensen felt a small smile stretch across his lips. “That's the point of this assignment, I guess.”
A laugh escaped Jared's lips, crinkling his eyes and showing dimples. For some reason Jensen found Jared's face extraordinarily fascinating, he'd never seen dimples like that before. He blinked owlishly and frowned.
“So, when's a good time for you?”
“What?” Jensen blinked again, the world coming back into focus. What was it about Jared Padalecki that caused him to completely blank out? It wasn't as if he was lost in his thoughts or day dreaming...
“To meet, we kind of need to get this whole system of following each other around or whatever set up and, personally, I need at least a day to double check my schedule. I'm bad at keeping track of everything to be honest.”
“We could meet up during lunch tomorrow or Friday?” Jensen looked down at the packet, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. “If you have first lunch, I have first lunch. So if you have first lunch we could meet then?”
“Yeah, I do. Library? We can meet in the magazine section and move somewhere quieter?” Jared asked making a note on the top of his packet. “I have a game Friday so Thursday would probably work best.”
“Okay,” Jensen nodded keeping his eyes on the paper, he flipped through the pages taking in the black times new roman characters that covered the pages. The individual words and characters weren't really registering in his mind at all. “Sounds like a plan.”
Jared practically beamed at him, “Awesome, this should be a piece of cake.”
Inwardly Jensen groaned, a piece of cake. Right. A piece of hell on earth was more like it. With his luck it wouldn't be two weeks before he was being made fun of between classes and being pushed around for being a worthless orphan. Just what he needed to make this year easier.
*****
The rest of the day went by pretty quick, Mike and Chris both showed up for practice that afternoon and the quartet made some major progress. Mostly they were focusing on timing and volume, trying to mesh all four instruments together according to both the music itself and how they wanted the piece to be portrayed for the audience. After practice Chris gave Jensen a ride to the middle school since he lived nearby. Rain had a soccer game that evening in the field across the street from the smaller of the towns two schools that catered to grades six through eight. The school itself generally used the field, but it was technically a part of the park it set against. There was also a small baseball diamond nearby, a small group of middle schoolers were playing a pick up game there.
The game was already a good way into the first half. Jensen smiled as he watched Rain complete a long pass to a teammate, he was playing right defense and looked almost out of breath. Across the field Hayden waved to him, Adair was sitting in her lap with a couple of water bottles. Jensen gave the field a wide berth as he walked around it, not wanting to give the referee any reason to get one of the teams in trouble on his account. The girls were sitting about ten feet from the edge of the field, smiles on their faces.
“How's the game going?” he asked dropping onto the green grass. It was surprisingly dry considering how wet the weather had been the previous day. Jensen slid his bag off his shoulder and let it rest against his instrument case.
Adair handed him a sandwich and water bottle as Hayden spoke, “Rain's team is ahead two to one. They still have about fifteen minutes left in the first half, though.”
“Not bad,” Jensen reached over to ruffle Adair's hair. She giggled and dodged his hand, spilling out of Hayden's lap and into the grass. “Thanks for the food.”
“Denis dropped it off with Adair and Rain,” Hayden shrugged, she went to the nearby middle school so their foster father had dropped the kids off there for the game as soon as school was out. “He said Margaret's going to come straight here after work to pick us up. She had to work till six tonight.”
“She might make it in time for the end,” Jensen turned his attention back to the game in time to watch Rain's teammate block a goal. A small chorus of cheers rang out from their side of the field in praise.
*****
Luckily Jensen didn't have work that night, instead he did laundry, both Rain's and his own, and worked on a history essay and his physics and calculus homework. His assignments didn't take very long to finish and he still had a load of laundry left when he was done. Since the machines were in the basement, Jensen took the time to practice his solo piece he was working on for university auditions. It was the only piece of music that he actually owned, a piece he snagged during a class trip to play across the state where they had worked with one of the state universities professors and some section leaders for a full five hours. It was the only trip he had been able to afford to go on and it had been a lot of fun- even if he ended up rooming with Chris and Mike both nights.
By the time the laundry was finished drying, folded, and he was done with his homework and practice, Jensen had a headache. He pinched the bridge of his nose beneath his glasses and scrunched his eyes shut as he set his viola in it's case. It was really hard to get the instrument to make the perfect sound, mostly due to the quality of its bow. At the beginning of the year he'd spent a couple hours in the storage room where the school instruments were kept, but he hadn't managed to find a better instrument or an extra bow that was actually the right size. Mrs Smith had smiled sadly and apologized, but it wasn't her fault that he couldn't afford a new instrument and the school didn't have any others in his size.
It was eleven by the time he trudged upstairs to his room passing Denis in the living room. The older man nodded at him, dressed for work and sipping a cup of coffee. Rain was already settling in on the top bunk, and Jensen picked up a wet towel from the floor with a sigh before tossing it into the hamper. He double checked the alarm clock and his assignment book, gaze lingering for a moment on his meeting with Jared tomorrow, circled in red pen to help him remember.
He snapped the small book shut and made sure all of his stuff was in his bag before he shimmied out of his jeans and shirt. Pulling on his night shirt, Jensen stretched, back popping audibly as muscles shifted beneath his skin. He set his glasses on the dresser before turning off the light and fumbling to the bed. Jensen was fast asleep with in minutes.
*****
Next
Author Note:
This fic is nearly completed (I whine about it's progress on twitter often). I will be posting a part one to two times a week, depending on how fast the editing goes. I hope you enjoy my second true foray into the J2 fandom!
I was going to wait to post this till Tuesday but the wind is keeping me up... and the beta-ed copies were sitting in my inbox. So, here it is. I'll cross post to various communities when I get up in the morning. Then I'll go finish part six and seven. *grin*
Author:
surevestaRating: PG-16
Fandom: CW RPS
Word Count: 7,749 (this part)
Pairing: J2
Main Characters: Jensen, Jared, Danneel, Sandy, Kripke, Chad, Mike, Chris, Sophia, Hayden, Adair, Rainbow, Allie
Other Characters: Samantha Ferris, Samantha Smith, Tom and Jaime, Aaron, Shawn, Kristin K., Kristin B., Alexis, JDM, and an assortment of other RPS regulars and CW actors/actresses.
Betas:
anyothergirl415 and darkmerrickDisclaimer: The story and plot is mine, the characters are based off of real people and belong to themselves. The places are also based off of real places. I know almost nothing of the foster care system.
Summary: The world of High School through the eyes of violist Jensen Ackles. Life is just notes on a page, waiting to be read and interpreted.
Master Post
*****
Particles of sticky dust meshed into the cotton fabric of Jensen’s over shirt. Worn tennis shoes covered in smudges of ground in dirt were tapping, quick and light against linoleum covered concrete.
One and two and three and one and…
The rhythm was divided by quick staccato notes, double up bows, and deft fingers. The world around Jensen had fallen away. Stuffy air and the musty scent of decades of stored sheet music that covered the walls of the small store room were gone for the moment.
Green eyes, hidden behind black rimmed glasses that were thick and out of style, jumped across the notes covering the tattered pages of sheet music in front of him. The fraying hair of the long sweeping bow spit rosin across the dull wood of the instrument and out into the stale air.
A moment, three beats of silence filled the air before the sounds returned. The music Jensen’s movements produced is not melodic and sweet. Notes chimed on the off beats and didn’t quite go together. Something was missing from the equation.
Jensen let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as he drew the bow across the strings of his instrument, his fingers bent to find two separate notes on the lowest strings. A vibrant low tone filled the air broken by a squeal of delight.
“You are so good!” Danneel’s voice startled Jensen. The bow he was holding in his right hand, clattered against the metal music stand and onto the floor. “Oh god, Jen- you must be spending hours practicing.”
Danneel slipped through the cracked door and set her violin onto the only chair in the room. She grinned at him as he knelt down to snatch up his bow.
A bright blush spread high across Jensen’s cheeks contrasting with the pale tone of his skin and covering splatters of freckles. “I’m not that good Dani.”
She rolled her eyes and twisted the end of a mahogany bow to tighten the long hairs. “You’ve got to be the best high school age violist in the area and you know it.”
Jensen shook his head as he carefully removed a broken hair from his bow. He grimaced as a line of rosin was left behind. Danneel made a face at him, “Jen, you use too much of that stuff.”
“It’s the only way I can get a good sound,” He shrugged rubbing his fingers onto the worn denim of his jeans. “Need an ‘A’? I just tuned up before I started the last run through.”
“Sure,” Danneel turned a sly smile his way. “Unless you want to just tune it for me?”
Jensen just grinned, “Practice makes perfect, you’re never going to figure it out if you hand off tuning to someone else every time.”
She made a playful face at him, “You’re no fun Jen. Mike would tune it for me.”
“Mike happens to find you quite attractive,” Jensen chuckled softly as she stuck her tongue out at him. He lifted his bow and drew it slow and steady across the highest string of his viola as another blush colored his cheeks. Danneel’s focus shifted to her instrument, biting her lip as her fingers twisted the fine tuners.
A bright note filled the air and was joined by a warping tone that soon matched perfectly in pitch.
“I’m really sorry I can’t give you a ride today,” Danneel apologized for the hundredth time as she unlocked her car door. “After my last ticket I’m not allowed to have anyone in the car with me.”
Jensen just shrugged; the battered black instrument case banged against his knee. “It isn’t a big deal Dani, I don’t live that far away.” He shifted the strap of his book bag on his shoulder with his free hand and motioned down the road. “Just a thirty minute walk max. It’s not going to kill me.”
“Still, I feel kind of bad,” Danneel’s violin case hit the passenger side door as she shoved it across the seat. Jensen winced slightly in sympathy for the instrument. It was brand new; Danneel's father had gotten it for her just this past summer. She had been utterly ecstatic about not having to use one of the schools violins anymore.
“Careful,” He murmured and she glared at him. Jensen stood back as she closed the car door.
“Of course I’m going to be careful,” Her eyes rolled as the car started. “I’ll see you in class tomorrow. I’m also going to have a chat with Mike about showing up for practice. No way am I letting that loser ruin our quartet. It’s bad enough Chris is in that stupid Jazz ensemble half the time.”
As Jensen watched her drive out of the student parking lot and couldn’t help but think she miss understood him. He shrugged his shoulders in an attempt to adjust his backpack. It had definitely seen better days, one of the straps had frayed off at the end and snapped. It wasn’t exactly the most comfortable thing in the world to walk home with a full backpack and an awkward viola case bumping into your side.
It was already late in the day, practice having taken about two hours of their time. The number of cars still in the parking lot attested to other extra curricular activities which were either still going on or just getting out.
The gravel crunched beneath his sneakers and he kicked out, launching jagged pebbles across the ground like rocks skipping over water. Jensen shifted his pack and zipped up his hoodie. It wasn't exactly cold out yet since it was still September, but the dark clouds overhead spoke of rain. He only hoped that the clouds would hold off till he was closer to home.
A truck skittered backwards in the gravel, swerving towards him. Jensen jumped back sharply, his backpack slid off his shoulder onto the ground with a loud thump. Red tail lights were nearly in his face before the driver shifted gears and roared off.
“You alright?”
Jensen blinked and turned his head to the side, one of the football players was staring at him intently, poised to open the door to a green Mazda, key already in the lock. A light flush spread across his cheeks as he nodded, “Yeah... I'm fine, thanks.”
The guy rolled his eyes, shaggy hair damp from post practice shower flopping against his forehead. Jensen recognized him from several of his classes, Jared Padalecki an honors student and the star quarterback of the football team.
“Chad's not exactly the most observant driver. You might want to try walking in front of the cars so you don't get run over.” The taller teen watched as he picked up his bag and readjusted the broken zipper to keep his books in, “Ever think of getting a new backpack?”
Jensen nodded and shrugged his pack back onto his shoulder and ducked his head. He slipped between two parked cars and made his way towards the side walk eyes firmly planted on the ground in front of him.
The walk from school to his foster home took about twenty-five minutes and it was raining by the time he unlocked the front door. The blue hoodie Jensen wore was pulled tight over his head and covered in dark splotches. A sigh escaped his lips as he used his shoulder to levee the heavy wood door open. It was old, like the rest of the house, and in need of repairs due to the house shifting over the years. The hinge creaked and the glass pane shuddered slightly. Jensen glanced at it wearily as he locked it behind him.
He had been living in this house for the last three years, almost his entire high school career. His guardians were nice enough, both worked full time at just above minimum wage jobs and used the foster system to supplement their income. They provided for the kids in their care, though, and did their best to give them a good life. They had three meals a day plus snacks, a bed to sleep in, the ability to join after school activities, and someone who asked how their day went- and meant it. All in all the Orchards were a lot better than most of the people Jensen had stayed with over the years.
“Jensen!” He stopped on the stairs and leaned on the railing. A preteen was standing in the door to the kitchen, perfectly arched eyebrow raised.
“Hayden, what's up?”
“You needing a new fashion sense?”
“Ha, ha. Where's Rain and Adair?” Jensen pushed his hood off running his fingers through his dirty blond hair. It was getting a little longer than he normally wore it.
“Rain has soccer practice till five and Margaret said she'd pick him up after her shift at the hospital,” Hayden shrugged, leaning against the door jamb. “Adair's over at her friend Sarah's, her Mom said she'd drop her off before dinner. Are you going to be home in time for dinner?”
Jensen shook his head, “I have the closing shift tonight, won't be done till eleven”
“Ick, I don't know how you do it, Jensen,” Hayden wrinkled her nose. “I could slap together a Pb&j for you if you want?”
“That'd be awesome, it'd save me some time. I only have fifteen minutes to get to the bus stop.”
“Go get ready, I was just making a snack for myself so it shouldn't take long for me to throw one together for you,” She waved him off and slipped back into the kitchen, long blond curls bouncing against her back.
Making his way up stairs Jensen tried to be as quiet as possible. While his foster mother had a morning shift at the hospital, his foster father, Denis, worked the graveyard shift as a manager at a gas station mini mart. There were three bedrooms upstairs and a good sized bathroom that he shared with his three foster siblings. Luckily, the master bedroom had its own bath so there weren't six people sharing the same shower. The downstairs of the home was open, a kitchen and a small dining room adjacent to the living room and a small study off to the left of the stairs. It didn't hold much and worked as a place for guests to sleep on occasion. The old house also had a basement but it wasn't in very good shape and certainly wasn't up to code to be used as a living space. Jensen was helping his foster parents fix it up on the weekends when they had time. It was the least he could do, they were going to let him stay till the end of the year even though his eighteenth birthday was March 1st.
His room was the last room on the right, next to the bathroom, and he shared it with his foster brother, a ten year old named Rainbow. The kid refused to answer to anything other than Rain, which Jensen could definitely understand. It was the smaller of the two 'regular' rooms but the space was used well. There was a bunk bed shoved up against the inner wall, the cheap metal kind where the bottom bed is a full size futon. Jensen dropped his back on the bottom bed near the pillows, blankets smoothed neatly over the mattress. He gently set his viola case on the floor and slipped it under his bed. It was less likely to be in the way of rambunctious pre-teens that way.
There was a single dresser in the corner adjacent to the bed, a window partly obscured by worn wood. Two desks sat against the far wall, simple fake wood with a single drawer, and two folding metal chairs with cheap pillow cushions held on by ties to the back. He slipped off his tennis shoes without undoing the laces and pulled his shirts and hoodie over his head. Moving over to the dresser he pulled out a clean pair of jeans, one without any holes or tares, and a clean shirt and button up.
Jensen undid his belt and shimmied out of his jeans, he sighed as he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror hanging on the outside of the closest. It had been there before he arrived, probably there since Margaret's biological daughter Muriel went off to college.
There were a few spots from dried raindrops on his glasses, but they barely disrupted his view. His skin was pale, marred only by a scattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks, shoulders and upper back. A few spots splattered down his chest and arms, over his lanky body. Jensen wasn't one for working out, didn't really have time to. He did have some muscle definition from everyday activities but he wasn't anything to look at.
Scrubbing a hand over his face Jensen dislodged his glasses, slipping them off and using a small rag to clean them. He set them back on his nose and stepped into the fresh pair of jeans and pulled them up over his thin hips. Once he was dressed, Jensen pulled on a clean pair of socks and snagged a pair of boots from beneath his bed. They were his only other pair of shoes, a pair of black steal toed boots that he reserved for work and concerts. While the boots weren't quite dress shoes they blended in just fine with the black slacks and pressed white shirt he wore as per the dress code.
He adjusted his glasses and glanced at the alarm clock on Rain's desk, Jensen still had about five minutes before he had to go downstairs, since the bus stop was only a block away- less than a three minute walk. A sigh escaped his lips as he picked up his dirty clothes and tossed them into a wicker basket near the closet. It was almost time for him to do laundry again, tomorrow after practice might be a good time since he didn't have work. He snagged a light jacket out of the closet, it was a few years old and a size too small, but it had a hood and was water proof. Wearing the bright lime green color would be better than getting drenched on the way to work. The left pocket was heavy, he slipped a hand in and pulled out a leather bracelet. It was old, almost too small, a relic of the family he used to have.
Jensen had been shuttled into the foster system just before his eighth birthday. His parents had died in a car crash, nothing extraordinary, a hit and run by a drunk driver running a red light. He had been orphaned along with his older brother and baby sister, left under the care of an over burdened aunt. She hadn't been able to care for them all with two kids of her own and an absent husband. Instead he and Josh, his older brother, had been put into the foster system. A supposed temporary measure that had lasted for the last ten years. She had taken in his baby sister, barely a year old, not wanting Mackenzie to grow up without knowing her family. He had managed to stay with Josh for the first three homes they went to, then they were separated. Split up into different homes, another temporary measure. Jensen hadn't seen or heard from Josh in six years, his brother hadn't come to find him when he left the system like promised. He hadn't seen Mackenzie since she was three.
He slipped the band over his wrist, it was a tight fit but it made it with a little force. His thumb brushed over a tarnished wooden bead surrounded by knots, memories of his mother helping him make it at vacation bible school flitting through his mind. Scrubbing fingers through his hair Jensen glanced in the mirror to make sure it wasn't too messy before darting out of the room, pushing his wallet into his back pocket as he went.
Moving quickly but quietly Jensen hurried down the stairs, skipping two at a time. Before he could open the door Hayden appeared, bottle of water and a plastic baggie with his sandwich inside. Jensen grinned at her, lips quirked up on the right side, “Thanks Hayden.”
“No problem,” She grinned holding up a sandwich of her own. “It's not like it was really any trouble.”
“I gotta get to the bus or I'm going to be late, I should be back before midnight, if I'm not could you double check on Rain? Make sure he's actually asleep?” Jensen asked, holding the door open. “He has a game after school tomorrow.”
“Duh, of course I will,” She rolled her eyes. “You better get out of here. I really don't want to have to explain to Sophia why you're late again. Get outta here.”
Jensen leaned back against the counter and glared at the clock, it was fifteen minutes before closing and there were only a few people left at the small coffee shop. A couple of college students were studying in the corner, although he thought the guy was more interested in looking down the girls shirt than actually studying.
“I really don't want to think about who was in the bathroom,” Sophia frowned as she moved behind the counter, walking over to the industrial sink in the back near the oven. She glanced over her shoulder as she scrubbed her hands under hot water. “It was just disgusting, I swear someone-”
“Do I really want to hear this?” Jensen furrowed his brow, a wince twisting his features.
She laughed, “Probably not. Anyway, the bathroom's clean. Just need to scrub things down here. You wanna wipe down the tables and put the chairs up? We can start shooing people out in just a bit.”
“Sounds good to me,” He leaned under the counter to grab a clean rag from the bin. Grinning Jensen reached around the petite brunette to snag a squirt bottle full of cleaning solution. She flicked water at him as she dried her hands, a grin wide on her face till he swatted her butt with his rag.
“Hey!”
It was almost twelve thirty by the time Jensen got home, the house was dark and quiet, his foster siblings and mother were already in bed and his foster Dad had left for work over an hour ago. He managed not to wake Rain as he got ready for bed in the dark. He stripped down to his boxers and threw on an old t-shirt, edges frayed with time, the fabric worn and comfortable. Minutes later Jensen was out, fast asleep on top of the sheets, only his comforter pulled haphazardly up to his shoulders, pillow tucked under his head, arms crossed beneath.
Morning came with the loud beeping of the alarm, claiming the time was six a.m. Jensen groaned, stumbling out of bed and over to the desk to shut it off. Really, it was the only way to make sure he actually got up in the morning. He wasn't a morning person, far from it, but he needed to get up and finish his homework before the bus came.
He glanced over his shoulder as Rain peaked over the top rail, blinking sleepily at him, “Time to get up yet?”
“Nah,” Jensen shook his head, sentence broken by a yawn. “I'll wake you up in forty five minutes, kid. Get a bit more shut eye.” Blankets ruffled and moved audibly as the youngster burrowed back down into them.
Pulling out his math book and spiral bound, Jensen sat them on his desk and rubbed a hand over his eyes. He blinked a couple of times before moving to the dresser to locate his glasses. Settling into his seat he ran a hand through his hair, which was in need of a trim, and pushed it out of his eyes before figuring out what problems he needed to do on his calculus homework.
Half an hour later he clipped the completed assignment into a binder and stuffed it, along with his textbook, into his bag. Jensen snagged a pair of pants and a clean shirt before heading to the bathroom. It was already slightly damp, Hayden was up early as usual, he could hear the faint sound of a hair dryer from the girls room and a curler was heating up on the counter next to the sink. Locking the door behind him, Jensen undressed before slipping into the shower. The water was still warm and he was quick and thorough, scrubbing himself down with soap and washing his hair. Before getting out Jensen shifted the water to cold, letting it play over his skin. The warmth of the shower had woken his cock and he just didn't have the time to deal with it at the moment.
He dried quickly and dressed, pulling on a clean pair of boxer briefs and his last pair of jeans. Not wanting to get his shirt wet, Jensen brushed his teeth and toweled his hair till the damp strands no longer let drops of water slide down his neck and back. He pulled his t-shirt over the head just before opening the door, Hayden and Adair were there, the younger girl hoping slightly up and down.
“Morning!” Came the clipped reply from the bouncy brunette before both girls slipped through the door and Hayden shut it behind them. It was a busy house and growing up with virtual strangers meant that sharing a bathroom with siblings- especially when there was limited time to get ready and only one bathroom- didn't leave room for a whole lot of privacy.
Padding his way across the painted wood floor, Jensen entered his room and checked the time. Perfect. Fifteen minutes till seven. “Hey buddy,” He reached up to poke at the lump of covers on the top bunk. “Time to get up Rain.”
Brown eyes blinked at him from under a comforter, “Five more min'ts?”
“Sorry, dude, gotta get up and get ready,” Jensen shook his head. “You took a shower last night, right?”
Rain sat up and yawned, a small hand scrubbed over short dark hair, “Yeah 'ayden made me after practice.”
“Good, how about you get dressed and we can head downstairs and get some cereal for breakfast?” Jensen grinned. “I saw Margaret went shopping, there was lucky charms on the counter when I got home last night.”
The bus arrived, as usual, at 7:10 and got to the school by 7:20. His stop was the last for the first period bus and it arrived at the school just five minutes before first period started. Unlike some students, Jensen took a full seven classes. Most seniors got away with five or six, at the most, unless they were taking running start or online courses. He had decided early on to make the most of the free schooling by taking a full four years of Math and Science when only two were required for graduation. He was also taking AP English, a one semester history class offered opposite American Government, a course on music theory, and, of course, Orchestra. To round out his day Jensen also took a computer class that would garner him credits from the local community college and time to type up papers for his other classes. His foster parents didn't have a computer so using the library or computer lab was his only options. The assignments seemed relatively easy so far and Jensen had no doubt he'd continue to finish up with plenty of time to spare in the class.
It wasn't that Jensen wanted to spend a whole lot of time studying, he just wanted to get as much out of his education as he could. Taking a full load of classes and doing well on them would look good on his college and scholarship applications. Jensen was relying on his meager savings from his part time job at the coffee shop and Orchestra to get him into college. He really didn't want to spend the rest of his life working or just going to the community college. The state university had a pretty good music program and Jensen really hoped he'd be able to afford it. A scholarship would be the only way as he still needed to purchase a new viola as he wouldn't be able to use the school district's instruments next year.
The bus stop wasn't that far from the auditorium, even with the small amount of time he had after being dropped off, Jensen easily made it to class on time. The room was in constant use during the school day between the two Orchestra classes and five choir groups the school had. First period was for the main Orchestra, a class of about twenty five students. There were two sections of Violins, five each, four cellists, two bass players, and four violists. The room was already being re-organized, stands being distributed between pairs of chairs. Extra chairs were being stacked along the side of the room. There were five very wide steps going to down a 'pit' of sorts where a piano stood, binders of music, a box of short stubby pencils, and a conductors wand perched on top.
Jensen sent a small smile to Danneel as she lowered her stand into position and adjusted it's angle, she grinned widely at him in return. He slipped down the stairs and reached the pit where his stand partner, Allie, had already set up their chairs and stand, music folder perched perfectly and a book opened to a complicated set of scales and rhythm exercises.
“Morning Jensen,” the blond spoke, barely looking up from where she was adjusting the tuning peg for the 'c' string. Her viola was across her lap like a guitar, the bow was set on the music stand in front of them. He winced at the sound the instrument made when she plucked the string. “I accidentally left it in my brother's car last night. Not exactly the best thing in the world.”
He nodded and sat down, dropping his back pack to the ground and pushing it beneath his chair. Instead of placing his instrument case on the ground, Jensen pulled it onto his lap and undid the latches.
“Where's Mrs. Smith?”
“Talking to Ms. Ferris, I think,” Allie glanced up at him. “I think they're going over details for the competitions this fall. Making sure everything is filled out correctly and all that. I think they're trying to see if there is anyway to fit one or two of the choirs and us in the same bus.”
He groaned pulling out his bow and rosin and setting them on the stand. They awkwardly fit over Allie's, the bow tilting a little before settling. At least it wasn't in danger of falling off the small ledge. Jensen pulled his instrument out and held it over his case as he shut it, latching the locks and leaning over to slide it under his seat next to his bag. It poked out quite a bit due to its size, but it was better than being where someone could trip over it, “At least we won't have to ride with the band?”
“Don't count that out yet,” one of the cellists interrupted them. He sat down next to Jensen, and grinned over at them. His name was Mike, second chair only because he refused to take the first chair. There wasn't really any reason for him to, Mike claimed that it was harder for him to read the music from the other side. Which wasn't true, Mike just liked being in the middle of things and sitting in the first chair would keep him away from the bulk of the group. “There might not be as many band geeks going to the competitions as usual, I hear Mr. Morgan is really cracking down on them. Making them pass some sort of test or something before they go.”
Allie groaned, “Oh god, I'd hate to get stuck on a bus with them again.” Jensen had to agree with her, even if he didn't say it aloud. In comparison to the choir, which had a lot of the preppy 'popular' crowd girls in it, the band was obsessed with sex. They were worse than Mike, and considering the number of times in one class period Mike got away with sexual innuendo involving instruments, music, and musical notation terms, that was really saying something.
Their discussion was cut short by the arrival of their music teacher, Samantha Smith. She grinned at them as she walked into the room, hall door swinging shut behind her, “You guys have one minute to get those instruments tuned before we run scales. Hop to it people.”
Most of the students started their day with second period, the official 'home room' class. It was an extra ten minutes long so that the announcements could be read over the intercom, pledge of allegiance recited, and so that the teachers could go over any important news or handouts issues by the school office or school board without cutting into the time that should have been devoted to lessons. Jensen's second period was AP English, a class that most of the advanced track students tended to opt out of as the Junior level AP English worked just as well for college credit if you scored high enough. Instead of the previous years two AP classes, there was now only one and it was filled with a lot of the people Jensen had thus far avoided having most classes with. Kids like Kristen Kruek, Tom Welling, and Jared Padalecki. The cheerleaders and jocks that actually worked hard in school rather than coast by.
Mr Kripke wasn't interested in school announcements, in fact he'd threatened to dismantle the intercom speakers at least fifteen times since the first day of school. Jensen was sure the teacher would have actually followed through with the threat if it hadn't been the guys first year teaching here. He obviously didn't want to get in trouble with the administration, not while his predecessor was still young enough to come out of retirement anyway.
The class wasn't anything out of the ordinary, they had weekly vocab assignments, a book list to read through, and several essays spanned across both of the semester. There was nothing about the class that stood out as something Jensen should actually worry about. In fact the only thing Kripke seemed to do differently than the previous teachers he'd had was how they were supposed to do their research. Forcing the students to get any web based citations approved prior to writing a paper? Priceless. Jensen was sure there were going to be some unhappy students who had been relying on cliff note and wikipedia type sites for way too long.
Jensen's seat was next to a long paned set of windows on the left side of the room, right in front of Kripke's desk and in the back row, across the room from the door. It wasn't exactly ideal seating for him, but it did mean he was out of the major flow of traffic. It also meant that no one really paid attention to him, which Jensen didn't exactly mind at all.
He was looking out the window into the court yard, fingers absently tapping a beat, a fugue, out on the graffiti covered fake wood of his desk. There were a couple of students milling around across the building, under the covered walk, near the office. Student government officers or perhaps teacher assistants, Jensen didn't recognize them.
“Hey!” The student in front of him was thrusting a couple of stapled packets half a dozen pages thick under his nose.
He snatched at it, a slight blush across his nose, “Sorry.” Setting one on his desk Jensen glanced around the room before passing the extra to the student on his right. Finally he let his eyes drop to the top of the page. The title described it as being the big project for this semester and Jensen hoped he hadn't missed anything important, he hadn't even noticed the transition form the loud speaker to Mr. Kripke's overly excited voice.
There were six pages, five covered back and front, detailing out how to go about researching and writing this semesters big project. Jensen had figured the seven to ten page essay listed on the syllabus wouldn't be too difficult to accomplish. He'd done his fair share of research and book reading over the years, and if anything confused him the college students he worked with at the coffee shop were generally happy to give advice. This assignment was nothing like he expected. It was nothing like he expected from any English teacher, to be honest.
Kripke was speaking again, voice covering a chorus of groans. Jensen snapped his gaze up to his teacher, green eyes wide with unease behind the black frames of his glasses.
“Settle down, this isn't going to be that difficult,” The teacher spoke as he collected the extra packets from the other side of the room. He moved to the front and leaned back against the black board, barely keeping his shirt from touching the shiny white surface. “It's actually quite simple really. I'm going to pair you off into groups of two, pairs of my choosing, not yours. From there you'll follow the directions listed in the packet, you'll get to know your partner by spending the equivalent of a week observing their life and taking notes. When you're done you'll write a paper about them, analyzing their social interactions and discussing their day to day life. I know this doesn't seem like a normal assignment,” he waved off a couple of hands that had shot into the air, “and that would be because it isn't. The goal of this is to get you to do first hand research, to stop you from relying on books, articles, and websites. To force you to look beyond the surface and get to know the underneath. You'll also be doing an interview with your partner which will help you put together what you see with who they think they are. Mr. Welling?”
“What if we already know the person really well?”
Kripke smiled, “I can pretty much guarantee that you don't. The reason I waited almost a month to hand this assignment out was so that I could observe you. While my observations may not be perfect, I think I have a pretty good handle on who all of you tend to associate yourselves with. That being said, I'm going to start reading off your partners. I want you guys to spend the next fifteen minutes to come up with a time to meet outside of class. I'm not going to give you a whole lot of time to do this in class. You'll also have to compare class schedules and come talk to me in your free time, we'll need to organize a day each of you can spend following around your classmate during school hours. Alright, Miss Tal and Miss Hawkins...”
That unease Jensen had been feeling since he got the packet? Tripled and quadrupled several times over during Kripke's speech. He suddenly found himself wishing he had just gone for the easy 'A' of regular English class. Really, he didn't need the AP to spruce up his transcript that much. Flipping through the packet, Jensen groaned inwardly. This was a bad idea, he already didn't have that many friends and letting a stranger find out his sordid life tale wasn't on his list of things he wanted to do anytime in the near future.
“...Mr. Ackles and Mr. Padalecki...”
His head shot up, if Jensen hadn't been terrified before, he certainly was now. Just what he needed, the star quarterback knowing everything about him and telling all of his friends. The football team ignored him now and that was just fine with him, he didn't want to give them a reason to tease or bully him. Warily, Jensen glanced across the room to where Jared Padalecki sat. The guy was looking around and Jensen wondered if he even knew who Jensen was.
“Now remember, the only person other than yourself and me that will read your paper is your partner, if you choose to let them. The last page of your packet is an agreement to that you should both sign and turn in before you leave today,” Kripke let his gaze travel across the room, settling it on a couple of the jocks. His features were set in a serious expression, lips pressed into a thin line. “Alright, you guys should join your partner now to get things started. Make sure to put your desks back in place before you skip out of here.”
With that the room was full of noise, low voiced complaints and discussions starting up and the sound of desks and chairs being pushed together. Jensen let his eyes fall shut for a moment, desperately wishing this could all be some horrible dream.
“Hey, you're Ackles, right?” his eyes shot open as a presence appeared to the right of his desk. Jared was standing there with a half smile on his face.
“Y-yeah,” Jensen nodded. “Jensen. I'm Jensen Ackles.”
Jared sighed and took the recently abandoned desk in front of him and spun it around. The fake wood made a solid 'thunk' as it met the edge of Jensen's desk, jarring him slightly and causing his packet and notebook to slide a couple inches across the surface. The quarterback slid into the connected chair and slid down the seat, legs splaying out to find some semblance of a comfortable position. While Jensen was pretty tall, nearly six feet and still growing, Jared was giant. The other guy was at least three inches taller than him and probably hadn't even reached his full height either.
“I knew your first name, just wasn't sure about your last name,” Jared set his notebook down in front of him and dropped a mechanical pencil down on top. “Kinda guessed you were Ackles by process of elimination, to be honest.”
Jensen shrugged, it wasn't a big deal to him, “S'alright. If you hadn't figured it out I would have gone over there.”
“Sorry, man, I'm not trying to be mean or anything-”
“You just don't know me,” Jensen felt a small smile stretch across his lips. “That's the point of this assignment, I guess.”
A laugh escaped Jared's lips, crinkling his eyes and showing dimples. For some reason Jensen found Jared's face extraordinarily fascinating, he'd never seen dimples like that before. He blinked owlishly and frowned.
“So, when's a good time for you?”
“What?” Jensen blinked again, the world coming back into focus. What was it about Jared Padalecki that caused him to completely blank out? It wasn't as if he was lost in his thoughts or day dreaming...
“To meet, we kind of need to get this whole system of following each other around or whatever set up and, personally, I need at least a day to double check my schedule. I'm bad at keeping track of everything to be honest.”
“We could meet up during lunch tomorrow or Friday?” Jensen looked down at the packet, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. “If you have first lunch, I have first lunch. So if you have first lunch we could meet then?”
“Yeah, I do. Library? We can meet in the magazine section and move somewhere quieter?” Jared asked making a note on the top of his packet. “I have a game Friday so Thursday would probably work best.”
“Okay,” Jensen nodded keeping his eyes on the paper, he flipped through the pages taking in the black times new roman characters that covered the pages. The individual words and characters weren't really registering in his mind at all. “Sounds like a plan.”
Jared practically beamed at him, “Awesome, this should be a piece of cake.”
Inwardly Jensen groaned, a piece of cake. Right. A piece of hell on earth was more like it. With his luck it wouldn't be two weeks before he was being made fun of between classes and being pushed around for being a worthless orphan. Just what he needed to make this year easier.
The rest of the day went by pretty quick, Mike and Chris both showed up for practice that afternoon and the quartet made some major progress. Mostly they were focusing on timing and volume, trying to mesh all four instruments together according to both the music itself and how they wanted the piece to be portrayed for the audience. After practice Chris gave Jensen a ride to the middle school since he lived nearby. Rain had a soccer game that evening in the field across the street from the smaller of the towns two schools that catered to grades six through eight. The school itself generally used the field, but it was technically a part of the park it set against. There was also a small baseball diamond nearby, a small group of middle schoolers were playing a pick up game there.
The game was already a good way into the first half. Jensen smiled as he watched Rain complete a long pass to a teammate, he was playing right defense and looked almost out of breath. Across the field Hayden waved to him, Adair was sitting in her lap with a couple of water bottles. Jensen gave the field a wide berth as he walked around it, not wanting to give the referee any reason to get one of the teams in trouble on his account. The girls were sitting about ten feet from the edge of the field, smiles on their faces.
“How's the game going?” he asked dropping onto the green grass. It was surprisingly dry considering how wet the weather had been the previous day. Jensen slid his bag off his shoulder and let it rest against his instrument case.
Adair handed him a sandwich and water bottle as Hayden spoke, “Rain's team is ahead two to one. They still have about fifteen minutes left in the first half, though.”
“Not bad,” Jensen reached over to ruffle Adair's hair. She giggled and dodged his hand, spilling out of Hayden's lap and into the grass. “Thanks for the food.”
“Denis dropped it off with Adair and Rain,” Hayden shrugged, she went to the nearby middle school so their foster father had dropped the kids off there for the game as soon as school was out. “He said Margaret's going to come straight here after work to pick us up. She had to work till six tonight.”
“She might make it in time for the end,” Jensen turned his attention back to the game in time to watch Rain's teammate block a goal. A small chorus of cheers rang out from their side of the field in praise.
Luckily Jensen didn't have work that night, instead he did laundry, both Rain's and his own, and worked on a history essay and his physics and calculus homework. His assignments didn't take very long to finish and he still had a load of laundry left when he was done. Since the machines were in the basement, Jensen took the time to practice his solo piece he was working on for university auditions. It was the only piece of music that he actually owned, a piece he snagged during a class trip to play across the state where they had worked with one of the state universities professors and some section leaders for a full five hours. It was the only trip he had been able to afford to go on and it had been a lot of fun- even if he ended up rooming with Chris and Mike both nights.
By the time the laundry was finished drying, folded, and he was done with his homework and practice, Jensen had a headache. He pinched the bridge of his nose beneath his glasses and scrunched his eyes shut as he set his viola in it's case. It was really hard to get the instrument to make the perfect sound, mostly due to the quality of its bow. At the beginning of the year he'd spent a couple hours in the storage room where the school instruments were kept, but he hadn't managed to find a better instrument or an extra bow that was actually the right size. Mrs Smith had smiled sadly and apologized, but it wasn't her fault that he couldn't afford a new instrument and the school didn't have any others in his size.
It was eleven by the time he trudged upstairs to his room passing Denis in the living room. The older man nodded at him, dressed for work and sipping a cup of coffee. Rain was already settling in on the top bunk, and Jensen picked up a wet towel from the floor with a sigh before tossing it into the hamper. He double checked the alarm clock and his assignment book, gaze lingering for a moment on his meeting with Jared tomorrow, circled in red pen to help him remember.
He snapped the small book shut and made sure all of his stuff was in his bag before he shimmied out of his jeans and shirt. Pulling on his night shirt, Jensen stretched, back popping audibly as muscles shifted beneath his skin. He set his glasses on the dresser before turning off the light and fumbling to the bed. Jensen was fast asleep with in minutes.
*****
Next
Author Note:
This fic is nearly completed (I whine about it's progress on twitter often). I will be posting a part one to two times a week, depending on how fast the editing goes. I hope you enjoy my second true foray into the J2 fandom!
I was going to wait to post this till Tuesday but the wind is keeping me up... and the beta-ed copies were sitting in my inbox. So, here it is. I'll cross post to various communities when I get up in the morning. Then I'll go finish part six and seven. *grin*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2009-05-03 10:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 08:34 pm (UTC)Thank you very much for reading! <3
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Date: 2009-05-03 11:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 08:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 11:36 am (UTC)That assignment can be a really cruel bitch for some... I mean sharing your life and having someone write about it? Well, I wouldn't mind, but I'm a TMI person and don't really have things to hide (but maybe my secret LJ identity *ROFL*).
Let's see if Jared's life is that perfect... and how he'll stomach Jensen's life style.
I'm already a fan! *hugs* Birdie
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Date: 2009-05-03 08:38 pm (UTC)I'm the same way, I'd rather not share my life with someone else. Though Kripke's trying to make it so the assignment is kept in a tight circle, the student partners and himself.
Yeah, I think LJ fandom is the only I really have to hide as well!
<3 *hug* Thanks for reading!
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Date: 2009-05-03 11:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 08:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 08:40 pm (UTC)Thanks for reading and enjoying! <3
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Date: 2009-05-03 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 02:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 02:54 pm (UTC)Look forward to the update!
BTW, I LOVE your header and icon! So cute!!
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Date: 2009-05-03 08:43 pm (UTC)Thanks! I like cats ^.^ and Jensen >.>
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Date: 2009-05-03 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 08:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 08:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 08:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-04 02:48 am (UTC)This fic could not have come at a better time. I'm a violist *waves* who is, at the moment, getting ready to audition to go back to school and enter the music education program at WSU. I'm studying to teach professionally.
Here I am, stressing my socks off over a meeting with the Fine Arts department tomorrow about scheduling my audition (which I don't even have the full requirements for yet *EEK*), and lo and behold, J2 with a viola-wielding Jensen! \o/
Viola!Jensen for the win! ^_^ Can't wait for more!
PS: Mind if I friend you? Viola players are a rarity everywhere, let alone on LJ. LOL
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Date: 2009-05-04 02:59 am (UTC)And hey, if you know a bit about the audition process a HS entry would go through it'd be wonderful if you could pm a few sentences about it to me? That's one thing I never really did and the portion of the fic I have that discusses it is horribly vague. I know a couple of things but not a lot.
Very nice to hear from a fellow violist! And good luck with your audition! *Cheers*
*hugs* Thank you so much for reading! <3
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Date: 2009-05-04 03:16 am (UTC)Looking forward to the next update
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Date: 2009-05-04 03:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-19 02:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-04 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-04 03:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-04 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-04 05:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-04 05:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-04 12:38 pm (UTC)I have a small complain, if you don’t mind. You seem to switch between Present Tense and Past Tense a little here and there. You should ask your beta to pay attention to that while reading.
Other than that it's a gripping and entertaining story. :)
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Date: 2009-05-04 03:04 pm (UTC)...and I'll take the blame for them entirely. I started writing this fic as a present tense but my muse got blocked because I've never really written in it. I switched it all over to past tense part way through this part. The Betas caught quite a few that I missed in the switch over. I'll double check over it this afternoon and see what I missed. Thanks for the advice!
And, thank you very much for reading! I'm really glad you enjoyed it! :)
Edit: I see what happened- the beginning being screwed up was my fault. I had fixed that before posting. I went through and it should be right now... I think.
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Date: 2009-05-04 08:26 pm (UTC)I love the story so far - Jensen is so sweet, I'm really looking forward to meeting Jared and learning more about him. Get to it stalker!Jensen :)
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Date: 2009-05-04 08:35 pm (UTC)I never had to follow someone around but I had to ask so many questions in order to get a basic idea of their day-to-day life and culture.
That and I thought it'd be a good way to force the boys who live in such different social circles together ^.^
I'm glad you like it so far and I hope you enjoy how I portray the growth of their relationship from barely acquaintances to JensenandJared. The next part will be up in a couple days :).
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Date: 2009-05-04 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-10 03:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-10 03:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-17 03:30 am (UTC)I like this, even with the sad undertones and gruelling schedule Jensen's keeping there's still hope.
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Date: 2009-05-17 04:04 am (UTC)I'm glad you like it! :) Thank you for reading! <3
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Date: 2009-06-02 08:15 pm (UTC)I love it! You are very good at setting details.
I never took an instrument. Wanted to but choir always won out. I don't need another multi-chapter to read but alas I have one- and no, I'm not really complainin' :D
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Date: 2009-06-02 08:43 pm (UTC)