I Am Jack's Life Ch. 07

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A coming of age story.
6.1k words
4.69
20k
7

Part 7 of the 19 part series

Updated 10/31/2022
Created 01/30/2015
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Author's note and acknowledgements

This story has sat on my hard drive for four years now.

I wrote it, all twenty chapters and 95,000 words of it in eight days of a frenzied, near trance-like state, sitting on my couch with my wife's laptop. She would occasionally have to remind me to eat.

When the dust settled, and I looked up, I realized a couple of things: one, I had just written a fucking novel in a week, whoa. Two, it seemed to be pretty damn good, double whoa. And three, what the hell was I going to do with it?

I tried editing it, I even enlisted the help of a Lit-Editor, who was invaluable for early editing, and confirming it was in fact, pretty good, or readable at least. I spent several months then, editing, unashamedly forcing it on writer friends to read, regular friends to read, and total strangers on writer boards. Everyone had different opinions of course, as people do, but all of them seemed to think it was pretty good, and I should probably try to do something with it.

So I spent another year trying to sell it.

Well nothing happened.

And I can't blame them, agents and publishers. It's kind of a niche story, hard to market. It's got too much sex for a coming age story, too much teenage drama for adult fiction, and not a single word about vampires or bondage to make it work as erotic fiction.

So it's sat on my hard drive for four years. I'll occasionally open it up, tinker with a line, or try to figure out how to re-work it into something more marketable. I always end up wasting a weekend trying to figure out how to change it, without losing the essence of the thing which I, and several others, feel is, "pretty good."

So fuck it. Here you go Literotica. I just want people to read it. I want people to get to know Jack the way I did. Writing his life made me feel like I was a part of it. He's a pretty good guy, I wish I knew him in real life.

So NEXT, some disclaimers.

This is a coming of age story. Which means first it starts out when the characters are too young to have sex (on literotica.) So there's no sex for a couple chapters. I hope that's okay. Second, this is a novel length story, including the prologue and epilogue, there are twenty-one chapters in all. Some are longer than others, and there is not a sex scene in every one. (Though some have more than one.) More importantly, sex is a thing that happens, it's not written to be titillating, but rather just as events in Jack's life.

So there you go. It's a story with sex in it, not a story about sex. I think it's pretty good anyway.

If you have not read the first chapter, please click on my profile and pick the story up at the beginning, its better that way, trust me.

*****

Ever since I'd started dating Kimmy, Beth had changed her behavior toward me drastically.

Before the birthday party, Beth and I had been best buds. We hung out all the time, watched movies together, studied together, and just generally spent as much time as possible in each other's company. Well, let me qualify that, I spent as much time with her as she would let me. By which I mean that I was always more eager for her company than she for mine. Sophomore year I basically hung on her every word. If she said jump, I asked if that had been high enough on the way down. Our junior year I'd relaxed a little and was much more "one of the gang" than Beth's pet. Still though, I was there mostly to be near Beth. The other three girls were nice, but I didn't mind if one of them was absent. If Beth wasn't around, then I felt a bit out of place.

After the birthday party, when Kimmy and I got together, Beth started going through these weird swings. Some days, she'd behave suspiciously like she was jealous; other days she'd gush over how cute Kimmy and I were together and practically demand we kiss for her viewing pleasure. When Todd was around, she relaxed some, or at least hide it better. If it was just the five of us, or worse, just Beth, Kimmy, and myself; things got awkward quickly. One thing definitely changed though, once I started tutoring Kimmy full time, about a month after the term started, Beth and I stopped hanging out as just the two of us.

Actually, maybe it wasn't that Beth's behavior changed about me, maybe it was that mine changed about her. Especially I think, after I started having sex with Kimmy.

Beth's projected aura of gibbering stupid lost its power over me I think. I'd had sex - I was having sex; all the time. She became not an untouchable sex goddess, but just a very cute girl, one that I'd been friends with long enough to learn her tricks and charms. She trying to manipulate me, or I stopped falling for it. I lost my crush on her.

I don't think she knew how to deal with that.

Now, I'm not suggesting that Beth mercilessly manipulated me day in and day out like some kind of puppet master, that's not it at all. But she did know that she had power over me, and would sometimes use it to her advantage. At the time, I never minded. Hell I was even aware I was being manipulated most of the time. I accepted it as the price to be around her. Kimmy stopped all that. Either Beth lost her power over me, or she stopped using it out of respect for her friend. Maybe a little of both I suppose.

Beth and I had a single class together our second semester of our senior year, Current Events.

Like the junior class version, this was a class that everyone senior was required to take, and there was no AP version, so I was taking it at the same level as all of my friends. It was not the only class I had with one of my friends, I had AP Lit. with Anna, one of her two AP classes. I was the TA for my Lit. teacher again, Kimmy, and Todd were in that one (mostly thanks to my help the previous semester they had managed to make it into a regular class, rather than the basic one, I was very proud of that); and I was the tech adviser after school for the newspaper which Abby was a photographer for.

But Beth and I, only Current Events.

Truth be told, CE was a 'skate' class for me. Our instructor had also been my instructor for AP World History my junior year and he let me get away with anything short of setting the classroom on fire. As a result, I used the class as a study hall to catch up on work for my much harder classes. The particular class I was in was also loaded with half a dozen cheerleaders, basketball and baseball players, and a couple of other people in the larger circle of friends I was part of now. Most of them were not top students, not remedial by any means, they all managed to keep up their eligibility after all. But Mr. Jefferson never, shall we say, challenged the class? He practically gave away the answers to quizzes and tests the week before. So I'd keep half an ear out, get the notes from Beth, read the material, and 'skate' through the class. Mr. Jefferson never called on me because he could see I usually had my physics book out, or my calculus homework (which was the very next period), and things worked out.

A couple of days before prom, Mr. Jefferson was going over the Tanya Harding case again, I suppose in a vain attempt to interest the athletes and cheerleaders in actual current events, but the class was having none of it. Mindy and Chelsea were discussing where they were going to get their hair and nails done for prom, a couple of basketball guys were going over the upcoming NBA playoffs wondering if the Knicks were going to sweep the series (they didn't, Houston took the title that year in game seven), and Beth was talking to me about our gang's plans for prom night and the after-party. I had about a quarter of my attention on her, a quarter on Mr. Jefferson's lecture (maybe less), but most of my attention was on finishing up differential equations before the end of the period.

"What color is Kimmy's dress, do you know?" Beth asked.

"Blue I think," I said, not looking up.

"Oh, that'll be very pretty with her eyes," she practically cooed.

I was trying to determine of the variables I was working in the current problem I was working on with were separable.

"What shade of blue? I think Mindy is wearing blue too," she continued.

"Light blue I think," I replied after a second.

No, they weren't. Were we doing homogenous equations yet? I didn't think there were supposed to be any in this set.

"So once, again, the question the prosecutors are asking, is 'Did Ms. Harding have prior knowledge of the attack?'" Mr. Jefferson was asking in the background.

I'll just rewrite it as a linear equation, I can solve it that way. That'll be fine.

"Because if it's powder blue I have this cute little hair clip I can give her to wear."

"No way man, the Knicks are gonna sweep it. Four games against Seattle for the title, boom!"

"Seriously Mindy, you should redo your highlights..."

Determine U by integrating DU divided by DX plus Pu which should equal zero.

"It's a really cute clip, it's got these really pretty little light blue semiprecious stones in it..."

Use the value of U obtained to find V.

"No Sarah, her husband didn't attack Miss Kerrigan, it's alleged that her husband and bodyguard hired a third man, Shane Stant. We already know that they did, the question is prior knowledge on the part of Ms. Harding..."

"Seattle? Are you crazy man, no way, it'll be Houston and the Knicks..."

Use the substitution Y=UY to find Y.

"Jack are you listening? The clip? Is her dress powder blue or more of a turquoise?"

"What's wrong with my highlights?"

"Oh nothing, I'm just saying you should really make them stand out more that's all. For the pictures."

"Jack?"

Collect terms on the left side, then separate the variables...

"Jack!"

"What?!" I yelled at Beth.

The whole class went silent. Beth's cheeks were rapidly turning red and she stared at her desk.

I felt color rising to my own cheeks as well.

Mr. Jefferson had turned around and was looking at me, "Problem, Jack?"

"No, Mr. Jefferson, sorry. May I go to the library?"

He looked at the table of notes and papers I had spread over my desk, then gave a little smirk and just pointed out the door.

"Thanks," I mumbled. I swept up my stuff and was out the door.

Once I was out in the hallway I stopped and let out a huge sigh of frustration. Jesus Christ, I was losing it. It was too much. Prom, Kimmy, Beth, school, no sleep - no time. I was fucking losing it. Now I understood why a lot of grad students did amphetamines just to get through their courses.

I resumed walking to the library and checked in at the front desk.

I got my work done just before the bell rang in the blessed silence.

Lunch was after Calc, and I was putting my stuff in my locker when Beth came up and put her hand on my arm. I jumped. I think my brain was on Mars or something. Not because we'd been studying Mars, but because I bet Mars was pretty quiet and far away from all this whirlpool of responsibility. I was supposed to be tutoring Todd and Kimmy during lunch, but they would probably blow me off to talk about the upcoming prom and afters party. Then I had Physics, and I still hadn't finished the reading, then I had a guidance meeting to talk about scholarships, all of us with above a 3.7 were going, and the last thing I needed to do right now was waste time on another stupid lecture about filling out...

"Jack?" Beth said gently.

Yeah, I jumped.

"Sorry," she said. "You seemed far away." Her voice was soft and concerned.

"Yeah, sorry, just trying to get through the day," I said with a sigh.

"Are those the same clothes you wore yesterday?" she asked.

I looked down, "Uh, yeah, I spent the night at Kimmy's." I said.

"Oh." she said, suddenly awkward.

"Not like that. I just fell asleep over there, we were studying late and was too tired to drive home," I said.

She shrugged, "Whatever. What you guys do in private isn't any of my business"

No, it really isn't, I thought. But I said, "Like I said, it was just fatigue, not anything scandalous." I smirked a little

She smirked back at least.

"I'm just worried about you. You don't normally snap at me in front of a whole class..."

I sighed, Jesus Christ, get over it. "Yeah, sorry about that I was just..."

She put her fingers up, and said, "No, God, it was my fault. I'm sorry. You are swamped with super hard classes yet you still find time to help all of us. Plus prom and everything. You're overloaded. I should have just been letting you work."

I blinked, Beth was apologizing to me? Was I on Mars after all?

She smiled and bit her lip, she squeezed her notebook up to her chest and made her breasts swell up and out a little. I don't think she did it on purpose.

"I, uh, it's no problem, don't worry about it..." I said, still in a little bit of shock.

"You're pretty awesome, Jack, you know that?" she leaned up on her tip-toes and kissed my cheek. I could smell her perfume, feel her hair gently brush the side of my arm.

I gulped. Yeah, okay, maybe I still had a thing for her after all. But dammit, I had a girlfriend! She had a boyfriend! Why the fuck could I think about nothing else but the possibility of turning my lips slightly and meeting hers. It was a lingering cheek kiss, warm and soft against my face, all I had to do was turn and...

"Hey guys!" Kimmy said as she came up and hugged me hard from behind.

"Ooff!" I said in mockery of the force she'd used. Kimmy liked to play roughhouse, so sometimes she used more force than necessary.

Beth pulled away rapidly, but I could see she was flushed slightly. Wait, what? She was blushing from a cheek kiss?

"Hey baby," I said and turned to kiss her. You know, my girlfriend, the one I was supposed to be thinking about kissing.

It was just a quick peck. But Beth had turned her gaze away. She turned back and had a plastic smile on her face when we were done.

And then the girls were off talking about dresses and hair clips as we walked to the lunch room.

My mind was a whirlwind of confusion. Had Beth and I almost kissed? Had it been mutual? What was going on? Was I supposed to read both sections of Chapter Nineteen?

#

The guidance counselor thing had not been what I was expecting at all. I was expecting another boring lecture about filling out applications to colleges, or scholarships. But it hadn't been that.

I walked out of the administration offices in kind of a daze. A couple of the people also coming out shook my hands and congratulated me, Tommy had brushed past me in a rush without even looking in my direction. I barely noticed him.

I walked into the tech lab, where the newspaper class was held. There were about a dozen students there. Newspaper was an extra curriculum at my school, rather than a full class. It ran after school and was advised by a teacher, my Lit. teacher actually, which pretty much just meant I helped with computer issues and hardware stuff, but didn't really do a whole lot. It was another chance to catch up on homework. Abby was there though, she was one of the school photographers.

She was a good one too. She had taken every photography class the school offered, even an advanced one through the local community college. She was also on the yearbook staff, took most of the pictures for the sports section of the paper, and had even won an award in the local paper for her coverage of the school's football games.

When I stumbled my way into the tech lab and flopped in the nearest chair, she looked up from the layout design she was working on and gave me a little wave hello. Then she did a double take at me and got up and walked over, "Jack, what's wrong, you look like you swallowed a ghost." Abby loved mixing metaphors and clichés.

I just handed her the letter I'd been given by the Principal and the guidance counselor.

She frowned, opened it and started to read it aloud. A couple of the other students were looking over now.

"Dear Mr. Jack Wallington, on behalf of the school board and staff of Neptune Heights High School, we would like to inform you that you've been chosen for the honor of being the VALEDICTORIAN for the class of 1994! Oh my God! Jack! That's fantastic!" She jumped and wrapped her arms around me.

I half smiled, it wasn't real, four years of work; of wondering but never really daring to even think about it. It was over, I'd beaten out Tommy Johnston and Christina Wu. Mostly due, the principal had said, to the amount of time I also spent tutoring other students and taking part in school activities. Showing Leadership skills, he'd said.

I was Valedictorian.

The rest of the class was cheering. My teacher, Mrs. Enverton came over and shook my hand as well. She said the results had been posted in the staff room earlier today and she was very happy to see my name there. I numbly thanked her. She told me she was looking forward to hearing my speech at graduation.

Holy shit, I had to give a speech. In front of the whole school. And their parents. And it would get printed in the paper.

Holy fuck.

#

By the time Prom happened, it was all over school. All my friends had of course congratulated me, even Todd. I guess I wasn't captain of the wrestling team, or a point guard for the basketball team, but valedictorian was worth some status I guess. Kimmy had provided some very amazing private celebratory sex, which had been pretty intense. I ended up sleeping over at her house again. Her parents congratulated me in the morning. Her dad told me that the actor Kevin Spacey had been valedictorian of his class, and that I was in good company. I hadn't known that.

Beth was of course Prom Queen, there hadn't been much doubt of that, and Matt Ethan was the Prom King. They looked pretty amazing dancing together for their royal dance. Kimmy wore a sleek satin powder blue dress that really made her blue eyes stand out against her fair blonde hair. Our prom picture looked pretty good. I didn't even look half bad in a tux. Honestly the whole thing was a blur.

Not because of the high from the announcement of valedictorian, though that was certainly part of it, not from watching Kimmy float around like she was a princess on cloud nine, though she did. She said she was so proud of me, she thought she was going to burst.

No, mostly I think it was the alcohol.

Anna had declared that we were all going to cut loose and relax for one night. All the girls agreed, they ganged up on me and told me that tonight I wasn't going to be superman, that I was going to relax and take a night off to enjoy myself. Anna had made us do shots in the limo, just a couple each. I downed mine to the cheers of my friend's and their dates. I wasn't drunk during prom, but I was feeling pretty good, and had a bit of a buzz for most of the dance.

The after party was a whole other ball game.

Once again the party was at Abby's parent's beach house, and the place was packed. There was a full keg, and I had a few beers. I danced with all of the girls, Beth included. All of them danced right up close to me, Anna especially was all over me. It was a far cry from three years ago when they'd taught me to stand a couple of feet away and move in such a way so that I didn't embarrass them. They danced with me. Not at me.

Anna kept the shots going all night. All six of us were pretty wasted. I remember taking a shot glass from between Anna's breasts with my lips and downing it to the cheers of a crowd of people, including Kimmy. Anna had danced with me later and she'd ground her ass up against my crotch like she was ready to jump me on the dance floor. I didn't mind a bit.

Finis
Finis
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