CHAPTER THREE
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i. civil war and comic books !

— AS BOTH BOYS WALK INTO THE HISTORY CLASSROOM, the students were in shock yet again, as was the teacher for some reason.

From the whispers Anthony had heard, he assumed it wasn't just him but Jasper as well. It seemed like Jasper and Alice didn't associate well with people. Which made Tony wonder why exactly Alice had approached him in the first place. Though he couldn't quite complain, he was thankful to have her through his first day at a new high school. Especially when he couldn't stand to be in the same room as his sister.

The idea of Isabella made his head hurt. He loved his sister endlessly but if she was angry with him because he was sick, what was he supposed to do about it?

The history teacher stood from her desk and smoothed down her pencil skirt, obviously going to approach the two boys at the doorway

For a moment, Anthony was nervous that he was going to have to do that stupid 'introduce yourself to the class' thing. He could easily come off as rude or aggressive when put on the spot and that was not something he wanted Jasper to witness.

Grabbing his oxygen tank back from the blond, Tony gestured for him to find his seat. Jasper gave him a glance and then made his way to the back of the class.

"Hi, you must be Anthony Swan, I'm Ms Garish and I'll be your history teacher for this semester." The middle aged woman greeted, placing a textbook in his hand. Tony just smiled lightly, trying his best to be polite. Then she addressed the students in their seats, who were muttering back and forth to each other.

"Now, I'd like you to warmly welcome Anthony Swan to our history class. He's just arrived from Arizona!"

Tony did cringe this time, against his will. But it was just the way Garish said it. As if Arizona is the most interesting thing about him.

"Anthony do you have anything to say to the class?"

Looking around the oddly lit classroom, his eyes caught every single pair who had their heads together, no doubt gossiping about him.

"Yeah I'd just like to get any questions out of the way before someone starts assuming my illness." Tony stated casually shrugging his shoulders. A few hands shot up.

"Why do you have that nose thing?"

Ms Garish herself looked offended as she glared at the girl that spoke with a ferocious gaze. Her name suited her in that moment.

"It's called a nasal cannula. You may not have one but they're pretty common." Anthony could feel his naturally bitter tone coming out full force in his voice but at this point he could care less, he figured in any case he might as well get over the questions early on and let Forks' trusty gossiping system do it's work.

"So what exactly do you use it for?"

"It's hooked up to this oxygen tank, it helps me to breathe properly or at the very least regulate my breathing." Anthony pointed to the tank at his feet.

"Why do you need it?" A guy at the front asked.

"Because I have lung cancer, any other questions? Don't wanna allow room for rumours do we?"

"Why don't you-" the last question was cut off by Garish, who was obviously very ashamed of her class.

"Okay I think that's enough, children. Anthony why don't you sit with Jasper in the back."

Anthony then remembered Jasper Hale, the god amongst mortals who was sat on one of the uncomfortable, plastic seats at the back.

As students went back to talking with their partners and Garish approached Tony, he locked eyes with Jasper.

Anthony, despite his bitter embarrassment, felt a sense of calm rush over him as he looked into those sunshine eyes. He'd never felt more at peace.

For a moment he was confused at himself. He was just annoyed at his school's student population a moment ago. Yet now there was nothing, and Jasper's lips pulled up slightly as he broke eye contact and looked out the window at the grey overcast.

Furrowing his eyebrows he went to sit down next to the blond, until Ms Garish called after him.

"Yes Ms Garish?"

She looked at him with dark greyish green eyes, looking very plain and normal, and for a moment she smiled at him. Glancing back at Anthony's maybe-newfound friend, the woman nodded in approval.

"Jasper Hale is a very respectable boy, very quiet. But he's always alone. I'm glad you've welcomed him as your friend. I hardly see the Cullens with anyone outside their family nowadays."

Anthony was now confused as to why his teacher was telling his this. Then, he had to remind himself, this is Forks. It's like gossiping was invented here.

So instead of saying anything, he simply nodded, avoiding eye contact, and grabbed the handle of his oxygen tank, rolling it loudly to the back of the class and stopping it next to his new desk with a sharp squeak.

— HISTORY WAS A SOMEWHAT BORING CLASS. Anthony did love learning about it, but not when it was taught by an attractive middle aged woman who didn't even like her job.

However, the period did give him the time to admire Jasper's profile. His features were sharp and pronounced but oh so delicate on his face. His pale skin looked smooth and lovely, and provided a great contrast to his pink lips.

God sakes, Tony thought as he shuffled around his tubing to flip the page of his textbook, I'm such a trainwreck gay.

Deciding to steal another glance at the boy, Tony also came to a realization.

Then again, Liv would be proud.

Making a mental note to call his friends back in Arizona, he wondered what they'd be doing right now.

Daniel would probably be awaiting his next treatment, alone though since Liv had most likely been released from the hospital by now. No doubt she'd be back next month though after burning off whatever calories the I.V forced into her.

Anthony could never understand why Liv did what she did and he certainly didn't support it.

His mother often asked him why he became friends with someone like her. Renée always thought maybe Liv was a bad influence.

What she didn't understand though, is while he didn't support her illness, he did support her.

Then there was Daniel, he remembered Renée asking about him one night.

'He's was in a war, isn't he a little old to be your friend? And besides, why would you put yourself through that when you know he might not have a chance?'

Sometimes he hated his mother. She just didn't understand the way he worked sometimes.

He of course had to remind her that maybe it was because he too had no chance.

Daniel's dog tags around his neck seemed to have a new weight to them, as Tony became painfully aware of their existence.

With all these thoughts floating around of missing his friends and being angry with his mother, he decided for now he'd just try and actually focus on his history lesson.

He needed normality- he'd asked to just be a normal kid, even if he had to pretend. And this was it, wasn't it?

A normal kid would be in school, listening to a teacher drone on and on about things that the teacher themselves wasn't even alive to see.

A normal kid would be making friends and hanging out with his sister.

A normal kid would be living each day, almost guaranteed they'd have another one tomorrow.

But he wasn't a normal kid. No, he was a kid with cancer. One of the things that made you the most unique person in school. He hated it. He could feel the stares even now, of people in the class that couldn't let it go.

Deciding not to bother paying attention anymore, he placed his head in his arms, folded on his desk.

Next to him, Jasper could feel Anthony's inner turmoil and watched as the boy lowered his head to the cold wood.

Suddenly, again, Anthony felt a sense of calm wash away all those negative feelings, and again he was confused.

Was he becoming bipolar too?

Then suddenly the bell rang and students practically sprinted to the door.

Anthony lifted his head to see if Jasper was one of those people and was shot with surprise when he saw Jasper calmly and carefully putting his things back into his bag. Tony decided to do the same, he'd have to do it up quickly if he wanted enough time to find the infirmary.

"What class do you have next?" A rough southern accent shook Tony to the bones as he zipped up his bag.

"I actually don't have a class right now." Anthony stated, pulling his bag over his shoulders and grabbing his oxygen tank. Jasper nodded,

"Why's that?"

"I've been excused from Spanish so I can replace my oxygen cylinder." Anthony explained as they stepped out of the classroom together.

"Me too." Jasper nodded again before realizing his mistake, "I mean I've been excused from Spanish, not the oxygen thing."

Tony chuckled, "I figured as much."

Allowing Jasper to recover from that moment, they stopped walking and just stood facing each other, letting other students rush past them.

"Why have you been excused?"

"Already fluent in the language. I took lessons when I was seven." Jasper proudly stated.

"That's total bull. You probably binged Dora and your parents thought you were gifted when you repeated Spanish phrases so they gave you a free pass." Tony laughed at the look on Jasper's face.

"Yes of course, you caught me, my Spanish vocabulary is limited to 'hola', 'soy' and 'dora'." Jasper chuckled, putting a hand to his chest.

"How tragic." Anthony pouted mockingly.

Then a somewhat awkward silence fell over the two.

"So-"
"If-"

Tony tried his best to fight the warm feeling in his face as they spoke at the same time, chuckling embarrassedly Tony decided to try his sentence again.

"Would you mind showing me to the nurse's building?"

It wasn't like he didn't know where it was, he'd studied his map enough to know exactly where to look. Not only that, but the sticky note in his pocket had bolded instructions. That's not something he would tell Jasper though, especially when the blond allowed that wonderful smile to grace his face.

"Of course, not like I was doing anything anyway."

The area had pretty much cleared out by the time they decided to move.

"What would you be doing if I wasn't here?" Anthony asked.

Jasper shrugged, "Maybe sitting around outside, re-reading a book or something."

Anthony smiled, of course it'd be re-reading books. Jasper seemed like the kind to read. Trying to keep up the small talk, the brunette looked over at Jasper.

"What kind of books do you read?"

Jasper seemed like he wanted to laugh, "Mostly history. Civil war, stuff like that."

"You're into the Civil War?"

"You could say that." Jasper laughed. Changing the topic, Jasper turned to the Swan boy.

"What things do you read?"

Anthony bowed his head in embarrassment and laughed lightly. Jasper was confused, he figured book genres would be a safe subject.

"I don't know." Tony waved an arm in dismissal, "Mostly comic books or whatever. Nothing like the more informative Civil war books." He tried to laugh off the awkwardness.

Sometimes he really was his father's kid.

Jasper just shook his head, "I wish I could follow comic books but sometimes it's like my mind is from a different time. They're more confusing." He furrowed his eyebrows. He was speaking the truth- for some reason his brain just couldn't focus on the speech bubbles and pictures.

Anthony looked personally offended.

"Okay, genius, you can teach me about the Civil war- and I'll read and explain comic books to you. Deal?"

Jasper smiled widely, feeling the sheer excitement coming off the other boy, which in turn made him excited.

"Deal."