Jack

I was confused on why Mark had came over to ask where Dan was. I knew that they were in several classes together, but I never would have guessed that he'd be the reason he'd come to our table. Maybe they were becoming friends? Or he was just curious? It's probably both. Wait, why am I concerned about why Mark wanted to know where Dan was? I don't even know him!

After school, I saw Mark and Phil talking to each other. It was a bit surprising since it seemed as if Phil was getting a kind of pissed off. "You know Dan doesn't like to share information about his personal life. I'm not about to break his trust for multiple reasons."

"Phil, I'm sorry for pushing, but I used to be friends with Dan and just want to make sure he's OK." Mark seemed much more calm than Phil.

"You betrayed his trust, Mark! I'm not going to do that to him, so just drop it." After saying that, Phil walked off. I quickly went to house, not wanting to catch either in a bad mood but also because my parents expect me to be home when they get back from work.

My timing was pretty well timed seeing that as soon as I closed my bedroom door, I heard the front door open and close followed by ma's voice coming from the living room. "Sean! I'm home!"

I walked right back out of my room and towards the front door. "Hey, ma, I'm going out for a bit!"

"No, you are not!"

I turned back from the door to look at her with a confused look. "Why not?"

"Because you just got out of school for three days! Your father and I have plans for you tonight." I already didn't like the way this conversation was going.

I was hesitant to reply, slightly scared of the answer to my question. "What do you mean...plans?"

I watched as my mom smiled widely and pulled out her phone, explaining what she and my dad had done as she looked for a photo. "Well! Me and your father have set up this nice dinner date for you and this girl named Signe!" My ma then showed me a picture of the girl.

"Ma, you can't keep setting up dates for me like this! Why can't I find someone on my own?"

"Because then you'll go and try to find these girls and get yourself in something that you can't get out of."

"Like what? I highly doubt I'd get stabbed or kidnapped or something."

"Just go get ready." I sighed, not wanting to continue arguing. I had found a nice shirt and pair of pants in my closet that I got changed into. I spent a lot more time in my room than I normally do when my parents plan these dates, because I was trying to come up with a way to get out of this. The plan I had developed might be a bit mean and unfair to the girl, but it was the only easy way that I could think of that could get my parents to stop setting up these dates with these girls.

After about a half hour, I was back downstairs and in the car heading towards a restaurant. I wasn't paying any attention to what my parents were saying to me about this girl. I was more focused on the places we were passing. Normally my parents don't drive me around towns, but ever since I had ditched one of these things, my parents don't trust me to go to these without them taking me themselves.

I hadn't been paying much attention to the places we passed until I noticed an abandoned building that stood out against the surrounding buildings. As the building went past my window, I noticed two boys exiting the side of the abandoned building. One of the two had blonde hair while the other had brown hair. Both of them were wearing hoodies that had XPLR on them, the blonde had a backpack with the same thing on it while the brunet had on a black beanie.

I wondered what those two were doing, but I didn't have much time to think about it since it wasn't very long until the car came to a stop outside of a restaurant. As I got out of the car, my parents were saying things like "good luck" and "let us know if there will be a second date" since its rare for me to have more than one date with the same girl.

I didn't say anything to my parents as I closed the door. I walked up to the restaurant and waited for the girl. I actually didn't have to wait long because a minute or so after my parents drove off, a girl who seemed to be not much younger than me approached me. She had short brown hair and green eyes.

"Hi! You must be Sean! I'm Signe." The girl said as she approached me.

I sighed, already feeling a bit bad for what I was about to tell the girl standing in front of me. "Hi. Um, look. I know this ' date ' just started and all and that this is probably something that most people will find a bit mean. Um, I'm gay. Don't take it personally, especially since this is the first time we've met and I'm sure you're a lovely girl, but I didn't even want to be here, my parents set this up." I finished my last sentence as I rolled my eyes.

She sighed, probably out of relief. "Good, I didn't want to be here either. Should we just go somewhere else? I've heard there's a beautiful park nearby that's normally empty at this time." I nodded, not wanting to go inside the building behind me.

She smiled at my answer and started heading away from the building. Of course I followed her, not knowing where the hell this park was. We walked for maybe around five minutes until we reached the park. It honestly was beautiful. There was a small playground, and a stretch of grass beside it with a clear view of the sky.

"Amazing, right? You should see it at night, it's so peaceful. Several people, including me, just come out here when people get annoying. I honestly suggest coming here if you like peace and quiet." Signe stated, walking through the stretch of grass before sitting down in the middle of the field.

I went and sat with her, looking at the small forest not far ahead. We sat there, talking about random things. We were there by ourselves for maybe almost half an hour before I spotted someone who seemed slightly familiar. I didn't mention him to Signe, just acted as if he wasn't there.

What was he doing there anyway? We're on the complete opposite side of L.A. It was another five minutes before he came over to us. "Hey, Signe!" Wait, he knows Signe?" It's been a while since I've seen you."

"Hey Mark. Yea, I haven't had a reason to come here for a while."

Mark nodded, taking a moment to notice my presence. "Did you get yourself a boyfriend? Or just one of those dates your parents set up?"

"One of the stupid dates. We're actually supposed to be at a restaurant but neither of us want to be on this stupid date our parents set up."

Mark took a bit to say something else, he just looked at me. "You seem familiar. Have we met somewhere?"

"My name's Jack. I recently moved to L.A. and go to the same school as you. I believe we have English together, I sit in front of you when we don't do projects."

I could basically see him make the connection between my words and his memory. "I thought your name was Sean?"

"It is. I just go by Jack though." Mark nods, not questioning me. The next hour went by quickly with Mark joining me and Signe. Eventually, we had to leave Mark to make it back to our houses so our parents wouldn't get suspicious.

It wasn't a long walk home, just quiet. I was hoping that I would have been able to go up to my room without my parents bothering me, but that was wishful thinking. Literally as soon as I walked through the front door, my parents were waiting for me.