Wild Growth Unleashed Chapter 2

It's been a nightmare.

Every attempt I make at being social just makes me seem even weirder to everyone else. A string of blunders has cemented my status as the campus freak:

I once mistook a sack on the ground for a fainted student and tried to help it up. During P.E., I lined up with the trash cans. I’ve even lectured a traffic cone about the dangers of standing in the middle of the road.

Everyone gives me a wide berth, retreating to a safe distance before turning to whisper about my "fascinating mental state."

The only exception is Jax.

"LEO WHITE—!"

He’d bounce and holler like one of those pop-up ads you can never close, starting his sprint from two hundred yards away. He'd make an impossible amount of noise the entire way, finally getting right in my face to say hi.

"Finally found you! We've got the fitness test next period. Let's be partners, yeah?"

Jax had a death grip on my sleeve, making it clear he wouldn't let go until I agreed. His grin was goofy, like a golden retriever’s.

I thought about it for zero seconds. "No."

It was a ridiculous request. I rejected it outright.

Was he kidding? The two of us together would look like a blaring trumpet dragging along a silent, despairing cello. The optics were just too bizarre. Besides, we barely knew each other.

I figured he'd back off after being rejected.

But no.

Jax's approach to social interaction is basically a home invasion. The idea that a minor setback could stop him from making his presence known was pure fantasy.

For the next few days, I constantly felt a pair of eyes on me.

When I ate, he spied on me.

When I left class, he tailed me.

When I was in the library, I'd find him sitting directly across from me.

I even saw him lurking near the dumpsters when I was taking out the trash.

It wasn't that he was clueless; he was deliberately trying to get my attention, eagerly waiting for me to give him a disgusted look. He seemed to get a kick out of it.

Finally, I snapped. "Hey, what the hell do you want?"

He showed no shame at being caught, just grinned. "I want to apologize."

"?"

"At first, I saw you walking around with that 'I hate the world' look on your face, ignoring everyone, so I told my friends you were just a pretentious prick. Ahem, sorry about that," Jax said, scratching his cheek, completely unembarrassed by his ill-timed epiphany. "But I've noticed you're like that with everyone. You're not arrogant, you're just blind."

I felt my fist clench.