School: AKA Student Body Penetentiary
"GAH! When is class gonna be done?!" Jay said dramatically. "I'm bored and the weekend's here..."
"Calm down, Jacob." Mr. Reynolds, the engineering instructor, said with a sigh. "You have ten minutes, then we can be out of each other's hair for the next two weeks."
"Yeah, Cross, shut up. We're all tired of hearing you whine." One random student said from the back of the class.
Jay grinned before he turned around and responded with his trademark snark. "I don't have any cheese or crackers, so why would I want wine?" This caused a few others in the class to laugh, even the guy who made the comment. "Though I might get to try some in California!"
This caused the whole class to erupt into a series of questions and comments. "Why are you going there?" "Where are you staying?" "Dude, you're so lucky!" "Take me with you!" The comments continued in this fashion while Jay smirked smugly. He knew that mentioning his Cali trip would make a lot of people jealous. Then he heard music begin to play from one of the computers. He looked over to see that someone had commandeered a work station temporarily. Mr. Reynolds only sighed again and shook his head. Jay waited until the chorus kicked in and began singing along.
Jay led the rest of the class in the song until the bell rang, signifying the end of the day. Everyone cheered as they grabbed their bags and rushed out the door. "See ya in two weeks, Mr. Reynolds!" Jay called as he hurried past his teacher.
"Don't have too much fun! And stay away from and drugs!" Reynolds called out after the young man.
Jay had to be careful as he did his best to get out of the school, waving and calling out to his many friends along the way. Jacob Anders Cross was a very happy teenager, seventeen years old and unofficially considered the life of the entire high school. He had an infectious personality that made it impossible for people to not smile around him. Even though several of the members of his classes did everything in their power to make Jay's spirits drop, he would just write it off as those people having a bad day. At parties, he was always dancing the most, laughing the loudest, and doing his best to make sure everyone was having a good time. He also had a bad habit of periodically terrorizing his hometown of San Antonio whenever the weekend came around. To say he was a strange kid would be a gross understatement.
He did have to deal with his own fair share of problems, however. He was one of the tallest people in his class, standing at just over six feet tall. He was an awkward young man, occasionally stumbling into tables and chairs. He also had to be careful that he didn't accidentally knock anyone over wherever he walked, since, along with his heavy build, his short cut sandy blonde hair and pale blue/gray eyes, he was mistaken for a jock. His cousin, Max, was even taller, at six foot three. Both cousins were fairly large, and were often asked if they were football players.
Jay chuckled as he remembered the football coach, Coach Hartford, practically drooling the first time Jay had been playing dodgeball during Phys Ed. Since he had only hit his growth spurt the year before, Jay still forgot his own strength. He'd almost put one of the opposing players in the nurse's office after beaning the other kid in the chest with one of the recently reinstated red rubber balls used for the game. The ball had been little more than a red blur before it had impacted with his target's sternum, knocking all the breath out of the poor freshman.
Needless to say, Jay had been distraught at the thought of hurting someone else and had rushed to help him to his feet. While the freshman was still coughing and attempting to re-acclimate himself with walking, Jay was spouting of a hyperactive series of apologies and requests that he be allowed to make it up to the freshman. The other kid had waved it off and simply asked Jay to teach him how to get the same cannon of an arm that the older teen had.
This freshman was one of Jay's closest friends, Markus Jones. He had only recently moved to Texas with his family from Washington, since his dad had been stationed at Fort Sam Houston. Jay had quickly gone from that piece of information to rambling about his family always being in the military and his cousin being the first to join the Air Force. Mark had to stop Jay from talking his ear off by stuffing an apple into the Texan native's mouth. This brand of interaction had continued for the majority of the year and now Markus was waiting outside the school in the parking lot, his dark skin and even darker hair a beacon among the sea of Caucasians. Mark was several inches shorter than Jay, and was still waiting for his own growth spurt to kick in. Mark, unlike Jay, didn't have to worry about flattening everyone he walked into. Jay waved excitedly with one hand as he pulled out the digital key to his car.
The dark red Mustang GT beeped twice as Jay tried to track it down. It had been a birthday present from his father after he managed to score almost perfectly on his last engineering midterm. It was the perfect thing to celebrate the early March spring break that the school had only recently approved. The bright Texas sun beat down on the parking lot as Jay jogged to the car and threw his backpack in the back seat.
"What's up, Marky Mark?" Jay said cheerfully as they got into the Mustang.
Markus groaned. "I told you not to call me that, dude. Plus, you only know about 'Good Vibrations' because of your old school cousin. What was his name? Mitchell?"
Jay inserted the digital key and started the car, sighing contentedly at the loud rev of the V-8 engine. "His name's Maximus. You know, like from Gladiatior?"
Mark shook his head ruefully. "You and your obsession with the 00's, I swear you were born in the wrong year." They both rolled down their windows and Jay looked around for any administrators. He spotted the school's principal, Doctor Graves. Jay grinned evilly as he set himself up at the end of the lane where Graves was supervising the pouring crowd of students.
Jay started to peel out, getting the attention of the man. He eased off the accelerator and slowly drove up to the principal, who looked like he was doing his best impression of a statue. "See ya in two weeks Doctor Death! Have a good break!" With that, Jay slammed on the gas and rocketed out of the parking lot, barely slowing down to turn down the road on the way to Fort Sam.
"He's gonna bust you for that someday, Jay. Doc Graves isn't that hard to piss off." Mark had to yell to be heard over the rushing air and the engine of the car. "How do you get away with calling him 'Doctor Death" anyway?"
Jay took on a shocked expression as he shortly looked over at Mark. "Have you ever seen the old man's death glare? The only person who tops him is Max, barely!" Max was a quiet person, he preferred to work with machines instead of people. But he was terrifying when he wanted to be. Jay remembered the last time someone had tried to steal his cousin's expensive computer. The coffee shop where it had happened still had a restraining order against Max Cross for the brutal mess he'd made of the offending man's arm.
Mark looked over to his friend, one eyebrow raised. "Yeah, but Max has those freaky eyes on his side. Last time I saw him, he didn't smile at all, but those eyes looked like they could freeze someone's soul!" Mark shuddered visibly as the base came into view. "You wanna stay for some CoD? I just got the new DLC last night."
Jay pondered his choices, then remembered his trip that was being planned. "Nah, I have to start packing next Tuesday, and Mom gets all bent outta shape if I go somewhere without telling her." Jay laughed out loud. "She's still mad at Max for last year when he taught me how to drive."
Mark's eyes widened, and Jay laughed even more as they both recalled the week of "driving lessons" that Max had put Jay through. Mark had sworn to never ride in a car with Max behind the wheel ever again. "You called that driving? I call it Need for Speed: Hell Edition!"
"What did the politician say to the Supreme Court?"
"Jay, is this going to be another lame political joke?"
"I'd plea the Fifth, but I already took it away!"
Jay laughed while Mark groaned loudly until they made it to the residential gate of Fort Sam. Mark handed the MP at the checkpoint his dependent ID. The MP looked in to see Jay grinning like an idiot.
"Mister Cross, you do know we almost arrested you for your last visit here, right?" The MP said with a wry grin.
Jay laughed with a slightly maniacal undertone. "Hummers and Crown Victoria's can't keep up with this baby. You know that, Sergeant DeLane. Besides, Dad let the MTI's have a field day after her found out. Lamest. Saturday. Ever!" Jay faked a miserable look as he recalled running the Air Force Training Instructors into the ground. "Even Max's old TI wouldn't mess with me after that. I think some of the trainees thought I was an escaped mental patient."
"They wouldn't be too far off..." Markus grumbled.
Jay shot a look at Mark. "You wanna walk, freshie?" This was a regular exchange between the two, and even Sergenat DeLane was in on it, but there was a Private sitting in the gate who was looking at Jay as if he really had lost his mind. Jay caught the look and leaned towards the Sergeant, whispering. "Permission to mess with the new guy?" DeLane grinned and nodded, so Jay did his best to remove his normal grin and hung his head out of the window. "HEY NEW GUY!"
Markus groaned loudly as he figured out what Jay was up to. "Do you need to do this, man? It's Friday... Oh don't even think about it."
The Private walked out, and Jay opened the door of his car, standing.in a position of mock authority. "Can I help you, sir?" The private asked cautiously. "Is something wrong?"
Jay narrowed his eyes in a fake glower. "Yeah!" He said loudly. "I've never seen you before." Then Jay dropped the charade and grabbed the Private's hand with both of his own, shaking it rapidly. "And if I've never seen you before, you must be new to the base! And if you're new to the base, then that means you're new to Texas! Welcome to the Lone Star State, buddy!"
The Private looked past Jay in confusion to the Sergeant, who was laughing his ass off. "This is Jay, Private Karsnov. He's an Air Force kid.
"That's right!" Jay chirped. "And since you're new to San Antonio, I need to take you to a party and introduce you to everyone!" Jay had not let go of Karsnov's hand, and was still shaking it out of its socket. "Karsnov... Are you Russian?" Receiving a slow nod in response, Jay grinned even wider. "AWESOME!"
Private Karsnov had no idea how to respond, so he just smiled nervously as Jay started rambling about some really bad "Soviet Russia" lines. Even Sergeant DeLane cringed at the poorly worded one-liners.
Markus yelled from inside the car. "Hey, Cross, hurry up! I thought you needed to watch your stupid show when you got home." Jay gasped loudly.
"My Little Pony is not stupid! Take it back!" Jay was feigning distress while Markus shook his head ruefully.
DeLane put a hand on Jay's shoulder, getting the young man's attention. "Go on, brony boy. I think you've scared the Private enough. Go watch your ponies. You can try to convert him later."
Jay popped a salute, got back into the car, and drove off, leaving Private Karsnov more confused than he'd ever been.
After Jay dropped Markus off, he started to make his way across the city to Lackland Air Force Base, his current home. Along the route, though, he was flagged down by someone in a hooded jacket. Normally, Jay would have listened to his father's lessons about picking up strange people on the side of the road, but as he drove near the individual, he saw that it was a girl about his age, which threw every bit of common sense out the window in favor of helping a lady. He pulled up next to her and rolled down his window.
"Can I help you, miss?" He called out. He finally got a good look at the girl's face under her hood. She had shockingly bright blue eyes and an even brighter grin on her face.
"OH, thankyouthankyouthankyou so much for stopping!" She had a high-pitched voice and a bubbly personality from what Jay could tell. "I was trying to get to this party, but then I realized nopony told me where it was, and they said I should look for a boy with blonde hair in one of these things." She gestured to the car. "I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?"
Jay took a moment to process what the girl had just said to him. At the word "party" he perked up, until she said her name was Pinkie Pie. Maybe this was just a really good cosplayer that got lost? "I'm Jay. It's nice to meet you! Uh, listen. Do you need a ride? I'm going to a party myself later tonight, and I wanted someone to go with, but I think I scared the guy I was going to introduce to everyone."
"Go with you to a party?! YAY, A NEW FRIEND!" Pinkie, as Jay was going to refer to her until he found out her real name, started bouncing up and down with joy, causing her hood to fall off. This unleashed the brightest pink hair Jay had ever seen, which also somehow managed to defy the laws of physics by visibly puffing out to a couple times its apparent volume. 'She's good...' Jay thought to himself. Pinkie opened the door to his car and sat in the passenger's seat. She immediately looked at Jay expectantly.
Jay looked right back and cleared his throat, pointing to the seatbelt. "You need to buckle up." He said. Pinkie didn't even blink as she grabbed the buckle, pulled it across her chest, and fastened it before Jay had even finished his sentence. Then she looked back at Jay, who was still trying to process how she had managed to move so fast. He thought back to the cosplayer theory and shrugged. 'Whatever, she's just being Pinkie Pie.' At this thought, a slight shill went down Jay's spine, which he ignored as he drove to the other side of town, coming up on Lackland.
He drove up to the gate, skipping his usual cheery greeting since he was desperate to get home and watch My Little Pony before the party. He looked over to the Pinkie lookalike and thought the show would be a good way to get to know each other, since she was obviously a pegasister. He drove to the other side of the base to the housing area and pulled up to his house. It was like the rest of the military housing, blandly colored and built to function, but it was home to Jay. He parked the Mustang in the driveway and got out.
Pinkie hopped out of the car and bounced happily next to Jay as he opened the door to his house.
"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" Jay called out cheerfully. "And I brought someone over from school!" He knew it was bad to lie to his parents, but it would have been worse to let them know he brought some random stranger from off the street. He didn' like to argue with his parents.
"What, it isn't Markus this time?" His dad called from the kitchen.
Jay cringed a bit, swallowing nervously as he replied. "No, it's a girl..."
To say that Jay's dad was happy would be an understatement. Though he was a retired Lieutenant Colonel, Thomas Stark was a happy man. Though most people would mistake him for the surly special forces type due to his heavy build and shaved head. Thomas was grinning widely as he walked around the corner to see the girl his son had brought home. The look of surprise was enough to start Jay laughing.
"Her hair is pink." Jay's dad said simply.
Jay's laughter only grew louder. "Gee, Dad. I didn't notice."
"Pink..." Thomas said again, dumbfounded.
Jay was so entertain by his father's stupor that he barely noticed when Pinkie stepped into Thomas' personal space suddenly and began speaking at what could only be described as something akin to Flight of the Bumblebee given verbal form. "HiI'mPinkiePieIjustmetJayJaytoday.Ohwowthatrhymed!" Since this girl had Pinkie's character down to a "T," Jay decided to save his father from having bleeding ears. He placed a hand on Pinkie's shoulder and gently pulled her a few feet away from Thomas, who was still in shock from both the color of this strange girl's hair and her unbelievably hyper personality.
"Pinkie, I need to go upstairs. We can go to the party after I'm finished getting out of my boring school stuff, okay?" Jay looked at his dad and smiled apologetically. "I promised I'd take her to the party this evening. Is that okay? Yes? Okay, cool! I'll be back down in a bit, but Pinkie needs to freshen up. Right Pinkie?" He gave the girl a look, which she apparently caught. She nodded an affirmative before Jay shuffled her off towards the bathroom.
"Jacob, wait a moment." Thomas said, grabbing his son's collar and pulling him backwards. He looked Jay in the eye and asked seriously. "Is she on drugs?"
Jay looked toward Pinkie, who was skipping toward the bathroom. "I have no idea, Dad."
