Chapter Text
Henry and Jasper arrived at Henry’s house about ten minutes later.
“Is anyone here?” Jasper asked.
“Nope. We have the house all to ourselves for a few days,” Henry replied.
“Cool!”
“You wanna order some pizza or something?”
“Yeah, let me just get my stuff into your room.”
“You sure you don’t mind sleeping there?”
“No, it’s fine.”
With that, Jasper headed upstairs and unpacked some of his stuff. He folded his sparse amount of clothes neatly and put them into a small pile next to his sleeping bag. Once he did that, Jasper looked in his bags to find the letter he had written to Henry. He thought it would be a discrete way to reveal how he felt without embarrassing himself by trying to verbalize his feelings. The longer he looked around, the more frantic and frazzled he became, his exposed nerves fraying with every passing moment. Trying to calm down, Jasper took a few deep breaths, laid down on top of his sleeping bag, and let his eyes shut for a few minutes.
Jasper was woken up about an hour later by Henry, who looked concerned by Jasper’s red eyes.
“Hey dude, you okay?” Henry asked, resting his hand on Jasper’s shoulder.
“Yeah, I’m just tired,” Jasper replied, wiping the sleepiness from his eyes.
“I ordered pizza, it just got here. You want any?”
“Sure, I just have to go to the bathroom first.”
“Okay, I’ll see you downstairs.”
Jasper went into the bathroom, trying to wash his face which had become slick with sweat. He was still worried about his mom finding his letter and wondered if she would ever calm down about him being gay. Sighing, Jasper went back downstairs where he saw Henry waiting for him.
“You doing okay, dude?” Henry asked, resting his hand on Japser’s shoulder.
“Hen, I have to tell you something,” Jasper started before a loud knock on the door interrupted him.
“Who the hell is that?” Henry asked as he walked towards the door. Is that Jasper’s mom? Henry thought as he looked through the peephole. Henry quickly locked the door and motioned towards Jasper that he needed to go upstairs so his mom wouldn’t see him. Jasper hid in the downstairs bathroom and told Henry to text him when his mom left.
Opening the door, Henry tried to remain calm and not curse her out.
“Hi Henry, do you know where Jasper is?” Mrs. Dunlop asked politely.
“No, I don’t, sorry ma’am. Maybe check at Junk ‘n’ Stuff, that was the last place I saw him,” Henry answered kindly.
“Okay, I’ll try checking there,” she replied, before slowly reaching into her purse and tazing Henry in the chest. Henry grunted, not expecting her to do that.
Henry was on the floor, not able to move for about five minutes as Mrs. Dunlop looked around the house for Jasper.
“I’m not gonna let you gay up my son, he’s not gonna be a faggot like you,” she exclaimed, kicking him in the stomach to make sure Henry would stay down.
“Jasper, run!” Henry tried to shout through his pained grunts and groans.
It was clear that Jasper didn’t hear him because he stayed in the bathroom, tears rushing down his face as he made sure the door was locked. Suddenly, Jasper heard his mom bang on the door and yell, “where are you, honey? I want you to come back home!”
“Why would I want to go back with you, you’re just gonna hit me again!” Jasper exclaimed, trying to stop his consistent flow of tears as he held his face against his knees.
“I never hit you, stop being a pussy!” his mom yelled back, jiggling the door handle as she tried to get Jasper to come out of the bathroom.
“If you won’t hit me, I’ll come back with you,” Jasper replied, trying to diffuse the situation. He opened the door, his head down and gaze focused on the floor.
“Bye, Henry. I’m sorry that all of this happened,” Jasper said, trying to concoct a plan to get out of this abusive household.
When Jasper and his mom arrived at the house, Jasper quickly went into his room and looked around for his letter. His mom must have dropped it earlier when she slammed him against his dresser. Jasper decided he would put the letter in Henry’s locker tomorrow during school, since mailing it wouldn’t work. Later that night, Henry texted both Jasper and Charlotte, trying to figure out a way to get him out of his mom’s house. They didn’t figure out anything concrete that night but there were a few ideas floating around in their minds. Exhausted from all that happened during the day, Jasper fell asleep, dropping his phone on the floor and not really noticing that the door to his room had been removed.