Actors (Chapter One)
Title: Actors
Author: songs_and_words
Rating: NC-17... eventually
Pairing: Jalex
Disclaimer: If I actually owned Alex and Jack... well, I wouldn't be writing this. Also story title belongs to All Time Low.
Summary: Welcome to the Interplanetary Student Exchange Buddy program.
A/N: Hi, I'm Paige. I'm new to posting here but I've lurked for ages. I've also never used livejournal communities before, so I hope I did this right. Let me know what you think of chapter one?
Chapter 1
Jack stared back at the syllabus one more time, making sure there was no easier way to fill this requirement before he walked into the meeting. There were about five kids scattered around the room, and Jack quickly spotted one with brown hair buzzed short and hurried over to where he was sitting near the window and absentmindedly drumming on the desk in front of him. On the board at the front of the room three words were scribbled almost illegibly over the ill-erased dust of a prior lesson. “Interplanetary Student Exchange.”
“Hey man,” Jack said, slumping into the seat behind Rian, the kid who had been drumming on the desk.
“Hey Jacko,” Rian said, turning to offer him a half smile, “You here for Carson's class credit too?”
“You bet,” He said with a little laugh. “No offense to these alien kids or whatever, but there's no way I'd volunteer for a program like this without getting something from it.”
“Same dude,” Rian nodded in agreement, turning to glance back out the window.
One of the four other people in the room walked up front and cleared his throat.
“Uh, hi everyone. My name is Thomas. Welcome to the Interplanetary Student Exchange Buddy Program. We're so excited that everyone is interested in helping our exchange friends feel at home on earth this semester.” He paused to glance eagerly around the room and Jack rolled his eyes. Couldn't they just give him a pamphlet of information in exchange for his name and e-mail address and send him on his merry way? He hated bullshit informational meetings.
“Now if everyone could go around and tell us your name, major, year, any interplanetary experiences you've had...” The kid continued on with a big list and Jack groaned, slumping down in his seat and preparing to waste an hour of his time.
-
“Alright, hey guys,” A man appearing to be in his mid to late twenties sat at the front of a circle comprised of ten students, “I guess we can start class. Can we first go around the circle and tell me what your decisions are for the individual experience aspect of this course.”
“I'm doing the Interplanetary Student Exchange buddy program,” Rian piped in from beside Jack.
“Me too,” Jack added quickly and the teacher's eyes lit up.
“Oh, that should be a very good experience for you two. I just had a video conference with the program coordinator on the other side the other day and they're sending five very fine students this semester. It's only the second year we've done this program, so I'm sure you two will have a lot to learn from our foreign friends. And one of them has chosen to grace us with his presence in this class, once he arrives on campus!” The man looked as though he was about to topple out of his chair from excitement in having one of the aliens in his class and Jack seriously had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Or vomit. Or both.
The only reason he was even in this class was to fulfill one of the requirements for his international studies minor, something his father had sworn up and down would set him apart in the job market from the other business majors. Apparently hanging out with a kid from another planet made him more qualified to drown away in an office. Right.
When Jack got out of class, he checked his e-mail on his phone and as if the universe just wanted to shove this program in his face continually, he had an e-mail from Thomas waiting to be read.
“Dear Jack,
Thanks so much for your desire to be a Interplanetary Student Exchange Buddy! Your buddy is Alex Gaskarth. He's a junior in literature. The students will be arriving on campus next Tuesday around four pm and we want as many buddies as possible to be there to greet them. Please be on the lookout for more e-mails pertaining to this and other events.
Thanks,
Thomas”
Jack groaned and quickly made a note on his phone calender about the event, not particularly excited to meet this Alex kid.