Fic: Begin At The Beginning

[csi_sanders1129]

Title: Begin At The Beginning
Chapters: 1/?
Author: csi_sanders1129
Genre: AU. Drama.
Ratings: T
Word Count: ~1,300
Pairings/Characters: Cougar/Jensen, eventually. Mentions of other canon pairings.
Synopsis:Jacob Jensen’s first day at his new high school starts out on a bad note.
Comments: I get to blame cynic_fic  for this! It’s all her fault! Ugh, this is still a work on progress and I don’t know how out of control this is going to get before it’s finished, but I’ll try to update regularly. Recognizable characters aren’t mine, reviews are much loved and make me write faster, and please enjoy!

Jacob Jensen's first day at his new high school starts out on a bad note.

His sister's new baby, now all of two months old, kept them up all night with her screaming and fussing. He can't even be mad about it - since she's a baby after all, and she has that really obnoxiously adorable thing going for her – but he's basically dead on his feet and he's not even in the building yet.

He collides with someone – a rather preppy looking fellow with designer clothes and really expensive looking sunglasses – on his way in the door and receives a biting, "Watch where you're going, geek," in response to his unintended actions. But he just shrugs and keeps walking.

The only thing keeping him going at all are the headphones that are half on his ears. "Ooh, the flood is threatenin' my very life today… Gimme, gimme shelter – I'm gonna fade away…" He hums out the familiar lines of the Rolling Stones song as he heads toward his newly assigned locker and spins in the combination. 20, 34, 20.

Unfortunately, the locker marks the end of the music so he braces himself for what will inevitable be pure exhaustion by the end of first period and trudges off to his first class of the day – Biology.

He slips into the room after navigating the complex maze of hallways with surprising ease and finds all but one seat claimed. Second row, far side of the room. Silently, he crosses the room, adjusting his glasses and fidgeting nervously as curious eyes land on him.

"Hi." He says to his neighbor as he claims the seat. Beside him sits a boy his age, who pointedly ignores him but does take a moment to survey his neon yellow 'International Order of Gorillas' t-shirt. The guy makes some noncommittal noise and turns away, tilting the edge of his cowboy hat down over his eyes. Why is he even wearing the thing in here, anyway? "I'm Jake Jensen." He says, because he never does know when to shut up. "I just moved here and I hope you don't mind me sitting here but it was the only seat and are you ignoring me on purpose or-"

The stranger turns to level him with a glare that very, very obviously says 'shut up now or else,' and then he's back to ignoring Jake again.

Any continuations of his lengthy diatribe are permanently killed off when the teacher walks in. Had Jake not already met up with all of his teachers, he might've been worried when she started rattling on about an upcoming test.

"And, Mr. Jensen, if you need any help, I'm sure Mr. Alvarez there would be glad to catch you up before Friday." She says, gesturing to the boy with the long, dark hair and the cowboy hat beside him. "Isn't that right?"

"Mm." The boy, last name Alvarez, grunts in acknowledgment.

"Good, then, if that's settled, I suppose we can get back to DNA transcription and translation, yes?" With that, she turns to the board, chalk in hand, and sets to work on the lesson for today.

Fifty minutes later, the bell rings, and the other boy bolts as soon as it does, leaving Jensen with several questions (none of which actually have anything to do with biology) and no answers.

His next two classes are uneventful – English, which he finds incredibly boring because he's already read the book they're discussing, and Math, which he flies through with ease since his love for all things computer related tends to require it.

By lunch, his eyes are drooping and he's near ready to fall asleep in his food. His headphones are back in place, this time with the Eagles playing rather loudly. "On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair…" Singing lightly under his breath, he feels something kind of like fractionally more awake so he lifts his head enough to look around the large cafeteria. "Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air…"

Across the room, he spots the boy from his biology class sitting with two others, a guy and a girl. Alvarez – he really needs to find out a first name – is staring at him. Rather, observing, as one might do with a potentially volatile chemical or a suspicious website.

Jake Jensen, in all his bravery, raises a hand, waves. Alvarez rolls his eyes and looks away.

The bell rings again what seems like mere minutes after he sat down, but the whole thirty minutes has indeed passed by. So he gets up and trashes his stuff, intent to visit his locker again before heading to gym.

His brief stop to switch his books and drop off his music makes him late, but he's saved by the fact that he doesn't have to change his clothes because his gym uniform hasn't come in just yet. "We're playing a game of dodge-ball, so if you're up for it, feel free to join in." The coach says, waving him off toward the already gathered class.

Jensen freezes when he spots the cowboy-hatted figure amongst the players – and seriously, does he get to wear the thing everywhere? They're on the same team, and while the rest of the players on his side introduce themselves, Alvarez says nothing.

"Ready, guys?"

The game starts with all the brutal force two dozen teenage boys would be expected to use. There are three balls in play, and Alvarez gets one nearly immediately. Somehow he takes out two guys on the opposing team with it. And, yes, Jake is watching him more than he's watching the game.

Which is exactly the reason why it takes him so goddamn long to see the ball hurtling toward his head. With well-practiced skill, because Jacob Jensen is way more than just the geek everyone sees him as, he dodges out of the way, catches the ball and hurls it back at the guy who'd thrown it and gets him out.

"Woo! Nice!" One other guy calls at him – he'd introduced himself as 'Linwood Porteous, but call me Pooch or we'll have issues' - and he claps Jake on the back as he runs after another ball. "Cougar, catch!" Pooch yells at Alvarez. Cougar. Hm. That's new.

Jake turns to grin at his teammates, who all seem impressed by the fact that he is not completely useless.

"Hey! Head's up!" Someone shouts at him, he doesn't know who, because he's too busy ducking, but it doesn't matter anyway, because the bouncing, red ball clubs him in the back of the head despite his efforts to evade it again. His glasses fall off of his face and he hears an all too familiar sound as they hit the ground. Broken, then. And his head is pounding.

He turns to ineffectively glare at the offender who'd hit him – entirely fairly, since he was the idiot who'd turned his back on the game, and then that's the entire point, isn't it? - But still, his glasses…

"Jensen." The coach snaps at him, and gestures him over – a move which Jake has to squint to see correctly from across the huge room. "Go get your head checked out." He says, and points the kid out of the gym before he can injure himself further.

The remnants of his glasses in hand, he blindly heads off to do as told, navigating carefully through the locker room to head toward the maze of hallways that somewhere hide the nurse's office. "Awesome job, Jake. Wonderful job. Break your glasses on day one. Perfect. Hm… Did I bring my spare pair?" He rambles to himself as he walks.

Somewhere just behind him, he hears someone exhale deeply, as if sighing in irritation. He whirls around to see Alvarez.

"Never quiet, are you, Payasito?" A thick Spanish accent carries the words to him from some distance away.

"Cougar, yeah?"

He shrugs, nods his head towards the next hallway and marches on, obviously expecting Jake to follow him to the nurse's office. Whether Coach sent him or he came by himself, Jensen is not inclined to complain, so he follows.

Maybe today isn't so bad after all, thinks Jacob Jensen.