So... i've mentioned that i had one friend throughout the years with Jackson. i thought i'd talk about JC and our friendship today. JC was an enormous boy, about John's size at 14. He had light brown hair that curled so tightly he had an afro. He was a little shy and came from a farm. Big, sweet, cornfed farmboy. He wasn't the smartest boy on the planet, but definitely had enough common sense and could fix anything. We were friends before i ever met Jackson. Before i started hiding in the bathroom during lunch, or became the school joke. JC didn't have a lot of luck with girls (that goofy hairdo probably a big part of why) and had a horrible crush on me. i didn't like him that way, but was always nice to him. i mostly returned his phone calls, occasionally sat with him at lunch, and let him copy my homework. When i started dating Jackson my circle of friends shrank. Then it became miniscule. And, finally, there was only one true friend left. JC. JC wouldn't hear a word against me. He was bigger than Jackson and offered me the only real safety i knew in those days. When i was with JC, Jackson wouldn't hurt me... he was afraid to. Unlike some other so called friends i had then, he wasn't embarrassed to be seen with me. He never lied and said he was fucking me. And, he never tried to do that either. He pounded more than one boy for hurting me, and he stopped dating a girl once for writing nasty things about me on the bathroom wall. JC was just my friend. Probably the best rl friend i've had in my life. i say just, but that's no small thing to be. There were days when the only thing i hung on to was the few minutes JC culled out for me between lunch and 4th period. No matter what girl he was dating, or thing he had going on, he took those few minutes. He was the only person who noted that i was way too thin, and tried to get me to eat. He offered me the money for a bus ticket damn near daily but he never pushed me. He held the pieces of me tenderly. He loved me for me and nothing i could give him. And, that is always a miraculous thing.
