Clenching his fist Mark punched his class mate straight in the jaw, his knuckles throbbed in pain, but he didn’t care he detested this person. The mere sight of him drove Mark into a fit of rage, that smug face and taunting smirk. Always sniggering and passing comments whenever Mark passed by him. Again he jammed his fist into that annoying, irritating face, but just as he was about to hit him a third time, he was dragged away and held against the wall by two of Alex’s minions.

Mark struggled in their hold, attempting to be free of them, but to no avail, his hands were securely pinned to the magnolia painted wall, not too far from the school gate.  School had only just ended and Mark was waiting for Jackson to pick him up like he did on most days, when Alex walked past him with his friends and decided to taunt Mark, infuriating him to the point that he could no longer stand to hear the sound of his nasally irritating voice.

Pain shot through his abdomen as Alex forcefully punched him in the stomach, he would have probably fallen to his knees in agony as he was repeatedly hit in the stomach, if he wasn’t being held and pinned to the wall. Mark tried to kick at the smirking Alex but he had poisoned himself in such a way that he couldn’t knee him in the groin, and all his attempts were futile. A hard slap across his face had his head rolling on his shoulders, his ears started to ring at the force of the blow.

“Oy!” Mark heard a voice shout in the distance, his head still spinning. “Get your hands off him,” Jackson yelled.

“Oh look,” Alex sniggered. “You came to help your boyfriend …” whatever else Alex was about to say was cut off as Jackson roughly grabbed hold of his arm and twisted it behind his back.

“Tell those wits to let go of my boyfriend or I’ll break your arm,” Jackson hissed in his ear, further twisting his arm.

“Fine, fine!” Alex shrieked. “Let go of him,” he ordered and his friends quickly complied. Jackson being older than them was naturally stronger, thus they knew that they shouldn’t mess with him.

“Remember dip, that if you ever even speak to Mark again you’ll have me to deal with, and I won’t let you off so lightly next time,” he warned letting go of his arm, but not before he gave it one last twist at the wrist, spraining it in the process.

As far as Jackson was concerned the situation was dealt with and they could all calmly go on their separate ways, but Mark didn’t seem to agree. Jackson considered himself to be a diplomatic person, he tried to sort issues with words not violence and would only result to using his fists when it was absolutely necessary. Mark on the other hand wasn’t very good with words and as soon as the two boys released their hold on him he head butted the one to his left. Blood instantly trailed from his nose down over his mouth, and he staggered backwards holding onto the wall to steady himself. His friend quickly retaliated by shoving Mark against the brick wall, causing him to painfully hit the back of his head, but before he could do any more harm Jackson pulled him of Mark and pushed him towards Alex.

“Let’s get the away from here,” Alex yelled, his voice filled with panic and the three of them vamoosed.

“That’s right off,” Mark yelled after them and Jackson roughly shoved him against the wall.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What? They’re the ones who started it.”

“How many times do I have to tell you to ignore that ?”

“You try ignoring him,” Mark spat, their faces so close that his heart beat quickened.

“Know when to pick your fights Mark. Be smart, for God’s sake you can’t take on three people on your own. Don’t be stupid and learn when to back away.”

Mark nodded his head indicating he understood and pushed Jackson’s hands away when he started to pull at his shirt. “What the are you doing?”

“I’m checking to see if you need to go to a hospital,” he replied ignoring Mark’s protests and pulling up his shirt to revel his bruised torso.

A shiver ran down Mark’s spine as Jackson gently trailed his hands over his abdomen. “I don’t think your ribs are broken. Does it hurt?” he questioned trailing his hands over the bruising forming at the side of his rib cage.  

“Not unbearably, no,” he answered, his breath hitching in his throat as Jackson continued to caress his stomach, his soft hands burning his skin.

“You need to grow up,” Jackson advised, pulling down his shirt and earning a scowl form Mark.

Picking up his backpack from the floor, where he had earlier discarded it, Mark turned around to find Jackson holding two bouquets in his hands. “For you,” he said handing them over.

“They are so beautiful,” Mark squealed, using the highest pitched voice he could muster, as he accepted the flowers.

“Is that your lame attempt at imitating Irene,” Jackson frowned, attempting to hide back a smile at the accurate imitation.

“I thought I did quite well actually. Where is she anyway? How come she’s not stalking you today?”

“She’s not stalking me, she’s my girlfriend,” he stated his jovial frown turning serious. He had been dating Irene for almost six months, and it annoyed him when Mark talked so flippantly about her. Jackson couldn’t understand what Mark’s problem was with her, she was always nice to him and whenever he asked Mark what his problem with her was he would simply deny there even being a problem to begin with.

“And I didn’t think you’d be happy if I brought her along to the cemetery.”

“Where did you get these flowers from?” Mark asked inhaling the pleasing nectar smell and attempting to change the conversation, having realised that he had angered Jackson.

“There’s a florist opposite the school,” he answered as they made their way towards the bus stop. “The man’s as blind as a bat, he wouldn’t notice if I took all the flower arrangements he had on display.”    

Mark simply smiled at his friend, his mother would probably turn in her grave if she knew he was going to place stolen flowers on her burial place, she always thought him that stealing was wrong, but Mark didn’t think it was appropriate to say this to Jackson, not when he had been so thoughtful as to think of getting flowers, something which hadn’t even crossed Mark’s mind.

Arriving at the cemetery, Mark placed the bouquet against the head stone and Jackson lighted up the candle he had brought with him and placed it next to the flowers. “You thought of everything,” Mark smiled, feeling slightly guilty at not bringing these things for his mother himself.

“It’s been almost nine year,” Mark sighed. “Sometimes I find it hard to even remember what she looked like.”

Wrapping his arm around his shoulder Jackson attempted to comfort Mark. “What do you remember?”

“Her perfume,” he answered closing his eyes trying to conjure the memory of his mother in his head. “It smelled nice, like oranges and trees. Her cuddles, warm and comforting. Her bright smile…”

“She must have loved you so much,” Jackson murmured softly, pulling Mark closer.

“I remember this book she used to read to me before I went to sleep, I loved it, I would always beg for her to read it. I can’t remember what it was called, but it was about a teddy bear in a department store and this girl wanted to buy him but her mum wouldn’t let her because he had a missing button on his overalls. So he spent the entire night trying to find his missing button…” Mark shook his head at the memory, he had completely forgotten about the book. “Have you ever read it?”

“No, I don’t think so. Do you remember what the cover looked like?”

“I think it was red or maybe pink, and it had a brown bear with green overalls…it was old looking, I think it may have belonged to her as a child…I wonder what happened to it…”

“I wish I had memories of my mum like you do, to know that she loved me, but I guess she didn’t.”

“You don’t know that. You don’t know why she left you, it might not have been her choice. She probably regrets leaving you.”

“If that’s the case she would have come back for me.”

“Maybe something is holding her back, but I’m sure she loves you, it is impossible not to.”

“That lovable am I?” Jackson chuckled.

“I love you,” he answered seriously and Jackson playfully ruffled his hair.

“Me too,” he smiled.

After spending a few more minutes at the grave, they both made their way to the other side of the cemetery where Mrs Kim was buried. She had died the previous year of a heart attack, and due to it being the anniversary of her death the boys decided to pay her a visit. Mrs Kim kept to her word and visited Mark as often as she could, bringing along cakes and threats for him and the rest of the boys but two years before she had died Mrs Kim had a which had rendered her unable to walk properly and thus put an end to her visits.

“Her cakes where the best,” Jackson reminisced lighting up the candle he brought for her, while Mark places the bouquet next to the rest of the flowers her relatives had brought with them on their visit.

“She was a good woman,” Mark said wiping at his eyes to prevent his tears from falling. “I was simply her neighbour’s son,