Silent Stares

Part 1

Gerry's POV

It seemed the more games we won, the more people liked us together as a team: whites and blacks, even if desegregating the school still made some folks upset. Shoot, in the beginning I didn't think we'd get along. I didn't even want them at my school. They were wild animals… or at least that's what I thought. Julius is one of my best friends. I've learned a lot from him about his people. I learned that everyone is different if you try and get to know them. But it wasn't until I bumped into her that my world started to spiral into something I couldn't control. It was a quick action, I moved through the door of the front office, with the roll call, just as she was leaving. Our chests bumped into one another and she recoiled quickly from me as if I was some sick person.

"Sorry." We both mutter and walk around each other. I turned and looked over my shoulder at her as she walked into the hall. She doesn't look back. She was unlike any person I had ever seen before. She's not dark like Julius, or light like Petey. She's right in the middle. She was in a green turtle neck and a checkered skirt. Like most girls she wore nice white shocks and brown slippers. Her hair is long and braided down her back. She is definitely a sight, almost as pretty as Emma. I look back into the office to see one of the office workers, a black kid, watching me with warning eyes. We don't look at their girls and they definitely don't look at ours.

Her POV

He looks at me when we pass each other in the hallway. It's a busy hallway, can't he look somewhere else. His stares aren't like some of the other white boys here. They make kissy faces at me and try and tug on my hair which stirs trouble upon my group of friends. He's friends with my friend Julius so he can't be all bad right? He shouldn't look so curious of me though. I'm not some exotic thing to be ogled at. He's captain of the football team, Gerry Bertier. All the girls like him. He and his girlfriend Emma Hoyt are the popular whites here. I have some classes with Emma. She stares at our side of the classroom with her friends just as much as our side stares at hers. Integration, the thing that will most likely get us killed.

Gerry's POV

Jenna Morrison, that's what Julius says her name is. She's the same year as me. She's one of Julius' friends. Shoot if he's my best friend, maybe somehow, I can be friends with her. Jenna. A very pretty name. To keep the piece, many of us on the team has gone back to sitting with our white and black friends during lunch. I see her exiting the lunch line and smiling in the direction of a table of girls. Some guys I know pass by her and whistle at her. She sneers and one of them tries to grab at the back of her skirt. I shake my head with disappointment.

Jenna's POV

"Ew Gerry Bertier is looking your way." Octavia says motioning with her head toward the group of boys on the other side of the cafeteria. I glance over my shoulder to see him laughing with some of his friends before shooting me a quick glance and looking away. I shook my head.

"Let him look. That's all these boys seem to do anyways." I said.

"Eugh white boys are animals." Another friend, Vicky says, angrily. I didn't disagree. When lunch is over we move to throw our food away and place our treys on the top of them. I turn to move, but almost run into Emma who scowls.

"Watch it girl." she said roughly. I knew what word she wanted to use, but I just walked around her scoffing as if she were beneath me.

Gerry's POV

The days go on and we keep winning for the school giving everyone hope. Even more I can't stop admiring Jenna Morrison when she's in the area. She has no classes with me and it kind of bums me out. But when the bell rings and everyone begins to pack up I'm almost throwing my stuff in my bag to get out into the hallway so I could see her. She knows I look at her and at first, she looked uncomfortable which wasn't what I wanted her to be. One day, I gave a polite smile and nodded her way and she gave a forced smiled and looked away as we passed in the hallway. Of course, it was forced, she wouldn't want to do anything to upset Gerry Bertier, the captain of the team. Emma caught me looking once and questioned me. I lied and said I was just looking for Ray. I wasn't even sure if she believed me since Ray was cut from the team. I still see him around school, but he never speaks to me. He still looks angry like his dad…

She's not supposed to be in my gym class with Julius and I, but from hearing from Julius who heard from Octavia, due to a class being too full she volunteered to switch her schedule around. So now I would get to see her.

"Boy you better not let some of these brothers see you looking at Jenna Morrison." Julius humorously warned as we were panting on the bleachers outside from running laps. I looked at him.

"I wasn't staring!" I said hurriedly and he just gave me a look, sticking out his bottom lip in disbelief.

"Uh yeah you were." he said with a laugh. I looked at him confused.

"You're not mad?" I asked and he shook his head as he leaned down to tie his shoes.

"Nah man. She wouldn't go for you no ways, so it doesn't even matter." he teased. I gave a look of disappointment.

"Why wouldn't she?" I asked seriously and he gave me a look.

"Uh because you're in a relationship with Emma." he reminded. I nodded quickly, completely forgetting I was in a relationship.

"Oh yeah. I know that." I said. I looked up to see she was no longer on the other side of the track but instead running past our bleachers now.

"HEY JENNA COME HERE!" Julius yells. My eyes widen and I hit his shoulder.

"What no don't call her over here!" I harshly whisper.

Jenna's POV

I didn't have a choice I switching schedules. I was one of the few African Americans in my science class so they swapped me to a different period and now I had gym. I thought I'd be upset, but when I noticed Julius and a few other familiar boys like Petey and Rev in the class I was happy. They introduced me to some new friends on their team: Alan Bosley, Ronnie Bass but he goes by Sunshine, and Louie Lastik. They were actually very nice boys once you spoke to them a bit. Maybe not all of the white boys were gross. We had to do laps before we were given a free period outside. I was just finishing up my lap and trying to walk back to the other side.

"HEY JENNA COME HERE!" I hear shouting. I look toward the metal bleachers to see Julius and… Gerry sitting at the bottom of the bleachers. I inwardly groan and walk over to the two boys.

"What?" I asked and Julius gives me an offended look.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked. I just gave him a look.

"What is it, Julius?" I asked in a lighter tone and he just sucked his teeth.

"What I can't say hi to my friend?" he asked. We looked serious for a few seconds before we both cracked a smile.

"I am trying to run." I replied and he laughed.

"Girl you already finished your laps." he said and I arched a brow rolling my eyes over his body.

"You watching me now?" I asked and he raised his hands.

"Nah nothing like that! Oh, Jenna this is my friend Gerry. Gerry, my friend Jenna." he said. Gerry had ducked his head for a moment before looking up at the sound of his name being called. He quickly smiled and raised his hand to me. I tensed and withdrew a bit, looking from his hand to his face. His smile faded and now he looked a bit saddened. Julius gave me a look. "Jenna. Come on now." I frowned at him.

"I don't shake the hands of people who don't want me here. I have to go." I said clearly offended and started to jog away. Did we see two different mobs at the beginning of school? White people didn't want us here and I wasn't about to force myself to be comfortable with them just because some of my friends did. But after looking at Gerry's face, I felt guilt inside me. I never had a problem being polite, and it inwardly hurt me to hurt someone's feelings even if those feelings were of a white person. Besides, Julius was good people, I know he didn't hang around with a bad group of anyone. But I wouldn't apologize. It'd be too expected of me…

Gerry's POV

She's up in the stands watching with her friends as we just won another game. She's smiling and cheering for us all like everyone else. It's strange that in a sea of white faces, all I can see is her face. Even though she doesn't always look at me, I can't help but inwardly smile when she does. Emma had to miss the game to study. I wasn't entirely upset over it. After Coach Boone gives a congratulatory speech in the locker room. I was happy. Happy we won, happy she was there. The next morning, I was at my locker putting my bag away.

"Good game, last night." A soft voice makes me jump almost and I look over to see Jenna giving a small smile before turning and looking at her friends. I couldn't stop the smile from spreading on my lips. Before she was completely gone, she glanced back at me and she caught my smile. Just as she had gone, Emma approached. She smiled lightly.

"Hey." she says and I give a light smile.

"Hey, hon." I said and lean down giving her a soft kiss. She responded weakly to it.

"You didn't call me last night after the game." she said with a pout. I winced completely forgetting.

"Oh I'm sorry, hon. After the game I came home and crashed. Didn't even go celebrate with the boys after the game." I said. She crossed her arms before nodding.

"Fine… so when are you and Ray gonna be friends again?" she asked. I sighed.

"Emma, we talked about this." I told her and she nodded.

"Yes. He hurt the team, but he's still your friend. You both grew up together and ever since you've joined the team, you've been wanting to hang out with them more than your real friends." she chastised. My jaw tightened.

"Yeah well maybe I need some new friends." I muttered, and her eyes darkened a bit.

"What did you just say?" she asked. I didn't want to fight with her. Jenna just complimented me and smiled and I didn't want anything to kill that one second moment we had shared.

Jenna's POV

It wasn't wrong to compliment someone. The more I hung out with Julius and some of his teammates, going to movies and eating out, the more I realized that not all our white counterparts wanted us to be beneath them. Octavia was dating Petey and Vicky and Rev were trying to become a thing. Gerry was also with the group and he and Julius, I could see the pure friendship in them. And I didn't want to be on the outside of our group of friends. So just like that we melted into both each other's worlds, white and black. As Gerry continued to look at me when no one was watching, I decided to look back to see what his intentions were. He seemed mildly shy, but confident when with his girlfriend. Which made me question his silent stares even more. Was he wandering what it would be like to be with a colored girl or something? Did he want something from me? I mean, I don't think he looks at other girls like this. During gym class, I saw he had taken his shirt off. I honestly thought he was beautiful. He laughed with Julius over something as they were drinking water from plastic cups. He looks over at me and catches me staring. I looked away not wanting to be caught staring. I wonder if he's even still looking. I glance up and over at him to see he was looking, smiling at me flirtatiously? I had looked back toward my friends and forced my way back into their conversation. Even though I had my curiosities, I would not put myself in danger by confronting him first. Whatever was going on in his head, I was sure if he wanted to ask me something he could.

Gerry's POV

I wasn't seeing things. She looks at me the same way I look at her. What should I do now? What should I say? As Julius and I walked on the side walk together, he just looked at me.

"Just talk to her." he said.

"I can't do that. I'm with Emma." I said. Julius scoffed.

"Well you ain't trying to date her are ya?" he asked and I shook my head.

"No I mean… you know that ain't allowed." I said and Julius scoffed yet again.

"Gerry you're white. Ya'll can get away with that stuff here." he said. I winced at his words. A few years back, I saw a white guy with a black woman leaving a club. My mom thought the guy was such a traitor. My dad would have turned in his grave. "You like her?" The question made my stomach tighten. I didn't even know if I could answer.

"I mean…" I trailed off and Julius arched a brow.

"Ooor you just want to experience jungle fever. You know dip your toes in the river of color and see if you like it." he assumed. I shook my head immediately.

"No nothing like that! I mean I don't want use her or anything. I just want to talk to her, you know have an actual conversation with her that doesn't involve our friends around." I said. Julius nodded in looked up in thought. As he did, we heard the familiar noise of a police car coming up to us. We both immediately pause. I looked at the cop confused as to why he was here and Julius just kept his head down and remained still. The cop looked at me.

"Everything okay here, son?" he asked. I nodded.

"Um yeah we're just headed home from school." I replied with a shrug. The cop looked from me to Julius who just remained quiet and calm. The cop then looked at me. "You should keep better company, son." I tensed at his words and Julius remained quiet, almost as if he wasn't even here. I gave a curt nod and the cop just nodded and drove on. I looked at Julius who just sighed and I patted him on the back.

"Hey ignore that guy man." I advised and he looked at me.

"Yeah well, I don't have that luxury." he said before turning and continuing to walk. I watched him for a moment before nodding and continuing to follow.

Jenna's POV

There were rumors all over the school that Gerry and Emma broke up. Sunshine and I were walking to our next class together and it seemed their breakup was all the white students could talk about. He and I had become good friends over the course of meeting each other. We had classes together and so we just stuck to each other. A lot of students didn't like it, but he didn't seem to care… and neither did I.

"They get into a fight or something?" I asked ignoring the stares from some of my class mates for walking too close to the taller football player. He shrugged.

"I don't know. Heard maybe some lying was involved. You know how rumors are. Who knows if they're all true or not." he told. I just nodded as we stopped by his locker.

"Well maybe they'll get back together. I mean they were the popular couple of the school." I said and he chuckled.

"Popularity and reality are not the same thing." he said. I tilted my head.

"What do you mean?" I asked watching as he exchanged some books and folders. Two white girls giggled as they passed by us whispering as they looked at Sunshine's back. He turned to me.

"I mean just because someone's popular doesn't necessarily mean they lead this grand life. Maybe Gerry and Emma weren't really happy together." he explained. I looked down in thought of his words. The bell rang over our heads now and we both looked up. "Crap, second bell. We'd better hurry to class." He had placed his hand on my back and we began to move swiftly down the hall along with a few other students who were rushing to get to class.

Gerry's POV

Of course, Emma told everyone we broke up. I hated hurting her feelings and making her cry. But things had to end. The way she was acting around some of the other teammates was just unacceptable. When I called her out on it, it would just lead to a fight. So I ended it.

"Yo, man I heard Emma dumped you!" Petey said as if shocked. He was on my left and Julius was on my right. I shook my head.

"If that's how she wants people to know then fine." I said. Julius arched a brow.

"You ended it?" he asked. I nodded looking at him.

"Yeah… I just couldn't stand her attitude anymore." I said and Julius looked at me closely as if reading more into my words. Did he think I ended things with her to just and talk to Jenna? I wouldn't be surprised. Emma thinks there's someone else, too. And there wasn't, sort of. He just nodded.

"Ay you got to do what you gotta do." he said. As we walked, I had noticed Jenna in the hallway standing next to Sunshine, they were talking. I blinked rapidly wondering when they started hanging out. Were they hanging out, after school? Were they dating? Was Sunshine trying to date her? I felt my body swell up suddenly as we passed the two. They didn't seem to notice us and that inwardly made me angry, not at Jenna but at Sunshine. Was he trying to make a move on her? The bell rang and the three of us looked up.

"Oh shoot, we gotta go!" Petey said and we rushed through the hall to get to class. I wanted to steal one more look though. I needed to know what seeing her with Sunshine meant for me. Throughout the day, I was questioned by everyone on why Emma broke up with me. They throughout all kinds of accusations and I just denied them all. "Ask Emma" or "Things just didn't work out" were most of what I was saying. Everyone wanted to know. And now I had to empty my locker of some of her things. She wouldn't talk to me when I tried to ask her about her notes and books. Most of them I threw away. I just wanted it to all be gone. Lunch was in five minutes and I just wanted to keep a clear head for practice afterword. Alan and Louie were with me this time asking me back to back questions too.

"Guys just let it go, alright! We're done. Emma and I are over!" I snapped. Alan raised his hands.

"Okay, roger that!" he said. I shook my head and finished putting the last of Emma's stuff in a white trash bag.

"Aw where you going, you shy?" I heard Ray's familiar voice. I looked over my shoulder in the direction of his voice, looked away, then did a double take when I saw what he was doing. He and a few knuckle heads were surrounding Jenna and Vicky who were frowning, their books pushed close to their chests.

"Leave us alone!" Vicky snapped.

"Aw you actually sound tough." One of them teased. My eyes stared intently when I saw Ray suddenly tug at the bottom of Jenna's dress. She smacked his hand away.

"Don't touch me!" she stated firmly. I dropped my eyes stuff immediately and made my way through the crowd of students ignoring the scene. The boys laughed at the girl's fear. "Stop!" I shoved Ray the second I was in front of him.

"Alright, that's enough back off, Ray!" I yelled. Now that seemed to stop everyone. Ray frowned at me as he stumbled back.

"Who the hell do you think you are, Bertier!" he snapped getting in my face. I stared at him hard now.

"These are ladies, man. I know your daddy taught you better than this." I said. Ray scoffed, his boys forming behind him.

"They aren't ladies, they're just black whores!" he snarled in my face and before I could think, hell before I could stop it, my fist came up hard and struck him right in the jaw. He fell down hard and immediately the group of boys were on me.

"Oh shit these white boys fightin'!" someone yelled which brought the halls to life with shouting. A fist gets me right in the jaw and the next thing I know, I was pinned to the lockers feeling their fists slamming all over my back.

"Stop it! Someone stop them!" I hear Jenna yell. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see Julius, Sunshine and other members of my team rounding the corner and jumping into action getting these chumps off me. Now the fight was evenly matched. But I knew, I knew if this kept up, Coach Boone would have our asses for fighting.

"Alright break it up!" Julius and I were yelling as we managed to get everyone separated. Ray pointed at me.

"This ain't over." he said. I looked at him threateningly.

"Yeah for your sake, it better be over!" I stated. One of his friends pushed at his back to get him to move. The few seconds of loudness in the hallway had died down and cleared out. Teachers were coming to see what happened but everyone was clearing out. Julius hit my back.

"We gotta go man." he said. I looked at Jenna to see her staring at me stunned. I wouldn't lie I was pretty shocked myself. Vicky was pulling her from the crowd as well. She was safe, that's what mattered. I hurried with Julius and the rest of the team and we cleared the halls.

Jenna's POV

I was not expecting him to ever defend me. Talk of the fight spread over the school. It didn't seem to matter what caused or started the fight, just that it happened. It definitely had my mind spinning, but after that day, I looked at Gerry Bertier in a deeper way than I had looked at anyone else and he looked at me the same way…

My bus wouldn't be running today and it seemed everyone was able to get rides home other than me. Thank God it was Friday. Julius offered, but I didn't live too far away, so I had told him I would walk. I was putting my things in my locker and admiring my shoes. Luckily they were good for walking. As I closed my door, I felt someone approaching me and turned to see it was Gerry. I didn't shy away or look at him with caution. Instead, I smiled.

"Hey, Gerry, you aren't headed to practice?" I asked noticing he was in his buttoned-up shirt and slacks.

"Uh no, I was actually headed home. Practice was cancelled on account of the big storm headed our way. You should have been gone on the buses." he pointed out. I was surprised at the thought of a storm coming.

"Oh no… and my bus broke down. I was just about to head home." I said and he nodded looking around some before looking down.

"You uh… getting a ride from Ronnie?" he asked. I shook my head casually thinking I should have definitely asked Sunshine.

"No. Darn it, it would have been a good idea to ask." I asked looking away.

"I could take you." he said and I looked at him stunned. "I mean if you don't mind. I'm sure your parents wouldn't want you out in the rain… you know with hard wind and…rain." I blinked rapidly at his words as he was trailing in and out of his words due to nervousness maybe. I slowly nodded.

"Okay sure." I replied and he nodded and lifted his head down the hall. We left down the hall and out the front doors of the school.

Gerry's POV

So here we are, together in my Camaro. After opening and closing the passenger's side for her, I moved faster than I should have to get into the driver's side. So now it was just us. I had tossed my back pack in the back and noticed the different school and football crap in the back seat. She had glanced back there and now I felt embarrassed.

"Oh sorry for the mess." I said and she shook her head.

"No it's fine. I'm just thankful for you offering to drive me." she said smiling warmly at me. I smiled back and nodded hearing the rumbling of the clouds above us. I started my car and took off in the direction she pointed. It was quiet now. Come on say something.

"So what are your parents like?" I blurted out. She looked at me almost caught off guard by my question. Of course, she was it was stupid to say the least. She shrugged.

"My dad's a marine… mom's a military nurse." she replied. My eyes popped.

"Really?" I asked and she nodded arching a brow.

"Is that hard to believe?" she asked and I shook my head.

"No. That's not what I meant. I just- that's really cool." I said fumbling my words.

"Yeah they're both out of the country right now." she said. I looked at her stunned. I wanted to ask where they were, but I didn't want to pry too much into her family life.

"So you stay at home by yourself?" I asked. She shook her head.

"We have a house keeper who watches the house and looks in on me from time to time." she replied. I winced.

"Don't you have any brothers or sisters?" I asked. She shook her head.

"No. Only child." she answered. I nodded slowly looking back at the road. Some women from my mom's church saw my car and looked and their eyes immediately popped. That couldn't be good.

"That must be hard, not being able to see them a lot." I said. I mean if my mom wasn't around, I don't even know how I would cope. After pointing down another street, Jenna shrugged.

"A lot of the neighbors look in on me. I'm never really alone. They help me with my homework and I talk to my parent's when I can." she told with a grateful smile. I nodded.

"Don't you get lonely?" I asked her glancing at her as she pointed every now and then. She shrugged.

"It's okay. I have my friends and Julius and you and your team. I know if anything happens, Julius and Petey and the others would come running." she said and I looked down mildly discouraged since I knew what she meant.

"I'd come running, too." I told her. She looked at me as if not sure on how to respond. She looked down at her lap.

"And why would you do that?" she asked. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Because Julius is my friend… and his friends are my friends." I told. She nodded slowly as if thinking about my words.

"Well… thank you." She replied. I nodded.

"You're welcome." I told. I noticed we were in the black part of town. The houses were surprisingly nice. I mean I knew the African Americans didn't live in dumps. Julius lives in a nice neighborhood. But every face I saw was black. This was new for me for I was only ever here with Julius. Rain began to fall hard onto my car. Luckily, Jenna pointed to a pale white house.

"There's my house." she said. I turned quickly and cut off my car. I leaned forward and removed my jacket and handed it to her.

"What's this?" she asked as she confusingly took it. It was honestly an instinct I had acquired from dating Emma.

"Just so you don't get too soaked." I said. Her eyes sparkled at my words and I got out quickly and ran around to the other side. The rain was hard and pelting down on me and I knew it was only going to get worse.

Jenna's POV

I pulled his jacket over my head and he opened the door and held his hand out to me. Without thinking, I took it and we ran up my driveway and over to my porch. Once we were covered by the porch, we both looked down at our soaking hands joined together. Immediately we released each other and I moved his football jacket off me and handed it to him.

"Thank you." I said and he nodded taking it back.

"No problem." he said. I bit my bottom lip and nodded.

"And not just for the coat. Thank you for driving me home and thank you for standing up for me when that guy was harassing me and my friend." I said. He nodded.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." he said lowly and I shook my head.

"I've been told beauty is a curse for some of us." I replied looking down before looking up at him. "I know it probably wasn't easy to do that." He shook his head.

"But it was." he said. I stared at him feeling my stomach tighten beneath his deep stare. We both looked out at the neighborhood as the rumbling storm came more violently now. I closed my eyes for a second before opening them and looking back at Gerry.

"It's probably going to be this bad all day. Probably too dangerous to drive, too. Um… would you like to come in?" I asked softly and Gerry looked tensed, but not in a bad way. He cleared his throat and nodded.

"Yes. Thank you." he said. I nodded wondering what it was I doing. I was sure someone saw him with me. But right now, I was just doing the good Christian thing to do and offering my home to a classmate during a horrible storm. I pulled my house key from my bag and opened it letting him follow me inside.

End Part 1

Author's Notes

Okay so this is going to be a short fic which is why the first part is really long. I've thought of this story for years and I love Ryan Hurst so enjoy! Also to the guest asking about a Harry Potter fic with Fenrir Greyback X oc, one will come soon. That is on my list of fics but ima try and finish a few before I start. I just posted this one because it's going to be maybe 3 parts!