you took the midnight train, didn't you? {aura}

[JACKSON HIRSCH]

Jackson had been thinking about Fairfield lately. He didn't know what it was. Maybe he was just in a nostalgic mood, maybe something triggered a memory... or maybe it was the fact that he was seeing Aura Rigby everywhere. Yep, that was probably it.

He didn't know why that was happening, either, but it seemed that everywhere he turned within the halls of Baum Academy, he saw her hair or her profile or some sort of dress that she would have most definitely worn. It was most aggravating when he was walking Hollie to class, because he would be staring off into the distance trying to see if it actually was her, and she would ask him what was the matter. He'd brush it off as nothing because he knew that there was no way that she would be in New York City because he had left her and Carson in Fairfield, Iowa some three and a half years ago.

He hadn't thought much about them as of late because he was busy with school and Grace with her mom and his bros and everything else, but he really did kind of miss Aura. Jackson was tempted to ask his mom about her in one of his letters, but sometimes he didn't want to know. He wanted to forget his old life and move on and someday get his mom off that farm and into some fancy house far from Tornado Alley in a town with more people per square kilometer.

So why he kept seeing her everywhere, he didn't know.

After about three weeks of this ridiculous nostalgic breakdown, he was keeping his eyes averted from anyone in the hallway, keeping his focus on the shoes of the people in from of him. He was done thinking about boring, old Fairfield (though it really wasn't boring with Aura and Carson around), and was going to focus on Baum Academy.

And then he saw her.

Someone had said his name (or so he thought, he wasn't quite sure), so he had looked up, and there she was. Right there, right in front of him.

What.

Where.

How?

He stopped in his tracks and just kind of stared at her for a few moments, convincing himself that those were her brilliant blue eyes and just... Aura Rigby. In New York City. Right there in front of him after so long.

After his intial stunned silence, after he knew it was her, he reacted. "Aura!" he called, though not as loudly as he had hoped, and ran over to her and scooped her up in a ridiculous hug and twirled her around because wow, he had missed her so much! Of course, people were leaving and going back to their dorms since the day was over, though some stopped and glared for a while, whispering things like 'is that jackson hirsch with another girl', 'that can't be grace isn't dyeing hair against her religion or something', 'what about that poor holladay girl he was obsessed with i guess he's moved on'. He didn't care, though. He didn't care one bit, because Aura Rigby was his best friend and he missed her.

Jackson set her down and steadied them, and then smiled like an idiot as he always did. "When did you get here?" he asked, wanting to know in case that was the reason he had been seeing her everywhere, because it was actually her and not a long lost twin or her ghost haunting him as he was starting to think, which was partially why he was getting upset with that whole business because why would she be dead? That was ridiculous.

Of course, they hadn't really left on the best of terms, had they? No, he had to push that away at first. He wouldn't think about that until a bit later. It wasn't fair.

[/justify]

[AURORA RIGBY]

Three days at Baum Academy and Aurora Rigby had yet to really fall in love with it.

It’s big, for one. There was never this much school in Iowa. The campus was never this big and there weren’t as many classes offered and no way near this many students. It’s overwhelming and ridiculous. Still, she can’t write home saying that the people are awful. Her classmates were actually pretty great. There was a girl in her English class that was gracious enough, having helped a ton on her first day. Her teachers weren’t terrible. Not yet, anyway. Aurora was hoping they continued with the ‘treat the new girl kindly’ attitude for as long as possible.

Secondly, there was a lot of homework. It was only the end of her third day, and she had what had to be six hours worth of work to do. She may have been exaggerating but if she had to put a number of hours on how heavy her backpack felt, she would go with at least six. Her teachers said most of it was to test where she stood on what the class had already learned so far. She had to catch up somehow, didn’t she? Aurora thought that was stupid, but she couldn’t argue with the people that’d be handling her grades for the rest of the school year.

Third, she had yet to find Jackson. If she was being honest with herself, she hadn’t been looking very hard. What with the new campus, new classes, new home, she hadn’t had much time to even think about the (ex?) best friend she was searching for. Besides, it had been a very long while since they’d last seen each other. It was totally probable for him to have changed completely, for him to have new friends, for him to have forgotten all about her. Aurora hoped that wasn’t the case, but she hadn’t been able to stop considering that possibility.

Standing at her locker, one hand on her hip and the other on the metal door, Aurora stared into the mirror on the back wall. She wasn’t happy with what she saw, but that was nothing new. Her hair had lost the curls she’d worked so hard on before class and her mascara was smudged. It just went to show that all her efforts were usually for nothing. With a groan, she pulled a book from the locker and stuffed it into her bag. Today was proving to be downright dreadful. Deciding that four textbooks were enough to tear the strap on her bag, Aurora closed the locker, slamming the door a bit louder than she’d mean to.

Aurora turned to make her way back to the dorms for a cup of hot cocoa. It would just go so well with her one thousand word essay for History. Before she could even comprehend the boy staring at her from not far down the hall, he had said the one word she hadn’t heard since leaving Iowa, the one nickname she really only let two people ever use. Goosebumps prickled up onto her arms and the back of her neck and she had just opened her mouth to respond with a very confused Jackson? when he reached her. For a moment, her view was obstructed by his hair. Was it even possible for it to have gotten bigger?

Her alarmed shriek died in her throat and she threw her arms around him to keep herself up during the spin. Was it possible for his hugs to have gotten any better? Aurora was giggling before she could let herself think too much about how their last goodbye had gone. If she did let herself think about it… his reaction to seeing her now almost made up for how broken hearted she’d been then. Aurora was too wrapped up in the moment to worry about whispering gossipmongers. They were the last thing she wanted to worry about.

Finding her feet on solid ground again, Aurora held her arms out to balance herself, knowing she did not want to topple over right now. “O-oh. Um. A little over a week ago?

” She paused to straighten her hair, ever being the one to worry about her appearance. “Today’s my third day here.[/color]” It was hard to think he’d ever done anything wrong with the way he was smiling at her… And yet, she couldn’t forget the day he’d left her standing at the train station with hardly a goodbye. Aurora took a step back and stared up at him, waiting for the explanation she’d been needing wanting for the last three and a half years.

---

notes;[/color] i actually love the doll you made for aura so much, that i'm just going to say that's her outfit.
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[JACKSON HIRSCH]

He was almost sure he was dreaming, but no, this was real. Jackson knew the difference when he was awake. If it was a dream, they would still be in Fairfield as he could never quite picture her in New York City. They would be laughing and Carson would be there too and they would get along better than they ever did in real life. This had to be real because it was too ridiculous to be imaginary. Yeah, Jackson, real sound logic you got there.

And goodness gracious (a term he had been using much too often since he found the irony in it), she seemed to have grown up in the past three and a half years. At least, she changed a little bit. Maybe that's why he didn't recognize her right away when he thought he saw her. Maybe that's why he didn't look, because so much had changed and-

Wait, how long?

"A week? Three days at Baum? Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" She didn't tell him at all, actually, considering her just found out himself. "It's been so long since I've seen you, how have you been?" If she wasn't right there in front of him, he wouldn't believe it. "I've missed you so much," He hadn't even realized how much he missed her and everything about her, really. Aura Rigby, his first American friend. Aura Rigby with her big blue eyes, Aura Rigby with her green and gold and lavender, Aura Rigby with her brown hair and knee-high boots, Aura Rigby with her smile that could brighten an entire horizon. "So much has changed since I left..."

But that last one disappeared all of the sudden, and Jackson realized it, too. He was rambling on and not even letting her speak. Or maybe she didn't want to. Those memories were flooding back to him now, the ones set right between his growing up in Iowa and him arriving in New York - his departure. Since he left. He was such an idiot sometimes. He had wanted to avoid it, and now he was bringing it up, although it looked like Aura wanted to talk about it in the first place. Or maybe he was misreading something, he had to make sure. "So... besides all that, what are you doing in New York? Fairfield too boring without me?" Oh yeah, Jackson, be that cocky bastard, that's the way to fix things. The look on his face said "yeah... no."

No, he knew what this was about. Jackson sat on one of those benches that were in between the sections of lockers for no reason but to give teenagers some privacy for... well, usually not talking, but this time they would be talking. He'd seen other people talk while sitting on the benches. It doesn't matter if they were couples or not they were usually couples the point was that they needed to talk without other people hearing. "Can you sit with me so we can talk about things?" he asked with his best "please don't be mad i just need to explain things" smile. As if he wanted to. As if it were his idea and not maybe possibly the whole reason she had come here.

[AURORA RIGBY]

The longer she stood here with him, the worse she felt.

The longer she looked at him, the better she felt.

It was a horribly conflicting situation, and she didn’t know what to do with herself.

On one hand, this was her childhood best friend standing in front of her. They’d practically grown up together. They’d been attached at the hip. She wouldn’t be who she was today if it hadn’t been for Jackson. When his father passed away, who had been there for him every day but her? When he’d left, hadn’t she gone to say goodbye, even though they’d hardly spoke a word since they day he actually decided to go?

On the other hand, this was the boy she’d lost sleep over and moved to a new state for. She could be home right now, having tea with her mom, and serving the same old regulars at the restaurant she would’ve been stuck at her entire life. She could still be friends with Carson, maybe showing him that the things he was getting into were bad for him. He’d left her at the train station with hardly a goodbye.

“I sort of don’t have any of your contact information?

” She sounded sorry about it, but was it really her fault? It was pretty hard to get over a broken heart and back then, she’d felt that if anybody was going to initiate conversation, it should have been him. And then she got a new phone, and had to enter all her numbers manually, and without him there to give her it, she’d kind of… forgotten. “Besides, it has been really stressful settling in. I’m sure you know what that’s like.[/color]” Retract the claws, Aurora.

“No, uh, yeah. I’ve been good! There’s a lot to New York. I can’t wait to go out and scope out some more new places.[/color]” She rolled her eyes and grinned, “Yeah, I’ll bet. Being the best thing that’s ever happened to you and all.[/color]” Her short burst of confidence was quickly smothered when he brought up his leaving. Good, let him. And if he did end up not wanting in her life again, so be it. All she needed was an apology. Give her that, and she could move on. “Yeah. How’s… how’s it been here? You like it?[/color]” She may have loved New York so far, but the ache to go back home was getting worse.

“Pft. Yeah, that’s it.[/color]” Aurora shrugged and gave her backpack a quick glance. “No, but really. I guess I just wanted a ‘higher education.’ Or however you’d say that. Public school was never enough for me.[/color]” Never mind that she was struggling in class with all the work they’d been giving her. She looked down, knowing she was going to regret the next thing she said. “Besides, Carson kind of… went crazy after you left.[/color]” She didn’t want to talk about him, though. She wanted to talk about Jackson and his leaving… which was why she was rather pleased to see him sit down and ask if they could, giving her his silly ‘please don’t be mad’ smile.

Aurora sighed and sat down beside him, setting her bag down at her feet. “You know, you’re a hard kid to find, Jackson Hirsch.[/color]” She hadn’t meant to tell him that she had been looking. One, because it wasn’t like his ego needed anymore stroking. Two, because she didn’t want it obvious that one of her main reasons for coming out here was to find him.
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[JACKSON HIRSCH]

"Yeah, uh, sorry about that." Jackson rubbed the back of his neck when she mentioned that she didn't have any of his contact information. Yeah, that was totally his bad. He could have sent her a letter while sending one to his mom, he could have called the number he memorized so long ago, he could have tried to contact her earlier... but he didn't. He wasn't sure if that was because he wanted to leave Fairfield behind or he was so overwhelmed with New York and new friends and new phone numbers to memorize. "Uh, yeah, I know. Totally stressful." He had nearly winced aloud because he felt really bad, but he didn't because she had every right to call him out on it.

Glad for the distraction, he responded eagerly to her comments on the big apple. "Oh yeah, I haven't even seen all the places yet. It's ridiculous." It was true, the city was so big that he hadn't really had time to go places, with school and works.

"Of course," he said, grinning. Jackson may or may not have agreed with the fact that Aura had been the best thing that had ever happened to him. Besides Grace Holladay, but even then... Aura was there since he had moved to America all those years ago, and he probably wouldn't have been who he was without her... If he hadn't grown up with Aura, Hollie might not even like him. It was a little bit too much to think about, though, and Jackson tried to stay away from thinking that big.

Thinking of Hollie luckily made it easier for him to answer the next question. "I like it here. I think you will, too. The people here are great..." he trailed off, not sure if he wanted to mention Hollie yet. He didn't want to dig himself into that rut of going on about himself - he wanted to keep the conversation on Aura. She deserved that much.

Okay, yeah, no, the cocky bastard thing was a bad idea. He could tell. But he didn't want to bring it up and she was continuing on, so. "Baum's pretty sweet, I think. You'll like it too, once you get used to the not-public-school aspect of it." Jackson had homework he needed to be doing but whatever, this was more important. "Meaning a lot more homework, which is saying something." Not that he had really gone to high school in Fairfield, but he heard it was a lot of homework. Junior high had been a lot of work, too, compared to what he heard about other junior high schools.

His heart kind of sank when she mentioned Carson. "Oh..." he said, not wanting to talk about Carson, either, but still wanting to acknowledge what she said. Whoever had invented that sometimes two letter word was a genius and many awkward conversations had them to thank.

Now that they were sitting, it was a little less awkward. Standing and talking for a long time was always a hardship, no matter the subject matter. "I know I am. It would be easier if I hadn't left in the first place..." Now he was going to let it out, be prepared. "Or tried to call you or write or anything. Which was pretty douchey of me to do. Along with me not even saying goodbye." He hadn't realized that she was here to look for him, and if he had he wouldn't care about that all that much. "I guess... I'm sorry for that. Just leaving without much of a warning and being an asshole about it." Jackson thought of the conversation he had with Carson before he had left, and was thankful she hadn't heard it. He treated her like property and that wasn't okay.

But he didn't really want her to know he had, either.

[/justify]

[AURORA RIGBY]

“It’s okay,

” she told him uncertainly, quite sure that it wasn’t actually okay. This was Jackson, though, her Jackson, and she didn’t want to see him upset. Never mind how upset she’d been. … Oh, she probably needed to get that figured out. Maybe it’d be best if she stopped saying really offhandedly mean things. She’d had her moment of calling him out, and that was that. Moving on to more important things. An idea came to her suddenly and her face lit up, “will you show me your favorite places?[/color]” What better way to become acquainted with a new city then by her oldest friend showing her around? “It’d really help me figure out where I’d like to spend my time![/color]”

That he liked Baum and New York was somehow immensely reassuring. She didn’t quite realize it, but it had to be because they were both from the same town. And if Jackson had found his place so well, then she had to to, right? Tilting her head a little, easily noticing the way he trailed off after mentioning the people, she wondered who he could be talking about. There were suddenly little butterflies in her stomach and she worried that A) the people were awful or B) he’d found his own group of friends and she wouldn’t have a place in his new life. Which, even though she’d been telling herself would be fine, would not be fine. Not at all, not even a little bit. “Well, my teachers have been alright. And the students I’ve had direct interaction with weren’t terrible, so.[/color]” She shrugged and smiled a little nervously.

Aurora snickered, “I’ll say.[/color]” Only three days and she still wasn’t used to the private school feeling. Maybe to anybody else, it was nothing. But to her, it was everything. It was cleaner and nicer, the books were in better shape and the food was a bit yummier, and the biggest of all was that she was living on campus. She gave her backpack another disdainful look, “I never got this much homework at Fairfield High,[/color]” she looked at him a little hopefully, knowing that they couldn’t possible have any classes together after three days of not seeing each other but, “maybe we can help each other? Like the good old days?[/color]” It was almost painful to say but she kept a positive outlook, thinking they could have good new days now, too.

Being off her feet was nice, though it wasn’t like she’d done a lot of standing lately. It just felt like the campus was huge and she’d already begun to grow tired of the walk from the school building to the dorms. This was it, she thought. She was prepared for whatever he had to say. Despite how badly she wanted to look away or just play with her hair, she kept her hands folded in her lap and her eyes on him. She needed to know that he meant it and that he wasn’t just bullshitting her. “It really was.[/color]” And if she was being honest about it, she’d probably hold it against him for awhile longer. She took a moment to let his apology settle in before asking the one thing she’d been wondering all those years. “Why didn’t you give me a proper goodbye?[/color]”

As if his abrupt leaving hadn’t been bad enough, she definitely hadn’t forgotten his argument with Carson. That was another thing entirely, though, and she was actually quite alright with waiting on that conversation.
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[JACKSON HIRSCH]

Jackson knew perfectly well that it wasn't okay; he knew Aura, even if it had been a while. But he wasn't going to mention it, and besides, she had made a perfect suggestion. "Of course I will! There's so many fun places to go, even if I haven't been to them yet. You hear things." He shrugged after the last part, but he was very excited to show Aura his favorite places in the city. Pictures of them danced across his mind and he would have gotten distracted had he not reminded himself to be completely focused, as this was Aura's time.

"That's good! Some of the teachers here aren't so great, but the senior teachers are the best by far." He smiled, as he was being honest. They were the nicest teachers he had for sure in his four years at Baum. "Do you have Life Skills? That's probably my favorite class here. It's really useful." It really was, and he knew it would probably be the only class he remembered anything specific from. "The students can be gossipy, but overall I like them."

He laughed, figuring as much. Maybe he shouldn't have moved... No, don't think about that now. You've gained too much here and homework is not the reason you should regret moving. Jackson caught her eye and smiled again, nodding. "Of course we can. I missed that, you know." He really did. He missed helping each other with homework and sometimes having to go help out on each other's farms and staying up all night talking when they had bad days and just he really missed Aura Rigby.

But despite that, he whole-heartedly deserved her agreement on how much of an asshole he had been... and then there was that. That question. He had always avoided thinking about how he would answer that question, because he knew exactly why he hadn't said goodbye, but it was hard to explain. "I guess..." No, Jackson, don't be stupid. Just answer. "Look, I was going through a really tough time with my dad and rebuilding the house and everything..." he gulped, "And I knew I was going to leave, and I just... I didn't want to say goodbye because I wanted to pretend like I could get over it, like I could not see you or anyone or anything I knew for the next eight years. And if I would have stood there and said goodbye to you, I would have... I would have broken down. And I wouldn't have left, no matter how much I needed to." A tear was streaming down his face, but he rubbed it away like it was a fly bothering him while he milked his cow back on the farm. "So I'm really sorry I didn't give you a proper goodbye. It is the one thing I regretted all these years."

He wanted to hug her again, but she would probably be mad at him and never talk to him again, so he held off on it.

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