Hello my dear all!!! I am finally posting the first chapter of "Tricks of Love" and I am actually excited about it....I really hope you'll like as much as you liked "Fire and Ice" :-))

So, here is the first encounter between our cute and sweet Jasper and Travis, when it really all began.. I thought it was important to have a chapter from Jas POV describing that particular day. Don't you agree?

Hope you'll enjoy it, please let me know as usual, vote, comment, message...thank you all for your comments in the author's note!!

Dedicated to Dontbotherme32, that came out with the first nickname for Jasper and Dima: JIM :-) Enjoy sweety! xox

On the right, a picture of Jasper

Enjoy xox

JASPER POV:  that rainy morning of November

I woke up this morning in the same mood I wake up every single day, at the sound of the alarm beeping on my nightstand, and when I looked out of the window and noticed it was raining, I just shrugged my shoulders and sighed. If the rain wouldn’t stop, I couldn’t go to the park and meet with my friends and skateboard. Boy, that was actually sort of depressing, because this new trick I was trying was about to be almost perfect and I wanted to try it over and over.

Mike and Andy couldn’t believe I almost made a complete upside-down loop and uhm, couldn’t almost believe it myself. Boy, that was tricky and dangerous and when last month I landed badly and sprained my wrist that hurt. And that got my parents super mad at me, telling me I should behave more like a Lucas is supposed to behave and that they couldn’t tolerate me having such a useless and uhm, what was the word mum used? Uhm, oh yeah, sure, she called it “low-class”.

Sure, everything that wasn’t remotely snobbish and “high-class” for her was just crap and useless.

I sighed again.

Time to get up and get ready, hopefully my parents weren’t downstairs, but already at work. Boy, I really hope so, because for once I wanted to enjoy breakfast in a normal way and not having to mind my manners and posture.

When I entered the kitchen a sweet and yummy whiff of pancakes and muffins hit me and I smiled thinking about Maria, our housekeeper, a nice, warm and always solar middle age woman originally from Spain that ran our house. I sighed. My parents were such snobs.

“Maria.” I surprised her by jumping up behind, out of the blue. She softly yelped and turned looking at me with a sweet smile.

“Jasper, good morning. What would you prefer for breakfast?” She asked, leading me to the kitchen-counter. Uhm, so my parents weren’t around.

“Uhm, pancakes and…”

“Jasper Lucas, come to the dining room with me and please, stand straight.” My mother walked in and interrupted me. My mood immediately dropped down and I saw Maria sneaking me a comforting smile.

“Maria, bring us breakfast there.”

“Certainly Mrs. Lucas.”

I sat down and simply stared at my plate, not knowing what to talk about with my mum; we never had a very close relationship and she was anyway busy all day with her clubs, business and fancy dinners, which were the most boring torture of this world. I sighed again and she saw it.

“Jasper, please, stand straight, chin up and shoulders square. Don’t look down at the plate and don’t put your elbows on the table, it is absolutely impolite.” She said, with her usual cold and dry tone of voice.

“Yes, mum.” I answered, trying to comply all of these tasks. Boy, it wasn’t easy and felt my arms stiff; this wasn’t a normal and comfortable posture. She eyed me crooking one of her dark eyebrows and I knew what I did wrong. “Yes, mother.”

Uhm, she didn’t like me calling her “mum” or calling my father, “dad.” She said it wasn’t appropriate. Urgh, I felt suddenly sick and even if the pancakes in front of me smelled really good, my appetite was suddenly gone. I chucked down few bites, to avoid extra arguments or explanation of what was appropriate and what wasn’t. Boy, I should make a list one day or another, because I couldn’t remember all of them.

If only Nic was here…I really missed my brother, but I understood why he decided to live in Los Angeles and start his career there. He couldn’t stand our parents and with the excuse of wanting to improve his knowledge and have higher chances, he flew to the other side of the States. Uhm, that was smart of him, but I was glad we kept constantly in touch. He was the best big brother you could ask for.

Mum, uhm, mother studied me from across the table and I stiffened more than normal, feeling now nervous and tense under her scrutinizing stare; my cheeks went immediately warm and I was sure bright red. I didn’t like when people kept staring at me like that, it made me feel nervous and I would do something clumsy or silly. Oh boy, why breakfast had to be so complicated every morning? I felt my hand slightly shake and I gulped hoping to not spill anything.

Oh boy, I was just eating a pancake, c’mon Jasper, relax a bit.

“Jasper, are you ready for school?” She enquired glancing at my clothes. Uhm, bet they weren’t right for her. “Dear son, why don’t you learn to dress in a more appropriate way? You look so … common.”

I swallowed down the bite of pancake hard. Boy, here we go again.

“Mu..uhm, mother, all of the students do dress in this way at school. Nobody really dresses very, uhm, elegant.” I tried to say, my voice softly trembling and my palms sweating for the tension.

“I told your father that this school was not the top, but he just did not want to listen to me.” She shook her head and then stood up. I mentally cringed.

Uhm, if this one wasn’t appropriate, what she had in mind? I mean, this one was already a complete depressing and monotone pain in the neck. I had no friends, most of my classmate made jokes about me because I was gay, which came out just by accident and the professors ignored my silent and quiet presence.

I sighed. That day, the day it came out I was gay, a girl sat beside me during one class and began to talk to me and uhm, flirt, but I wasn’t interested. I thought she was nice and when asked me if I wanted to go on a date with her, I told her I was gay and that maybe it would be nice to go out as friends. For the first time it seemed that a nice person approached me and I never had a girl as friend; I told her it was anyway a secret and she promised to not say a word. Boy. She sure didn’t keep her promise, because the following day the entire school knew it and I became the new uhm, attraction and hobby for a group of jocks. Yep, quite an accident.

Urgh…I so didn’t want to go to school today.

I told her I was ready and then picked up my bag and waved good bye to Maria. Lucky me this morning mum let me take the bus, because I didn’t like when she insisted to drive me there or have our personal driver taking me to school; boy, that was too much.

I walked inside and shook my messy hair, to try to comb them a bit. I opened my locket and looked for a couple of books, then closed it and felt someone behind me sneering. I gulped and pretended nothing was there, already feeling nervous and tense; it scared me the idea of having a huge jock like that Collins targeting me and I was afraid one day he would join Collins. Oh boy, that was more than scaring, that was terrifying me completely and the simple idea had me sweat bullets and tremble.

My eyes stared at the floor and my feet tried to walk faster, but then I felt a hand grabbing the hood of my jumper and dragging me against another row of lockers; he slammed there and I gasped for the impact. When I looked up I felt my skin going cold like ice and my blood suddenly stopping to run; I gulped more and then tried to get away, but Collins was big and strong and kept me there pinned. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…what did he want from me? Why couldn’t he leave me alone? I never did anything to him; we didn’t even know each other.

“Wh-what do y-you want?” I whispered.

“Ha, what the hell did you say, fag? I can’t understand your stuttering.” He hissed, looming lower and looking even bigger and scarier.

Oh boy…don’t hit me, my parents would only get more upset at me.

I stepped back, but it was pointless, because my body pressed against the lockers. I was feeling colder and more tense, because, uhm, I knew nobody would lift a finger to help me; here I was alone. My friends went all to another school. Boy, I saw him smirking in a sick way and I felt sick myself, not knowing what to do. Why me? Why couldn’t he leave me alone? Oh boy, how can I get out of here?

My eyes spotted someone walking towards us, but couldn’t see clearly who that person was and I prayed it wasn’t one of his friends; when he stopped behind Collins, he tapped his shoulder and Collins jumped out of his skin, surprised by that and turned back swinging an arm in the motion.

Oh boy.

My eyes went wide and my jaw almost dropped when I saw who that person was.

I had already seen him walking in our school and uhm, it was impossible to not notice him. Uhm, he was really attractive and uhm…hot. Oh boy, what was I thinking in this moment? But that guy was very handsome, even if he had quite weird and strange looks. White bleached hair, some sort of eye-liner or make up, Converse with spikes, jeans with holes … boy, he looked completely different and that was why I had noticed him at first.

Collins turned and when he swung his arm, the guy dodged it in such a fluid and fast way that my eyes widened even more. He stepped purposely between me and the jock and kept there. I didn’t know what to say or to do.

It was the first time that someone was taking my side and helping me out and he was a complete stranger. But boy, was he eye-catching.

“You’re blocking my locker, Joe … or John.” His voice was calm and collected, but uhm, very sarcastic. He was clearly trying to make fun or provoke Collins. This guy was crazy, yep, he was.

Collins looked at him taken aback, not understanding what happened. Uhm, well, yes, he wasn’t known to be the brightest person in school; uhm, he was good just at playing football, but I didn’t even like football. The guy with white hair was now completely in front of me and peeking at him I could see he was taller and had really, uhm, a handsome body. Boy, what was I thinking about now? I suddenly felt my blood gushing back and my cheeks going hot. This was strange. The guy slipped a hand behind and placed it on my side, motioning me to leave the place.

Boy, he really was helping me out. Me, a complete stranger for him and he didn’t care to face such a big and troublesome jock.

Who was he? What was his name? Why I didn’t know him? I was now so confused, that I stepped aside and let him push me away. I muttered an almost silent “thank you” and he shook his white head. He heard me. I walked away in a complete daze, feeling so confused. Who was that guy?

That same day I went to look for him, because I realized I left him there and didn’t even thank him properly. Now I was worried he might had a fight with that dofus of Collins. Oh boy, I hoped he didn’t get involved in problems because of me; that would make me feel terrible. He seemed such a nice and peculiar person, someone completely different from all the students here, someone not scared to help a stranger. I looked for him, but I couldn’t find it anywhere, uhm, did I just imagine everything?

Boy, no. Cool it down Jasper, don’t be silly. The guy is real, just…uhm, impossible to find.

I kept looking for him for some days, but I had no luck. I mean, was he a phantom or something similar? Oh I know, maybe he was a Jedi knight and he had some special powers and skills to make people not notice him. Uhm, what was I thinking about? Jedi knights? Boy Jasper, snap out of it.

It was impossible to not notice that guy, with his looks and clothes, but where was he? I asked some students and all said they saw him somehow around the school, but couldn’t tell me more about that. One said he noticed him in the library during lunch, sitting alone and reading a book. Uhm, maybe today as well he was there.

I felt immediately better and when the bell rang and announced lunch time, my legs ran towards the library and dashed inside. Then I stopped, feeling now completely tense and nervous. What could I say to him? Oh boy, I didn’t think about it. What would he say? Maybe I was disturbing him? What should I say? Thank you? What else? Oh boy, was I now nervous. I kept standing for few minutes, deciding what to do, and then I decided to go and see. He seemed a uhm, nice person, not a dofus.

My eyes searched for his white head and they spotted him sitting alone on a table in the corner, a clear quiet place. He was reading a book and listening to music. I walked there feeling my breathing going faster and my palms colder. I noticed a hand tapping his neck and saw he had black nail polish. Boy, he sure wasn’t someone common.

I took a deep breath and touched his shoulder. He jumped on the chair and gracefully turned around, glancing at me with his deep black eyes and dazzling curios face. Uhm, he reminded me of an attractive cat. His look scanned me a moment in surprise and I blushed automatically, not because it bothered me, but because it was intense. I knotted my brows, thinking that maybe I disturbed him, maybe I should just leave him alone, but he then smiled and boy, was that a warm and friendly smile.

“It’s you, the cutie from last Monday.” He exclaimed with bright and smiling voice.

Uhm, cutie? Boy, this guy sure wasn’t shy at all. But again, cutie?

But wait a moment. He recognized me and remembered me. A smiled suddenly crept on my burning bright red face and I looked at his intense and shining black eyes.

“Yes, it’s me, again.” I simply muttered, not sure now what to say.

He seemed so open and free. My glance wandered around the library, not knowing what to do. Would it bother if I sat down with him? I hoped not, because now I was curious to know him, even just a little bit. When our eyes met another time and saw his dazzling smile, I blushed again.

“Sit down here with me.” He said, pointing a chair. I sat down and looked back at him. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m really sorry to disturb you during break, but I looked for you the whole past week. It was impossible to find you.” I spoke really fast, wondered if he understood everything.

“No worries man, really.” He smiled again and tilted his head on the side. Boy, he was really friendly and open.

I took a breath and then spoke again, somehow not feeling anymore so tense and stressed. This guy had quite a relaxing effect on me and that was uhm, strange.

“I wanted to thank you, for what you did for me. Nobody in this school had ever stood for me, so I wanted to find you and talk to you.” I confessed, feeling my cheeks burning now.

“That’s very sweet of you.” He grinned and brushed his hair out of his eyes. “Thank you…?” He was asking for my name? Yep, he was. I smiled and stuttered my answer.

“Oh, yeah, right. Uhm, Jasper.” I stretched out my hand automatically, being always taught to do that to be polite and he simply took and shook it warmly and smiling.

“Travis, Travis Henderson.”

We talked for a bit, well, mostly he talked and asked me questions, because he was very enthusiastic and overwhelming, but it felt easy to talk to him and soon my shyness softly decreased and found myself telling him stuff I only told my friends. Travis was like an incredible attractive warm and irresistible person, impossible to resist his excitement and being open and making me feel completely at ease. Oh boy, this was so strange, but so nice. I liked him at first, but not in a physical way, even though I couldn’t deny how extremely good he looked. Boy, more than that. He was incredibly attractive, but uhm, don’t know, uhm, he felt very spontaneous and out of ordinary and I liked him immediately.

“Why that asshole was bullying you?” Travis sure had a colorful way of speaking. I tensed a moment, not knowing how he would take the news.

“Iamgay.” I blurted in one single word.

He laughed and a couple of students looked at him, but he didn’t care.

“You are what?” He asked still chuckling.

“Gay. Out of the closet gay.” Uhm, sure, not by my choice.

He shook his head and what he said had me drop my mouth and eyes completely open in shock.

“Well, Jasper, welcome to the club.”

“You..?” Oh boy, could that be real for real?

Travis gave me a duh-look and smiled again and fished his phone out of a pocket.

“What’s your number, Jasper?”

Oh boy, Travis was asking for my number! Uhm…did I just make a friend? A friend that was gay and with all chances was out loud and proud and not caring about what people said about that? A friend in this school?

Oh boy, I was so glad I went to look for him.

Travis and I became indeed friends and it was easy to be around him, because he would always make me feel relaxed, at ease and welcomed. He was very straightforward and warm and had told me to call him or send him messages; I really liked him and with him I felt my introversion and shyness breaking down day after day. Uhm, sure, only with him, but it was already something. I was like a young padawan learning the way of the force, yep.

Today he asked me to go home with him and meet his mother, which from what he said seemed a very nice person. Boy, hope she wasn’t blunt and enthusiastic as Travis or I would blush the entire day. I giggled thinking about him, because he cursed all the time, but he always looked so charming and elegant. Boy, my parents would freak out if they heard him. Urgh, my parents. Uhm, don’t think about them, Jasper; think about Travis and his “hell”. I giggled more.

I saw him at his locker and jogged towards him; he was talking with someone. When he saw me he smiled brightly and wide and then my eyes went to see with whom he was talking. Boy, they were all older than me and huge…then…then…I stopped and froze on the spot, feeling the air and blood gushing away and leaving me a complete lifeless statue.

Standing there was Aleksandr Lebedev, a scaring and cold huge guy known in the entire school for his dangerous temper and for being a “glacial and dangerous beast” to not mess with.

But that wasn’t the main reason I froze.

Standing there, beside Aleksandr, was HIM. Our eyes met for a second and I felt like shrinking and trembling. Why was he there and talking to Travis? They knew each other? Why was he looking at me as if he didn’t know me and casually smiling? That…uhm, maniac.

“Jasper, that’s Derek and Aleksandr.” Travis said, eyeing me carefully and not understanding why I was nervous. Boy, I was glad he was here with me, because I felt like running away at light speed. He gestured towards him and I understood they didn’t know each other, but just met.  Oh boy, was I relieved. “and…Dmitri?”

So that was his name.

“Right there, man.” He had the guts to grin and wave at me. At me. Oh boy, this guy was a bipolar maniac.

“Uhm, err, ni-nice t-to m-meet ya.” I stuttered, feeling more cold and tense. That bastard smiled more, while Aleksandr eyed us with such a glacial and threatening glare that I thought I was about to dissolve, almost not breathing.

Travis picked at first my mood and dragged me away, making me feel