Hi readers! This is my first story please be kind! This first chapter/scene of Joe's mom's funeral was written by and belongs to BrokenAngel16KL with some of my own alterations! Please check out her story for Super 8 called Picking Up the Pieces ! I don't own Super 8 but I own my OCs Jean Victoria Mayer and Gemma Eve Hughes!

The house was crowded with friends and neighbors trying to comfort them, console them.

Deputy Lamb looked grateful for the support but his eyes were empty. He seemed lost without his wife. Joe distanced himself from the gathering, grieving alone. It was obvious that Joe and his dad weren't very close. I could tell it was hard for Joe, with his dad keeping him at arms length, having nobody to let him know they were there for him.

I looked out the window and over to the swing set where Joe sat holding his mother's locket, lost in memories.

Obnoxious chatter from my friends next to me brought me out of my observations. Will they ever learn to shut up? I turned and gave a chilling glare.

Charles seemed unaffected by the solemn event, eating up a storm, as if the death of his best friend's mother didn't bother him at all. Then again, that might just be his way of dealing with it.

Martin looked sick at the idea of eating right now, while Preston munched on macaroni salad. And Cary... well he was being his usual self, messing with Charles and surprisingly not talking about blowing something up. I sighed. They'll never change.

"So what was in the coffin?", Cary asked, I gave him a hard look, "What? You guys weren't wondering that?"

Preston took a bite and commented between chewing," No, I'm eating macaroni salad."

"I bet Joe's not gonna want to do my movie now," Charles said in a disappointed tone.

"Why not?", asked Preston.

"Shithead, my movie's about the living dead.", answered Charles, exasperated.

"His mom's not a zombie.…", Preston mused.

Martin turned a shade green and groaned," I don't know how you guys are eating…"

"Try a turkey roll and you'll discover how..." Charles defended himself.

Funerals bring back bad memories. My gaze drifted toward the window again. Just as I was about to drift off into my thoughts, I noticed they were all looking at me with expectant faces.

"What?" I said, oblivious to what they wanted.

"Do you wanna help?" asked Charles with a hopeful expression.

"With what?" I questioned, still clueless.

"With the movie I'm gonna make," he said annoyed.

"Depends, what am I gonna have to do?" I replied.

"Well, I'm still brainstorming on what the movie is gonna be about-" He was interrupted by a commotion in the living room. We all moved to the door way of the kitchen to get a better look at was going on.

Mr. Dainard was being cuffed and pulled out of the house by a furious Deputy Lamb. I pushed my way through the confused crowd and followed the pair out the front door, not bothering to see if anyone else followed.

Standing in the on the front porch, I could hear Mr. Dainard trying to explain to the Deputy that he had pure intentions and had only come to pay his respects... his explanations were ignored as the Deputy shoved him into the backseat of his cruiser and slammed the door.

I knew why Mr. Dainard presence upset Mr. Lamb so much. Subconsciously, he still blamed Mr. Dainard for the death of his wife. I didn't understand why wasted his time hating Mr. Dainard when he should be comforting his grieving son.

The Deputy looked over at Joe and told him he would be back soon, before turning to me and giving me a nod. I took that as a " Please-do-what-I-am-unable-to"

I hopped down from the front steps and over to the swing set where Joe sat watching the ordeal in similar confusion. He turned his gaze from his father's cruiser that was backing out of the driveway to me. After noticing what I was wearing, a ghost of a grin was placed on his lips.

"Nice," he said with a small chuckle.

"Shut it," I replied irritably tugging at the hem of the t-shirt I was wearing. I didn't have a bunch of money so I was stuck wearing the nicest-meaning cleanest-clothes I had. Which happened to be gray jeans, a white t-shirt and a boyish sort of jacket. I was too busy being worried about Joe to bother with what people would think about me.

"Really though, you should dress up more often. It'll remind everyone that you're actually a girl," he said with a smile.

"But I'm already such a girly-girl." I said sarcastically while plopping down onto the swing next to him and stared at the gray sky. The color seemed fitting for such a sad day.

After a few minutes of silence, I glanced over at Joe, who was once again turning the locket around in his hand. I got up off the swing and stood in front of him. Joe looked up at me with a questioning gaze.

I then leaned down and pulled him into a small hug.

He seemed shocked at first but after a moment, he overcame it and hugged me back.

"Just so you know, I'm here, I got your back so don't keep all this pain to yourself." I said quietly.

He took a deep breath and replied, "Thanks Jean."

After a while, we then released each other and I returned back to my spot on the swing beside him. I had been in his spot, but the difference was that he wasn't going to be alone.

Meanwhile inside, Cary took a bite, "Your right, the turkey rolls are good."

"Told ya."

~4 Months Later~ [Last day of school]

JEAN'S POV

"FREEDOM!", Cary yelled, throwing his ripped up report card into the trash. Preston clutched his report card closer to him, probably afraid Cary would go for it next.

I teased," That bad Cary? Told you being a nerd pays off! Did you see Preston and Gemma's report cards?"

Cary pouted," At least it's not as bad as Smartin's here" He jerked a finger in Martin's direction. Martin was clearly in distress as he read over his grades.

"Oh ya Martin puked all over his locker! It was the grossest one yet!"

I gave him a look of disgust, "God Cary, shut up! I don't need to know that!"

Joe and Charles walk ahead of us in deep conversation about the main character of Charles's movie, Detective Hathaway. Just then Gemma jogged up beside me, a huge grin of satisfaction plastered on her face.

Gemma Eve Hughes was my best friend besides the guys, I guess that probably because she was my only friend who was a girl. Girls in school didn't like me, most likely because I hung around a bunch of guys and got along better with most of the guy's in our class than with them.

It was the same story with Gemma, but for a different reason. Gemma was gorgeous. I'm talking so-frickin'-pretty-top-models-would-go-green-with-jealousy. So obviously boys liked her and girls hated her, because of that she made sure to flaunt herself. Just to piss the rest of the girls off.

That was also a difference between us, she was seen as a girl and I was one of the guys.

"All A+s! HA!", She exclaimed. I shot her a non-believing look and she admitted grudgingly," Well except gym, but seriously does that even count? Gym isn't a real class."

"Yeah it is!, Cary objected, probably because that was the only class he excelled in.

"Shut up, Brace face!", she snapped testily, "As if I'm gonna run around with these!"

Did I mention she had..umm…"assets"…well ya…

Cary coughed uncomfortably and Preston went red. Preston had a huge crush on Gemma and it always embarrassed him when she talked freely about her "assets" or "showed them off" which was often….

"GUYS!", Charles yelled, " What are you messing around for? We NEED to get ready for the Super 8! Are you guys committed to this or not!"

In truth, Charles was the only one who was really committed, the rest of us just did it for fun.

" You said you needed someone to play the detectives wife right?, Gemma asked but didn't wait for an answer," Coz I found someone."

"Who?', asked Joe.

Gemma smirked subtly, "Alice Dainard."

Charles and Joe's eyes practically fell outta their sockets. "Alice Dainard?", Charles repeated.

Gemma and I shared a knowing look, we both knew Joe had a thing for Alice. However Preston ,Martin ,Cary and especially Charles were oblivious to this.

"Yup! I asked her while I was returning that art techniques book, she was in the silent reading section. And she said YES~!", Gemma practically sang," Now can we go through exactly what each of us are doing?"

"You're not supposed to talk at all in the silent reading section, it's for silent reading.", Cary mocked seriousness.

I smirked," Really smartass, how would you know? Have you ever even been in the library?"

"Shut up, Jean."

"Martin's the detective, Cary's a zombie and filming when he's not being the zombie, Preston is doing sound and playing the extras, Joe's doing makeup and costume, and apparently Alice is being the wife." Charles explained," And I'm directing"

Gemma threw him a you-are-a-retard-look and turned to ask me," So what are WE doing?"

"Well I'm doing background music and I'm playing the evil doctor lady-"

"-HER NAME IS MADAM GROSKI! AND SHE THE LEAD BAD GUY!", Charles protested loudly.

"So she's a dude?", I asked jokingly. Everyone snickered as Charles ears went red with frustration.

"Anyway", Joe distracted, " You think you can help me with costumes? And we might need you to paint backgrounds."

"Sure.", Gemma agreed, then looked at her watch "Shit! It's already 3:20! My Dad's gonna freak out! I gotta go, see ya Wednesday at 10:00p.m. in front of the water tower! Alice is gonna use her dad's car to pick us up!"

With that she raced down the crowed hall and out of sight. I noticed Preston watch her until she was gone.

"What you looking at?", I teased and elbowed him slightly. He turned redder.

" God enough of this!, Cary complained," I'm frickin' hungry!"

My stomach growled loudly," Me too! Let's go!"

With that we all ran down the halls of Lillian Middle School to the door, ignoring the shouts from the remaining teachers. Cary was right " FREEDOM!" In some aspects of life.

[Restaurant]- Cathy's Pies&Sandwiches

We all sat in a booth and listened to Charles rant about the "competition" of the Super 8 film contest. Nobody but Joe was really listening. I was busy riffling through my wallet trying to see if I could pay for my order of fries and my ice cream sundae. Preston was explaining the GPA system to Martin and Cary was flicking his lighter boredly.

"Why does the "zombie" in the movie have braces?", I asked out of the blue. Charles and Joe didn't seem to hear.

"I was wondering that too." answered Martin.

Cary said shortly, "Shut up, I still have a year and a half before they come off!"

Preston pondered," If you think about it doesn't really make sense."

"Told ya , Cary"

"What do ya mean "told ya?", Cary mocked high-pitched voice when he said "told ya".

I smacked him on the head with my spoon and snapped," I do not sound like that! Dumbass!"

He rubbed his head," You're right. You're not that much of a girl."

"Geeze thanks…I'm sooo flattered to be one of the guys." My voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Someone's sensitive..", commented Martin offhandedly.

"Really, about what exactly?", I eyed him coldly.

"Their shortness!", Charles butte in.

"SHUT UP!", Cary and I shouted, Cary was the shortest guy I knew, however I was even shorter than him so that made all the short comments worse for me.

I slapped my money on the table.

"I'm going home, see ya tomorrow."

Cary stood up, "I'm going too. Bye guys."

Preston, Joe, Martin, and Charles waved as Cary and I exited the restaurant.

"You need a ride?," asked Cary, adjusting his book bag and pulling his bike up from where it leaned against the building.

I looked at the clock on the outside of Cathy's, glowing neon, 6:30.

"Sure", I stood myself on the pegs on his bike. He kicked off and began peddling in the direction of Keyward Avenue.

"I can't believe how boring the guys are being!", Cary complained loudly," It's summer! Do they really want to sit around and just talk about the movie! Charles doesn't have to add all this crap with a wife and an evil doctor lady! This movie is turning into work and all Charles does is sit on his fat ass!"

My grip on his shoulders tightened as he made a sharp turn.

"He really just wants a shot at this. So even though he bitches all the time about this and that, don't you still want to try? I mean you could be famous someday!" I pinched his cheek and laughed.

"Cut it out!", He protested," Yeah, I guess." He braked at the start to Keyward avenue, I hopped off the pegs and readjusted my school bag.

"Well see ya tomorrow, you wanna meet me here at 9:00a.m.?'

"That early?", Cary whined.

I laughed," Charles is gonna want to film as much of the movie parts without Alice before Wednesday. And you know how Cathy's got those super-good sugar doughnuts in the morning!"

He perked up, "Ok! See ya!" He started to peddle off.

"Don't set anything on fire!", I yelled after him.

"No promises!"

Cary was such a pyromaniac. I sighed and started to walk down Keyward, I wasn't eager to get home. Work started at 7:00 anyway…it was 6:45 now. What was there to go home to anyway? A hot meal? Clean bedding? A family? None of that.

I broke into a run and arrived shortly in front of PoleCats. Yup this was where I worked. PoleCats was strip club, with dancers, fighters, gambling, drinks, and trashy music. I absolutely hated it there.

I worked odd jobs there, cooking, serving, running errands for the strippers and fighters. But mostly I was a bar tender.

I entered the back door and the stench of cigarettes and alcohol overcame me. I walked down the narrow hall into a small room with old rusting racks with clothes. I shut the door and quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a button up shirt. I wanted to look as unattractive as possible which as the guys told me, was easy. Tch…jerks.

I threw my dark hair into a ponytail and walked to the bar where two other girls working threw me disdainful glares. I rolled my eyes at them. Bitches, just because I didn't whore around to try and make money.

I spent the first hour doing the usual, smile, make drink, avoid suggestive comments, get paid. Then the other girls hissed at me to take orders at the tables and kicked me outta the bar.

I know I'm only fourteen and I'm not even old enough to drink but when you have to pay rent, pay for school, pay for food and clothes, and pay for utilities you'll do what you gotta do.

While serving the last table I immediately noticed the bulging wallet in his pocket, I set down my folding stand and swiped the wallet. I served the drinks from off the tray, while underneath the edge of the stand I pulled a few bills out. Then I pulled up the stand and slipped the wallet swiftly back into his pocket.

They were so drunk they wouldn't have noticed if I had just reached into his pocket openly. I carefully tucked the bills into my shoe while I pretended to tie it.

I left though the back door, it was 4:00a.m., I was exhausted and trudged to my apartment building at the very end of Keyward Avenue, far past the nice houses. I climbed the three flights of stairs and fumbled to unlock the door and harshly used my hip to force it open.

I entered my tiny apartment: kitchen with a single burner stove, a cot for a bed and few shelves and hooks, a bathroom with a sink that had one temperature-cold. There was a public shower on my floor which had the as many choices for temperature as my bathroom.

I threw my school bag on the cot and grabbed a towel, soap and shampoo, then made my way to the shower room. I washed off, hid my newly made money in my shoe which I hid underneath my bed. I fell asleep the minute my head his the cot.

Hope you liked it! Please review and tell me what you liked, what you didn't like or If you have ideas for the story! Hope my Ocs are somewhat lovable!

-Rukia