Life in Junior High, a full house fanfic

Hey there, my fellow writers and readers. :) Here's a new Full House oneshot that I cooked up one day. It's really good (at least I hope), and I was inspired to write it by watching the Season 3 episode Back to School Blues, listening to the song Rumors by Lindsay Lohan and reading the story "The Party" by my friend Liz (now called lizwrites) — which sure came in handy when I needed ideas for the kind of names the bullies would call D.J. (because, as I remember from reading the Full House Chronology, her first week in junior high was really rough).

Summary: Set after Back to School Blues, but before Breaking Up is Hard to Do. D.J. learns about mean girls, rumors and reputations the hard way when she has a bad day at school. Luckily, Becky comforts her.

Disclaimer: Genius Jeff Franklin owns Full House, and the lyrics to Rumors by Lindsay Lohan belong to their respective owners. I own the fanfics that I cook up from time to time.

Life in Junior High

Saturday steppin' into the club
Music makes me wanna tell the DJ "Turn It Up"
I feel the energy all around
And my body can't stop moving to the sound

But I can tell that you're watching me
And you're probably gonna write what you didn't see
Well I just need a little space to breathe
Can you please respect my privacy

Twelve-year-old Donna Jo Margaret Tanner — D.J. for short — was sitting at her desk in her sixth period Spanish class, feeling very angry that afternoon at Van Atta Junior High. The reason why was the bully Colleen and her gang of girls; it was like they were the rulers of the school or something.

If only she knew a good word she could call them in Spanish...

It had been a very bad day for D.J. right from the start. As she had walked down the halls to her first class, Colleen and her cronies were standing there off to the side. They looked her up and down. D.J. stopped and turned to them. Then Colleen stepped up to her.

"Hello, scrub," she said, her tone all snobby.

"What do you want?" D.J. replied, doing her best to keep herself from getting angry.

"Well, for starters," Colleen said in the same snobby tone, "look at how you're dressed."

D.J. looked down at herself. She wore a black T-shirt, blue jeans and white shoes. "So?"

"So," Colleen sneered, "you look so scruffy and uncool. And your hair looks like something chewed on it."

Then she laughed along with her gang. As they pointed at D.J., she felt the tears start to well up in her eyes, but she angrily brushed them away and continued off to her class.

D.J. shook her head, still hearing Colleen's insults while they kept repeating in her brain.

Why can't you just let me
Do the things I wanna do
I just wanna be me
I don't understand why
Would you wanna bring me down
I'm only having fun
I'm gonna live my life
(but not the way you want me to)

She hated it. The rumors. The pointing fingers. She remembered walking to her previous classes, while the bullies would point at her and laugh. And they would whisper things — mean things.

They would sometimes say "Freak", "Copycat", "Teacher's pet" or "Flub Girl".

It hurt worse than being pelted with stones or being punched or slapped in the face so many times. Then lunch time had rolled around. Unfortunately, after D.J. got her lunch, she had to sit by herself, because whenever she'd walk up to a table, someone from that table stood in front of her, and she was forced to move on. On the third attempt, she came to a table where a football player sat. He placed his foot where she was going to sit and glared up at her.

"Sit somewhere else, Blondie!" he told her angrily as he kept his football on his other side next to him, while people began applauding. D.J. walked off, wondering if she would ever be able find someplace to sit so she could eat her lunch.

D.J. tried to act like it didn't bother her, but deep down, it really did. That insult from the football player really hurt. Why did it seem like these people singled her out so they could push her around? She didn't do anything wrong.

All day she had been picked on by people who didn't even know her and teased by the popular girls.

When she was walking to her last class that afternoon, someone walked up behind her and knocked her books out of her hands. As she bent down to pick up her books and resume walking down the hall towards her first class, more people surrounded D.J. and her anonymous enemy.

"What are you gonna do about it, freak? Huh?"

Then, when she finally got her stuff together and resumed her walk to her sixth period Spanish class, two boys walked over and shoved her up against the lockers.

"Ha! That'll teach you a lesson, geek!" one of them called, and then laughed mockingly.

I'm tired of rumors starting
I'm sick of being followed
I'm tired of people lying
Saying what they want about me
Why can't they back up off me
Why can't they let me live
I'm gonna do it my way
Take this for just what it is

Here we are back up in the club
People taking pictures
Don't you think they get enough
I just wanna be all over the floor
And throw my hands up in the air to a beat like (What?)

I've gotta say respectfully
I would like it if you take the cameras off of me
‛Cause I just want a little room to breathe
Can you please respect my privacy

Finally the bell rang. At last D.J. could go home. She headed down the steps and onto the bus. But as her luck would have it, Colleen and her cronies were sitting behind her.

"Hello, scrub."

D.J. tried her best to ignore the insult and instead focused on her backpack in her lap.

"So I heard you were bullied and pushed around," said Colleen in a mock pity voice. "How sad. Too bad you don't have any friends to stand up for you, or that you can't stand up for yourself."

That one remark about not having any friends made the hair on the back of D.J.'s head stand up straight. She rolled her eyes as the anger welled up within her. But she pushed it down, as she wanted to be nice. After all, to D.J., fighting with fists was resorting to violence, and that was the last thing she wanted.

Finally when the bus stopped in front of her house, she stepped out and was finally able to let the pent-up tears flow freely like a river.

Why can't you just let me
Do the things I wanna do
I just wanna be me
I don't understand why
Would you wanna bring me down
I'm only having fun
I'm gonna live my life
But not the way you want me to

I just need to free my mind (my mind)
Just wanna dance and have a good time (good time)

I'm tired of rumors (rumors)
Followed (followed, followed, followed, followed, followed)

What they (follow) me
Why can't they (they they they-they-they) let me live

Take this for just what it is

D.J. walked up to the house and opened the door. Then she walked through the living room and into the kitchen. Her father Danny was sitting there at the table with D.J.'s little sister Michelle, who was 2 and a half years old. When he looked up and saw D.J., his face broke into a grin.

"D.J.! Hey, how was your day at school?" he asked.

D.J. wanted to tell him the truth. But for some reason, she couldn't get the words out.

"Um, I'll tell you in my room, Dad," she said.

Danny's smile turned to confusion as D.J. then went up the stairs to her room (which she shared with her other little sister, 7-year-old Stephanie).

Then he also headed up to her room.

D.J. was sitting on her bed when Danny walked in and sat beside her. She looked up, and her eyes were filled with tears.

"Today was one of the worst days of my life," she began. "There were these girls who just teased me for no reason then to make me feel bad. I sat alone at lunchtime because everyone else would block the table they were sitting at when I tried to sit there. And when I was walking to my last class, someone walked up behind me, and before I knew it, the books I was carrying were knocked out of my hands. Then these two boys shoved me up against the lockers, and one of them called me a geek."

Danny was about to respond, but then looked up to see Rebecca "Becky" Donaldson — his co-host on Wake Up, San Francisco and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis's girlfriend — standing there with a concerned look on her face as she listened to D.J.'s story.

"Danny, I think I'd better handle this one," she said. "I've been there, so I know how she feels."

"OK," said Danny as he got to his feet and left Becky and D.J. alone so they could talk in private.

"D.J., those students probably bullied you because they felt insecure. But you don't have to let them ruin or run your life," said Becky, placing a comforting arm around her future niece's shoulders. "I went through that at junior high once too."

"Really?" asked D.J., wiping away some of her tears.

"Yes," said Becky. "But I held my head high and went about my work, and eventually, I was able to graduate from junior high, and move on to high school. As for those bullies, they probably felt sad to see me go."

D.J. tried to put on a brave face, even with her tears staining her face. Becky noticed.

"Be brave, D.J.," she said.

"Thanks, Becky," D.J. replied.

"You're welcome," Becky said as she and D.J. hugged.

D.J. knew she could talk to Becky about anything in the world that concerned girls. After all, Becky was a girl, so she knew all about girl stuff, too. Also she knew that somehow, Becky would make a great aunt for her, Stephanie and Michelle, as well as a great match for her uncle Jesse someday.

The next day at school, D.J. held her head high while recalling Becky's words. Her opportunity came after second period; Colleen and her gang were teasing her. She felt a surge of fresh courage as she walked up to Colleen and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Sorry you're having a bad day," she said to Colleen, smiling and causing a look of confusion to cross the faces of Colleen and her gang as D.J. headed off down the hallway to her third period class, English.

She felt like that all day — elated and just full of happiness and courage. She felt like she could take on anything bad and anyone that was mean.

Then a voice called to her. She recognized it instantly; it was one of the two guys from the day before.

"Hey, freak. What are you up to? Sitting alone with no friends as usual? If so, you're not very pretty," he said.

Two can play at that game, D.J. thought as she walked up to them.

"What are you boys up to? Picking on the ladies as usual? If so, then you're more uncool than I thought you'd be," she said to the guy who'd knocked her books out of her hands the previous day and the two boys who'd shoved her up against the lockers.

All the three boys could do was look after her in surprise and confusion as she tossed a cool smile their way before heading off. They began to wonder — what was going on? Either this girl had adopted a new attitude overnight, or it was her evil twin in her shoes.

D.J. was feeling so good, she even felt like telling the jock what she really thought of him. And she did.

"Hey, Blondie! We hear you're going to mess up again. It sounds cool!" he grinned, and then laughed along with two of his buddies.

"I guess you're just not the bigger man, aren't you?" she replied with a smile. Her reply stopped his cronies cold, while their leader just blinked in confusion. For once in his life, he was unable to think of an insult to throw at her.

Finally, when she stepped off the bus and went into the house, D.J. felt as though she had survived another battle of sorts. And from her perspective, it sure felt good!

Well, I hope you liked it as much as I loved writing it. (The way I see it, girls can be mean to each other sometimes — especially in stories.) I dedicate this fic to my fellow Full House fans. Thanks for keeping the spirit of this great show alive. :)

~Nightcrawlerlover