Title: My Life
Author: Vona
E-mail: Joshysgurlie15@aol.com
Feedback: I really appreciate any, except for flames. I don't mind
constructive criticism.
Distribution: Just ask.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, they're not mine. I wish they were, but alas,
no.
Summary: This is like a book that Jess wrote. The entire thing is Jess's
point of view. It covers his early years in New York, going to Stars
Hollow, after the kiss, going away to college, etc. The second chapter
will mainly be synopses of the episodes he's in, at least the hightlights,
but I do add in his thoughts and such. Then it goes on from there.
Rating: G
Classification: Angst, love, life.
I dedicate this book to these people. Rory Gilmore, the love of my life, my beautiful, amazing fiance. Landon Thomas, my best friend, who was there when no one else was. Luke Danes, who took me in and never gave up on me, no matter how horrible I was. And lastly, Lorelai Gilmore, for giving me something of a second chance, with you and your daughter.
Chapter One The Beginning
Life is never easy, not for anyone. Sometimes it may seem it's easy, but it isn't. But growing up in downtown Brooklyn was harder than usual. My life changed dramatically in a single year. Not by one major, life- altering event, but by several epiphanies I had; it was okay to love, it was okay to let others love you, Stars Hollow was not the Hell I once thought it was, and shockingly Ayn Rand did write a couple of good books. I guess I should start from the beginning, or at least from the beginning that I remember.
I was born in New York City in 1984 to my parents, Liz and Rob Mariano. Of course, I don't remember much of my baby life, but as I grew older I realized my family was far from normal. My dad worked at a Der Weinershniztel. My mom, well, Liz was a flake. She had met my dad at the Der Weinershnitzel and fell in love. At least love in my mom's warped mind. They married and soon after, I came along. Let's just say I was unexpected. I'm not trying to be bitter, I'm just telling you the truth. I loved my parents, they just weren't meant to be parents. Lizzie was too worried about partying and getting bombed to care about a child. My Dad was the same way. By the time I was 3, I knew how to cook myself macaroni and cheese. See, Lizzie and Rob didn't have time for me, no time for dinner. Now, I'm sure my life must sound terrible, and by now many readers are sighing awwww in sympathy. Now, to comfort you, the reader, I could lie and tell you that my childhood wasn't that terrible. But you see, I promised a very special person I wouldn't lie anymore. This person will be mentioned later on in my story.
Liz was drunk all the time. And she would become agitated very easily. I remember one time, I asked her if I could have a candy bar. She looked at me for a moment, like I was insane for asking her for something. Then she reared her hand back and slapped me across the face. She swore that if I ever asked her for something like that again, I would be thrown out onto the streets. To a seven-year-old, that is a terrifying thought, being alone out on the streets. So I learned to never ask Liz for anything and to stay out of her way.
My dad cheated on my mom. All the time. Liz sometimes acted like she didn't know or didn't care, but then sometimes she would scream at him for it. Rob would stare at her and just leave the apartment. Sometimes he would be gone for days. My mother never knew where he was. He just disappeared like that sometimes. And then he would come flying back into our lives after three or four days like nothing had happened. On my dad's brief hiatuses, Liz would really get plastered. She would drink day and night and then she would pass out. Once again, terrifying to a child. I would come in from playing or school and find her on the floor. But I got used to it. I would simply drag her into the bedroom and pull her up on the bed. It took a lot of work and sometimes I would have to have my best friend, Landon, help me. Then I would wrap her up in a blanket and leave her be. Landon and I were both small for our age, but tougher than anyone else our age. We had similar homelifes, except for the fact that his parents divorced earlier.
One of the best memories of my childhood, was my visits to the library down the street from my apartment building. I would go a spend hours just staring at the books, as I could not read when I started to go to that library. There were so many, different sizes, shapes, colors. It all started my fascination. The library was always silent, peaceful, so unlike my home. One kind librarian, Miss Blythe, saw me come in everyday. Finally, a Monday, she sat me down and pulled out an easy picture book, Good Night, Moon. She began to teach me how to read. In no time, I was soaking in every word. I read all the children's and moved on to the juvenile section by the time I was 6. Books were an escape for me. It took me to a world where drunkeness and neglect did not exist. Every child had a parent who loved them, every man found the woman of his dreams, a fairy princess. I read tales of adventures, great love, and history. But I was also an extremely cynical six-year-old. I did not believe in fairy tales like most children my age. I had already seen to much to believe. Then again, I had never seen Stars Hollow. But I did continue to read.
My home life never did seem to get better. Liz was always throwing parties. The people she invited frightened me. I always hid during the rauscous parties. The people were always loud, rowdy, drunk and they loved to pick on the little one. Liz or Rob never did anything to stop them. So, I hid in the closet and I would make up stories of my own to pass the hours away. Perhaps that started my passion for writing stories.
A good thing Rob did do was teach me magic tricks. He was a wonderful magician. When he was sober, he would occasionally teach me them. I've always remembered them all, for some reason. Maybe because it was the only thing Rob had ever tried to do with me. Or maybe I'm just weird like that.
I'll never forget my first day of school. We went to Union Elementary School. Landon and I lived in the same apartment building, so we had known each other since we were tiny tykes. We stuck together. We had Miss Gardner for our kindergarten teacher. We walked into school for the first time and were scared of all the children there. Miss Gardner took an instant dislike to me. See, we were 5 and in kindergarten. We weren't really supposed to have any idea how to read. But I had been reading since I was 3. Like I said before, I was almost to the juvenile section of the library. Miss Gardner didn't like the fact that I already knew how to read. She was always picking on me, for knowing how. She would try to make me slip up in class, but I didn't usually. But her constant picking made some of the other kids try to beat up on me. Soon, Landon and I had quite a reputation and we were only in kindergarten. Soon, the kids started to respect me. As we grew older, I was the bad boy. I wasn't exactly popular, but I was well known. We had quite a group of friends, mostly the ones that most parents didn't want their sweet little angels consorting with. We weren't outcasts, by any stretch of the means.
Slowly, like most kids in my situation, I began to get into trouble. My bad boy mechanism was pretty much a safety procaution. If I didn't care, I didn't get hurt. It was a great philosophy and it always worked. By the ripe old age of eight, my friends and I started to steal. We stole petty things, like candy bars, toys, baseball cards, the things our parents never bought us. We were always lacking in things, so we took it upon ourselves to take them. Children like me, we didn't have money anyways, and we weren't really able to ask our parents for help.
The group I mainly hung out with consisted of Landon, Ryan, Jarod, Rachel, and Charity. All of us had the same home life. We stuck together, never ratting the other one out. The three of us guys were always getting girls, of course. Supposedly, girls can't resist a bad boy. I guess that's true. Now, that probably sounds pretty self-centered and conceited, but I'm not meaning it that way. At all. But it is very vital to my story. Let's just say I've been around a few times. I dated tons of girls, as did Landon and the others. Charity and Rachel were the same way with the guys. Finally, Charity and I settled on each other, and we were together the longest I had ever been with someone. We dated for a whole year, from age 13 to 14. But we parted amicably. I was bored, and so was Charity.
Truthfully, boredom was one of the things that got us in the most trouble. We wouldn't have anything to do, so we entertained ourselves by smoking and doing a few drugs. I never did drugs, but my friends did. We drank, too. You'd think that after seeing what alcohol and nicotine did to our parents, we would avoid it. I suppose that should be true, but as you know the good old saying monkey see, monkey do. We also began to attend raves. You know, the all night parties that had drugs readily available with the pounding music and easy girls.
Soon, I started to cut school with my friends. They had all started to skip school before I did. But I grew bored with school. Like I said, I had already read a lot, and by the time I was in my teens, I had already read all the books that we were assigned to read. The work was hardly what I would call challenging, so I didn't see the point in going. I just didn't want to go anymore. So we were all together all the time. My friends were hurt the same way I was. Landon was perhaps the one who wanted to see me get out of New York and better myself. Best friends are like that though. We knew what we were doing was wrong, but we didn't really care. It didn't matter anymore. Nothing did.
I read all the books at the little library down the street. I had even read many of them multiple times. So, I started to buy my own books. I did make a little bit of money doing some odd jobs, but not much. My own library became quite extensive and they were my most treasured posessions.
Landon and I were arrested one time for stealing a jacket. Landon needed a new coat, because New York was getting cold and his jacket was all ripped up. So I ran interference while he hid the jacket. But we got caught. So we spent the night in jail, until I finally woke Lizzie up and got her to come bail us out. Let's just say she was not happy that she had been disturbed by me. Several other arrests followed that first one, for shoplifting, we got caught at a rave for drinking underage, and other stuff like that. Landon and I had a special relationship. We both wanted something good to happen to the other. Landon and I both wanted out of Brooklyn, but we knew that would never ever happen. Landon knew I read. He was the only one of my friends who knew that.
Rob finally deserted us when I was 15. He just left. At first, I thought it had just been on of his disappearing acts, but he never came back. I didn't believe he had totally left us, I just knew he would walk through the door, but after three weeks I knew he would never return. Liz knew, too. I think she knew before I did. And she was sad. She wouldn't admit it, but I knew it hurt her. It hurt me, too, though neither of us would ever acknowledge that fact. I was used to getting jilted like that. Liz marched down to the court and had a divorce drawn up immediately. No one really knows what happened to Rob. He just kind of dropped off the face of the Earth. Liz decided she couldn't deal with me anymore. Maybe it was because I was a reminder of a man she once loved, or maybe she just saw it as a way to get rid of me, but when I was 17, she shipped me off. She sent me to my uncle, Luke Danes, who lived in Stars Hollow, Connecticut. Landon took me to the bus stop and we said good bye. I would miss Landon. But he was happy I was getting out of Brooklyn. He knew it was my chance.
I dedicate this book to these people. Rory Gilmore, the love of my life, my beautiful, amazing fiance. Landon Thomas, my best friend, who was there when no one else was. Luke Danes, who took me in and never gave up on me, no matter how horrible I was. And lastly, Lorelai Gilmore, for giving me something of a second chance, with you and your daughter.
Chapter One The Beginning
Life is never easy, not for anyone. Sometimes it may seem it's easy, but it isn't. But growing up in downtown Brooklyn was harder than usual. My life changed dramatically in a single year. Not by one major, life- altering event, but by several epiphanies I had; it was okay to love, it was okay to let others love you, Stars Hollow was not the Hell I once thought it was, and shockingly Ayn Rand did write a couple of good books. I guess I should start from the beginning, or at least from the beginning that I remember.
I was born in New York City in 1984 to my parents, Liz and Rob Mariano. Of course, I don't remember much of my baby life, but as I grew older I realized my family was far from normal. My dad worked at a Der Weinershniztel. My mom, well, Liz was a flake. She had met my dad at the Der Weinershnitzel and fell in love. At least love in my mom's warped mind. They married and soon after, I came along. Let's just say I was unexpected. I'm not trying to be bitter, I'm just telling you the truth. I loved my parents, they just weren't meant to be parents. Lizzie was too worried about partying and getting bombed to care about a child. My Dad was the same way. By the time I was 3, I knew how to cook myself macaroni and cheese. See, Lizzie and Rob didn't have time for me, no time for dinner. Now, I'm sure my life must sound terrible, and by now many readers are sighing awwww in sympathy. Now, to comfort you, the reader, I could lie and tell you that my childhood wasn't that terrible. But you see, I promised a very special person I wouldn't lie anymore. This person will be mentioned later on in my story.
Liz was drunk all the time. And she would become agitated very easily. I remember one time, I asked her if I could have a candy bar. She looked at me for a moment, like I was insane for asking her for something. Then she reared her hand back and slapped me across the face. She swore that if I ever asked her for something like that again, I would be thrown out onto the streets. To a seven-year-old, that is a terrifying thought, being alone out on the streets. So I learned to never ask Liz for anything and to stay out of her way.
My dad cheated on my mom. All the time. Liz sometimes acted like she didn't know or didn't care, but then sometimes she would scream at him for it. Rob would stare at her and just leave the apartment. Sometimes he would be gone for days. My mother never knew where he was. He just disappeared like that sometimes. And then he would come flying back into our lives after three or four days like nothing had happened. On my dad's brief hiatuses, Liz would really get plastered. She would drink day and night and then she would pass out. Once again, terrifying to a child. I would come in from playing or school and find her on the floor. But I got used to it. I would simply drag her into the bedroom and pull her up on the bed. It took a lot of work and sometimes I would have to have my best friend, Landon, help me. Then I would wrap her up in a blanket and leave her be. Landon and I were both small for our age, but tougher than anyone else our age. We had similar homelifes, except for the fact that his parents divorced earlier.
One of the best memories of my childhood, was my visits to the library down the street from my apartment building. I would go a spend hours just staring at the books, as I could not read when I started to go to that library. There were so many, different sizes, shapes, colors. It all started my fascination. The library was always silent, peaceful, so unlike my home. One kind librarian, Miss Blythe, saw me come in everyday. Finally, a Monday, she sat me down and pulled out an easy picture book, Good Night, Moon. She began to teach me how to read. In no time, I was soaking in every word. I read all the children's and moved on to the juvenile section by the time I was 6. Books were an escape for me. It took me to a world where drunkeness and neglect did not exist. Every child had a parent who loved them, every man found the woman of his dreams, a fairy princess. I read tales of adventures, great love, and history. But I was also an extremely cynical six-year-old. I did not believe in fairy tales like most children my age. I had already seen to much to believe. Then again, I had never seen Stars Hollow. But I did continue to read.
My home life never did seem to get better. Liz was always throwing parties. The people she invited frightened me. I always hid during the rauscous parties. The people were always loud, rowdy, drunk and they loved to pick on the little one. Liz or Rob never did anything to stop them. So, I hid in the closet and I would make up stories of my own to pass the hours away. Perhaps that started my passion for writing stories.
A good thing Rob did do was teach me magic tricks. He was a wonderful magician. When he was sober, he would occasionally teach me them. I've always remembered them all, for some reason. Maybe because it was the only thing Rob had ever tried to do with me. Or maybe I'm just weird like that.
I'll never forget my first day of school. We went to Union Elementary School. Landon and I lived in the same apartment building, so we had known each other since we were tiny tykes. We stuck together. We had Miss Gardner for our kindergarten teacher. We walked into school for the first time and were scared of all the children there. Miss Gardner took an instant dislike to me. See, we were 5 and in kindergarten. We weren't really supposed to have any idea how to read. But I had been reading since I was 3. Like I said before, I was almost to the juvenile section of the library. Miss Gardner didn't like the fact that I already knew how to read. She was always picking on me, for knowing how. She would try to make me slip up in class, but I didn't usually. But her constant picking made some of the other kids try to beat up on me. Soon, Landon and I had quite a reputation and we were only in kindergarten. Soon, the kids started to respect me. As we grew older, I was the bad boy. I wasn't exactly popular, but I was well known. We had quite a group of friends, mostly the ones that most parents didn't want their sweet little angels consorting with. We weren't outcasts, by any stretch of the means.
Slowly, like most kids in my situation, I began to get into trouble. My bad boy mechanism was pretty much a safety procaution. If I didn't care, I didn't get hurt. It was a great philosophy and it always worked. By the ripe old age of eight, my friends and I started to steal. We stole petty things, like candy bars, toys, baseball cards, the things our parents never bought us. We were always lacking in things, so we took it upon ourselves to take them. Children like me, we didn't have money anyways, and we weren't really able to ask our parents for help.
The group I mainly hung out with consisted of Landon, Ryan, Jarod, Rachel, and Charity. All of us had the same home life. We stuck together, never ratting the other one out. The three of us guys were always getting girls, of course. Supposedly, girls can't resist a bad boy. I guess that's true. Now, that probably sounds pretty self-centered and conceited, but I'm not meaning it that way. At all. But it is very vital to my story. Let's just say I've been around a few times. I dated tons of girls, as did Landon and the others. Charity and Rachel were the same way with the guys. Finally, Charity and I settled on each other, and we were together the longest I had ever been with someone. We dated for a whole year, from age 13 to 14. But we parted amicably. I was bored, and so was Charity.
Truthfully, boredom was one of the things that got us in the most trouble. We wouldn't have anything to do, so we entertained ourselves by smoking and doing a few drugs. I never did drugs, but my friends did. We drank, too. You'd think that after seeing what alcohol and nicotine did to our parents, we would avoid it. I suppose that should be true, but as you know the good old saying monkey see, monkey do. We also began to attend raves. You know, the all night parties that had drugs readily available with the pounding music and easy girls.
Soon, I started to cut school with my friends. They had all started to skip school before I did. But I grew bored with school. Like I said, I had already read a lot, and by the time I was in my teens, I had already read all the books that we were assigned to read. The work was hardly what I would call challenging, so I didn't see the point in going. I just didn't want to go anymore. So we were all together all the time. My friends were hurt the same way I was. Landon was perhaps the one who wanted to see me get out of New York and better myself. Best friends are like that though. We knew what we were doing was wrong, but we didn't really care. It didn't matter anymore. Nothing did.
I read all the books at the little library down the street. I had even read many of them multiple times. So, I started to buy my own books. I did make a little bit of money doing some odd jobs, but not much. My own library became quite extensive and they were my most treasured posessions.
Landon and I were arrested one time for stealing a jacket. Landon needed a new coat, because New York was getting cold and his jacket was all ripped up. So I ran interference while he hid the jacket. But we got caught. So we spent the night in jail, until I finally woke Lizzie up and got her to come bail us out. Let's just say she was not happy that she had been disturbed by me. Several other arrests followed that first one, for shoplifting, we got caught at a rave for drinking underage, and other stuff like that. Landon and I had a special relationship. We both wanted something good to happen to the other. Landon and I both wanted out of Brooklyn, but we knew that would never ever happen. Landon knew I read. He was the only one of my friends who knew that.
Rob finally deserted us when I was 15. He just left. At first, I thought it had just been on of his disappearing acts, but he never came back. I didn't believe he had totally left us, I just knew he would walk through the door, but after three weeks I knew he would never return. Liz knew, too. I think she knew before I did. And she was sad. She wouldn't admit it, but I knew it hurt her. It hurt me, too, though neither of us would ever acknowledge that fact. I was used to getting jilted like that. Liz marched down to the court and had a divorce drawn up immediately. No one really knows what happened to Rob. He just kind of dropped off the face of the Earth. Liz decided she couldn't deal with me anymore. Maybe it was because I was a reminder of a man she once loved, or maybe she just saw it as a way to get rid of me, but when I was 17, she shipped me off. She sent me to my uncle, Luke Danes, who lived in Stars Hollow, Connecticut. Landon took me to the bus stop and we said good bye. I would miss Landon. But he was happy I was getting out of Brooklyn. He knew it was my chance.