It was a warm summer afternoon in Whoville. Kid's were playing in sprinklers, adults were mowing their lawns and rooftops, many Whos were out on their unicycles, and some were merely sitting on their back porches drinking Whoolade. All except for 3 teen Whos who were stuck inside.
Babysitting.
"JoJo why do you have so many sisters?!" Mya asked, carrying 8 glasses of milk to the kitchen table.
The black and gray Who smirked, handing his little sister Heady a bottle. "I thought you liked kids…"
"Not 96 at a time!" Mya said, wiping sweat off her brow. She looked around the room in confusion. "Isn't Zoey going to come help us?"
JoJo shrugged. "Mya, you know what today is… We need to leave her alone. She came, and that's probably as much as we're going to get out of her."
"But we need help here!"
JoJo sighed, picking Heady up and sitting down with her in his lap. "Mya, I've babysat completely alone a million times. We can handle this without her."
Mya rolled her eyes and sat down in the seat next to him, taking Heady and tickling her. JoJo sighed. He knew exactly where Zoey was, and he didn't want to go find her anytime soon…
--
Why did he do that to us? Were we not good enough for him? Zoey thought angrily, throwing a rubber ball at the white cement wall in front of her.
She had been throwing that same ball at the wall for the past hour, but she didn't care. She didn't care about anything.
Letting out an angry sigh she laid back against the rooftop of JoJo's house, staring up at the pinkish clouds that were floating lazily in the evening sky.
Now why was Zoey mad? Well, the date had a little to do with it.
Today was June 14. The day before Father's Day. They day that Zoey hated the most out of all the days in the year. Seeing all the dad's in town… with their families. Getting presents… praise… it made her feel sick inside.
And that sick feeling soon dissolved into anger.
She threw the ball at the wall again, only this time harder, letting out a cry of fury as the ball left her hand. It bounced back and hit her square in the face, making her fall back from the impact. Baring her teeth in anger, Zoey stood up and grabbed the ball, throwing her arm back and chucking it at least 20 feet away.
Letting out a groan of frustration, she plopped back down on the rooftop and fell back, banging her head several times behind her. She stopped after getting a sharp pain in the back of her head. It was actually a good feeling… The pain took her mind off of other things.
She let out a low moan and rubbed the back of her head, staring up at the sky still.
--
"JoJo please…"
"No, Mya."
"PLEASE??"
"No! We just need to leave her alone until the weekend is over!"
"But JoJo… Babysitting isn't the same without her…"
"…What?"
"She always plays with them and makes them tired! How are we going to get them to bed without her?"
"Is that all you care about?"
Mya sighed, looking down. "No, JoJo. She's angry right now, and we both know why… it's been this way ever since we've known her. But don't you think… letting her bottle all this anger up isn't good for her?"
JoJo raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that maybe she doesn't need to be left alone… She needs a friend. Like, right now."
JoJo's eyes widened in realization. "You mean me?"
Mya rolled her eyes. "I thought you were supposed to be her best friend?"
"I am,"
"Well then go talk to her!" Mya said, getting behind him and pushing him up the stairs.
He nearly tripped and fell, but quickly regained his balance. "What am I supposed to say to her? She scares me when she gets like this!"
"Oh JoJo, stop it." Mya said, rolling her eyes. "Just imagine what she feels like right now…"
They had reached the window with the tree outside it, through which Zoey climbed up to get to the roof. JoJo looked at the window, then back at Mya. "What am I supposed to say?" He asked.
"Just…anything! Now go!" Mya said, pushing him towards the window. He stumbled forwards and scowled back at her, then proceeded in climbing up the tree.
--
Zoey sighed to herself, still staring unblinkingly up at the sky. The aching in the back of her head had numbed a little, and now she laid completely still, breathing slowly and deeply.
"Zoey?"
Zoey didn't move a muscle. She continued staring up at the sky, not acknowledging him. Maybe he'd take a hint…
"Hey," JoJo sat down next to her, slowly and hesitantly. "You okay?"
She sighed in aggravation, not answering him. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, she finally mumbled, "…no…"
JoJo twiddled his thumbs nervously. "So…um…"
"Mya made you come up here, didn't she?" Zoey asked, still not looking up at him.
JoJo sighed. "Yeah…" He looked at her with sympathetic eyes. "Look, I know how much you hate Father's Day, and how much your dad hurt you… I know how you feel right now, I understand… but-"
Zoey slowly sat up, glaring at him. Her expression was so cold, it sent shivers down JoJo's back, making him cut off and stare at her frightfully.
"You…You think you KNOW…how I feel?" She asked, her voice disbelieving and cold.
JoJo looked around helplessly. "I…uh…I…"
"You have no IDEA how I feel… How every damn year- no scratch that- every DAY he's hurt me. I've never even met the man, and he still hurts me. Every time I see some little kid playing with their dad, or how your dad tries SO HARD to get to know you… and you don't even want it!" She said, narrowing her eyes. "Do you know how freaking mad that makes me? NO… You don't! So don't even go telling me that you 'understand'! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW I FEEL JOJO MCDODD!" She yelled, getting in his face. She backed away slowly, panting heavily. Her glare softened slowly as she looked at the terrified look his face now held. She looked away, angry tears stinging at her eyes.
It was silent for several seconds, before Zoey's tears finally got the best of her and she let them fall. She squeezed her eyes shut, taking deep intakes of breath to try to recompose herself. She suddenly felt a warm hand on her shoulder, and another hand brush her hair out of her face.
"I'm sorry…I'm sorry Zoe…" JoJo whispered softly. He sounded sincere… it only made her heart ache worse.
She shook her head, not being able to find her voice. Instead she let out a small sob and hugged herself tightly, hanging her head. He squeezed her shoulder gently and pulled her body closer to his. She sniffled and wiped at her eyes, only to have more tears fall in their place. She hiccupped a few times and rested her head in the palms of her hands.
JoJo rubbed her shoulder reassuringly and tried to comfort her the best he could. He'd only seen Zoey cry twice in his lifetime, and it still unnerved him. He looked up at the sky, trying to think of something… ANYTHING that he could say to her…
"You're right." He finally murmured. Zoey finally looked up at him, her eyes red and tear stains streaked down her cheeks.
"You're right, I don't appreciate my dad enough and… I'm sorry."
Zoey scowled, hiccupping a few times. "Don't…don't tell me… tell…him…"
JoJo nodded, looking down. "I will… I'm really sorry Zoe…" He added, looking her in the eyes. They were so blue at the moment, they looked like little pools of water.
She shakily wiped her tears away. "No… I'm… I'm sorry…I didn't mean to blow up…at… at you…"
He hugged her, shaking his head. "It's okay… I get it now… Do you wanna be alone?"
She shook her head, resting her head on his shoulder. "I think this is just what I needed…"
He chuckled softly and rubbed her back soothingly, lifting his gaze to the sun that was setting slowly in the distance. He glanced over at the Observatory which was directly in front of the sun, making it seem as if it were glowing… JoJo's eyes widened as an idea suddenly struck him.
"You know… You could always do what I do when I get angry or sad…"
Zoey pulled away from him. "What?"
JoJo rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a small notebook. He handed it to her. "I write a song about whatever's making me feel bad."
Zoey took it and unhooked the clasp on the notebook, slowly opening it. She stopped at one page, reading some of the lyrics.
I'm tired of being what you want me to be feeling so faithless lost under the surface I don't know what you're expecting of me put under the pressure of walking in your shoes
She sighed. He was talking about his dad. She looked over at his hopeful face and couldn't help but smile a little.
"Okay, I'll try it."