So I've got a new Christmas story, like I did last year. Enjoy!
Jody Jackson sat miserably in her room reading a book, as the sound of Christmas classics rung in her ears giving her a headache. She wasn't feeling festive yet, and wondered if she'd feel festive at all this year. Yes, she was excited for the annual Dumping Ground Christmas Day feast, but other than that, the mere thought of Christmas made her feel sick to the stomach. She heard footsteps pounding up the stairs, and the excited chatter between Floss and Finn, and Jody worked out that they were decorating the banister with tinsel - why did they have to have such an obsession with the retched stuff!
"Jody, don't open the door, we're putting some Christmas stickers and tinsel on it." Floss announced from the corridor.
"No you're not, go away!" Jody shouted, kicking the door.
"You're such a bah humbug!" Floss yelled, as Jody heard her footsteps get quieter and quieter. She laid back down on her bed and picked her book back up to begin reading again, when suddenly, there was another knock on her door.
"Don't even think about putting any decorations on my door." Jody warned, but the door opened instead.
"Wouldn't dream of it!" Tyler laughed, entering the room.
"What do you want?" Jody sighed, sitting up and putting her book down again. "Oh, and turn that music down when you go downstairs, it's making me feel sick."
"Why are you being such a Scrooge this year? You love Christmas!" Tyler asked.
"I'm just not feeling festive yet." Jody told her best friend.
"Fair enough. But you're usually begging for the tree to go up on the first of December." Tyler pointed out.
"Well...I've grown up a bit, I guess." Jody said, picking her book back up again.
"At least put the star on the tree! You're name was chosen this year! You should've seen Floss' face." Tyler said.
"You can do it." Jody said, a slight sadness to her voice. Tyler frowned in concern.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Fine!" Jody snapped. "Sorry. It's just, I'm at a really good place in my book."
"I'll leave you to it then. I'll bring you up a mince pie once Kazima's finished making them. They smell delicious!" Tyler said, about to leave.
"Thanks, but I'm not hungry." Jody said, now fully engrossed in her book again.
"Can I have yours then?" Tyler asked hopefully.
"Go for it." Jody said, barely listening. Tyler left Jody's room, closing the door behind him, still confused about Jody. She was the most festive person in the house! Usually, it was hard to calm her down at this time of year. But she seemed so down in the dumps lately, and he'd noticed this ever since Tee and Carmen had left barely three weeks ago. But Jody hadn't been that close with either of them - had she? As far as Tyler was concerned, she should've been more than happy to see Carmen gone! But Jody was very stubborn, and so Tyler would probably never know what was making Jody so un-merry.
"Did you find out what's wrong with Jody?" Mo asked, as Tyler came down the stairs. He was busy decorating the office door as a surprise for Mike when he got back from doing his Christmas shopping.
"Nope." Tyler answered. "This is so unlike her though!"
"Yeah, this is really out of character for Jody. Maybe if we put the lights up outside and do the big switch-on tonight she'll get into the Christmas spirit." Mo suggested.
"Yeah, good thinking." Tyler said, turning the music down as Jody had requested.
"What are you doing?" Mo frowned.
"Jody said it was making her feel sick." Tyler responded. Him and Mo then shared a glance.
"Yeah, we've definitely got to find out what's going on with her, Jody usually loves Christmas music! Maybe we should ask Bailey to help?" Mo said thoughtfully.
"I'm not sure. He still seems pretty mad at Jody about the whole thief thing." Tyler said, thinking back to three weeks ago, the day Tee and Carmen had left, when this whole thing had begun, as he remembered the disaster Jody found herself in at the end of it all.
"Well, it can't hurt to ask, come on!" Mo said, leading the way to the living room where Bailey was sat on the sofa watching everyone decorate the tree.
"Not helping then?" Mo asked, sitting next to Bailey.
"Nah, I'd ruin it." Bailey commented.
"Anyway, we need your help with something." Tyler informed Bailey.
"What?" Bailey asked.
"Well, Jody's been..."
"Nah, I'm not helping if this is to do with her." Bailey said, cutting Mo off, before getting up to leave.
"Wait." Tyler exclaimed, as him and Mo jumped up to follow him.
"I've already told you, it's her fault everyone's stuff got ruined. And she almost killed you." Bailey explained, turning to leave again.
"But she's paying it back - she's taken on so many extra chores! And plus, it was my choice to go into the flat, she didn't make me." Tyler pointed out. Bailey let out a long breath, turning to Mo.
"You're not gonna give up, are you?" He asked, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Nope." Mo replied.
"Fine then, I'll help find out what's up with..." But Bailey was cut off by the girl herself walking through the living room. Once Jody had disappeared into the kitchen, the three boys shared a glance before following her. They saw Jody begin to wash up the remains of Kazima's cooking equipment.
"That's okay Jody, I can do that later." Kazima smiled.
"Don't worry, Kaz. Just make sure Mike knows that it was me." Jody told Kazima.
"Okay." Kazima frowned in confusion, before leaving.
"You don't have to do everyone's chores you know." Mo pointed out.
"I know, but the sooner I get enough money, the sooner I can replace your lava lamp and everyone else's stuff." Jody explained, focused on the washing up.
"Well, at least let us help you." Tyler said.
"No, it's okay. I feel bad about what happened, it was all my fault, and now I need to pay everybody back for my mistake." Jody explained to her friends.
"But, you're taking this way too far!" Mo exclaimed.
"Yeah. And I offered to give you some of the money towards everyone's stuff." Tyler said.
"Yeah but you didn't do anything wrong. I don't see why you should have to use your money to replace the things that I ruined." Jody told Tyler.
"Because you're my best friend. And anyway, what happened wasn't your fault." Tyler reassured her.
"I lit the candles." Jody pointed out.
"Yeah, but you were just trying to make everything perfect." Tyler said.
"And look how that turned out." Jody mumbled, but Mo, Tyler and Bailey still heard her.
"If you're not feeling Christmassy because you're worried about paying everybody back, then now isn't the time to worry about that. Everyone will understand." Tyler reassured her.
"That's not why I'm not feeling festive yet." Jody snapped. "Look, I really don't want to talk about this anymore. Can you please just let me get on with this?" She pleaded. The boys shared a glance.
"Sure." Mo said, turning to leave into the living room, with Bailey and Tyler close behind.
"Thanks for the help Bailey." Mo commented sarcastically.
"What did you want me to say?" Bailey snapped.
"Anything really." Mo shrugged.
"Look, it doesn't matter now. All that matters is getting Jody back. And I think you were right Mo - we need to get the lights up ready for the switch-on tonight." Tyler explained. So the three boys put on their coats and headed to the shed to start on the outside lights, thinking that this would cheer Jody up and put her in a festive mood. They were concerned about what was making her so un-festive, but promised themselves that they would get to the bottom of it before Christmas Eve.
Surprise! So lately I've been planning and working on a DG Christmas FF like I did last year. This is set directly after the end of series 4, so this FF will include the new characters Joseph (I think that's his name!) and the other new boy who's name I don't know. Also, let me know your thoughts on this story and on series 4, part 2 of the DG! This story has a slight mystery aspect to it as well, so if you like that, then hopefully you'll enjoy this story! If anyone knows if it is/isn't returning for a new series please let me know of that too because I am desperate for new episodes in the new year! Also, thanks for reading! This story will be exploring the friendship between Jody and Tyler, because I feel like this topic was shown really well in s4p2e6 and s4p2e10, and hopefully I will explore Mo and Baileys friendship, which was touched on in s4p2e3. I am very upset that Tee and Carmen have left (I actually cried)! The upload schedule for this wil be whenever I write it, and I don't know if I will write any of this story to be set after Christmas, but I feel like I may not finish it before Christmas anyway! I have pretty much a whole weekend next week though in which I can write for you!
I'll stop ranting now, since I've already spoken for way too long, but I've been gone forever, so we need to catch up on the new series of TDG!
Also, I wanna know something; does anyone here actually like ship Jody and Tyler?
Also, to my 'Lottery' readers who most likely all hate me, the next chapter is coming along, although may be on pause for a little bit while I work on this, but I figured you'd want something festive to read over your Christmas break or to de-stress from Christmas shopping!
I'M ACTUALLY GOING NOW I'LL SEE YOU VERY SOON! I'VE LOVED WRITING THIS SO FAR SO EXPECT MORE SOON!
~ Fanatic1234