DISCLAIMER: I OBVIOUSLY DO NOT OWN FULLER HOUSE.
Also thank you for the reviews on chapter one, I'm going to continue the story, reviews or not, and just post chapters as I write them. If I happen to finish chapter 3 tonight, it'll be posted before bed! I also have a few time jumps planned, but not sure when they'll come into play. ENJOY!
Chapter Two
Ramona awoke early the next morning. She glanced over at her alarm and realized she still had a good two hours before Monique would be there to pick her up. Jackson had been promised a ride as well, but Ramona decided to subject him to riding the bus until his attitude improved.
She went ahead and began her normal school morning routine, thinking a head start would do her some good. It really did, because she ended up actually getting more than five minutes of hot water. Showered, dressed, and makeup on point, a satisfied Ramona made her way downstairs with around forty five minutes to spare.
The big joint family greeted her, and she joined in the feast. There was sausage, bacon, eggs, pancakes, and biscuits. The adults didn't mess around on the breakfast front, especially on the first day of school. Although some days, the kids were lucky to get a poptart thrown their way. Ramona didn't care. Food was food, and she was always excited for it. One could never tell by looking at her, five foot three and ninety pounds soaking wet, but she could out-eat three grown men. Hell, she'd done it on a few occasions.
The family was immersed in deep discussion about first day of school, Max freaking out over every last detail of his outfit, DJ fretting over his hair, and Stephanie snorting orange juice out of her nose as she and Kimmy made jokes about Max's buttons falling off of his sweater vest. He didn't find it very funny. Something was missing though.
Ramona realized with five minutes left that Jackson hadn't come down yet. She quickly put together a ziplock bag of sausage, bacon, and a biscuit and dropped it into her bag. Even if he was mad at her for some odd reason, he'd still be grateful she thought to grab him some breakfast. As much as he'd been training and working out for football, he needed to eat to keep his strength up. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day.
A honking outside told her Mo had pulled up. Ramona kissed her mom quickly, wished everyone a good day, and headed into the living room. She hollered up to Jackson, taking back her earlier threat to make him ride the bus.
"Jackson? If you wanna skip the bus, you'd better hurry up!" She yelled. No response. "I'll have Mo wait, like, three minutes. Hurry up if you're coming!" With that, she took off out the door.
"Hey girl! You ready to try to get through this day?"
"Not quite. But at least I have you to suffer with me." Ramona sighed as she got into the passenger seat.
"And Jackson. Where is he?"
"Well I was going to make him ride the bus, because he's been a jerk to me for no reason since he and Rocki broke up last night. Then he never came down for breakfast. I yelled and told him he had three minutes or we were leaving before I walked out the door. He now has...one minute left." Monique gave her a weird look, taking in all of this new knowledge.
"He and Rocki...broke up?" She asked, confused. "But weren't they JUST caught making out in the locker room?"
"Uh, no. That was two months ago. Y'know...before summer? But yeah, I was shocked too. And now I don't even care, I'm just ticked off. I didn't do anything to him. I know that he's going through a break up, but he should let me help him get through it. Or tell me he needs space, not...just push me away." She finished quietly.
"You gonna be okay, girl?" A few moments of silence passed, and somehow Ramona just knew. Jackson wasn't going to be riding with them for a while. If ever.
"Yeah. Let's go." She replied sadly.
Ramona and Monique made it through the door and to their shared homeroom in a quick fashion. The teacher had already assigned them seats with the promise that once names were learned they could sit wherever they wanted. Monique ended up in the back, her last name being Watson. Ramona, being the only G in the class, ended up directly behind Jackson. There was one other F in the class, but she was in front of Jackson, her last name being Foster.
This was the perfect opportunity to slip Jackson his breakfast. She knew he hadn't had time to eat. The bus came exactly two minutes after Mo had pulled out of the driveway.
"Hey." She tapped on his shoulder.
"What?" He whispered, sounding down.
"I brought you something." Reaching into her backpack, she pulled the ziplock bag out and slipped it into his hand. "Thought you'd be hungry since you overslept." Ramona hoped he'd come out of his slump soon. And that maybe showing him she cared for him would get him to lay off a little.
"I'm not hungry. And I didn't oversleep." He said shortly, turning to fully face the front. He then leaned forward, effectively cutting off any chance for conversation, the ziplock bag still suspended in the air next to his shoulder.
Ramona felt like crying. Sure, she and Jackson hadn't been that close when she moved in. But over the years, their frenemy stage blossomed into a full blown best friendship. They stayed up late watching movies, or binging tv shows, they shared their problems with one another, they argued over petty things, just like brother and sister...what was his sudden issue with her? As much as she hated to admit it, she needed him. He was always there for her, and then suddenly...he wasn't.
She started to write him a note, but the bell rang, signaling first period. Thinking quickly, she scribbled something down, and shoved it into his open backpack along with the food and turned to gather the rest of her things. When she looked back however, he had already disappeared into a sea of teenagers in the hallway.
"Hey...I saw you and Jackson. He rushed out of here like he was on fire. What the fuck?" Mo asked, catching up to Ramona. The good news was that they had four out of six classes together. Bad news was that first period was not one of them.
"I don't know. We'll talk about it nex period though. Good luck!" Ramona shouted, getting dragged by all of the kids heading in the opposite direction.
"You too, boo!" Mo headed off toward English three, and Ramona let the mob float her down to the choir room.
The rest of the day, thankfully, passed by uneventfully. Ramona only had homeroom, gym, and English with Jackson, so she didn't have much of an opportunity to talk to him. Their English teacher was the same as the year before, so she let them sit where they wanted to. Jackson awkwardly waited until Ramona had taken a seat close to the front, and then sat two rows away at the very back. She ignored this, and mentally chose to give up on trying for a week or so. If he wasn't back to his old self by then, she'd be upset, but she'd move on. If he didn't want to talk to her, he didn't have to.
"Ramona? Dear, are you alright?" Mrs. Bolkcom asked, bringing Ramona out of the place she had been spending an awful lot of time: her head.
"Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry. Just a lot on my mind. What did you say?"
"Just doing roll call. Try to pay attention." Mrs. Bolkcom said sweetly, continuing down the list of names, calling out Jackson's a few after her.
"Here." He mumbled from his dark corner. Ramona took a sneak peek at him from her side of the room. He was looking down at the desk, completely disengaged from the world and what was going on around him. Anger may have been one of the top emotions she was feeling at that moment, but she was also extremely worried about her friend. She'd never seen him act like this, especially because of a girl. Rocki was nice-ish...But Lola was a hell of a lot nicer, and he didn't get nearly as upset when they broke up. Then again, he had only been about thirteen at the time.
Speaking of Rocki, Ramona didn't remember seeing her much that day. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen her at all. She didn't have to wonder whether that was because she hadn't been looking or whether it was because she wasn't there.
Sighing in relief as the final bell of the day rang, Ramona forced all thoughts of Jackson and Rocki out of her already overflowing mind, and took off for cheer practice. Tryouts had been switched to the end of the year instead of the first day to allow more time to train. She and Mo had both tried out and made it thanks to their extensive training in dance and gymnastics. The first three weeks of summer, they had been pushed to the max with hours and hours of drills, and cardio, and working out around the clock. They had gotten their month and a week long break, but they would regret not keeping up the routine after the first few sessions.
The girls met up on the track to get a few laps in. Ramona changed into shorts and a tank top and started her jog. She put in some headphones, knowing Monique wouldn't keep her pace. They'd both go back to one of their houses when practice was over, so it was okay.
Ramona turned on her current favorite song, 'Ocean Eyes' by Billie Eilish, and set a steady pace. As she came about her second time around, she glanced across the field where football practice was going on. Their first game was already fast approaching. Jackson had gotten fairly good. He wasn't the quarterback, but he had made his way up to cornerback, which was one of the most physically demanding positions on the whole team.
A shiny golden number four stood out among the rest of the players. She kept an eye on him as she continued her laps. The girls did their stretches, and practiced a few routine cheers, and pretty much had a chill day. Which was weird, but Ramona didn't complain. Being one of the smallest girls, Ramona was constantly being thrown in the air. She let her fellow cheerleaders toss her up one more time, staring off at the football field as they did so. There was no way to be sure, but she could've sworn Jackson was looking her way. She flew up into the air, and sent a wave in his direction as she plummeted back down into her friend's arms.
"I don't know why, but it's so much fun throwing you around." Ashlyn, one of the other cheerleaders said.
"It's because she's like a rag doll. I mean she moves on her own and stuff, and she poses when she's up there, but it's basically like throwing a pillow into the air." Another girl, Sandra, said in amazement.
"Yes, she's tiny and cute. You bitches can back off though, she's taken." Monique joked, throwing her sweat dripped arm around Ramona's shoulder. They all shared a laugh and wandered off towards the ladies' locker room for much needed showers, still talking and giggling about nothing in particular. That is, until one of them brought up the subject of football players.
"Them boys looked mighty...hot over there. Didn't they?" Brydgette asked, fanning herself sarcastically.
"Oh lord, most definitely. Especially Shawn. He's looking pretty fine these days." Ashlyn agreed. They all went about their business, Ramona purposely avoiding the conversation. Until Jackson's name came up, that is.
"What about Fuller? I'd say he 'filled out' nicely. He used to be such a little dweeb, but I caught a look last year of him without a shirt, and MY GOODNESS." Ramona felt her face turn seven different shades of crimson. She finished undressing as fast as she could, and hopped in the shower. Somehow, the conversation continued despite her obvious discomfort.
"He's very cute. I think he has a girlfriend though."
"Oh, yeah. That Rocki chick. I don't think that'll last though. I hear she's into guy with...experience, if you know what I mean. Plus, she's a year older than him."
"Right, yeah. He'll be on the market eventually. Just gotta wait a bit."
"Actually he is on the market. He and Rocki broke up yesterday. He'll probably need a while before he's ready to date again, so you still gotta wait, hyenas. And I guess you all forgot Ramona lives with this guy and all of you talking about him like he's a sex god is probably making her a bit uneasy. He's basically her brother." Monique to the rescue, as always.
Ramona sighed in relief. All the girls apologized and changed the subject. Well, they stayed on the same topic, they just switched which boy they were talking about.
"So, a brother, huh?" Sandra asked Ramona as she appeared from behind the curtain in a towel.
"Um. I guess." She replied.
"So...you wouldn't mind if I asked him out?"
Ramona thought about it for a moment. Obviously he could date whoever he wanted to, and Sandra wasn't bad looking. Her track record wasn't as pretty though. She definitely didn't want him to get his heart broken again, but he wasn't giving her the same courtesy of caring, so why should she give it to him?
"Fuck it, why not? He did just break it off with Rocki last night, so wait...I don't know, a week? I'll let you know if he cheers up sooner but he's in a bad slump right now."
"Oh thank you! You're the best!" Sandra grabbed Brydgette and Ashlyn and bade her and Monique farewell. "See you bitches in the am!"
SPOILER WARNING: Jamona WILL happen. The main plot of this story revolves around their actual relationship, it just hasn't been written yet. Plus I'm a sucker for drama when it isn't my own, so of course there will be a lot of arguments and late nights for these two before they do get together. They're teenagers who have difficulty expressing their emotions, what else do you expect?
SPOILER WARNING 2.0: Ramona will be confronting Jackson a little in the next chapter so stay tuned!