The Love Triangle
(DISCLAIMER: We do not own any Horton Hears a Who characters mentioned except for Jodi and Janice. We also do not own any brands mentioned.)
CHAPTER 2
Jojo, Janice, and Jodi left the Who-Cinema. It was three hours later than planned. Maybe that was because they had spent the time at the cinema's arcade hanging out, playing games, and talking. Well, that refers to Jojo and Janice.
Jojo and Janice walked hand in hand out of the movie while Jodi had trailed behind them like a lost puppy. She looked at Janice in a way she never did before. She looked at her with envy. Deep down in her heart she wished that her own hand was clasped around Jojo's. While Jojo and Janice laughed and talked in the arcade, Jodi stopped paying attention since they had been ignoring her for the last half hour. She thought back to all the things Janice said about Jojo to make him blush.
"You are so funny Jojo!"
"You are so nice Jojo!"
"You are so sweet Jojo!"
"You have a beautiful singing voice Jojo!"
"You are WONDERFUL Jojo!"
'You are this and you are that. Jeez, she was never this sappy before.' Jodi thought, semi-glaring when they started running ahead of her. Jodi's face fell. 'I shouldn't be thinking this way about her. I mean, we've been friends since...well, when we were Who-babies. I can't let a boy ruin our friendship. Still... they both look so happy with each other. Maybe I should leave them alone.' With that thought, Jodi started walking away from them. It was a few more minutes before Janice realized that Jodi was gone. Turning in a circle, she let go of Jojo's hand.
"Jojo, I-I'm sorry. I just realized I have completely excluded Jodi out of our fun." Jojo stared at her with disbelief.
"You just now realized that? It's been thirty minutes!" Janice put on a guilty face.
She turned and started running to find Jodi. Jojo just stood there. "I'm so sorry! I'll be right back!"
Jojo decided to get some fresh air. "Man, girls are confusing."
When he walked outside, he saw a figure sitting just out of reach of the moonlight. Going towards them, his eyes widened when he saw it was Jodi. She had her eyes closed and appeared to be sleeping. Jojo came over and sat beside her, and gently poked her. She opened her eyes, blinking them a few times when she noticed Jojo. She turned away a little angrily and signed,
'I thought you were with Janice.' Jojo winced when she turned away. He was sure that if she had said those words, they'd be covered in ice. He put a hand on her shoulder, feeling her stiffen.
"I'm sorry. It was wrong that we didn't include you. It's just...I don't know. I've had this weird feeling around both of you since we met." Jodi signed,
'Oh?'
"Yeah. But it's a good kind of weird." Jojo replied. He felt Jodi relax under his touch, but still felt like there was some sort of barrier between them. He really didn't want to loose Jodi as a friend, so he decided to make it up to her.
"Hey, how about me and you go play a couple of games. Just the two of us." Jodi snapped her head towards him.
'But...what about Janice?' Jojo smiled.
"I'll check with her, but I'm sure she'll be fine with it. She was more upset than I was when she realized you weren't there." Jodi immediately felt a pang of guilt for making her friend worry.
They both got up together and as they walked towards the building, Jojo realized Jodi was shivering. He slid his arm around her shoulders and she moved closer towards him with a blush on her face. When they got inside, Jojo took his arm off of Jodi's shoulders, and inwardly she frowned. Outwardly, though, she kept the same appearance.
Janice was inside yelling at the manager to search the entire building to find Jodi. Jojo was sure if they hadn't come in sooner, Janice would have had him in a headlock. When Jojo and Jodi came in, Janice pushed the confused manager away. "Next time, toots, make sure you look ya self before beatin' me up!" The manager shouted as he stormed away.
Jojo pulled Janice to the side. "Hey, Janice, would you mind if me and Jodi hung out a while? She's feeling left out." Janice smiled.
"No problemo, cappachino!" Janice winked as she said it. "You two go have fun, and bring me back something nice!"
Janice didn't notice, but Jodi saw Jojo blush slightly when Janice winked at him. Shaking off another feeling of envy towards Janice, Jodi tried to cover it up with a cough. Jojo took her hand and pulled her towards the air-hockey machine. Jodi won, and Jojo was about to challenge her again when Janice took both of them by the hand and pulled them towards the "Love-O-Meter".
"Okay. This is a fun little toy!! Tehee!" Janice let out a squeal of uncontrollable laughter and after 10 minutes, finally stopped. "Alrighty. Now, here's whatcha do...You Jodi," Janice took Jodi's hand and placed it on the hand print that said "Girl". "...And you Jojo," Janice snatched Jojo's hand and stopped a minute. She looked at Jojo a moment and then smiled. She placed his hand on the hand print entitled "Boy". Jodi saw her smile at Jojo, and saw Jojo smile back. An unusual feeling rose up inside of her, a feeling she was starting to get used to. Jealousy. She turned her attention to the game, not looking at Jojo or Janice. Janice went on explaining, not noticing Jodi's strange behavior.
"Here's whatcha do. When two people put their hands upon this device, and put in a Who-quarter...anyone got a Who-quarter?" Jodi reached in her pocket and pulled out a shiny Who-Coin. She handed it to Janice without looking at her. "Thanks Jodi! Now," Janice put in the coin and the machine lit up. "One of you click the 'START' button," Jojo and Jodi both reached out at the same time and Jodi's hand fell on Jojo's and they both pushed the button together.
"Now, the machine will do it's calculations! Let it work folks!" Janice created quite a scene. Now almost everyone in the theatre was crowded around Jojo and Jodi. Jodi stared straight ahead, trying not to think about the other Who's.
'They are not here. They are not here. They are not here.' Jodi repeated that line in her mind over and over until she heard a ding. Janice looked at the results...
"BOOYAH! YOU GUYS GOT A HOT STUFF! THAT'S THE HIGHEST RESULT! WOOTYHOO!" Janice danced around and rejoiced, not realizing what it really meant.
Slowly the crowds started thinning out until only one elderly man remained.
"I remember doing that as a teenager. Tried it with all my crushes. Got the highest scores ya know!" The old man coughed a few times and spat out what looked like a hairball.
Jojo and Jodi scooted back a few steps. Jojo asked the man, "Was is accurate?"
"All my loves never went out with me again and no one has asked me out since. My love life was shattered. SHATTERED!!" Then the old man gagged and some slimy, unknown, substance dripped out of his nose.
Jojo and Janice muttered an "ewwwwwww!" and went over to the ping-pong table beside them while Jodi just looked down and sighed.
'I knew it' she thought. 'Me and Jojo- we'll never happen.' At this thought, a tear slid down her cheek and she turned and ran outside. It was pouring rain, but she didn't care and wasn't going to turn back.
Jojo ran out after her, as she thought, and tried to get her to come back inside.
"It's pouring! Let's go back inside!"
Jodi shook her head and pulled away when Jojo tried to come closer. Jojo saw her shoulders shaking and knew that she was either cold or crying, maybe both. He was going to say something else, but Janice stopped him.
"Jojo, Jodi and I need to talk. Well, I need to talk and she needs to sign." Janice ran inside with Jodi and they both walked to the Girl's Room.
'Why am I in here?' Jodi thought, wringing out her wet hair. 'All she's gonna do is try to make me feel better about my supposed "sadness at being mute". I can't believe that she hasn't figured it out yet.' Janice came over to her, brushing Jodi's hair with her fingers. This was one of the few times where Janice was going to be serious.
"I don't really know whats going on but I think that you might have the wrong idea about Jojo and I."
'Ok, so maybe she has figured it out.' Jodi thought. She then turned to Janice. 'I know what's going on. I mean, I know you're not very observant, but couldn't you tell that Jojo has a crush on you?' Jodi signed.
"What? Pish-Posh! Polly wag! Jimminy-Cricket! Craziness! Insan..."
'Alright, I get it.' Jodi held up the hand she wasn't using to sign. 'I know that he likes you. I saw what happened earlier, you guys completely ignored me for a half-hour, you compliment everything he does, he blushes whenever you look at him, when you grabbed his hand at that stupid machine you smiled at him and he smiled back, and even when we were hanging out alone, his mind was still on you!'
"Wow. I didn't catch all that. Why don't we have a sleepover. Just us? For some best friend bonding time? It's Friday so you can just call your parents and ask. " Janice suggested.
Jodi stared at Janice in disbelief. 'And now you've forgotten that I'm mute. You never forgot before!' Janice squirmed a little.
"Woo. Sorry 'bout that. I'm just being a Silly Willy Billy Goat." Janice giggled her usual "I really am out of it and I really don't have a clue about anything" giggle. Jodi sighed.
'No problem. I completely and utterly forgive you.' She signed sarcastically, making sure her face looked the part. Of course, Janice didn't catch the sarcasm. "Thanks, I knew you would."
'Nevermind. Let's go find Jojo.' Jodi pushed the door open, dreading having to see Jojo, since he seemed to only see Janice.
When they walked out, Jojo looked like he had ran a marathon. He was sweating and he had great big bags under his eyes.
"Jojo! What's wrong!?" Janice squealed.
"Oh, nothing, I am just...exhausted. I better head home. My parents are probably worried sick about me."
Jojo walked slowly over to Jodi, and said softly in her ear,
"I really had a nice time with you today. A tad stressful...I'm not used to being pushed between two girls but, you made it...you made it...really...cool. Thank you."
He gazed at her with his big brown eyes and said goodbye.
As he walked home he thought about the two girls he met in the last few hours and how they suddenly changed his life.
He still was confused. 'Do I like both of them? Well, Janice was really exciting to be with, but Jodi has a calming presence. This will not end well.' He thought before entering his house.
Jojo cracked open his front door a bit and peeked in, half hoping everyone had gone to bed and forgotten that he was supposed to call. Inside he saw both of his parents' hands on their hips with furious expressions on their faces. He decided that he better get it over with now.
He walked inside, with an innocent look on his face.
"Uh, hey Mom and Dad..."
"Young Man! Are you aware of what time it is? I said be home by six thirty, but no! You arrive here, three hours later, without even a little call to your worried parents on that new Who-Phone we gave you!" Sally was steaming.
"What were you doing all that time? It couldn't have taken that long to see a movie!"
"Well...I met...um...I met...two girls." Jojo stuttered with a red face. His father's frown immediately transformed into a shining smile.
"Well! Why didn't ya say so!" His father loosened up. "Hey, didja make a mooooooove?" Ned nudged his son.
"Ned! What a bad influence! You should be ashamed! I was very worried about him!" Sally elbowed Jojo's father.
"Alrighty my boy, lets head on up to bed." Ned patted Jojo on the head and let him up the stairs.
During that time, Janice and Jodi were munching Who-Chips and flipping through "Who Vogue" and "Rad Who's" magazines. They were just starting their sleep-over at Janice's house. Jodi came across one article called "The signs that He Likes You". Jodi pointed to it, and Janice took it, reading some of the signs out loud.
"If he finds your hand in the popcorn bucket and holds it, that means he wants to be with you always. Hm...interesting." Janice soon lost interest, but Jodi snatched it back and signed some of the other signs.
'If he smiles at you all the time, it means he thinks you're attractive. If he blushes around you, it means that he has deep inner feelings about you.' Jodi looked expectantly at Janice, waiting for her reaction. Janice's eyes widened after a while.
"Oh! OH MY! He really does like me!" Janice put a handful of Who-Chips in her mouth and let out a high-pitched squeal.
'So you finally figured it out.' Jodi signed. 'It was so obvious it almost bit you.' Janice giggled.
"Kurt Jones likes me!! I knew it! The way he asked me, 'Can you please stop gnawing on your pencil? It's giving me a head ache!' Was so romantic!" Janice laughed.
'Geez, she's an idiot.' Jodi thought. 'Not to mention confusing.' She looked slightly amused while Janice started babbling about the new Who in their school.
"Well I mean he's okay but I'd just DIE if I had to live with him! He talks way too much! Can you imagine having to deal with some Who like that ALL THE TIME?!" Janice went on and on.
'No. I have NO idea what it's like to be around a Who that NEVER stops talking.' Jodi signed. 'And I wasn't talking about Kurt, I was talking about Jojo.'
"Jojo? Well.."
And then at the same, exact, SPLIT second Janice said, and Jodi signed,
" ' DO YOU LIKE JOJO? ' "
That's it for chapter two! Starting now, go to TamaranianWarrior's version of chapter three of "The Love Triangle" if you support Janice with Jojo. Stay here if you like Jodi with Jojo.
Till next time!!
