I didn't really understand what I was seeing, it couldn't have been Jojo...Could it?
'Well, whatever it is, it's coming your way' the voice in my head said, and it was right, he was coming this way. I jumped off the couch, then stopped, frozen. Where was I suppose to go? Was I going to hide? No, my mom would still make me come to dinner. Do I just act like I don't know him? That might work. I really wasn't sure what I was suppose to do, I wasn't expecting this, I even forgot they were coming. Just then Jojo came into the room, looking bored out of this skull, looking around, probably was getting a tour of our house. I didn't move, afraid he would spot me.
'Well, of course he's going to see you! You standing by the couch frozen' the voice hissed, snapping me out of my thoughts. When he finally looked at me, just then noticing I was there, all I did was put on a shy smile and wave a bit, which I thought was stupid for me to do. He just looked a bit confused, probably wondering why I waved. Then his dad walked in, holding his mothers hand. I've seen him around here some, when I was walking home, on the walls of the school, normal places. And he lived close too. His house was a bit further then Rowg's but it was only about a 5 minute walk from my house to his.
"Oh, this is your eldest daughter! You look about the same age is Jojo" his father smiled, looking at me. I smiled softly.
"Actually, she is the same age as your son. Didn't you say he was 14?" my mother asked.
"Yep!"
"Ned, honey, do you really think it was a good idea leaving all the girls at home with one babysitter?" Jojo's mom asked, looking worried.
"Of course Sally. Jojo watches them all the time and I think it would a full house with all the girls in here. Plus, I think Jojo needs a break from all those girls" Ned said, smiling and winked at his son. Jojo smiled, which surprised me, but it quickly passed when he saw me staring at him and he turned away.
'Whoops' I thought, turning away also.
"Dinners ready!" my mom called, leading all of us into the dinning room, then calling Sammy and Don-Don out here. I sat at the very end of the table, farthest away from Jojo, which made me more comfortable.
"So, do you have any other kids besides Jojo?" my mother asked, passing out the plates quickly and putting the food out in a few seconds.
"Yes, we have 97 daughters" Sally smiled. My eyes grew, and so did everyone else besides the O'Malley's.
"What?" Sally asked, blushing a bit, nervous.
"Oh, it's just that's a lot of kids" my mother said, blinking.
"Oh, yeah I guess" Jojo's mother took a drink from her water, looking at her husband for help.
"So, how do you all like WhoVille? Isn't it perfect?" The Mayor asked cheerfully, he looked over at me. I guess he wanted a response.
"Uh, yeah. It's great. It's very...unique! And colorful!" I tried to sound as truthful as I could, but that's the best I could think of at that moment. Ned nodded, seeming to believe me.
"Everything it perfect in WhoVille! Nothing has gone wrong, well except when our world was almost destroyed" The Mayor looked over uneasily to his son, who gave him the same expression. I nodded, remembering seeing in the Whopaper that our world was actually a speck and was saved by the Mayor of WhoVille and son, but I never thought it would be them, they didn't show any pictures and barely said anything about Jojo.
"I remember that! Weren't we saved by an invisible Elephant or something?" Sammy asked, blurting in, she wasn't happy when things weren't pointed to her.
"His name was Horton" Jojo muttered, sinking more in her chair then he was already. I don't think anyone heard him except me, which I wasn't surprised because I always had good hearing. Sammy walked over to Jojo, staring at him.
"You know, your really short" Sammy cocked her head to the side. "How are you suppose to be in High School?" I almost chocked on my dinner I was now eating. My mom shot Sammy a death glare, giving her a get-over-here-now-before-I-hurt-you expression. Sammy quickly slide over to her seat and sat there, somewhat annoyed and hurt at the same time. Jojo seemed a bit shocked by the sudden out burst but quickly let it go, like he was used to it.
"I'm so sorry, she's at that age of annoying the heck out of everyone" my mother shot another death wish glare before giving Sally and Ned a smile. It's creepy how my mom could just do that, one second she would be yelling at us, then her whophone rings and she's just like "Oh hi!" in a very cheerful tone.
"So, do you other two like WhoVille?" The Mayor asked, looking at Don-Don and Sammy.
"It's so much fun! It's so pretty and you can do a lot of fun things, like playing on the roof and playing tag" Sammy seemed to be cheerful again, almost jumping out of her seat, which my mom pushed her back into it.
"It's cool, there is a lot different things here" Don-Don smiled, he was in those teenage stages, where he thought his parents were lame and video games are his life and passion. Ned nodded and smiled. I glanced over at Jojo, who was looking out the window. He seemed to be in a whole different world. I could tell he forced to come.
"So, do you and Jojo have any classes together?" The Mayor asked, his attention on me again.
"Yeah, two" I replied, not looking up from my plate.
"That's fantastic! You and him could be great friends then!" Ned smiled so big it was scary. I gave a shy smile, glancing over at Jojo to see what he thought of his fathers wishes. But Jojo was still staring out the window, I couldn't even tell if he was listening or not. Thankfully, Ned and Sally started to talk to my mother and step-dad, which made it easier to breath again. I ate quietly, sometimes glancing towards Jojo to see what he was doing. Not until five minutes after his father stopped trying to talk about him, he started to eat.
It took an hour before I was aloud to leave the table, since my mother thought it would be an 'awesome idea' if we waited for everyone to be done, that included my sister as well. She eats like a pig, except in slow motion. After about just five to ten minutes everyone was done, except her, which she barely touched her plate. She would first eat everything she liked, then she would complain about not wanting to eat the other things and then my mom would tell she had too. Pretty much, it wasn't just that she ate slow, it was also she complained while she ate, which made it last longer. Actually, after an hour, she was still eating, but my mom took pitty on us and let me and Don-Don leave the table. I quickly took my plate, put it in the sink, and raced back into my room, which was the only place where I thought I would be safe. I really didn't know why I was acting like this. I picked up my Who-Pod and one of my favorite books, Wholight. I placed my self comfortably on my bed, put my head phones on, and relaxed.
--
I wasn't quiet sure when they left, but all I know is when I finally left my room, they were gone. Soon, I went straight to bed. I wanted a good sleep for tomorrow, since I haven't had one since I came here. But, to my un-surprise, I was woken up, again, to the sound of music, around 2 in the morning. I was pissed by now, annoyed that it wouldn't shut up.
"Urge!" I yelled, fidgeting with my jacket, finally putting it on correctly. I opened my window and slipped onto the tree branch. Unfortually, my room was on the second story. I wasn't really that awake when I was hanging on to the tree branch, but I soon was once I slipped off and fell on to the lower branch. I was hugging the branch, not wanting to let it go. Finally, after about 3 minutes of holding on, I finally got the courage to jump on to the next branch, then the next, until I was finally at the bottom.
"Whoever is making this noise better have a reason, or I'm going to kill them!" I whispered to my self sharply. I hated to be woken up. I walked through the high grass, looking around to see if I could find some lights or something where it would look like the music was coming from. I couldn't find anything, but then I spotted an old observatory. It looked like it hadn't been used in years. It was hard to see since it was black and it was dark out, even with some street lights. I jogged there, wanting to find out who was making this noise as soon as possible. I was finally there, well, not quite there. There was still the high hill it was sitting on. I looked around for some way of getting up, I only saw some giant cup thing hanging, which it looked to be holding on by a string. I walked over to it but stepped back when I saw the cliff, which the bottom seemed to go on forever.
'There's no way I'm going on that' I told my self and looked around quickly, hoping to find a different way up. The only other way was climbing the hill, which looked about as fun as the other way. I decided I'd rather climb then probably fall forever, and the cup didn't look that sturdy anyway.
I clung too one rock to another. I pressed my hands on to them as if my life depended on it, which it sorta did, if I fell I could possibly be crushed to my death. I keeped having to tell my self not to look down, no matter what, which didn't change once I looked. I always had a deep fear of heights, and climbing this wasn't my best idea. I freaked, gripping the stone so hard it broke off. I held my self up with one hand and both feet on the stone. I hung there for a few seconds before finally putting both hands back on to the stone wall. I finally got on top of the hill. My hair was sticking on to my face and my shirt was drenched in sweat, even if it was quite cool out tonight. I was breathing hard from both being tired and frightened. I had no idea how I was going to get down, but it would not be from the way I came, that was for sure. I was still breathing hard when I walked over to the door of the observatory. I noticed the boards on there and knew no one could have gotten in.
"This was such a stupid idea to come up here" I whispered to my self, still out of breath. The music was closer now then it had ever been at my house, but I didn't care, it meant nothing to me now. I was stuck on a mountain, cold and tired. I put my hands over my face and I slupped to the ground, to tired to stand, and leaned back on the door. But has soon as I put pressure on it, it seemed to slip out behind me, making me land right on to my back.
"Ow" I rubbed my back, wondering what happened. Then I opened my eyes, and looked around. My eyes opened wide, trying to take in what I saw, which was so amazing.
The place was scattered with instruments, drums, tubas, flutes, flingals, trugals, and much more. It was so beautiful, they were in all sorts of colors and shapes. I was so focused with the room that I didn't notice the figure working on one in the corner of the room until it made a creaking sound, which brought me out of my trance. I looked over at where the noise came from, besides the ones already playing in the room, and saw someone crouching over, fixing a huge saxophone. I had forgotten why I was up here in the first place. I walked slowly and quietly, coming closer. I couldn't see who the who was from behind, so I just keeped on walking. I came up from behind them and was about to scare them, punishment for waking me up, until I saw the face of the who. I froze, staring at him. Then, I guess he felt someone was behind him, because he turned around, he froze as well. Finally, one of us spoke, and it wasn't me.
"What are you doing up here?" Jojo asked, saying more words then I ever heard him say. I was still frozen when he spoke.
'Say something stupid!' the voice in my head yelled, snapping me out of it.
"Uh, um, uh" I said, my tough tided.
'I would have said the same thing, snap out of it!' said the voice. Jojo gave me a weird look, which made me narrow my eyes.
"The music keeped waking me up, I wanted to figure where it was coming from" I explained, defending my self.
"Oh, sorry for waking you" Jojo turned back around to his instrument. I was about to say something about turning your back on someone was rude but I decided not too. I sat down behind him and watch him work, which he didn't seem to mind. It was actually fun watching him put weird looking mental things in the saxophone and testing it out but it was kind of weird not having anyone talk. When I finally checked the clock on the wall, it was 5 in the morning and then came the yawning. Jojo seemed to notice I was getting more and more tired by the minute and stopped working. He stood up and held out a hand to help me up, which sorta stunned me but I took it none-the-less. He brushed him self off and walked through the door and shutting the lights off and the music. I followed, not sure how we were getting down.
--
I don't remember how we got down, except when we got inside the cup thing. At first I refused to get in, but after a few minutes I finally agreed, not sure how else I was going to get down. I yawned with every step I took, not sure how I was going to get through the school day tomorrow.
"Do you usually go out late and go home around this time?" I asked, trying to make him talk, it was getting a bit annoying. He shrugged, which wasn't want I wanted to happen. I guess he saw me sigh because he then spoke.
"Sorta, it's really the only place that I can get away" he replied, with a soft sigh of his own. I gave him a curious look, like what-do-you-mean-by-that? It was also weird to hear him talk. He stared at the ground so he didn't see my face.
"What do you mean that's 'the only place that you can get away' "? I asked, repeating his words.
"Who's at school don't really understand me, mostly because I'm different. And my father wants me to become Mayor, which I really don't want to be."
"Oh." It was the only thing I could think of at the moment. "But you don't have go up there all alone!"
"Who am I suppose with then?" he asked, giving me a strange look, which I didn't like.
"I'll go with you, I'm pretty different my self. I've always been a weird one" I smiled, not sure why I was being all buddy buddy all of a sudden.
"Really?" He didn't really seem convinced.
"Of course!" I tried to sound as convincing as I could, which was very good. "Friends?" I stuck my hand out, smiling. This confused him, I guess because no one had done this before. He hesitated before putting his own hand out as well.
"Friends." Then Jojo smiled, which caught me off guard. His smile was amazing.
'He looks so cute when he smiles' I thought. I smiled back, but then I noticed what I just thought and blushed. I was so glad it was too dark out here to see it. We walked in silence but this time I didn't care. We both looked up at the stars, or whatever we were looking, and seemed to be lost in the beauty. Soon we departed, going to our own house and getting some sleep.
When I finally got back into bed, the sun was coming up. But as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was fast asleep. But as fast as I fell asleep, I was awoken by someone shaking me.
"Amber get up! It's already 10!" Sammy yelled in my ear. My eyes opened and I shot up, looking at the clock.
"Oh my gosh! I'm late!" I raced out of bed, into the bathroom, before Sammy could even flinch. After about a minute or two I came flying out of the bathroom, hair still messy, and ran towards the front door.
"Amber?" My mom called my name but I was already out the front door.
"Sammy, did you tell her school was canceled?" mother asked.
"She'll figure it out when she gets there" Sammy snickered, thinking about my reaction. I ran so fast, I didn't even notice that my legs hurt and my head was spinning from lack of sleep and getting up so fast. I ran to the door for the school entrance, but it was locked.
"What the...?" I asked my self, but then I saw a big sign on the door. It said: SCHOOL IS CLOSED FOR THE DAY.
"I-came-here-for-nothing!" I yelled, out raged.
"Amber!" Someone yelled behind me. I turned around and saw Rowg running my way.
"So, your late as well?" I asked as she came up next to me, breathing hard. That made me finally realized how tired I was my self, it made me sit on the ground. I was dizzy, but it went away a bit in a few seconds.
"Yep" Rowg smiled, sitting down next to me. Then she saw the sign, letting out a few curses.
"No one told you either, huh?" I grinned, laughing. She nodded, sighing.
"I couldn't sleep last night. A band was playing." She yawned.
"Did you hear it the night before as well?" I asked, eyebrow raised.
"Yeah. How'd you know?" she questioned, surprised.
"That wasn't a band."
"What do you mean?"
"It was Jojo."
"Who?"
"The kid that didn't talk in fifth period." Rowg looked confused and tried to think of who I was talking about. I sighed.
"You know. The one that really short and has black hair." She still looked confused.
"The emoish one" I finally said, hoping she would know who I was talking about now.
"Ohhh! Himmm!" She finally got it. "How could he be making all that noise though?"
"He has this-Well, he-I'll just show you" I finally decided, it was too hard to explain.
"Okay. When?"
"Tonight."
