Later that day Tara walked into Abel's room to make sure he had actually gotten ready for bed and did his homework.
"Abel, you did all your make-up work right?" Tara questioned him from the doorway
"yah mom and I brushed my teeth and I already got my clothes picked out for tomorrow" he replied in a bored tone
"just checking" she walked into his room more and sat on the bed "what you did today for Janis, that was really nice of you. You have such a good heart Abel Teller"
"well mom you do know I'm awesome right" he replied with a superior tone while giving his fathers playful grin that fit right on his own little face
"of course I do sweetheart, I could never forget" she replied laughing "ok my awesome son time to get ready for bed"
"night mom, I love you" he said around a yawn
"you to little man" she said giving him a kiss on the forehead
Tara was on her way to her own bedroom when the phone rang
"Jax can you get that I'm going to take a shower" Tara called to Jax who was In the living room
"sure thing babe" he answered
"hello?" he asked
"is… Abel there?" a little girl's voice asked
"Janis?" Jax asked
"yah" she said
"I'll get him hold on a second" Jax told her
"thank… you" Janis said
"Abel Janis is on the phone" Jax called to his son
Soon the sound of little feet pitter pattering on the floor could be heard
"hello?" Abel breathed into the phone
"ease of the receiver little man, don't want to sound desperate" Jax advised his son from the sidelines Abel nodded and held the phone a little farther from his mouth.
"Abel?" Janis questioned
"yah?" he answered grinning like a mad man
"do you think your mom can… pick me up from school tomorrow… so we can be there at the same… time" Janis asked
"my mom has to work early so is it ok if my dad gives us a ride?" Abel asked worried she might say no
"ok what time… should I be ready?" Janis inquired
Abel turned and looked at his dad with a questioning stare.
"tell her 7:30" Jax told his son smiling at the little boy
"7:30" Abel answered
"ok see you… tomorrow" Janis said
"see you tomorrow" Abel cheerily replied hanging up the phone
As Abel laid in bed he was so excited he almost couldn't go to sleep. A few blocks away Janis lay in her bed so relieved she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
The next day Jax pulled up in front of Tig's house right at 7:30 and only had to wait 2 seconds before Janis came running out and hopped into the car giving Abel a poke as she got settled.
"hey Janis" Abel said excitedly
"hey Abel" Janis said with a shoulder jerk
"you guys ready to go" Jax asked from the drivers seat
"yah" Abel practically shouted
Janis bit her lip and looked at Abel skeptically. Abel grabbed her hand and squeezed giving her a dazzling smile. Janis smiled back and looked to Jax
"yah" she answered
Jax dropped the kids off at the school gate then sped off to work. Abel and Janis were making there way across the playground to there classrooms holding hands when Abel's friend Ricky walked up to them.
"Abel what are you doing with the twitchy kid" Ricky asked sneering at Janis who shrunk behind Abel still holding his hand
"don't call her that. Her name is Janis and she's not twitchy she has Tourette's Syndrome" he explained hiding Janis behind him
"she's a freak!" Ricky protested shoving Abel
"no she's not!" Abel argued shoving him back
"she's a weirdo and because you hang out with her that makes you one to!" Ricky said giving Abel another shove
"fine then I'm a weirdo at least I'm not an asshole" Abel yelled and then hauled off and punched him sending the kid to the ground
"Abel! Are you ok" Janis asked twitching relentlessly
"yah I'm fine. Are you ok?" Abel asked her turning to look at her
"Abel, you're my hero!" Janis shouted hugging him with all her might
"I don't think so, I don't even have a cape" he said to her
"not all hero's wear capes Abel" she replied giving him a kiss on the cheek
"thanks" Abel mumbled blushing and looking at the ground
In the next few minutes Able and Janis were escorted to the principle's office and there respective guardian's were called.
Abel was suspended for 3 days and Janis was sent back to class. The rest of the school day went without incident. Word had spread of Abel Teller punching Ricky for speaking bad of Janis so everyone refrained from saying anything that might get them punched also. Janis was counting down the seconds until the bell rang when Mrs. Peterson made a last announcement.
"tomorrow is Valentines Day. Here is a list of everyone's name in this class I gave you that list because it is mandatory to have a card for everyone in class. If you exclude anyone you will be getting sitting in here during recess for a week" she said passing out the paper to everyone.
With that new information Janis was even more excited to get out of school so she could go to the clubhouse and work on her cards. She would make Abel's extra special cause he was her best friend after all and she could give it to him tomorrow. Since she wouldn't see him today, Neeta had picked him up and took him home after the playground incident. She would make a special trip to his house before school and drop it off for him.
When the bell rang Janis got up from her seat and sprinted out of the building reaching Teller-Morrow in less than the 10 minutes she was aloud. She set up camp at one of the tables in the main room. Surrounded by red, pink, and white construction paper and a glue stick, along with her scissors and colored pencils she got to work.
Happy decided to take his break now and go get a beer inside the clubhouse. He ambled along to the building but stopped when he opened the door. Sitting at a table in all her Trager glory was Janis stabbing a piece of construction paper with an angry look on her face. She was definitely Tig's niece, there was no doubt now.
"hey Janis whatcha doing" Happy asked walking into the room completely
"I was trying to make Valentine's day cards for my class but it's not going well at all" she said trying desperately not to cry
Happy looked around the room before asking "you want some help?"
Janis looked at him for a minute "yes please, I would like some help"
Happy walked over to the table and sat down "ok so what are we doing here?" he asked her
She crawled into his lap and got situated "I want to make hearts and cut them out, then I want to glue them here and right their names here" Janis said pointing and moving the papers around showing Happy what she wanted.
"ok we can manage that" Happy said watching the little girl try to move through her twitches
"you hold the pencil and I'll help you" Happy told her covering her small shaking pale hand with his large tan steady one
They worked for a couple minutes in silence and finally finished the card.
"thank you Happy for helping me" Janis told him giving him a bright smile
"don't mention it kid" he said moving to get up
"were are you going?" Janis asked him
"what do you mean? aren't we done?" he asked confused
"no I have to make 29 more" she said to him in a duh tone
"what?" he asked "why?"
"we have to make one for everyone in our class" she explained
"what for?" he asked
"to be nice" she said
"that's bullshit, kids need to grow the fuck up, life ain't nice" he grumbled starting to fold another paper
"yah but it's elementary school. They're going to lie to us as long as they can" Janis replied checking one name off the list
Authors Note: hope you enjoyed this chapter sorry it took me so long, life got in the way of writing… again lol. Remember just like Janis sometimes we all need a little help in life, don't be afraid to accept it. It doesn't make you weak it just makes you human. A lesson I think we all need to relearn sometimes. : ) As always questions or concerns don't hesitate to speak up.