"Is she your girlfriend or something?"
"Sure!"
"Sure? So…it's that like yes or no!?"
"Yes, dammit! She's on her way now so go to class, dummy! Go!"
Jon slammed his locker shut, pushed Sami out of his way playfully which made Sami stick up his middle finger at his friend, and proceeded to meet up with Renee who had arrived at school during passing period after English class. Her and her mother had accidentally overslept which was the cause of her arriving to school late but she was relieved to see Jon in the hallway as she ran up to him and gave him a huge hug.
"Hey, there," Jon said. "Let me carry your books for you."
"Thank you." Renee was relieved to give Jon her books and walk with him to their second class that they now shared together. "What did we do in English?"
"We had a sub so we just read the new chapter for today. You do the homework for history?"
"I sure did. Did you?"
"Maybe."
"I take that as a no."
"I did my homework!" Jon pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his back pocket and whipped it out for Renee to see. "Ha!"
Renee rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smirk as Jon had a way of always making her laugh and it didn't matter if it was during something silly or serious. The more the two kids hung out with each other, cried with each other, laughed with each other, and enjoyed being together as the entire world didn't matter to them as Jon mattered to Renee and Renee mattered to Jon. Jon was still a tough person but he had his sweet spot for his favorite person in the world and dammit if anyone messed with his love, there would be hell to pay and this continued well through middle school and into high school when Jon and Renee grew a little older and began to realize that they had feelings for one another. But it would be hard for the two of them to come to terms with that…for only a little while.
Summer, before junior year:
"What time does the movie end?" Ms. Paquette asked Renee.
"I'm honestly not sure. I know the movie is at least two hours long."
"Well, I'll pick you up around five that way you'll have time to enjoy the movie. How does that sound?"
"Sounds like you're letting me stay out later before dinner and I love it!"
"Well, I trust Jon. He's a nice boy and you two have been very good friends for a few years so I know you'll be fine. Is that him?"
"Yes!"
Jon was sitting on the steps of the movie theatre and quickly got up when he saw Renee and her mother approaching him on the street. He waved at Ms. Paquette who waved back at him and reminded Renee to be outside at five before driving off to go back home.
"Hey!" Jon gave Renee a big hug and held her hand as they walked to the box office. "How are you today?"
"I'm doing great. I'm glad we don't have school today," Renee said.
"I know. I'll buy everything."
"My mom gave me some money so I can buy my own ticket and snacks. Thank you for offering to buy me stuff."
"I said I'll buy everything for you and that is that."
"Oh, okay. Since you insist on doing so!"
"Of course I do."
Jon purchased the tickets for the movie then purchased a popcorn and a drink for him and Renee to share. Renee still bought herself some gummy worms and headed to the auditorium with Jon so they could get the best seats which were at the very top of the theater. Once there, they made themselves comfortable and started to munch of their delicious snacks while they enjoyed the previews and finally the movie itself.
Halfway through the film, Jon had told Renee that he needed to use the restroom and would be back in a flash. But what he didn't know was that some bullies that he had had a problem with at school decided they were going to head to the exact movie theatre to watch a film and all decided to use the restroom before getting their snacks from the concession stands. However, Jon couldn't go to the restroom in peace because once he left, he ran directly into the ring leader of the bullies that he's always had problems with and things would go south real quick.
"Well, well, if it isn't Jon the Jackass," the bully said.
"Get out of my way, Phil the Pig," Jon retorted.
When he tried to brush past Phil, Phil pushed him back against the wall and soon two other bullies joined Phil right by his side and made it clear to Jon that they weren't going to let him go easily.
"You think I'm going to let you go after you just disrespected me? I think not."
Jon punched Phil in the face as he was already sick of his shit and landed a few more punches in on Phil and the other kids until he was pushed against the wall again and was kicked, spat on, punched, and thrown against the wall again until a security guard saw the commotion, yelled out, and ran up to the boys who then backed away from Jon who remained on the floor.
"What are you punks doing!?" The security guard bellowed out. His six foot five stature and strong, deep, and terrifying voice sent chills down the spines of the bullies who were now huddling together.
"Um…" Phil said.
"You three stay right there. You okay, buddy?" The security guard knelt down on one knee and helped Jon to his feet but held him back when Jon tried to lash out at his bullies. "It's okay! You don't need to continue to fight! It's okay!"
Jon started to cry as he slumped against the wall again and watched as the security guard called for backup but then he decided that he needed to leave. This time the security guard didn't stop him but still stayed with the bullies to make sure that they were dealt with accordingly.
Renee had wondered what was taking Jon so long in the restroom but when she saw him coming back up the stairs and towards his seat, she was relieved and whispered to him "This movie is so good". She was oblivious to his silence as she took that as him simply being quiet because they were in the theater but the real reason is because he silently cried to himself for the rest of the film that he bothered not to follow anymore.
Jon had remained silent once the film was done and followed Renee out into the hallway and saw that the bullies were long gone so he didn't have to worry about being jumped again.
"I liked the part where…" Renee finally got a good view of Jon's face which had a bruised cheek on the right side of his face and a busted lip that needed to be tended to. "Jon…what happened to you?"
"I got jumped…" Jon said quietly. "I got jumped…dammit…"
Renee immediately took Jon to the bathroom to help him clean up then took him outside so they could wait for her mother to pick them up and take them home. When Ms. Paquette arrived, she saw Jon in bad shape, listened to him tell her what had happened, then drove him home immediately so that he could get his wounds patched up as he needed to be tended to.
Poor Renee couldn't help but worry about Jon throughout the night but Jon told her not to worry about him but she was quick to tell him that she couldn't help herself as she was upset about him getting jumped and blamed herself for not going to check up on him but as soon as she said that, Jon told her to never blame herself again. Renee had held the phone she was talking to, wishing it was Jon, but instead listened to Jon tell her that she wasn't at fault for what had happened that afternoon at the movies and finally understood what he was saying as she didn't need to lie to herself and think she was the cause of him getting hurt.
"You understand what I'm saying to you, Renee?"
"I do. I do…are you going to be okay, Jon?"
"I am. I'm going to be okay. I…I want you to get some sleep tonight, Renee. Please?"
"Okay. I will. I love you, Jon."
"I love you, too, Renee."
He was definitely going to be okay but what he had planned on doing the next day was not going to be okay at all.
During school, Jon figured out when and where the bullies that attacked him were hanging out when he had asked another student who happened to see them often outside of school and took that information so he could tell Sami and they both agreed to meet up with each other at the park to take care of the troublesome trio. Sami told Jon he was bringing his brass knuckles to this fight so he could lay those idiots out once and for all. Jon didn't tell Sami what he had planned on bringing but when Jon went home, no one else was home to see what he was doing and he wouldn't be questioned, so this gave him the opportunity to grab a knife from the kitchen and headed out to take care of his attackers who hurt him.
He wasn't going to let his attackers get away that easily.
