I realised just after Chapter 8 was posted that I'd written over 20,000 words!! :O :O :O I couldn't believe I'd actually written that much, and there's still plenty more to come!! So enjoy!!
The whole school waited in silence, wondering what kind of special announcement Menlo was going to make, when suddenly they heard a sound… but it wasn't Menlo's voice. It was the fire alarm.
"Fire drill!" Mrs. Coleman yelled to her homeroom class. "Everyone remain calm and make an orderly exit."
Everyone in the school walked out to the quad and lined up, in alphabetical order, in their homeroom classes: which meant Ashley B. was just behind Ashley A.
As Menlo walked past, Ashley B. beckoned him over. "You little idiot!" she whispered. "Why didn't you, like, make our announcement first?"
"Because I would have been fired if I didn't make the regular announcements first!" Menlo said. "Principal Adams always taught me to make his announcements first."
"Well, we can do this without your help and you can, like, totally forget your date with Ashley A!" Ashley B. said, and smirked as the glimmer in Menlo's eyes disappeared, and was replaced with a vast, empty sadness.
"I don't care," Menlo said, though it was very obvious he did care. "The principal would have fired me anyway."
Menlo turned to walk away, but Ashley B. cleared her throat. Menlo turned around.
"The book, you idiot! We, like, need it back." Ashley B. said, and Menlo looked sheepish.
"Omigod," Ashley B. said, panic stricken. "You have got the book, haven't you?"
"Um… no," Menlo said, and then, knowing it was wise to stay away when an Ashley got mad, said "Buh-bye" and ran away.
"Like, what are we gonna do now?" Ashley B. said: Ashley A. had never seen her look so mad. Ashley B. fuming- that book was going to fall into the hands of someone else, a someone else that would reveal Spinelli's secrets, a someone else that would become the most popular kid in school. A title that should belong to her!
"Like, calm down Ashley B." Ashley A. said, knowing that her friend wouldn't calm down- but there was still hope. "We'll just have to, like, hope it's not a real fire- and if it isn't, we'll, like, find it when we can go back inside. He'll have, like, left it on the desk."
"Hope it's not a real fire?!" Ashley B. screamed- the fire being real and the book burning was a terrible possibility, a possibility she hadn't even considered.
"It was a real fire last time!" Butch said, turning around to face the girls. He was standing in front of Ashley A. (his last name was Allan.) "Last time the fire alarm went, no one thought about calling the fire brigade. Said it would just be someone setting the alarm off. But it was a real fire, and they never saw little Jimmy Cratmer again…"
"Dude, will you stop telling people that I'm dead?" A voice behind Ashley B. said, and it was Jimmy Cratmer himself, looking, in fact, very alive. Butch sighed and turned around.
Jimmy rolled his eyes. "Well, you can tell he's in the drama club." (A/N- that was probably MY favourite part of the whole story so far. :D)
Ashley A. sighed. She didn't want to talk- or think- about people dying in fires. After the tragic experience with fires she'd had, it was understandable.
Suddenly, the fire alarm stopped, and everyone started going back in. Ashley A. and Ashley B. waited for Ashley Q. and Ashley T, and Ashley B. furiously told them that Menlo had left the book in the office, and they were outraged.
They hurried to the office, and to their horror, the book was gone.
"What?!" Ashley B. said, distraught. "This, like, can't be happening."
"What are you doing here, Ashleys?" Principal Adams said. TJ Detweiler was standing behind him, looking sheepish.
"Like, nothing, Principal Adams!" The Ashleys all said, then Ashley A. said, "We were just looking for Menlo."
"Well, you won't find him, because he is in class. Like you should be," Principal Adams said sternly. "Off you go."
"Yes, Principal Adams," the Ashleys said, and they headed to English class. Luckily, their teacher, Mr. Smith, was always late, so they didn't get detention.
The Ashleys sat down in their seats, livid about the book being stolen, when Vince came over to them. "Hey, guys! Did you hear?" He said.
"About what?!" Ashley A. said.
"About TJ!" Vince replied.
"Like, what about that stupid little worm?!" Ashley Q. said.
"He started the fire alarm!" Vince said.
"Like, really?!" All four Ashleys said, and then Ashley T. said, "That, like, totally makes sense. I mean, when we were, like, looking for Menlo, Principal Adams was there and TJ was like, with him."
"Hi class! Sorry I'm late!" Their teacher, Mr. Smith interrupted them, coming through the door with a mountain of paperwork.
"ASHLEY ARMBUSTER!!" Spinelli screamed that night, and Ashley A. gulped, knowing that Spinelli's ear-splitting yell could only mean one thing: she'd noticed her book was missing. Ashley A. really couldn't believe it had taken her all this time to figure it out- they'd stolen it on Saturday afternoon, it was now Monday night.
Spinelli's face was like thunder as Ashley A's bedroom door was flung open. "Alright, Ashley A, admit it, you've stolen it!"
Ashley A. looked directly into Spinelli's eyes- she'd gotten good at lying over the years. "Like, stolen what, Spinelli?"
"That black book I keep under my pillow!" Spinelli was just as angry as Ashley B. had been earlier. "Don't lie to me powder puff- I know you've taken it!"
"Like, I don't even know what you're talking about!" Ashley A. said.
"Why you little"- Spinelli growled, clenching her fists and stepping towards Ashley A, but then Flo yelled, "GIRLS! DINNER'S READY!"
Ashley A. sighed a sigh of relief, and Spinelli sighed a sigh of disappointment; she'd wanted to beat Ashley A. up for years, now was her chance, and her mom had to ruin it.
"Coming, Mom!" Spinelli yelled back, at the same time as Ashley A. yelled, "Coming, Flo!" And both girls went downstairs for dinner, wondering where the book was.
Little did they know it was closer than they thought.
"We're very disappointed in you, Theodore," Mrs. Detweiler said, a few doors down. "Go to your room."
TJ went to his room and grinned when the door was shut. He'd been suspended for two days for setting the fire alarm off. He had a good reason to set the fire alarm off, though. It wasn't the reason he'd given to his parents and his principal: I thought it would be fun. It was to protect the person he cared about more than anyone else.
He thought back to Saturday, when it all started…
TJ Detweiler was taking out the trash, feeling miserable- since Spinelli stopped talking to him- and he still didn't know why- he felt miserable more than ever. While he was taking out the trash, he saw three of the Ashleys standing outside Spinelli's house, walking over to Ashley Q's car. Ashley B. had a black book in her hands, and all three of them had smirks spreading right across their faces.
"I can't believe Spinelli, like, wrote love songs in that book!" Ashley T. said.
"I know! And, like, I can't wait to get Menlo to read it out in morning announcements on Monday morning!" Ashley Q. said.
"And totally ruin her reputation… and her life!" Ashley T. said, and all three Ashleys laughed as they got into Ashley Q's car.
"And remember girls… this was all my idea!" Ashley B. reminded them, and TJ swore he saw Ashley T. and Ashley Q. roll their eyes as the car sped off…
TJ knew he couldn't let them hurt Spinelli like that, even though Spinelli had hurt him so much. He still cared about her. So that morning he hid behind a display just outside the office, watching and waiting.He witnessed the scene between the Ashleys and Menlo, and the handing over of the book. And just as Menlo was about to read it out for the whole school to hear, TJ set off the fire alarm and hid. He waited until everyone was out the building, and then he ran to Menlo's desk, grabbed the book, put it in his bag and ran. Randall had seen TJ set off the fire alarm but hadn't seen him get the book- he'd already ran to tell a teacher, and that was how TJ was caught.
And maybe if I tell Spinelli what the Ashleys were going to do and that it was me who stopped Menlo from reading out her songs to the whole school, she'll talk to me again! TJ thought excitedly.
But then he remembered how upset Spinelli had been when she'd first found out that Ashley A. He knew how much Spinelli and Ashley A. hated each other. Wasn't it already tense enough in that house as it is, without TJ telling Spinelli that the Ashleys had stolen that book?
TJ sighed; he'd just have to give it to her, without an explanation. In person. As soon as he possibly could.
It was the next day, and school had just ended. Spinelli, Kate, Ruby, Sam and Dave were all walking down the corridor, Kate, Ruby and Dave laughing at something Sam was telling them, but Spinelli just couldn't concentrate. She'd not been paying attention in any of her classes, either- much to the annoyance of her teachers.
"What's up, Spinelli?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, you've been distant all day!" Dave said.
Spinelli sighed. "Well, you guys know how I have to live with Ashley A?"
Spinelli's friends nodded. "And boy, do we pity you," Sam said, and Kate, Ruby and Dave nodded in agreement.
"Well, I think Ashley A's stolen my song book," Spinelli said, and thought she could have strangled Kate when she just shrugged. "So?" Kate said blankly.
"So, that has some really personal songs in it, and now Ashley A's got her filthy little hands on it, no doubt all the other Ashleys have laughed at it, and knowing them, they'll tell the whole damn school what's in there!"
"Well what's so bad about that?" Kate said. "I mean, people will realise how talented you are, and maybe you'll get into a band or something! Isn't that you've always wanted?"
Spinelli snorted. "Like there's gonna be talent scouts at Second Street High."
"Hey, there's TJ!" Sam suddenly said, pointing at the gates where, sure enough, TJ Detweiler himself was waiting.
"Hey TJ!" Kate said once they reached the gates.
TJ said a simple, "Hey," but did not look at any of them, apart from Spinelli, upon whom his eyes were fixed. All five of them noticed this- Kate, Ruby, Sam and Dave nudged each other and grinned, and Spinelli just frowned at TJ whilst giving him death glares.
"Stop staring at me!" She yelled, and stormed off.
TJ grabbed her arm- he couldn't just let her go! He had to give her the book. "Don't go," TJ said pleadingly.
Spinelli turned around. "I- I have something for you," TJ said, looking deep into her eyes. Those beautiful brown eyes…
"Well, make it quick, I'm gonna be late for work," Spinelli said coldly.
TJ dug into his bag until he found what he was looking for. Spinelli's eyes widened in disbelief as TJ produced that little black book she'd been worrying about all day, that little black book that had kept her awake with worry last night. That little black book that she'd poured her heart into…
"My book!" Spinelli said, snatching the book from TJ and opening it to check that it really was her book, not just some other black notebook that they'd thought might be hers. "Omigod, thank you so"- Spinelli trailed off, staring at TJ and realising something. If it was TJ that was bringing her book back to her, then that meant…
"You little rat!" Spinelli exclaimed. "You stole it, didn't you?"
"No, of course I didn't!" TJ said, looking pleadingly into Spinelli's eyes. "You know I wouldn't do something like that, Spinelli."
"Right. Well how did you get your filthy little hands on it, if you didn't steal it?" Spinelli said, hands on hips.
Uh-oh… TJ was in trouble now. Spinelli was looking angry. He never thought Spinelli would think he stole the book, but he knew it would be wiser not to tell Spinelli the Ashleys had stolen it.
"I found it on a desk! Really I did!" TJ pleaded, it was, after all, the truth. "Please Spinelli, you know I wouldn't do anything like that, I l-"
It was then Spinelli slapped him in the face and ran away in the opposite direction. TJ felt a stinging sensation in his cheek where Spinelli had slapped him, but what hurt more than that was his heart. He couldn't believe Spinelli thought he would do something like that. He was trying to protect her from becoming a laughing stock and that was the thanks he got?
He sighed as he thought back to earlier- maybe it was a good thing Spinelli had slapped him. Because if she hadn't, something stupid would have slipped out.
He would have said, "I love you."
