A little get together with friends. Seems like a cool chapter!
Chapter 21: Knowing from Inside Out
It was Friday and Seth went over to the halls and sees Jojo and Zeke standing in the lockers and told them 'hey' and they noticed that Seth's tring to catch his breath. Jojo asked, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I just had to find you guys." Seth said.
"Something happened?" asked Zeke.
"Nah. Just wanted to ask you guys if you can hang out with me and Austin at our house."
"That's it?"
"Yeah."
Zeke and Jojo looked at each other and Jojo asked, "Should I bring a movie?"
"Me and brother got some movies covered. Also, can you guys bring your guitars?"
"Guitar?" asked Zeke.
"What for?" asked Jojo.
"Might want to rock out at our basement. My dad and I completed some work in the basement and it's now a place where we can totally hang."
"Sounds awesome. Sure we can come."
"Hopefully, my dad's cool with it." Zeke said.
"Why wouldn't he?"
"He thinks hanging out with friends who aren't jocks or sports fans is a waste of time and I disagree. Whenever me and my dad differ on my future, he always wants the last word and he's making me choose sports over music and I can't do that. I got to have a social life with people outside of sports, you know? There's nothing wrong with hanging out with friends who aren't into sports."
"That's rough. What are you gonna do?"
"I might be able to go with you guys. He'll think I'm hanging out with my so-called 'teammates.'"
"What's your curfew?"
"Luckily, 10:00. Means I get to stay out a little later."
"Sweet."
"Me and Austin already asked Chad, Marcus, Mike and Cody to hang out with us and they're pretty much in. All I gotta do is ask Koa and Mana to see if they're in."
"When do we meet?" asked Jojo.
"At the front door of our house at 6:30."
"Awesome."
"After I ask Koa and Mana, I might bring in Noah as well."
"Might be amazing."
"Great. See you guys tonight."
Seth walked off towards the hall to find Koa and Mana. Meanwhile, Jojo looked at Zeke and asked, "Is your dad ultra-strict?"
"At times and then he turns into a sports junkie as well as super-strict coach and to be fair, I'm the worst student ever. Mainly because I'm the only one."
"Dude, that's gotta suck."
"It does. At the end of the day, I just wanna have some time to myself, play my guitar and just escape the world for a while."
"You know, you and I are getting along more closer than we thought."
Later that evening, Jojo was the first one to come in the Zuckerman's place and he knocked on the door, waiting for them to open. Austin answers the door and sees Jojo there. He smiled and said, "Hey, J. It's 6:00."
"I thought I got here early." Jojo answered.
"That's cool."
Austin let Jojo in and he brought his guitar and a few things in his bag as well. Suddenly, Seth came out of the kitchen and saw Jojo standing there. He chuckled and said, "Hey, you're here early."
"Well, I just thought I might be here before everyone else is." Jojo said.
Seth chuckled and said, "Early to visit makes two awesome brothers amazing cool. Wanna see how the basement looks like?"
"Sure."
Seth and Jojo walked in and when they got downstairs, Jojo gasped in awe as to how it turns out, a big-screen TV, mini-kitchen, hockey table, pool table, a couch, lava lamp and rock posters everywhere. He chuckled and said, "This is a lot fun here."
"Isn't it though? We've only been here a few days and already, we've completed the process of turning the basement into a hangout room."
"I could stay here forever."
"Me too."
Then, they headed upstairs and they saw Austin talking to Mike and Cody. Seth greeted them and they greeted back and Seth asked, "Did you guys come here?"
"Yeah, man. Didn't know Jojo was here first." Cody said.
"Well, I'm pretty much early."
"Brought your guitars, I see." Austin said.
"Yep, we definitely are guitar junkies." Mike said, carrying the guitar case.
"I can tell by the way you're holding your guitar."
"Mind if I come in?"
Suddenly, they see Chad come with a guitar as well. Austin told him, "What's up, Chad?"
"Not much, dude. Just coming here to have some fun here." Chad replied.
"What's up, C-dude?" asked Cody.
"Codester!"
They both laughed and did their handshake together. Jojo chuckled and asked, "C-dude?"
"Yeah, invented a new nickname for Chad. What you think?" asked Cody.
"Yeah, it fits."
"Coolio!" Chad exclaimed.
Then, Marcus came in with a guitar and also a camera too. Jojo was the first to see and said, "Marcus, how's it going?"
"Pretty good, J." Marcus replied.
"Mark-Mark. What's happening, man?" asked Mike.
"Pretty good."
"So, you got a camera?" asked Austin.
"Yeah, I got a camera. The cool thing about it is that I can take pictures as well as film everything there. Could be a possible chance one of those can be posted on WhoTube."
"Dude, if it's embarassing, please remove it." Cody said.
"Chillax, it won't be any embarassing moments there."
"Oh, good. Cause if there is, I will totally kill you."
Then, Noah came over with his guitar along with Koa and Mana behind them. They turned around and Seth said, "Hey, just got here?"
"Yep. We're here. Hope you guys don't mind that they followed me here." Noah said.
"We don't mind at all."
"How's it hanging, guys?" asked Austin.
"Good." Mana replied, softly.
"We're okay." Koa said.
Suddenly, Austin looks at a little guitar they're holding and asked, "What's this little guitar?"
Koa looked at it and said, "That's a who'kelele."
"A who'ka-what-le?" asked Cody.
"Who'kelele. It's an amazing instrument from Who'aii."
"Well, it'll work." Austin said.
"We've seen one of these things before with me, Austin an our dad, because we took a little trip of Who'aii ourselves a couple of years ago."
"You guys went to Who'aii?" asked Koa.
"Yep. I'll be honest, it is the best vacation ever!" Austin exclaimed.
"Completely the best one ever." Seth said.
"Wish we would've met you guys then." Mana said.
"We lived on the other side of the beach, like a couple of minutes away from Honowhowho and we live in Oawho." Koa said.
"We were in Honowhowho for our vacation. Stayed there for a week and a half." Austin said.
"The coolest thing is they when they welcome you, they break out these leis. Not sure what it's for, but I think they're pretty awesome." Seth said.
"It's just a way of saying 'Welcome to Who'aii' like A-who-a." Mana explains.
"I see."
"Room for one more?"
Then, they see Zeke coming in the house and Seth said, "Yeah, there is."
Zeke came in and got his guitar with him as well. He came over to Jojo and asked, "How's it going?"
"Pretty good." Jojo replied.
"What's going on?"
"We were just talking about Who'aii." Cody said.
"Who'aii? You know, this might sound crazy, but my childhood dream is to just either live in Who'aii or when I'm a famous musician, I might tour and play a little concert in Who'aii."
"That'll be awesome to see you perform in Who'aii." Koa said.
"If only they'd let us see you play for free." Mike said.
"So, you guys wanna see the basement?" asked Austin.
"Sure thing." they all replied.
"Follow us."
They followed Seth and Austin into the basement and when they looked at it, they were amazed to see what it looks like.
"So, what do you think?" asked Seth.
"It looks like the ultimate hangout room on the planet." Chad said.
"It makes me feel like I'm in heaven." Mike said.
"Me and my dad did some renovating on this room and I guess it turns out pretty awesome. The perfect hangout." Seth explained.
"It looks like it's gonna be fun."
"Okay, I wanna see what your guitars look like."
Jojo went first and brought in his black and grey striped guitar. They all marveled at this amazing instrument and Chad asked, "How long have you had that?"
"A couple of years, I guess." Jojo said.
"Looks pretty cool."
"All right, Mike, Cody. Show us your guitars." Austin said.
Mike went first and brought out his red and green guitar and they were amazed with how it looks. Koa looked at it and said, "That looks totally cool."
"Had it when I was 12. I use this baby most of the time and it's pretty much a cool one amongst all the other guitars." Mike said.
"It's not as cool as mine." Cody said.
Cody brought in his dark blue guitar and they seem to like that guitar a lot more from Mike's. Mike scoffs and said, "Show-off."
"All right, Chad. Let's see yours." Seth said.
Chad breaks out his yellow and orange guitar and immediately Mike and Cody were wowed by that guitar. Cody asked, "Where'd you get this?"
"When I lived in WhatCity and I had this thing since I was 11. I would often play my guitar for several reasons and I taught myself to play it ever since I had this thing." Chad explained.
"Wow. I wish I would've seen that." Jojo said.
"Who's next?" asked Austin.
"I'll go." Marcus said.
Marcus brought in his orange guitar along with some blue stripes on the bottom. Cody chuckled and said, "This one is cool."
"When you're in Whatropolis, you pretty much learn this before middle school."
"How long have you been playing it?" asked Jojo.
"At the end of third grade."
"You had it when you were eight?"
"Yep. Ever since, I've been playing guitar at an early age. I had some lessons though."
"Well, that helps."
Then, Zeke reveals his guitar and it's a rainbow guitar. Jojo looks at Zeke's guitar and said, "This looks like a very interesting guitar."
"Well, I've had it for quite a while. My uncle owned a guitar shop in Whatropolis and he gave me this rainbow guitar when I was nine or ten and I have been playing guitar since then. My dad's kinda against music because it doesn't make me tough and how it'll make you feel like a sissy, which I disagree most of the time." Zeke said.
"Why is your dad so anti-music?" asked Chad.
"Well, my uncle's into music a lot and he never got some interest in sports except for my dad. Both of them always argue over who's making a choice for my future."
"They do?"
"Yep. My dad chose sports over music and my uncle told him I can make my own choices. But my dad thinks sports is my choice and that I already made that choice, but I actually didn't."
"That's crazy."
"I know, right?"
Suddenly, Noah got his guitar and it's light blue. Others took notice and Mana said, "That's an amazing guitar."
"I've had it for two years and my dad actually gave it to me as a christmas present, along with a Who-pod and 3 CD's." Noah said.
"Your dad's into music?" asked Zeke.
"Yeah, him and I get along much and we like the same things-food, music, sometimes ping-pong and also guitars. We pretty much do everything together." Noah said.
Both Koa and Mana brought in their who-kelele's and amazed everyone. Koa asked, "What do you guys think?"
"These are supercool instruments." Noah said.
"I know, right? We would play them just to sort of get away from our dad and the pressures at school of tormenting and just feel like we wanna go away and head into our world." Mana said.
Suddenly, Jojo plays a little piece of his guitar and everyone was amazed by his guitar skills and soon Noah followed suit along with Chad, Marcus, Zeke, Mike and Cody. With all of these guitar sounds combined together, it looks like something supercool is happening. Suddenly, Mana and Koa are in the mix with their who-keleles and Seth decided to play some music, so he takes in a Linkin Who CD, plays one song and soon, the others jammed along to it.
When they're finished, Seth and Austin cheered and applauded them for the awesomeness of the guitar playing. Seth said, "Dude, that was cool!"
"Thanks!" Zeke exclaimed.
"Hey, sounds like a party going down here."
Suddenly, they see Corey coming down here. Seth said, "Hey, dad. What's up?"
"Not much. Just got home. I see you're having quite the party down here."
"Yeah, you remember Jojo, Mike, Cody, Zeke, Chad and Marcus, right?"
"Yes, I do."
"And these are our new friends-Mana, Koa and Noah."
"Nice to meet you three."
"Same here." Koa answered.
"Anyways, I've got some pizza in the dining room if you're hungry."
"Let's go up." Cody said.
All of them went upstairs to get some pizza and everyone got some plates and a soda to get some pizza. Corey came up and told them, "If you guys want, you can take it in the basement."
"Cool. Thanks, dad." Austin said.
"Remember to clean up after yourselves."
"We will."
Everyone brought it downstairs and they start eating and talking. Cody asked, "When was the last time we ever ate pizza before?"
"Man, it's been a number of years." Seth said.
"It seems like we were still in elementary school or middle school last time we've seen each other." Mike said.
"It's been like almost 3 years." Austin said.
"Feels like forever. Three years too long to be honest."
"I'll be honest. When I found out that you were friends with Cody and Mike, I was a little scared." Jojo said.
"Scared of what?" asked Cody.
"That if you guys spent time with them, that I'd be left out."
"Dude, you know we'll always be friends. We talk about you all the time with them around and how awesome we are to have you as a friend. Nothing's changed, because we'll always be cool."
"Hey, Jojo. When they told us about your songbook, I just felt like I want to see your inner thoughts." Seth said.
"You wanna see my songbook?"
"Yeah, I do."
Jojo passes down his songbook to Seth and Austin and when they looked at it, they saw every song Jojo wrote in his own way of releasing all the frustration that he's dealt with. He looks at Jojo and said, "Wow. That seems pretty good."
"It's a good way to let out my inner feelings because I've been harboring so much resentment for my dad, because he wants me to live his dreams of me being mayor and I really don't wanna do that. I'm afraid if I tell him, I'll disappoint him, so I never spoke for a few years."
"How much is a few?" asked Noah.
"3 years."
"You haven't spoken in three years? That's crazy." Cody said.
"It was my only way to prevent myself from letting down my dad."
"Dude, you have to tell him sometime."
"You guys don't even understand my dad. He seems well, but he can be a little weird."
"Good point. So, you write songs as an escape?"
"Yeah, I do. Along with the observatory."
"You have an observatory?" asked Noah.
"Yeah, you guys should see it." Jojo replied.
"That's cool."
"Well, you guys don't even wanna know my dad. He's a sports junkie. He wants me to live out his dreams of playing football when all I wanna do is pursue music. I'm kinda worried that if I don't tell him, he'll think that I'm ashamed to be his son and he'll...disown me." Zeke said.
"Ouch."
"And my family never really got along with each other. My mom and dad always argue all the time, sometimes it kept me up at night when I was young. Pretty scared at night and when I was ten or eleven, my mom died in a car accident."
"She what?" asked Noah.
"She got run over by a drunk driver and she didn't make it. After her funeral, I was put into depression for a while and started writing songs, unveiling my sorrow, sadness, anger, frustration and every feeling I was feeling, I express myself through my songwriting. I think it made me grow stronger, because my mom was the one liking the fact that I can do music."
"Your mom wanted you to do music and your dad won't let you?" asked Cody.
"That's right. After she died, we've always been at odds with another and most times, it can turn scary."
"How scary?"
"He would...yell at my face, scream at my face, throw soccer balls at me."
"Soccer balls?"
"Yeah."
"Like, if I screw up on handling practicing catching a few balls, he would throw basketballs, soccer balls, volleyballs and often times, I end up with a black eye, bloody nose, bloody mouth, a few bruises on my face and my dad would often throw me off a wall or shove me on the floor, because I could never be good enough to live to his expectations."
"That's terrible." Mana said.
"At least your dad never did what ours did." Koa said.
"How do you mean?" asked Zeke.
"My dad would call me names, curse me out, yell at me over the little things, beat me up, try to kill me."
"He would do what?" asked Marcus.
"And if I'm not around, Mana could take my place and physically harm him if he doesn't find me."
"Man, that's brutal. Why would he do that?"
"Our dad's an alcoholic." Mana said.
"Figures."
"If you guys knew us, you knew that me and Cody have been closer to our parents every single way. After our brother Alex died, we've gotten closer than ever. It's been pretty much hard on us this past year, but you know, we've gotten through it, because Alex knew Jojo for a couple of years and we've been friends with him after he died." Mike said.
"You guys have been friends with each other?" asked Seth.
"Yeah, we have."
"You guys must really get along better."
"But hey, no one could replace you guys."
"That's a good sign." Austin said.
"Do you get along with your parents before Alex died?" asked Zeke.
"We all got along before Alex died and we still get along after Alex died, so yeah." Cody said.
"That's cool."
"I've been a loner in middle school back in Whatropolis. It started when I was in sixth grade and I often get taunted and teased by a few students from seventh and eighth grade and I would often get beat up, tormented by, tripped on, shoved, thrown in the trash, spat on..."
"Wait, wait, wait. You mean, they would...spit on you?" asked Mike.
"In my face."
"Gross."
"And when I graduated from middle school, I went to high school and there was more teasing by seniors, because I was a freshman. At home, I would often be in my room, just writing songs, playing guitar and lock the door to my room and just get some space. Then, my dad told me that we're moving to Whoville and before that, I have to go to Camp Harmony, where I met Jojo for the first time."
"Marcus, I remember you being all moody and angry most of the time in camp and put yourself in a huge wall away from us." Chad said.
"Hey, I was moody."
"Then, Jojo came around and did a 180-change on you."
"Because Jojo lived in Whoville and I felt that it might not be so bad living there."
"Camp Harmony?" asked Seth.
"It's a summer camp where people love music, dance, performing and whatever." Chad said.
"Wow. That's amazing. And it comes every summer?"
"Yeah, it does."
"Can I be honest for a sec? When I first met Cody and Mike, I didn't really give them a chance, because they couldn't understand anything about me and when it comes to seeing new people, I just put a wall on myself and keep away from everyone I don't know, because I wasn't sure if I could trust anyone because someone could torment me." Marcus explains.
"Dude, what makes you think that?" asked Cody.
"Well, I was kinda worried that you would torture me the way some people back to Whatropolis did."
"If I can find them on Whosebook on who they tortured you, I would so give them a message so fierce, they would think twice about replying to this message."
"You would?"
"Yeah, of course."
"When I was in WhatCity, I would often times have a few friends back at middle school, but before I even started eighth grade, most of my friends moved away and when it started, I was left to fend for myself, dealing with a lot of immature students, but I never let that bother me because they got a problem and they don't even know me. It's a good thing I graduated and that I moved to Whoville. I met Jojo at Camp Harmony and it was his first time there, so I showed him the ropes and we became good friends right off the bat. When he told me he lives in Whoville, I just felt like I found a friend who's from there and we've been friends since then." Chad said.
"That's amazing, dude." Koa said.
"I would play guitar, write songs and I would play piano. It's kinda like my secret escapism."
"So you were a loner?" asked Mana.
"Sometimes, but I made new friends while I was in eighth grade. Just three or four, so it kinda helps."
"That's cool."
"Noah, you said you and your dad get along well?" asked Jojo.
"Yep. Our family is pretty good. We get along all the time and spend time with each other. Always do everything together." Noah explains.
"Do you write songs?"
"Yeah, I do. I'm more of a lighthearted person when it comes to writing. Amongst all the bullying and whatever, there's always the bright side of everything."
"What do I need to know about you guys?" asked Koa.
"Well, me and Austin used to live in Whoville, but our mom died by being run over by a drunk driver and we moved to WhatCity for a couple of years and then, he remarried our mom's friend and we moved back to Whoville to restart life. After our mom died, we turn to songwriting to cure our depression." Seth said.
"We just like to let out our feelings a lot." Austin said.
"We would write if we're upset, frustrated or anything like that."
"There's something that you guys don't even know." Jojo said.
"What?"
"I'm the only boy-firstborn-out of my little sisters."
"You're the oldest? I bet you handle 3 girls, right?"
"Actually, the count for my sisters...96."
All of them were shocked to hear how many sisters Jojo has and Cody asked, "How many sisters?"
"96."
"That's a lot of girls." Koa said.
"And you're the oldest of 96?" asked Seth.
"Yep."
"Yikes."
"I never knew you have 96 sisters." Zeke said.
"Ironic, isn't it?"
"Your parents must be like, 'You know what? Why not make a big family, like maybe 96 kids?'"
"Pretty much."
"How do you keep up with 96 sisters?" asked Austin.
"Not easy. The hardest part-babysitting them."
"That's crazy."
"You guys wanna watch a movie?" asked Seth.
"Sure thing."
"What do you have?" asked Koa.
"I have 'Kung Who Panda', 'Who-vatar', 'Trans-whom-ers', 'The Dark Who', 'Spider-Who'."
"I would go for Trans-whom-ers." Chad said.
"Awesome choice."
As soon as they got to the middle of the movie, most of them were asleep and Seth and Austin were the ones who are almost up. Suddenly, Jojo slowly opened his eyes and woke up, yawning softly. Seth looked at Jojo and asked, "You're up?"
"Yeah. I must've fell asleep." Jojo said, sluggishly.
Soon, Chad, Koa, Mana, Zeke, Noah, Marcus, Mike and Cody woke up and realized that they missed parts of the movie. Noah asked, "We're at the end?"
"Yeah, sorry guys." Austin said.
"We must've fell asleep." Cody said.
"What time is it?" asked Chad.
Jojo looked at his watch and said, "10:45."
"Holy crap! It's late!" Mike exclaimed.
"Oh, man. I'm like 45 minutes late for my curfew." Zeke said.
Everyone grabbed their guitars and went their way upstairs. They figure out that the house is dark, meaning that Olivia and Corey might be sleeping, so they tiptoed through the living room and went outside the door and letting them head home. Jojo said, "Thank you guys for letting us hang here."
"No probs. We can do this again sometime." Seth said.
"Hopefully, we won't end up falling asleep again and waking up late."
"True. See you guys later."
"Bye, guys. Thanks."
Jojo left the house and caught up with most of them and said, "See you guys later."
"Same here, J-dude!" Cody exclaimed, softly.
"Later, Zeke."
"Bye, Jojo."
Zeke hurried home as possible and everyone went in their separate ways and headed back to their houses. They had a lot of fun with Seth and Austin, even though they fell asleep and woke up late, but other than that, it was a lot of fun.
Gonna wrap this up soon! Stay tuned!