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Chapter Twenty:
They are all back at school including AJ. "Welcome back, AJ." One of her classmates greets as they enter the school front doors.
"Thank you." She is surprise by the greeting.
"Welcome back, AJ." Another person greets as they walk to their lockers.
"Thank you." She appreciates again. This continues all the way to her locker. Her locker is all decorated with balloons and streamers. There is also a banner along her locker that reads 'Welcome back, AJ.' Along with a piece of paper that has messages from her peers. She turns to her friends with a smile. "You guys thank you. You didn't have to do this." She appreciates their gesture.
"Actually, we did the banner, balloons, and streamers. I don't know who put the paper there for messages." Randy discloses surprise with that.
"Oh I guess someone wanted to write a message or greet you 'welcome back' in secret." Stacey utters with a chuckle.
"Who is this person?" Jack acts like a jealous boyfriend.
"No one sweetie, you are the only one for me." She pecks him before she cuddles up to him.
"There better not be." He kisses on her head as he smiles.
"Why aren't you like that to me?" Stacey pouts jokingly.
"Oh I'm sorry Stacey. I will try to do better." He kisses her hands.
"Thanks guys." AJ appreciates even though they are sort of mocking them.
"Not funny is it." Randy answers to her appreciation having a little payback for last week.
The day went as usual; no interruptions or mean girls to hassle them. They have seen the group give them death stares for expelling their leader, but they just ignored them. It is the last period of the day, AJ is at her locker taking down the decorations. She is usually in Gym class right now, but the teacher excuse her for a week to fully heal.
"Wow someone is special." Kourtney appears behind her.
AJ sighs hoping that she would go the day without seeing her; she was wrong. "Hello Kourtney." She turns around.
"So you are back fully healed?" She eyes AJ's outer appearance.
"I am healed enough to come back to school. I am surprise you are still here." She is a bit surprise that she would show her face to her.
"What do you mean, I go to school here?" She is confused by her statement.
"Oh you don't know that I told my parents and maybe Mr. Michaels about your visit last week." She grins hoping it will scare her a bit.
"No you didn't. I would have known about it already. Mr. Michaels would have called me into his office." She panics, but doesn't want to show it.
"Oh I can't be him then. I'm sorry it must be Stacey's parents I told or did Stacey tell them. I don't remember." She ponders.
"Stacey's parents know." She inquires nervously. To Stacey's parents she is the one that is proud of her for being a big sister to Stacey. In their childhood, she would always defend her from bullies.
"Yup, well I think Stacey told them or was it Jack? I don't remember because of my surgery." She continues to ponder.
"You're bluffing." She laughs. "You almost got me that you told everyone. You are trying to scare me so I will confess." She catches on.
"If you think that way you can." She continues to take down the decorations.
"You are lying." She raises her voice.
"Kourtney, calm down I will ask Stacey and Jack for sure after school." She informs her having a smirk.
"You better." She walks away with crossed arms.
After finishing taking everything down, which is close to school being over, she starts to read the messages her fellow students have wrote to her. Most of the messages are 'Glad you are back, AJ' and 'welcome back, AJ' with one 'Thank you, AJ'. She thinks that everyone knows about Dawn. However, one message scares her. It reads 'Welcome back hot stuff. I have been watching you. I am glad you are back and healthy.' She knows that it isn't Jack, John or Randy because she knows their writing. The first sentence she thought it was a joke, but she is now frightened. As she reads it again, she remembers her interaction with Kourtney. Could she be distracting her for someone to write that? Or does she have a weird stalker on her hands?
"Hey sweetie, how was your first day back?" Jack kisses her on the cheek. After he sees her expression, he asks. "What is wrong?" She just passes him the paper. Reading through it, he can't find anything wrong. "I don't see-" He stops his speech when he reads the disturbing message. "Who wrote this?" He asks her.
"Jack, I am scared. I know that there is a possibility it is Kourtney, but what if it is not." She mentions to him.
"We will figure this out. We will get through this just like before." He hugs her for comfort. As she lifts her head, to put on his shoulder, she sees someone signalling her to call him with a smirk. She lets go of Jack which confuses him. "What is wrong?"
"Him." She points behind him. He turns around putting her behind him for protecting, but there is no one there.
"AJ, there is no one around."
"He was there signalling me to call him." She tells him.
"Well he is gone now. You don't have to worry we will protect you." He kisses her head.
"Thanks." She is a bit scared of the unknown; however, she knows that he will be protected by her best friend, her closest friend, and boyfriend.
"Okay, I will be right back. I am just heading to the bathroom." She nods as she sits down in front of her locker. She takes out a comic book from her bag to take her mind of the current situation.
"Hello." Randy surprises her having him jump in front of her. She screams in his face confusing him.
"AJ!" Jack runs out the door. "AJ." She runs to him holding him tight.
"AJ, it is me Randy." He is a bit hurt that she reacted that way to him.
"Honey, it is Randy; your best friend." He soothes her keeping her calm.
"Randy?" She looks behind her to see him smile. "Oh Randy." She runs up to him for a hug.
"Yeah it is me." He mouths 'What's wrong?' to Jack. He points to the locker. This makes him more confused.
"Randy, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that." She breaks off the hug before lightly punching him. "It is not a joke or funny." She huffs while she crosses her arms.
"I am sorry AJ. You know me I think scaring people is hilarious." He chuckles to lighten up the mood.
"Sometimes it is, but not when someone got a disturbing message." She huffs again.
"What's message?" He almost puts together why Jack pointed to her locker.
"This one." Jack passes him the paper.
"This is disturbing. Do you know if it is Kourtney playing tricks on us again?" He questions not in defensive mode yet.
"That was our first thought, but AJ said someone signalled to call her behind my back. When I turned around, he was gone." Jack informs him.
"Okay, we will be on caution for a few days. AJ, you will be with us like before." Randy directs.
"I hate that. I have to rely on everyone for safety." She huffs once again not liking to always be the damsel in distress.
"Do you want to be alone? We can let you handle it yourself." Randy suggests.
"Yes I would like to. However, I know you will there nearby anyways, so what's the point." She throws her arms.
"Of course I will be nearby no matter what. Even if you don't want me to be I will be there just in case. I can be stubborn like that which you already. I rather have you hate me than see you hurt." He confesses.
"Randy, I could never hate you. Yes, you can be a overprotective like a good brother is, but it just can get annoying. I appreciate what you have done for me and when you tell John I will hear it again." She rolls her eyes to have to go through this again with John.
"Actually, you are the little sister who is supposed to annoying me." He chuckles. She sticks her tongue at him in which makes both Randy and AJ laugh. And no, no one will know this except for us unless they have to. AJ, I want you to act normal like you don't know about it. We will have a signal if you see anything suspicious." He reveals the plan.
"Thank you Randy for being the best big brother ever." She hugs him again.
"Excuse me." Jack interrupts feeling left out.
"Jack, you know you're the greatest boyfriend ever. You are always there for me emotionally and physically; very physically." She winks.
"Yes, I am happy to treat you very well in that department." He smirks.
"I hope you are not doing what I think you are doing." He states awkwardly. He hopes he doesn't have to have the talk with her.
"What if we are?" She giggles innocently.
"Then I will beat him up for doing it to you. You are not ready." He says confidentially not caring if he is her boyfriend.
"What if I was the one to initiate it?" She wraps her arms around him.
"I would be very disappointed with you. Wait-"
Jack and AJ both chuckle seeing that he caught them. "Gotcha, you almost believed it." AJ utters.
"I almost did. You come up with different way that I can't keep up." He lightly smack his forehead can't believe that he fell for it again.
"I like to keep you on your toes."
He clears his throat. "For clarification, you two aren't doing that?" He nervously questions just in case the joke goes further.
"Nope, you will probably see us do heavy make out sessions, but that is all for now." She confirms putting her best friend at ease.
"Good, don't want my baby sister to go before me. I am older I should go first." He chuckles.
"Gross." She hits him in the chest.
"Dude that is my sister you are talking about." Jack tries not to imagine that.
"Sorry man. Okay, you can do it at least before John." He moves away from her reach.
"You are so annoying." She chases after him in circles as Jack watches their sibling interaction. He hopes one day their relationship will be as tight as theirs.
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