I lost track of how many words in this story, and when I looked I was like, 'this isn't a fanfiction, it's a goddamn book.' But seriously, we're getting close to the 200K mark. I estimate that this story will end with between 300k to 350k words. That's an estimation, I could be off.

Go Forth and Read On!


Journal,

I hate language classes. Never was a fan of it. I'm not in Spanish though. I hate Spanish. I was placed in German, which shouldn't be too hard since Yiddish and German are a lot alike, and I already know how to speak and write Yiddish. I wonder if I can negotiate with the teacher to let me prove I can speak Yiddish instead and have that as my grade.

I don't think these shades fit me. I'm wearing them so no one see's my infected eye. But if it wasn't infected I'd be wearing one of those colored contact lenses Veronica gave me. I was thinking red would look good….

It'd scare the shit out of everyone. I should do that when it gets better. And for the hell of it, I'll paint 666 on my forehead.

~*~V~*~

With the announcement of the return of the little terror known as TJ Detweiler, 95 percent of the student body was looking for a way out. The 5 percent that wasn't afraid or didn't understand what the fuss was all about didn't attend Third Street Elementary and did not know who he was. The 95 percent who did know who he was and what he was capable of doing was trying to leave the school, change schools, trying to convince their parents to move out of the state, or look for a local bomb shelter. Their defense for doing this was that when the elementary school was set ablaze, the guy was only 13 years old. He was older, and that added up to him being the equivalent of a nuclear bomb.

At least, that's how Gus viewed it.

Though he had bulked up quite a lot since elementary school due to military like training from joining the ROTC, and joining the ranks of one of the strongest guys in school, Gus was starting to feel like the weakest. Everyone else was panicking about the situation, but Gus was trying to stop himself from hyperventilating and going into a state of shock. He couldn't leave the school; his father could read him like a book and would order him to go back to school, then to come home afterwards to face punishment in the form of military level drills (and he hated those).

'Just calm down, Gus. This isn't as bad as it seems,' he thought as he tried to calm his nerves. It wasn't working. 'What am saying? Of course it is…at this rate, we all have one class with him, if we're lucky….'

In his panicking, Gus didn't watch where he was going and bumped into someone. Remembering the streak of bad luck two of his friends had so far in the day, he jumped bad, afraid he had run into the wrong person. But he hadn't. This person was short. And female.

"Oh, sorry about that, Theresa. I wasn't watching where I was going," He said to the former Cornchip girl.

"It's okay Gus. You must have a lot on your mind, today especially," She said, smiling, but with concern on her face.

~*~Gus's POV~*~

With a smile like that, I'm a little less worried. She has a way of doing that to me. Me and Theresa have been dating since last year, and it's been great. We should've seen it coming since the incident with our dad's when we were younger. Luckily for the both of us, that rivalry had cooled down since then. She's wearing her ROTC uniform today.

"Yeah, we're all worried, but I think I'm panicking more than anyone," He said, doing his best to hiding his fear. "Keep a look out for a blonde guy with shades. That's him."

"A blonde guy with shades?" She asked me. "I think I saw him. Does he have on a white hoodie?"

"Yeah, that's him! Did he do anything to you?"

"No, he didn't do anything," She said. "Well, he did, sort of….I went to my locker and when I left to go to my last class I must've dropped some money 'cause he came after me and gave it back. Are you sure that's him? He seems really nice."

"They all seem nice before they go crazy," I said. "I gotta get to class. Be careful if you see him again, okay?"

"If you say so, Gus." Before I left, I gave her a kiss on the forehead. Have to get to my next class before the bell rings. My German teacher is strict as hell. I was going to take Spanish, but it left a bad taste in my mouth in middle school. I think it's easier than Spanish.

Fuck. My. Life.

Right as I turned into the class, he's standing there talking to the teacher.

What did I do to deserve this?

I tried get to my seat without being noticed by him. It's working! I'm gonna make it!

"Griswold!" FUCK. I turned and faced my teacher who called my name. I knew not to question her authority from past experiences (she gave me detention for giving the wrong answer to a question) and walked over to her.

"Yes Ms. Nesbit?" I asked, making sure to not make contact with TJ.

"This is our new student," She said, gesturing over to TJ. "He needs to catch up with the rest of the class. Since you have the highest grades in here, I'm assigning the task to you."

"Me? Why me?"

"Because I said so," She said. "Now, sit down so I can begin todays lesson."

"Yes, Ms. Nesbit…"

With my head hanging low, I sat down in one of the two seats left in the front row. The other empty seat was right next to me, so TJ sat there.

God, why?

I've been a good citizen.

Never broke a law. I try to do the right thing. I'm hoping to serve my country when I graduate, lead a good life, have a few kids, retire, and die knowing I did everything I wanted to….. why is this happening?

Okay, just calm down, Gus. Calm down. You don't' want to look scared in front of him. He can smell fear. He thrives on it. You don't want him to know you're afraid of him. That's the last thing I want to do.

I'm calm, I'm calm. Okay good. That's great.

Hmm. I can see why Theresa would think he's not dangerous. He doesn't have on that psychotic grin or that look in his eye. Then again, he has on shades. None of us can see his eyes. Why would he where shades inside, anyways? I know he's been in juvie for four years, but he must know he looks like a complete douchebag. Not that I have the balls to say that to his face.

I have to tutor this guy. Why me? Why couldn't it be someone else? I need back up on this. There's no way I'm spending more and five seconds alone with him. I know the others will watch out for me. Speaking of which, I should tell the others.

God doesn't like me. TJ's in my German class and I have to tutor him

Vince: I don't think God likes any of us anymore

Spinelli: What are you afraid of? You can run to your bomb shelter

Gretchen: That makes three of us.

Mikey: We're all here for you Gus.

Whatever solution we come up with had better be good. We need to handle this before someone gets hurt. I don't think we can actually physically fight him. Francis went to Duval and said he's built like a five foot eleven inch pile of gold bricks. Can we out smart him? He was clever as hell back in elementary, then he was in juvie.

We don't stand a snowballs chance in hell. Or a burning building.

But I can't get over the fact that he looks harmless for the most part. Compared to what we're thinking about him, he doesn't look like he can do what we think. He looks strong, that goes without saying. But still….

He sends a wave a fear through me.

They never trained me for this in ROTC.

I don't want to think about this. If I keep thinking about it, I'm going to panic and run out of this school. I can't panic, Theresa's still here. I'm not leaving her alone here with him in the same building. Not a chance. I don't care if it's a losing fight, I'll protect her no matter what.

I'm not gonna lie, she'll probably end up protecting me because as soon as I saw him I turned into a pansy-assed bitch. And Theresa's strong. Not as strong as Spinelli or Vince or me, but strong. I'll try. I'm not going to give up easily.

What the hell am Isaying? If she's not there for me to defend, I'm running for the hills and no one is stopping me.

I hope we're blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Please just let him be as harmless as a bunny rabbit, like he used to be. Please? I'd do anything for that.

What's he writing? He pulled out this black notebook covered in duct tape, colored duct tape. It's his personal book of mayhem, I bet. He has plans of hurting us in a fire or poisoning the school lunch, something like that.

Remember not to eat lunch today, and warn the others.

….

Do you have to pay to get your GED? A GED is as good as a high school diploma. I don't have to be in an actual high school if I don't want to….what's the next closest high school?

Damn, it's all the way across town, and Dad won't let me transfer this late in the school year. I can't abandon the others….

They should transfer too.

Does the principal know about him and what he did? If I were him, I would be looking for a new job, fast. We should all go talk to him later. For what I don't know, but it's better than sitting around doing nothing.

Like me.

And him.

I want to believe that since TJ isn't doing anything at this current point in time that he isn't going to do anything in the future. I want to. He used to show signs before he did things. But he could've perfected his technique since then.

I feel bad for the other inmates that had to deal with them. The horror they must've been through.

Hey, maybe they let him out because even they couldn't handle him. Heh-heh.

This isn't a laughing matter.

Why couldn't Tsar Bomba drop on us? I would've preferred that. The pain wouldn't last long before we all died. This guy will drag out our pain.

I give up. We haven't started to fight against him, but I quit.

It's a losing battle.

In my humble opinion.


Short chapter. It's all I can come up with for him. Hope you all liked it.

Please Review!