Z-
Written by JaJaLoo
Plot: Patrick accidentally breaks Jackson's prized bass guitar, so he makes him screw up on an exam for revenge.
I already said that no one is allowed in Jackson's room.
Well, someone broke that rule again.
It was Patrick.
Again.
This time, instead of vandalizing his room, he decided to play an instrument.
This is that story.
Jackson is a talented multi-instrumentalist.
He plays guitar, drums, and bass, and makes clones of himself to play them.
One particular day, he and his clones had just finished a cover of You Only Live Once by The Strokes.
Jackson put down his guitar.
"Alright, guys. Great work. I think we're ready for the studio."
The two clones walked back into the duplicator and deleted themselves.
"Alright, now time for dinner." Jackson said, leaving his room.
Once again, he accidentally left his door open.
It was Nemo's turn to cook that week.
He went out, caught another muskelunge, and chopped it up for a sushi meal.
As usual, everyone enjoyed it.
"Great dinner, Nemo." Jackson said.
"And ditto to you with that band practice of yours." Nemo replied.
"Agreed. It's nice to have a band who has the same influences as you. Let's face it, the band I made back home was doomed from the start." Jackson said, dipping his sushi in soy sauce.
Patrick finished his meal early.
"Alright, I'm done." he said.
"Be sure to put your dish in the sink!" Nicholas called.
Patrick climbed up the stairs.
He saw Jackson's door open, and looked inside.
Jackson's bass guitar was in plain sight.
It was a special bass, indeed, as it was signed by three of Jackson's favorite bassists, Mark Hoppus, Pete Wentz, and Flea.
Patrick eyed it for a solid minute.
An angel and a devil popped up on his shoulders.
"Don't do it, Patrick. Remember last time?" the angel said.
"Ah, to hell with it. Jackson will never know!" the devil said.
Sadly, Patrick listened to the devil.
As the guys continued to eat, Nicholas' ears perked up at the sound of groovy bass tones.
"Hey, Jackson? Did you happen to delete your clones?" he asked.
Jackson dropped his sushi.
"I must've forgotten to delete my bassist. I'll be right back."
And Jackson got up.
Patrick was the one laying down the bass grooves, until he heard footsteps.
"Oh, boy." he said, putting the bass on the stand.
He did a bad job at that, and it fell on the floor.
But Patrick didn't notice, and he got to his room just in time.
Jackson walked into his room, and looked around.
"Huh. Guess Nicholas was fibbing." he said.
He took another look around, and then he saw it.
The bass was lying on the floor.
Jackson ran to it, and picked it up.
The D string and A string was broken, somehow.
Jackson started fuming, and stormed downstairs.
The guys were still eating when Jackson stormed downstairs, bass in hand.
"Can someone tell me what's wrong with this bass?" Jackson asked, swinging it around.
The broken A string hit Berry in the eye.
"OW!" He shouted. "Watch where you're swinging that!"
Everyone looked at it.
"Um, it's a death trap?" Wildcat asked.
That got a heaping of wasabi on Wildcat's head.
"The strings are broken." Jackson said. "I don't know who is responsible for the crime, but if no one is willing to fess up, there's going to be a serious consequence."
He then left the house to go buy new strings.
Everyone observed this, and got scared.
"I have never seen him like that before." Will said.
"He's been very secretive, lately." Nemo pointed out.
Nicholas scratched his chin.
"I have a feeling there's a repeat offender." he said, leaving the table.
Wildcat reached for Nicholas' food.
"Touch my food, and you die."
Wildcat retracted his arm.
Nicholas walked into Patrick's room.
Patrick was reading a book.
"Um, Patrick? I have to ask you something." Nicholas said.
"OK, but can you make it quick? I have an exam coming up." Patrick replied.
"Did you touch Jackson's prized bass?"
Patrick shrunk.
"You did, didn't you?"
Patrick shrunk further.
Nicholas slapped his head.
"Jesus, Patrick! We went over this a long time ago! How long do we have to tell you something before it sinks in?" he said, angrily.
Patrick said nothing.
"I just wanted to try it out." he said, a few moments later.
Nicholas paced the room.
"If he finds out, you are going to be dead."
"I know. Now get out, I need to study."
Jackson didn't arrive home until late at night.
Nicholas was waiting for him in a bathrobe.
"You're awfully late." he said.
"Got distracted." Jackson said.
"Patrick broke your bass."
"I figured as much. I'm gonna get him back."
Nicholas' eyes went wide.
"You won't kill him, will you?"
Jackson chuckled.
"No, of course not. We've had enough deaths this year already." he said, walking up the stairs.
Nicholas followed him, with a worried look.
"Whatever." he said. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."
Jackson stared at the door, and noticed Patrick's door wide open.
He walked in, and saw Patrick fast asleep, book in hand.
"The exam..." Jackson said.
The next morning, Patrick finished his exam, and was preparing to send it off back to California, where he used to live.
He was going to drive it to the post office, but then Jackson stepped in his way.
"Oh, Patrick, my dear Patrick. Let me take this envelope to the post office for you." Jackson said, in a Victorian accent.
Patrick looked at him, weirded out.
"First of all, lose the accent, it's weird. Second off, it's my exam, I bring it."
"No, no, I'll do you a favor. Give me the exam."
Patrick relented, and handed Jackson the exam.
"NEMO!" Jackson called.
Nemo tossed the keys over, and Jackson took the truck.
Patrick shrugged and went to his computer.
On the highway, though, Jackson pulled over, and slipped the exam out of the envelope.
"Now for the best prank invented since the fly in the ice cube." he said, smirking.
He erased every single answer, and replaced it with a wrong answer, with a few "smart" remarks.
Jackson laughed, and continued his drive.
When Jackson arrived home, Nicholas was waiting.
"So, what'd you do?" he asked.
"Changed every answer on his test to something wrong." Jackson replied, flopping on the couch.
Nicholas stared at him.
"That test determines whether Patrick stays at his job or not." he said.
"Ah, kick him out is what I say. If he breaks my stuff, this is what he gets."
Nicholas grabbed him by the neck.
"I can't believe how selfish you are!" he yelled. "You want a user, who you have a half-decent relationship with, to be kicked out of the house?"
Jackson wriggled free.
"If you don't go and track down that exam, and he fails, block room for a month." Nicholas said.
Jackson gasped. He never went into the block room.
"Alright, I'll do it. NEMO!"
Nemo tossed the keys over.
Jackson ran to the garage.
Jackson raced to California inside Nemo's truck.
Once he got there, he ignored all the sights, with only Patrick's high school in mind.
But there it was.
Hoover High School.
Jackson pulled up, and ran inside the office.
"Hey, can I see a test that belongs to Patrick Dempster?" he asked the front office.
The office lady handed him a manila envelope.
Jackson pulled it out, and changed every answer.
He knew a thing or two about what Patrick was studying.
But soon enough, he slipped it back in the envelope and bolted out of the school.
And he got back home just in time for dinner.
Nicholas cornered him when he walked in the door.
"What did you do?" he asked, menacingly.
"Saved Patrick from getting a Z-, basically." Jackson replied. "What's cooking?"
About two days later, Patrick received his test back, and he got a B+.
So he stayed at the house.
Patrick later made up to Jackson, by getting his bass autographed by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd.
And all was well with the wiki again.
CAST
NMMacc18 - Nicholas
JaJaLoo - Jackson
NLG343 - Nemo
ElectricSupernova - Will
Pjdem06 - Patrick
StrayberryFilling - Berry
NotWildcat - Wildcat
Next episode: Hiding - Nicholas and Jackson fake their own deaths and go into hiding.
