"The Video"

I wake up with the sun shining bright through my bedroom window. Normally I wake up to my alarm clock playing on my favorite radio station. I look over at my clock, which is blinking "12:00", and quietly playing a song I've never heard. Shit! The power must've gone out during that ice storm last night. I wouldn't be surprised if school is cancelled due to road conditions. I walk downstairs to an empty living room. I turn on the TV and tune in to the news.

"And now for school closings. The following schools will be closed today; Porkbelly Elementary, Junior, and High Schools, San Diego Community Schools, and Spring Valley Community Schools. That..That's all the schools? I swore there were more." Hank Anchorman says, reading a note in his right hand.

"WOO-HOO!" I yell. I open the window.

"Hey, Johnny, did you hear? No School!" my neighbor-slash-best friend, Keith Ryamborg, says.

"Fuck yeah I did!" I shout. "Hey, come on over so we don't look stupid shouting at each other like this!" I slam the window shut. Keith knocks on the front door.

"You don't need to knock, dumbass! I invited you!" I say. He enters and sits next to me on the couch.

My parents were always trying to teach me not to curse around people. But when it comes to my friends, it's totally fine! They know how much of an asshole I can be anyway.

"You wanna watch a movie, Johnny?" Keith asks.

"Yeah, I just gotta get something from my bedroom," I say. "It'll only take a sec." I walk upstairs to my room. My alarm clock is still blinking "12:00". I grab my stash of candy and throw it in my backpack. I grab my 32 ounce thermos full of hot cocoa and make a beeline for my bedroom door. As I go to leave my room, my favorite song starts playing. I begin dancing to the song resulting in me accidentally spilling the hot cocoa all down my shirt and jeans.

"Shit! Fuck!" I say, as I take off my clothes. "IT'S EVEN SOAKED INTO MY UNDERWEAR!"

After changing clothes I grab my backpack and my now empty thermos and head back downstairs.

"You okay?" Keith asks. "I heard you cussing in your room."

"Yup. I'm good. Come on, let's go." I say, grabbing Dad's spare keys off the hook.

"Are you sure we should be taking your Dad's car?" Keith asks. "It looks kind of old-"

I roll my eyes, "Yes, we have to. Unless you want to walk to the Mall." My voice dripping sarcasm. "Now hurry up before we're late."

Keith sighs and follows me outside. We lock the house behind us and hop into the car. The ride was silent until we got to the mall.

It doesn't take long for us to find the perfect spot, since it's pretty empty. I fight to open the door, as it seems frozen shut. It is pretty cold out.

The food court isn't packed yet, so we sit down. I pull out sandwiches from my backpack, and we began eating. It was pretty peaceful, except for one small issue. I swear someone is watching me. When I turn around, no one is there. I shake my head and continue eating my sandwich.

"So what movie are we gonna see?" I ask. I notice that Keith has stopped eating his lunch and is just staring out the window.

"Yo, Earth to Keith," I tap him on his shoulder. He seems dazed for a moment, then turns to me. "Did you hear me?"

"Oh..uh..'There's No Going Back'. It's a dark comedy. I know you're not a fan of horror movies so I made sure to choose one that had a decent amount of comedy." Keith says.

"Considering this past Halloween was a real-life horror movie, I'll be good." I say. Keith looks at his watch. "12:15".

"The movie starts in 15 minutes!" Keith says. By now, the mall is starting to get packed. We run to the movie theater, but nobody is at the front desk. We look up at the movie schedule and see our movie starts any minute now. I ring the bell several times, no one answers.

"Ring it again." Keith says. Before I can ring it again, the ticket collector arrives.

"Sorry, I was using the restroom." He says. "What movie are you here to see?"

"There's No Turning Back." I respond.

"Oh, sorry," The ticket collector says. "That's rated R. According to our rules, 'Guests under 17 must be accompanied by a guardian who is 21 or older to be admitted into an R-Rated movie.' Are you 17 or older?"

"No." I shake my head.

"Get out!" The ticket collector says, throwing a sign out of the theater. The sign hits a mall employee walking by.

"LANGSTON, YOU'RE FIRED!" He shouts.

We leave the mall and are on our way back to my house. When we get home, I park Dad's car in the exact spot it was in, give it a quick car wash, and go inside. Good, I beat my parents home.

"Bye, Johnny. I'm going back home." Keith says.

"Yeah. See ya tomorrow." I wave.

The next day at school, everyone is laughing at me as I walk in.

"What's so funny?" The crowd laughs even harder. I try not to let it get to me. I continue walking to class, where everyone laughs at me.

"Here comes Klumsy Koco Kid!" one of my classmates call. Livid, I whip out my phone and open SnoobTube. There's a video in my recommendaions feauring...ME?!

I watch the video. The video is of me spilling the cocoa all over myself yesterday. At least they didn't record me changing.

"Keith! Did you record me yesterday?!" I ask, showing Keith the video.

"Yep!" He casually says.

I feel tears prickle in the corner of my eyes, as I start crying. How could he do that?! Why would he film that?! And why would he post it?!

"You better take that video down!" I say.

"No, I don't think I will." He says.I grab my things and storm out the classroom The crowd of students stares after me. I stop at the door and turn around. I point my finger at Keith, "Delete it!" Then slam the door in their faces.

When I get home after school, I look at SnoobTube to see that the video is still up and gaining views quickly. If I don't do something soon, I'm gonna be the laughing stock of the town. If Keith won't delete that video, I'll make him!

I march over to his house. He's home. I decide to take matters into my own hands. I sneak in through his bedroom window, and see his PC across the room. I tiptoe to his PC, where I open SnoobTube Studio and find the video of me. I click delete, but am met with a login screen.

"DAMMIT!" I shout softly.

"I'll be right out, Mom! Just got to grab my phone from off my bed!" I hear Keith yell. I jump out the window and run home.

"Hey, Johnny!" Ms. Ryamborg says. I don't respond. I just run inside. I call up Susan and Mary and tell them the situation.

"I don't see the situation, Johnny." Susan says.

"It's not a big deal. It'll blow over." Mary responds.

"I guess. I'm just pissed that he did that." I say. Susan and Mary hang up. I plop onto my bed and drift off into sleep. The next day at school, Keith approaches me.

"Johnny, look. I'm sorry I posted that video. I truly am. I simply thought you were just being funny dancing like that. I had no idea you'd be so upset. I deleted the video last night." He says.

"Good," I say. "Let's drop it ok? Let's just forget it ever happened."

"Ok." he agrees. We both walk away. By lunchtime, everyone is still laughing at me.

"Okay, that's it!" I say. I climb onto the table. "Yeah, something embarrassing happened to me. So what! Is it a crime to dance now?"

"Yeah, when you dance shittily, it is!" a classmate calls. I throw someones pudding cup at him.

"Sorry!" He apologizes.

"How would you all feel if everyone laughed at you everytime you entered a GODDAMN ROOM?!" I scream. "I hate people laughing at me. Ever since I moved to Porkbelly, all people have done is laugh at me. you guys are doing the same thing. You all have no respect for anyone else. Do you even care about how I feel?"

Silence. I turn and step off the table. I stand up straight, and walk away without saying anything more.

My eyes begin to sting with tears as I leave the cafeteria. I stop crying before the bell rings. Maybe I overreacted. Maybe I should apologize. Everybody was just having a good laugh, and I just took it personally. It's not like it was hurting anyone, either It was just aoke. They didn't mean anything by it. Right? I'm so fucking stupid.

The bell rings after lunchtime is over. As everyone is shuffling through the halls, I quietly slip into the principals office. I jump on to intercom.

"Everybody, this is Jonathan Test," I start. "I understand that there's been a video of me going around. You all just found it hilarious, and started laughing at me." I continue.

"You all were having a good laugh, and I took it very personally." My voice is shaking, and I can feel tears threatening to spill. "I'm really sorry for taking it out on you, I was just frustrated because you've all been doing the same thing."

"JOHNNY TEST!" Principal Davis screams from behind me. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!"

"I'm apologizing to everyone. Let's just say I overreacted about something and lashed out at everyone." I say. "And, I wanted to make sure everybody could hear me at the same time."

"Whatever! Just get to class! Passing time is almost over!" He yells. I sigh, and exit the office.

As I walk down the stairs to the lower level, I trip on my shoelaces and fall down the rest of the stairs.

Everybody around starts laughing. Okay, I admit: that was funny.

After I hit the ground, my glasses fell off.

"KLUTZ!" one girl says. Everyone laughs louder. I put my glasses back onto my face, and make my way back up to my feet. I laugh along with everyone else, rather than get angry.

After the final period has ended, I gather my stuff together, pack it up in my backpack, and head outside to wait for Keith. As soon as he arrives at the front door, I turn towards Keith.

"Hey, Keith. Sorry for snapping at you. I was just a little upset that you'd posted that video. I guess I just took it personal."

"It's cool. You had a right to be upset," Keith replies. "I didn't mean for you to get angry."

A group of students approach us.

"Hey, Klumsy Koco Kid!" One of the guys shouts. I recognize him. It's one of the jocks who teased me when I first arrived here. "Can I have your autograph?"

Suddenly, I'm surrounded by what appears to be the whole school. I'm signing autograph after autograph, but my mind goes straight to the video Keith uploaded. I sign the last auograph and turn to Keith.

"Plus," I say. "I'm now super popular because of that video. So, all's well that ends well. You want to come to my place and play some video games or something?"

"Sure." Keith says, smiling at me. With that, we walk to my house.

"Hey, Mom. Keith is spending the night." I say.

"Ok, dear." she answers nonchalantly. She knows Keith and I are close. I grab my Zbox controllers as we head upstairs to my room.