And this is gonna be amazing for this chapter and at the end, a little Jojo/Zeke bonding.
Chapter 14: Principal's Announcement
Suddenly, it's 2:45 pm and most of the students were ready to end this day with the last bell ringing and before the bell even rang, the principal came on the speakers to make this announcement.
"Hello, all students. I'd just like to inform you all that a little incident occurred here. Apparently, it all got started by Horace. During his 3-week suspension, he had to nerve to come sneak in and torture Mr. Seth Zuckerman for no reason. Then, Horace and his punk friends upped the stakes and tried to bring a weapon directly towards him. Thankfully, Seth stopped himself from fighting them, so there will be no casualties for him. As well as Horace and the others-the administrator has informed me that not only will they be expelled from school, but they'll be sent to a juvenile detention center for committing this kind of behavior. And they'll be there for a full year and a half. Take a breath of relief, all teachers and students, because you will not see this person again. That is all I got for you. Thank you very much."
Then, the bell rings and all the students were dismissed. Jojo walked through the halls and into his locker. As he opens the locker, he takes out some books and puts them in his bag. Then, he closed the locker and went on his way. Suddenly, Noah caught up with Jojo and said, "Hey, you Jojo McDodd, right?"
He looks at Noah and said, "Yeah, you're Noah, right?"
"That's me."
"What's up?"
"Did you hear the announcement the principal made?"
"Yeah, about Horace and these jerks. They're sent to juvie already."
"Yep. For a full year and a half."
"That's a long time. They deserved it, though. I'm sure Seth and Austin will be relieved when they hear this."
Suddenly, Seth and Austin walked towards Jojo and Seth was completely excited and said, "Horace is in juvie! How awesome is it?"
"Now we don't have to worry about them bullying us anymore." Austin said.
"Don't count on it, though." Jojo said.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, there's always more bullies like them that can break you down because of the way you are."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"Just when I thought that we're gonna be cool."
"But hey, you got us, right?"
"Yeah, we do." Seth said.
"Hey, guys. I'm Noah."
"Hey, we remember you from lunch, right?" asked Austin.
"That's me."
They shook hands and Austin asked, "You're from around here?"
"Yeah, I'm a freshman here."
"We're freshman also." Seth said.
"Hey, that's cool."
"We just moved here from WhatCity a few days ago."
"Really? You guys were new?"
"Yep."
"What's it like there?"
"Honestly, a little bit of ups and downs, but mostly downs."
"How down?"
"Being tormented by stupid jerks at middle school. Does that count?"
"I guess it does."
Then, Noah turns to Jojo and asked, "You're the dude who saved Whoville, right?"
Jojo groans and said, "I knew that question would come up. Yeah, I am."
"You must be famous."
"I wouldn't bet on it. Nowadays, I see jerks in the hall giving me a hard time, just because of that and that my dad's the mayor."
"That's gotta be hard for you."
"Very much."
Then, Noah looks at his watch and said, "Wish I could chat some more, but I'm almost late for my after-school activity."
"What's that?" asked Seth.
"School newspaper blogs."
"You blog?"
"Yep. And sometimes, I video blog."
"Sounds great."
"Nice meeting you guys though. We should hook up sometime."
"Yeah, we should. Later, Noah."
"Bye, guys."
Jojo looked at Noah and then turns to Seth and Austin and asked, "Blogging?"
"It's kinda like you talk about pretty much everything that goes on around so many random topics and then you type them up or make a video out of it, or so I've heard. I've never actually done it." Seth said.
"Me neither." Austin said.
"So, see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sure." Jojo said.
"All right, later."
Seth and Austin went out of the door and went on their way home and Jojo walked past the steps and saw Zeke sitting under the tree, a little depressed. He walked over to him and said, "Hey, you okay?"
Zeke looked at Jojo and said, "Not really."
"Hey, what's wrong?"
Zeke sighed and looked at Jojo with a black eye. He gasped and asked, "Who did this?"
"Some football jerks. Just when I was starting to get used to it here, some senior football jockeys beat me up and called me 'freshman meat.'"
"Ouch."
"I just don't fit in with the sports clique, you know? I'm more musically, but if I tell my dad I don't want to follow his footsteps, I might let him down. He'll..."
"Disown you?" asked Jojo.
"Yeah."
Jojo sits next to him and said, "I understand that feeling. Sometimes the pressure can be too much to handle and you just want to follow your way, but there's always some roadblocks when it comes to parents' high expectations. It just sucks, you know?"
"Yeah, it must. It just feels like I have nobody to understand me, you know? Like I'm alone or something."
"Zeke, you're not alone."
He looks at Jojo and asked, "What do you mean?"
"You have someone to understand you and that's me. Most parents don't understand us, mainly dad's a football player and my dad's the mayor here and they want us to follow their footsteps when we know we don't and we don't want to disappoint them if we tell him we don't want to take those positions."
"You know me so well, Jojo. But back in Whatropolis, most students refer to me as a 'nobody', saying I'll never amount to anything my dad does. They hate black sheeps of the family and that I'm a disgrace to my father."
"No, you're not. They don't even know what they're talking about. Also, you are somebody. You're my best friend."
"I am?"
"You are."
Zeke smiled a little and said, "Thanks."
They both hug each other and Zeke felt something deep inside-a real friend who understands him and is in the same position when it comes to pressure from fathers. Jojo said, "If you ever need a friend or someone to trust, it'll be me."
"I will. Head over to WhoTube and find my penname-SilverZeke-and you'll see some vids of me singing."
"Sure thing."
"See ya later."
"Bye."
This will be interesting! Stay tuned!