AN: Sorry I took so long to update, guys! It's been a busy week. I hope to spend the weekend uploading more chapters. I really hope you're enjoying them.
UPDATE: I added another section to this chapter to make it longer. Sorry for any confusion, :/
On Friday, JoJo met with his best friends for lunch. He was looking forward to spending the weekend working on his song for Ned. But in the back of his mind, all he could think about was the lack of progress he was making with Tallulah. Mr. Gristmel seemed to be glaring at him every chance he got.
Beanie passed around a bag of Skipper Zipp's Chips. JoJo declined and passed the bag on to Iggy. Beanie gave JoJo a surprised look. Normally JoJo was always hungry for Beanie's snacks.
Iggy looked at Beanie as if he were thinking the same thing. "JoJo's being all emo again," he teased.
JoJo rolled his eyes. Iggy was always telling jokes. Sometimes at the wrong time.
"You never told us what happened with you and Mr. Gristmel last Friday," Coby pointed out.
JoJo's friends all leaned foward on their elbows as JoJo filled his friends in on his punishment.
"So, you're tutoring the principal's daughter?" Adin asked. "Is she hot?"
JoJo rolled his eyes. Adin was a total player. "She's ten," JoJo barked.
"Aw! Too bad," Adin cried. He wafted his hand as if to fan the idea away.
"My dad thinks that I volunteered to help Tallulah. If he knew that I'm really being punished, he'd probably ground me for a year," JoJo continued.
Beanie shrugged. "Well, it can't be that hard, right?" he asked.
"It is, though," JoJo replied. "She won't focus no matter what I do. Like yesterday, for example, all she did was talk about my dad."
"She's probably starstruck. Your dad is the Mayor of Whoville," Adin noted between a sip of Muscle Milk Cow Milk.
"Yeah, she was pretty anxious about meeting him," JoJo said.
"Perhaps you ought to reward her when she spells a word correctly," Coby suggested.
"Yeah," Beanie aggreed. "Make studying fun for her. I'm particularly found of the Gummy Barb-Ba Loot Effect."
"What's that?" Iggy asked.
"It's kind of like Coby was saying; rewarding yourself. You'd mark the end of each paragraph of the book you're reading with a Gummy Barb-Ba Loot, and when you reach the end of the paragraph-bon appetit," Beanie explained.
"Well, I love reading anyway. I'd gain fifty pounds if I did that," Coby joked.
Everybody laughed accept for JoJo. He didn't want to talk about it anymore. With fifteen minutes of lunch time left, now was the perfect time to get a little song writing done.
JoJo gathered everyone's trash onto his tray and headed for the trash bins. He hummed a melody to himself on the way there.
You happen to be looking at me...
Your crooked smile and sympathy...
Snapping his fingers, JoJo didn't notice that Mr. Gristmel stopped short in front of him. JoJo accidentally walked right into him! His trays of leftovers and scraps hit the linoleum floor.
"Sorry," JoJo said. He bent down to pick up the mess.
"Mr. McDodd, I'm glad I caught you," Mr. Gristmel said. "How are the tutoring sessions going?"
"Fine, I guess," JoJo said, timidly. He was still on the floor gathering up the mess.
"They'd better be, because Tallulah's test is next Friday, and if she fails...well, you know." Mr. Gristmel gave a smug grin. He then threw his head back and started cackling like an evil villain in a scary movie. All he needed was lightning and scary music for effect.
JoJo gulped. There was no way he was about to admit to Mr. Gristmel that tutoring Tallulah wasn't going as well as he thought it would.
He got up and walked back to his table. When he sat down, his friends could already guess what was bothering him. They had seen the whole thing.
"Hey, JoJo! Don't worry. We've got your back," Adin said.
"Yeah," Beanie chimed in. "I've got plenty of Gummy Barb-Ba Loots."
JoJo gave a small smile. Those Gummy Barb-Ba Loots triggered an idea. "What are you guys doing this Saturday?" he asked, perking up a little.
"Nothing," Coby, Iggy, Beanie, and Adin all replied.
"Good, because I'm having a party!" JoJo said. He only gave his friends enough time to gasp in surprise before adding, "A study party!"
The boys erupted in laughter. This time JoJo laughed too. He wasn't going to let Mr. Gristmel scare him. And with the help of his friends, JoJo was going to show Tallulah that spelling could be F-U-N!
Tallulah's house was on Mulberry Street, the other side of town. JoJo pounced up the front porch steps and rang the doorbell.
It was early Saturday morning, and JoJo and his friends had well-organized a day of spelling for Tallulah.
JoJo hoped the words would finally sink in. The test was this Friday-the weekend of the Mayor's ceremony-and JoJo needed some time get his song written without having to worry about Tallulah.
JoJo rang the doorbell again.
Iggy leand towards Adin's ear and whispered. "If she were just a few years older Adin?"
Adin blushed. "Shut up, man!" He gave Iggy a playful shove. Iggy fell chin-first into the middle of Coby's back.
"Ow!" Coby cried out.
Beanie almost choked on his tongue from laughing so hard at them. "You guys are losers," he said.
"Guys stop it!" JoJo hissed.
At that moment the door swung open. JoJo was surprised when Tallulah came outside. Her light, pink hair was done up in tight curls and a big, white bow secured her ponytail. She was wearing an unbearable amount of perfume. JoJo wondered what she'd gotten all dolled up for.
"Hi, JoJo!" Tallulah exclaimed. "I got your message last night." She glanced at the four boys behind JoJo. "Race you to City Hall?" she offered.
"Actually, Tallulah, we aren't going to City Hall to study today," JoJo said.
"We're not?" she said in a whimper.
"No, we're going on a feild trip," JoJo answered in the same fake enthusiastic voice he used on his little sisters. "Way more fun than boring ol' City Hall, right?"
Tallulah slumped. "But I wanna see Mr. Mayor..." she mumbled quietly to herself.
Coby noticed the disappointed look on Tallulah's face. He crouched down and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Tallulah, I think you'll really enjoy this." he promised.
"Can we go to City Hall after the feild trip," Tallulah asked.
JoJo scrunched up his nose. Why was Tallulah suddenly so keen on going to City Hall? Before she seem to dread going there and being around the Mayor. Whatever the reason was, it gave JoJo an idea. He had to bribe her.
"Please, JoJo? Can we go?" Tallulah begged. She was practically on her knees.
"Maybe," JoJo answered. An evil smile spread across JoJo's face. He rubbed his hands together like a mad scientist about to perform an experiment. "But you have to promise to get a lot of spelling done today."
Tallulah leaped up and down on her feet. "Goody!" she cried.