Chapter 12
Jodi: That weekend was horrible. I didn't get to see John. The only good thing about it was that I managed to get more dope from my house. All of the rest of my stuff is here now. But I'm already grounded apparently. I was playing with my lighter in my room and Jemima walked in. She gave me a fright and I dropped the lighter, burning the curtains while it fell. It was Monday morning, around 7:30. I could hear people downstairs so I went down. Jackson was sat at the table eating pancakes. Next to him was another plate of pancakes. Bob noticed me and told me to eat them. I wasn't used to having food cooked for, heck I wasn't used to having cooked food at all. I ate slowly, and I noticed two brown paper bags on the countertop. Jackson's name was written on one and my name was written on the other. Again, Bob noticed me looking at them. He jokingly said "haven't you ever had lunch made for you before!" But when I shook my head his expression changed.
"I'm giving you a lift to school today and I'll pick you up later afterwards." Bob said.
"No. I'm seeing John and Andy later."
"Jodi, you're grounded. You can see them on the weekend maybe."
"Look, you can take me to school if it means that much to you, but trust me I will not be there if you come to pick me up. So don't bother wasting your time."
So Bob took me to school. All the guys were waiting for me. I gave John the biggest hug ever and Andy the biggest kiss ever. I don't care if it's only been a weekend, I've missed this bunch of misfits so God damn much.
Andy: We all skipped last period. I just wanted to spend time with Jodi. After school had finished, Claire, Brian, Allison and I called in our houses before coming back out with Jodi and John. We stayed out till about 10:30pm. John and Jodi wanted to see how far away they were from each other; turns out they're about a 15 minute walk away. I walked Jodi home. She's actually closer to my house now as I only live about half a block away.
Jodi: When I got home, Bob and Jemima were sat in the lounge waiting for me. They were majorly pissed off at the time I was home. They lectured me about how I was grounded anyway so shouldn't have been going out. They said that time spent with John was meant to be arranged through my social worker. They just went on and on at me. Jeez, it was making me miss being home. Obviously I didn't miss how my mom and dad would treat me, but I missed my freedom. Being able to stay out till whenever I wanted, go wherever I wanted, and meet whoever I wanted. Bob told me that tomorrow morning he would be taking me to school and picking me up afterwards. I said I was fine with it but I have other plans. No way is he bringing me home just to ground me again.
I went upstairs to my room and sat on the bed for a moment. What the heck am I meant to do now? I walked towards the window, wondering if I could climb out like I used to do at home. I looked out, it was quite a big drop, much bigger than the drop from my window at home. There was a drainpipe to the side of the window though, so maybe I could get down that way. I leaned over and shook the drainpipe. It was really shakey and didn't exactly feel safe.
I rummaged around in my bag and found my cigarettes. I lit one and took a deep drag. I felt a bit more relaxed now. I packed my bag up, put it on my back and walked towards the open window. I sat on the windowsill and took another drag of my cigarette. Okay, I can do this. I held the cigarette in my mouth and slowly edged my way over to the drainpipe. I reach over and grabbed it with one hand. I moved my legs over to it and grabbed it with my other hand. So here I was, dangling from the drainpipe. Great. I hadn't thought this through enough. I shimmied down the pipe, but as I got about half way down, I realised that the pipe didn't actually go all the way down the floor. It just cut off half way. Shit. I tried to climb back up the pipe but I couldn't. I spat my cigarette out onto the floor and took a deep breath before jumping off the pipe. I crashed onto the floor. Fuck. That hurt. I landed on my back so my bag softened the fall slightly. But I hurt my ankle pretty bad. Eventually, I managed to pull myself up and limp down the street.