Hiya, folks.

Um…I BARELY had enough time to write this chapter (The bulk of which I started writing after I posted the last chapter). So after this first week…..i dunno. :) last semester gave me so much more free time that this semester makes last semester look like practice. D: As far as updates, I'm not totally sure. This weekend is a three day weekend so I'll try to update fast or at least get a head start on writing future chapters. As for spring break, that's still up for grabs.

Some chapters will have journal entries (but not all of them ) showing what he thinks of being there. In juvie. Thought that would interesting for the readers. This chapter doesn't have one but the more serious chapters will. There should be one in the next chapter however.

Read on!

~*~D~*~

Wincing at the pain he felt as he began to wake up, TJ slowly sat up in his bed. The pain had not gone down over night; if anything it appeared to have gotten worse. Looking around he wondered what time it was. The sun was out, but JoJo was still in bed, sleeping. There wasn't any noise coming from outside either, hinting that the others were either sleeping as well or didn't want to get out of bed. Stepping out of bed he tried to think of something to do to pass the time. He spotted a cracked and broken window next to the cabinets on the wall. Looking at his refection he saw that his face has swollen and bruised since yesterday. It swelled around his left eye so bad that it was blocked, preventing any eye sight from the left eye. Various areas were discolored, and it looked like a small touch would make it bleed.

He stepped away from the mirror and pulled out his two boxes from under his bed. He looked inside one and pulled out his uniforms. There were twelve of them, and they each had his number, 784694 stitched into them. Also inside the box were towels, socks, boxers, and white t-shirts. In the second box were his school books that looked like they were ready to fall apart as soon as they were opened. One for math, English, science, and history, along with notebooks, pencils, and a backpack to carry them in. He was suddenly reminded of his own backpack that helped him carry plenty of beers. He could go for one right about now. They always helped ease any pain he was feeling at the moment.

At the side of the box was an unopened envelope. Opening it he was a card inside with his name, ID number and picture on the front. A letter inside said that it functioned like a debit card to be used at the commissary to buy things he needed. The letter continued and said that his parents could put money on it, or he could work in the laundry room or kitchen to earn his own money. Bu for now, it already had a hundred dollars on it. He also saw a watch in the box reading 6:45. Putting that in his pocket, he put the everything back in its box, minus the books (those went in the backpack), and pushed those under the bed.

Then something came across his mind; where were his parents? They should've been here yesterday wet he first arrived! What, were they partying with the rest of the town over his sentence? It didn't seem implausible the way they were acting a few days ago. He was willing to wait two weeks for them to com but after that, he didn't know what to think about that. But he would give Principal Prickly more time than that; the guy was a principal after all.

'What is taking them so long to get here?' He thought. 'You would think they would be here. Apparently not.'

Hearing talking coming from outside the room, TJ went out and saw others coming out of their rooms and beginning the commotion that he saw yesterday. Since he didn't want to be in a room that was so small that it choked anyone inside, he headed out. He needed to know the dynamics of juvie if he wanted to get away with everything. Leaning over the edge of the stairs he focused on a table where a bunch of kids were gathered around. With sodas, chips and candy on the table it looked as if they were bartering amongst themselves. He remembered the time he took over the playground economy within a matter of days. All he had was a few monstickers to begin with and that grew into a monopoly where he was top dog. No one had anything, and if they did it soon became his. Smiling he realized that would be an easy way to get to the top of the food chain here.

A loud bell rang, and everyone started to go through a door in the back. His watch read 8:00, the time the guard said that everyone was to go outside so he followed the crowd.

The sun was shining down on the dirt ground that was surrounded by a ten foot tall fence with barbed wire on the top edges. There was a basketball hoop but it was rusting and looked as if it would fall down if anyone tried to throw a ball in. A few old and shaky lunch tables were around the edge of the building. TJ walked around and tried to find something to do. Most kids were standing around with their friends talking. Since he didn't have any friends yet he didn't have much else to do than sit on the ground and draw in the dirt.

He was beginning to plan out exactly how he was going to take over when dirt was kicked in his face. He coughed and looked up to see who had done it and was greeted by a smug looking Tommy Gun.

"Oh did I ruin ya little drawin'?" Tommy Gun asked, dripping with sarcasm. "Like I give a shit. Get up!"

"Leave me alone," TJ told him.

"And you still goin' on with the attitude! The fuck did I say yesterday, Scrub? I said I was gonna keep fuckin' you up!" He raised a fist, ready to land a punch, but he didn't get a chance because of a hand placed on his shoulder. They both looked behind him to see an all too calm looking JoJo standing there.

"Lay off 'em, Tommy," JoJo said.

"And what if I don't?"

"Ya' know what'll happen if you don't. Don't you forget what know," He said. "Go botha' some other scrub."

"….whateva'." Tommy said, snatching his shoulder back and walking away. "I ain't done with you, scrub!"

"Thanks for that," Said TJ.

"That wasn't for you," JoJo snapped. "I ain't planin' on hearin' you cry all night, shit. We ain't friends; I ain't 'sha buddy." He walked away back to his own friends, leaving TJ alone by himself. He didn't have a chance to think about what had happened because the bell signaling for everyone to come back in rang.

~*~U~*~

"Back of the line scrub!"

Thrown against the wall, TJ was forcibly taken out of the line by the person standing behind him. By now he as getting sick of people pulling him and dragging him around every day. Being in the middle of a thought only to be yanked, literally and figuratively, out of them without a warning. It was making him angry, but he knew he had to focus on getting to the top. Getting back in line he was pushed out yet again by another boy who happened to come in after he got back in line. That time he fought back, but only managed to get one punch in while the boy punched him in the stomach over and over. They were broken up by a guard who told TJ to get in the back of the line or not eat at all. He only did so because the guard said to.

The food he received didn't even seem worth the long wait in line. It was cold, and didn't even look like it was food at all. Whatever it was that was supposed to be breakfast was hard and the wrong color. He was starving from only having eaten breakfast the day before so he dared to try a bite, only to spit it right back out. It tasted horrible to say the least. It was amazing that they called it food! And he had to eat this for how long? Five years? Shit, he was going to starve to death with this slop. He looked over at the others who were eating and watched as they quickly chewed and swallowed the gunk, not leaving enough time for it to settle on their tongues to taste it. He knew then he would have to get used to doing that if he wanted to eat anything.

~*~V~*~

'As sucky as this school is, it's not far behind from schools everywhere else….'

One step into the door of his new classroom TJ was introduced into what could only be described as insanity. The kids talked, threw paper balls and planes, and did all the usual things disruptive students did in the classroom to distract from the lesson. That alone wasn't enough to shock him, but the obvious selling of drugs was. Sitting down at the only empty seat in the room (which, like everything else was either falling apart or poorly put together in the first place) he looked over to the boy sitting to his left and saw that he was injecting a needle in his arm.

'Is this place really that bad?' He wondered. 'I might need some of that if it is. I already hate it here. I get locked up and I still have to go to school. Must be part of the punishment.'

"Alright, enough talking! It's time to learn something!" The talking suddenly stopped and everyone looked at the front of the class with smiles on their faces. The voice who had yelled wasn't threatening, but rather humorous sounding. The man in front of the class, the teacher appeared to have no trouble commanding the attention of everyone in the class. After taking attendance he addressed the class again.

"Okay, I heard that there was a new student in here," He said. "Where is he?"

"Freckles is right there!" JoJo yelled. "In fronna Taz!"

'I can't just blend in with everyone,' He thought to himself. Raising his hand after being called out but his roommate, TJ caught the attention of the teacher. "I'm right here."

"Oh. My name is Mr. Doctor, and this is my class. It's an easy class I promise, but you do have to take notes to keep up alright? Now class, last time were we're talking about basic algebra and how it doesn't apply to life unless your becoming an engineer, contractor, economist, or a smart-ass mathematician who's only purpose is to make other people feel like dumbasses….."

~*~A~*~

Throwing his books on his bed TJ cursed Mr. Doctor for giving him so much homework in the name of 'catching up' to the rest of the class. Each subject he discussed, plus a few he would discuss later, had five worksheets he had to turn in at the end of the week. Why should he even bother to do it? It's not as if someone's going to chase him down if he got a bad grade.

"MOVE OUTTA THE WAY, FRECKLES!" He looked up just in time to move out of JoJo's path that he was running. He ran in with books in hand and jumped onto the top bunk. TJ watched as he pulled out the worksheet, quickly wrote on the paper, and stuffed the sheets between the pages of the book.

"What's the rush?" TJ asked him.

"None ya bidness, Freckles," JoJo said running back out of the room.

"None of my business?" TJ repeated to himself. "Yeah right….." He wanted to see what his roommate was rushing back and forth to, so he stepped outside. Everyone was either sitting on the edge of the top steps or standing around on the floor forming a circle. Standing on the steps he could see two guard literally dragging two kids into the middle of the floor. They each pointed at the other and said something that he couldn't make out. The guards backed away from the two boys and after a whistle was blown the two boys started fighting. He thought that the guards would break them up and start the fight, but they let it go on without intervening. By the time the boys were too tired to fight any more blood was drawn and spilled on the floor. The guards finally came back between them, and one of the guards handed the boy who didn't bleed a brown paper bag while the other was dragged off to god knows where. The boy with the paper bag ran from the area, up the stairs and into his room leaving behind a trail of the scent of what was in the bag.

'How'd they get Chinese food in here?' TJ thought. 'I want some! This other food tastes like shit…' Mumbles and shuffling was heard as everyone headed down to get the food the prison provided. TJ opted out eating, knowing that even if he somehow managed to swallow it, it would come right back up. Instead he went over what he just saw in his mind. Those guys were beating the crap out of each other just for some Chinese food. He could understand why though; food in here tastes like it's been eaten already. Food from the outside must taste like most delicious thing in the world to them. Getting it would be worth anything. If something was worth doing that then it could be away to manipulate them into doing thing for him. He just had to figure out how. He definitely didn't have anything people here would want, but what else would they want besides food? Water would be the first thing; the water coming out of the water fountain didn't look clean enough to be used in the toilet! The only problem with using that to his advantage was finding a way to get clean water in there.

~*~L~*~

"I need a drink now more than ever!" TJ yelled as he lay down on his bed. He knew now that he was going to starve to death before he served his time. The food he received for dinner was nothing more than a brown block of indescribable gunk consisting of whatever satisfied their serving of the five food groups. Upon taking his first bite he promptly ran to the nearest trashcan and remove it from his stomach. Why did the food in here have to taste SO bad? What this funny to the people in charge? Force kid to eat something that was inedible and watch them drop like flies from starving? Or was money so limited that they scrapped whatever they could find to put it on a plate? Either way, he wasn't going to eat.

Turning on his side he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep but was prevented by the intrusive nature of his growling stomach. Ignoring it he hoped that it would go away but after ten minutes he knew that wasn't going to happen any time soon. Closing his eyes he tried to fall asleep but something small hit him in the back. Turning around he saw a small bag of potato chips on his bed.

"That's da last time I'm helpin' you," JoJo said from the top bunk. "I ain't gonna baby you. You can't starve for all I care. I suggest you suck up ya pride and eat the food the state gives us."

"If you can even call that food," TJ mumbled, opening the bag. "Thanks."

"Uh-huh. You owe me for this; remember that."

I have a tumblr now! :D I'm only going to be having rants on cartoons, new and old. If you're interested it's AstronomerAlways . tumblr . com or just go to my profile and click homepage. I haven't posted anything yet, but I will soon. Feel free to ask me something there too.

I'm kind of interested (and by that I mean completely fascinated) in what people expect to happen while he's in juvie. So that is the question; What do you think is going to happen to him in juvie? ;)

RandallXSpinelli: The misery hasn't even started! Just wait until things get rolling. Yeah, I really wish I could update as often as I have been, but unfortunately that's not a possibility. But don't worry, I plan to make each chapter longer to make up for it.

Donna Nnov: What I meant to ask was, why did you think he set the fire and why did you change your mind on it? And that's creepy how similar our stories were! Great minds think alike I suppose. ;) May I ask how did the fire in your story get started? :D

Please Review!