Oh! Two updates! I'm on a roll! And my fingers hurt….
But I got five weeks to go before school lets out in April and that makes me incredibly happy. April 26 is the last day I think. Then it's all just free time….free time….
TJ's still 15 years old. He'll be turning 16 soon, but not yet.
Read On!
"You got that look on your face like you up to somethin'."
Pacing back and forth in the limited space that the room he and JoJo shared provided, TJ tried to sort through the ideas that were running through his mind. It's been a few day since two of his former classmates arrived, and until they left, he wanted to mess with them a little. The question though was how?
"Of course I'm up to something," TJ said. "We go two new scrubs yesterday, and you know what?"
"No, what?"
"I used to go to school with those two, before I got locked up. I was more of an acquaintance of one of them, but I used to be good friends with the other, and that bitch testified against me in court. So yeah I'm up to something! But they don't know that I'm me. They don't recognize me at all! They're looking for me and everything, but don't know that I'm who they're looking for."
"So what you have in mind?" JoJo asked him.
"I'm gonna give them what they want," TJ said with a twisted smile. "Exactly what they want. They want me, as in the old me, then that's what I'll give 'em. I want to know what they want with me anyways. But I need to know something. Do you know how high I am on the social totem pole in here?"
"You? Think you're right under the highest person in here. Second place just for break us out," JoJo explained.
"So who number one?"
"Don't worry 'bout all that," He said. "Just worry 'bout your stuff."
"Okay, so I'm number two. What does that mean?"
"Mean's everyone knows to stay the fuck out of your way and give you what you want as long as number one says it's okay."
"So that's why all the others let me go to the front of the line," TJ mumbled. "Okay. Thanks, JoJo."
"No problem. Just keep me updated on what's goin' on out there. It ain't fun being trapped in my bed."
"I'll try my best. I gotta go find one of the girls. You're gonna be okay in here by yourself? I know you're going stir crazy in here….."
"Nah, I'm good. Go do what you gotta do."
~*~TJ"S POV~*~
Stepping out of my room I looked around. Nothing unusual, except for the girls being here. But still, everything's relatively normal. People are hanging out, talking, gambling, all that stuff. The guys are at the table, the girls are with them too. Good; I'll need them if I want to do what I have in mind. I don't want Spinelli and Francis (more so Spinelli than Francis) to know I'm me. Not while I look like this. I need to look like I did before I bleached my hair blonde and got this scar…
"Hey," I said approaching the table. They all looked up to me.
"What's going on, Freckles?" Veronica asked me.
"Not to stereotype you as a girl or anything, but do you know how to do make-up?" I asked her.
"Why? You wanna cover that ugly scar?" She teased.
"Yeah I do. Think you can do that for me?"
"I might be able to help you out," She said, standing up from her seat. "Maybe. I might not be able to though. Never did make-up like this before." I watched her reach under the table and pull out a red toolbox. Christ, she uses that huge thing to carry make-up? Girls….but I hope she can cover it up. I can't do anything if she can't. I can see Spinelli from where I was sitting, and Francis was with her. The two of them were sitting on the ground, talking about something. I'm almost tempted to go over there and fucking with them just for the sake of doing it. Shit, they don't know who I am. Why shouldn't I? I would have to be careful though and watch what I say; I don't want to say something that'll give them any ideas.
"I'm gonna need you to stay still when I'm doing this Freckles," Veronica told him. "Just close your eyes and I'll let you know when I'm done. I'm not making any promises that it'll be perfect." I did what she said and closed my eyes, waiting for her to start. I felt something soft, like a sponge, pat on the left side of my face on and around my scar leaving something on my skin every time it touched.
"Don't do that, Freckles," Said Veronica. "Don't scrunch your face."
"Sorry, geez," I said, relaxing. "It's cold." Relaxing, I felt her continue, and my thoughts started to travel. If all of this works, how am I going to act? Should I act like those guys expect me to act or should I act like I told them I was acting? I what thinking that I could just go all psychopathic on them. That wouldn't be too hard since I'm number two and people know to stay out of my way. I could put it off. It would scare the shit out of them.
I know they're expecting me to be worse off than when I left Third Street. And the weird thing is that I'm not sure if I'm worse than compared to two years ago. I know I'm…..what's the word? Tame. I know I'm tamer than before. Fuck, I used to torment everyone at Third Street on a daily basis. I don't do anything like that now. I'm just a drug dealer and escort on hiatus. That's worse, but I'm not hurting people like before, so it's better in a way.
No it's not. I'm a little worse off. But I can't philosophe the hell out of anything. That's an improvement. But hey, I gotta survive in here, don't I? Damn.
Now I'm pissed at them being here. What are they in for? I now Francis has to be in for drug dealing. He just HAS to be. Think little miss Ashley is in for beating someone up. What else would she be in for? I wonder who as on the other end of her fist. But if she tries to punch me ('cause the bitch can only try, she won't make contact), I will swiftly inform her of rule number 42.
Rule number 42: If a girl has the balls to hit a guy, that guy has all rights to hit her back.
I got some backed up anger that needs releasing and it might just end up on her face if she chooses to hit me. If she knows what's good for her she'll take my word and leave me alone.
"Are you tryin' just to get rid of the scar or make the whole left side of your face look like the right side?" Veronica asked me.
"I'm tryin' to look normal," I told her.
"Oh okay," She said. "Open your eyes." Opening my eyes, the bright lights made my squint my eyes, but I adjusted. "Hold your eyes open and DON'T blink." Opening my eyes as wide as a I can, I tried to force them close by habit when her finger came close to my eye with….what's that on her finger? A contact lens? Is she gonna—yep. She put it on my eye. It's not like I can see in my left eye so what's the point of having it? "Okay you can close your eyes again." I blinked a couple of times to get my eye to adjust before closing them again. This time I felt a brush go over the left side of my face. Man, all this make-up just to cover a scar.
'Though it's a pretty noticeable scar.'
"'Kay, I'm done," She said. "You can open your eyes." When I did I was staring into a mirror she was holding in front of me. Man….
It was like I never had the scar in the first place. There was no sign of it ever being t there. Not only that but my eye didn't look like it was blind. The color was diminished when it was blinded, but the blue it matched the right eye. You couldn't tell I could see out of it. And all this just from a little make-up. Damn.
"Holy shit, you made me look normal," I said taking the mirror from her to get a closer view on the work that was done. "Thanks. By any chance would you have anything that could dye hair?"
"Are you tryin' to have a makeover or somethin'?" She asked, placing her hand on her hips. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't."
"What's all this about?" Bandit asked, speaking up for the first time. "Make-up and hair dye, dude?"
"I wasn't gonna tell anyone, but since I trust you guy's I'll let you in," I said. "There's these two new inmates and I used to go to school with them. I was even good friends with one of them before…..something happened. Then I got sent here after I was found guilty for something I didn't even do. But they didn't recognize me when a guard told me to show them around. I'm doing all this so that when they come to find me I'll look like they expect me to look; without the scar, blind eye, and brown hair. I'm just gonna mess with their heads."
"Hmm…..Okay. I'll dye your hair. But it won't be permanent," Veronica said. "It'll wash out every time you take a bath."
"But I could get it put back in, right?"
"Yep."
"Then I'll do it," I said. "I had brown hair before so do you think—"
"Would you like dark brown, or light brown," She asked, holding out two tubes of hair coloring with the color it would put in as the label. "Or, I do have this one shit-color brown, but I don't think you want that color…I don't even know how I got it."
"…..chestnut brown….." I said. "My hair was chestnut brown…..do you have it?"
"Yeah, yeah…" She mumbled , taking another tube out of her toolbox. She places a towel around my shoulders and put some Vaseline around the edge of my hair. "Just relax. All I gotta do is put in your hair and comb it through. It'll go by fast. Promise."
~*~LATER~*~
Looking down from the upper level of the dorms over the rails of the staircase, I stared at the two newest inmates at Duval. They didn't know that I was looking at them. Good. I just want to look at them. What are they planning? They better not be thinking that they're gonna come up in here and run shit. I run shit in here, even though it's under number 1's rule. But he whoever he is, he doesn't do much, so it's like I'm number 1, right? Right.
If they even try anything I'm going to make their sentence hell on earth.
Veronica dyed my hair back to its natural color. I don't recognize myself, but it must be what I would look like if JoJo never bleached my hair and Tommy Gun never cut me. I prefer the look I got when I came in here, and weird as that sounds.
Oh look, they spotted me. About time. Look's like Spinelli's come up here. Great, that's just what I need…..
~*~END TJ's POV~*~
"It's been three days. Maybe he's not in this dorm," Francis suggested. "There is more than one…"
"I know there's more than one dorm, but I have this feeling," Spinelli said. "Like he's watching us and waiting. Don't you have that same feeling?"
"Yeah, but I'm not gonna stress myself out about it," said Francis. "And you shouldn't either…."
Sitting against the wall the two of them tried to consume the food they were given for dinner. It seem impossible because after the first bite they both had to resist the sudden urge to vomit. They struggled with the food the first day they arrived and thought that they would die of starvation before their sentence was over. But they grinned and forced the so called 'food' own their throats. Poking at it, Spinelli wondered how anyone would consider the food edible.
"I'm not trying to stress about it," She said absentmindedly. "But I feel like he knows we're here and is planning something. And I'm not trying to fall for anything he's gonna try. I don't care how mad he might be at us; I'm not gonna put up with it."
"Spinelli…."
"I'm sure you don't want to either, right? We're spending a month in here and I just want to get out of here without starting a war. I'm not trying to start anything; I just want to let him know that we want to avoid any contact with him. If he leaves us alone, then we'll leave him alone. That's not asking a lot is it?"
"Spinelli!"
"What? I'm trying to eat this….crap…"
"Look up there!" Francis shouted pointing upwards at the upper rooms. She looked up to where he was pointing. Leaning over the railing and staring directly at them she saw who she was looking for: TJ. He looked down at them with a blank expression on his face and a toothpick in his mouth. She watched as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it. "You were right, dude…."
"See? I told you…..," She said absentmindedly. "How long has he been there?"
"I dunno. A while I guess…..are you gonna to talk to him?"
"Yeah, I am," Spinelli said. She got on her feet and walked, while keeping her eyes on the person in question, to the staircase. Reaching the top she saw that TJ was still leaning over the railing looking down where she was sitting before. It was then that she thought that maybe she should turn back.
The whole point was to deter him to not do anything to hurt her or Francis. But there was the chance that he wasn't going to do anything at all. The blonde guy did say that he minded his own business and didn't even talk. Maybe he only was looking at them just to see that they were there and was going to shrug it off. If that was true, then talking to him might make him want to do something to them. And she didn't want that to happen.
This was the guy that spread sneezing and itching powder all over the playground. The guy who poisoned the whole school with laxative in the cafeteria food. The guy who put explosions in their desk. The guy who released rats and roaches, armed the kindergarteners with paintball guns, set of explosions in the diggers holes, blew up the Ashley's clubhouse, and sprayed glue from off the roof!
It's the same guy who set the school on fire!
And he's older now! He can do more! Maybe it wasn't worth the risk…..
'But I won't know unless I try…' She thought. Swallowing her fear, she walked towards him and stood next to him.
"…..um…hey…" She said. She waited for him to look at her, but as she waited time seem to go my painfully slow. TJ still looked down at everyone else below before blowing smoke out his mouth. He turned to face her with the same blank expression on his face as before without saying anything. "…I've been looking for you."
Instead of answering, TJ choose to stay quiet and just look at her up and down, examining her uniform. He blinked.
"So um…me and Francis, you know…Hustler Kid…we're both in here for a month…..we're not trying to start anything. We were just think that if we stayed out of each other's way then we won't have any conflicts….you know?"
He stayed silent.
"….o-kay….," She said, uneasy but the awkward lack of a conversation. "If you're not going to say anything then I guess I'll go."
"It isn't enough that I'm locked away until I'm 21," He finally spoke. "Now I'm here with you. Why the hell are you in here, Spinelli?"
"Oh, you're talking," She said, turning to face him. The first thing she saw was his cold, soulless blue eyes looking at her. After gaining back the breath what was choked out of her by a simple stare, she continued to talk. "…..I-I'm in because I got in a really bad fight," She told him, nervous from his expressionless face. "I-It was with Ashley A., you remember her, right? Part of the Ashley's?" No Answer. "….and, uh, it's for a month…"
"Why are you talking to me?" TJ asked her. "I don't even like you. What do you want?"
"I just wanted to tell you that we don't want any conflict. We know that you hate us, but we don't want to start a war in here or anything." TJ laughed.
"War? It's wouldn't be a war," He told her. "It'd be a defeat. Whatever. Stay out of my way or this'll be the longest month of your life," He said stomping out his cigarette and walking past her. "Goddamn bitch thinks she's gonna come up in here and be at the same level I am and start some shit….."
Donna Nnov: Oh I plan to use my ideas, definitely. This chapter and the last was just setting things up. I just wanted to know what the readers were thinking. The next month will probably last until chapter 40.
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