Things finally start to happen again, folks! The last two chapters were just setting everything up, but now we get down to business! Can't wait…

Go Forth and Read On!

Journal,

Our English teacher is making us keep a journal to track our thoughts, even though I already have one. She said something about it being a way to see how we write and narrate. Whatever, I don't care. I already keep a journal so it's no big deal.

~*~V~*~

"Jesus, how long has it been since I worked out?" TJ asked himself as he leaned against the wall next to the punching bag to catch his breath. "This…..is….ridiculous…" For gym, he choose to give weightlifting a break and go back to the punching bag, but after only a minute he found himself to be out of breath and he could understand why. He was what he considered to be 'in shape' and thought he had no reason for losing his breath so fast. But that wasn't going to discourage him from punching the bag. Pushing himself off the walls, TJ pull on the boxing gloves and started again.

"It's because you've only worked on lifting weights for so long," Specs told him as he ran on a nearby treadmill. "Lifting weights builds muscle but it doesn't help your stamina…..and you've been out for while watching JoJo…"

'It shouldn't take me too long to build stamina,' TJ thought as he landed a few well-placed punches. 'I'll give it two weeks…..but I gotta keep going…..' As he continued to throw punches at the bag, TJ looked across the room where Spinelli and Francis were lifting weights. My pure chance the three of them had some of the same classes together, gym being one of them. The two newest inmates avoided eye contact, making it much easier for TJ to stop himself from staring them down. Veronica taught him how to do the make-up and hair dye himself so he wouldn't have to come to her. Before he even left his room, he put it on, making sure that there was no trace of his bleached hair or scar.

Watching the two of them talk, TJ tried to read their lips to get idea of what they were saying. He couldn't hear a word because people between them were talking themselves. But he wanted to know to stay on top of them. But it looked like they were going to keep their promise to stay out his way during their sentence.

~*~MEANWHILE~*~

"I don't get it," Francis said as he placed a weight on one side of the barbell he was planning to lift. "So you said he told us to stay out of way and nothing bad will happen to us. But then why is he staring at us?"

"Why are asking me?" Spinelli asked him, turning her attention to the punching bag that TJ was using in the corning. "You should go ask him. I've done all the work so far! But I see what you mean. It's creeping me out….." After the very brief conversation with TJ yesterday, Spinelli didn't know what to make of it. Sure, he said that he wanted nothing to do with the two of them, but he could've just said that to get their guard down and was coming up with something. Why else would he be staring so hard at them? "Maybe we're worrying so much that we want him to do something because that's what we're used to him doing. What, do you want me to go over there and ask him if he's up to something?"

"No, no. Don't do that," Francis said. "I guess you're right. We should wait and see. He isn't really doing anything….except looking."

~*~TJ's POV~*~

I'm not gonna learn anything from this. I can read their lips or hear a word their saying, even when their facing me. I need to focus on this bag anyways. This class is taking forever to end. It would go faster if I had someone to talk to but I only ever talked to JoJo and he's still out. Specs said he should be able to come back to school tomorrow, but I'm still stuck talking to myself in my head.

I started to turn my attention to something else besides the two of them when Tommy Gun caught my eye. I'm just that unlucky to have this class with him too, but he minds his own business. And he's staring right back at me…like he was waiting for me to look. What does he want?

….He's walking over to the dumbbells….and he's taking his shirt off…..

….

…

Damn he looks good.

I-I know I hate the guy and would rather stab him than have a conversation with him, but he looks good. I feel so guilty so even thinking about him like that but he does. Okay, I'm going to look away in three seconds. Ready?

Three…

Two….

One…

….

I'm still looking. Why am I still looking? I gotta stop. Just because he's strong, and persistent, and can pin me down in a second….has the darkest eye's I've ever looked into, and sends chills up my spine every time he whispers in my ear…..

No! I am not thinking about him like that! I refuse t—did he just blow a kiss at me? Yep, he did. He's doing this on purpose. Dammit why can't I look away from him…..

Oh dear sweet Jesus. I'm not….there's no way. I mean, I hate him! I can't be…..I'm not…attracted to him, am I? I don't get it! He beats me up as soon as I get here, he blinds me, continues to threaten me, and here I am pitching a tent over him! I need to sit down….

Pulling of the boxing gloves I at down on a nearby bench and looked at the wall because I didn't want to look at him again. This class needs to hurry up and end so I can go to my next class that I don't have with him. All I have to do is ignore him. That's right, just ignore him. Don't look at him, don't talk to him, don't even think about him and everything will be fine. Right? Right. Don't think about him coming out of nowhere and wrapping his arms around me and pulling me too close to him and whispering in my ear…

I did it again. Dammit I don't like him! I don't! I hate him! I am not attracted to him!

The bell signaling the end of gym rang and I jumped from my thoughts. A snatched my bag and followed the crowd out the door and headed to my next class. English.

It's not that I don't like English. I actually do, and I blame that on JoJo making me read. I'm not the best student in class or anything like in math; I have a B average. But after Gym, it's my favorite class. Our teacher is really cool too. All we do is find books we want to read and write papers about what we think about it. Easiest class. Well, after Gym of course. And no Tommy Gun, but it's one of the classes I have with Spinelli and Francis. I can't even focus on the book I'm reading because of those two.

Turning into the classroom I automatically looked for my seat in the left corner of the room. It's always empty because it's my seat. The teacher didn't assign seats but it's still mine. I don't care if that sounds petty. So why is Spinelli sitting my seat?

Okay, okay. They've only gone to school here for a few days so they might not know that I sit there and no one else does, so I won't yell. But I am pissed.

"That's my seat," I told her after I made my way over. "Move." She looked at me like I was wrong from tell her that before grabbing her books and moving to another seat. The only other seat there was after everyone came in was the one next to mine. I can't win, can I? The bell rang again, and the teacher shut the door. I grabbed the book I was reading, Childhoods End, and opened to the page where I left off. I would've finished days ago but I got distracted. Just one chapter to go.

….

….

….

Why is she looking at me?

"What?" I hissed at her. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," She said, turning her attention back to her book. See what I mean? I can't finish reading this book! And it's good, too! Slamming it shut, I reached under my seat a grabbed my journal and started to write in it.

~*~Spinelli's POV~*~

What's he writing in that thing? I've seen him writing in it before in the dorms, but I don't know what's in it. Is he writing own idea of things to do to us, or he just using it like a regular journal?

Or do I even want to know? He had some really disturbing thoughts at Third Street. And by disturbing I mean you will leave scarred for the rest of your life, how can anyone have thoughts like that, why isn't he in a mental hospital hopped up on drugs, disturbed. He doesn't know this but I followed him one day after school. Into the woods. I don't know why, but I was curious. I really wish I didn't follow him.

I saw him light a cat on fire. A cat! I rescued a cat and that just made it harder to watch. I thought I was dreaming and that I was going to wake up any minute now, but I was awake. Eventually the cat rolled over and died, and you know what he did? He poked it with a stick. I didn't tell anyone, but it stuck with me. I kept denying that it even happened to the point that I believed myself….

I don't want to go into any more detail about that. That' just why I'm not sure if I want to know what he's thinking. He's crazy. However you look at it, he's crazy. How else would you describe a person who does that? You would call them crazy.

He doesn't seem to want anything to do with us, so I could just be paranoid over nothing. That makes sense.

"What are you staring at?" He snapped at me. Must've been staring without even noticing. I need to quit doing that.

"Sorry," I said before going back to my book.

Today's Wednesday, and I found out that they only allow visitors on the weekends. After classes are over I need to call one of the guys to let them know. I need contact from the outside. It gets claustrophobic in here after a while with nothing to do. I know I'm gonna go crazy in here if I don't find something to do! Maybe I could ask…..no. He doesn't even want to talk to me, so there's no way he's going to give me any advice. Just forget it.

The bell rang and everyone got out their seats to leave. This was the last class of the day, so I was happy to grab all those books I'm forced to carry from class to class and take them back to the dorms. On my way out the door I bumped into someone and dropped my books. I was about to tell the person who bumped into me to watch where they were going, but when I looked up I saw it was TJ. He didn't say anything, just kneelt down to get his books off the floor and I did the same. WE both got our books really quick before getting back on our feet and leaving the room.

~*~END Spinelli's POV~*~

"Hey Freckles, you up for game of blackjack?" Bandit asked TJ as he came into the dorms. He and the others had already gathered at their usual table, waiting for TJ to come in front the classrooms.

"Can't you all come up with something else to play," TJ mumbled to himself. "Yeah. Just hold on; I gotta to go check on JoJo. I sure he's fine though," He said walking past the table and into his room. The first thing he did was relieve himself of carrying his text books by dropping his backpack on his bed. Rubbing his lower back he was happy that at least until tomorrow he didn't have to lug the bag around. When he was done he turned to face JoJo who was sleeping. Since he was bedridden, he was always asleep when school was out and TJ came to check on him, so it didn't raise suspicions. Still, TJ always woke him up at ask if he was okay. Shaking his roommates arm, TJ waited for him to wake up and say his usual 'What the hell do you want' and tell him to go away, but JoJo didn't budge.

Thinking nothing of it, TJ shook his arm harder. Nothing happened.

"Hey guys! Something's wrong with JoJo!" He shouted to the others outside. "He's not waking up…." The others came rushing in and stood around him. Specs was the first on to come in and stepped forward and TJ watched as he checked his breathing and pulse. "He's okay, right?"

"He's alive, if that's what you mean," Specs told him. "He's still breathing and has a pulse….but his pulse is going really fast. I don't know what's happening to him, so we really need to get him to the hospital. Go get one of the guards and tell them to call 911."

~*~LATER: TJ's POV~*~

They had to take JoJo to the hospital. The EMT's didn't tell us anything about what was wrong with him or even how soon he would be better. But at least he's alive. It could've been worse. I'm a little shaken up from it though. Something like that doesn't happen every day. But he'll be better, sooner or later, and then he'll be back.

I need to write about this. I can't focus on anything else until I get it out. I went through my backpack and looked around for my journal. It's easy to point of from all of them because it's not as thick as the textbook and was black. But I can't find it. Did it fall out when I dropped the bag on my bed? That's probably it. It's just under my bed. I got on my knees and looked under my bed. I even moved around the boxes under there to make sure I checked everywhere but I still can't find it. Where is it? I put it in my backpack, it's the first thing I put in my backpack when class is over so I know I have to have it!

I could've over looked inside my backpack. Let me check again.

~*~END OF TJ's POV~*~

"What was up with you in English today," Francis asked Spinelli as he worked on his math homework. "You kept staring at Detweiler for the whole period!"

"Yeah I know," Spinelli said working on the same homework. "I was just thinking about something and I did it without knowing I was doing it."

"What were you thinking about that you had to stare at him for?"

"You know, I don't even remember," She said, erasing a problem on her paper. "I think it was about him and he was writing something in a black book…"

"A black book. Like that one?" Francis asked, pointing to the stack of books next to Spinelli. Looking where he was pointing, she saw that the same black book that she had watched TJ write in during class.

"Yeah that's it," She said taking it out of the pile. "I must've picked it up when he bumped into each other. I wonder if he knows it's missing."

"You really should give that back to him," Francis said quickly. "We said we would stay out of each others way and when he sees that he can't find it he's going to come after us!"

"Yeah, yeah I know," She said, running her fingers over the edge. "But he's always writing in it. What if there something about what he wants to do to us in here? Wouldn't you want to know?"

"No, because when he finds out we've been reading it he'll do worse than do whatever we read in it! Don't open it!"

"I know I shouldn't," Spinelli agreed, looking around the dorms. "But I want to, too. It doesn't look like he knows it's missing. At least not yet….come on, Francis. Don't be such a pussy! You're the toughest guy in school!"

"In case you forgot, Spinelli, this isn't Third Street High," He told her. "This is juvie! There are guys in here that make me look like a little girl! And he's one of them! I don't want to die!"

"I'll just turn to the last entry," Said Spinelli, turning to the farthest page with writing. "I won't read any earlier, promise. Let's see….."

Donna Nnov: Yeah I knew that ahead of time. It was actually why I choose for them to break-out that way. The other way would've been for something to break the pipes in both dorms as that they would get sent to another juvenile hall across state and when they were being transported the would go through Third Street and bust out of the trucks at where carrying them…..but I didn't like that idea.

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