I'm so behind. I was supposed to be two chapters ahead of where I am now. But that damn virus happened and typing became impossible…I only had access to this site on my phone, which is fine in the middle of the night when I don't feel like getting on my laptop, but not updating.

This chapter takes place on the following Wednesday, so keep that in mind as you all read.

Read On!

Journal,

Somehow I'm gaining the attention of part of the female population in the school. Only one of them was forward about it. I don't know if this is a trick, or if Ashley A. is serious. Either way, I'm not interested. I don't think she's my type. She's kind of a rich bitch.

I should look for a job. I'm trying to move out the as soon as I turn 18. Wish I could take Zack with me, but I can't. I'll visit as often as I can, but I want to move out. I need job first. I have enough money to last for a while, but a job is necessary.

Zack said he likes to draw with chalk. I found something while I was getting paint that he would love. It's like normal paint, but it's like a chalkboard. You can draw on the wall when it's dry. Bad thing is, it's the same color of a normal chalk board, and it's expensive as hell. If I get it, he can draw on a wall to his heart content. But it's expensive….

One day.

~*~V~*~

Opening his locker, TJ search through the books inside for the few that he needed to do his homework after school was over. He had done the math and English homework during lunch, taking the bulk of the work off his shoulders, leaving only Biology, History, and a little bit of German to do later. Made a mental note to remember to actually do his homework later. Instead of doing it right away, he planned to go to the mall for the hell of it. Maybe get some more clothes, or preferably books. He didn't have to pick Zack up from daycare, but promised to take his little brother with him when Zack overheard him talking to himself about it. He didn't plan on being at the mall long. At the most it would be an hour or two. But he would be home in time to finish unpacking his room and look into getting something called a Facebook, even though the name alone sounded ridiculous to him.

Becky had texted him about getting one. She had told him that it would help them keep in touch, but TJ only asked her why they couldn't talk to each other over the phone. He promised he would consider getting one, whatever it was, but wasn't making any promises.

Putting the last book he need in his bag, TJ closed his locker and turned to head to Gym class, the second to class of the day, but couldn't walk because of the blue eyed blonde girl standing in front of him.

"Hi," She said with false sweetness dripping from her voice. "So like, what's up?"

"Nothing," he said, looking at her. She wore light blue low-rise jeans, a bright pink polo shirt that was too tight, had the bottom folded up exposing her midriff, and a few too many buttons undone at the top. Though he hadn't spoken to her until this point, TJ recognized her, as well as many other classmates from elementary school. "What do you want, Ashley A.?"

"I just wanted to, like, let you know that I'm totally willing to forget about you lighting the school on fire and stuff," She said with a giggle.

'They're not going to let up on that are they?' He thought. 'Better not feed into it.'

"Why? What are you after?" TJ asked her. "Last time I checked, you and your little group separated yourselves from 'lowly' students like me unless they were up to something."

"You've got me all wrong," Ashley said with a smile. "I'm nothing like that!"

"Oh really?"

"Yes! I just wanted to, like, let you know that personally," She said placing her hand on his upper arm. "I'm more willing to, like, you know, hang out sometime, after school. Maybe get to catch up with each other…" She was cut off by TJ taking her hand off of him in a wordless rejection. He reached for the bottom of her shirt and unfolded it, covering her exposed stomach, and buttoned her shirt to a more appropriated level.

"You're a young lady, Ashley A. Start dressing like one," He said, turning and walking away. "I'm not interested."

"What do you mean you're not interested?" She said angrily as she followed him. "How can you not be interested? You should be drooling over me and every other girl in this school!"

"I'm still not interested, Ashley A. Please go away."

"Humph! Fine, be that way! But just so you know, I can have any guy here that I want, and you'll be sorry when I'm not available! And you're not getting rid of me, we have the next two classes together!"

"Uh-huh. That's great. I gotta go," TJ said, stopping in front of the gym. "You're not going to follow me into the locker room, are you?" Pouting in defeat, Ashley A. marched pasted him and into the girls locker room. He followed suit by going into the boys locker room.

~*~V~*~

'That girl is crazy,' TJ thought as he changed shirts for gym class. The other guys in the locker room went out their way to stay out his. He didn't mind; the locker room was small, and if they were willing to give him more room, then so be it. He didn't complain. 'Just as crazy as I remember her. Are all of them like that? They all can't still be like that.'

Walking past the others, he joined the other students waiting in the gym for class to start. It was still his first week, so he didn't know what was scheduled for the day, but he was aching for another dodgeball game. The last one reminded him on the many they had years ago; pain, bruises, lost teeth and all.

From where he was standing, he could see Ashley A. along with her friends standing across the gym talking amongst themselves, taking a couple of seconds every few moments to look his way, then back to themselves while giggle.

"I swear to God," He mumbled to himself. "Bitch is crazy. Her little minions are, too."

"Hi, TJ." He took his attention off the four girls across the gym to Theresa who was approaching him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, much. Just Ashley A. bothering me," He said looking around. "She was flirting with me before I went into the locker rooms. You've been around her more than I have in that few years. What's her deal?"

"She has a thing for bad boys, that's probably why she's playing attention to you. No offense."

"None taken."

"The only bad thing about it is that she doesn't understand the word 'no' much. She'll keep bothering you for about a month. That's what I hear anyways."

"Okay, she's crazy. I've dealt with crazier people. This is nothing," He said, thinking back to Tommy Gun. "What are we doing today?"

"It's Wednesday, and you can either jog around the court or play basketball today."

"Thanks. Oh, and can you tell something to your boyfriend for me?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Tell your boyfriend he doesn't have to tutor me in German. I worked something out with the teacher." The whistle blown by the coach cut their conversation short. They separated to join their respective classes.

~*~TJ's POV~*~

I'm not a fan of basketball, so I opted for jogging. I did that a lot in Duval to keep from being lazy.

I need a car. I said I would visit JoJo while he was still in jail, and I plan to keep my promise, but I don't have any way of getting there. Getting my license would be a good first step, needing that to drive the car that I need to get there. A job would be good too.

JoJo wrote to be saying that his case is being reviewed because they found some sort of security video showing what had happened and it could show his innocence. I hope he gets out. He's one of the few people in there that can do something with their lives. I don't want him to get screwed over again. Hell, what am I going to do with my life? Should I go to college? What would I go for? I don't have any interests that I think I could make money off of.

There's philosophy, but I don't think there are many jobs out there for philosophers. I heard there was a recession while I was locked away, and that we're just getting out of it. That's something else. Economics. But for me, that's the sort of thing I'm good at, but don't enjoy doing. I should enjoy my job, whether or not I make a lot of money. I should just be employed at all.

I'll figure that out later.

They might have driving lessons down at the DMV. I'll look into that.

Look who just strolled up to me.

"I see you've been keeping in shape," Ashley A. said, jogging next to me. "I could barely tell you used to be that little chubby freckled faced kid back at Third Street." Is that supposed to be a compliment?

"I noticed. I'm still not interested. Please go back and jog with your friends."

"Me and my friends are always together. I thought I would keep you company."

"Why? What do you want to know? What are you after?" TJ asked, coming to a stop. "You and everyone else here would only talk to me to try and get something out of me. What is it?"

"I'm just trying to help you out…"

"How?"

"C'mon, you're not dumb. After being locked away for four years around only other guys, there must be something you want," She said, rubbing my arm. Oh I get it.

"Like I said before, I'm not interested," I said, taking her arm off of me. I started to jog again to get away from her. "Please leave me alone."

"How are you not interested?" She yelled following me. "You spent the last four years locked in a cage surrounded by a bunch of other dicks! Of course you're interested!"

"You're not my type."

"Then what the hell is 'your type'? I'm the perfect type! Or maybe I just don't have the right stuff to be your type!" She yelled. She better not. I will fuck her up if she even…. "Am I barking up the wrong tree? Maybe if I had a dick you'd be more interested! Is that it? Did all that time in jail turn you gay or something?" By now she's yelling loud enough to get the attention of everyone in the gym. She had to go there. God, if you exist, please stop me from choking this female. I don't want to back to juvie, but I might make an exception in this case and end up killing her.

In all honesty I don't think anyone would miss her.

I came to a screeching halt and marched back over to her. My shadow loomed over her as that smug look on her face was wiped off and replaced with shock. Don't even act surprised. You brought this on yourself.

….I'm not gonna hit her. I want to; I want to smack the three inches of makeup off her face, but I'm not.

"Not every guy wants to fuck you, Ashley A. I'm certainly not one of them. Maybe if you left something to the imagination instead of dressing like a two-bit five dollar hooker on the corner of the street then I would look your way. Now, go back to your little clones in your little rich bitch bubble, and leave me alone." She forced that smug look of arrogance back on her face before turning away a going back to her friends. Finally. But now I see everyone looking at me. "The fuck are you people looking at?"

It didn't take them a second to go back to what they were doing. They need to mind their own business.

…..

I didn't tell anyone here that I'm bi, did I? I thought I did…..

…..No I didn't. I told myself it's none of their business, and it still isn't. It isn't that big of a deal to me. Okay then, I won't tell anyone. If it comes up, then I will, but I'm not going out of my way to let everyone know.

…Out of everyone I know, there's one person that I was sure would be up my ass as soon as I stepped foot in this school. Randall. Where is that snitch? I know he's been watching me. Hell would freeze over before he wasn't watching me like a hawk. He's somewhere. What, did he get so good that he hides in the air now?

I need to stop worrying about him. He's not going to find anything that worth much. I'm still keeping a look out.

The bell rang, and I finished the lap I was working on before going back into the locker rooms. Right after I put my clothes back on, I see Gus coming up to me. This is a surprise. He would barely talk to me a few days ago.

"What is it, Gus?" I asked him.

"Theresa said you told her to tell me that you don't need me to tutor you anymore," He said.

"If you must know, I worked something out with the teacher," I told him. "I convince her to let me prove I could speak Yiddish instead because German and Yiddish are a lot alike. And I know how to speak Yiddish because of my grandmother. So don't shit your pants. You don't have to be around me if you don't want to."

My next class is all the way across the building, so I didn't have time to stand around and wait for him to answer; I left.

~*~V~*~

"What do you do when I'm at school all day? Sleep and eat?" I asked Duracell as let her out of her cage. I don't expect an answer, just for her to hop around like she normally does. I do wonder if she's getting enough exercise. She was out and hopping around for most of the time. She doesn't seem bothered by it. I think she likes having an actual cage and not a box to sleep in. She started a habit of licking my hand when I'm sitting on the floor. What does that mean? Is it like when a dog licks you because they love you? Or am I doing something wrong? I thought I was doing everything right….

A vet would know. Put that on my list of things to do. Take Duracell to the vet, to make sure she's healthy. She IS a feral rabbit after all, even if she doesn't look like it. Does she miss JoJo, Specs, and Bandit? I do. She loved those guys. I hope not too much. I can't exactly sneak her in to see JoJo, but I could, whenever I get a car, take her to see Specs and Bandit.

"No, no, no, no! Don't do that," I said. She started to chew on some wires near my bed. I picked her up and placed her on my lap away from them. "You gonna electrify yourself if you do that. It's my fault; it my job to keep those wires out of your reach." She started licking my hand. "Do you like it out here, Duracell? Is this better than that gray cell we were in? Of course you do. You have a nice warm cage, plenty of food, clean water, an owner than bends to your every whim…..what more could a rabbit ask for? More food? What would everyone think of me if they all knew that I, this big bad person they're scared of, had a rabbit, a mini lop of all breeds, for a pet? They'd either think I was one of those psychos who had an unexpected pet, or that I'm a big softie….."

"TJ I'm home!" I looked up to see Zack coming in my room. HE came over and sat down next to me and petted Duracell. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"I drew Valarie a picture like you said, and she liked it! She said it was the prettiest picture she ever seen."

"See? All you have to do is be extra nice to her. Is she your girlfriend now?"

"No, but I think if I keep drawing her pictures then she will be."

"That's a great plan. Are you ready to come with me? I'm only going to buy paint for my room."

"I like paint. I wanna go! What's your favorite color?"

"….Hmm…I haven't thought about it," I said, putting Duracell back in her cage and locking it. "We can talk about it on the way there, okay?"

"'Kay!" He ran out the door and a grabbed my coat following him. This shouldn't take longer than an hour.

I hate myself right now. I let my sleep cycle get out of control to the point that I'm nocturnal. Seriously, I sleep all day and up all night. I hate that. Happens every summer. :P I need to get that fixed. But I like the night better, so it all works out.

I didn't have this problem in college, strangely enough.

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