Don't you wish you could just spill out your idea for the chapter onto your computer and have it come together instead of typing it yourself? That's how I feel about this chapter. I wanted to get it out as fast as I can without the actual work, but I sucked it up and did it anyway.

July is almost over! And that means one more month from Thursday until I go back to college. Goodie….

I won't announce how often this story will get updated during the semester until it after a week so I can get a feel of how much free time I'll have. So far it looks like updates could be sporadic, but I could be wrong. Until then…

Read on!

Journal,

I load has been lifted off my shoulders. JoJo showed up at an after party Ashley A. was having along with Bandit and Specs. Turns out that he did write back to us in jail because he was IN jail. He was out and got his own apartment after the judge acquitted him of all the charges. He spent the whole weekend down here with me, just hanging out, doing nothing. I liked it. We did the same thing in Duval. He asked for his shades back before he left. I have to go see his apartment, one day.

He forced me to give the bunnies names. Falafel, Paprika, Bugs, Norman, Energizer, Oatmeal, Speedy, Pizza, Thing One, and Thing Two. Weird ass names, but I'm not changing them.

On a more interesting note, my assignment for gym after missing a week is talking about the danger of drugs. That should be fun.

~*~TJ's POV~*~

Okay, how the hell am I going to do this? This should be the easiest assignment I could ever have, but I'm standing in front of everyone like an idiot.

…..It's stage fright, that's what it is. I don't like people staring at me like I'm the messiah and I have solutions to all their problems. This isn't the fourth grade.

"Any moment, now Detweiler," The coach said. It's Monday and I'm in gym class. To make up for being out last week, I have to give a oral report about how drugs are bad and you shouldn't do them. I do plan to talk about it, but not how they want me too. I have first hand experience.

"Is there a particular order you want me to go in?" I asked him. "I would explain it better if I knew there was a path of thought I'm supposed to follow."

"Start with Cannabis."

"You mean pot? I can do that," I said turning back to the class. "You all probably heard that pot is the worst drug you can ever do because, fuck, it's pot. I smoked it the first time when I was 13 years old and it felt fan-fucking-tastic. I felt like I knew the answer to all philosophy's questions and a few that haven't been asked yet. I did some when I was in Duval too. I honestly can say that pot it the safest drug out there. It's not addictive, I swear. I only did it when I was having a bad day, or if I was in pain and didn't have any aspirin. If you're going to do a drug, do pot, but do it somewhere were you can't do something stupid. Don't do anything else because shit gets crazy from there.

"Next is meth, which is one big jump. Don't do meth. Seriously don't. not even once just to 'try it out.' I did meth once…twice…three times. It was three times and it was three months apart each of those times. Never again. It's hella addictive. I sold meth, and I sold pot too, hell I sold every drug I'm going to talk about, and the people that I regularly sold it to were fucked up beyond repair. Their teeth were all rotted out, they were boney, aged about twenty years, and looked like haven't eaten in months, don't do meth, okay? Don't do meth. Don't do heroin either. It does the same shit.

"Now, you can take over the world with ecstasy. Seriously, the world is at peace when you're on it. Don't do that either, unless you're in a room, with no furniture, or glass, or hard floors. Now, LSD will calm you the fuck down. You will be so out of it. You can feel colors, and see into the fifth dimension. I did that twice. The cement floor was moving like water. That doesn't make it okay, though. It's still bad.

"Now, PCP. PCP will put a horse to sleep, but turn a human into the Hulk. I fought a guy on PCP and I almost lost my life in that fight. It's like they run on unlimited energy. I saw a couple of people who were on PCP drop dead. They would literally be walking or running and they drop dead. I never did PCP myself, and I'm glad I didn't. What they need to do with PCP is give it to every single solder on the front line so they can win every war in five minutes. I stabbed that guy who I was fighting two times in the thigh and he kept coming. For Christ sake, don't do PCP. Or LSD. I think that's all I got. Did I do a good job, coach?"

Hell yes I did a good job. That goes without saying.

"No, Detweiler, you didn't."

"I tried my best." Time went by fast while I was talking because the bell rang soon after. We didn't get dressed for gym because my whole speech was supposed to take the whole class. And it did. Good. I would've kept going if the coach said it had to be longer. I was on a roll. I got a text earlier from my parents asking me to pick Zack up from daycare, so I'm headed there after school. It doesn't look like I'm going to get to my next class without an interruption, though.

"We need to talk," Ashley A. Said. She pulled me out of the crowd in the hallway.

"About?"

"Us."

"What is it?"

"We can't talk here about this."

"Then it can't be that important," I said, taking her hand and walking to our next class. "You can tell me right now."

"I can't tell you here in front of everyone," She whispered. "But it's an emergency. We need to talk right after school!"

"It would help if you told me about what we were going to talk about," I said. "I can't do it right after school. I gotta pick up my little brother from daycare and take him to his tumbling class. After that I'm free."

"Right after that. Right after." I let go of her hand when we reached our class. The teacher gave me a seat across the room from her when I came back from Duval.

I get a couple stares from people when they see my left eyelid down. I don't have JoJo's shades to hide it anymore. I gave them back to him before he went home Sunday.

The teacher came in and began the lecture. I was fading in and out, not paying attention. What does Ashley want, no, need to tell me? She sounded worried. Watch, it'll be like the last time she said we 'had to talk.' All she wanted me to do is sleep over her house while her parents were out of town on yet another business trip. She said she was scared someone was going to break in her house and need protection. I didn't mind staying, but I thought she was overreacting. I've seen the security system the house has. A camera in every hall, room (except the bathrooms), and doorway, along with alarms set to go off if someone breaks a window or knocks down the doors. On top of that, it's not a violent town. The worst this town had ever seen was me, and I'm her boyfriend.

It'll be hard to convince mom and dad (more so mom) to let me stay over on a school night. Since I came home, they give me a lot of freedom that I don't think more teenagers have. They don't give me a curfew (but I'm in before 9 p.m. on most nights), or give me chores (if you don't count watching Zack, helping him keep his room clean, and cleaning both our bathroom chores). I'm not saying that I think it's a bad thing or that I'm complaining about it, it's just something I noticed. I do think we should talk more. That barely happens unless it has to happen. There's a tension in the air when we're in the same room, but it's more with my dad than mom. I can talk to mom with only a little hesitation that I can break through on my own. With my dad it's like there's so much going unsaid that bring any of it up will cause a screaming war. I don't know what it is. Part of me believes that, while I was in Duval since they didn't visit me and Prickly did, that he took over the role of father and now I'm mad at him.

'What you need to ask them is why they tried to replace you with that thingrunning around."

'I thought you left,' I thought to Alex. He's not out where I can see him. He's in my head.

'I never leave. I didn't leave when I was gone.'

'That makes no sense.'

'It makes all of the sense. You not being logical. Ask them why they had Zack in the first place. You wanted to know why. Isn't you that said they only had him to replace their other fuck up son?'

'Back off!'

'Hey, I'm not the one who thought it. You did. Get mad at yourself.'

'You're a piece of shit. Leave me alone, I'm trying to pay attention.'

'Mmm-hmm.'

~*~V~*~

"TJ I got married today." Oh boy. I didn't hear about Zack and his little girlfriend for a month, and I thought it had faded away like I believe it would (and should). Thought they went back to playing in a sandbox and building castles out of blocks. But no. they were still 'together' and it turned into this. Here we go.

"Did you? To Valarie, right?" He nodded.

"I gave her one of my RingPops and asked her if she wanted to marry me and she said yes. We got married in front of everybody."

"Gee, I would've liked to have been there, Zack, to see my little brother get married."

"We couldn't wait! We wanted to get married and couldn't wait! Teacher took picture and said she would give us some next week. I'll show you!"

"Do you like being a husband?"

"Yeah. It's a lot of work though." We arrived at his class. I held open the door for him as he went inside. Right away, he joined the other kids. I sat down in one of the free seats and looked at my phone. I got a text message from Ashley asking where I was. Clingy, much? She's not a clingy girlfriend, and that's good. If she was, we wouldn't be together. I don't like clingy girls. I get if it if you like a guy, but don't let him be your entire life. Looks desperate. I texted her back, letting her know what I was doing and how soon I can meet up with her. I have to drop Zack off before I can go back out and meet her. We agreed after class to meet in the park. I'm eager to hear what the big deal is.

I watched Zack fall after trying to hold a hand stand. He got back up and tried again. Ha. Married. That's cute. I have no clue where they're getting his crap from. Whatever happened to cooties, anyway?

After his class I dropped him off at home and went to the park. I walked around for ten minutes before finding an empty bench and sitting down. I text Ashley again and she said she wasn't here but was on her way.

Next weekend I'm getting my prosthetic eye. I already been to the eye doctor so they can examine the color of the one eye I have to make sure the prosthetic has the same color. It was gross when the eye doctor took out that case of his and opened it. It was full of other prosthetic eyes. They're not as heavy as I thought.

Someone poked my arm. I looked up and saw that it was Ashley and she sat down next to me. She looks nervous.

"What do we need to talk about? What's going on?" I asked her. She didn't answer right away. By the look on her face, it seems like she's tossing whether or not to tell me back and forth in her head.

"I think I might be pregnant."

Wait….WHAT?

"…A-are you sure? How—"

"I missed my period. I thought I was just off by a few days but that was five weeks ago. I took a home pregnancy test and it came back positive," she said, tears coming out of her eyes. "I told my parents and they completely lost it! You can't come anywhere near my house because my dad will be there ready with a shotgun! They're taking me to a doctor this weekend to make sure."

"…Shit…shit…shit….shit….," I repeated. I ran my fingers through my hair and took a couple deep breaths. Pregnant? Didn't we use protection? This is the last thing that needs to happen to us. We can take care of a baby! I can barely take care of the ten I got at home! I hope that the test was a false positive…..

"What are we going to do? What if it comes back and I really am pregnant?" She asked, laying her head on my shoulder.

"We should wait until we know for sure," I said. "Then we can think this through, and I can get in your house without the threat of death. If you're pregnant, then we'll take care of this."

~*~V~*~

"I have a story to tell you. Listen up, prison whore."

"I'm not in the mood for your crap, Alex. Go burn in a ditch."

"No seriously, listen. I have advice."

After Ashley A. told me about the mess that we're possibly in, I didn't go straight home. I took a walk to clear my head and ended up at the old lake. Please don't let her be pregnant. We can't take care of a baby. We wouldn't be able to afford a baby!

"There was this man walking through the woods with his umbrella," Alex started. "Out of nowhere a bear shows up and approaches him, ready to attack. The mad loaded his umbrella, and shot the bear dead, saving his life."

"What? That's impossible. Someone else must've shot the bear."

"Exactly," he said. "See how this applies to you?"

"She didn't cheat on me, asshole. She wouldn't do that."

"I'm tryin' to help YOU out. Look at all possibilities and avoid getting tied down by some bitch and her brat."

"Go away. Go. I need to be alone."

"That's can't be done. I don't ever leave. I'm always in your head."

"You know what I mean. Shoo." I watched Alex, who was sitting next to me, disappear. I could use some weed right now. If she is pregnant? I definitely would have to find a job, then. We'll both need jobs, and one of us might have to quit school.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I heard footsteps approaching and turned to see who it was. Ralphie. I avoided all contact with this smiling freak all last week. How did he find me here, and what does he want?

"I'm starting to believe that you don't want to be friends with me," He said, smiling with his hands behind his back. "Why?"

"Not everyone wants to be friends with you Ralphie," I snapped at him. "I'm one of them."

"That's too bad," He said. For the first time since I met him, his smile went away. It's eerie. Disturbing. Ew. Dude, put the smile back on. It doesn't look right at all. "It would be best for all of us if you were friends with me."

"I'm not being friends with you. I don't like you, in any way. You're creepy as fuck. We're not going to be friends. Get that through your thick skull." He shook his head and sucked his teeth three times. That smile of his was still off his face.

"Bad things will happen to everyone if we're not friends," Ralphie said in a sinister voice, but it also sounded sad. His smile was back on his face. "I know you're trying to have a normal life, and not being friends is working against that. But I'm not going to make you. Just giving a warning." He turned and left. That guy gives me the creeps. He thinks he can stand there and threaten me? ME? He doesn't know who he's threatening. I fought inmates on PCP and won. He can't take me. He'll be in his grave before he takes the first step forward to fight. I'm not worried about him.

I'm worried about my potentially pregnant girlfriend.

Suspense? Drama? Plot twists? It's all in there. :D I hope this chapter satisfied you all. All of you are happy that the Blood brothers are back together, more so JoJo than the rest. That's good. I was on the fence about bringing them back in the story at all. Glad I did.

Reviews are motivation!