This Is Life

A/N: So this idea popped in my head. Completely unrelated to Life As He Knows It. Let me know what you guys think.

September 22nd, 2006

Columbus, Ohio

Jovi tucked his shoulder length brownish-blonde hair behind his ears as he tied his younger brother's shoes. "It's gonna be okay Beau, first day is always nervous whether it's school or work. Don't worry I'll walk you to school and help you out before I head to my own school." Jovi tied the left shoe "Swoop, loop, then pull.". Rubbing his greenish-blue eyes, Jovi tried to get rid of sleepiness.

His little brother Beau was almost a carbon copy of him. Beau was no older than 8 years old and is physically and socially impaired. Beau wasn't born like this, however last year in July when he was riding his bike, he was hit by a car and suffered a brain injury which caused him to be partially paralyzed on his right side as well as develop a speech impediment. Their parents were doing okay financially but when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, the job market disappeared. His father's fishing boat was destroyed and his mother lost her job at the grocery store as the store itself was swallowed up by the Mississippi river. They moved to Houston for a year and stayed with his uncle Bill and their family. Now his father had landed a job in the city as a cop and his mother had found a job at a bakery.

If Jovi was being honest, he didn't want to move from Houston to Columbus. However after a year of living at his uncles, it was evident that his uncle and his father were butting heads. Now with his brother's medical bills getting higher and still accruing interest because of small amounts paid or late payments, the family is making ends meet but only just. With both parents having to leave early in the morning for work, that left Jovi with the job of being in charge. At almost 16, Jovi would get a job whether it's delivering papers or working a restaurant. His family needed the money. He's been up since 4:30am, having got himself ready and situated, his attention turned to his younger brother Beau and getting him ready.

Thankfully the school his brother goes is literally 2 blocks away. "Alright Beau you ready buddy?" Jovi asked as he slung his brother's backpack over his own shoulder along with his backpack.

"R-ready J...Jo..Jovi." His brother huffed. Jovi knew his brother was more upset with himself than anything but this was something completely out of his control. Opening the front door, Jovi helped his brother through the door before walking out himself and shutting it behind him, jiggling the knob to make sure it was locked. While Beau could walk, he couldn't walk for long distances without getting tired and his right arm was pretty much stuck in place held up in the air in front of his chest instead of down at his side.

It was a nice warm and sunny day. It wasn't hot and there wasn't much humidity. Having just moved here last week after his dad and mom finally secured a home to rent which was a 3 bed 1 bath single story home. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing. Jovi couldn't, nor would he complain as he knows his parents are trying their best. In this last year he's had to mature a bit quicker than his peers but life isn't fair, he knows that.

Holding his brothers hand, they came to a stop at a intersection and looked both ways before waiting for the signal to walk to turn green. Once it turned green they proceeded across the intersection. He wondered how his brother would do on his first day and in part he was worried about how the other kids would treat Beau. Jovi hoped his brother would make friends but he knew how cruel kids can be, even at his age they just seemed to get worse. While it was his brother's first day of school after having been sick the better part of the week, it was Jovi's end of his first week. During his first week, people caught wind of him and where he was from. His homeroom teacher Mr. Ingles, an English teacher in his 60's and was going retire in a few years. Told the class to make him feel welcome, in turn people joked that he's never going home to Louisiana again, and started calling him 'Katrina Kid'. They also told him all of his family is probably dead and gone in the Mississippi river. Given his actual situation, he was able to brush that off. It was childish, and he's above that at this point.

Being caught up in his thoughts Jovi didn't realize that they had just made it to the elementary school. Beau squeezed his hand "Jovi...we-we...we're here." He finally managed to get out, once again frustrated. Jovi removed his brother's backpack from his shoulders as a teacher came out to greet them. She was of African descent and wore glasses and had a rather plump figure but she had kind eyes and a warm smile, Jovi could tell instantly that she was one of the good one's.

"Uh I'm sorry Beau I got lost in my thoughts." Jovi met the teacher halfway and handed her Beau's backpack "My name is Jovi Livaudais, this is my brother Beau. I know it's a bit early to be dropping him off but my parents work to support us and when they leave he's my responsibility and I apologize if this is a inconvenience to you."

"Oh not at all sugar." She replied back in French which caught Jovi completely off guard "I recognized your last name, your father and my brother used to work on the boats together. I'm LaVonda Thibodeaux. You understand what I'm saying?" She was curious if he did.

Jovi nodded and replied in French "I do." He felt tears forming in his eyes. He's been so far from home, this was like a breath of fresh air from home. LaVonda hugged him as she had tears in her eyes "Sugar it's gonna be alright, we all scattered darling but before you know it we'll all be home again. Now dry them eyes and put a smile on your face, the best is yet to come." LaVonda let go of him and turned her attention to Beau.

She bent down to get level with him "Good morning Beau, how are you doing today?" She spoke in English as earlier in the week she had been informed about Beau's situation.

Beau looked up at her and gave her a soft smile but didn't say anything. Jovi got down on one knee and gently wrapped his arms around his brother. "It's gonna be okay Beau, Miss Thibodeaux is one of us, she's from Louisiana like us. Don't worry she's gonna take good care of you and I'll see you here at the end of your school day today okay? Don't be scared you got this I believe in you."

Beau, with his one good arm wrapped it around Jovi and hugged him back "L-L..Lov-Love y..yo-u."

"Love you too Beau, now have a good day okay!" Jovi stood back up on his feet and adjusted his backpack "Thank you Miss Thibodeaux, you have a good day as well."

"You too sugar." She squeezed his arm "Happy Friday."

Jovi smiled "Happy Friday." He waved goodbye to Beau and LaVonda as headed in the direction of his school which was at least 2 miles away at best.

Opening his locker, Jovi knelt down and unzipped his backpack and set his brown bag which contained his lunch beside him as he took the textbooks out of his locker and put them in his backpack. English was up as he had a few minutes before the warning bell rang. Just as he was about to grab his lunch and put it on his locker, Derek, a popular guy sporting a blonde buzzcut and a piercing in his right ear, scooped up the bag and dangled it in front of Jovi's face. He was the one who started the whole 'Katrina Kid' name calling.

"Hey Katrina Kid you want this?" Derek shook the bag.

Climbing up to his feet Jovi nodded "I'd like my lunch back please." He was trying to be mature about this. Jovi kept a blank face to try and show no hint of anger or frustration in hopes that by not feeding into it, Derek would just give him his lunch back. Derek was on the football team and could probably seriously hurt Jovi if he wanted to. A short blonde girl who he'd seen throughout the week appeared from behind Derek and stood beside him with her arms crossed and a smirk of superiority on her face. Lexi Kaufman, at least he thinks that what he heard Mr. Ingles address her as when taking attendance. If anything Jovi expected that she was the head cheerleader. She was absolutely gorgeous, there was no denying that but if this is how she got her kicks, then she was absolutely disgusting on the inside and he'd want nothing to do with her.

Derek stopped shaking the bag and just held it out in front of him "Here." Jovi looked Derek in the eyes before he started reaching for the bag. Just as he was about to grab it, Derek dropped it and once the bag hit the floor he stomped on it multiple times. "Sorry about that Katrina Kid, thought I saw cockroach crawling out of the bag." Derek said and started laughing as Lexi joined in on it, as well as a few other popular kids.

Jovi contemplated punching Derek in the face, it'd probably catch him off guard and Jovi would really lay into him before the other members of the football team or popular kids jumped on him. If anything they'd probably make the rest of the school year a living hell. Deciding against it, the bell rung to signal all the students should be heading towards their homerooms. Jovi picked his lunch up and put in his locker, hopefully the sandwich would still be good, at least he hoped. Zipping up his backpack, he grabbed whatever else he needed and shut his locker before heading down the hall and turning into room 400. Taking a seat near the back, to his far left were Derek and Lexi sitting beside each other.

Within another moment the rest of the students filed in and found their seats as Mr. Ingles walked in and shut the door behind him, walking to the whiteboard at the front of the room he clasped his hands together "Good morning class!" He lifted his hands up as the class stood up and waited for the pledge of allegiance to be read off over the PA speaker. Once they got that and the morning announcements out of the way, they all sat back down and Mr. Ingles took a sip of water.

"I hope all of you have your papers written on how you spent your summers, we're going to start reading them today and will probably finish reading them Monday and get into our first project of the year. So without further ado, who would like to go first?" Mr. Ingles looked around the room, a few students raised their hands but Mr. Ingles would save those that volunteered to read theirs first till the end of class.

"How about you Jovi?" The class all turned to look at Jovi. He nodded his head and pulled out his paper from his binder. Walking to the front of the class he set his paper against the whiteboard.

This surprised Mr. Ingles and he wondered if Jovi had memorized his entire essay. "You aren't going to read from your paper Jovi?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jovi shook his head "My paper is about what I did this summer but after this past week I feel like if I tell you the story of it all and you actually listen and look at my face as I tell it, it'll really sink in instead of me just reading from the paper looking down and not really conveying any emotion to y'all."

He looked at Mr. Ingles who nodded and motioned for him to begin. Turning his gaze to his classmates, majority of them looked bored out of their mind, some of them texting on their phones discreetly in their hoodies or binders and backpacks. Jovi cleared his throat "So I'm sure as all of you now, y'all call me Katrina Kid, over this past week I've been told by some of you that my family died in the hurricane, or they drowned in the Mississippi river, this morning I got my lunch stomped on and probably have nothing to eat. Y'all laugh and joke until it happens to you. Some of you are right, my home is gone. I don't have a home anymore. In August of 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit, not only did I lose my home but I lost my family. My dog Jaxon died from overheating, my grandmother on my dad's side was left to drown in a nursing home as the staff evacuated leaving the elderly trapped there with no way to escape. My dad's fishing boat got destroyed after it slammed into a tree." Jovi took a deep breath to keep his emotions in check. "The grocery store my mom worked at, almost completely underwater except for the rooftop. Not only that but my little 8 year old brother suffers from partial paralysis on his right side and has a speech impediment because a car hit him in July of last year while he was riding his bike which caused brain damage. I spent the rest of 2005 and most of this year living with my uncle and his family in Houston, Texas."

Derek and a few other students snickered at hearing what happened to his brother, Lexi wasn't laughing and neither was the rest of the class. Mr. Ingles was standing with his hand supporting his chin as he was in deep thought, listening to Jovi's story. "My dad got a job here is a cop and my mom works at a bakery. We're renting a small house and are barely scraping by. My brother's medical bills keep getting higher and higher because we can't afford to pay the monthly payments in full and the interest rate keeps rising. In the morning, I'm up at 4:30 getting myself ready so I can then help my little brother Beau get ready. Once my parents leave in the morning, he's my responsibility. But you know what, I'm lucky. I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and food in my stomach. I know people still in Louisiana that don't have that luxury and are still living in FEMA trailers which were only supposed to be temporary."

Jovi felt himself getting choked up "Now for what I did this summer. I went with my cousins to New Orleans and helped them gut houses in the lower 9th Ward. Houses that had an X spray painted on the door or outside on the home verifying that they had been checked. Upon taking a few steps into some of these homes, that was a lie. These people had been dead for the better part of a year and FEMA and our military failed them, they failed New Orleans. The homes were gutted and as I was gutting them, when I found a body, the photographs and personal items were never far. I got to know the deceased by the photos on the walls and on tables, these people like me had weathered Katrina. But unlike me, they didn't live to see another day."

He felt a few tears in his eyes "Some of these people I knew them personally. They were husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters. They were a part of the brass band playing in Jackson Square, they were the people behind the counter at Cafe Du Monde serving you beignets and coffee. They were people who had a life to still live and because of our governments failure to do anything, after being warned for years that something like this would happen, because of the governments failure to do something, these people lost their lives and I had to be the one to find them. 12,000 people total were confirmed missing from Louisiana and Mississippi, a bunch of them have been found. A few of them thanks to me and my cousins gutting houses that have been forsaken by our government. As for my life in Louisiana, we'll we have a saying, it ain't dere no more. But one day." Jovi wiped his eyes "One day I hope it will be."

Wiping his tears away, Jovi looked at Mr. Ingles who was speechless "That's all I have to say about that."

A few of the girls in the class were wiping their eyes as Mr. Ingles began clapping so did a handful of students aside from the more popular ones. He patted Jovi on the back and rested a hand on his shoulder "That was hauntingly beautiful, you're getting an A+. Excellent work and excellent oral presentation. If you wouldn't mind staying after class I'd like to talk to you for a few minutes." Mr. Ingles said in his ear loud enough to hear over the class clapping.

"Sure thing Mr. Ingles."

A/N: And that was the first chapter, let me know what you guys think.