A/N: Sorry, It took so long to get a new chapter out but my way to get on the internet's been shaky but I'm back.

Thanks to my wonderful new beta: Gerald the Puppet. I know it must have been hard reading my sloppy mess of writing that only makes sense to me =)

You'll be briefly introduced to my original character in this part. I had planned to originally for JJ and Katie make up in this chapter but I felt that wasn't fair to the Naomi/Emily fans that are going to have a long journey ahead of them and if I'm being honest, Naomi and Emily are going to make up long before JJ and Katie do.

(To Tiffythetitan: Jenna's reaction to Naomi/Emily past will surprise you. which can be good thing… or a bad thing *mystery* plus I'm also glad I'm sticking with evil Jenna too.)

(This chapter will be the last time I put the day up for awhile since the next couple of chapter's will take course over this Monday.)

Lyrics used in this part are from the song 'Young Folks' by Peter Bjorn and John (I thought I could give you a lighter song)

Chapter Twenty-two: Only Jonah (JJ's POV)

Monday at 7:15 AM

If I told you things I did before, told you how I used to be
would you go along with someone like me

Much like on Saturday morning when his mother had rang, JJ was awoken by a loud, constant ringing that belonged to his alarm clock on his night stand to the right of his bed. The only thing that varied from that morning was the fact that JJ hadn't really been asleep (or hung-over) when his alarm clock had sounded. What also differed was his great feeling of dread and nervous excitement over how this day was going to go that had kept him up for most of last night; it was consuming, it's fucking annoying! And what made it all worse was that his excitement and dread had to do with one person: Katie. While JJ could explain why he was dreading seeing her, he couldn't explain why he was so excited to. He knew that Katie would probably slap the shit of him when she saw him at college today and he wouldn't blame her, especially after what he had done two nights ago, but he couldn't help the nervous churning in his stomach over seeing her beautiful face today nonetheless. He had spent half the weekend thinking about her (okay, the whole weekend!) and what bothered JJ most was that he couldn't explain nearly half the feelings he felt when he thought of her (and unexplainable things just made JJ uneasy). But, if he was being honest with himself, he didn't want to figure out his feelings for Katie. He was afraid if he did he would do something that would break him from his comfort level (from his routine) and JJ didn't know if he was ready for that. He didn't know if he was ready to let Katie have all of him just yet (it was one thing to lose your virginity to someone you cared for, but it was another to lose yourself to them).

If you knew my story word for word, had all of my history
Would you go along with someone like me

God, help me! JJ thought, as he ran his hands through his messy hair, she's making me lose my damn mind! And with a groan, he turned his alarm clock off with a bang and flung himself out of his bed, heading to the bathroom that was connected to his bedroom, and turned on the shower-head with a frustrated sigh. He was frustrated with his thoughts. A part of himself was angry for letting a girl get the best of him but he wasn't just fed up with his thoughts about Katie; he was also fed up with the thoughts of his father constantly running through his head. JJ hadn't thought entirely of Katie the whole weekend; no, he had spent the other half of his weekend running through the highlights of his conversation with Naomi, tired of his father invading his mind. Was he going to end up like his father? Was he going to be a useless drunk? Was he going to keep hurting so much that sometimes he wanted to shut it off? JJ was so tired of feeling guilty over what his father had done to himself. He was so sick over his father's suicide note being held over his head. He just wanted to be happy and forget the past, forget what his father had known. His own question just kept flashing in his head like a big neon sign: were they? Were they going to become their fathers? Always hurting other people? JJ thought, with a tear rolling down his cheek. The only answer he could come up with just made him want to punch a wall again:he didn't know. He just truly didn't know and that scared him.

I did before and had my share; it didn't lead nowhere
I would go along with someone like you

JJ lingered in the shower for as long as he could without being late for his ride before shutting off the shower and toweling himself off. He hated keeping Naomi waiting when she picked him up for school (especially since Freddie and Cook always did) and JJ wasn't one for being late. It just wasn't in his nature. JJ wrapped the towel around himself and began putting on his after-bath essentials: his face lotion (it kept his face from becoming too dry), Axe body spray (his favorite was Fever), and his hair gel (he always styled his hair in an odd swirl that always ended up in a messy disarray by the end of the day) but for some reason, he began styling his hair differently. He didn't even realize he was doing it until he looked in the mirror over the bathroom sink and saw his hair was in spikes.

JJ scoffed, I really am losing my mind, "What the fuck are you doing?" JJ said to himself "It's not like she's gonna be impressed because you styled your hair different." And with a shake of his head, he put the gel back in the mirror cabinet and washed the gel out of his hair (he guessed he was going all natural today). He walked back into his room and began rummaging around in his closet for something to wear.

It had taken JJ about twenty minutes before he decided to wear his favorite black tee shirt with a picture of Johnny Cash on it (it was even autographed), a faded pair of blue jeans, an old watch (his father's), and his black and white converses (that he, Freddie, Cook, and Naomi had written all over on). With one last look in the mirror in his bathroom, he made his way down the stairs to grab breakfast. He hadn't even made his way to the kitchen before his home phone rang. He was so surprised by the loud, unexpected ringing that he had jumped a little. What the hell? JJ thought, scratching his head, the home phone never rings when mum's not home. It must be one of her American business partner's calling; she didn't interact much with her American branch's of 'Barbra Jones Wedding Planning and Dress Making Services' much (for some reason that JJ could never figure out, she had a great hatred for Americans), so they never really knew when she was out of town.

It doesn't matter what you did, who you were hanging with
We could stick around and see this night through

JJ rerouted his destination, made his way over to the home phone, and picked it up."This is the Jones residence, Barbra Jones isn't here. May I take a message?" JJ said politely, reaching for the notepad and pencil left by the home phone for messages.

JJ was surprised when his mother's firm voice said, "Jonah, It's your mother!" JJ had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the mention of his first name; the only time his mother ever called him Jonah was when she was trying to impress other people. She thought it sounded more sophisticated or some shit. "I've been trying to call you on your cell phone all weekend! Why haven't you been picking up?" she asked sternly.

"My phone had a bit of an accident, Mum," JJ said simply. He left out the fact that it had been her fault his phone had been destroyed. JJ could tell his mother wasn't really listening (he was right about her trying to impress someone if the conversation in the background was anything to go by) and after a few minutes she said distantly "Oh, well I'll overnight you a new one but listen, I'll be coming home sooner than I thought."

JJ was a little alarmed by that, "What do you mean by 'sooner'?" JJ asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of his tone. He hated when his mother came home.

And we don't care about the young folks
talking 'bout the young style
And we don't care about the old folks
Talking 'bout the old style too

Barbra sighed, "'Sooner' meaning I'll be home by tomorrow night!" This just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? "What time?" JJ asked, not really interested or caring. His mother could come home at midnight for all he cared. She could get hit by a car for all he cared.

"Somewhere around four or so." Barbra said, once again talking to someone else in the background. After some yelling and a soft 'goodbye' (probably from her secretary) she gave him her full attention with, "Anyway, I'm also going to overnight you a nice suit to wear on Thursday. My new business partner for the Australian company, her fiancé, and possibly some of their children are coming over our house to help plan their wedding and I need you looking sharp." JJ couldn't help but inwardly groan at what his mother just said. He hated his mother's wedding-planning dinner parties. Well, actually, he hated them all but he could handle the business-oriented ones more than the wedding-planning ones since JJ had an odd knack for business (that's what he was planning on going to Oxford University for) but the wedding-planning ones just made him want to rip his eyes out. He just thought (at the risk of sounding sexist) wedding planning was best left to the girls.

JJ still said what his mother wanted to hear, "Fine, Mum." All JJ could really do was hope that the groom or bride had a son.

Barbra hummed in satisfaction before she added, "I want you to clean up as well. You know what to do." JJ understood and almost hung up the phone but his mother spoke again, "Well, I'll talk to you later and Jonah… Get to school!". With that, the phone went dead.

And we don't care about our own faults
Talking 'bout our own style

8:45 AM

All we care about is talking
talking only me and you

"You're fucking late, Naomikins!" Cook shouted as he got into the backseat next to Freddie in Naomi's Jetta. "We only have ten minutes in the common room now!"

Naomi only rolled her eyes in response to his anger "It's not my fault! Freddie decided he had to change his clothes about three times before we could leave his house," Naomi said, turning back onto the main road, "and stop being a fucking drama queen, you only live twelve blocks away from the college which in a car is about five minutes! So chill!"

Cook only grunted in response before a smile crossed his face. "You guys will never believe what happened to me this weekend!" Cook yelled.

"You got rid of your crabs," Naomi mumbled, focusing on the road. JJ smiled a little at that. He hadn't been in such a great mood since his mother had called but now that he was here with all his friends (back in his routine) he was starting to loosen up a little.

Cook glared at Naomi, "No and you shouldn't be the one to talk about having crabs, Miss Gonorrhea!" Cook and Freddie laughed and JJ just snickered lightly.

"That was once!" Naomi exclaimed, taking her eyes off the road for a brief moment to glare at Cook, "and besides you've had it too, as well as you, Freddie!"

"So, I guess I'm the only one to not have an STD" JJ spoke softly, speaking for the first time since Naomi had picked him up. Freddie and Naomi exchanged a happy look; they were glad JJ was pulling himself out of his somber mood. JJ was a little happy about it himself. He had been sitting in his gloom all weekend and he was tired of it.

"It would seem so, Ace." Cook said, leaning against JJ's head-rest "I'm beginning to believe you're gay, Jaykins."

"I'm not," JJ said, a bit insulted. It wasn't that JJ had anything against gay people (obviously since one of his best friends was a lesbian) it just was that Cook thought he had to be gay since he wasn't a big slut like him, Freddie, or Naomi. JJ just wasn't into the whole casual sex thing (he didn't understand sex without love) and he guessed that had been why he had been a virgin until two nights ago. Naomi glanced at him briefly before turning her attention back to the road; she was probably wondering if he was going to say anything about sleeping with Katie but he wasn't. It seemed disrespectful in JJ's eyes but the bigger reason he wasn't going to say anything to Cook or Freddie was because he wanted to keep that memory to himself; it was his safe haven on a rainy day.

"So what's this big news, Cook?" Freddie asked, sounding eager to know. Cook smiled again at Freddie's question, "Well, Fredster, Effy Stonem is my girlfriend!"

I can tell there's something goin' on, hours seems to disappear

Everybody was stunned for a moment by Cook's news; none of them had believed that Cook had been that serious about Effy. Cook had never been serious about anyone. What was so special about Effy fucking Stonem? JJ thought, with some bitterness. She was always causing trouble with Naomi; she had been the one to tell everyone about his crush on Katie back in middle school which began Katie's torment of him, and JJ knew that Effy had been the one to introduce Emily and Naomi which was a problem in and of itself and even though it wasn't like with Naomi, he didn't hate Effy, but he didn't like her either. She was just always causing trouble between (or for) his friends.

The silence that had descended with Cook's news was filled with different emotions that JJ couldn't decipher but Naomi wasted no time in making hers known with a sharp, "Oh, Great! I have to see that bitch everyday now!" Naomi growled and gripped the steering wheel so tight that JJ could see that her knuckles were turning white. JJ had a feeling that Naomi's anger had little to do with Effy and more to do with Emily. Cook dating Effy meant that Naomi would have to see Emily every day.

"Cool it." Cook warned. "Freddie, what you think?"

Freddie didn't answer straight away; he seemed to be in an odd daze. "Yeah, I'm happy for you man," Freddie said, softly, as he looked out of the window on his side.

"Whatever." Cook turned to the person beside him. "JJ?"

"I just want you to be happy, Cook." JJ was sincere. He might not like Effy, but she made Cook happy and that was enough for him. "I just want us all to be happy." But they weren't, JJ thought, looking out his own window. He certainly wasn't.

Everyone is leaving, I'm still with you

Nobody said anything for the rest of the car ride. Naomi was still angry over Cook's news, Cook was upset by having no one's support, who knew what Freddie was thinking, and JJ was still brooding in his own thoughts. Usually their car rides to college were merry, filled with laughter or with Cook's and Naomi's stories of conquest, but not today. Everybody was just bummed out and it was getting on JJ's last nerves. This was all over the women in their lives.

Jeez, when did love get so complicated?

It doesn't matter what we do, where we are going to
We can stick around and see this night through

They had arrived at the college about ten minutes after Cook had announced his news and, much like the night of the rave, JJ had never seen anyone move so fast to get out of a vehicle. Cook slammed the door (he didn't even say goodbye like he usually did), Freddie followed in the same manner, JJ gave Naomi a hard look before he exited the car as well, and as soon as everyone was out Naomi sped off to park her car. It wasn't even nine am yet and already JJ wanted to bang his head against a wall. JJ wished that Cook had never pushed to go to that party because it just hadn't been worth it, not if this is what they were going to become.

With a long sigh, JJ made his way to his first class: Political Science (he wasn't in the mood to hang in the common room). He passed through the hair and beauty drones who hung out in front of the common room (they always wanted to give him grooming and fashion tips which wasn't a bad thing but they were annoying about it) with his head down- he just couldn't be polite enough to interact with them; the female football players (he briefly saw Emily hanging with them, laughing, but she looked about as happy as he did), with a slight wave to Emily who merely waved back; and the rugby jocks (he had gotten in good with them when he tutored their lead player during first year), giving them brief hellos, refusing their offers to hang- he just wanted to get to class. JJ shared his political science class with three of the people he was actually trying to avoid right now, so it wasn't ideal, but the prospect of mindless lessons or none at all (Kieran wasn't the greatest teacher) that could take his mind off all his bullshit was almost too great to be brought down by everyone's gloom mood even his own.

And we don't care about our own faults
talking 'bout our own style
All we care about is talking
Talking only me and you

As soon as JJ walked into his political science class, he immediately tensed. In his hurry to get to class he had forgotten that he shared this class with the one person he really didn't want to see: Katie. She had transferred into Kieran's politics class back during the beginning of 2nd year; she had been a part of the hair and beauty crowd back in 1st year but somewhere along the line she had changed her mind, deciding to take up arts and fashion but the only way she could change her classes, she had to take Kieran's class to achieve enough credits in order to graduate. JJ could still remember the day Kieran had announced her to the class: JJ had had the same feeling of intense dread and giddy excitement he had experienced this morning. He began looking for Katie and spotted her near the far table to the right by the window: she looked like she had been there way before anyone had really begun to come to school. She was doing coursework for her other classes, he was sure (Kieran never gave homework; he didn't care enough to) and she looked as tired and downtrodden as he did. JJ couldn't help but be ashamed that he was probably the main cause of her somber mood. Why am I always ashamed around Katie? Why am I always making her ashamed?

JJ walked lightly around the classroom, not wanting to let Katie know it was he who had walked into the room, even though that was nonsense since people were beginning to nosily fill up the room, but he had a weird feeling that if Katie knew he was one of them that she would run away or find some reason to leave the room or ditch class and he didn't want that. JJ didn't approach her immediately, instead stopping to watch her from afar. Despite her hostile aura, Katie still had the same 'look at me' presence around her that she had day in and day out and she also still wore her flamboyant outfits. JJ guessed she was still a beauty after all.

Usually when things has gone this far, people tend to disappear
No one will surprise me unless you do

Finally having the gumption (if that was what he could call it) to go up to her, JJ sat in the chair next to her and said shyly, "Hey, Katie." He could swear his heart was beating so fast that for a moment he feared it would soon explode right out of his chest.

Katie merely stiffens at his voice; "JJ" Katie didn't look up from her notebook as she said it.

Katie's distant attitude should have been a hint and half for his ass but JJ couldn't will himself to get up and leave; he couldn't stop trying to get her to look at him. "How you been?" he asked. Have you been thinking about me? JJ thought desperately, because I've been thinking about you!

"Fine," Katie said, with the same distant and cold voice as before that made JJ want to scream.

JJ nodded his head. "How was your weekend?" Please, don't say it was better than mine! JJ didn't think he could handle that.

Katie sighed loudly as she dropped her pen and turned sharply toward him with a cold look. "What do you want?" Katie snapped.

JJ didn't see a reason to beat around the bush; they had to talk about it sooner or later. "I wanna talk about what happened the other night," JJ said firmly. He couldn't lose his courage now; if he did they would never talk about this.

"There's nothing to talk about." JJ didn't agree. There was a lot to talk about. He had a lot to apologize for.

"I don't think…" but JJ didn't get to finish before Katie interrupted.

"It doesn't matter, you were right. I was on a conquest to sleep with you and I did." Katie had an even colder (if it was possible) look etched on her face that made JJ back a little out of his chair. "You were fun, JJ, but you weren't that fun."

"Katie…" JJ tried, but Katie interrupted him again. "I'm over you, J. You were a boy, JJ, and I need man, if you know what I mean." Katie laughed mockingly as she gathered her books up and left.

JJ realized with vague horror that he couldn't breathe. His heart was beating a million times a minute and he felt like he was going to pass out. If it hadn't been for a beautiful young girl who walked up next to him, at the table he was sitting at, JJ would have probably begun to get locked on. "Hi, mind if I sit with you?" the young girl's voice was almost hypnotic in its calmness and it helped JJ to calm down (a little bit) but he still couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe.

"No." JJ said, breathlessly. Breathe in and out. Breathe! Breathe! "You can sit here." JJ shook his head a little, trying to clear his head. He needed to breathe. The young girl smiled brightly at him and sat in the chair that Katie had occupied only a few seconds ago.

"So, that your girlfriend or something?" the girl asked to which he replied with a simple "No." JJ's breathing became erratic again at the mention of Katie's name. He couldn't fucking breathe! And JJ feared he was having a panic attack (he used to get them all the time for about five years after his father died). JJ hadn't had a panic attack since he had become friends with Cook.

It doesn't matter what we do, where we are going to
we can stick around and see this night through

Suddenly, the young girl next to him began to realize that he was having a panic attack and said, with the same hypnotic calm, "Hey. Just breathe. You're having a panic attack." She spoke firmly, "You have to breathe."

"I'm sorry, it's nothing," JJ said, shakily. His whole body was shaking; even his hands, but the young girl only patted his back softly. She said, "You need to calm down. Tell me what your favorite food is?"

At first, JJ was confused. What was she doing? But then he realized that she was trying to take his mind off his anxiety, "I like p-p-pizza." he stuttered.

"You have a favorite song?"

JJ thought briefly before he answered, "'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths'." JJ could feel himself breathing normally again. He could begin to feel himself snap back together.

"Do you have one?" JJ asked, trying to be polite. He was thankful for her help; most people would have just labeled him a freak without learning to know what was going on.

"'While My Guitar Weeps Gently by The Beatles'." she said, with a curious smile. JJ thought that was a good song.

"I like The Beatles. 'Come Together' is my favorite by them." JJ smiled. "I really am sorry, it's just…" What was it? JJ thought with a scattered dismal of logic that he had never experienced before (nor did he ever want to again) was it a...

"Bad day," The young girl finished, with the same stunning smile she'd worn since she sat down. That was an understatement, but JJ couldn't describe his day in any other way, so… "Yeah, bad day." JJ agreed nonetheless.

"Who are you, anyway?" The young girl asked, sitting closer to him.

JJ really smiled for the first time that day. "I'm Jonah. " JJ really looked at the girl seated next to him for the first time since they talked and she was really beautiful. She had long, flowing, blond hair, she had almond-shaped eyes that sparkled with a deep brown that had JJ hypnotized, and she was still smiling at him. "But I prefer JJ." JJ couldn't help the big smile that continued to show on his face.

The beautiful young girl laughed lightly as she said in a deep Irish voice that JJ only now noticed, "Well, Jonah, I'm Destiny." Destiny held her hand out for JJ to shake. "I'm new here." It was a few minutes later that Kieran walked in shouting, "All right, you fuckers! Listen up…"

And we don't care about the young folks