Categories > Original > Drama > The Stupid Boy and the Outsider
Author's Note: This is actually the last chapter. Well, there's an epilogue, which I don't know if it's going to be one or two seperate ones because they're prety long, but yeah, last chapter. Thanks for reading!
Also I don't own either of the songs at the end of the chapter nor am I associated with the artists that sing them. This is a link to the first song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NAPFcSFeFw it starts at 1:22 and the other... I'm sure you know it's Please Be Mine by the Jonas Brothers.
Chapter 36
After Kristine got busted last night for egging Jackie's house mom called her parents and Francis's too. Mrs. Koonz picked them up and she was pretty pissed. I could hear her before she got in the house from my room. She told Kristine that she was going to go to an all girls' Christian school.
I don't know if that was just talk or if she was being serious, but I hope she was serious. If Kristine was gone then there wouldn't be anyone here to torture Jackie the way she did. She was never good at defending herself.
Then again there might be someone worse that could come along.
This was on my mind all night. Who was gonna be there to protect Jackie when that other person came around and I'm on tour or something. I guess she has Berna. I'm sure the others wouldn't let anyone hurt her in any way, but I wanted to be the one she goes to. If I'm on the road and doing concerts I won't be able to.
Not only do I have all that on my mind, mom just had to add on to it. Mom told us there was gonna be a family meeting tonight. I just know it's about home schooling.
"Joe!" Someone said while giving me a push.
I was so out of it I actually fell onto the floor. I looked up to see Jackie with a shocked look on her face.
"I'm so sorry Joe!" She said while helping me up. "I didn't mean to do that."
I heard Nick laughing. I got up and there he was laughing over his breakfast on the other side of the table. I saw Berna and Cindy holding in the laughter that I knew they were dying to let out.
Normally I wouldn't care that people were laughing at me, but I wasn't in the mood to be laughed at right now.
"Oh Joe," Jackie said with agiggle. "I really am sorry. I didn't know you'd fall over like that."
That giggle made everything better again.
"Good morning girls," mom said when she walked into the kitchen. "Would you like me to make you some breakfast?"
"No thank you Mrs. Jonas. We ate before coming over," Cindy declined.
"Okay then, if you get hungry just help yourselves," she said before leaving the kitchen.
"So what do you all have planned for today?" Berna asked.
"We're gonna work on a couple songs later," Nick said. "We're hoping to finish recording our last two songs tomorrow."
"Yeah, but Kevin's talking to Rosa so it's gonna be a while," I added.
"Oooo, Rosa. So what's going on with that?" Cindy asked. She always liked to know these kinds of things.
Nick filled Cindy and Berna in on what was going on. He was always the one that knew things. He isn't nosey, he's just so quiet people don't know he's around and they just keep talking. That's how he over heard all that home schooling stuff between mom and dad. He wasn't eavesdropping... at least not at first.
"Joe?" Jackie lightly nudged me this time.
"Huh?"
"Are you okay?" She asked.
I looked to the other side of the table where Cindy, Berna, and Nick were still talking about Kevin.
"Yeah... uh... you wanna go for a walk?" I asked.
She nodded and we grabbed our coats and headed out after telling the others we'd be back.
We didn't walk far. I actually led her to her backyard to the old tire swing.
"Get on," I said pointing to the swing. "I'll push you."
Jackie stopped in her tracks and I stopped to look back at her.
"Joe I'm gonna ask again and I want an answer this time. What's wrong?"
I sighed and got in the tire swing. "I guess I'm afraid for you... for us."
"What exactly are you afraid of?" She asked.
"When I leave..."
"Joseph," she interrupted.
"Wait," I said helplessly. "Let me finish." Jackie nodded. "I was thinking about when I leave. It's hard knowing I might leave you here with Kristine, not being able to save you the next time you fall into the deep end of a pool. I know Berna and JD and the others are here for you, but if Berna's bitching won't keep Kristine away then what will? Even if Kristine stops there'll always be..."
"Okay Joe, calm down," Jackie said placing her hands on either side of my face making me look up at her. I guess I was getting a little worked up. "The whole pool thing wasn't an accident, I was pushed in."
"Exactly!" I said stumbling out of the swing. "Who's to say she won't do it again?"
"Because now I know she was the one that did it the first time and I'll do whatever I can to stay away from her. I know better now."
"She's not the worst thing out there," I said leaning against the tree not looking at her.
She stepped in front of me and lightly lifted my chin so I looked at her. "Bullies aren't the worst thing out there and you can't protect me from everything."
"That's what I'm afraid of," I said stepping up to her, taking her in my arms and just held her, my forehead resting on hers. "I don't wanna lose you."
"Joseph, I'm not dying," she said with a laugh. "Stop being such a drama queen."
"But you almost did."
"It's been weeks and you're just now worrying about it?"
"Suppressed feelings I guess." She giggled at my answer and rested her head on my shoulder. "What about Ryan?" I asked as an afterthought.
"What about him?" I could feel her playing with a patch of hair near the back of my neck.
"When I leave you two might..."
"Don't... finish that sentence," she interrupted pulling away. "Even if we didn't get together, Ryan and I wouldn't have either." I was about to say something but she continued talking. "I mean, he's cute, sweet, easy to get along with, and practically perfect, but he's a little too perfect. He's not my type," she said walking to the swing and getting on. "I'm more into stupid boys that talk before they think."
"So I'm still Stupid Boy huh?" I asked giving her a light push on the swing.
She giggled. "Uh-huh."
"At least you're not hitting me anymore."
I stood there pushing her in the swing for a minute or two in silence.
"Joseph?" She asked to get my attention. Her tone wasn't playful anymore which got me to stop pushing. "What exactly got you thinking about this? Was it just Kristine egging my house... or was it something else?"
When I didn't answer right away she looked back at me.
I let out a sigh. "Both I guess. Mom said there's gonna be a family meeting tonight."
"But you're not sure it's about the home school thing right?"
"What else could it be?" I asked.
Jackie looked away for asecond before saying, "You said it'll probably happen next year right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay," she said getting out of the swing. "Let's worry about it then instead of now."
Logically we should have talked about it, but I wasn't always logical. I wanted to forget about it and just be with Jackie... so that's what I did.
She took my hand and led me to the house. Berna and Cindy were still there talking to Kevin and Nick. Ryan was there too with Jerby and JD. We all hung out for a little bit, but Kevin, Nick, and I needed to practice, so the girls decided to go to the mall. The other guys decided to go with them. They all squeezed into Ryan's car and left after lunch. We spend the rest of the day finishing up and perfecting our songs before recording tomorrow.
I was dreading dinner time because I knew that was gonna be when we had our family meeting. But, of course, dinner came faster than I wanted it to.
At first dinner was just a bunch of small talk, but when everyone was done dad just jumped right into it.
"So, your mother and I were talking and since you all have been doing so well..."
"Last night wasn't so bad and Joe has been acting like his normal self lately," mom added.
"We decided to let you guys do the school tour this month," dad finished.
"Really!?!" Nick asked excited. He had a problem with being home schooled, but if it involved touring he was all for it.
"Yes, and then in December there's this Christmas tour with different bands and singers that we're thinking of letting you guys do as well," dad said.
"But we're not done recording yet," Kevin said. He didn't seem upset, but he wasn't happy either.
"But you're almost done," dad said. "You guys are recording tomorrow and you only have two more songs to record, after that you can do the two week tour. When that's over we can complete editing, mixing, and mastering it all."
"What do you think Joe?" Mom asked.
I saw Nick's happiness go away as he looked over to me. I know this was his dream; it was Kevin's and mine too. Who was I to keep us from that?
"I think I need to tell Jackie about us going on tour," I said.
"Wait," Kevin said, "what about school?"
We all knew the answer to this.
"We were going to pull you out of school to be home schooled before the tour," mom explained.
Everyone was looking at me now.
"It's... great. Can't wait for the tour," I said. "Umm... is that it? I really wanna talk to Jackie now. You all can finalize everything."
"Of course sweetie, don't stay out too late," mom told me.
I walked over to the Mathews' backyard. I could see that the light in Jackie's room was on. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just paced next to her trellis.
I should tell her, but should I break up with her? What am I thinking!?! Of course I shouldn't break up with her. What if she breaks up with me?
Out of nowhere something hit me on the head and I fell backwards.
"Joseph?" I looked up to see the girls on the balcony. "Why are you hanging out here like some creepy robber, murderer person?"
I got up and said, "I wanted to talk to you."
"We'll leave you two to your balcony scene," Berna said before she and Cindy walked into the house.
I started to climb the trellis.
"Joseph, come in through the front door," Jackie said. "You know I don't like you climbing this thing." I didn't answer, I just kept climbing. When I finally got to her height she said, "This is about the family meeting isn't it?" I stopped and looked at her. "What happened?" She asked.
"They're letting us go on that school tour."
"That's great," she said in a whisper before turning her back to me.
I climbed up a little more to get over the balcony railing. I tripped and fell again. She turned around at the noise of me falling.
"Joe," she said with a little laugh, but she looked like she was about to cry.
I quickly got up and rushed to her side.
"If you don't want me to go I'll talk to the guys. There'll be other opportunities."
She was shaking her head. "I have no right in holding you guys back. That's not my place and who knows, there might be other opportunities... but there might not."
"The tour starts in a couple weeks," I told her.
"Wow," she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "You'll call me right?"
"Every chance I get."
Jackie looked back into her room like she was thinking. "I want to show you something." She stepped into her room and brought out a notebook, her burn book as Berna and Cindy called it last night. "I wrote this for you," she said as we sat down on a couple of chairs. She opened it to a certain page and handed it to me.
"A song?" I asked looking at it. She nodded. "Can you sing it for me?"
"It's not really good... and it's just one verse... or maybe the chorus, I'm not sure," she rambled.
"I wanna hear it anyway... please?"
Jackie nodded again taking the notebook in her hands. She then started singing her words a cappella.
I can't believe in all this world
With all there is
You would choose me
You touched me once
In a special way
And now my life has changed
It'll never be the same
(Some things are meant for eternity)
Your the answer to what I've asked
Time and time again
Sill thoughts and doubt
Can cloud my mind
When I know it can end
Her voice cracked like she was gonna cry. I took the book away and placed it on the seat next to me. I tilted her chin up to look at me and started to sing.
But I'll be there forever
You will see that it's better
All our hopes and our dreams will come true
I will not disappoint you
I'll be right there for you 'til the end
The end of time
Please be mine
She ran the back of her fingers along my cheek. She had a small smile on her face, but still had tears in her eyes. I leaned in to give her a kiss, which she deepened, and didn't pull away. Right then I knew it didn't matter how far apart we were, everything was gonna be alright.
Also I don't own either of the songs at the end of the chapter nor am I associated with the artists that sing them. This is a link to the first song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NAPFcSFeFw it starts at 1:22 and the other... I'm sure you know it's Please Be Mine by the Jonas Brothers.
Chapter 36
After Kristine got busted last night for egging Jackie's house mom called her parents and Francis's too. Mrs. Koonz picked them up and she was pretty pissed. I could hear her before she got in the house from my room. She told Kristine that she was going to go to an all girls' Christian school.
I don't know if that was just talk or if she was being serious, but I hope she was serious. If Kristine was gone then there wouldn't be anyone here to torture Jackie the way she did. She was never good at defending herself.
Then again there might be someone worse that could come along.
This was on my mind all night. Who was gonna be there to protect Jackie when that other person came around and I'm on tour or something. I guess she has Berna. I'm sure the others wouldn't let anyone hurt her in any way, but I wanted to be the one she goes to. If I'm on the road and doing concerts I won't be able to.
Not only do I have all that on my mind, mom just had to add on to it. Mom told us there was gonna be a family meeting tonight. I just know it's about home schooling.
"Joe!" Someone said while giving me a push.
I was so out of it I actually fell onto the floor. I looked up to see Jackie with a shocked look on her face.
"I'm so sorry Joe!" She said while helping me up. "I didn't mean to do that."
I heard Nick laughing. I got up and there he was laughing over his breakfast on the other side of the table. I saw Berna and Cindy holding in the laughter that I knew they were dying to let out.
Normally I wouldn't care that people were laughing at me, but I wasn't in the mood to be laughed at right now.
"Oh Joe," Jackie said with agiggle. "I really am sorry. I didn't know you'd fall over like that."
That giggle made everything better again.
"Good morning girls," mom said when she walked into the kitchen. "Would you like me to make you some breakfast?"
"No thank you Mrs. Jonas. We ate before coming over," Cindy declined.
"Okay then, if you get hungry just help yourselves," she said before leaving the kitchen.
"So what do you all have planned for today?" Berna asked.
"We're gonna work on a couple songs later," Nick said. "We're hoping to finish recording our last two songs tomorrow."
"Yeah, but Kevin's talking to Rosa so it's gonna be a while," I added.
"Oooo, Rosa. So what's going on with that?" Cindy asked. She always liked to know these kinds of things.
Nick filled Cindy and Berna in on what was going on. He was always the one that knew things. He isn't nosey, he's just so quiet people don't know he's around and they just keep talking. That's how he over heard all that home schooling stuff between mom and dad. He wasn't eavesdropping... at least not at first.
"Joe?" Jackie lightly nudged me this time.
"Huh?"
"Are you okay?" She asked.
I looked to the other side of the table where Cindy, Berna, and Nick were still talking about Kevin.
"Yeah... uh... you wanna go for a walk?" I asked.
She nodded and we grabbed our coats and headed out after telling the others we'd be back.
We didn't walk far. I actually led her to her backyard to the old tire swing.
"Get on," I said pointing to the swing. "I'll push you."
Jackie stopped in her tracks and I stopped to look back at her.
"Joe I'm gonna ask again and I want an answer this time. What's wrong?"
I sighed and got in the tire swing. "I guess I'm afraid for you... for us."
"What exactly are you afraid of?" She asked.
"When I leave..."
"Joseph," she interrupted.
"Wait," I said helplessly. "Let me finish." Jackie nodded. "I was thinking about when I leave. It's hard knowing I might leave you here with Kristine, not being able to save you the next time you fall into the deep end of a pool. I know Berna and JD and the others are here for you, but if Berna's bitching won't keep Kristine away then what will? Even if Kristine stops there'll always be..."
"Okay Joe, calm down," Jackie said placing her hands on either side of my face making me look up at her. I guess I was getting a little worked up. "The whole pool thing wasn't an accident, I was pushed in."
"Exactly!" I said stumbling out of the swing. "Who's to say she won't do it again?"
"Because now I know she was the one that did it the first time and I'll do whatever I can to stay away from her. I know better now."
"She's not the worst thing out there," I said leaning against the tree not looking at her.
She stepped in front of me and lightly lifted my chin so I looked at her. "Bullies aren't the worst thing out there and you can't protect me from everything."
"That's what I'm afraid of," I said stepping up to her, taking her in my arms and just held her, my forehead resting on hers. "I don't wanna lose you."
"Joseph, I'm not dying," she said with a laugh. "Stop being such a drama queen."
"But you almost did."
"It's been weeks and you're just now worrying about it?"
"Suppressed feelings I guess." She giggled at my answer and rested her head on my shoulder. "What about Ryan?" I asked as an afterthought.
"What about him?" I could feel her playing with a patch of hair near the back of my neck.
"When I leave you two might..."
"Don't... finish that sentence," she interrupted pulling away. "Even if we didn't get together, Ryan and I wouldn't have either." I was about to say something but she continued talking. "I mean, he's cute, sweet, easy to get along with, and practically perfect, but he's a little too perfect. He's not my type," she said walking to the swing and getting on. "I'm more into stupid boys that talk before they think."
"So I'm still Stupid Boy huh?" I asked giving her a light push on the swing.
She giggled. "Uh-huh."
"At least you're not hitting me anymore."
I stood there pushing her in the swing for a minute or two in silence.
"Joseph?" She asked to get my attention. Her tone wasn't playful anymore which got me to stop pushing. "What exactly got you thinking about this? Was it just Kristine egging my house... or was it something else?"
When I didn't answer right away she looked back at me.
I let out a sigh. "Both I guess. Mom said there's gonna be a family meeting tonight."
"But you're not sure it's about the home school thing right?"
"What else could it be?" I asked.
Jackie looked away for asecond before saying, "You said it'll probably happen next year right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay," she said getting out of the swing. "Let's worry about it then instead of now."
Logically we should have talked about it, but I wasn't always logical. I wanted to forget about it and just be with Jackie... so that's what I did.
She took my hand and led me to the house. Berna and Cindy were still there talking to Kevin and Nick. Ryan was there too with Jerby and JD. We all hung out for a little bit, but Kevin, Nick, and I needed to practice, so the girls decided to go to the mall. The other guys decided to go with them. They all squeezed into Ryan's car and left after lunch. We spend the rest of the day finishing up and perfecting our songs before recording tomorrow.
I was dreading dinner time because I knew that was gonna be when we had our family meeting. But, of course, dinner came faster than I wanted it to.
At first dinner was just a bunch of small talk, but when everyone was done dad just jumped right into it.
"So, your mother and I were talking and since you all have been doing so well..."
"Last night wasn't so bad and Joe has been acting like his normal self lately," mom added.
"We decided to let you guys do the school tour this month," dad finished.
"Really!?!" Nick asked excited. He had a problem with being home schooled, but if it involved touring he was all for it.
"Yes, and then in December there's this Christmas tour with different bands and singers that we're thinking of letting you guys do as well," dad said.
"But we're not done recording yet," Kevin said. He didn't seem upset, but he wasn't happy either.
"But you're almost done," dad said. "You guys are recording tomorrow and you only have two more songs to record, after that you can do the two week tour. When that's over we can complete editing, mixing, and mastering it all."
"What do you think Joe?" Mom asked.
I saw Nick's happiness go away as he looked over to me. I know this was his dream; it was Kevin's and mine too. Who was I to keep us from that?
"I think I need to tell Jackie about us going on tour," I said.
"Wait," Kevin said, "what about school?"
We all knew the answer to this.
"We were going to pull you out of school to be home schooled before the tour," mom explained.
Everyone was looking at me now.
"It's... great. Can't wait for the tour," I said. "Umm... is that it? I really wanna talk to Jackie now. You all can finalize everything."
"Of course sweetie, don't stay out too late," mom told me.
I walked over to the Mathews' backyard. I could see that the light in Jackie's room was on. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just paced next to her trellis.
I should tell her, but should I break up with her? What am I thinking!?! Of course I shouldn't break up with her. What if she breaks up with me?
Out of nowhere something hit me on the head and I fell backwards.
"Joseph?" I looked up to see the girls on the balcony. "Why are you hanging out here like some creepy robber, murderer person?"
I got up and said, "I wanted to talk to you."
"We'll leave you two to your balcony scene," Berna said before she and Cindy walked into the house.
I started to climb the trellis.
"Joseph, come in through the front door," Jackie said. "You know I don't like you climbing this thing." I didn't answer, I just kept climbing. When I finally got to her height she said, "This is about the family meeting isn't it?" I stopped and looked at her. "What happened?" She asked.
"They're letting us go on that school tour."
"That's great," she said in a whisper before turning her back to me.
I climbed up a little more to get over the balcony railing. I tripped and fell again. She turned around at the noise of me falling.
"Joe," she said with a little laugh, but she looked like she was about to cry.
I quickly got up and rushed to her side.
"If you don't want me to go I'll talk to the guys. There'll be other opportunities."
She was shaking her head. "I have no right in holding you guys back. That's not my place and who knows, there might be other opportunities... but there might not."
"The tour starts in a couple weeks," I told her.
"Wow," she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "You'll call me right?"
"Every chance I get."
Jackie looked back into her room like she was thinking. "I want to show you something." She stepped into her room and brought out a notebook, her burn book as Berna and Cindy called it last night. "I wrote this for you," she said as we sat down on a couple of chairs. She opened it to a certain page and handed it to me.
"A song?" I asked looking at it. She nodded. "Can you sing it for me?"
"It's not really good... and it's just one verse... or maybe the chorus, I'm not sure," she rambled.
"I wanna hear it anyway... please?"
Jackie nodded again taking the notebook in her hands. She then started singing her words a cappella.
I can't believe in all this world
With all there is
You would choose me
You touched me once
In a special way
And now my life has changed
It'll never be the same
(Some things are meant for eternity)
Your the answer to what I've asked
Time and time again
Sill thoughts and doubt
Can cloud my mind
When I know it can end
Her voice cracked like she was gonna cry. I took the book away and placed it on the seat next to me. I tilted her chin up to look at me and started to sing.
But I'll be there forever
You will see that it's better
All our hopes and our dreams will come true
I will not disappoint you
I'll be right there for you 'til the end
The end of time
Please be mine
She ran the back of her fingers along my cheek. She had a small smile on her face, but still had tears in her eyes. I leaned in to give her a kiss, which she deepened, and didn't pull away. Right then I knew it didn't matter how far apart we were, everything was gonna be alright.
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