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Come What May part 2 [Story version]
By Aragorn
That night, Ryan and Jeff walked inside Robert’s house, party music blaring. Robert Peirce was sitting on the couch with Roberta, eating Cheesies.
Jeff saw them and suddenly felt sick. He wanted to crawl up inside a hole far from the party and die, but he knew he couldn’t.
Him and Ryan walked further into the room and saw a bunch of people they knew, and a bunch they didn’t. Most of the people were from the Smoking Area of the school, who hung out with Robert. Ryan went over to a group of kids he used to know and started talking with them.
Jeff started to turn away, but heard his name get called out. He turned around and he saw Roberta looking at him. “Jeff, Come here.” He turned and walked towards her, his legs feeling like jelly.
“Robert, this is one of my friends, Jeff.”
Jeff forced himself to shake hands with Robert. After that, Robert stood up and held up a remote and pressed a button. The music stopped and everyone looked at him. “It’s time to play the games now!” There was a bunch of cheering. “We’ll be playing spotlight!” Even louder cheering.
Spotlight was a game for the night. It was a lot like hide and seek tag, but with a flashlight. Whoever was ‘It’, had a flashlight and shined it around, while everyone hid. There was a 'Homes' you had to get to, but if the beam fell on you, and the person who was ‘It’ said your name while the light beam was on you, you were ‘Out’.
Everyone rushed to get their shoes and jackets on. Once everyone was outside, they did the 'highest number' thing to decided who was ‘It’ first. Whoever guessed furthest from the number that was chosen by a non-player, then that person was ‘It’. It ended up being Robert. He closed his eyes and started counting as everyone ran and hid.
Jeff was walking down a dark dirt trail, going through a short patch of woods. Suddenly, he heard, “Ready or not, here I come!” He whipped around and saw the flashlight turn on and start to swing around and he found himself frozen on the spot as the beam came close to him a few times.
“Psst.” Jeff heard a whisper. He whipped back around and started looking. “In here!” He turned and saw Roberta on one side of the woods, in a thick patch of bushes. “Hurry!”
Jeff turned and saw the flashlight beam heading toward him. He started running and just as the beam got to where he was, he jumped and landed on the other side of the thick bushes, next to Roberta. The beam fell on the bushes and swung all the way around, out of view.
“That was close.” Roberta said as she helped Jeff up into a sitting position and helped brush branches and needles off of him. He looked up at the same time she did and their eyes met for a minute, before both quickly looked in different directions.
“We should stay here.” Roberta said. “The bushes are thick.” Suddenly the beam fell right next to Jeff’s head and if it moved slightly to the side, it would be on him.
“Shit!” Roberta whispered. Roberta grabbed Jeff’s head and layed flat on her stomach, forcing Jeff to lay on the ground as well.
“Olly Olly Ox’n’ free!” Robert called out. That meant he gave up. Roberta and Jeff stood up and walked out onto the path, just as people were coming out of other hiding spots. They saw Roberta and Jeff approach them together, needles and twigs on their clothes.
“Ohhhhh! What were you guys doing?” A kid asked with a smile on his face and the other kids started laughing. All but Robert who seemed to look rather pissed off.
Roberta and Jeff’s faces went red. “It’s not what it looks like.” Jeff said, defending himself.
“It really isn’t.” Roberta agreed. “I only let him hide with me because he was standing in the middle of the road. He would have got caught, so I felt sorry for him and let him hide with me.”
The others continued to joke around as they all got ready for round two, but before they could start, a red jeep pulled up and Ryan ran over to Jeff.
“That’s my mom, come on.” Ryan ran towards the jeep and Jeff walked towards it. He kept looking back at Roberta and then forward again. A couple of the times he looked back, he saw her looking at him as well, as he went towards the jeep.
He got in and as the jeep pulled out and drove off, Jeff looked out the back window as Round 2 started and Roberta and Robert ran together, going to the same hiding place that she hid in before. Jeff felt his heart sink once again. He sighed and turned back around to face the front.
Over the course of the following two weeks, Jeff and Roberta got closer. Roberta, Jeff, and Ryan were walking to a video store in Portugal Cove. Ryan slipped on some loose gravel, which caused Jeff and Roberta to burst out laughing.
When Jeff, Ryan, and Justin were walking down the halls at school, they passed by Roberta, Megan, and Jolene. As they passed, Jeff’s and Roberta’s eyes met and they both slightly smiled at each other.
There was even a day when Jeff and Ryan were running from the Tappers, who had upgraded to bullying people, and they ran past Roberta. Jeff looked back and they once again made eye contact.
Jeff, Ryan, Justin, Jolene, Roberta, and Megan were all sitting together at lunch and eating and laughing. Jeff and Roberta were sitting next to each other. Jeff accidentally spilt juice on Roberta and quickly grabbed a napkin and started wiping it off her pants. Roberta had also grabbed a napkin and started to do the same, but they both suddenly stopped and looked up at each other.
From another table, Robert was sitting with his friends, his friends talking about something. However Robert wasn’t paying attention. All he was paying attention to was Roberta and Jeff, a scowl on his face.
There was a time when Jeff and Roberta were hanging out together by themselves at school, and Jeff said something to Roberta, which caused her to playfully shove him, both of them laughing. Robert watched them from his locker, hate burning in his eyes.
Late one night, Jeff was sitting in his room, writing a story on his computer. He usually wrote short stories in his spare time. Suddenly his phone rang, ruining his concentration. He sighed and answered it.
“Hey, it’s me, Justin.”
“Oh hey! What’s up?”
“Not much. Look, I just got a call and someone wanted to know something.”
“Who? What?”
“Well you have to guess that. I’ll give you a hint. You’ve been hanging out with her a lot lately.”
Jeff thought for a minute. “Jolene?”
“No. Someone you hung out with more.”
Jeff suddenly realized who. “R...Roberta?”
“Yep.”
“What’d she ask you?”
“She wanted me to find something out about you.” Justin answered.
“What?” Jeff asked, feeling a bit nervous.
“She wants to know if you like her.” Jeff felt his heart thump, his legs go wobbly, his hands start to sweat. “Well, do you?” Justin asked.
“Y...y....yes.” Jeff finally managed to whisper. Justin laughed a little bit. “Hey Justin, can you do me a favor?” Jeff asked.
“Yeah, sure, what is it?”
He couldn’t believe what he was about to do. He had been dreaming of this for so long and now it might come true. He felt his throat go dry. “Could you...” He coughed to get his throat back to normal. “Could you call Roberta back and...” He paused. “And ask her out for me?”
Justin laughed. “Sure buddy. I’ll call you back in a few minutes.”
So they hung up and for the next few minutes, Jeff could barely stand the tension. He had never felt like this before. He went to sit on his bed, but couldn’t stay still for long, so he stood up and paced back and forth in his room, which seemed to only make his stomach feel worse.
Suddenly the phone rang and he ran and picked it up. “Hello? Justin?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” He said, almost in an excited tone.
“Well, what did she say?” To Jeff waiting the next two seconds for Justin to respond seemed like waiting 2 hours.
“She said Yes.” Justin answered.
Jeff couldn’t believe what he just heard. Was that a ‘yes’, or did his mind make it sound like a yes? He heard Justin laughing. “Are you sure? Are you telling the truth?” The way Justin was laughing sounded strange. Something was up.
“Yes, I’m telling truth!”
“Yeah right.” Jeff sighed, knowing he was a victim of a prank.
Justin suddenly stopped laughing. “Dude, I’m serious, she said Yes.”
Jeff’s face lit up again. He knew that tone better. Justin was serious. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Of course!” Suddenly it seemed like nothing else mattered to Jeff. Justin continued. “But I like her too, so it’s my job to give you this speech. If you hurt or, or break her heart in any way, I will kick your ass so bad.”
Jeff smiled. “That’s ok, you have nothing to be worried about. Oh, by the way, Thanks!”
“No problem. Good luck, man.” Justin hung up and then Jeff did as well. He looked out his window at the night and looked up at a star, smiling. He wondered if Roberta was looking at the same star.
The next morning, Roberta was on the school bus, talking to Ryan, Jolene, and Megan. Robert was sitting a couple seats behind them, listening in, not looking very happy. Then again, neither did Jolene.
Jeff was already inside the school with Justin, waiting for the bus to pull up. Suddenly the doors opened as the bus students from Portugal Cove walked inside. Jeff smiled as he saw Roberta walking towards him, smiling. Ryan was right behind her and Megan was next to her.
Jolene was in front of Roberta and as she walked by Jeff, an angry look on her face, she turned and pushed him into a locker. “You Shithead.” She whispered to him as she turned and continued walking down the hall.
Jeff looked at her as she walked away and then looked back to the approaching Roberta. “What was that all about?”
“Who knows?” Roberta and Jeff hugged and walked down the hall, Jeff’s arm around her shoulders.
That night, Jeff was at home, talking on the phone with Roberta. They had been talking on the phone for the past two hours when there was a knock on Jeff’s door. “Look, I’ve got to go.” He said. “See you tomorrow in school.”
They hung up and the door to Jeff’s room opened. His mother and father walked in. “Jeff, Honey, you better sit down. We have some bad news.”
“What bad news?” Jeff asked, looking back and forth between the two.
“Well,” His father began. “We’ve been here for 6 years already and in the military, that’s a long time to stay in one place.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“We got posted.” He answered.
Jeff laughed one of those ‘I can’t believe it’ laughs. “To where?”
“Alberta. Wainwright to be exact. We’re leaving this summer.”
“But, I don’t want to leave.” Jeff couldn’t believe it! He finely started dating the girl of his dreams, and he found out he was moving!
“It isn’t our choice.” His mother stepped in. “It’ll be good to have a change in scenery. It might prove better for you. After all, you’re not doing that great in school here and I hear that the schools up there are top-notch. It’s for the best.”
His parents turned and walked out of his room, closing the door behind them. Tears came to Jeff’s eyes as he punched his bed and threw his pillow with all his might against the door.
At Lunch the next day, they were all sitting together, except for Jolene, who wasn’t in the Cafeteria.
Jeff had some ice cream and he put some on a spoon and Roberta opened her mouth and started giggling. Jeff started laughing as he moved the spoon towards Roberta’s mouth. He missed and got some ice cream on her nose.
They both broke out laughing so hard, they couldn’t stop. Even though he had told Ryan and Justin, Jeff hadn’t told Roberta the bad news yet, fearing that she would want to break up. After all, why be in a relationship that has no future? He would just have to try to act normal until he found a way to tell her.
Over the course of the next few months, Jeff spent as much time as he possibly could with Roberta. They hung out in Portugal Cove during most nights, going for walks after it got dark. They playfully shoved and pushed as they walked.
One of these walks led them to a pond with a big rock, not far from shore. Jeff kept trying to jump, but Roberta, smiling, tried to stop him.
“You’ll never make it!” She said.
Jeff took a few steps back and made a running jump for the rock. He landed on the side of the rock and slipped and fell in the pond. Roberta broke out laughing. Jeff surfaced, laughing as well. He grabbed Roberta by the legs and pulled her in.
She surfaced and they both laughed as they swam around in the pond, the only light from the moon and stars.
In school, Jeff and Roberta held hands as they walked together. Most days consisted of them running together, away from the Tappers, laughing as they run inside the Mall to get away and loose them. Some days even consisted of them, along with their friends, running away from MQP.
During classes everyday, they made sure to pass each other in the halls to pass notes to one another. Roberta passing a note to Jeff as they pass each other in the halls, between classes.
One day, Jeff and Roberta were walking around the halls of the school with Ryan. “Did you guys here about the School Board?” Ryan asked.
“Yeah.” Jeff answered. “Over the summer, they want to move practically everyone into different schools.”
“Why?” Roberta asked.
“They say it’s so they go to schools closer to them, so it saves fuel for the buses and cars and stuff. And it saves us time. Though, if you look around, everyone’s arguing about it, nobody wants the change, they like it the way it is. If they go ahead with this, entire groups of friends will be split apart.”
Roberta looked around and saw people yelling and complaining about the new School Board decision. She wondered how she hadn’t noticed before. Good thing that it still had to be voted on. There was still hope yet.
Justin jogged up to them. “Well you look at this?” He asked. “You’d think the School Board would realize that no one wants this to happen. They say it’s for the best.”
Jeff was suddenly hit with a pain in his heart, reminded of what his parents said about their moving and how his mom had said the same thing.
“If they decide to go ahead with it, what school we go to well be decided upon where we live.” Ryan explained.
“That blows!” Roberta yelled. She turned to Jeff. “That means we’ll be going to different schools next year.”
“Ah...” Jeff hesitated. He didn’t know how to tell her. “We would have been anyway.” He said quietly and slowly.
“What are you talking about?” Roberta asked, stopping and turning to look at him. Jeff looked at Ryan and Justin and they knew what they had to do. They turned and left, walking away. Jeff had already told them about his move and now it was finally time to tell Roberta.
“Listen, I’ve put this off long enough.” Jeff paused to take a breath.
“What?” Roberta asked. “What ever it is, you can tell me.”
Their eyes met as Jeff explained. “I’m moving away this summer. To Alberta.”
Roberta took a minute to soak it all in. She finally spoke in a quiet, disappointed voice. “But that’s, like, on the other side of the country. When did you find out?”
Jeff was afraid she’d ask that question. “Two months ago.” He gulped. His throat suddenly went very dry.
“Why didn’t you tell me then?” Roberta looked at him sternly.
Jeff sighed. “I was afraid you wouldn’t want to continue to go out with me, because I was moving and we’d have to brake up in the end, anyway.”
Roberta started to laugh and hugged Jeff. “I’d never have done that. Is that why you didn’t tell me?” Jeff nodded. They stopped hugging and started walking. “All this means is that we’ll have to make the best of what time we have left.”
Later in Math class, Mr. Park was at the front of the room, talking. “You guys continue with your work. I have to make a trip down to the office.” And then he left.
Ryan turned to Jeff. “So, how did Roberta take the news?” He asked with concern.
“Very well, actually. We’re still going out.” Jeff smiled. “We’re going to a movie tonight.”
“Which one?”
“Either The Mummy, or The Matrix. I’ve already seen the Matrix and it’s really good, but Roberta really wants to see The Mummy, so we’re probably going to be going to that.”
“Ah cool! Can I come?”
“It’s supposed to be a date between me and Roberta, but I’ll ask.” Jeff said with a chuckle.
That evening, at the mall, Jeff and Ryan were at a payphone and Jeff was hanging it up.
“So, what did she say?” Ryan asked.
Jeff smiled. “She said you could come.” Ryan started to smile as well, but then Jeff’s smile went away. “And she also invited someone else as well.”
“Who?” Ryan asked, his smile also going away.
“Supposedly she’s starting to talk to Shane again. He’s coming.”
“Ah shit.”
“Come on, let’s go get the tickets.” Jeff said glumly.
At the ticket line, Ryan and Jeff were walking away, holding their tickets. Jeff also had Roberta’s ticket. He put them in his pocket.
“Where did she say we were meeting?” Ryan asked.
“Over there.” Jeff and Ryan walked over to a bench in front of the theatre and waited. Soon enough, Shane walked over with a friend – Robert Peirce.
“Oh no.” Ryan quietly moaned.
“What?” Jeff asked. Ryan pointed. “Oh no. What’s he doing here?”
“He’s with me.” Shane answered. “We just got our tickets.”
“So did we.” Ryan said.
“So you guys looking forward to seeing The Matrix?” Robert asked.
“We’re seeing The Mummy.” Jeff said, standing up.
“I’ve already seen that.” Robert said. “It sucks. We’re seeing The Matrix.”
“Well I’ve already seen that, and I haven’t seen The Mummy yet.” Jeff argued. “And Roberta really wants to see The Mummy.”
“Well I’ve already got her ticket for The Matrix.” Robert argued.
“What?!” Jeff yelled. “She’s MY girlfriend! YOU don’t buy MY girlfriend a ticket to a movie she doesn’t even want to see! I bought her a ticket to The Mummy, and she said she really wanted to see it!”
“Fine then. Let’s go cash it in.” Shane and Robert turned and walked away.
“Good.” Jeff said, sitting down. “At least they’re seeing a different movie then us now.”
“So when are you going to kiss Roberta?” Ryan asked. “You’ve been going out for months and you haven’t even kissed! And by kiss, I mean on the lips. On the check doesn’t count.”
“It’s my first real kiss. I want it to be dramatic.”
“She doesn’t care about being dramatic.”
“She well. Trust me.” Jeff smiled.
“Hey guys!” They turned and Roberta ran over to them. Jeff stood up and hugged her. When they finished, he handed her the ticket.
“What movie?” Roberta looked at her ticket and saw that it was for The Mummy. “Oh, thank you!” She hugged Jeff again.
They walked into the theatre and started walking down the aisle, looking for a good set of seat. They found one and Roberta and Jeff sat next to each other and Ryan sat on the other side of Jeff.
Before the movie started, they heard, “Hey guys.” Jeff and Ryan whipped their heads and saw Shane and Robert walking towards them and sit down, Robert sitting on the other side of Roberta.
“Damn, they changed their tickets.” Jeff whispered to Ryan, who was moaning. Soon after, the movie started and Jeff put his arm around Roberta. Throughout the movie, Robert kept trying to put the moves on Roberta.
He tried to put his arm around her once, but Jeff knocked it away. Then throughout the movie, Robert would lean back behind Roberta and fling popcorn at Jeff. Then, he put his hand on Roberta’s leg and started to move it.
Roberta moved closer to Jeff and away from Robert, who got the hint and moved his hand back to himself. He still threw popcorn at Jeff throughout the movie, but one hit Roberta and she turned on him.
“Will you stop throwing popcorn at me and my boyfriend?! And by the way, next time you even think about touching me, you little worm, I’ll kick your ass so hard, you won’t be able to sit down for a week!” She whispered loudly.
“Fuck you, bitch.” Robert whispered back. He tapped Shane. “Come on, let’s go.” Robert and Shane stood up and walked out of the theatre. Jeff and Roberta would never see very much of those two after that. The rest of the movie was very enjoyable for them.
Later that week, at lunch, Jeff, Justin, and Ryan were at Roberta’s locker, waiting for Roberta. After 15 minutes of waiting, Jeff began to get scared. “Where is she?” He asked, looking around the halls. “The rest of her class is out for lunch. If she had detention, she would have got Megan to come and tell me.”
Suddenly, Megan ran up to them, out of breath. “Megan, what is it?” Justin asked.
“It's Roberta. She’s in trouble!”
“What? What kind of trouble?” Jeff asked.
“Tapper trouble! She’s outside.”
“Jeff, wait.” Ryan said, but it was too late, Jeff was already gone.
Outside, one of the Tappers had Roberta cornered against the side of the school. Whenever she tried to move, he’d step in front of her and push her back into the wall.
Jeff stormed out of the school, walking quickly. He saw the scene and anger coursed through his body. Then he saw the Tapper grab her by her wrist and start dragging her away.
“Hey!” Jeff yelled. The Tapper turned around just in time to see Jeff charge him. Jeff ran at the Tapper, and at the last second, jumped in the air and rammed into the Tapper, sending him into the wall, and letting go of Roberta.
The Tapper swung around and swung Jeff into the wall, but he did it by grabbing onto Jeff’s shirt, therefore, ripping the sleeve all the way down the side. The side fell to the ground and half of Jeff’s chest could be seen.
Jeff brought his fist back and then brought it forward hard, punching the Tapper. Suddenly, the other Tappers walked out from around the corner.
“Get him!” They shouted.
Roberta pulled Jeff away and they began running, being joined by Justin and Ryan, the Tappers in close pursuit.
They were chased down the street and they ran out to the front of the Mall. They all stopped to catch their breaths. Jeff looked behind them and didn’t see the Tappers coming.
“Where’d they go?” He asked.
Then suddenly an apple flew over the roof from the other side and smashed on the ground in the parking lot, a few meters from them. Then an orange came and that was soon followed by a pudding.
“Boy, they have bad aim.” Justin whispered to Ryan. Jeff reached down and picked up the pudding, which had exploded on the ground, and flung it back over the roof.
A second later, they heard one of the Tappers loudly moan and shout, “I’m going to kill them!” Soon enough, the Tappers ran around the corner and one of them had chocolate on his shirt.
“Time to run!” Ryan shouted. They turned and ran inside the IGA, the Tappers not far behind. Once inside, they slowed to a fast walk, as not to arouse attention, and they walked quickly through the aisles and out into the Mall’s halls.
They looked behind and saw the Tappers were still running after them. The Tappers reached them and grabbed Jeff by the shirt collar and started walking with him.
“Let him go!” Roberta shouted, tugging on them.
A security guard walked over. “Let him go.” He sighed. The Tappers did. “Now get out of here.”
The Tappers turned and left the Mall. Jeff, Roberta, Ryan, and Justin continued on to another exit and went out.
“That was a close call.” Jeff said.
“I wouldn’t talk yet.” Ryan corrected. They turned and saw the Tappers after them again.
“Ah hell.” Jeff sighed. They turned and ran up a small hill and saw they were coming out right next to Mary Queen of Peace. Suddenly, all the kids that were outside, turned and saw them.
The group stopped in their tracks. “Well this can’t be good.” Justin stated the obvious.
They turned and ran towards the street with all the MQP kids and the Tappers after them. They reached the street and crossed, avoiding cars, and causing others to screech to a stop. In the end, they made it back to the school, leaving all the others behind.
Once they got inside the school, they started walking around, catching their breaths.
“Well that was fun.” Justin said. Jeff, Roberta, and Ryan looked at him. “Well it was…” he said quietly.
As they walked, they saw groups of people here and there, most of them crying, even some of the guys.
“I wonder what’s going on.” Roberta said. Then as they were walking, Jolene walked passed them angrily. “Something tells me that she’s still pissed off at you about something.” Roberta said to Jeff.
“I still don’t know what I did.” Jeff admitted. Then Megan ran up to them, tears in her eyes.
“Megan? What’s going on?” Roberta asked.
“It’s bad.” She said with tears in her eyes. “The School Board just voted. They had it over the announcements. We’re all changing schools. Friends well be split up, relationships well be broken, all because the School Board thinks it will be easier for the students to get to school. We won’t even be able to choose what school we go to! We have to go to the school for our area. This is the last month most of these people well be together.”
“That’s awful.” Jeff exclaimed. “We can’t let them get away with it. We have to let them know how we feel.”
“How?” Megan asked. “What can we do? We’re only a bunch of kids.”
“We’re a bunch of voices. Angry voices. And we well be heard. I say we go on strike.” Jeff said. “I heard other schools were planning on doing it if the voting turned out bad.”
Ryan asked, “Strike? How can we do that? We’re not a union.”
“Fuck the Unions.” Jeff said. “We have to let them know how we feel. In a way that’ll get the point across. Sending mean e-mails just isn’t going to work this time. The school board, they think we’re nothing. We’re not nothing and it’s time to show it to them!”
They start walking around the school, shouting out that they’re going on strike to show the school board that they don’t want it to change.
“We don’t have hats or badges, but that doesn’t matter!” Jeff shouted out. “We’re a Union just by saying so!”
The bell rang to end lunch and start classes, however, no one listened to it. Most of the people in the halls booed the sound of the bell and the chanting of ’Strike! Strike! Strike!’ became louder and louder as more students joined in.
The students began running down the walls and burst out the main doors, cheering as they ran out of the school.
Jeff, Ryan, Justin, Megan, and Roberta were running down the halls, the school Principal chasing after them. “Get back here, trouble makers!”
The remaining students were throwing books and garbage around and ignoring the teachers’ protests to stop. One hard cover text book flung and hit Ryan in the back of the head, making him stumble, but he still managed to stay with the others.
Just as they were about to leave the school, laughing and cheering, an announcement came over the intercom. “This is your Principal speaking,” came an angry voice. “This well stop! Any student that is found with an un-excusable Absent for the afternoon but a Present for the morning, well be suspended during Exam week! In other words, if you leave, you well fail your exams and your grade!”
The kids that were left in the school stopped what they were doing, and started moaning. “And you also have to clean up the mess in the halls that you made. Good afternoon.”
The kids that were left, which were just under half of them, gave into defeat and started picking up the mess.
“No! We can’t give in!” Jeff yelled. He tried to run to the doors, but Roberta grabbed him.
“Not so fast, honey!”
“Let me go!”
With the help of Justin and Ryan, Roberta dragged Jeff to the empty cafeteria and sat him down in a seat. They saw poles with red rope going from one to the other and they took the red rope off and tied it around Jeff and the chair.
“Let me loose!!”
“Sorry.” Ryan said.
“Yeah,” Roberta agreed. “I can’t have you getting suspended and failing and not being in school with me. We’ll go help clean up the halls, and then be back for you.” They turned and walked out.
“Guys! Help! Please!” But there was no one left to hear.
About half an hour later, Roberta and Ryan were back and they untied Jeff. He jumped up and made a run for it, but Ryan grabbed him and Roberta placed a string around his neck.
“What’s this?” Jeff asked. Roberta walked in front of him and showed him. The string that was around his neck was attached to her hair brush.
“It’s so you don’t run away.”
“Haha! I’m stronger then you!” Jeff shouted. He turned and started to run, hoping to jerk the brush out of Roberta’s hands, but as he did, the string tightened around his neck and he started choking.
“Just calm down!” Roberta ordered. Jeff did and the string went loose again. “It’s a choke chain!” She said with excitement. “Now you can’t run away.”
They left the Cafeteria and walked down the hall, Jacob still on the leash. Soon, they saw Mr. Park and stopped to talk to him. “Hey, Mr. Park.” Ryan greeted said.
“Hey. Oh great a brush!” He took the brush from Roberta and started brushing his hair. He was about to pass it back to Roberta, when he saw the string on the end. “What’s this for?”
Jeff tried to shake his head, but before he could, Mr. Park tugged on the string. He looked over and saw Jeff’s face starting to turn blue.
“Oops.” He said with a smile. “Sorry.” He let the string loose. Jeff gave him a dirty look as they walked away.
A few weeks passed and it was now the last day of school. The day the students get their report cards.
At Lunch, Roberta, Jeff (still with the choke chain. Roberta put it on everyday because she thought it was funny), and Ryan were walking around the halls. Justin ran up to them.
“Guys, big emergency!”
“What is it?” Jeff asked.
“MQP is raging war on us!”
“What!?” Ryan shouted.
“Yeah, I was just over there and one of the Tappers, who used to go there, told me to get people from this school and to meet them on their field.”
“Shit. What are we going to do?” Jeff asked. “We can’t back down.”
Justin answered, “Well my cousin is one of the most well known people in the smoking area. I’ve already talked to her and she said that she could get most of the smoking area people to help us. I also talked to Weasel and he’ll also be helping us.”
“So we’re actually doing this?” Roberta asked.
“No.” Jeff said, turning to face her. “Not we. It’s too dangerous. I’m going, you’re not. End of story.”
“Is it because I’m a girl?” Roberta asked. Before Jeff could speak, she continued, “Because if it is, tuff shit. I’m going and I don’t want to hear another word.” Jeff was about to say something, but Roberta put her hand on the string. “Not another word!” she repeated.
“This war could make a great story.” Ryan said to Jeff. "For when you’re bored and need something to write.”
“Yeah, whatever. Let’s do this.”
“I’ll meet you guys at the Crosswalk.” Justin said, and with that, took off down the hall.
“Come on.” Ryan said. “Let’s make your last day of school in this province, a memorable.” He slapped Jeff on the back. The trio walked out of the school and made their way to the crosswalk. They waited for Justin for 15 minutes. When he finally showed up, he wasn’t alone. Weasel and everyone from the smoking area were with him.
“Let’s pound these fucks!” Lisa, Justin’s cousin, shouted. The smoking area people cheered.
There were hardly are vehicles driving down the street, so they just started running across the street instead of pushing the button. Most of them got across before cars reached the area, but Roberta was wearing a dress, so she couldn’t run very fast. Jeff, who won first place during many running competitions on Sport’s Day, was still attached to the string. He tried to run faster then she could, to avoid the cars, and the string kept chocking him more and more until he had to stop in the middle of the road and wait for Roberta to catch up. A car drove by, honking angrily.
On the other side of the street, they saw the army that MQP had made that was waiting for them. Among those people were the Tappers. The small army from MacDonald Drive let out a battle cry and the two groups rushed toward each other.
Everyone charged at each other and before anyone knew it, Lisa and the people from the smoking area whipped out water balloons and started throwing them, smashing them on the MQP kids, getting them soaking wet.
Then one kid noticed that only a few had water in it. Others had mustard, paint, and other harmful and staining things.
One MQP kid got bleach in his eyes from a balloon and he covered his eyes and stumbled around, blindly. “My eyes, my eyes!”
MQP started throwing rocks, breaking most of the balloons before they even reached them. Then some of the rocks started hitting the Smoking Area kids.
Jeff ran over to one of the Tappers, who had a rock and was about to throw it at Ryan. “I have a score to settle with you.” Jeff whispered as he ran over. He tapped the Tapper on the shoulder and when he turned around, Jeff threw a punch, knocking the Tapper out. Once the Tapper fell, Jeff stood above him and glared down at him. “Woof.”
Roberta was in a cat fight with another girl and she was on the ground, the other girl on top of her, about to punch her. Then all of a sudden, the girl was kicked off of her and she went flying into the pond. Lisa reached down a hand to help Roberta back to her feet and they both started fighting together.
The rest of the fighting was pretty much the same after the balloons ran out. It turned into one giant fistfight, with everyone throwing punches, kicks, throwing, tripping, spitting, head butting. Sometimes MQP kids would get the upper hand, other times it was MacDonald Drive kids.
After about 45 minutes of fighting, the remaining conscious MQP kids, including one of the Tappers, turned and ran inside their school.
A minute later, one of the windows opened and a few text books were thrown down, but they all missed everyone by a long shot.
“Must be that Tapper throwing them.” Justin said to Ryan, who smiled. Lisa reared back and threw a balloon up and it went into the classroom. It was followed by shouts and the window slammed shut.
“What was in that?” Roberta asked.
“Oh not much. Just crushed up rotten eggs.” A giant smile crossed her face. Everyone who was conscious let out a victory cry and started cheering. A couple of the kids take out cell phones and call for some ambulances for the people who were majorly injured which included Weasel, who was just barley holding into consciousness with a part of his arm jutting out in a way it wasn’t supposed to.
Jeff and Roberta stood looking around at the aftermath. “Roberta?” Jeff asked. She turned to him.
“Yeah?”
Jeff took Roberta by the waist and leaned in and kissed her passionately on the lips. The kiss lasted for several minutes and when they were done, Roberta looked up into Jeff’s eyes, smiled, and whispered. “Now that was dramatic.”
“Come on, let’s go get our report cards and end this school year.” As they walked away, Jeff felt a sharp pain in his stomach and quickly covered it with his hand. However, after a minute, the pain it was gone. His eyes darted to Roberta and he was thankful she hadn’t seen.
About half an hour later, the halls in the school were filled with kids emptying out their lockers and leaving, glad that school was over and summer was here. Although, not all were cleaning out their lockers and leaving. Some were pointlessly walking round the halls with friends, saying goodbye to various teachers, or even egging the office.
The Principal ducks behind his desk as an egg flies over it and just narrowly misses him. It explodes on the wall behind him. “Now cut that out!” he shouted into the hall.
Other students start ripping up paper and throwing it around as they run down the hall and rush outside, welcoming their freedom.
Mr. Park strolled down the hall, quietly singing ‘School’s out for Summer’ under his breath.
Ryan, Justin, Roberta, and Jeff were waiting at the entrance for Roberta and Ryan’s bus to show up. It pulled up to the doors as a handful of students started walking on.
“You’re coming to my party in a couple days, right?” Roberta asked Jeff. “You have to.”
“Of coarse.” Jeff smiled, although secretly, he had completely forgotten that Roberta’s birthday was in a couple days. The entire party was being held in a Rec Center and was going to be a dance. Jeff gathered that now wasn’t the time for him to tell her that he couldn’t dance.
“Good.” Roberta smiled. She kissed Jeff, waved buy, and got on the bus with Ryan.
“You can’t dance, can you?” Justin asked.
“Not in the slightest.” Jeff sighed.
1/9/2005 7:00:34 PM
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