Chapter Ten

JJ huffed as his mother applied rouge to his cheeks. "I look like a fifth-grader."

"That's the point," she said. "Studies show that the younger a person looks, the more likely they are to receive a lenient sentence."

He straightened his tie, brushing the hair out of his eyes. "Ugh, let's get this over with."

Mrs. Giovanni gave his cheeks a final brush and deemed him ready for court. In the weeks since his fight with Travis, JJ had been to court multiple times as the district attorney and the parents of the others involved in the fight negotiated plea deals; as the instigator of the fight, JJ was looking at felony assault charges until his parents pulled some strings and had his charges dropped to misdemeanors. 

Travis's parents were livid until JJ's parents agreed to pay them an undisclosed amount to cover medical bills and court fees since Travis was facing multiple assault charges himself. When JJ had testified before the grand jury regarding his role in the fight, he made sure to keep his answers short and to the point, and the grand jury decided there was enough evidence to proceed with a trial. As the Giovannis and Turners wanted the matter settled fast, they agreed to bench trials. 

The judge officiating JJ's case was in her late fifties and had a reputation for being a hardass. JJ's nerves were shot; he didn't get much sleep the night before and threw up the toast he had for breakfast. Meanwhile, all his parents talked about was how much shame he'd brought upon their family and how they had to miss work because of his stupidity. Sometimes he wondered why he loved them when they couldn't care less about him.

He sighed and dabbed his sweaty forehead, praying his makeup didn't run. 

On the ride to the 50th District Courthouse, his parents acted like he wasn't there, on their cells like always. The chauffeur seemed to hit every pothole along Woodward Avenue. When they arrived at the courthouse, JJ headed to the bathroom to pee and checked himself over before joining his parents outside their assigned courtroom. He checked his social media feeds while he waited, tapping his right foot as he did so. Twenty minutes later, the bailiff called them inside. 

A million thoughts ran through his head as he stood before the judge, her owlish eyes boring into him. He took a deep breath to calm himself and prayed to St Jude.

He opened his eyes when the judge cleared her throat.

"In the matter of docket number 17-AP-12345-MI, I find Joshua Giovanni guilty of all charges."

JJ felt faint as his heart dropped to his feet, and the room spun. He gripped the lectern to balance himself until it passed.

"Are you all right, son?" the judge said.

"Just a little dizzy, Your Honor."

"Very well. Moving along, taking into consideration your age, ties to the community, and this being your first brush with the law, I'm leaning toward going easy on you."

JJ smiled, but the judge wasn't finished.

"That being said, your actions directly contributed to Mr. Turner's injuries, and I'd be remiss if I let you off with just a warning. Which is why I'm sentencing you to serve 300 hours of community service, mandatory anger management classes, and placing you on probation for three months. You are to report to your probation officer once a week, return all their calls, and submit to random drug tests. Let this be the last time I see you or next time, I won't go easy on you. Am I understood?"

JJ's mouth went dry, and he took a swig of water before answering her. "Yes, Your Honor. Thank you."

"If there's nothing else to discuss, the bailiff will show you to my clerk, who will give you the information on your probation officer and anger management courses and the timesheets for your community service hours."

   As they exited the courthouse, JJ's only thought was, There goes my whole summer.

***

  At school the next day, he broke the news to the Squad. 

"That sucks, dude," Lance said in between bites of lasagna at their table in the cafeteria. "See ya when you get off lockdown."

"Yeah," Henry said and then downed his bottle of Red Bull, burping loudly.

Rachel shook her head, her box braids getting in her face. "Don't mind those assholes. Me and Bri got your back. Assuming we don't have anything else planned," she said, laughing.

He shot her major side-eye. "With friends like you, who needs nemeses."

Rachel bopped him on the head. "JJ, you my boy and all, but you can't expect us to be holed up at your place all summer. A girl needs to get her party on. Ya feel me?"

He held back the curse words on his tongue and instead said, "Promise you'll text and party up for me?"

Mitchells laughed. "Deal, bro."

After that, everyone talked about their plans for the summer while JJ scanned the room for Travis, who'd been absent going on a month now. The paper on Frankenstein was due in a few weeks, and he still hadn't heard back from Travis about it. To keep his mind off his court case, he'd dug into the book and wrote a fifteen-page first draft. He doubted Travis would want to work with him after their fight, but every other group he asked was either full or had turned in their paper already, so he was pretty much stuck.

Maybe if I give him a peace offering, he'll agree to be my partner? It's worth a shot.

He checked his phone. There were still twenty-five minutes left of his lunch period, so he went to the office and asked for Travis's schedule and locker code so he could bring him the work he missed. The secretary refused, citing privacy issues, but caved when he gave her his kawaii eyes.   

***

Textbooks and assignments in his backpack, he lugged it onto the seat next to him and rode the SMART bus to Travis's side of town, walked the familiar path to the Turner house, then rang the doorbell. As he waited for the door to open, JJ's insides squirmed with eels of nervousness and excitement at finally being inside Travis's house. He'd imagined this moment countless times, and now it was--

"What do you want?" Travis said, his voice nasally as if he'd been crying. He was wearing Ray-Bans and a raggedy gray hoodie with matching sweatpants.

JJ commanded his mouth to make with the words. "Um, since you've been absent a while, I've brought the assignments you missed."

Travis grunted. "Where are they?"

JJ's face warmed with embarrassment. "Sorry. One second." He opened his backpack and handed Travis his books one by one, then the worksheets. "If you want, I could help you?"

Glaring, Travis said, "I don't. But thanks for the assignments and getting my textbooks. How did you get them and know where my house is?"

"The secretary in the office told me," he said, not missing a beat. "Maybe we could do that Frankenstein paper together? I have a first draft done."

JJ rummaged in his backpack and pulled out the paper, handing it to Travis with shaky hands. He prayed Travis found the paper worthy.

"Well?" he said when three minutes had passed.

With a pensive look on his face, Travis said, "Not bad, Giovanni. And here I thought you were an idiot like the rest of the kids at AP Prep."

"Hey, I resemble that remark," JJ said, doing his best Groucho Marx impersonation. Travis's lips quirked up in a smile before changing to a frown.

"Goodbye, Giovanni," he said, closing the door.

"Wait! The Frankenstein paper is due in three weeks, and no one else wants to be my partner."

Travis opened the door. "Then I guess we can be partners. Leave your paper with me. I'll combine it with mine, and we can workshop it together over Google Docs."

JJ smiled. "Whoot! And Travis?"

"What, Giovanni? And I told you, it's Turner to you."

Sweaty and cheeks flushed from being this close to his crush, JJ swallowed the lump in his throat. "Sorry for the fight and always teasing you."

"It's a little late for that." Travis slammed the door shut, and when he didn't open it after JJ banged for two minutes straight, JJ walked away, head low and a pit of anger building in his chest. Screw Travis in the cute ass.

***

On the ride home, JJ called up his friends, starting with David.       

 "Sorry, dude, but unlike you, The David is getting laid tonight."

"Bastard," JJ said to himself as he dialed Jason's number. He, too, was busy, and it was the same story when he called the Squad.

Assholes! When I throw a party, they can't get over here fast enough, but ask them to watch kaiju movies or anime, and they act like I'm contagious or something.

He went to his walk-in closet, selected his battered copy of Stand by Me from his DVD collection, then called Mariana on the intercom and told her to bring him a bottle of vodka and orange juice.

She set the tray down, brow furrowed, grimacing. "JJ, I don't like it when you drink."

He removed a wad of fifty-dollar bills from his pocket and handed her a few. "It'll be our secret."

 She looked at the money, tutted, and then took the bills. "Don't drink too much, Mijo. It's not good for growing boys."

He smiled. "I promise."

She left, telling him dinner would be ready in a few hours.

He settled in, singing along and laughing at his favorite parts, wishing that he had friends like the boys from Castle Rock.

Sure, I'm popular. But no one knows the real me, and I'm sick of hiding who I am. I wish I could go so far away no one knows me or my family. But I can't. I'm just a kid.

He fought back the tears. Would anyone even notice if I were gone? Would anyone care if I didn't show up to school tomorrow? I thought Travis was different, but he hates me!

JJ let the tears out. It wasn't like Marianna hadn't seen him cry before, and as usual, his parents were gone.

After he cried himself out, he dried his eyes and watched the rest of the movie.  

At dinner that night, his parents actually showed up, but they were so busy on their phones, they might as well have not been there. He asked them about getting a dog or maybe an iguana, but they shot him down, saying he was too irresponsible. 

After a torturous half hour, he excused himself to his room and spent the rest of the night listening to his Lonely Boy playlist. It was filled with his all-time favorite songs by Simple Plan, My Chemical Romance, Dashboard Confessional, Paramore, My Darkest Days, Skillet, Linkin Park, and Trading Yesterday.  

The good thing about having the second floor to himself is no one could hear him scream-cry his lungs out. When he was done, JJ's thoughts turned again to Travis. 

After the explosion, St. Michael's transferred David and the other patients to nearby hospitals, telling them a patient on oxygen had been smoking. However, JJ didn't believe that at all, especially given the supposed terrorist attack that happened mere feet from the hospital.

No, his gut told him Travis had something to do with both incidents. He couldn't prove it yet, but he'd keep an eye on Travis, whether the other boy liked it or not.

Author's Note: JJ and Travis both need to heed the adage: Be kind to everyone you meet, for they are fighting a battle you know nothing about. Next time, JJ attempts to befriend Travis and it doesn't go as he planned. Also, Travis prepares for his trial re: the brawl with JJ.

Liking this story or have comments? Let me know at phenix39@yahoo.com and check out my site to keep updated on this and other stories of mine.

And remember, nifty needs your continued support to remain free (http://donate.nifty.org).