Chapter 13: Viva, Aqueela!

"Thanks for coming to fetch me," I tell Jay as soon as we step in through the front door.

"Thanks for not calling me to fetch you," he retorts sarcastically. "Why did Dylan have to phone me to say that you're walking home?" he interrogates me.

"I don't know," I shrug, clueless. "I never asked him to do that."

Our neighborhood is safe-ish but Jay is over-paranoid, especially when it comes to me.

"That's even worse," he lectures me and takes a seat on one of the couches. "You should always let me know where you are, in case, I need to find you. Just take precautionary measures. I don't ever want to have to worry about you."

I roll my eyes at him but comply anyway. "Fine. Next time, I'll let you know."

"Thank you," he replies, satisfied with my response. "Now, how was your date?"

Weird question when it's coming from the guy you're going to marry...

"Other than me deciding to leave you for him, Blubber sure put me through my paces," I admit and take a seat beside him.

The doorbell rings at that exact moment. I glance over at Jay for an explanation.

"Well..." Jay winces, indirectly answering my question, "he's about to put you through some more."

I narrow my eyes at him accusingly. "What did you do?"

Before he can answer, Slobber jumps up onto the couch and flops onto his lap. Jay smiles down at our furbaby and gently scratches him behind his ears. Slobber relaxes and yawns, his eyes slowly closing.

"It's unfair how much he loves you," I complain. "You didn't even want him," I remind him.

Jay gasps and covers Slobber's ears. He shakes his head at me in warning. "Not in front of the furball, 'Queela. He's innocent. He doesn't need to hear the lies that you're spitting out," he jokes before uncovering Slobber's ears and kissing the top of his head. "I wanted you, boy, don't listen to your mom, she's a filthy liar," he tells Slobber, unaware of just how cute their relationship is.

Slobber stares up at Jay and cocks his head to the side, hanging onto his every word, his tail wagging relentlessly.

"Daddy always wanted you. Daddy loves you, way more than your mother does," Jay adds, cooing at Slobber, just to get on my nerves.

Slobber paws at Jay's chest in excitement and barks up at him before licking his cheek. Jay laughs and uses his sleeve to wipe away Slobber's slobber.

I take in the sight of Jay cuddling our dog and smile, my heart feeling warm and full. "Maybe I kind of get why he loves you," I reluctantly admit, still envious of their bond -- I miss Oog.

Jay smirks at me, taking delight in my jealousy and his victory. "I'm just lovable," he hums, happy with himself.

"Sure..." I drawl out in sarcasm, refusing to humor him.

He just grins at me as the doorbell continues to echo around us.

"Seeing as you invited Blubber over...again, you get the door for him," I tell him, devising a plan to steal Slobber from him. As soon as he stands up, Slobs will be all mine.

Jay shakes his head at me. "Sorry, my klutz, my sweet girl, my love, my world, my everything, but no. You know the rules. The dog is on me, thus, I have been chosen and, therefore, I cannot move."

I glare at him for a second before caving – I'm all for bending the rules but you don't mess with these kinds of rules, they're serious. "Fair point," I huff and get up to open the door. As soon as I do, I'm greeted joyfully as if Blubber didn't just see me earlier today and as if our date wasn't a complete, dare I say it, disaster.

"Wifey, I'm home!" Blubber announces himself and barges straight in, much to my dismay.

"Yay!" I reply in sarcasm. "I'm overjoyed to see you," I state emotionlessly before taking my seat next to Jay and Slobs again.

Blubber grins flirtatiously at me and winks. "Ah-ah, don't you get cute with me, bae."

I wait a few seconds and then whack Jay on his upper arm when he fails to reprimand Blubber.

"Sorry," Jay apologizes to me before glancing over at Blubber, "how you doing, my man? Please, take a seat."

"Would it kill you to pretend to be the slightest bit possessive over me?" I hiss at him, displeased. "I wasn't hitting you to greet him, I was hitting you to stop him from hitting on me!"

"That's a confusing string of words, right there," Jay replies, failing to care that an eighteen-year-old is about to steal me right from underneath his leather jacket.

Blubber sits opposite us and clears his throat, a firm expression set on his face. "I know what this is about, Cool-Guy-Jay. I want you to know that when Aqueela pulled the moves on me today, I told her to keep her hands to herself but she's too much like Selena Gomez."

I will slap this kid upside his head so hard that he'll be living with a permanent migraine for the rest of his measly life.

Jay nods at him, playing along. "Thank you. I'm grateful," he tells Blubber. "I knew that I could trust you to keep her in check."

"I try," Blubber lies to Jay's face and has the audacity to do it right in front of me, "but you know that she does whatever she wants. She has the backbone of a Brachiosaurus."

"I don't like the two of you tag-teaming against me," I whine before Jay can say anything more. I can already see how this is going to play out.

"So, anyway," Jay says, brushing me off like my words mean nothing, directing the focus back to Blubber again, "I just wanted to check-in and see how you're doing, how your mom and Simo are doing."

"Speaking of which, I quickly need to tell my mom not to wait up because I'm spending the night with Aqueela," Blubber tells us while taking out his phone, unaware of what he's just implied.

I'm not even the one who invited him over!

Jay frowns in thought at hearing that. "Maybe rephrase...like all of that...before sending," he suggests calmly.

"No, that's okay, she'll get it," Blubber insists and starts typing on his phone.

Great. Everybody is going to think that I'm a cougar.

"I'm side-lining you," I tell Jay while Blubber is preoccupied. "Can you stop being a living tonsil?"

"A tonsil?" Jay asks me, contemplating my words for a second before catching the meaning. "Wait, you're calling me useless, aren't you?"

I nod, owning up to it. "I don't want to but right now, it stands to reason that you are. This is like a game of mental chess with a toddler. If you want to get somewhere with Blubber, you'll have to ask him outright," I explain. It helps to know your victim.

"Fine," Jay agrees and glances over at Blubber again. "So, really, how are things going with your mom? How she doing? You guys still close?"

Blubber puts his phone back into his pocket and looks up at us again. "Yeah, she's well. I love my mom."

Jay nods, listening carefully to him. "Is she still working at fast food stalls?"

"Yeah," Blubber answers him. "We need the extra money. It's not like Simo's job brings home a lot of bacon – and I'm talking about money and literal bacon, mostly literal bacon."

Jay grins, finding him amusing. "Well, my man, if you ever want bacon, the type that you eat, we'll gladly provide. You know where to find us," he stupidly offers.

"Right here," I speak up for Blubber's sake. "In case, you didn't catch that."

"I'll be here every morning for breakfast!" Blubber replies, excitement shining through his eyes. He's taking us very literally.

Oh, Jay. You have no idea what you're getting us into.

"And how is school going?" Jay, being intelligent for once, quickly changes topics.

"I was just telling Aqueela today that I'm graduating early," Blub announces in pride.

Wait...when did he tell me this?

"My man..." Jay trails off in surprise, "that's great! Nicely done," he congratulates him.

Blubber grins and pulls out a letter from his pocket. He tosses it to Jay. "Yup. I'm pretty happy about it. My mom isn't though."

I watch Jay unfold the letter and read it. When the frown lines appear on his face, I know that no matter what Blubber is saying, this can't be good.

"Blubber..." Jay drawls, speechless, "this says that you've been expelled," he says after first clearing his throat and processing what he's just read.

Blubber smiles widely, uncaring. "Yeah, so, basically, I'm graduating early! Point is, I never have to go back. Whoop! Whoop!"

I nod at him and tap my chest twice with my fist before showing him the peace sign. "Respect."

Jay slaps my hand down and looks between Blubber and me, still shocked. "No. No, Aqueela, no respect for that."

I roll my eyes at Jay but decide to try and be a better example. "What happened?" I ask Blubber. He led us to believes that he's been doing well under false pretenses.

Blubber raises one shoulder in a half-shrug, not taking me seriously. "I think flirting with the older teachers was getting to Principal P."

What is it with Blubber and older women?!

"You're going to battle to get into university without finishing school," Jay points out the facts, giving him the harsh truth. "You were so close to really graduating," he says, disappointed.

"It's okay," Blubber waves the matter off as if it's no big deal to him. "You and Aqueela didn't go to university and you guys turned out okay-ish."

Well, aren't we just great role-models?

I raise my eyebrows at him. "Okay-ish?" I ask, annoyed.

"Well, Jay turned out okay," he corrects himself. "You're just a big mess-ish."

"See, this is why you need high school," I say after listening to how ridiculous he is, "without it, you resort to making up words."

"'Mess-ish' is in the dictionary. Look it up, you uggo!" he snaps at me as if I'm at fault for being dumb here.

"Don't 'uggo' me, Uncle Fester!" I hiss back, immediately jumping into action.

"I studied medicine for a bit," Jay purposely chips in before we can argue further, "but I dropped out for my racing career. What I'm trying to get at, is that Aqueela and I always have the option to go and study further someday."

"Whatever," Blubber says and shakes his head at both of us. "You two are worse than my mom. Why can't you be happy for me like Simo?" he questions, confused by our reactions.

Because we're not idiots...

"It's because we care about you," I clarify, wanting him to get it – it's important that he does.

"Great, the uggo is getting all emotional on me," Blub jokes, trying to lighten the mood but failing miserably.

"I don't understand," I say as I continue to dwell on it, "Principal P is a softy at heart. It doesn't make any sense. I was much worse than you, I'm sure, and he never expelled me."

"I guess I'm just..." Blubber shrugs again, pretending to be unaffected by the situation, "I'm used to people giving up on me pretty quickly," he admits, his voice changing ever so slightly, revealing his true emotions.

"Not me, bud," Jay tells him adamantly. "Not us. We're gonna fix this," he finalizes in conviction, meaning it.

I nod profusely, agreeing with Jay. "We'll speak to Principal P ourselves if we have to. We're not letting this slide, Pork Chop."

"It's okay, guys," Blubber replies, having already lost heart in the matter, "it's not like I'm going to be a lawyer or something. I'm not bright enough. I'll probably just end up working for Dylan too. I don't need university."

Jay shakes his head, completely disagreeing with him. "Nah, buddy, you deserve better. You were made for more," he tells Blubber, being completely transparent and genuine with him.

"You're so smart, Blubber," I tell him, needing him to believe me, to believe us. "You are. You just need to start trusting your own abilities. You can achieve so much. I know you can. Jay believes in you and I kind of do...even if you don't believe in yourself, even if the entire world doesn't believe in you."

"Woah, nobody said anything about the entire world being against me," Blubber objects to what I just said, offended.

That's my bad...

Jay subtly elbows me and sends me a look.

I guess I should leave the talking to him...

"We're going to make this right," Jay responds in determination. "You can collect on my word soon enough."

"Don't make it worse," Blubber pleads, actually showing signs that he cares about what happens next.

Jay shakes his head. "Buddy, I promise you," he says, sincere, "I won't. I'm going to make everything better for you," he reassures him.

"Thanks. I just don't want this whole thing to blow up and then my dad hears about it, you know?" he informs us, clearly worried about it. "I don't want to give him a reason to be more disappointed in me or give him another reason to justify why he left us."

And there it is...

I get up from my seat and sit beside Blubber. I wrap a supportive arm around his shoulders and draw him into a side hug. "You don't need to be anxious over that, over anything. We'll take care of it. You're like family to us and we only want the absolute best for you and being expelled, that isn't it."

I'm shocked when Blubber diverts his gaze and stares at the floor. I don't miss him blinking back a tear or two. Seeing him like this does something to me. I don't want to feel like this and I definitely don't want Blubber to feel like this.

"Your dad won't hear any of it, okay, man," Jay reassures him a second time, seeing what I'm seeing. "This is what it's really about, right? Your dad?"

Blubber merely nods. "Yea."

I hug him tighter. "Not this time, Blubber. This time it will be different because you have us on your side."

Blubber lifts a hand and discreetly wipes at his eyes. "Thank you, guys."

I have never seen this side to Blubber, not once since knowing him, and I guess it's because I've never exactly reached out. It just makes me realize that Jay is right. The people around us might not be okay and we'll never know if we don't take the first step and make the effort.

Jay puts Slobber aside and stands up too. He makes his way over to us and pats Blubber on the back. "We'll handle it, bud. I promise."

*~*~*~**~*~*~*

"So, we're really doing this then?" Jay asks me while looking at the building before us, the building we used to attend daily at one point in our lives.

I nod. "I swore that I'd never come back here," I tell him, remembering back to a few months ago when I dragged Troy, Benley, and Max back here, "and I'm about to break that promise to myself a second time."

"You saw Peter?" he asks me, taken aback. I guess I forgot to mention it to him. He was still somewhere in Africa at the time.

I nod. "Yeah. He missed me so much and welcomed me back with open arms," I tell him truthfully. "Honestly, I'd go as far as to say that his life is pretty purposeless without me."

Jay chuckles and touches me on my arm in pity. "Sure, 'Queela. I'd go as far as to say that I believe you."

I take his hand into mine and forcefully pull him into the school before he can continue his sarcastic assault on me.

Oddly enough, the ladies who work at the front office are nowhere in sight, neither is Principal Long's assistant. I guess it's a busy day or something. We probably should have arranged an appointment but that's just not me.

"Let's try his office," I suggest, climbing the stairs to the second floor – I know this place like I know the back of my hand, sort of well. "It's not our fault his worker bees are slacking. The eggheads cracked when he needed them most. It's because of their absence that we're about to be present in his office."

Jay ignores me and continues walking down the hallway.

"You missed it!" I call him back and stop in front of a very familiar-looking door.

"It's not fair play considering you visited his office way more than me," he jokes while strolling back over to me.

I knock on the door. There's loud chatter coming from the other side but no one is answering me directly. I look at Jay and shrug before barging in – YOLO! You can imagine my surprise when I see that the office has been transformed into another classroom.

I meet the gaze of many students and smile from ear to ear. "Hello, class!" I greet enthusiastically and impulsively. Fortunately, there's no teacher present. "Hello, my subordinates!" That sounds better. It's a power move.

Jay follows in after me and carefully tugs me back by my elbow. "What are you doing?" he angrily whispers to me, sensing where this is going – he knows me too well. I can't pull the wool over his eyes anymore.

"I'm fulfilling the role I was born to play!" I tell him and then turn back to my adoring class – I can tell, they already love me. "How are my students doing today?" I ask them, not really interested in the answer. This isn't about them; this is about me.

Jay shakes his head at me before quietly lecturing me again, "Seriously, Aqueela, stop. No. Don't. Stop. Don't. No. More words that might get you to terminate this idea. Did I already say 'stop'?"

"Look, Jay," I say and proceed to explain my plan to him, "I know that they are very impressionable at this age and thus, I need to nurture that and take full advantage of that and mold them into people who will worship me for the ages."

"Spoken like a true teacher," he remarks sarcastically, making it clear that he disapproves of my actions.

"You know that we can hear you guys, right?" a girl, sitting in the front row, enlightens us.

Unfazed, I shush the girl and gesture for my class to greet me. Surprisingly, they listen and do as said – it's wonderful when the chain of command leads back to me.

"Morning!" all the students chime harmoniously -- it's like music to my ears. I've missed my calling in life.

"You're not our teacher!" a cheeky kid from the back pipes up, only noticing now.

"Nerd alert!" I shout back at him and grin when his mouth falls agape in shock.

Who even notices something like that? I don't think I ever noticed who was teaching me, mostly because I was never paying attention.

"Our real teacher is a lot smarter than you," he says, not done talking to me.

"That's it! No more wisecracks from you...wisecracker!" I raise my voice at him, hoping to whip some fear into his soul. "Please escort yourself out of my class and go down to the detention room," I command, not even sure if he'll listen.

"Only if it's by the window!" he responds with pure venom in his voice.

"Go!" I repeat and point to the door again. Otherwise, I'll gladly toss him out of the window myself. "Get! Or else I'm coming over there!"

"This isn't even your class but fine!" the kid yells back at me, giving in – this must be the Benley of the school, no doubt. "Anything to get away from here!" He picks up his backpack and leaves the class but not before sending a 'drop dead' glare that sends an icy chill up my spine.

Jay tugs me aside again before I can do anything rasher. "The power is already going to your head. Leadership should never be deferred to you. This is a bad idea," he says, trying to convince me out of it.

"Bad ideas always make for good memories," I argue, persistent. "You need to let me do this. Don't clip my wings. Let me fly like a penguin. Let me soar on wings of Pegasus'. Let me dance to the beat of my own drum."

"You always do and you beat that drum way too hard!" he protests but takes a seat behind the teacher's desk and allows me my moment nonetheless.

"Now, children, I don't want to alarm you but..." I trail off in thought, looking for an excuse, "your previous teacher is gone."

One kid raises their hand and asks a question, "Do you mean that she's sick or something, Ma'am?"

I shake my head. "I'm afraid not. I suppose it's better to just rip the band-aid off while it's fresh...she's dead," I lie. I don't where the hell she is but it's her own fault for leaving this class alone for so long.

"But she was here a few minutes ago!" someone says in alarm.

"She said that she's just getting extra supplies for us," another teen informs me, worried.

"Tragedies happen so quickly these days," is all that I manage to say in return to that.

Yeah...I don't want to even turn around and see Jay's face right now.

"Wrap this up before we have to send all of them to counseling," he says in a frustrated tone of voice. "We didn't come here for this," he reminds me of something that I don't want to be reminded about.

I ignore Jay and fixate my attention back on my treasured learners. Before I can say anything more to them, a couple of students suddenly stand up together and begin chanting in unison:

"Viva, Aqueela!"

"Viva, Aqueela!"

"Viva, Lawson!"

"Long live the legend of Burnsville High!"

"Don't deny us your brilliance!"

Jay clears his throat from behind me, just as lost as me. "Uh...what's happening?"

"I don't know but I'm loving it!" I answer in return and start dancing and cheering alongside the rowdy teenagers, perpetuating it. "Viva, me! I am a legend!" I motion for them to chant louder and to keep it coming. "Praise me more!"

"It seems you have an actual fan club. Your reputation must precede you around here," Jay says and moves to stand beside me in order to take in the scene. "We better pump the brakes on this thing," he advises for the billionth time, deflecting my fame. "The commotion is not only going to bring questions but it's also going to bring the supposedly dead teacher back."

My groupies nudge Jay out of the way so that they can form a circle around me. This is where I belong, in the center of the circle. The center of attention is where I truly bloom. These have to be the honor students of the school because they're clearly highly intelligent.

I continue to sway and move to the beat of their chants, getting lost in their love for me – it's addicting. "Those of you who are not adorning me with praise, like my loyal subjects here, will be expelled," I threaten the other students, forgetting that I'm here to stop Blubber from being expelled – kind of defeating the purpose, I know.

"You're a walking, glorified disaster. You're making a spectacle out of yourself," I hear Jay mock me but to be honest, I couldn't care less.

Somewhere during the crazy dancing, I trip over my own two left feet and fall to the ground and hit my head, hard -- Karma has it out for me. "Ah! Who pushed me?!" I stand up quickly and shoot a random kid a scathing look. "I'm watching you, Julien."

"My name is Matt," he corrects me, and fearfully takes a step back from me.

"I'll let it slide this time, Mack, but you better learn to curb your jealousy," I warn him, aware that he shoved me because he wants the limelight on him instead of me.

"Are you okay? Did that garbage 'Mack child' hurt you?" a voice, one that I strangely recognize, asks me. "I'll break him for you," he assures me as if it's no big deal.

I spin around and lock eyes with Brice, my high school bodyguard who literally used to idolize me and do everything for me. "Brice!" I say, stunned, and then immediately hug him. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting to graduate," he tells me, not bothering to elaborate on that.

"But you're the same age as me," I say slowly, putting it together. Actually, I think he may be one year older than me.

"Yeah," he blinks lazily. "I was wondering where you went," he confesses, proving that he's still a few cards short of a full deck and one fry short of a happy meal. The light is on but nobody is home. The elevator doesn't go to the top floor. There's a village missing its idiot – and I'm not talking about me, Blubber and AJ.

"How is Colby, Mavis, and David?" I ask, remembering the good times I had when I rolled with my old crew. We were great together. I should enlist them back into my 'Aqueela amoeba'. I've really missed them. They were loyal unto the very end and, by that, I mean graduation.

"I can't find them anywhere. I've been looking for you and them everywhere," Brice answers, seemingly relieved to have at least found me.

"I...we...we all...graduated, Brice," I try to tell him but it doesn't seem like my words are getting through to him. "Five years ago." I don't know how else to make him understand. "That's probably why you can't find any of us around anymore."

"Oh," Brice replies, a blank expression on his face. "But maybe you were in a different class at the time and that's why I couldn't find you. Then maybe when I went to that class, you went to the cafeteria. And then maybe when I looked in the cafeteria, you already went—"

I stop him right there. "Maybe." He's like a broken record. The best way to end this is to just agree with him.

Jay pushes past the crowd to get to me. "Flip sake, it's like wading through a sea of Aqueelas to get to the main Aqueela," he mutters and then looks down at me with a pleading look. "Alright, you've had your moment. I really think we should consider leaving now. Your fans have paid enough homage to you. Are you not satisfied yet?"

No.

"Hey, going out on a limb here but aren't you Jay Taylor, former F1 racer?" One of the male teens asks, finally noticing Jay's presence.

The kid ends up disrupting the chanting going on around me. However, I'm kind of interested in what he has to say and some other kids seem interested too, so I decide to let him keep speaking.

"No," Jay shakes his head, lying, "wrong guy."

I stifle a chuckle. I know how much Jay hates being in the spotlight. He's the complete opposite of me in that aspect.

"You are," the teen fan insists, sure of his facts. "You came into Formula 1 out of nowhere. I remember you because you surprised everyone. You weren't even in Formula 2 and no one knew who you were. Then, all of a sudden, you won a season with Ferrari. You were incredible."

I still don't think I'm fully grasping how talented Jay is, mostly because I don't keep up with sports.

"But then you vanished," the kid continues, saddened by the fact. "You dropped off the grid and pulled a Nico Rosberg on us."

I really can't stand the fact that I'm the reason that Jay doesn't race professionally anymore. He's told me over a million times that it was his choice but I don't think I'll get over it anytime soon. He should still be racing. Whenever someone brings the subject up, I can see the longing in his eyes. He still wants to race but he's holding back because of me.

"Hush this fuss," I demand, now wanting the kid to drop it as much Jay wants the kid to drop it. "Hush that fuss and bring it back my way."

"You know," the stupid kid continues, ignoring me flat – he only has eyes for Jay, "our principal takes a lot of pride in you. He says you're a past student. He basically has a public shrine dedicated to you."

"Alrighty," I eagerly interrupt the conversation again, "now, this I gotta see." I motion to the kid to lead the way.

I wave goodbye to my sweet fangirls and fanboys and fanalltheothergenders. "May we meet again! Viva, Aqueela!" I shout one last time and throw my fist to the air for them.

"Viva, Aqueela!" they all holler back, roaring in triumph before reluctantly saying goodbye to me – I will definitely be missed.

Jay and I follow after the kid. The kid leads us down a few hallways and I have to say that it feels strange walking these isles again after five long years. It feels weird not having Bells and Max beside me.

The kid stops in front of the award cabinets where cheerleading and football trophies are usually bestowed for all to see.

"This is so embarrassing. We're going to have to talk about this to Peter while we're here," Jay declares at seeing a giant cardboard cut-out of himself standing beside the cabinet.

"Maybe no one knows that it's you," I say to him in the hopes of making him feel better. I know how this kind of stuff bugs him.

"No," the kid shakes his head, disagreeing with me, "we all know that it's you," he says to Jay and points to the name 'Jay Taylor of 2014' written above the cut-out in bold letters. "You are the pride and joy of our school."

"And what do you know about me?" I ask the kid, curious. The attention needs to be placed on me again, for my sake and Jay's.

"Judging from the fan club...which I'm in no way part of, by the way..." he feels the need to add, "I'd say that you're probably crazier than all of them put together."

Jay rubs his chin and nods at the kid, impressed. "Good guess." He turns to look at me. "This is where the real smart kids are at, Aqueela. I'm pretty sure that half of your fan club is on drugs."

"I can vouch for that," the teenager pipes up, obviously choosing to side with Jay over me, "I've seen a few of them stoned."

Jay swallows back a laugh and shrugs helplessly at me. "See. Told you. They'd have to be high to follow you."

"Maybe they can't help it," I defend them and myself in the process. "Maybe being high is like their default state. Maybe cherishing me is the only way they know how to live."

"Maybe," Jay agrees with ease.

For a split second, I'm pleased with the win, that's until I realize what he just did to me. He did what I just did to Brice.

"You better man up and argue with me, Taylor," I threaten him, onto him.

Cunning, little...

"There's just no keeping you happy, is there?" he asks, quirking an eyebrow at me. "I'm not going to argue with you because it's a waste of time. You argue from an emotional point of view and not from a logical standpoint."

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm not a robot!" I counter and shoot him an irritated look. "I'm sorry that I don't have innate coolness like you!"

The kid scratches the back of his neck and nods along to my words. "You sure don't. He's way cooler than you."

I lunge for the kid but Jay wraps an arm around my waist and yanks me back to him before I can do any damage.

"Go to the detention room!" I shout at the kid as Jay begins to drag me away from him.

"No, thanks. You don't even go here anymore," the kid says cockily before saluting Jay. "My highlight of the week has been meeting you. I hope to see you on the tracks again very soon. You're an inspiration to a lot of us here."

"And what about me?!" I call out to him from over my shoulder.

"What's the opposite of the word 'inspiration'?" he asks in return. "Like a hindrance or something? Yeah. Sounds right."

I hate this kid. My groupies need to deal with him accordingly.

"Sorry about her," Jay apologizes on my behalf – it's really just plain unnecessary. "It was great meeting you too, man. All the best for the future."

"Why are you so nice?" I begrudgingly ask Jay once we're out of the kid's earshot.

Jay doesn't answer me. He's too busy focusing on dodging the incoming teacher.

What is this guy doing?!

The teacher, who nearly collides with us, immediately apologizes. The second he looks up to meet our gazes, he stops dead, frozen in shock.

"Is this a nightmare?" he asks aloud, his eyes glued on me.

I bat him an innocent smile. "How do you do, Mr. Freeden? It's been a while."

"Not long enough," he answers truthfully. "What are you two doing here?" he asks with a scowl.

Yeah...he's probably not my biggest fan considering I skipped most of his classes and blackmailed him once.

"That's classified," I pull a 'Zac'. "But, in all honesty, I'm re-enrolling," I lie just to see his reaction.

"Then I need to go and write up my resignation letter," Mr. Freeden replies, horrified. "I'd rather defuse bombs for a living than teach you again. It's less stressful."

Oh, please! I'm a joy! I have a very teachable spirit! Everybody knows that!

"She's kidding," Jay steps in and saves the poor man from further lies and 'stress'. "We came to visit Peter."

Mr. Freeden nods at Jay and drops his scowl, indifferent to him. "You should know that his office has been moved. It's past the cafeteria," he tells Jay, actually being helpful for once.

Jay sends him an appreciative nod in return. "Thanks."

"Just keep walking. It's all in your head. They're not really here. She's not really here," Mr. Freeden mumbles to himself, shakes his head as if to snap himself out of it, and keeps on walking past us.

"You've scarred just about everyone here, you know that, right?" Jay asks me as we make our way to the cafeteria.

"No," I refute his statement, "I just make a lasting impression."

When Jay doesn't answer me, I lift my eyes to see what he's looking at. He stops walking and I do too when I see what's going on up ahead.

It looks like some kids wearing football jerseys are picking on a pudgy girl with glasses.

We listen carefully to hear what they're saying in case we're misjudging the situation or something.

"Saw you eating back there, Chubby. You might want to tone it down a notch. It looked like you were eating for an entire country," one of them says aloud, deliberately, for all in the room to hear.

His two buddies pat him on the back and they all laugh together at her expense.

The girl turns bright red under their penetrating gazes. She says nothing as they continue to use their intimidating heights and bulky statures to loom over her in a menacing way.

It's become clear that the goal here is to humiliate her in public.

"Seriously, you're starting to look pregnant, Chubs," another one of the guys adds, deliberately knocking her shoulder with his, giving her a hard time about her weight. He pokes her stomach and guffaws along with his friends. "My finger disappeared in all that fat," he snickers loudly. "I can't find it."

I glance around the cafeteria. There are students laughing. There are students who are simply ignoring the situation. And then there are students who clearly don't find any of this funny.

Who will stand up and say something?

"Have you been messing around with someone? Is that it?" another jock mocks her for his own entertainment. "Is that the reason behind the sudden weight gain? Are you really pregnant, tramp?"

The girl seems too afraid to say anything. I study her body language. Her fingers are trembling and she keeps swallowing, obviously terrified of these losers. She won't even meet their gazes.

"Speak up, Fatty," he pressurizes her for a response.

"I doubt it," the first guy speaks up, "who'd want her?" he sneers before removing her glasses from her face and tossing it near a trashcan. "She probably ate the last guy who took an interest in her."

Jay elbows me gently and looks down at me with concern. "I can't watch this any longer."

I nod and before I can question what he's about to do, he walks over to them and makes himself known:

"I'd want her," Jay says loudly and boldly. "Who wouldn't? She beautiful," he states in a matter-of-fact way.

My heart warms over and I internally smile. I love how much he hates bullies. He has such a compassionate soul and to me, that's the most attractive thing on the planet.

Jay walks over to the trashcan and picks up her glasses. He casually walks over back to the girl and the three jerks. He crouches slightly so that he's on eye-level with the girl and carefully places her glasses back on her face.

The girl blinks up at him in confusion, probably wondering why he's helping her. Clearly, she's not used to people caring about her.

Jay meets her gaze and gives her one of his rare, authentic smiles -- those ones that blow you away, I'd know. "You're incredibly beautiful," he tells her to her face, wanting her to hear it and to believe it. "You're way out of these idiots' leagues. They don't stand a shot with you and they know it."

The school falls into hushed whispers and I'm able to make out some of it. A lot of the students are beginning to recognize Jay from the school's hall of fame – why I don't have a cardboard cut-out of myself, I'll never know.

"You call this beautiful?" one of them pokes the girl again before he and his friends cackle like hyenas.

It happens so fast that if I blinked, I would have missed it. Before the kid can remove his finger from the girl's stomach, Jay catches his finger in his hand. Jay, without hesitation, bends the finger back and I hear the distinct snapping sound.

"Don't ever lay your hands on her, or any girl, ever again," Jay warns firmly, his voice cold – I know this side of him and it's not pretty. "Is this really what you want to be known for?" he asks, trying to get them to think about their actions.

The kid, with the broken finger, bellows out in pain and I hold in a laugh. Honestly, that was rightfully deserved. He yells something about the nurse's office before running away, leaving his two friends to face Jay's wrath on their own.

Pfft! My grandma has a higher pain threshold than him.

Football players...

I decide to make my entrance and lend Jay a helping hand. I walk up to one of the bullies and deliberately ram into him, 'accidentally' knocking his lunch tray up into his face.

"Whoops! Organic crap anyway," I laugh, not feeling guilty at all. "Just thought you should know that this isn't your station anymore, train wreck."

"What gives?!" the jock roars at me. The food has splattered all over his shirt and face and he's obviously not happy about it.

"You should thank me. I just improved your face," I retort and glance up at him, holding his glare. "And that's saying a lot because you look like the human version of Mondays and period cramps. Worse..." I pause for a second, "YouTube without the 'skip ad' option."

The kid stands taller than me but I don't scare easily. Fury flickers through his brown eyes and it's all directed at me. Enraged, he opens his mouth to say something but I'm quick to shush him:

"Uh-uh-uh," I wave my finger at him in a condescending manner, "you sound much better when your mouth is shut," I say before he can utter anything more.

"You'll pay for this," he tells me but his attention is not on me anymore. His gaze is darting all over the cafeteria room. Everyone is laughing at him and it seems to be getting to him. I guess he's not used to being the brunt of the joke. "I'm serious," he whispers to me, sweat forming by his brow, "you're going to be sorry that you ever met me."

I stifle a grin, unperturbed by his pathetic threats. "I already am. We all are," I reply and gesture to the entire cafeteria room, involving the other students with the hope that they'll follow in my footsteps and grow a Brachiosaurus backbone against this loser. "Right, guys?" I ask them, praying that at least one of them will be brave enough to side with me.

A few seconds or so pass before a girl stands up at her table and nods in agreement with me. "I'm sick and tired of you, Daniel!" Her gaze zeros in on him as she takes her stand. "I've had enough! Your attitude sucks!" she screams, letting go of all the hatred that she's clearly been bottling up for a while. "I'm not putting up with it anymore!"

Proud, I walk over to the girl and fist-bump her. "Well said." Now, that takes courage.

Motivated, everyone sitting at the girl's table stands up and begins hurling insults at Daniel too. As they do, another table stands up and another and so on, and so on until everyone in the cafeteria room is literally standing up against Daniel.

I stride back over to Daniel without a care in the world. "I think it's time you start having lunch in the library. While you're there, read up on how to be a decent human being. I'd explain the word 'decent' to you but I don't have crayons on me."

Daniel shoots me a wicked scowl before he slinks away, not daring to challenge me or his peers again.

I spin around and set my sights on the last of the jocks. I grin at him and step toward him. Wary, he immediately takes a step back. I raise an eyebrow at him and wait. He opens his mouth to say something but thinks better of it and closes his mouth again.

"Dude, I can clearly see that you're wearing concealer. Let's not do this, I'll rip you apart," I tell him and it's enough to drive him away too.

As soon as the last of the three is out of sight, everyone begins to cheer and applaud. It's like seeing a revolution take place before my very eyes.

I glance over at Jay to see him comforting the girl. I skip over to them and draw the girl into a tight hug. "I'm sorry that you had to put up with them. Hopefully, they'll leave you alone now," I tell her and then pull away to see her smiling at us.

"Thank you," she says to both of us, beyond grateful. "You two are like my guardian angels."

The whole time while she is speaking, she is staring at Jay with goo-goo eyes. Jay doesn't seem to notice and I can't help but smile – typical of him. I know it's just an innocent crush on her part and I think it's cute. I personally know how difficult it is to resist Jay. Like I've said before, he's an ace.

"What's your name?" Jay asks the girl, taking an interest in her life, making it clear to her that she matters.

"Kate," she replies, beaming up at him in a blissful haze.

"Hey, Kate," the girl who first stood up to Daniel is now standing before us and looking slightly shaken up, "you're welcome to sit at our table from now on. I'll make sure those guys never bug you ever again. You can count on it."

Kate clutches her books to her chest in an unyielding grip, unsure of the offer. "Really?" she asks the girl meekly.

The girl nods without a moment's hesitation. "We don't mind," she gestures back to her table. Everyone sitting at the table all smile at Kate and nod at her in reassurance. "You're fine," the girl reassures Kate.

Kate hesitates and we all notice it.

Sensing her apprehension, the girl uses a gentler voice on Kate. "Please?"

Kate thinks over it and eventually nods. "Okay," she agrees.

The girl smiles at her again. "Thank you for giving us a shot, Kate. I'm sorry for being silent before," she apologizes and then turns to look at me next. "And you, thank you for reminding me to stand up for what's right."

Huh. That's new. Usually, I teach people to stand up for what's wrong. I must have turned over a new leaf or something.

Everyone must agree with the girl because they're all suddenly chanting at me:

"Speech!"

"Speech!"

"Speech!"

"Aww shucks, guys, but I have nothing prepared," I apologize before immediately launching into a monologue, using a dramatic tone of voice. "Life!" I start loudly and then continue off the top of my head. "Life was much easier when Apple and Blackberry were just fruits!"

Jay slaps his forehead but it's not enough to deter me.

"Speaking of fruits, here's a serious question for you guys to ponder on, what came first, orange the fruit or orange the color?" I lay down the question for them. "Deep stuff. Think about that for a minute."

I don't know why people are laughing at me. This is a serious moment that should be remembered for all time.

"And during this walk called life, people will try and put you down. They'll tell you that nothing is impossible but I'll tell you what, I do nothing every single day!" I clap my hands and gesture to them to clap too. Fortunately, they follow suit.

From my peripheral vision, I see Jay shaking his head.

"They might call you lazy but tell me if this seems like lazy," I continue my speech for them, "nothing means continuously converting oxygen into carbon dioxide and I've been doing that since birth. You can applaud again here," I inform them and wait for the second round of applause.

I'm crushing this.

I start my conclusion, "Finally, I want you all to remember that to be old like Jay and wise like me in life, you first have to be young and stupid in life. Make your mistakes during the rainy seasons but then learn from them and part the clouds for the rainbow and the sun!"

I pretend to drop my invisible mic as everyone erupts in a final applause for me. I'm met by a standing ovation.

Were they already standing? Maybe.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I bow before them, taking it all in.

My moment is pulverized when I hear Peter Long's stern voice from behind me:

"You two," he beckons to me and Jay without looking at us, too busy on his cell phone, "detention room. Now."

I glance at Jay to see his take on this but he looks just as clueless as me.

Am I in trouble again? Must be because I suddenly feel like I've just time-traveled five years into the past when this was a reoccurring situation.

*~**~*

Hey, guys :)

I hope you are all doing well and I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter! Let me know your thoughts and ideas -- I try to incorporate them where I can. I love chatting with you guys and getting to know all of you :)

1. What is your take on Jay and Aqueela's relationship with each other at the moment?

2. What was your favorite part of this chapter?

3. Do you have 'dog rules' in your house?

4. Do you feel sorry for Blubber or is the expulsion well-deserved?

5. Your take on the way Jay interacts with Blubber?

6. What's up with Principal P?

7. Is Blubber a worse student than Aqueela?

8. Can Jay and Aqueela fix the expulsion issue?

9. Should Aqueela be a teacher? Why or why not?

10. How do you think Aqueela's fan club started?

11. Would you rather be part of Aqueela's fan club or Jay's fan club? Why?

12. Do you remember Brice from PAUSE and from Aqueela's BONUS chapter?

13. Should Brice, Mavis, Colby, and David be brought back into the story?

14. How do you react to the spotlight? Like Jay or Aqueela?

15. Thoughts on how Jay and Aqueela handled Kate's bullies?

16. Should Aqueela be a motivational speaker? Why or why not?

17. Thoughts on Kate and her little crush?

Thanks for the support! Please vote and comment...if you feel like it. I'll see you in the next chapter. Keep safe! :)

~ CJ