Joining the Band

Fuck You and All Your Friends

Jo's POV

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I nervously walked towards my locker, fiddling with my belt. I also had to find Cas and Josie so that I could say goodbye and explain. I was hoping that they'd understand.

I finally reached my locker and twisted the lock, opening the door. Shit. I didn't have a bag or anything. Oh, well. It was mostly textbooks that belonged to the school, plus a couple of binders and pens. I started pulling the stuff that belonged to me out and piling it on the floor. It was hard with one arm and incredibly painful with broken ribs. I was on a fuckton of painkillers, and I honestly couldn't imagine functioning without them right now. 

As I finished piling my shit on the floor, I heard a loud voice call my name. "JO!" Cas ran up to me and hugged me tightly. 

"Ow - OW!" I winced and my eyes filled with tears as he squeezed me. "Fuck, Cas!" He immediately let go of me and looked at me with concern. 

"Holy shit, Jo..." He whispered softly. He looked like he was about to cry. "What did you do to yourself?.." I reached out and held his hand softly. 

"Cas, I have some stuff to tell you. I'm leaving. My parents kicked me out. I drove into another car on the highway to try and kill myself. It obviously didn't work." I raised my broken arm and smiled gently. "I'm moving to California." Cas looked at me in shock after my confession, but his expression quickly grew angry. 

"What the actual FUCK, Jo?!" I stared at him in shock and took a step back. "You know there are people other than you in the world, right? What the fuck is wrong with you? You're seriously such  a pussy-" "stop.." "-that you can't even fucking text or call me to let me know what happened? I was SO WORRIED!" I looked down at my feet. 

"I'm sorry, Cas. I didn't know what to do. I was scared. Plus, I was unconscious for like 20 hours." I shuffled my feet sadly. 

"It doesn't fucking matter, Jo. And now you're leaving?! You're just gonna fucking run away from your problems? How much of a fucking bitch are you, Jo?! You know what? Whatever. I don't even fucking care. Have a good fucking time running from your problems, bitchass." He stormed off as I looked after him with tears in my eyes. I couldn't actually believe that had just happened. My cheeks felt hot and I could tell that I was crying again. I didn't want anyone to see me like this. I couldn't talk to Josie. I would just text her

I slammed my locker door as hard as I could and grabbed my binders, trying to ignore the fiery pain that shot through my body. "Fuck!" I punched my locker and turned away, ignoring the new pain that shot through my wrist and knuckles. I violently wiped the tears off of my cheek, but they just kept coming. 

Jacky's POV

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As soon as Jo left, Mr. Hansen looked angrily at Ronnie. 

"Look. I understand that this is a tough situation. But I can not let you run off with one of my young female teen students. I just can't." The principal crossed his arms and glared at Ronnie. I got a bit nervous and took a step back. I could tell that this was probably going to end in a huge argument, and I really did not want to be a part of it. 

"What the fuck? Can you maybe not make it sound like I'm some sort of disgusting creep? Dude, she has nowhere to go. What do you wanna do, drop her in some fucking trashy ass foster home somewhere?!" Ronnie balled his hands into fists and I took another small step back, bumping into a chair. 

"Calm down, sir. You aren't doing a great job of convincing me that I should let you take her. I think that our best option is to call the authorities, let them check out her situation at home, and go from there. And as far as you are concerned, thank you for your generous offer, but I think it would be best if you left Colorado and went back home." I sat down in the chair, bracing myself for the utter explosion that was about to come out of my bandmate. 

"Oh, fuck no. You have ABSOLUTELY no right to call the authorities. They won't do shit, believe me. They'll walk in, maybe put a mark on her dad's record, and walk out and leave her to suffer there. Or, they'll drop her in a shitty foster home and she'll just be abused by different people. I am going to take her to California with me. And I am going to give her the life that she deserves. And if you have a problem with that, I will personally shove my fi-" At that point I kicked Ronnie in the leg, causing him to grunt. But at least he shut up. I watched as the principal balled up his fists and I stood up slowly, worried about what was going to happen next. 

At that point, the door swung open.

Jo's POV

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I walked as fast as I could back to Mr. Hansen's office and threw my books onto the bench next to the door. I wiped my cheeks again and threw the door open, not caring if they were ready for me to come back or not. The men in the office looked at me in shock. 

"Jo? Did you already finish?" Ronnie asked me. Ronnie and Mr. Hansen looked like they had been arguing, and Jacky was standing defensively behind Ronnie. I could tell that I had walked in just at the right moment. 

"What's going on? Can we please go?" I sniffled and wiped more tears off of my cheeks, looking up at Ronnie. 

"I'm afraid you can't, Miss Jo." Mr. Hansen glared at Ronnie. 

"What do you mean 'I can't go'?! I need to get the fuck out of here right now!" I became hysterical and started crying harder. "You know what? I don't give a damn what you say. I'm leaving, and you can't stop me. Fuck this school, and everyone in it!" With that, I turned around, grabbed my books, and started running. I heard Mr. Hansen and the boys calling my name, but I didn't care. 

I ran down the stairs and outside, crying the entire way. I found Jacky's car and threw my books down onto the pavement, sitting down and leaning against the tire. I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my head on them, sobbing. My crying only got worse because of the pain I was in. With the yelling, the running, and the crying, my lungs felt like they were going to explode. I was dizzy and could see a bunch of black spots everywhere I looked, and I felt like I was going to vomit. I sobbed into my knees for about 5 minutes before the boys came out. Ronnie jogged up to me, Jacky trailing behind him and looking concerned. 

"Jo? Jo. Hey, come here. It's okay." Ronnie kneeled next to me and wrapped his arms around me. I collapsed against him and cried for what felt like hours while he rubbed my back. "Shh. It's okay. It's gonna be okay." He whispered in my ear. Finally I calmed down, and he let me go to look at me. "Are you okay?" 

"Yea, I just.. Can we just go please? I'm done here." I reached out my good hand for Ronnie to help me stand up. He nodded silently and helped me up before helping me into the car. Jacky got into the front seat quietly and turned the car on as I slid down in the backseat until I was laying down. I closed my eyes for a second, and the next thing I knew, I was asleep.