First, there was school… school is bad enough without a science test I failed miserably. And then after school, I tripped over somebody’s foot, into a mud puddle. I jumped up and these two guys were standing there laughing. “All right, who did that?” I asked. “Oooo little Mr. I’m-better-than-you fell down!” I was getting mad by now, can you blame me? And one said, “Be scared, little emo’s mad.” And I yelled, “I am NOT emo!” and almost leapt on both, but one of the teachers was walking by and saw us. “What happened, boys? JoJo, why are you muddy?” “He tripped.” “On his own feet.” They said before I had a chance to say anything. “I did NOT! Somebody tripped me!” I said as calmly as I could, given the circumstances. “Really? Who?” He asked. “I don’t know…” “Boys?” “Neither of us, I told you he tripped over his own little feet. Why would you believe HIM, anyway?” I looked at the speaker, he was a big Who, weirdly enough he wasn’t in my class, and I didn’t recognize him. “Well, he IS the one who is covered in mud.” “His own PARENTS can’t trust him, so why should you?” “Take it back!” I said and I don’t know what I would have done if the teacher didn’t put a hand on my chest. “JoJo, don’t do anything you’ll… regret…” and I was so disgusted with all of them. “Nobody trusts me!” I yelled and I almost ran away… but they’d laugh and say I told you so so I stood there and didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t about to cry and I now I couldn’t run away. “It’s okay, son, go home and let your mom get you cleaned off.” “I’ll do it myself.” I said and shoved his hand away and went home. But I did look back, and the teacher was walking away, and there was this other guy who came up to the two other boys and was yelling at them… I thought about that for a second and kept going. And like I expected, mom was there, waiting for us all to get home and there was the anticipated “JoJo! What happened?”

“Uhhhh… I… tripped.” I looked down… I didn’t know why but I didn’t want to tell her what happened. “JoJo?” I looked at her… for about a second. “Sure you just ‘tripped’?” “Yeah.” She looked at me a little strangely. I think. “I’ll go get… cleaned up.” I said awkwardly and went off. This was yesterday. Then... see next entry for what happened later.