The Revenge of Captain Jerk--Chapter 3 of Storyteller's Story

Hey, guys, here's the next chapter. Sorry I didn't post yesterday!! I am so bad about this..... I feel like an 80 year old lady, lol..... ;)

The Revenge of Captain Jerko

“…And this is Jessica Freeman.”

   I was glad that the teacher had only briefly introduced me. I knew that in some places they didn’t introduce at all. I guess at small towns like Zodiac that they do. Any which way, it was strange. Everybody was just like staring at me.

     “Anyway…” the teacher, Ms. Swanson, went off on another bunny-trail. She was an easily distracted teacher, the result of which some of the kids used to their advantage.

      Ping! A rubber band shot off the finger of a boy next to me. His blue eyes sparkled mischievously. He noticed me staring at him in horror and only pushed his dark blonde hair off his forehead.

     To my other horror I felt a note being slipping into my lap. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Logan trying to hide the fact that he’d just slipped a note onto my lap.

    Jessie—that’s Sam. He’s one of the pranksters. You probably don’t want to hang out with him, because he’s known to get his friends in trouble on purpose. He thinks it’s funny.

   My horror mounted.

   I quickly glanced around for some way to get rid of the note before somebody else noticed it. I heard a quiet snicker and turned, seeing Sam laughing at me. I glared at him, but he only shrugged and looked towards Ms. Swanson, who was trying to figure out who’d fired the rubber band.

       The rest of school was far from better.

       When the rest of the school found out that I didn’t have a founded “name”, and was called Jessica by my dad, Jess by my mom, and Jessie by my “secret best friend” (yeah right—grow up!), I knew I’d never hear the end of it.

      “Hey, Freeman!” yelled Sam down the hallway as I was walking towards my locker. His slim, athletic form took the few feet between us quickly. He stared me down. “So, what’s your name? Jessica, Jess, or Jessie? Or, wait—is it’s noodle-face?” he burst out laughing.

     Tears pricked my eyes. I tried to push them back. For goodness sakes, I was almost in high school. I was way too old for tears, especially in front of bullies. Instead, I pushed them back and faced Sam head-on, glaring at him and standing firm.

     He only laughed harder. “And what do you think you are, Captain Japan?”

     “Is that supposed to be funny?” I demanded. “Or were you purposely trying to make yourself sound stupid?”

     He seemed to be totally surprised by that, and took a step backwards.

     “And just to say, I’m half Chinese,” I corrected. “Not Japanese. There’s a big difference, you know.” I pushed him backwards. “Learn it.” Then I walked off.

     Logan hurried over to me as I reached my locker. “Oh my gosh! That was totally awesome! Dude, you just like totally pushed Sam off in front of like everybody! You’re practically a hero, dude!”

     I glared at him. “I’m not a ‘dude’.”

     He shrugged. “Whatever, Jessie. That’s not the point! That was awesome!”

     “Thanks.” I managed a wan smile, grabbing my books out of my pretty much bare locker. It wasn’t at all like my locker in California, which had been covered in stickers and signatures from my friends.

     “You know,” mused Logan, following me down the hallway as if we were already best friends and hadn’t just met the day before, “if you’re Captain Japan or China or whatever, than that must mean that Sam’s Captain America! Yeah, that’s a good name for him.”

     “I like Captain America,” I pointed out.

      Logan shrugged. “Well, if you’re Captain China, then he’s got to be captain of something.”

     “How about Captain Jerko?” I offered sarcastically.

      Logan paused for a moment before his face lit up. “Of course! It’s perfect! You don’t know how many people you’re going to inspire by naming him and everything.” Logan’s face was in a huge smile. “I have to tell everybody!”

     And Logan ran off.

It was finally the end of school. I grabbed my backpack in relief that I was finally done with the first day of school at the horror of Zodiac Middle School. The place should’ve been named Horror Middle School. It would’ve been perfect.

      I hadn’t seen Logan since he’d ran off to go tell everybody that Sam’s name was now Captain Jerko. Frankly, it made him seem pretty immature. Oh, well.

       As I walked out of the doors, I couldn’t help but have the feeling that I was being followed. I remembered all of those movies where the bully follows you after you say something back to them or something.

      I’d just humiliated Sam in front of the whole hallway full of kids. This couldn’t be good.

     I walked more quickly, sticking to groups of kids. I’d just walked out the door when I felt somebody grab my shoulder. I was sure I was going to be doomed, and that all my parents would ever find would be a pile of sucked bones.

      I was about to scream.

     “Jessie, shh!” warned Logan, glancing around the corner into the school.

     “Logan!” I hissed. “Why on earth did you do that? You totally freaked me out!”

     “We still have to wait for your mom,” he pointed out, looking back at me. “But she’s not here yet. I’m sure that Captain Jerko’s going to be making his move soon. I mean, you did make fun of him in front of the whole hallway.”
      “I did not make fun of him!” I defended. “I was defending myself.”

      “Yeah, well, he’s hopping mad. I can tell.” Logan glanced around the corner again.

      “It’s not as if we can just sit here for the rest of the day,” I pointed out. “Come on. Mom’s probably on the other end of the parking lot.”

      Logan sighed in frustration. “Even if she is, we wouldn’t survive until there! Look!” he pointed towards the door.

      Sam walked out. He was followed by an athletic boy with dark brown hair and a boy who could’ve been a surfer for all I knew. Logan pulled me farther behind the corner of the block.

     “We’re so dead, we’re so dead,” Logan kept on repeating underneath his breath.

       Sam’s eyes surveyed the parking lot. He spoke to his friends, and then they split up. The dark brown haired boy walked our way. Logan gulped. I wanted to roll my eyes, but the seriousness of the situation took hold of me.

     I was about to get the beating of my life.