Circles | Jody & Tyler | The Dumping Ground

Utopia

Tyler POV

I stared at the card before me as the smell of my black felt-tip seemed to linger in the air. I already knew this plan stunk, but it was worth a shot. An apology card to Mike on behalf of everyone in the DG. All their names written with my left hand. So not obvious!

We'd been fighting the whole day; everyone with their own dilemmas: Candi-Rose complaining that Ryan had eaten her muffin, Sasha accusing Jay of going through her laptop, someone tying up Jody's trainers... it could only lead to one thing; Mike cancelling the trip to the funfair.

The trip I had been saving up for, for weeks... counting down the days till poof! It disappeared, just like that. But if life had taught me anything, it was that we could always turn things around eventually.

So when Mike agreed to lend us VIP wristbands to the fair on the basis that everyone stopped fighting for a whole day; I was going to take it seriously.

Make the impossible happen.

Jody POV

I glanced down at the blank piece of paper before me, racking my brain for something to draw.

Tyler had come up with another one of his weird plans again, and despite my reluctance that it would actually work, I'd gone along with it. He was my mate after all, and I knew his heart was in the right place.

He'd given us the task of drawing the happiest thing that came into our mind.

Soppy, I know, but Tyler was in his "Let's all be zen!" mode. I could barely think straight since someone had been messing with my trainers ever since I'd started going to the gym regularly.

Boxing had become a new hobby for me, and despite the fact that I'd never stuck at one activity, I'd found something worth doing. Still, no one had forgotten about how frustrating I'd been since seeing Mum again... and it was clear that some people still held a grudge against me.

Someone was tying up my shoes and I didn't know who.

As Tyler starting playing some soothing music, I focussed on the task at hand. The happiest thing?! I glanced around the room, trying to find some inspiration. My eyes landed on Tyler who was busy giving us all tips, lost in his own train of thought...

He'd been drifting. We hadn't been able to spend as much time with each other, ever since I'd started boxing and it seems as though he was also wrapped up in his world of podcasts... his DG island, so to speak. Even through all this chaos, he'd always be the one trying to fix things and recreate his ideal world.

I started to draw, noting the brown curls that seemed to cushion around his head; the Hawaiian colours of his t-shirt, his bright eyes... his smile...

Gulping, I tried not to get caught up in my own emotions. Ever since Candi-Rose had given me that stupid magazine, I couldn't help noticing things about Tyler that I'd never really noticed before. Stupid soppy things, that made my heart skip a little, made me overthink everything he said to me...

Except he didn't like me. Not like that anyway. Why would he?

He didn't have time to be thinking about things like that. Besides, he fancied girls who were cool. Like Sophie at the skate park. I was just the resident hot mess. The problematic girl.

Not worth the hassle.

I sighed sadly as I continued to draw, resolving to sort out my feelings. It wasn't long before Sasha and Jay started arguing. I knew Tyler's plan was never going to work.

"This is stupid!" Sasha eventually exclaimed, "I can't pretend to be happy. Who are we kidding? Arguments are a fact of life and Mike shouldn't punish us for it! We should be more angry!"