The Jon Solo Chronicles Book 2: The Empire Strikes Back

Chapter 9: Jon's First Pimple

About a week had passed since the trip to Bespin started. Much had happened in that time. Jon's days were spent looking at more old holos of himself, Han and Chewie.

And under Leia's tutelage, Jon also began to focus more on his studies. He'd always been very intelligent, despite never having had a formal education. Jon told Leia that his father and Chewie had pretty much, more or less, home-schooled him. From a very early age, he'd been taught how to read and write. This showed because he was such an avid reader. Math was the one subject that didn't come as easily to Jon. But he always tried his hardest. Leia also knew how much of an affinity he had for languages. Thanks to him, she was getting better at understanding Chewie every day.She challenged Jon to learn a new language. After searching the holo-net, Jon picked a language called Ubese. It sounded cool to him. Little did he know how much this decision would come to impact him in the future.

But other than that, the rest of Jon's days proved to be rather uneventful. He would get up get up, have breakfast, brush his teeth and get dressed. After that, he would have his lessons with Leia. She knew how smart he was, and often told him so. However, she never brought up the possibility of Jon going to a real school. But it wasn't that Leia was afraid of Jon, or Han, objecting to the idea. The real reason was, that with the way their lives were, sending Jon off to school really wasn't an option. These lessons lasted until lunch, and then would continue until dinner. After dinner, Jon was free to do whatever he wanted until bedtime.

This routine continued day in and day out. Jon began to have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, his days were structured. And on a long voyage such as this, a kid like Jon needed structure. But on the other hand, after a while, the routine became a bit monotonous, and frankly, boring. Jon knew better than to complain, though. Everyone around him did their best to make this trip as interesting as possible for him. And he appreciated their efforts. He really did. It just that, sometimes, he wished for something different to happen.

Jon woke up. He was hungry. But he also had to pee. Very badly. He made a mad dash to the toilet in the 'fresher. After relieving himself, he looked in the mirror as he washed his hands. He saw something on his left cheek. At first, he thought it was a hair. Like, maybe, he was beginning to a grow a beard of sorts. And that made him happy. He was thirteen, and the presence of facial hair was just more step on his journey to manhood. But looking closer, Jon realized that it wasn't a hair on his face. It was a-a...

"A zit!" Jon exclaimed. Yes. That's right. Jon Solo had just gotten his very first pimple. Jon rushed from the 'fresher and back into his cabin. He climbed into bed again, and covered his face with a pillow.

"Why did this have to happen?" Jon moaned. "Why now? Why me?"

"Jon!" Han yelled. "Breakfast!" Jon sat up with a groan. He couldn't go out! He just couldn't! Everyone would laugh at him, including his own father. No. Jon resolved to stay in his cabin until this pimple cleared up. Or for the rest of his life. Whichever came first. There was a knock at his door.

"Jon!" Han repeated. "Come on! I'm not gonna call you a third time!"

"Alright, Dad," Jon sighed. "I'm coming." He guessed he didn't have a choice. He would have to go out now. All he could do was hope that no one would even notice the pimple. He went out. He sat down a the table. So far, so good.