Students Of Hell

Chapter 10: Joining The Homecoming Committee

An uneventful month had passed and Jude and Parker were finally free from their house arrest. The incident had left them feeling bitter at each other and neither of them wanted to accept the blame, so they chose to blame each other for what happened. This left their already weak friendship to be strained to the point that whenever the two were together in the room the tension felt between the two was so thick it could be cut through with a knife. In the main group, Eve and Tyler avoided the drama, Sam watched while eating a snack as it made for great entertainment whenever the two would either roast each other or fight, and Ruby did not like the conflict that went on and she tried thinking of a way to stop it.

She brainstormed multiple ideas on how to solve the problems and she workshopped them with Eve whom was starting to grow sick of Jude and Parker's constant bickering. They thought of an escape room but ultimately abandoned it because they were forbidden from leaving school grounds. Getting them part of after school activities would be good, though Parker already had that going for him. They tried to persuade Jude to do the same but there was no getting through to him. He was stubborn like a mule. Eve eventually gave up, leaving Ruby all on her lonesome to figure out how to resolve what happened between the two.

This issue was getting so bad that it was all Ruby could think about. This started to affect her work in class and her cheerleading after. The team was busy practicing a routine and Ruby had a flip coming up. The usually jovial cheerleader got distracted by her thoughts of Jude and Parker and that caused her to jump too far, low and, early, causing her to crash into the other cheerleaders. The cheerleaders groaned and moaned in pain while Ruby rolled off of them, moaning in pain as well.

"Hartin! What was that?!" The cheer squad captain yells at Ruby. "We've been practicing this routine for a month now, how could you mess up your jump?" Ruby looks down, ashamed of what she did causing Haley to let out an exasperated sigh, "I get you've been distracted for the past month but you still pulled through," this causes Ruby to lighten up a bit before Haley continues saying, "but, this? This is ridiculously. Homecoming is in a few weeks and this is definitely gonna delay our progress by a lot."

"I'm sorry, captain, I'll do better next time, I promise." Ruby apologizes, but, Haley puts her hand out, cutting her off. "Look, Ruby, you show great promise, you're reliable, you're fun, you got that cheer spirit that many of us are envious of. But, until you get your head in the game, you're suspended from the team." Ruby looks horrified and struggles to get up but Haley immediately stops her, "There's no negotiating. What ever you got distracting you, deal with it first and fast." Ruby looks downtrodden as Haley looks around and yells out, "Those of you who aren't injured, help the injured to the nurse's office and hit the showers!" Haley them proceeds to help Ruby while the other cheerleaders help their fallen comrades.

_______

Jude was seen sitting in the guidance counselor's office with the school guidance counselor, a man who looked to be about as old as his mother. He wore a pink shirt and a blue tie that matched with it. His demeanor was as calm as the ocean on a delightful day. His mood was a mirror to Jude's mood.

"So, Jude. It's been brought to my attention that you are among the remaining few students who haven't signed up for an extracurricular activity. Why is that?" The councilor asked the student who merely scoffed in response. "Waste of my time." Jude said as he looked to the side, clearly disinterested in the meeting.

The man simply sighed. "You remind me of someone I knew when I was your age, kid. She was stubborn, abrasive, angry, and she always kept to herself. She would have stayed that way if not for someone getting her out of that pit she dug herself in. I don't want to see any of the students going through something like that, so please... What ever you want to talk about, just let me know."

"Why bother? Not like there's anything you can do about it." Jude scoffed again before looking at the councilor. "I had something I could have done perfectly, but a certain idiot had to fuck shit up for me by getting people angry in the food court of the god damn mall!" Jude's anger kept growing as he let each word come out of his mouth.

"So you're still upset about what happened last month. If I'm not mistaken, Miss Reynolds informed me that you tried to get her to lift the ban from leaving school grounds since your punishment started. Why is that? The school has plenty to offer."

"The school doesn't have a good job that I can do after I'm done with class. A job that I like, a job that can help me connect with an uncle that I keep hearing stories about, an uncle that I never even got to meet." Jude answered the question with a bitter tone. "So tell me, Mister Miller, how do you think I'm gonna cope with that? I even got hired on that day before Parker ruined things for me. That job I got, is gone, finito."

Mr Miller looked at the kid before looking at the homecoming poster on the door behind said kid. "You said you wanted a job?" He smirked as Jude looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "I'll tell you what, I can try to convince Miss Reynolds and the rest of the staff to allow you to leave school grounds," Jude looked at him in anticipation before he said, "but, only if you can prove you can be responsible, and I got the perfect thing for you. You manage to get this done without any hassles, then you'll be able to leave school grounds."

"And there's the catch," Jude said with a sigh before looking at Mr Miller, "What do I have to do? Anything but janitor and lunch duty."

"I had the perfect thing in mind for you. A way to help you bond with your peers too. I'm assigning you to Homecoming Committee." Miller said as Jude paled in fear of what was to happen. "Have fun, Mister Eliot."

_______

Jude walked into the school gym only to look at a group he never expected to see. Eve, Samantha, Phoebe, Ruby, Parker, Tyler, Violet, and Silent Mike. He was confused and prayed he could leave without being noticed but someone called out to him which drew everyone's attention on him.

"Oh, Judy! Welcome! So nice of you to join us!" Phoebe. The nickname for him made the others snicker, Violet and Parker, especially. Jude silently cursed her name as he dragged his feet while moving toward the group. "Don't drag your feet Judy, it's bad for you." Phoebe said in a mocking tone while Jude just flipped her off.

"So, why are all of you here?" Jude asked to which most of them each had one answer in common... Mr Miller. Parker, Tyler, Sam, and Silent Mike were added there by Miller, while Ruby, Violet, Phoebe and Eve were there on their own volition. As they all finished telling each other why they were there, Jude was starting to regret asking for a chance to leave school grounds.