Hostile Hookup

When You Need A Friend

Chapter 23
The Hostile Hookup

Stupid !=( This chapter would have been submitted earlier this afternoon but upon my final tweaking of the chap it suddenly logs me out without saving all my spell/grammer checks! And I had no time to do it again cause I had to get to work! So just so you guys know, it's not my fault the story's coming out this late. It's FF, blame them!

But at the very least I did make my deadline, so I can't be to upset. Oh and can I just say WOW! Last chap was so popular! You guys reviewed like you get paid to do it!(how cool would that be?) I wanna say thank you! I usually do it in PM's but lately I've been busy and more of a procrastinator than usual. I do appreceat the reviews though. It's because of the reviews that THH hasn't become one of those fics that gets posted and never updated to waste space on this site. Reviews really motivate me so again I appreciate it.^-^

Now let's get to the next chap,

Enjoy!

When You Need a Friend

Joey's friends stared in awe.

Joey stood, a proud smile on his lips, as his friends took in his highly professional apparel of a handsome business suit.

Standing in the hallways of Riverdale the young boy looked exceedingly sharp in a gray business suit a white collared button up shirt, complete with a red tie.

A red headed boy with a bad acne problem asked, "So it's true then? You're gonna work for Duncan's grandfather?"

The mentioned boy grinned happily, "Isn't it awesome? Duncan didn't want to do it, so he had me meet with his grandfather and we talked things out and," Joey gave a thoughtful look, "His grandfather's a strange guy...but he really liked me. He was impressed with my work in school and my overall school charity acts. And when I explained my..." He looked uneasy for a moment, "situation. He was more than willing to help."

His friends understood perfectly what Joey meant by 'situation' and were sympathetic but happy that all seemed to be taking a turn for the better for him.

Another boy with an acne problem and thick glasses spoke up, "So then where does that leave Duncan?"

A slight frown pulled on the Joeys lips at this, "Duncan...he didn't want to do it. Which is a shame because Duncan's grandfather was more than willing to have us both." He lowered a deep gaze to the ground, "But Duncan argued that if he had me then he wasn't needed..."

A chubby boy with bad teeth spoke up haughtily, "That jerk's as dumb as a tone of bricks! Passing down an opportunity like that! I bet his grandfather was pissed!"

Joey was silent for a moment, he thought hard of his last moments with the delinquent.

He gave a light shrug, "He was upset...but...I guess he realized Duncan was right...I mean his grandfather wanted to help me. He said I had potential for something great." His brows furrowed his gaze still trained on the ground, "He wanted to help me...but there was no reason for Duncan to stick around if he didn't want to."

The chubby boy grinned, "I'm glad you're filling in to take over his grandfather's business! Now, thanks to you, we don't have to worry about that stupid ape!"

Joey's frown deepened as he raised his hand up to fiddle thoughtfully with his tie.

After the whole Heather/Courtney fiasco (and a bag of ice to Duncan's painful manhood) they had finally been able to sit down and talk Duncan's idea out with his grandfather. It had taken some hard explaining, mainly because grandfather had seemed so hell bent on his idea to keep Duncan as his protégé and mainly because Duncan had only seemed half there at the moment. His mind still on the earlier events that had taken place. Joey had noticed at most times he and grandfather would have to call his name multiple times before the delinquent would snap from his thoughts to join back in the discussion at hand.