He woke up on the cold ground. Numb. Pain entered everything in his now-feeble body. Loneliness took hold of his brain again. Autumn leaves blew every which way. Groaning in pain, Jonathan slowly lifted himself up and struggled to open his left eye. He couldn't and figured that he got another punch there. Two young girls stood by the East Bakersfield High bell. Smoking. Dressed in black. Eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses. "Yo, what in the hell happened to you?" yelled the blonde to Jonathan. "What, you weren't here to see?" asked Jonathan, putting his hands gently on his stomach. "Were we supposed to? We were in detention!" replied the brunette, putting out her cigarette. Shivering, Jonathan bent down and picked up his binder. Shreds of old and new assignments of his were everywhere. "Sh*t." remarked Jonathan, through his good eye. "Are you coming, Rachel? I'm going home." announced the brunette, zipping up her Adidas jacket. "Shouldn't we give 'im a lift? God, it's freaking cold out, Sarah!" reminded Rachel, looking at her friend. "Well, he is kinda cute." remarked Sarah, taking off her sunglasses. "Hey, kid!" shouted Rachel to Jonathan. Slowly, Jonathan turned around and weakly hollered back, "Yeah?" "Want a lift to your crib?" asked Rachel, still hollering. Nodding, Jonathan walked like an infant just beginning to walk. Rachel and Sarah waited and when he caught up, they walked together. The only car in the lot was a black station wagon with what appeared to be a flat tire and black dice hanging from the rearview mirror. Sarah unlocked the doors and opened the back driver's door especially for Jonathan. "Thanks." said Jonathan, carefully crawling in. Candy wrappers, empty Marlboro cigarette containers, papers, books and clothing were everywhere. The rickety car started and pulled out of the parking lot with little struggle. With that, the three were off.

"You seem awfully familiar," said Rachel, breaking the eerie silence. "Any relation to Rachel Davis?" "She's my sister. She just doesn't like to claim me as her brother, though." replied Jonathan, tossing a few strands of his hair to the side. "Rachel Davis is a bitch." muttered Sarah, turning right. "Haha. Plain and simple." agreed Rachel, smiling. Both girls were quite cute in their own unique way. Attracting Jonathan to them. But his reputation as the town "faget" hurt him ever making chances with a female. "Your name is Jonathan Davis, right? Coroner's assistant, right? I think you worked on my uncle's daughter. That f*cker raped his own 11-month-old daughter, can you believe that? I sure as hell didn't." sighed Sarah, shaking her head slowly. Memories flashed of seeing the little girl with the broken legs and how she looked like like she was banged like a plastic, toy doll. "Yeah, I examined her. What was his sentence again?" asked Jonathan, lifting his head. "Life. Thank God." replied Sarah. After a few minutes of chatting with them, Jonathan didn't feel like an outcast. He felt like he actually BELONGED! This feeling was very rare. Before Jonathan knew it, Sarah parked in front of his house. "So long, Jonathan!" said Rachel, putting her petite hand out the window. Waving. "Bye!" hollered Jonathan, also waving. He watched the vehicle disappear from a dot to nothing down Rose Mary Drive.

As Jonathan opened the door, the usual smell of cigarettes and liquor welcomed Jonathan's nostrils. Sitting in the living room was Tim and his spoiled sister, Rachel. They were cuddling each other. Tim occassionally let his hand grope Rachel's breasts and feel a bit of her thigh. Sickening Jonathan. With anger, he released the screen door with a SLAM! Catching Tim's and Rachel's attention. "J-Jonathan!" gasped Rachel, closing her pink flowered shirt. "Why are you home so late?" "I got in another fight, thank you very much." replied Jonathan, rolling his eyes. "Oh, that's too bad. When will kids learn to appreciate homos for who they are?" asked Tim sarcastically. Sighing. "You're not funny, Tim." remarked Jonathan, walking upstairs. Feeling tears in his eyes. "Aw, don't cry, Jonathan! He was just kidding around!" shouted Rachel behind Jonathan. "The hell I was." muttered Tim. "Shut up!" ordered Rachel.

RING-RING-RING! "JONATHAN,PICK UP THE DAMN PHONE! IT'S FOR YOU!" shouted Lisa from downstairs. Wiping away his tears, Jonathan threw his binder to the side to the corner. Saliva was trailing down the sides of his mouth and he took care of that by wiping it away with the collar of his T-shirt. Unsteadily, he picked up the phone and put it by his face. "Hello?" Jonathan groggily asked.

"Hey, Jonathan! It's Ryan! Ryan Shuck!"

"Finally, someone I can talk to!"

"Why did you say that?"

"High school's a bunch of @#%$!"

"I skipped today, why didn't you?"

"I wanna graduate, Ryan, if you hadn't noticed. I'm not going back to those cages I classify as classrooms. Returning to school with all the preppy stereotypes."

"I understand completely, man. Are you coming to rehearsal tomorrow?"

"Oh, sh*t. I forgot! Tomorrow's Saturday!"

"Bingo, Jonathan!" chuckled Ryan, "Well, are you? Ty just quit, so you're our last hope, man."

"Ty quit? What band did he move onto now?"

"Cradle of Thorns, if I remember right."

"Everyone's leaving us."

"Yup."

"Sure, I'll come."

"Did you do something?"

"No, why?"

"You sound happier, somewhat. Did you meet a girl?"

"Yeah, but what's it to you?"

"Did anything happen?"

"No, Ryan! Seriously!"

"OK, OK. But tell me at practice how you met her."

Jonathan and Ryan talked about what songs they were going to perform and where they were going to practice. They discussed how they were going to replace Ty if Jonathan happened to quit himself.

"Quit? Quit?!" asked the astonished Ryan.

"It might happen! Who knows? Another band might come along and ask me for a job." said Jonathan.

"Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan. What will we do without you?"

Go to Part 3