CHAPTER FIVE;

"FILTHY MOUTH, NO EXCUSE"

"GUYS." The girl called, jumping over the last three steps of the staircase. "Get in here!"

Vinny and Frankie rushed into the living room at the sound of their sister's voice. The eldest sibling was covered in flour and their mother's apron dangled from his neck; he'd been attempting to make a pizza from scratch for Jo as a birthday present.

"What?" They asked, simultaneously.

Jo shoved her songbook into Frankie's hands, not wanting to get flour all over it. "I wrote a new song and I wanna sing this one at the showcase, instead."

For a few moments in silence, the men read the lyrics, smiling.

"Scissorhands?" Vinny asked, a smile on his lips. "As in, Edward Scissorhands? Like — Johnny Depp?"

Rolling her eyes playfully, the girl nodded. "Yeah. After my run-in with Bitchney, I figured I needed something more.. me. You know?"

They nodded in understanding, handing the book back to her.

"I'll let the band know.. But, until then, the pizza's in the oven." Vinny announced, "I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Don't get flour on my towel!" Frankie yelled after his brother as the long haired man ran upstairs; flour fell off of him with every step her took, making the remaining two Moreno siblings glad that they didn't have carpeted floors.

Jo's phone buzzed, causing her to furrow her brows as she'd seen that she'd gotten a text from an unknown number.

Party at my place starts at 8. Hope to see you there, Tiny.

With a small smile, she turned her phone sideways and slid out the keyboard, typing her reply to the boy.

If I can get dummies 1 & 2 to agree after we eat pizza, you'll def see me there. And don't call me Tiny! Punk.

"Hey, Frankie?" She spoke, sliding her phone back into her sweatpants pocket. "Rodrick's throwing a party, tonight. Can I go?"

"You haven't been to a party in years, Jo. Go on, have some fun."

Vinny rose a brow from the top of the stairs. "I agree. But if you have too much fun, and I'll kill a teenager... also, the water in the shower burned off a layer of my skin." He added, reuniting with his siblings at the bottom of the stairs.

Jo laughed, hugging her brothers before skipping to the kitchen. "Thank you. C'mon, let's eat!"

★

The girl smiled at her reflection, happy with her makeup. She hadn't done anything to her hair, because it was just a high school party. Her makeup, however, looked like she was going to a concert. Dark purple eyeshadow complimented her eyelids, along with perfectly winged liner and some really nice fake lashes and mascara. She had bright red lipstick on, and her brows were perfectly shaped, as usual.

She tossed on a black tank top, a pair of black high-waisted jeans, a maroon leather jacket, and her normal boots, before hopping downstairs and grabbing her keys. "I'm heading out, losers!"

"Be safe!"

"Use a condom!"

"Frankie, shut the fuck up!" Vinny scolded.

Jo laughed at her brother's words before hopping onto her motorcycle and driving to the Heffley residence.

★

When she arrived, she had to park her bike in front of a neighboring house before entering the house of teens. Looking around, she saw Gabby Santello, Bitchney, Ben and Rodrick, and about a hundred of her classmates. With a smile, she approached the host.

"Hey, Punk."

"Hey, you made it." He smiled, looking down at the shorter girl; Rodrick was around 5'10 while she was only 5'4. "I wasn't sure if Vinny and Frankie would let you come."

Jo chuckled, "I'm pretty sure they only let me come because I haven't gone to a party in forever, and my birthday was only two days ago. Speaking of which," she turned to him, "thank you for the cookies."

"You're welcome. I had to give you something on your birthday." He smiled, nudging her shoulder.

"I honestly didn't think you'd remember," she admitted with a shrug.

Rodrick rolled his eyes playfully, "Of course I remembered."

"Where's Greg?" Jo asked, curiously looking around the room.

The boy smirked, "Locked him and Rowley in the basement."

The brunette girl rolled her eyes and took Rodrick's drink from his hand, smiling at him lightly before taking a sip. He watched her in amusement and admiration as she scrunched her nose up in disgust. Every little thing she did seemed to make his little punk rocker heart beat quicker by the second; he couldn't explain it, and he definitely was not going to admit it.

"Ew, seriously Rodrick? Grape juice?" She said, placing his cup back into his hand, "That's disgusting! C'mon, please tell me you have some fruit punch and vodka." She complained, causing the boy to chuckle at the reminder that she despised grape juice.

He chuckled, "Follow me, I know where Dad hid some. He definitely forgot about it." The boy nudged her shoulder and lead her upstairs. They entered his parents bedroom, and Rodrick opened his dad's safe; he only knew the combination from the multiple times his dad had attempted to hide something from him.

"Yes!" Jo exclaimed, snatching the bottle and beginning to chug it.

Rodrick widened his eyes, lowering the bottle from her mouth, "Woah, woah, woah! Calm down, I don't know if I'll be able to deal with you being drunk again."

"Okay, first of all, I was not that hard to deal with."

"You tried fighting a group of garden gnomes."

"They deserved it, so shut the fuck up." She pointed at him, a small smile on her lips, "Secondly, my alcohol tolerance has gotten way better. You know how many times I've shown up to school with an entire bottle of whiskey in my system? Twelve. You know how many times it was noticeable? Zero."

The taller boy smiled, "Fine, fine. Whatever you say. C'mon, we're missing all of the fun."

"I'll race you down there."

"Game on, Tiny." Rodrick smirked, rushing out of the room before Jo could even get near the door.

Rolling her eyes, she just walked towards the stairs. Rodrick was looking up, smiling at her triumphantly from the base of the staircase. "Beat ya."

"Because you cheated, Punk."

"Why do you call me that?"

"The same reason you call me Tiny."

"Because it's true?"

"Exactly."

★

Jo had grown bored of the party, and was now sitting on the chair by the fireplace; she was watching her classmates, judging the choices they'd make and the way they'd pathetically dance in place.

The house phone rang, causing her attention to move between Rodrick and the phone. A guy in a striped shirt went to answer, but Jo leapt from the chair and stood between him and the phone before he could touch it.

"You're really gonna try and answer someone else's house phone?" She asked, chuckling. She placed her hand on the guy's shoulder, moving him away; her eyes landed on the phone and, sure enough, Susan Heffley's name was on the screen.

"Don't touch the phone! Music off! Everybody freeze!" Rodrick screeched, panic evident in his tone. "Freeze." He began to move through the crowd, towards Jo and the phone. "If anyone makes a sound, the party is over, and I am a dead man. So, sh."

A crunching sound could be heard, and the brunette's attention snapped to a guy in a hideous white and black plaid shirt. He made a strange noise before speaking, "Quiet, man!"

The teen proceeded to approach the phone, taking a deep breath before answering. "Hello! Yeah, everything's fine, I was just washing dishes."

Jo had to hold back a laugh at her friend's lie, something that he could see on her face. Rodrick sent her a playful glare, mouthing the words don't you fucking dare, before replying to his mom once more. "No.. No problem, bye."

Just as he was about to move the phone away from his face, his eyes widened in panic. "Greg? Oh, uh.. he can't, he's asleep. I don't wanna wake him." His face then morphed into one of pure panic, and Jo could only assume that Greg was talking through another one of the house phones.

"The basement?" The eldest Heffley sibling's voice rose higher as he spoke, his nerves so evident in his tone that the girl in front of him placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "What the heck are you doing down there when you'd rather be up here, hanging with me?"

Reluctantly, Rodrick walked to the basement door and opened it. "Okay, everything is cool here. Right, Greg?"

The middle schooler moved the phone to his ear, "Yeah, Mom. And I have your number if I need you." He sent an evil smile in Rodrick's direction, before the teen hung up. He looked as if he was going to slaughter his brother. The music continued, as did the chattering of the party guests, as Jo made her way over to the scene.

"—anything at all! I will—"

"You'll what?" Greg asked, testing his brother's patience and sending an amused look to the ginger beside him.

The brunette rolled her eyes, "Can you both just chill? It's a party."

Rodrick looked at his friend, then back at the two middle schoolers. "Just.. stay out of my way. Nerds."

Jo grabbed her friend's arm and pulled him away from the two, chuckling at his attempt to be intimidating. They went back to the living room, "You're still going along with the bad-boy older brother cliché?"

"Duh. I have to," the boy replied with a smirk. "Dad's definitely not gonna toughen him up, any, so it's up to me."

The girl smiled, "You're still secretly a softie, Punk."

"Tell anyone, I'll make sure I let Vinny know that you're drinking vodka."

She gasped, feigning a hurtful expression, "You wouldn't dare snitch!"

Rodrick smiled, sipping his drink. Ben approached the duo, causing Jo to widen her eyes and attempt to hide behind her friend.

"Jo Jo!" He happily greeted, "Hey, gorgeous. What're you doin' here?"

With a groan, the girl turned to face him. "I was invited, dipshit."

"Sweet!" A moment of silence passed, before the leather-clad boy spoke once more, "So have you changed your mind about that date?"

"And, I'm out." She spoke, her voice monotone, before walking in the direction of the kitchen. She sat on the counter, finishing her drink and grabbing a small bag of sour cream and onion chips.

★

In the corner of the kitchen, Rodrick was failing to flirt with Stacy Turner; Jo was watching with an amused smirk on her lips as Rowley and Greg entered the room.

"I think your brother likes her!" The ginger yelled to his friend, pointing directly at Rodrick and Stacy.

Everyone surrounding the scene had gone completely silent, and Jo released a loud laugh. "Ha!"

Stacy awkwardly excused herself, lying and saying that she had to go find her friend, and Rodrick flicked a piece of popcorn at his friend before angrily approaching the two middle schoolers. Greg quickly grabbed the phone, knowing that it was the only thing protecting them in that moment.

"Reminder! You can't call if you're dead." He looked between the two, obviously frustrated that they'd snitch on him if he were to do anything to them.

★

Laughing, Jo watched as Rodrick and Greg joined the conga line that Rowley had started. The eyeliner-wearing boy broke away from the line and pulled her to join in; Jo scoffed, a smile on her lips as she dodged the boy around the living room.

She managed to sneak away to the backyard, where she took a deep breath and sat on the grass. Her chocolate colored irises moved to the sky, a few stars glistening in the reflection of her glossy eyes; she'd needed out of the party, and dodging Rodrick had seemed to be the perfect excuse.

"Hey, what're you doing out here?"

Jo shrugged, looking over her shoulder at the boy. "Needed fresh air. I don't think most of the guys in there shower." She joked, looking back at the sky.

Rodrick sat next to her, following her gaze. After a few moments, his attention turned back to the brunette next to him. He smiled as he admired the way the moonlight illuminated her face, and the way the autumn breeze blew her hair from her face.

"You're staring, Punk."

"It's called admiring, Tiny."

— R E X I E E S P E A K S —

uh..... hi.

IT'S BEEN FOREVER, I KNOW, PLEASE DO NOT ATTACK ME BEFORE HEARING MY EXPLANATION.

i've been dealing with so much bullshit since i last updated, it's almost been a fucking year. to make up for it, i made this chapter longer than normal. pls forgive me lmao.

god, okay, so...

here's what's kept me from writing:

1. i broke up with my mentally abusive ex boyfriend
2. got into another relationship
3. got cheated on
4. cheated on him for revenge
5. broke up with him
6. went through friends with benefits drama with one of my former best friends (his fault for agreeing no strings attached when he knew he had feelings for me)
7. started dating one of my best friends, and now i'm not allowed to see him anymore because his mom thinks my trauma makes me a bad person. we're still dating, but we have to sneak around and i hate it, but i love him and he treats me better than anyone else ever has, so you know imma do whatever it takes to keep that boy. he's a sk8er boi :).

but, yeah, please forgive me for not updating in almost a year. i hope you enjoyed the chapter.

see you in the next one!