CHAPTER TWO;

"YOU'RE GUARANTEED TO RUN THIS TOWN"

JO WAS STANDING AT HER LOCKER, observing her schedule when an annoying girl in pink approached her. "Welcome back, Josephine! I hope you had an amazing summer! Oh, and the cafeteria got remodeled! Yay!"

"What do you want, Bitchney?"

Britney Kane narrowed her eyes, the creepily sweet smile on her lips never faltering. "Just to remind you of your place, Moreno. You're not the popular girl anymore, I am. If you get in my way at all this year, you won't see the end of it. Toodles!"

Jo scoffed as she watched the blonde walk down the hall, turning her attention back to her schedule. "Math, great." She muttered, slamming her locker shut before making her way to room 345.

"Ow!" She yelled, pushing the teen boy off of her, "What the fuck, Heffley?" She growled, standing from the floor with an irritated look on her features. When Rodrick didn't respond quickly, Jo rolled her eyes and stormed into Mr. Stroud's classroom.

The man furrowed his brows, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, teach your class and don't speak to me." She fired back, sending him a glare that would cause a even serial killer to cower back in fear. Rodrick entered not far behind her and sat on the opposite side of the room.

Fifteen minutes into class, and a wrinkled paper airplane landed itself on her desk. She rolled her eyes, for what seemed to be the 700th time that morning, before opening the note.

To make up for knocking you down, I'll buy you cookies.

- Rodrick

Jo allowed a small smile to crawl onto her lips as she folded the note and placed it into her back pocket. She actually enjoyed the rest of her morning classes with the thought of cookies graciously dancing through her mind.

★

"Hey, Jo." Rodrick greeted the girl, who was stood at her locker. "Since I'm buying the cookies, you're walking with me."

She shrugged, closing her graffiti-covered locker. "I'm not complaining. As long as it keeps Bitchney away from me."

"Bitchney?" He asked as they began to make their way towards the cafeteria. "That's a new one. I've always called her Miss Piggy."

Jo chuckled, "You're not far off. I can't believe I used to be like that." She said in disgust, "I wanna go back in time and slap myself."

"She could only dream of being as big of a bitch as you were." Rodrick admitted with a smirk, causing the shorter girl to jokingly punch his arm as the invasive buzzing of conversation reached their ears. The duo walked through the line, getting the same exact order of pepperoni pizza and Redbull. Rodrick bought the cookies, as he promised, and they sat at a table with his friend, Ben Segal.

Ben's eyes widened, "Oh shit, hey JoJo."

"Ugh. Hi, Ben."

"So, wanna go out sometime?"

"I've told you 'no' a million times."

"Can't hurt to keep trying."

"Yes, it can. It hurts my sanity that you keep fucking asking."

"Hey, you'll say yes eventually."

"You ran over my dog! Why would I agree to a date with you?"

"Chicks dig bad boys."

"There's a difference between being a bad boy and being a dog murderer."

Rodrick laughed at the interaction happening in front of him, earning a light slap in the back of the head from Jo. "It's not funny, Heffley."

"You're right, Moreno. It's fucking hilarious."

"Shut up."

★

Jo was in a good mood for the rest of the day, she even dropped by the skating rink to lend a hand to her brothers after school. She even put on a yellow t-shirt with the words Roller Rockets written in bold red lettering across the front of it.

"Who are you and what did you do with our sister?" Vinny questioned her as she exited the back room with a few pairs of skates for some middle schoolers.

The girl rolled her eyes, "Don't get used to it, I'm just in a good mood. Plus, I need a new job. Therefore, I'm hiring myself."

"You can't do that!"

"If I remember correctly, Mom and Dad left this place to all of us. So, legally, I can." Jo smirked, causing her brother to throw a dirty rag in her direction. Quickly, she dodged it and stuck her tongue out at the eldest Moreno sibling.

A T.V. was on and Jo hadn't paid much attention to it, until a man appeared. "Do you have an amazing talent that you'd like to share?"

"Everyone shut the fuck up! Turn the T.V. up, Frankie!" She shouted, throwing herself over the counter of the skate station and rushing over to her brothers.

"Today, Plainview City Council announced a brand-new local contest, Plainview's Most Talented." A blonde woman announced, happily. A few groups of people cheered, and Vinny and Frankie simultaneously nudged Jo.

"Shut it or else you're all paying extra!"

Silence enveloped the rink as everyone's attention traveled back to the T.V. on the wall. "Westmore is absolutely packed to the roof with talent." The middle school principal spoke into a microphone, before the man appeared on the screen once more. "The top prize is $1,000, and of course, the admiration of your friends and neighbors."

"Jo, this is huge!" Frankie exclaimed before changing the channel, "Everyone can go back to skating, no one's paying extra today!" He announced, before turning back to his little sister. "You're going to enter, right?"

Vinny smiled, "You totally should. What's that song you've been working on, again? The one that you woke us up with this morning?"

"Would I." She stated, "That's the name of it. I don't know about this, guys. That song's.. Kinda personal."

"Aren't all of your songs?"

Jo scoffed, "Yes. Even the ones that are appropriate to sing in a middle school auditorium. I'm not doing this."

"Then you're not working here." Vinny smirked, "You can't expect us to sit by and watch you run from the one thing you've been wanting to do since we were kids. I mean, hell, I could even call the guys and we could be your band."

The girl groaned in annoyance, "You're impossible. Fine, fine, I'm in! Sometimes, having a drummer as a brother pays off, anyways. Wait, where even are your friends?"

He shrugged, "They all wanna finish college before we do anymore shows."

"Makes sense. Just.. don't call Olivia. Considering it's my song, I'd prefer it if she wasn't there."

"Deal."

BRITNEY KANE
AGE: 16
cara delevingne

— R E X I E E  S P E A K S —

okay. so. they're adorable. fight me.

can i have siblings like vinny and frankie please? i hate half of my siblings.

and i'm the 8th child.

if you know what lemonade mouth is... then you know who vinny's band mates are.

shhhhhh.

mwah!