Heads up: use of the word homo [just thought I'd put it out there]

JD looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Whoops?" he asked like he hadn't said her name at all, and Veronica was left wondering if she'd just imagined it.

But he had, she thought as she picked up the dropped bowl and placed it in the sink before grabbing a cloth to clean up the mess she had made. He said her name like he had said it- she needed her notebook to write. She couldn't think without writing.

She hurriedly helped JD with the rest of the dishes before rushing back to her room. If he'd commented on her behavior, she hadn't processed it.

Dear Diary,

JD said my name. He actually said my name. As himself. I swear he did. I thought maybe I'd imagined it because he acted like he hadn't, but he did. He said it just like he'd said it last night.

Veronica jolted at the memory, casing her hand to jerk across the page.

JD said my name last night. He said my name while he was hugging me. I didn't even notice it but he did.

I don't think he knows he did like I'm pretty certain he didn't notice this time. Does that mean he's done it before? I've not even known him for a week.

Veronica nervously tapped her pen against the page. Her mind was going too fast for her to even write.

What do I do? It's not like I could confront him about it. He'd either deny it or have a freak out over it. It might even make things worse. Like what if he becomes self-conscious and stops talking. He already knows what he does it weird and jokes about it as a defense mechanism.

It's not like I could tell Dr. Fleming. She'd definitely scare him off.

No. I need to talk to him. If he's doing it then there's a reason and there's a reason he's saying my name.

JD actually needs the help this stupid program is supposed to be providing it and he's not going to get it from anyone else. If I can help him at least a little bit then that's something, isn't it?

Veronica took a deep breath, closed her notebook, and carried it into the living room where everyone else except JD was laying face down on the floor. JD was sitting on the back of the couch, reminding Veronica of a bird sitting on a telephone wire looking down at the goings on below it.

"What are you doing?" She asked, hugging her notebook to her chest.

"Sulking, what does it look like?" Heather asked, not even lifting her head to answer properly. Veronica was surprised Heather would even allow herself such a moment of indignity.

"Sulking, why are you sulking? You've got nothing to sulk over, you could be playing croquet." JD quipped, turning from looking down at them to look at Veronica and wink at her.

"We could play another game of JD's game." Veronica suggested.

"That's not new anymore, it's lost it's appeal," Kurt rolled over on his back.

"Well you can't do this all summer," Veronica huffed. "Like it or not we're stuck in this hell hole and we're going to have to find something to do."

"There's still Monopoly," JD taunted. That made Heather look up to glare at him.

"What's wrong with Monopoly?" Martha asked, who had been the only one actually happy about the game. "I like it, it's fun."

"You obviously land on Boardwalk first," Heather said, brushing her black hair out of her face from laying on the floor. "Out of all the games Dr. Fleming could have gotten us she got Monopoly. Couldn't even get Game of Life. At least that wouldn't been mildly interesting."

"What about you?" Ram asked JD. "You made fun the last time. Can you make Monopoly fun?"

"Oh come on now, he isn't a miracle worker," JD replied wrinkling his nose, though looking over at where the box was placed as if accepting the challenge.

"I doubt God could salvage Monopoly." Heather snorted, standing up and straightening out her skirt.

"God wouldn't say to play Monopoly," JD got up and opened the Monopoly box and taking out some of the pieces. "God would say screw Monopoly and play poker."

"Do we have cards?" Heather asked, the last one to get off the floor.

"I swear if we don't even have a deck of cards." Kurt said.

"I think I saw one in the basket that held the movies." Martha said, walking over to dig through the bin of VHS tapes. After a few minutes she triumphantly presented them with a small packet of beat up playing cards.

"Everyone knows how to play poker right?" Heather asked, taking the cards from Martha and shuffling them between her thin fingers.

"Texas Hold'em." Veronica shrugged. "I'll write the rules down for anyone who doesn't know. It's not that hard to play."

"Dealer!" JD called and Veronica blinked at him for a second. No one else however took notice of JD's slight out of character comment, there was little groaning but no protests.

"Everyone knows the basics, right?" Heather asks, sorting out the fake bills according to the Monopoly rules. "I've played strip poker before, but I don't know what type of poker it was." The blonde paused and tilted her head. "Actually, I'm not sure it was even poker I was playing. The guys just kept telling me I was losing until I was naked." A murderous look crossed Heather's face and Veronica couldn't blame her.

"Which one is Texas Hold'em?" Ram asked.

"Two cards each, three rounds," JD answered, dealing out the cards after they gathered in a circle. "Round one, three cards; flop. Round two; fourth street. Round three; fifth street. Match, raise, pass or fold. Next round starts after everyone passes. Highest is five of a kind. Then straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card." By the time he finished explaining he'd dealt out all the cards.

"How do you know this so well?" Kurt questioned, trying to look at his cards nonchalantly.

"Why wouldn't he?" JD responded, flipping over the first three cards for round one.

"Here, I've written down the card order and what they are, in case you don't know," Veronica said, quickly scribbling on a lose piece of paper she'd found left over from JD's earlier game. "Straight is five cards in order, flush is five of the same suit, and straight flush is five in order of the same suit. The higher the cards are stronger your hand. If two or more people have the same hand the pot is distributed based on how strong their hands are. Heather did you make sure all the suits are completed?"

"Yup, but there's no wild cards so you can't do a five of a kind." Heather said, braiding her hair like a dark rope to keep it out of her face.

"Knock to check," JD added. "Left of the dealer starts, bid starts at two dollars."

It was pretty clear that only JD had any actual experience with poker. Kurt and Ram knew the hand ranks but didn't have good poker faces. Veronica quit after two rounds and volunteered herself divide the pot in case there were matching hands. For fun she donated all her money to Martha.

Soon it was just down to JD, Kurt, Ram, and Heather because everyone else kept folding. Kurt and Ram would fold after the second round if they didn't have a good hand. Heather's bitch face kept JD from reading her so it'd turn into moth of them trying to out bluff each other.

After about three games of just Heather and JD playing against each other they switched to Blackjack face up. At least Veronica could try to card count Blackjack. Blackjack was a little more fun because it wasn't just Heather and JD competing against each other and the rounds were shorter.

Martha tried to explain Rummy to all of them, but Kurt and Ram kept getting confused about the different runs and the afternoon ended in Go Fish which JD of course had somehow figured out how to add betting to. Despite it being such a childish game, all three of the Heathers and Ram were just as invested in the game as they were with the previous two games. JD didn't seem to care at this point, more interested in watching.

Veronica got up and walked into the kitchen after offering to make a bowl of popcorn for them. She was surprised when Kurt followed her in. "Hey Veronica, you're the most well-adjusted person here, aren't you?" he asked, not looking her in the eyes.

"Why would you say that, Kurt?" Veronica asked, genuinely surprised.

"Well Heather is-, and Heather is-, and Heather is-," he did a gesture for each of the girls. "Martha is stuck in a bubble of sunshine and rainbows, Ram has to deal with his father, and JD is… JD. You're the only person I feel like I could talk to, Dr. Fleming being a disillusioned hippie."

"I mean, of course you can talk to me. I'm not really sure I'm qualified to help." Veronica shrugged a little modestly. "Though I guess even JD's more qualified then Dr. Fleming. What do you want to talk about?"

"Just, how are you so well adjusted? What do you do? All I can think about is trying to keep my grades high enough to continue sports so I can go to college and then maybe become a college burn out. Ram says I shouldn't worry so much, but how can I? I mean I'm predestined for it, a future gas station attendant." Kurt rambled and it was clear it was something he'd been keeping in for a while.

"Wait Kurt, slow down, take a breath." Veronica tried to calm him down. "Have you talked to Ram about any of these worries?"

"I told you Ram just tells me not to let it get to my head. He doesn't understand. And he's already trying to get his dad off his back about being a homo. He doesn't need to deal with me too." At this point Kurt had started bouncing on the balls of his feet. "And he shouldn't have to deal with me, I should be able to manage myself. I'm not Ram's responsibility."

Veronica realized her fingers were busily tapping against the counter, distracting her from whatever Kurt was saying. She hadn't expected to deal with anyone else's problems besides JD's and her notebook was left in the living room. "Look Kurt," she said, getting a bowl as the popcorn was finishing. "I just write everything down so I can sort out my ideas. That's all I do." Cutting off anything else he was about to say, she walked back into he living room popcorn in hand.

Hi I'm procrastinating studying for finals. So new chapter!
JD continues to be an enigma. Veronica may or may not manage him well, I mean she completely shut down Kurt. By the way, but some Kurt development. He's one of the characters I'd like to expand upon. I'm not sure I'll go into everyone, at least not in the same depth. But I think Kurt would be interesting to explore. Btw, JD saying things less weird, I like to think of it as him letting his guard down. They're automatic responses, or he's not talking to a specific person. I'd say that's where it mainly comes in. Like he can explain poker but switches right back to 'why wouldn't he' when responding to Kurt. I like him being able to relax a little. Stability's probably good for him (and yeah JD, why do you know so much about poker off the top of your head?).
I'm glad so many of you enjoy my writing. To respond to your comments:
JD's game is something I kind of made up on the fly, I'm not going to say I've ever tried it or that it works. I'm mildly terrified one of you said you were going to try it. Tell me if it actually works out. Originally it was going to be closer to Headbanz but I'm not sure if the game is that old. I provided Texas Hold'em this chapter. The second and third round can be called Turn and River. Matching is called calling, passing is called checking and yes it's common to knock or tap to check. Yes I've played poker with Monopoly money before.
Yes Veronica is dependent on her diary to think, glad you picked up on that, means I'm doing something right.

Anyway, I'd like to end saying, Veronica doesn't really have anxiety, but obviously some of the other characters do. And I can only write from my own experiences and struggles, and those are completely different than yours. But if you can somehow identify yourself in parts of these characters and feel represented in some way then I'm really honored I can give that to you. Or if you guys relate to what I say in the notes. And it's hard to deal with and I know how difficult it is when you feel like you can't go to anyone, specifically because they won't understand. So I'm here if anyone would like to talk. I would like to at least be a safe outlet to vent to. I might not get back to you right away, but don't feel like you're bothering me.

Love all of you lovely readers 3