Disclaimer: Go see chapter 1 or 2 or 3 or something!!

Chapter 21 comin' at ya!!

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"Wake up! You guys have to get ready for school. I'm driving Casey, too, so we can't be late!" called Catherine through Elliot's bedroom door. She waited to hear a few protests before proceeding down stairs to start breakfast.

"Should I take my shower first, or do you want to take one together?" asked Elliot through a yawn. Olivia pulled the covers over her head.

"You go first; I wanna sleep a little longer." Elliot got up, picked some clothes out, and stepped into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

A few minutes later, Elliot emerged from the bathroom, ready for school. He walked over to his bed and shook Olivia.

"Your turn, get up." He said, but she made no sign of moving. Elliot pulled the comforter off her. Olivia remained with her eyes closed, faced the other way.

"Didn't you hear me? You can go take your shower." Olivia sat up, and looked down.

"Elliot, I'm nervous. Kathy has to apologize to me today, and she's going to be furious, I know it! She's going to make my life miserable as long as we're in the same school. What am I going to do?" she asked, with fear in her voice.

"It can't possibly be that bad, and even if it is, you have five friends who will watch your back. Besides, you're not the one 

she has a crush on." Elliot replied with a shudder. Olivia giggled and got out of bed.

"I can't wait till Valentine's Day. It will be hilarious!" Elliot grimaced while Olivia laughed and hurried to get ready.

''

"…So than the balance beam broke and it fell on me! Can you believe that?! So four people had to lift it off of me. Everyone was like 'Oh, you must be in so much pain. You shouldn't do the routine' and I was like 'No flipping way!' and so I got on another balance beam, and I ended up winning the gold medal! Isn't that cool? I mean I thought I'd at least get a silver, but gold? That was awesome!" Casey exclaimed on the car ride to school.

Elliot nodded his head, "So…four people?" Casey rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat. Olivia placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Forget Elliot, good job Case!" Casey smiled a little.

"Thanks, boys are such jerks." She said, looking directly at Elliot when she said "jerks". The car came to a stop in front of the school. The three kids started to pile out.

"Have a good day, kids!" called Catherine, who waved and drove away. Kathy and Mrs. Johansson made their way over towards the group. Mrs. Johansson looked at Olivia.

"You must be Olivia. I'm Mrs. Johansson; can we speak to you for a minute?" Olivia had to wince at the amount of rage in Kathy's eyes. As Olivia walked away, Melinda came over with a worried look on her face.

"Guys, we have a huge problem!" She said, panting from exhaustion.

"What happened?" questioned Casey. Melinda pointed towards the school.

"It's John, you know that new kid, Trevor Langan?" Elliot and Casey nodded. "Well, Trevor said something to John, and John just started to flip out and he punched him!" Elliot's jaw dropped and Casey gasped.

"Oh my God! Are you serious?" asked Elliot in disbelief. Melinda nodded.

"There was a lot of blood and Trevor passed out! John could be suspended!"

"What?!" cried Olivia, just hearing the conversation.

"Long story short, John punched Trevor and is dead meat." summarized Casey. Right after she said that, Fin came running over.

"Guys, John got an ISS, and they're calling his parents." He said.

"What's an ISS?" asked Olivia, still confused from not hearing the whole story.

"It's an In School Suspension" explained Melinda. She turned to Fin "For how long?" Fin shrugged.

"I don't know, three…four days maybe. He's not going to get detention since its Trevor's fault, too." The bell rang, signaling all the kids to get to class.

"We'd better go to class." Mumbled Elliot, with a hint of despair in his voice. Everyone grabbed their backpacks and headed to class.

''

At recess, the five were still in a bad mood. Melinda, Olivia, and Casey sat on top of the monkey bars, with Fin and Elliot hanging underneath.

"What do you think Trevor said that made John so mad?" asked Casey.

"I have no idea…" replied Fin. He pulled himself up and clung to the ladder.

"I almost forgot!" exclaimed Elliot. He looked up towards Olivia. "Liv, how did it go with Kathy?" Melinda raised an eyebrow.

"What happened with Kathy?" Melinda questioned. Olivia waved her hand as if to dismiss it.

"Nothing, just a little argument." She turned towards Elliot. "She apologized, but as soon as Mrs. Johanson turned her back she stuck her tongue out at me!" Casey snorted.

"Kathy is just being a brat. Always was, always will be." She said to lighten up the mood with no avail.

''

At the end of the day, Olivia, Elliot, Fin, Melinda, and Casey were waiting to be picked up by Mrs. Warner. They walked out to the benches in front of the school and were surprised to see John sitting there, with the most depressed look you could ever see. The five kids ran over to him in a hurry.

"John, man, what happened?" questioned Fin. John sighed and tried to ignore him.

"Nothing! I'm supposed to be looking out for my parents, if you don't mind." He said with hate evident in his voice.

Olivia crossed her arm "What did Trevor say? You don't strike me as the 'fighting' type." She said, using her fingers to emphasize the word "fighting".

"Just drop it already!" he said with even more anger.

"Just tell us what happened John!" begged Melinda.

"Yeah," agreed Casey "What could Trevor have said that is so bad you had to punch him?" asked Casey. John stood up in front of Casey and looked her in the eye.

"HE CALLED YOU A STUPID BITCH, OKAY?! Is that what you wanted to hear?!" shouted John. Casey's jaw dropped along with everyone else's. There was a loud honk in the background. John grabbed his backpack.

"I've gotta go." Muttered John and he stalked off towards a car. Casey, who was still in shock, sunk down into the bench.

"Casey, you know that's not true," said Elliot. She just nodded her head a little, refusing to make eye contact. Tears in her eyes were threatening to fall. Melinda turned around.

"Guys, I see my mom's car. Let's get going." She said quietly, and the group walked to the car, Casey trailing behind.

''

At Melinda's house, everyone was strewn around the basement. Olivia was lying on one couch, Fin on another, Elliot was on the floor, Casey at the computer desk, and Melinda on a bean bag chair.

Casey was bent over her textbook, but not actually doing any work.

Fin moved closer to Olivia and whispered "Casey's looking pretty bad. Usually she'd be talking non-stop right now."

Olivia whispered back "I know, I'm worried about her. I can't believe Trevor…what a jerk." Casey stood up and walked upstairs to the bathroom. Olivia got up and followed her. She gently knocked on the door.

"Casey? Are you in there?" After a couple of minutes, Olivia went in, closing the door behind her. She was unsurprised to see Casey seated on the edge of the bathtub, crying her eyes out.

Olivia slowly made her way over to Casey and sat down. She immediately wrapped her arms around her, letting her sob away the events that had happened.

"I a-always say su-such mean th-things to him, a-and he st-still stuck up f-for me. Why wo-would he d-do th-that?" Casey mumbled through her tears.

"Because he's your friend. That's what we do." Casey nodded, and then something dawned upon her.

"I've gotta go home." Olivia raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Right now?" Casey stood up and wiped her face.

"Yes, 'right now'. I'm going to go call my mom. Tell the others for me." Without an answer, Casey dashed off in search of a phone.

Olivia made her way to the basement and announced "Casey's going home." Everyone got up.

"How come?" asked Fin. Olivia just shrugged and sat down on the couch.

"I don't know, we were talking about…you know…and then she just said she had to get home in a rush." The others spent the rest of the afternoon doing homework and talking about what had happened that day.

''

At 10:00 PM, John was in his room, reading a book in his bed to help him go to sleep. His parents had taken away T.V., computer, video games, and privileges to see his friends for two weeks.

There was a tap at his window. Then another, and another. John got out of his bed, walked over to his window, and opened it. He was immediately hit by a rock.

"Oops, sorry!" John looked out the window and saw Casey staring up at him.

"Casey! What are you doing here?!" he hissed, trying to not wake up his parents.

"I have to talk to you!" she whispered back.

"Why can't you just talk to me at school?!" he questioned with a hint of annoyance.

"Because you suspended!" replied Casey with an obvious tone.

"Oh yeah…" mumbled John to himself. Then to Casey he said "Hold on, I have a rope ladder." John dove under his bed and got the ladder his parents gave him in case of a fire. He latched it to his window and threw it down.

Casey climbed up and jumped in. She pulled leaves out of her hair and fixed herself up. "Did you really need to live in a brick house? That really hurt." She commented.

"What are you doing here? My parents are asleep and if they see you here, they're going to kill me!"

"Hey, I'm going to get into trouble, too if my parents find out I'm here, so just listen!" Casey ranted. John threw his hands up in surrender.

"Okay! Okay, I'm listening!" he said.

"I just wanted to say thanks for sticking up for me and sorry for all the name calling. I also want to know why you had to punch Trevor." John sighed.

"Because you're my friend, and I know how Trevor is always picking on you. I just wanted to put a stop to it." Casey smiled and hugged John. At first he tensed up, but relaxed and hugged her back. Casey pulled away.

"I have to go home now." She said with a touch of sadness. "I guess I'll see you in a couple of days." John nodded.

"Yeah, in a couple of days." Casey swung her legs over the window sill.

"Goodnight." She said with a final wave.

"'Night, Casey."

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Whoo!! Chapter 21!! REVIEWS!! They're what pay my bills!! (Like I actually pay bills right now! HA!!)