Julia Jones' Diary - Boxed Set - Books 2 to 6

by Kahler, Katrina

  Eighth grade graduation. Only six days away. Attempting a mental calculation, I tried to count down the number of hours remaining until then.

  Quickly giving up on that idea, my thoughts filled with images of friends dressed in caps and gowns and overwhelmed with excitement. So many wonderful thoughts racing through my head.

  At that moment, I had absolutely no idea of the drama that was in store.

  But if only I had known, I could have been more prepared.

  And possibly have even been able to prevent it.

  Focus…

  Band practice the following afternoon went ahead as planned. Jack turned up ahead of both Millie and I, and thankfully we managed to get through the afternoon without any problems. Although there was the occasional awkward moment between Millie and Jack, for the most part, it went pretty well.

  The chat I’d had with Millie earlier in the week must have helped because she had definitely become much friendlier towards Jack. Not only was it better for him, it certainly made the whole situation easier for everyone. And I actually think that we all really enjoyed the session.

  At first Millie had been unwilling to listen. She’d decided that he was annoying her and wanted as little to do with him as possible. But then I managed to convince her that he deserved to be treated with some sort of respect, especially as he hadn’t done anything wrong. I also reminded her that without Jack, our band would not be the same.

  His rap solos were what made our band cool. He’d really improved his rapping and had become so good that he was considering entering a competition over the summer. Without him, we would still sound quite good, but definitely not have the cool edge that his rapping gave us and I was sure we’d be nowhere near as popular. As far as I knew, there were no other kids who were around our age and could rap; certainly not like him anyway. So if he decided to quit, we’d have a lot of trouble replacing him.

  That was when Millie changed her attitude. She loved performing as much as the rest of us and in particular, she adored singing. I knew that it made her feel like a star and she often dreamed of becoming a famous singer one day. I guessed that all singers probably felt that way, especially if they had a good voice, and Millie was often told how great her voice was.

  I realized the threat of Jack quitting was what changed Millie’s attitude, as she wanted us to sound as good as possible. But regardless of her reasons, I was glad that everything had settled down. While I could see that she and Jack would probably never be close friends again, at least they were getting on.

  Thanks to our regular rehearsals, our performance at graduation was looking as though it would be a huge success. We had rehearsed several of the latest hit songs that we were sure everyone would enjoy. It was so cool that Mrs. Harding was happy for a rock band to perform. We were the finale for the night and I think she was almost as excited as we were.

  It had also been arranged for the school concert band to play. This was the regular choice for grad and I guessed their traditional style along with all the saxophones, trumpets and flutes was the kind that usually performed at school ceremonies.

  But much to our surprise, Mrs. Harding didn’t want our graduation to be completely traditional. And added to that, she also wanted to display some of the talent in the graduating grade. I really appreciated her for saying that. It was so awesome she felt that way, particularly as she was the school principal.

  Thinking back to my brother’s graduation, I remembered the trumpet solo by the stand-in trumpet player. The concert band had been the only one to perform and while they really did sound great, it had been entertaining in a funny way.

  Because the boy who usually played trumpet was unwell, they asked a younger kid who often rehearsed with them, to stand in at the last minute. But when it was time for the solo, he played the wrong notes and it sounded horrendous. The sound came out as an ear splitting screech and lots of people actually covered their ears to block the sound. There is nothing worse than a trumpet squawking! I remember cracking up with laughter. I wasn’t the only one either! From my seat in the audience, I could see that the poor boy had gone bright red with embarrassment, but it had actually been funny and several people tried to hide their amusement.

  These memories made me think of our own upcoming performance and I desperately hoped that none of us would embarrass ourselves the way that he had.

  But those thoughts were quickly washed away when I caught the sound of my parents’ voices downstairs. Their tone seemed to grow angrier with each passing minute and although their words were muffled, it was the angry sound that made me sit up and take notice.

  I was sure they thought I couldn’t hear them at all. But this was often the case when they tried to keep their arguments private.

  “Seriously, Julia. You must have supersonic hearing!”

  That was the comment my brother, Matt always made whenever I alerted him to the fact that I’d heard what he or other people in our house were talking about. It wasn’t that I purposely listened in on their conversations, it was just that I seemed to pick up on what was going on around me.

  Once Matt was seated in front of his computer, he was totally oblivious to anything else. Even when he left his door open, he’d become so engrossed in his computer games that nothing could disturb him. In fact, I would sometimes have to shake him by the shoulder to get his attention. I was sure that a bomb could almost go off outside his bedroom door and he wouldn’t notice.

  In the last few weeks, my parents had been arguing constantly and although Matt probably had no idea this was going on, I was well aware. And unfortunately, that night seemed to be no different from any others during the past couple of weeks.

  Sighing with concern, but unable to do anything except try to shut them out, I grabbed hold of my guitar from the stand beside my bed and began to strum. Not only did that help to drown out the sound of their argument, it was a great way to take my mind off what was going on between them. And right then, that was exactly what I needed.

  Although I’d received so many beautiful birthday presents from my parents, I knew how much they were struggling with money and bills and payments that needed to be made. From what I could tell, this problem was causing a heap of stress and they seemed to argue over everything.

  Added to the money problems they already had, the office where my dad worked was on the brink of closing down. While the company who employed him had offices elsewhere around the country, the local one was not doing very well and according to Dad, they could see no reason to remain open.

  “No reason?” I had asked earlier in the week, the disbelief showing clearly on my face. “But what about you? You’ve worked for them for years! How can they suddenly take away your job? It’s so unfair!”

  “That’s the real world, Julia,” he had sighed in reply. “If the office isn’t making money, there’s no point in staying open.”

  I did not want to think of the outcome if Dad had to look for something else. I knew this wouldn’t be easy for him in his line of work. But once again, rather than worrying about something that hadn’t even happened yet, I decided to focus on everything working out. And besides, perhaps something much better would come along.

  When I made that comment to my father, he just frowned in response. Clearly it hadn’t had the cheery effect I’d hoped it would. Unfortunately my dad often took a negative outlook and I made a mental note to talk to him about that the following day.

  In an attempt to forget the many thoughts racing through my mind right then, I tried to concentrate on the song I was playing. But in particular one thought remained. Without a doubt, I really needed to find my own job for the summer break. Although I’d originally counted on spending the majority of my spare time hanging out with Blake and Millie, I’d come to the conclusion that a job was essential, especially if I wanted money to spend.

  Movies and theme parks and shopping for clothes at the mall cost money; a lot of money. So, if I wanted to have any sort of fun over the b
reak, I had to find a way to pay for it.

  I could not help but feel frustrated though. While I was sitting there considering the need to work through the entire summer, I knew that Sara would most likely be thinking of her upcoming holiday on the beaches of Florida.

  How different our lives were! For about the millionth time, I thought about how lucky she was and once again, could not help but feel jealous. Although I knew her parents had no time for her, and she was often left to her own devices, I wondered for a moment which would be worse; to be in that situation or surrounded by parents who were constantly arguing over money.

  However, deep down, I was well aware that I should be grateful for what I had.

  My parents were strict but at least they actually cared about me and what I was up to; certainly unlike Sara’s. And when I really thought about it, perhaps being shipped off to Florida for the whole summer, with her grandparents for company, wasn’t as much fun as it had originally sounded.

  So, I devised a plan to focus on a good outcome for both my dad and for myself. I would find a great job for the summer and my Dad would either keep his job or find a much better one that paid heaps more. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the second option was definitely the best choice and perhaps losing his current job would be a blessing. Staying positive was the only way, and I reminded myself once again to talk to both my parents the following morning.

  “Focus on what you want to happen, Dad!”

  I could hear the words in my head and at the same time, pictured the scene clearly in my mind.

  I just had to encourage him to stay positive and I was sure the money problems would be solved. And if I also focused my own energy on that scenario, it would have to help make it a reality.

  I soon found out…that some plans definitely do not go in the direction that is originally intended.

  And if I’d known what was ahead, I would certainly have found an entirely different option to focus on!

  Rage…

  Our final week at school seemed to be passing by in a flash. Instead of regular classes, we were kept busy with rehearsals for grad night as well as a heap of different fun activities that had been arranged for us to take part in. This was such a great way to spend our last week and with the pressure of exams over, we were all able to enjoy hanging out with our friends while doing things we actually liked.

  On Wednesday, the day before grad, Miss Sheldon, our Performing Arts teacher gave us permission to use the school music room for a rehearsal in the afternoon, as she had no classes then. Because all the instruments and equipment that we needed were permanently set up, it was easy for us to manage one last practice. This was the perfect scenario and everything seemed to be working out really well. I felt happy and excited, and could not wait for the following night to arrive.

  But completely out of the blue, something really random and unexpected took place. And when I later replayed the scene in my head, all I could do was think of ways that the issue could have been avoided. Looking back, it seemed so simple, which was the most frustrating part. And even though I knew it was not my fault, I still felt responsible. Because after all, without me, it would never have happened.

  It all began during lunch break that day, when the boys were playing football with a group of other kids in our grade. Jack and Alec were both really good footballers and while it wasn’t a sport that Blake usually played, he had decided to join in. At the time, Millie and I had been asked to do some jobs for Mrs. Harding in preparation for graduation the following evening. So we were completely unaware of what had gone on.

  Until later that was, when Jack filled us in on all the details. But we were able to witness the aftermath and that was probably the worst part. We didn’t need anyone giving us details for that. We saw the whole thing.

  For many of the boys in our grade, football was their life. They played on the weekends, they played after school and they played during most lunch breaks or whenever they had the chance to fit a game in. Even when our class went out for sport each week that was always their choice.

  “Can we please play football, Miss?” they would all beg our teacher.

  But thankfully for the rest of us, Miss Watson didn’t really like football and would send them to join in with the kids from the class next door. She’d then take the non-footballers for a different game and this included Millie, Blake and myself.

  While we were all quite sporty, football was just not something we were too interested in, especially Millie and I. We preferred sports such as basketball, softball and volleyball. Pretty much anything except for football.

  Although Blake was a pretty good footballer, he wasn’t that interested in it either and usually didn’t play. This was what made it so surprising. The fact that he had decided to join in during the lunch break on that particular day was not something he would normally do. If only he’d made a different choice, then all of the drama would have been avoided. But unfortunately, that was not to be.

  The group of boys on the field knew that it was going to be their last school game for the year, and so each team was out to win. As they were short a couple of players, I guessed that was why Blake decided to join them. Although, I was sure they could have found someone else if they’d tried.

  At the last minute a random kid appeared; someone who had never played with them before. Maybe it was the shortage of players, I had no idea, but for some reason one of the teams allowed the boy to join them. That boy was Ryan Hodges. And as it turned out, that was the worst thing that could ever have happened.

  Known for being extremely competitive, that group of boys had one aim in mind, and that was to win; at all costs. Good sportsmanship rarely existed in many of them and there was always rough play as well as a heap of swearing and pushing and shoving. Even though the games were supposed to be casual lunch time events, the boys treated them as seriously as a grand final match with their club team.

  Because of this, there was usually a teacher nearby to monitor what was going on. And if the supervising teacher was able to referee the game, then this helped to keep it all under control. With the threat of being thrown off the field if good sportsmanship wasn’t displayed, the boys tried to behave themselves.

  On this particular day, however, the usual supervising teacher happened to be away and there was a female relieving teacher to take his place. Unfortunately she had no idea about the rules for football and was certainly not able to take charge of the game. As well, an issue had erupted in another area where someone had fallen from the playground equipment. So she was too busy to have time to worry about the football game anyway.

  According to Jack, who I later insisted should tell us every single detail, Ryan Hodges was not only a very good footballer but also a very competitive one and this came as quite a surprise to everyone. And it seemed that having him on the field was an added bonus for his team because within minutes he had scored the first try. But after that, everything kind of went downhill.

  Jack said that the teams were fairly well matched, which would usually be a good thing. But although Ryan was desperate to score and help his team win, he also had something else in mind. The entire time, apart from getting hold of the ball and scoring, his focus remained on one person and one person only.

  “I saw him purposely trip Blake when he was running for the ball,” Jack explained.

  “At first I wondered if it might have been an accident but then it happened again and when he started shoving Blake and swearing at him, it was pretty obvious something was going on.”

  Millie and I listened intently, wanting to know exactly what had happened.

  “But it didn’t really blow up,” Jack continued, “Until Blake shoved him back. That was when Ryan kind of lost it, his swearing got worse and he began to really freak out.”

  As Jack described the scene, I was able to clearly picture it in my head. It was just lucky that the supervising teacher eventually took note of the ruckus, otherwise a
full-on fight might have broken out then and there.

  “She told them both to get off the field and calm down.”

  Jack went on with his story, but there was not much more to tell.

  “After that, the bell went and we all headed back to class. Then we got held up in the walkway and Blake disappeared with you girls. I thought that would’ve been the end of the stuff with Ryan but I guess he just couldn’t let it go.”

  Jack’s recount explained pretty clearly what caused the chaos that followed. And if only we’d stayed with the crowd of kids, then maybe it would have all blown over. But unfortunately, I came up with the suggestion of taking another route.

  Every grade in the school was making their way back to class at the end of the lunch break and as usual, the walkways were crowded with kids. For some reason though, a few large pieces of equipment, including a really long extension ladder were needed elsewhere in the school grounds and a few workmen were in the midst of moving them. Obviously their timing was not the best because all the kids had to wait for them to pass and meanwhile, everyone was jostling and shoving each other in their impatience to get through.

  “What’s going on?” Millie complained at the time.

  Along with the rest of us, she was in a hurry to get back to class so we could grab our music ready for another rehearsal. And that was when I suggested that we take a different pathway altogether. Although it meant walking behind the buildings and along a section of path that was rarely used and also actually out of bounds. We were impatient to get to band practice and make the most of the afternoon. It was the shortest session of the day and we didn’t want to waste the opportunity.

  Blake followed after us, but at that stage, Jack had gone ahead with the crowd. At that point, Millie and I had no idea about the incident on the football field. We’d been preoccupied elsewhere and while we knew Blake had been playing football with the others, he hadn’t told us about the problem with Ryan.