The Crazy Thing Called Love

Chapter 17

“The Circle of Friends”

There are just some times when you can not talk to others. For several reasons people just can’t communicate; weither it’s they are tired, they just don’t care, they have bananas shoved down their pants and they love that squishy feeling, whatever the reason, they just don’t listen.

This was the problem with Joe; his friends just couldn’t communicate with him.

“JOE!! HEY JOE!!”

“Homey, will you back away from him at least five inches please?” Candy asked, pulling Homey out of Joe’s face, “He may not be listening to us but we don’t need to make that permanent you know.”

“Oh, ok. I don’t need this anymore then.” Homey replied, throwing a Jr. Cheerleader megaphone into the trash.

Taking no notice of the other students rushing towards their two days of after school freedom, Joe quietly stood in the hallway staring sadly at his locker. His friends surrounded him, trying to help their poor shattered companion.

“Hey Joe, are you ok?” Candy sweetly asked, putting her arm around Joe. He gave no reply, nor any indication that he noticed either of his friends. He continued to sadly stare off into nothingness.

SLAP! Rose smacked Joe across the face, “Snap out of it you moron!” she cried. But Joe didn’t even flinch.

“Alright, now I’m starting to worry about Joe.” Rose said with concern, “If a slap in the face doesn’t work, I don’t know what will.”

“That’s always your answer to everything isn’t it Rose?” Homey said smugly, “Violence will solve anything won’t it?”

SMACK! “Yes it will.” Rose growled at Homey, who now had a hand-shaped red mark across his face.

They all turned their attention back to Joe, who was now slamming his head repeatedly into his locker. Suddenly, Dude spoke up, “I got an idea!”

He shoved Joe out of the way and opened Joe’s locker. A few moments passed while Dude rummaged through Joe’s locker. Then he reappeared clutching a book in his hands. “It’s one of Joe’s girly mangas!” Dude cried out triumphantly.

Homey attempted to suppress a giggle. Rose kicked him in the shins.

“Hey Joe, want to look at your Manga?” Dude asked, holding the book under Joe’s eyes. Joe stared blankly at it before he slapped it away.

Dude stared after the book while it slid down the hallway floor for a bit. “Alright, I’m out of ideas!” He exclaimed, and pulled out the Game Playa from his pocket.

“I may have one,” Candy said with a sly smile on her face. She slowly approached Joe and sweetly kissed him on the cheek. He turned red slightly but took no notice of this.

“Well, that’s better than nothing.” Candy sighed with defeat, “At least we got a reaction.” She looked at the others and shrugged, “I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“We could make a giant whipped cream pie and throw him in it.” Homey suggested.

“How on earth will that do any good?” Rose asked.

“I don’t know,” Homey replied, “I just think that would be awesome.”

Candy looked over at Joe with concern, “Well we can’t just leave him like this. We should at least make sure he gets home if nothing else.”

“How do we do that Candy?” Rose asked, “I don’t think he has the mental capacity to walk now. I mean look at him! He looks like a traffic accident victim!”

Indeed, Joe was slumped on the floor like he had been run over. This was mainly because he had been, by the hundreds of students who had fled the building in glee. The hallway was almost empty now, except for the freaky students who lingered in the hallways after school for no reason.

“I think we should carry him home.” Candy said, “Dude, can you carry him please?”

“No.” Dude replied, focusing on his game. He looked up to see a pink haired demon glaring at him, “Er… I mean of course I will Candy.” Dude replied nervously, “I’d love to carry our beloved friend Joe.”

“That’s great!” Candy said reverting back to her sweet adorable self, “you and Homey please get his things out of his locker and we’ll meet you outside ok?”

“You can count on us!” Homey said with a salute.

“Sure we can, “Rose muttered, rolling her eyes.

Five minutes later Dude and Homey emerged from the building.

“We got everything, can we go home now?” Dude asked impatiently.

“No we can’t Dude.” Candy sternly replied.

“What!?” Dude exclaimed, “Why not?”

“Well, for starters, that’s not Joe.” Candy pointed out, “That’s a different boy who looks very much traumatized now, thanks to you.”

“Actually, I’m always like this,” The little boy spoke up.

“And for another thing, “Rose added, “Homey that’s not Joe’s stuff, that’s a bowl of potato salad.”

“Can you prove that?” Homey asked defiantly.

“Will you guys please go back and get Joe and his stuff please?” Candy asked, rubbing her temples.

“Yeah, whatever.” Dude replied, tossing the poor child into nearby bushes. Homey followed suite by dumping the potato salad on his head.

“Well, at least we got Joe home safely.” Candy said, as she walked home with Rose, Dude, and Homey.

“No thanks to you two.” Rose snapped, cracking Dude and Homey upside the head. The boys rubbed their heads and replied “What did we do?”

“Can’t you two even recognize you own best friend?” She asked in annoyance.

“Of course we can.” Homey said.

“You brought out five different people!” Rose roared, “one of which was the principal!”

“Why wouldn’t we recognize that clingy little whelp? He only follows us everywhere.” Dude said.

“Dude!” Candy exclaimed, “How could you say that?”

“Well it’s true!” Dude replied, “That’s why he’s our friend. One day back in 3rd grade we asked him if we could borrow a sheet of paper and he clung to us like a sand bur since.”

“He did grow on us though.” Homey said.

“Yeah I agree, the little nipper does kind of grow on you, like a weed!”

Rose slapped Dude, really hard. The impact sent him flying five feet into the town park. He opened his eyes to find Rose and Candy standing over him fuming like dragons.

“Don’t you ever talk about Joe like that again Dude!” They snarled.

“I’m sorry.” Dude meekly replied, “ I do like Joe, he’s like my brother. It’s just that he really annoys me when he gets like this.”

“Well then, we need to figure out what’s wrong and help him before he hurts himself ok?” Candy said, helping Dude up. “What we need to do is sit down and figure out a plan.”

“Alright,” Dude sighed. He walked over to the merry-go-round where Homey had taken a seat. “You got slapped and I didn’t!” He chanted gleefully.

Rose came up and spun the merry-go-round so hard that Homey was sent flying. “Now, we need to all figure this out,” Candy said sitting on the merry-go-round, “ Joe’s self confidence in himself is shot. He doesn’t think he’s worth anything, and thinks that he’ll never find love. Now, how can we help him?”

They all sat upon the merry-go-round, Rose was slowly spinning it around.

“Maybe we could hypnotize him into thinking he’s happy?” Homey suggested.

“No, that won’t work,” Candy replied, “ Then he might be overly happy.”

“Plus, we know better than to trust you with hypnotism Homey.” Rose said, “Remember the whole zombie fiasco?”

“Will you get off my back about that!?” Homey protested, “Geez I hypnotize the entire town into thinking their zombies one time and I never hear the end of it!”

They went back to thinking. The merry-go-round spinning around like the gears in their heads.

“Maybe we could buy him something shiny?” Dude suggested.

“No, that’s how we cheer Homey up when he’s depressed.” Rose replied.

“Did somebody say shiny?” Homey asked, perking up.

They went back to spinning in silence again, when Rose said, “ Why don’t we just find Jacque and beat him up?”

“As wonderful as that idea is, I don’t think that will work.” Candy replied, “ The problem isn’t Jacque, the problem is that Amy thinks that Joe is a jerk.”

“Couldn’t we just talk to Amy?” Dude asked. Candy shook her head, “No, I’ve tried that, she won’t listen.”

“Well, maybe we need to show Amy what a sleaze Jacque is in order to show her how sweet Joe is?” Homey suggested. Everyone turned and stared at Homey in shock.

“I’d never thought I’d say this,” Rose said, “Homey that’s a great idea!” Homey blushed and giggled like a giddy school girl. “Thanks.” He replied.

Candy nodded in agreement, “Yes, that’s a wonderful idea Homey. The problem is that Joe isn’t really in the mood to do anything right now.

“I bet he just needs some rest,” Rose said, “why don’t we go and talk to him tomorrow?”

“That sounds perfect!” Candy said jumping up with a big smile on her face. “We’ll go to his house early tomorrow and talk to him.”

“Do we have to go early Candy?” Dude asked.

“Yes.”

“What is with you and your decision to sacrifice my weekend mornings?” Dude argued.

“Yeah! We can talk to him anytime Candy!” Homey joined in, “Let the men sleep-in!”

“You don’t know how hard it is for me to say this, but I agree with the boys Candy.” Rose said reluctantly, “I would like to sleep in tomorrow morning also.”

“Ok you guys win, “ Candy sighed, “ We will all meet here tomorrow at noon and then we’ll go over to Joe’s house and snap him out of his depression agreed?” she held out her hand.

“Agreed.” Rose said, placing her hand on top of Candy’s.

“Yeah.” Dude said, putting his hand in the circle.

“Pecan pie!” Homey exclaimed, extending his hand into the circle.

And with a cry of, “FOR JOE!” they all broke the circle and went in their separate ways.

At 12:00 noon, Candy arrived at the park, to find Homey already there waiting at the top of the slide. “Wow!” she exclaimed, “Homey, I’m impressed, you came early.”

“No,” Homey said, “I’ve been here all night.”

“You didn’t go home!?” Rose exclaimed, approaching the park, “Why on Earth not!?”

“Well, when you all left I decided to go on the slide, then I couldn’t figure out how to get down!” Homey cried.

“I’ll help you,” Rose said smiling slightly. She climbed up the ladder and shoved Homey down the slide. He slammed to the ground only to have Rose land on top of him a second later.

“Where is Dude?” Candy asked looking down the road. “He’s not here yet.” Candy failed to notice Rose give Homey a kiss because of this. Candy turned around, “where could he be?”

“You’re an idiot!” Rose suddenly said, slapping Homey across the face. He smiled stupidly and blushed. “Rose, where on earth is Dude?” Candy asked.

“How should I know?” Rose snapped, helping Homey up. Candy looked away again and Rose quickly gave Homey a hug and a kiss, “You’re so cute when you do stupid things.” She whispered in his ear. He blushed, and kissed her back, “I know,” he quietly replied.

“Well, we can’t wait for him,” Candy replied, turning around. “Whatever,” Rose said, quickly hitting Homey on the head, “Come on stupid, let’s go to Joe’s.” As Candy walked away, Rose blew Homey a kiss and smiled at him. He caught it and followed along, holding her hand.

They arrived at Joe’s house and knocked on the door. They were surprised to see it was Dude who answered the door. “What are you doing here?” Candy exclaimed.

“I came early because I couldn’t sleep.” Dude replied, looking frightened, “Thank god you’re here guys!”

“Why?” Candy asked, walking inside, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Joe!” Dude cried, “He overdosed!”