Tomorrow

by: Terrell James

Jojo was walking home from school, feeling a little sad and troubled. He had a hard time at school after his little fight with Ned this morning.

He wanted to head home, but feeling kinda scared about it, he passed his house and went in the observatory. When he got there, he decided to sit on the top and kinda felt like he wanted to get away from it all.

As he was looking at the sky, he began to think about what happened with him and his dad this morning. He reminisced over this complete argument.

Jojo was trying to walk out of the door, but his dad stopped him, looking extremely angry. He came to him and said, "Son, when are you going to think about your future?"

He was feeling a little mad and said, "I already have a future, being an inventor and musician. Didn't I try to tell you about that? I'm not gonna spend the rest of my life being one of the so-called greats."

"What the heck are you talking about?" he asked.

"Don't you get it?! On second thought, when will you get it? When are you gonna get that big, flipping skull of yours that I don't want to be mayor? It sucks! You keep pushing me and pushing me and pushing until you reach my limit to the point that you're trying to prevent me to express myself! I keep getting in this emotional breakdown because of you! That's the reason why those kids at school give me a hard time and that I've been called a stupid, emo, goth turd and don't deserve to be in this school! I never wanted to be the mayor in the first and you just don't care about me or my feelings! You only care about yourself!" exclaimed Jojo.

Ned dropped his jaw with simple misunderstandings, but all of his angry feelings slowly faded. He came to Jojo and said softly, "Are you serious? I-I'm so sorry, son. I didn't really know."

Jojo scowled furiously and said, "Don't touch me! Just-just leave me alone! I don't even want to talk to you EVER!! So just get away from me cause that's all I can take of this freakin' pressure. You're driving me nuts!"

"Son, how many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" asked Ned.

"You can say you're sorry a million times, but I will never forgive you. I hate you, dad." said Jojo, tearfully, as he walked out the door.

Ned felt like he was breaking down and realizes that everything Jojo said was right. He didn't realize that he put his own dreams over Jojo's life. Tears streamed out of Ned's face and walked upstairs to the bathroom, locked. He looked at the mirror and saw himself. His eyes were red and teary-eyed. He blamed himself for pushing his son too hard. He covered his eyes and sat down on the floor, crying for a few minutes. He whispered to himself, "Why did I ever try to think about myself when I should be thinking about my own son's life? I wish I could tell him how much I love and I wanted what's best for him so badly? It's just-- so hard. I love my son and I would do anything for him and I would never hurt him."

Slamming back to reality, Jojo looked at the sun. It looked like it started to go down. He's been on the top of the observatory for an hour and 15 minutes. He suddenly feels very guilty about hurting his dad that morning. To try to make the pain go away, he starts singing a song to himself that he heard on the radio that relates to him in every single way.

And I wanna believe you

When you tell me that it'll be okay

Yeah, I try to believe you

But I don't

When you say that it's gonna be

It always turns out to be a different way

I try to believe you

Not today, today, today, today, today...

I don't know how I'll feel

Tomorrow, tomorrow

I don't know what to say

tomorrow, tomorrow

is a different day

It's always been up to you

It's turning around

It's up to me

I'm gonna do what I have to do

Just don't

Gimme a little time

Leave me alone a little while

Maybe it's not too late

not today, today, today, today, today...

I don't know how I'll feel

tomorrow, tomorrow

I don't know what to say

tomorrow, tomorrow

is a different day

Hey, yeah, yeah, hey, yeah, yeah, and I know I'm not ready

Hey, yeah, yeah, hey, yeah, yeah, maybe tomorrow

Hey yeah, yeah, hey, yeah, yeah, and I know I'm not ready

Hey, yeah, yeah, hey, yeah, yeah, maybe tomorrow

And I wanna believe you

When you tell me that it'll be okay

Yeah, I try to believe you

Not today, today, today, today, today...

Tomorrow it may change

Jojo kept repeating, 'tomorrow it may change' 3 times until his voice started to crack. He folded his arms, buried his head down between his arms and legs and started to cry. He felt someone's hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw who it was. It was Cody and Caitlyn.

"What's wrong, man?" asked Cody.

Jojo sniffled a little, but tried to fight the tears. It couldn't work, so he began to speak up. "I-I-- I blew up at my dad this morning and I told him that I-- I-- I hated him."

Caitlyn and Cody were in shock and she leaned to Jojo and said, "You know that's not true."

"I feel as if this whole thing is my fault." said Jojo.

"No, man. it shouldn't be. You argue sometimes with your dad, but it doesn't mean you can't say what you don't mean. I know you could never hurt your dad." said Cody.

Jojo sobbed a little and trying to find his voice, he said, "I know. I know I shouldn't have done that. I just get so fed up with these jerks calling me 'emo' and 'goth.' It's just--"

"We know. We know. We understand you." said Caitlyn.

Cody and Caitlyn came over to Jojo and gave him a hug. Later on, Jojo came home and he saw his dad standing in front of the room. He was a little nervous, but he looked him in the eyes and said, "I'm sorry for what I said this morning. I was just way out of line. I don't hate you. I never could."

Ned stopped him and said, "It's okay, son. Everything you said to me was right. I shouldn't have pushed you way too hard. I'm sorry. I would never do anything to hurt you."

"I just love you so much. It's hard for me to say what I want to say." said Jojo.

"You're my only son, so you can say what you want to say." said Ned.

Jojo felt the tears streaming down on his face, then lowered his head down and sighed sadly. Ned lifted his chin and said, "You know how much I love you?"

He came over to Jojo and gave him a big hug. Jojo cried on his dad's shoulders and Ned's tears streamed down on his eyes also. He whispered, "I love you, son."

Jojo sobbed three times and said, "I love you, too, dad."

This was inspired by Avril's Lavigne's song, "Tomorrow." I felt as if it's kinda bittersweet and emotional. R&R, please! Hopefully, this will be so awesome!