Chapter Text
Jonathan had been attending the Freaks United study sessions for two weeks, and whilst it was definitely helping his grades to recover from their earlier freefall, it turned out to be too little too late to save his mid-year school report.
“You got a D in Spanish?” his mother had asked, and all Jonathan could do was stare at his feet and nod guiltily. “Oh Jonathan, I knew you were distracted lately, but I didn’t think you’d let your schooling suffer! Right, from now on, you’re grounded. You come straight home from school and study here until your grades improve.”
“But mum,” he tried, but she refused to listen.
“No, Jonathan. I won’t stand for excuses. You’re grounded, end of discussion.” Jonathan just sighed, knowing that arguing would be pointless, and resigned himself to missing out on the best part of the school day for the next few weeks.
~Time skip to the next daaaaay~
Jonathan walked up to his usual table and collapsed dramatically in his usual chair, sighing to emphasise his unhappiness to everyone present.
“What’s wrong?” asked Sandra, sounding completely unconcerned.
“I’m grounded,” he announced. “I’m going to have to miss our study sessions indefinitely because my mum grounded me, and it’s completely and totally unfair!”
“How comes you’re grounded?” Trevor asked.
“Bad school report. Bad grades. But the study sessions were helping with that!” Jonathan sighed heavily and flopped further back into his chair in a clear display of hopelessness.
“I’m sorry, Jonathan. That sucks,” replied Max earnestly, looking at Jonathan with an expression of deep sympathy.
“I wish there was something we could do to help,” added Annie, looking rather sad at the thought of temporarily losing a member of their friendship group.
“Maybe there is,” said Robert mysteriously, before fixing them all with a mischievous smile.
Chris sighed heavily. “What do you have in mind?” he asked, already mildly annoyed by his rival’s melodramatic nature.
“I’m so glad you asked!”
~Time skip to after school that day~
Jonathan was in his room, studying under his mother’s strict supervision, when he was interrupted by what sounded like a small rock bouncing off of his window. He raced across his bedroom and flung his window open, only to be hit in the forehead with a small wrapped toffee.
“What on earth is going on?” asked his mother, who had joined him at the window and was staring in bewilderment at the eight teenagers standing in her driveway and grinning up at her son.
“It’s brain food, to help Jonathan study,” answered Annie, as Max threw a packet of crisps through the open window with impressive accuracy. Jonathan turned to watch as the packet bounced off of his bed and onto the floor and fondness flooded through him as he noticed they were his favourite flavour, meaning the gang had most likely bought snacks specifically for him.
“We have drinks too,” called out Robert, holding up a bottle of water, but Trevor snatched it away from him, muttering something about ‘property damage’ and how they were ‘trying not to go to prison, Robert’.
“Who are you?” asked Mrs. Harris, looking increasingly perplexed with every second that passed.
“We’re a study group,” explained Dennis with an innocent smile on his face. “Sandra’s teaching us all Spanish because she’s fluid”.
“Fluent,” corrected Chris, absentmindedly.
“Oh, great!” exclaimed Jonathan. “I really need help with Spanish!”
“Hold on a second,” interrupted Mrs. Harris. “Sandra as in the girl you cheated on?” She looked once again at the gathering of teenagers outside her house, and spotted the familiar face of her son’s ex-girlfriend in the crowd.
“Hello, Mrs. Harris,” she greeted. “Yes, Jonathan did kiss Annie whilst we were dating.” The girl in question gave a shy little wave. “But all is forgiven, and he’s a part of our study group now! So we really really need him to be un-grounded so we can help save his grades!"
She paused for a moment before replying. “If this study group is so good, why is Jonathan still failing most of his subjects?”
“I only just joined the study group,” her son defended. “Give it time, please. Just one chance!”
She seemed to consider this for several seconds before she finally relented. “Go and bring them inside. They’re causing quite a scene, and I don’t want the neighbours talking. But I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Jonathan!”
“Thanks mum!” he exclaimed, and wrapped her in a tight hug before bounding down the stairs to invite his friends in. It was a bit of a squeeze to get them all in the living room, but they managed, and nobody really cared if they were a little squished because they were all together, and that was what really mattered.
“Hey, maybe after we go over Spanish, we can practice long division!” said Max cheerily, and he was answered with a cushion being thrown at his face.