JoJo 2.3; A Record Broken!

December 1972

JoJo was feeling bold. He just bought a record, Puppy Love by Donny Osmond. For some reason he brought it to Smallville Jr. High School. This was against school policy, but JoJo was accustomed to doing things "new" this year. He often had no reason. He just did it. As JoJo was showing off his record to Tommy between classes, Sammy Smart Mouth came up to him and took the record.

"Give it back, Sammy."
"Or what?" Sammy was flanked on his left by Ralph the Giant (He was 5'9") and on his right by Keith the Head Knocker. (Keith once beat up 3 dudes by himself.)
Sammy broke JoJo's new record, then released this evil grin.
"You *#@**&%@"
"Ohhhhh! JoJo knows some bad words."
"I know you are a *%&^" for breaking my record."
"Oh, I didn't know that was your record. I thought it was Alice's"
Sammy had crossed the line. He was now talking about JoJo's momma!
JoJo was so mad...he said, "*&(^%$#$@"
All the boys laughed. However, Sammy was not laughing. He retorted, "If anybody is going to be a smart mouth, it will be ME!"
Which made the other boys give a collective "Oooooooo."
JoJo surprised himself. Before he knew it, he had balled up his fist and hit Sammy right in the nose.
Sammy was stunned. He told his crew, "Get him!"
A no-rules scrap broke out! Tommy and JoJo tried to fight the Giant and the Head Knocker, but they got pulverized!
Finally, JoJo yelled, "That's enough, Tommy!" "Let em go!"
This stunned everyone. To the surprise of JoJo (and a grateful Tommy), their opponents backed off. As JoJo proudly began spouting off more commands, he felt a tug at his shirt. His teacher, Mr. Stank and the school's principal, Mr. Boss were there to break up this battle. No wonder their opponents had backed off.
There was blood all over the floor. However, it was all from Sammy's nose. JoJo had never seen Sammy Big Mouth like this. First, he wasn't talking. Next, he looked sheepish. The 5 boys were herded into the principal's office. JoJo had never felt so much pride as onlookers were pointing and mumbling.
JoJo's pride turned to fear as Mr. Boss said the dreaded word, Suspension! JoJo immediately thought about Dan and the lessons he had been trying to teach him. He hated the thought of Dan's disappointment. But, it was too late. All five culprits were given three days of out-of-school suspension. JoJo's first though: MATH!! He had brought his grade up to a 77, but zeroes would place him in the failing category again.
What was worse, JoJo felt this guilt feeling of all those bad words he had said! He really didn't know what to do about that feeling. Once his dad calmed down...he would ask him.