Dynamite's Diary - 26th September 2021

I don't really know what to think at the moment. My head's been in a complete spin since this morning and in fact I feel kinda sick when I do think back on it.

So anyway, I was at the nearby coffee place waiting for Lottie and Gemma to arrive so we could have milkshakes together. Whenever I'm waiting for them on other occasions, something I tend to do is people watching. Today was no exception.

Anyway, right in my line of sight was this redhead with glasses and a messy bun ordering her coffee. Super casual wardrobe too, what with the plaid shirt and jeans.

And I was thinking to myself the whole time "Hey, that's the lady that currently works with Marshall!" I mentioned her sometime ago in a previous diary entry - still gutted that Marshall through Dad under the bus like that, but I actually like this new co-host lady. She seems approachable enough and could keep Marshall in line if he ever gets too big for his boots. Plus, she really rocks that cute nerd vibe.

Whether it was just to ease my mind a bit more or just because I felt like it, I went to say hello to her. Just like I do at every other time.

"Hey, Jocelyn, isn't it?"

She seemed pretty surprised that I was talking to her. "Yeah, that's my name alright. You want something?"

"So anyway, well done on getting that job!" I told her. "You know, the co-star gag with that Ringmaster guy!"

"Yeah, I kinda needed it," she replied. "Um, I'm kinda busy at the moment. Can I get back to you later? I want to sit down before this drink goes cold."

"I mean, sure, I'm kinda disappointed my dad didn't get the role, but hey, I guess winner takes all. Boomstick did his best and he's known Marshall for some time, but you did a great job yourself."

I clearly made a mistake when saying Dad's name. Jocelyn narrowed her eyes for a bit and frowned, before speaking. When she did, it was as if she was spitting venom.

"Oh, Boomstick eh?" she said. "My boss?" Her voice proceeded to get louder until she was almost shouting. "My boss who DOESN'T PAY ME and WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE?!"

She then proceeded to go on this big long rant about how my dad was a tyrant who was spending all the internship money she was supposed to be receiving on shotgun shells and beer and that he never gave her any privacy in her office. Which she says is just a broom closet that they made her have. It would have been too long to write what she said down in full so I'm just leaving the key details here.

The whole time, my stomach was churning at the details and some of the people in the coffee shop were staring at us. Even the woman at the counter. And Gemma and Lottie still hadn't arrived at this point. I was really hoping this was all some sort of bad dream I was having and that if I pinched myself I would wake up, but no.

I had to explain in great detail to Jocelyn that I had no idea that this was going on between her and my dad and that despite our connections, I would not do anything like that if I was her boss at all. She seemed to be more accepting at that point, though she still gave me a suspicious glance as she went to sit down with her coffee.

Of course, things got less awkward once Gemma and Lottie finally showed up. We could just get on with ordering our own drinks and chatting with each other about how to spend next week and how to finish off our homework for Mr. Lear without putting in the extra effort.

I'm super torn on this. I love my dad, I really do. But sometimes he can be kind of overbearing. And I really feel bad for this girl. I mean, it could be she's lying or exaggerating, but I'm pretty good at spotting liars and she didn't seem like one at all. And to think that she's been going through all of this since 2010?!

All I know is that I'm not telling Dad about this meeting whatsoever. He'll just act up if I do. Some things are best kept to myself.

Maybe it's for the best that Jocelyn's Marshall's new co-host. She clearly needs the break. And the money. I hear that you get a pretty cushy payment if you work alongside Marshall. Sure, it's only a fraction of what he gets, but at least you're actually getting paid, right?

Of course, it still doesn't mean I'm changing my mind on Marshall. Just saying. And he'd better make sure not to mess with her either. ¬_¬

Dynamite's Diary - 17th September 2021

I invited my friends over to my Dad's shack today. Well, I'd been inviting them over for the past few days. It took them all a lot of persuading though. Marlene and Eliza claimed that they had other commitments on for most of the week. Lottie in particular was unwilling to come over because she'd seen my selfies from inside the place and didn't like the idea of a cramped shack with barely any electronic devices inside. And as for Steve, well, I already mentioned my reasons for not asking him. Gemma was pretty much the only person who said she could come.

But I was able to persuade my gal pals to come anyway! Sure, it took a bit of sugarcoating about the shack itself in order to get them to accept the idea, but it worked. So just before lunchtime at school, we all crept out the gates and got the train over to where the shack was.

Dad was still asleep when we came in. He's been sleeping in late for the past few days - probably because he's back at work and putting in a lot of effort. I tried calling for him as soon as we entered, by he didn't respond. He was snoring pretty loud too.

"Is he gonna wake up or what?" Lottie asked.

"No, no, he will. Watch this." I walked over to his bed.

As part of my training, I'm trying to see if I can sneak up on Dad whilst he's asleep and judo throw him out of the bed. I've never managed to do it successfully. He's like a wild animal when he senses he's being attacked. It doesn't matter who's supposedly attacking him - he just freaks out and doesn't hold back. I was determined to get it done this time though. I grabbed his shoulders and tried yanking him out.

Let's just say that it didn't work out this time either. Dad was instantly at it - first with the kick to the face (with his shotgun leg too!) and then springing from the bed and letting out these rolling punches that launched me into the air. Can I also just say that Dad was still asleep whilst this was happening?!

It ultimately ended with me being kicked into the ceiling with the shotgun leg again and slamming back down on the ground again. Dad did a little spin whilst he did it before collapsing himself - he's never been able to balance that well when performing that move. At that point he woke up, yawned and got off the ground.

It took him a few more seconds to realize I was on the floor in front of him. "That's right! Thought you could get away with - oh, it's you." He let out a sheepish chuckle. "Sorry 'bout that."

I guess I was pretty woozy myself after that fight. "I'm telling you Dad...someday I'll throw your ass out of that bed, and you won't notice a thing...jeez, my ribcage still aches."

We both laughed our asses off before he helped me off the ground. And then I turned to my pals and said "So girls, this is my dad. Say hello to him."

My mates are hilarious! They were all standing there with their mouths gaping open and their eyes widened. Except for Gemma though. She just snapped her fingers and said "Well, I guess that explains some things".

Lottie in particular was pale in the face. That would explain where that really loud screaming noise was coming from. And all she could mutter was "Do you-?!"

"Geez, what are you talking about Lottie? This is just my martial arts training!" Lottie has some really odd views at times. What did she think was happening?

My dad was a little annoyed that I brought a whole group of people over without telling him first. "Y'know, if I'd known anything about this, I would have prepared more of Mama's ghost pepper pie!"

At which point Lottie went even paler and needed to have a short rest.

Luckily, Dad was able to prepare lunch in no time at all. No ghost pepper pie, but he did serve up a few mushroom and pepper enchiladas, which everyone else was down for. Especially over ghost pepper pie. Even I still have problems trying to eat that without flinching.

Dad got to know more about my friends and was rather surprised about Marlene's connections with Marshall. It does seem that he's gone back to idolising the guy despite what happened during the summer, which is a bit of a shame. But hey, at least he seemed to get on well with Marlene, even if he was asking her all sorts of bizarre questions about her favorite action movies and whether she thought that T-Rexes or velociraptors were the superior dinosaurs. Marlene was nervously chuckling when answering some of these, but she did ease up after a while.

Dad did seem rather weary of Lottie though. Maybe it was because she mentioned that he should have a shave. Or the fact that she wanted to know where the flat screen TV was. Or the fact that her phone ringtone went off while we were having lunch and it just so happened to be the Hannah Montana theme. Good thing he was too busy eating his squirrel burger when that happened - that phone would have been smashed across the room otherwise before Lottie had a chance to answer it.

Anyway, the important thing is that lunch was a success and that everyone seemed to be (mostly) having a good time. Of course, we couldn't stay as long as I would have liked to have done - school lessons would be starting again at 2pm. So we said our goodbyes to Dad and headed back as quickly as we could.

We did get in trouble when we made it back to school - thirty minutes late for our afternoon lessons. Eliza was really miffed that this nearly lead to her second detention and in fact, it would have been Marlene's first detention ever. Fortunately, we were able to spin a yarn about how Marlene wasn't feeling well and that we had to make sure that she was okay in the girl's bathroom. So for now we're all off the hook. At least until the next time something like this happens.

When I got home after school, Dad was drinking from another beer can. "Hey Dad, how's it going?"

He just chuckled as he tossed the can under the bed. "Your friends are weird."

He's such a laugh, he is! We really need to do something like this again another time. Have Dad learn even more about my buds. Just make sure that Lottie's phone is off though. X)

Dynamite's Diary - 10th September 2021

It was so good to finally get to hang out with my pals this week without having to worry about detention getting in the way again. Sure, I got to chat with Lottie and Gemma over the weekend already, but we didn't really get enough time to properly hang out.

Steve was doing his basketball practice as usual on Tuesday, so I got to get talking with him them. He's just so dreamy! He's head coach on the basketball team and he's got a real good dunking arm. Nice abs too. He even gave me more pointers on how to play basketball for next time I played with him and the other lads, and my heart went crazy fast because I was so happy. I was still sweating about it in Math two hours later. Obviously, I'm already good enough as it is, but still! Also, I'd really like to play on the same level as him some day. He's just in another league entirely.

I really don't get why my Dad hates him. He's always been so nosy whenever I've had a date, but he just never gives Steve the time of day. Steve's pretty terrified of him in return - I'd tried to tell him that Dad's actually pretty decent once you get to know him better, but for now I'm returning home solo from our dates in case Dad tries to kneecap him again.

Besides Steve, I got to meet up with Eliza again from last week. We saw each other by the canteen on Thursday, which apparently has just been repaired. I didn't see it last week because I was in detention the whole time, but rumor has it that there was a major explosion there on Monday. Something to do with a lunch box blowing up.

Eliza went super red when I asked her about whether she knew about this. She pretty much spluttered afterwards when trying to talk.

"Okay, so I had an incident! Like's it's my damn fault that whole mess happened in the first place! I mean, how was I supposed to know that I hadn't put my sandwiches in my lunch bag like I thought I had?!"

"What did you put in?"

She went completely silent for a bit. "Um...I'm not really sure. Supposedly it was something that my uncle had on him when he came to visit that time. Mom says he was wondering where it was when I got back." Then she got all snappy again. "Well it's his damn fault for putting it right where the sandwiches were! Seriously?! Why did I have to get the blame?! I was just in a hurry that morning!"

It all sounded pretty funny, though I did feel pretty bad for Eliza. Especially since she never got to have lunch that day. Kind of curious about her uncle though. What the hell would he even had on him that would cause that kind of explosion in the first place? Either way, I thought about cheering Eliza up by giving her one of my own sandwiches. She seemed to enjoy it, though I didn't tell her that the meat in it was that squirrel my dad spent twelve hours trying to catch. Some things are just best left guessed for yourself.

Oh, and get this! I got to see Marlene again outside of school today! Some really bitchy popular girls were making fun of her outfit by the school gates but I sorted them out in no time. Here's a little tip of mine - you don't need to use physical violence to sort other people out all the time. You just need to bring up the possibility and they will back down instantly.

I honestly didn't know that Marlene attended the same school as me. Wonder why she didn't bring it up when we had our first conversation together. It's also really nasty to think what these mean girls were putting her through before we met up. Sure, it could just be a one-off incident, but who knows? Either way, I'm going to make sure that nobody messes with her while I'm around. Especially not Kinsey, the most super popular girl in school and bonafide bitch.

Maybe I should invite all these friends of mine over sometime next week? I've never invited anyone round before except Steve, and we all know how that went down. But maybe Dad will be more open about this little idea?

Dynamite's Diary - 4th September 2021

So school has started again and already it's not going great. That project I mentioned last week? Well, I failed to complete it in time anyway so I had to put up with Mr. Lear bitching in my face about it. He said that six weeks should have been enough time for me to complete a four page essay on Taming of the Shrew in and that clearly I wasn't putting enough effort into it. So what? Summer was super busy! Why should I invest time in some play I didn't like? You know, I'd probably put more effort into English if they allowed us to do more creative writing.

Oh, and get this - he gave me a week's worth of detention so I would actually get the essay done. Just great! I had to read this play again despite not enjoying it and then comment on structure and iambic pentameter or something like that. I couldn't spend time in the playground hanging out with Lottie and Gemma and I couldn't spend time playing basketball with the boys and beating them at it. And I definitely couldn't spend time chatting with Steve and seeing if we could arrange another date at some point. All of my recess was taken up by this stupid pointless detention! Let me just say that anyone who thinks that detention's hard where they are clearly hasn't been to my school.

On the bright side, I've gotten chatting with this girl who's also in detention with me. I've never been in any classes with her before so this is the first time that I've met her. Since there was just nothing to do other than write that tedious essay, I felt that it would be best to see how she was getting on.

"So, this your first time here?"

She got so agitated for some reason about it and was practically hissing under her breath. "Quiet! Ms. O'Malley will hear us!"

Of course, Ms. O'Malley didn't notice, thankfully. Actually, she barely pays attention anyway. She's supposed to watch over all of the kids in detention but she just spends time looking through files and drinking from a bottle of gin instead. So I can get away with a bit of doodling and writing while I'm at it too.

Despite that, this girl was still insistent on not talking for a while. So for the first two days, all I could do was just watch her getting on with her work and eating out of a packet of Smarties she had. Luckily, she opened up on the third day and we began chatting.

Her name's Eliza and as suspected, this is indeed her first time in detention. She refused to tell me what it was for though.

"All I'll say is that it TOTALLY wasn't my fault. So I don't know what their deal is anyway."

"Well, if it makes you feel better," I said, trying to lighten the mood. "This is my sixty-ninth time here, so count yourself lucky."

She tutted a bit upon hearing that. "Wow, you're a real joker, Dynah."

"No really! That's how many times I've been here!"

Good news though! I managed to get my work finished on Friday, meaning that I won't have to come back next week! And Eliza's managed to finished her time in detention too! Both of us were SO relieved. Eliza even let me have one of her Smarties when we left because she was in such a good mood. Or at least they were called Smarties. They didn't look like the type I knew of. Still tasted great though.

Anyway, that essay's finally done and it's Saturday, so THANK GOD for that. Hopefully next week isn't so busy so I can properly catch up with my pals about how things are getting on. And catch up with Steve too. Especially Steve. X)

Oh, and maybe I'll try and find Eliza next week to see how she's getting on. No point putting our time bonding in detention to waste, right?