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CHAPTER FOUR
"absolutely not an actor in 
grease"
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(esqueleto pt. 1)

"COME ON, ONE LESSON!"

 "Diaz, I would rather stab my eye out with the eraser side of a pencil than take a lesson from Johnny Lawrence."

Miguel's arms dropped to his side in defeat, his shoulder leaning against the row of lockers as Jules shoved her textbook into her own, slamming the metal door shut as the pair made their way to the cafeteria. "What if I make Sensei promise to apologize?" 

 "Ha, I know that man well enough to know that will not work." 

 "I could organize a peace treaty!" 

 Jules chuckled, glancing at Miguel from the corner of her eye. "Why do you want to learn karate anyway? Why not something with a little bit less of a chance of injury?" 

The boy's expression faltered. It was slight, but Jules noticed, and her eyebrows rose. Miguel cleared his throat. "There are just some assholes here, I don't want to get pushed around." 

 Jules nodded solemnly. She knew a lot about assholes around town. She has had more than one run-ins with Kyler and his 'gang', and she has developed a philosophy to just ignore them, cuss them out, or run away. If it was especially neccessary, she would kick them in the shins or throw some sort of drink at them. 

"I mean, you could always do what I do." She shrugged, "throw a cup of coffee at them." 

 "I'll keep that in mind, thanks."

 The two laughed as Miguel pushed the doors to the cafeteria open, Jules ducking under his arm and raising a hand in greeting at Demetri, who seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep as they listened to the guidance counselor drone on about some subject nobody cares about. 

 "What did we miss?" 

"Something about fire drills, I wasn't really listening." The brunet shrugged nonchulantly. "But if the school burns down, I'm probably gonna die." 

 "Don't worry, 'Metri, if the school burns down, we'll all die." 

 The voice of the only semi-responsible person in the room piped up louder, finally catching Jules's attention. "Cyber bullying is no laughing matter. Sending a cruel message to someone online can be just as hurtful as saying it to their face. I'm not gonna name names, but the other day, a mother called me up because her son was crying, after some kids online made fun of his facial deformity." 

 Jules scowled at the woman, muttering some unkind words under her breath as snickers drifted across the words, all directed at Eli. She leaned over to the boy, lowering her voice to a whisper. 

  "She was obviously talking about Brucks over there," she muttered, gesturing with her head to the big boy, who seemed to be trying to rotate his shirt around his body. Eli laughed lightly as Jules pressed a platonic kiss on his cheek, shifting back into her seat and resisting the urge to go and beat someone to death with that microphone. 

 "But our goal this year is to make this school a safe place for all students." 

 Miguel seemed just as tired of listening to this bullshit as Jules, so he turned around and leaned in slightly. "You know, if you're sick of being bullied, my karate dojo's looking for recruits." 

 "Yeah right, you hear that, Eli?" Demetri made some chopping motions with his hands, "a little karate training and you're gonna kick some major ass!" 

 "I'm serious, Demetri," Miguel pressed. "My sensei's the real deal. I'm sure I could get you both discounts." 

 Jules raised her hand, "I personally hate your sensei." 

 Miguel poked her arm, "That's because you haven't given him a chance." 

 "Please, I could kick your ass without any karate lessons." 

 "As enticing as that sounds-" Demetri cut in, "I think we'd rather spend our afternoons playing Crucible Control than getting hit in the face." 

 Jules caught sight of Eli's face dropping, and her eyebrows furrowed. Before she could say anything, she was cut off again by the same stupid voice projecting itself through the microphone, giving her no choice but to listen. 

 "While we're all looking forward to the Halloween dance-" 

 Jules wasn't, but she didn't say that aloud. 

 "-Let's make sure that our costumes are culturally sensitive! For example, instead of 'sexy nurse', maybe try, 'gender neutral hospital employee.'"

"Alright, Jules, let's hear it-" Demetri leaned back, folding his hands in front of him as he shot the girl a judgemental look. "What are you going as this year?" 

 Jules grinned deviously. The girl has this running joke with her two friends, that every Halloween she dresses up in clothes that she already has lying around her house, making up some absurd backstory to try and convince people that she actually took time to dress up. It is a tactic that she classifies as 'saving money by not buying useless shit she will only wear once.'  

 "Okay, so I was thinking-" she held out her hands as if reading a billboard. "Black jacket, white shirt, black jeans, bam! a biker." 

 Demetri raised an eyebrow incredulously, "like, in Grease?" 

 "What?" Jules's smile fell, "No, not like from Grease! Don't turn this into a movie reference!" 

 "I'm just saying, it sounds like you're dressing up as John Travolta! Young, singing John Travolta." 

 "I have never hated you more." 

The boys all burst into laughter as Jules leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest and sighing deeply, rolling her eyes and pouting. 

 *** 

  JULES WAS EVEN MORE annoyed when she was woken up at midnight that same day. 

 She wasn't even fully asleep. She was laying on her couch, the television providing her with background sound, as it played old reruns of shows that Jules didn't really care about. The knock on the door startled her eyes open, her disoriented state causing her to flop over onto the ground instead of standing up on her feet. 

She glanced up at the digital clock that rested right above the television, the bright light making her wince as she realized that it was 11:50 PM. Who the hell was knocking on her door so late? 

 Still, she was disoriented, so the thought that she could be walking right into a murderer didn't really cross her mind as she stumbled across the small room and opened the door. 

 Her eyebrows furrowed as she reached up to rub her tired eyes, "Miguel? What're you doing here?" 

 Unlike Jules, Miguel looked wide awake. In fact, a smile was prominent on his face, and he bounced slightly in his place. "Hi Ana! You're awake." 

 Jules yawned. "Miguel," she muttered, her voice slightly hoarse as she leaned against the side of the door. "It's the middle of the night, what are you doing here?" 

 "Sensei told me to meet him at the school in the middle of the night," he hurridly explained as Jules ran a hand through her hair. "He said that I could bring you! You know, to show that he knows what he's doing!" 

 "And you waited until now to tell me because-?" 

 Miguel's smile turned sheepish. "Because I didn't want you to say no." 

 Jules rolled her eyes, glancing behind her into the dark house. "My mom would kill me if she found out I snuck out." 

 "It'd only be a little bit! There and back." 

 "There and back," Jules muttered under her breath, stepping put the door and shutting it behind her as quietly as possible. "You're lucky you're cute, Diaz, or I would have arrested you for showing up at my door so late." 

 While Miguel blushed over Jules and her tired-honesty, the oblivious girl brushed right past him, and for the second time that week, the two teens walked into the darkness. 

***

"OKAY, SO HERE'S what you're gonna do." 

 Jules was definitely more awake now. Every sound made in the swimming pools bounced off of the walls and forced it's way into your brain. Jules rotated her shoulders, blinking rapidly as she cocked an eyebrow at Johnny. 

 "You're gonna stand here, you're gonna watch, and you're not gonna do something stupid like freak out or call the police." 

 Jules frowned, "why would I do that?" 

 "You wouldn't, that's the point." Johnny rolled his eyes as if that was obvious, gesturing for Miguel to walk forward. "Hold out your hands." 

 The boy complied, the man quick to wrap a small rope around his wrists, binding them together. Jules wasn't really sure where this was going, and since she wasn't exactly Johnny Lawrence's biggest fan, she took a step forward. "Remind me the point of this?" 

 "I'm teaching the nerd how to kick." 

 "Like how to-" Jules kicked her leg out at Johnny, her leg sweeping in front of his chest. "Kick?" 

 "Not bad, although your kick is pretty weak." 

 "I wasn't actually trying." She mumbled, pouting as she crossed her arms protectively over her stomach. She gestured to Miguel, "so what, are you gonna get him to kick you now?" 

 "Sort of," Johnny turned to Miguel. "When you're in a fight, your first instincts are to use your hands. You gotta unlearn that. You gotta think with your legs." 

 Miguel's brows furrowed. "How do you think with your legs?" 

 "Well, it's like, uh-" 

In the blink of an eye, Johnny's arms darted forward, shoving Miguel harshly in the chest and sending the boy flying back in the water. Jules gasped, not neccessarily knowing how to react. She finally came to her senses, sprinting forward to the edge of the pool and peering into the water. "Miguel? Miguel!"

 "Calm down, Princess, he'll be back." 

 Every second that ticked by, a knot in Jules's stomach, finally, Johnny scowled slightly and bent down, reaching under the water and pulling a gasping Miguel up for a breath of air, holding on tight to his hair as the boy sputtered. "I'm drowning-"

 "Drowning is for pussies, all right? Don't be a pussy, use your legs!" 

 "This is insane!" Jules exclaimed after Miguel's head had disappeared under the water, she dropped to her knees with the full intent to pull the boy out, but a hand on her arm stopped her. "Stop being such a buzzkill, the kid's gotta learn!" 

 "Yeah, well teach him in a better way you psycho! I knew this was a bad id-" 

 Before she could even finish her angry rant, a surprised scream exited her lips as Johnny flung his arm forward, tossing the girl into the water with something that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle. 

 If Jules wasn't awake before, she sure as hell was now. She was startled, not expecting the sudden impact with the freezing cold water. It jolted every nerve in her body awake, bubbles rising from her nose as she frantically swam to the surface. 

 "You asshole!" She yelled, her hair pinned to her face as she resurfaced, Johnny in the process of dumping Miguel back under the water like a fishing net. She got her forearms up on the rough surface of the poolside, coughing up the chlorine-intoxicated water as she did so. Her clothes were heavy, so heavy in fact, that she grunted as she pulled herself off, her converse making a squeaking sound as water swished around inside of her socks.

 She shrugged off her jacket, tying it around her waist as she stalked toward Johnny, reaching her fist out to punch him sharply in the chest. "What the hell is wrong with you? I could have drowned!" 

 "But you didn't," Johnny pointed out the obvious, before holding up his hand, "hey, will you hit me again?" 

 "What?" 

 "Hit me again, like you did before. Right in the hand." 

 Jules cast a nervous glance at the water, before turning back to Johnny, curling her hand into a fist and bringing it up to his hand with as much force as she could muster. His hand recoiled back, although there was a smile on the man's face. He nodded, "nice." 

 A cough caught the two's attention, and Jules laughed slightly in disbelief when she realized that it was Miguel. The boy had somehow managed to kick his head to the surface, and was holding his head above the water as he tried to catch his breath. 

 "Yeah!" Johnny cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "That's more like it!"  

 "Great job, Miguel!"

 "Okay, now can you hold it?" 

 Jules had to admit that she was kind of enjoying herself. As Miguel treaded water using only his legs, Johnny had Jules punch his hands over and over again. He gave her tips on her form, and made snarky comments that made her punch him harder. As much as the girl hated to admit it, punching Johnny Lawrence in the middle of an abandoned swimming pool in the middle of the night while her friend struggled to not drown was actually kind of fun. 

 "Ten minutes!" The man cried out triumphantly, shaking out his hand as Jules messaged her knuckles. However, before they could do anything else, there was the echoing slam of the doors of the pools being thrown open, a voice shouting into the previous quiet. 

 "Hey! You're not allowed to be in here!" 

 Jules's eyes flew open as she traded a fleeting look with Johnny, who immediately ran over to grab Miguel and haul him out of the water. "We have to go-" he turned to Jules, "grab your jacket." 

 "I thought you said you knew this guy!" Miguel exclaimed through his heaving breaths, and Johnny scoffed. 

 "Of course not, I lied. Run!" 

 Miguel turned to Jules, a boyish grin on his face. "So one lesson?" 

 The girl rolled her eyes, "sure, whatever, let's go!" 

 Miguel laughed as the three sprinted for the exit, adrenaline pumping in Jules's veins, and as she burst out into the cold night air, goosebumps rising on her arms from the water that was still soaking her, she found herself grinning. 

 A/N:

OKAY BUT IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE NEW GRAPHICS I POSTED PLEASE GO LOOK I AM SO PROUD OF MYSELF I HAVE NEVER REALLY MADE MANIPS BEFORE AND THEY AREN'T THAT BAD- 

new chapter! i hope you all like it, and i am super excited for the next one! please continue to vote and comment to tell me what you think baes!

lots of love!