TEENAGE KICKS

CHAPTER NINE: CANDY HEARTS

THAT MORNING, RORY got up, stared at herself in the mirror for a minute, actually put thought into what she wore, and even applied a little lipgloss. Cindy had come over to pick her up so that she could rate her outfit before driving them both to the high school (something the brunette definitely wasn't looking forward to).

"Ok, there's Johnny...and there's Daniel? Ooooh, he's walking with Ali" Cindy droned on, not noticing how the girl next to her was tugging at her pink skirt paired with a plaid stitched sweater.

Finally looking up, Rory shook her head "I don't think I can do this Cindy, take me back home"

"Look at me Rory, who has the most confidence and zero fucks in this school?" she grabbed the girl's shoulders to stare into her eyes.

"Susan?"

Cindy shook her head "No. You, dummy! Now go and get your man!"

She pushed her forward making the girl slightly stumble and quickly straighten her back. Rory gave herself a short pep talk before confidently striding towards where her brother and the two others stood.

"must be take-a-worm-for-a-walk week!" one of Johnny's friends yelled at the retreating back of Daniel. The brunette turned to laugh at the angry faces of the group, but his eyes went to the girl behind them.

Rory felt more confident with the awe-stricken look on the boy's face, patting her brother on the shoulder as she continued towards the LaRusso boy. readjusting the books in her arm and ignoring the glare coming from Ali, Rory came to stop in front of them.

"Hey, Danny" she tucked a strand of hair behind her newly cut hair, biting down softly on her bottom lip. Rory wanted to gag, never having imagined herself becoming the one type of girl she hated most in the world.

Daniel nodded in a daze, shaking his head once he realized she had said hello "Oh, uh hey Aurora...I-I like your hair"

The girl laughed softly, brushing her hair off her shoulder to showcase her painted nails "thanks, I wasn't sure if I liked it, but I do now" He laughed even though it wasn't funny, not paying attention to the blonde girl beside him that was angry over not having his attention anymore. "I was wondering if you were free Friday, I was planning to head down to a drive-in movie place"

"He can't" Ali jumped in, grasping the boy's arm in her hand with a teasing smirk "we're going out, so he's busy"

Rory frowned falsely, not actually caring if he was busy since all his attention seemed to be on her glossy lips "aw, that's a shame. I was really excited...guess I'll just ask Jamie from Pre-calc to go with me" Daniel's eyes widened, flickering from her to where Jamie was seen talking to Johnny behind her.

"well, I've gotta get to class anyways. See ya Danny" a grin graced the girl's face, her dimples making an appearance as she leaned over to kiss the boy's cheek. Rory turned around and started walking the opposite way, leaving Daniel behind, frozen in place.

What he couldn't see was the annoyed look on her face as she glared holes through her brother, upset about using the boy for his own personal gain. Johnny smirked at her, holding his hand out for a subtle low five, only to be ignored by the pissed off teenager.

★ ☆

AFTER SCHOOL, Cindy, Rory, and Susan were stretching for cheer as they waited for Ali to arrive. The other girls were chatting amongst themselves in their own little designated groups.

A ball rolled to the brunette's feet, making her look up and over to the practicing soccer team and a certain boy looking her way. He had obviously kicked the ball over to her on purpose which caused her to smile widely.

Rory bid a quick goodbye to the 2 confused girls and jogged over to Daniel "Hey Danny"

"Sorry about the ball, I don't know how it got there" he laughed, nervously scratching the back of his head "but, thanks"

"Sure" Rory nodded and went to pass the ball to him, at the last second she dropped it to her feet and started dribbling it between her feet "doesn't mean you're gonna get it back, show me your best karate boy"

Daniel glared playfully at her before lunging forward to kick the ball from underneath the ball, but she moved it out of the way and turned around to start running for the goal. Hearing a laugh from behind her, she kicked to the side where her body bumped into his own.

"Oops, sorry" she brushed past him again to change the direction of the ball to where the goalie stood awaiting. Lifting her foot up behind her, Rory kicked as hard as she could, aiming for the corner of the goal and cheering when she successfully got it in.

"Hey!" Daniel looked over to the grinning female "not bad"

"Yeah?"

"Definitely varsity material" he nodded jokingly, the girl in return slapping his arm lightly.

Rory shrugged as if she did soccer in her sleep before stopping in front of him "you've gotta step up your game LaRusso, I'm coming for your crown"

"I'd like to see you try, I've already-" Daniel was cut off by the familiar voice of Ali behind them.

"Rory!"

The girl in question rolled her eyes, plastered on a wide smile, and turned to face the girl who stood by Cindy with the other cheerleaders. Ali waved her over with an obviously fake grin, so she turned to Daniel "well, I've gotta go...talk to you later?"

"Yeah..." he trailed off, watching once again as the girl ran off. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something was off about Rory. Sure, he liked the cute outfit she had worn that day and the new haircut, but it wasn't his Rory.

He couldn't help but wish he could hear at least one of her usual snide remarks that made him want to either roll his eyes or laugh. He shook off his thoughts and kicked a ball at his feet into the goal, smiling when it flew past the determined goalie.

Ali pulled the girl aside, dropping the smile once she saw that Daniel had looked away "what do you think you're doing? This act you have going on isn't gonna last very long"

"What act" Rory responded innocently, distractedly looking over her shoulder to where Susan and Cindy stood with raised eyebrows "the only act happening here is you wearing that fake smile in front of your poor little Danny"

"You know you ain't good enough for the kid, right?"

Rory's smile dropped as she finally set her gaze on the blonde "well, neither are you. No one's good enough for him, he's got a heart of gold while ours are just silver"

No matter how hard Ali wanted to disagree with her, she couldn't and she knew the girl was right about that "that's something we can agree on, but...I just think that I'm the better pick out of the both of us"

Laughing lightly, Rory nodded sarcastically as she pat the girl on her shoulder "you keep telling yourself that." She then ran off to where the 2 awaiting teenagers stood with crossed arms "I thought I was never gonna escape the wrath of Ali Mills"

"Why? What was she saying? Was it about Daniel? What lipgloss was she wearing?" Cindy spewed out, clasping her hand over her mouth at the word vomit "Sorry"

"Um, well I don't know what lipgloss she had on, but she was asking about Daniel actually...why else would she voluntarily talk to me?" Rory laughed, starting to tie her hair up with the white hair tie from around her wrist.

"don't just stand there, spill"