TEENAGE KICKS

CHAPTER EIGHT: JOHNNY, THE ASSHOLE

GETTING DROPPED OFF at home after grabbing something to eat at her mother's restaurant, the 2 males waved goodbye and drove off to Mr. Miyagi's house. Rory wanted to go with them, but ever since she came home late after the Halloween dance due to her brother beating up Daniel, her mother set a curfew for the girl.

The Lawrences lived comfortably, which was really just a word that rich people used to sound humble. But at the cost of living that lifestyle was the presence of her mom who worked 24/7 at her full-time job at the restaurant. Most of the time Johnny's father was also out at whatever job he had (Rory didn't give enough fucks to care what he did, only that it was a well paying one).

That meant that she and Johnny were left home alone a lot, not that they ever bothered to communicate except for her telling him she made dinner (made = store-bought pizza).

Today was no different, Johnny had arrived home before her and that meant that he was standing at the staircase, waiting for the girl to arrive home. Rory rolled her eyes at his stature, eyes narrowing in on the judgy look he was giving her "what?"

"Why were you with the new kid again?" he snapped, mouth snarling in disgust at the thought of the boy that had been hanging around Ali occasionally "he paying you to be his friend?"

Rory rolled her eyes and grinned sarcastically "is it so hard to believe that you can make friends without having them fear you? I'll have you know that I actually enjoy his company"

Sighing, Johnny crossed his arms over each other "yeah, whatever. You shouldn't be hanging around the loser, he can't even throw a proper punch"

"It isn't very fair when you've been taking karate since you were a kid and he's only just moved here, I swear you're like obsessed with him or something" the brunette scoffed "you scared that Ali might actually be over you already? Is that what it is, you scared of rejection Johnnycakes?"

She knew that the boy despised that nickname, mostly because his absent mother used to call him that (it might've been a little low, but it slipped out before she could stop it). "Ali isn't over me, we both know that Aurora." Now, Johnny knew that Rory hated that nickname since she was named after a Disney princess, and she was no damsel in distress.

Rory shuddered lightly, not liking the way he spat her birth name. It just didn't sound the same as when Daniel would say it, maybe because he said it like he properly knew her, but that's the thing...the boy didn't know anything about the girl except for gossip he had heard from people.

"Oh, cry a river, build a bridge, and get over it! The girl doesn't want anything to do with your pathetic ass. Pretty sure she's into Danny anyway" Rory's voice wavered at the last part, and unfortunately, Johnny caught it.

He didn't even bother to bite back the sadistic grin "I see, you like this boy and you're jealous ain't ya Aurie. See, that's where we see eye to eye, we don't want them together" Rory went to disagree but he held up his hand "you can't deny it, you look at the both of them and imagine yourself in her place"

That made the girl shrink back, he knew where to hit her and all because of the slight second of weakness she had shown. Johnny was manipulative, and he used that to his advantage.

"Come on Aurora, I know that you glare at the back of the girl's head during pre-calc. Might as well kill two birds with one stone, and you happen to be the stone in this situation" Rory looked back up at him curiously, not having caught on to what he was saying "I would usually threaten the boy to stay away from you, but why don't you do the opposite. Get him to fall in love or whatever with you and that leaves Ali to come crawl back to me"

"Yeah, and how is that gonna work out when he's only got eyes for her?"

The blonde sized her up, making her feel small in comparison to his figure "well, first of all, change in style. He's not going to look at you when you're wearing a leather jacket and dark jeans. I don't know, get Susan and Cindy to help you, I'm not a beauty guru. Also, guys like him like nice girls"

"So, you're saying that I should become an Ali 2.0, no thank you" Rory winced at the thought of letting people walk all over her, especially her own brother "you're on your own bucko"

She pat the boy on his shoulder as she went to ascend the staircase, but what he said next made her freeze "I guess you're ok with me telling the boy about your infatuation with his...unique personality or whatever you girls are into these days?"

"you wouldn't"

"Oh...I would"

★ ☆

"I'm so glad that you finally came to terms with your undying love for Daniel, took you long enough"

Rory rolled her eyes at Cindy's mindless rambling, having caught her up to date with everything that happened with her brother "yeah, but at what cost. I'm being turned into your own personal barbie doll all because a boy whose ego is the size of the grand canyon threatened to tell him about my stupid crush"

Cindy sighed heftily, snipping at the ends of the girl's hair. She was an aspiring hairdresser whose dream job was to open up her own salon which meant she was thrilled when Rory asked her to give her a new look.

"Ok...and, done" she spun the girl around in her chair to face the mirror, gasping slightly at the girl's now shoulder-length hair "I am a miracle worker, goodbye dead-ends and hello Miss LaRusso"

Rory laughed, slapping Cindy on the arm "Oh, shut up"

"So I've got a few outfits I could lend you for the week, but if you're fully transitioning to this nice girl look, you'll need to buy more clothes"

"Oh, great"