𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗦𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 ; 𝙅𝙤𝙝𝙣𝙣𝙮 𝙇𝙖𝙬𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚

|09| Happy Birthday

"Happy birthday, Daniel!" You step closer towards him, Ali and the girls in the hallway.

Although they're mad at you for now dating their rival, you couldn't go about your day without wishing him a happy birthday.

"Hey, yeah thanks," he says your name with a forceful smile while his eyes darted to look everywhere but at you, this made your lips form into a frown. "Daniel, I'm really sorry about the whole Johnny situation... I swear he's not as bad as he seems,"

Daniel raises a hand cutting you off, "I've seen plenty of that guy, he is everything I think."

A scoff escapes your lips, shaking your head you back away. "Well, clearly you know nothing about him."

Ali gave you a commiserating glance after you finished talking, she's well aware of Johnny. Her reaction yesterday brought her regret everything she did, you both knew that too.

Watching her talk to Daniel as you walked off, your head turns to look ahead only to be stopped abruptly in your tracks.

"Hey, duchess." Johnny towers over you, he smiles sweetly before leaning in to kiss your lips. "How's my girl doing today?"

"Good... Johnny, can we talk?"

"Of course, what's up?" He then said, "want to skip school today? I'll write you a doctor's note - I do it all the time, then we can go hang out somewhere."

You smile and softly giggle, "how accurate are these notes? You think the teacher will notice your horrible penmanship?" You banter him slapping his chest he lets out an ironic chortle.

"Oh, I don't write them. I get some nerd to do it and I've mastered my stepfather's signature." He proudly admits with a point to his chest, this made your brows rise with a question, "isn't that illegal?"

"Only if he knows. Come on, babe." He pushes you along wrapping an arm around your shoulders, "I just want to hang out with you alone today." He purrs in your ear.

"Babe? That's new." you snicker feeling your face heat up, he kisses your temple. "Yeah, and I got plenty more pet names for you. Now hurry!" he noticeably spots someone down the hallway, rushing you towards the other end of it with you.

"Hey, Nancy. Can you write us both a doctor's note?" He calls out to the preppy-looking rich girl who was just leaving her locker, she turns on her heel to look over at you both.

"Yeah, sure. You owe me even more money now." she points at Johnny with the end of her pencil, then jolts down some words on a sticky note in front of her as she wrote it on the top of her binder quickly.

Peeling it away from the blank ones, she hands you both the notes. "Stay in school!" she joked with a smile on her eyes darting between you two.

You let out a snorting giggle, looking at an unamused Johnny your face drops, "oh, come on! It was funny."

"Yeah, whatever. Let's go. Thanks again Wheeler!" he takes your hand leading you away from her. "No problem, Johnny." She waved merrily before going in the opposite direction of you two.

Johnny breaks into a smile once you left the school grounds, "we're going to the same spot from last time."

"Up the hill?" You wonder amused with raised eyebrows, "but don't we need stuff for going up there?"

"Yes, I got some blankets already packed, don't worry my love." He kisses your forehead before jumping in on his side, you climb into the passenger. "You planned this from the beginning? Didn't you."

"And so what if I did?" He smirks putting his hand behind you on the seat to look over his shoulder, "I hate backing out of parking spots." He lets out a grunt while complaining.

You laugh in response.

...

"Here." Johnny lays the blanket down on the grass below, your legs bend to sit down on it crisscrossing them, he then soon joins you.

Your eyes fix on the scenery in front of you two, letting out a breath while taking the fresh air into your lungs, "Nice view, it's so stunning."

"Yeah, it is." He replies from your right, feeling his eyes on you as he spoke your lips curl into a smile. "Stop being so sappy, Lawrence."

He chuckles before burying his face in your neck planting soft kisses, "I can't help it. You're finally mine and I'm not sure why you chose me." He states.

"Maybe because I feel comfortable and know you well, you aren't as bad as everyone makes your personality out to be, Johnny." You tell him with full honesty he nods as he replies. "Yeah, I guess so."

"What did you want to talk about?" He asks, you sigh looking at him. "It wasn't anything important, I mean.." you pause coming to realization that maybe bringing up Daniel right now would kill the mood.

So you ask a question about something else instead.

"You nervous for the tournament?"

He looks at you, shaking his head and adverting his attention to the ocean in front of him as he laid back on his elbow, propping himself up. "A little, Daniel is going to be participating in it. He better be ready though, we're not gonna go easy on him." He let out a weak half-suppressed laugh looking back at you.

So much for not bringing him up.

"You seem to have something on your mind, Johnny." you sensed his energy, it was very mild but he looked visibly upset. "I'm fine, besides this whole thing with my sensei."

Your brows raise with curiosity, "what did Kreese do now."

"He got mad that I was late to the dojo the other day; remember when I drove you home after soccer tryouts." He recited with a small frown, you let him continue. "Well, I was late that day and he flipped out on me - then after practice, I went home to Sid being drunk.."

"Why didn't you reach out to me?"

"Because you were already mad about the way I treated Daniel, you barely knew him but was taking his side. I was hurting, it got worse seeing the way you and he connected at school." He admits, wiping his eyes as he blinked a few times.

"The one person that's kept me from going insane was hanging out with my rival; is you... You were showing Daniel compassion the same way as when we first met in your basement, after I had been beaten by my drunken stepdad. I couldn't bare to see you be that way with another guy."

"Johnny." You whisper cupping his cheek in your hand, your thumb caresses the soft skin while staring into his blue eyes, "I didn't think of it that way, I just saw you being a bully and snapped.."

"It's fine." He choked out dismissing your words, "you were always trying to do what's right. That's one of the many things I love about you."

You rested your forehead against his, "I love you."

Shocked, his eyes widened at what you said. Even yourself was surprised that even slipped out of your mouth, "I mean-"

"I love you."

The words coming from him made your heart melt, breaking into a dopey lovely smile you lean in to kiss him, gripping the collar of his sweater and tugging at the soft polyester fabric with your fingertips.

He groaned a little, before pulling away from the passionate kiss and breathing loudly. "You gonna be cheering me on tomorrow?"

"Of course, baby."