after the detention daniel walks towards the bike rack, he cannot wait to get home, he needs a shower and sleep. johnny wouldn't stop.
he looks up when he's about 20 metres away from the rack and stops. johnny and all his friends are standing there, arms crossed, leaning against his bike.
he wonders if it's to late to turn around and walk home. he decides it's not and he can always grab his bike in the morning.
"yo danielle, where you going?"
he ignores bobby and continues to walk.
within minutes though 4 big shadows are towering over him.
"didn't you hear me danielle? i said, where are you going?"
"home" daniel mutters
he's yanked back by the neck when someone grabs his hood, his back hits the ground and he gets winded.
"you got johnny into detention" bobby kicks him in the stomach and daniel curls over.
"no, you guys- you guys couldn't leave me alone" daniel coughs out.
bobby kicks him again "what did you say danielle"
don't repeat it. don't repeat it. don't repeat it he thinks to himself, but his mouth has different ideas.
"you guys couldn't leave me alone"
bobby grabs him by the collar and lifts him up.
daniels eyes move to where johnny is standing, he's grinning like a cheshire cat. was he really thinking that because johnny showed him one defense move they were all of a sudden friends? to be honest, johnny probably only showed daniel that so that he wouldn't be hit down continuously, what good is a dummy if they are on the floor the whole time?
bobby punches him across the face and daniel doesn't have to be be able to see his nose to know it's broken. the blood starts running immediately.
"dude? i said no face hits" johnny groans "we gotta go anyway, i gotta get home or sid is going to go ballistic on me"
bobby drops daniel to the floor and they all walk off, talking about what they're doing on the weekend like there's not a 17 year old boy bleeding out behind them.
he lies on the ground for another 20 minutes before getting onto his bike and slowly, achingly, making his way home.
his ma is luckily fast asleep.
his nose is a problem so he puts a wooden spoon in his mouth and pops it back into place before taking a shower.
he slowly climbs into bed and lays there nursing his wounds.
"daniel, what happened to your face?" his ma asks the next morning
he lets go of the door he unsuccessfully tried to make it out of without being seen.
"nothing"
"don't lie to me daniel larusso, tell me what's going on. and don't say another bike accident"
"what do you wanna hear ma?" daniels voice sounds frustrated even to his own ears
"the truth" she replies, her eyes look worried but her stance was as confident as ever
"no. all you wanna hear is how great it is here. maybe for you but it sucks for me" he looks away from her for a second, the truth all spilling out
he had told himself to keep anything bad happening to him from his mother but at the moment, he didn't care and being truthful seemed like his only option.
"i hate this place, i hate it, i want to go home" he continues, looking up
"why can't we just go home?" he asks a tear running down his bruised face, he leans back against the wall, taking a deep breath.
"listen to me, i cannot help you unless you tell me what's wrong" ma grabs hold of his shoulders and pulls him away from the wall
"i've got to take karate" he finally says, meeting her eyes as her thumb strokes away the tears
"you took karate" she replies, confused
"not at the y" he moans "at a good school"
the little karate he knew didn't help him here when 4 massive boys were all beating him to pulp.
"fighting doesn't solve anything"
oh if only she knew how much it would solve if she just let him get better.
"neither does palm trees"
"that's not fair" ma takes a step back and crosses her arms but he doesn't care anymore
"it wasn't fair coming out here without asking me"
"you're right." she replies after a while "i should've asked you"
it's what he wants to hear but somehow it still doesn't change anything, he was here now, whether she wanted to ask him or not. it doesn't change the black eye or the broken nose or the bruises on his chest and back.
"i just want to go home, i don't understand the rules here" he finally says
"let's see if we can figure them out together" ma puts her arm around him and leads him back to the kitchen table where breakfast is laid out.
—————————————————
at school the girls play nursemaid as they look over his eye, "you need to stop pushing their buttons daniel, they all have very short fuses"
"wouldn't it be easier to just describe them as monkeys"
"hey, that's my boyfriend" susan slaps his arm playfully
"and my ex- boyfriend" ali adds
"but you love me the most, right?"
both girls turn away from him and laugh together, which he hopes they do as a joke.
"i've never had a boyfriend" barbs admits
"probably because you've always got your nose in a book, your just sad men don't pop out of those" daniel taunts her
barbs shrugs.
"hey danielle, nice face" tommy waves over to them and their whole group bursts out laughing like he just said one of the most interesting things ever.
daniel watches dutch laugh until he looks over at susan who is giving him a very bad look, he immediately stops.
YOU ARE READING
lawrusso
RomanceDaniel's just trying to fit in at his new school, he never asked for johnny and his friends to beat him up every other day, he never asked for any of it. the multiple detentions, which have him spending up to 2 hours alone with johnny, are definitel...
