STARCROSSED: Anthony LaRusso (ON A HIATUS)

Chapter XXXIV: A Bond Between Lovers

At West Valley Middle School, Julia, Lia, Amy, and Anna were walking in the library, when Julia dropped one of the books she was carrying. Anthony noticed this, and went to pick it up for his girlfriend. "Beowulf. Um, spoiler alert, it's not even about a werewolf." Anthony told his girlfriend Julia when they started blushing at each other.

"Well, now I don't want it." Julia chuckled.

"Yeah. You should try Animal Farm. Now that's a book that lives up to its name. Straight up it's just, like, animals on a farm." Anthony said.

"Know what that reminds me of? That guy who lived next to elementary school." Julia said.

"Uh, Mr. Landry. With the, uh, the chicken coops." Anthony told Julia, who chuckled. "I... That was so long ago, and it'd be fun to do something. It'd be nice to bond together cause we started dating since December 20th of this school year."

"Um, uh, yeah. Yeah, uh, boyfriend and girlfriend. Well, let me know, and we'll catch up later." Julia then walked to the table where Kenny, Candy, Emma, Archie, and his crush, Lia, were sitting at. "Hey, strawberry ghost. Feel pretty real today." Julia greeted Kenny, and Anthony went to the table where Zack, Marcus, Slade, and Steve were sitting at.

"Dude, you flinched." Zack told Marcus, who responded, "You always win this game. We need a new game."

"Looks like everyone's doing something new." Zack joked, and the boys laughed. Later, after gym class, Anthony and his friends were hanging out in the locker room.

"So, how many points you think new kid had on LaRusso today? Twenty? Thirty? Probably ten steals. And that's not even counting stealing his girlfriend Jessica."

"Okay, screw you, dude. And her name is Julia. Seriously." Anthony scolded Zack, who laughed, "Easy, man. Just bustin' balls."

"What balls?" Marcus asked, making the boys chuckle.

"Yeah, from what I've heard, LaPusso ain't even got any." Steve chuckled. This prompted Anthony to steal Kenny's yellow Cobra Kai shirt while he was drying up after showering. "Hey!" Kenny noticed this, and ran after him, even though he was now in the hallway in nothing more than his underwear. "Oh my God, look!" Everyone started laughing, though Candy and Emma, who were in the hallway, felt sorry for him. Out of embarrassment, Kenny made a beeline to the locker room.

Later, Miguel was stretching in preparation for the All-Valley tournament when his mom, Carmen, noticed him. "Miggy, you've been at it since 6 a.m. That's a lot of stretching."

"Yeah, tournament's in a month. Sensei's gonna be kicking our ass all week." Miguel responded.

"And you like that?" Carmen asked.

"Yeah. I do." Miguel answered, and there was a knock on the door. Carmen answered it, and it was Johnny and Katie. "Hey, Johnny. Hey, Katie. Your student is ready for some intense training."

"Oh, is he? All right, we'll see about that." Johnny greeted his star student.

"All right, let me... Oh, I forgot my water bottle in your car." Miguel noticed his water bottle wasn't in his backpack.

"Uh, the keys are on my nightstand." Carmen told Miguel who responded, "OK."

"I think we should tell him tonight." Johnny told Carmen. He was finally ready to tell the kids that he was dating Carmen.

"Yeah. Okay. Sure you're not gonna back out this time?" Carmen asked Johnny, who told her, "I wanted to make sure we did it right way."

Meanwhile, Miguel had found his water bottle, but also found his sensei's headband.

"We'll take him to dinner. What's his favorite restaurant?" Johnny asked.

"Uh, he likes Applebee's." Carmen answered.

"Ah, sorry, but that ain't gonna work. Johnny had a little incident there once, so no can do." Katie told Carmen, who asked, "What happened?"

"All right, you know how they make that loaded potato soup?" Johnny explained. "Yeah. It's like..."

"Sensei. I think this is yours." Miguel showed up with Johnny's headband.