Chapter Seven
STOP DROP AND ROLL

Another Halloween dance.

Honestly, Mara wasn't planning on going at first, but she had found the perfect costume and wasn't going to waste the opportunity to wear it.

     She wore a button-down white shirt and she tied the front of it so it was cropped. She then put a black sweater over top and pushed the sleeves up to her elbow. Cuffing the sleeves of the button down, she pushed those up to her elbows too.

     She then grabbed a plaid skirt and put it on. It was a black and navy blue skirt, one that private schools would probably have you wear. Mara's was short and stopped at her mid-thigh. She then finished the look with knee-length black socks and black stilettos.

     She left her hair down in its natural waves and applied some pink lipstick to her lips. She didn't take the time to admire herself in the mirror. She knew she looked good.

Entering the living room she saw Ryan texting on his phone when he looked up. He sighed and shook his head. "I'm not even gonna say anything."

She smiled at him. "Good. You're learning." She looked at her brother's outfit. "A werewolf?"

     Ryan nodded. "Even got the fangs and everything."

     Mara nodded slowly and grabbed her keys from the counter. "That's nice. See you later."

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  The Halloween dance was going well, to say the least. Gia and Sam stood off to the side in their costumes and Moon and Yasmine sat down at one of the tables. Ryan was texting on his phone and Max was somewhere on the dance floor. At least no one was fighting.

     Mara and Hawk were all over each other. They were laughing and dancing, a big change from the dance last year where they were too scared to even look at the other.

Dylan glared at them, more specifically Mara, from across the gym. Demetri who had taken his position next to Gia and Sam smiled at them.

     Despite everything that had happened between them, Demetri was happy to see the two together. He had spent a long time watching them secretly pine over each other. If they weren't going to be binary siblings anymore, he was happy they still had each other.

     Mara giggled as Hawk twirled her around and pulled her back to him. The two continued to dance and Mara noticed Hawk glaring over her shoulder. She looked behind her to see Demetri smiling at them and Gia glaring.

     Mara rolled her eyes and turned back to her boyfriend. She gripped his chin and turned his face to hers so their eyes met. "Don't worry about them." She leaned forward so her lips were right above his. "Think about us. Having fun together." She smirked and looked up at him through her lashes. "Naked."

     Hawk inhaled and closed his eyes. "God damn it, Mara." She bit her lip to hold in her laugh and started to step away when he gripped her by the hips and pulled her back. He leaned down towards her. "You have no idea what you just started."

     "Trust me. I can feel it."

     He rolled his eyes at her. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'll be right back." He quickly walked away and Mara laughed and went over to the snack table.

     Pouring herself some punch, she sipped on it and examined all of the students on the dance floor. "Megan!" She looked to the side to see Max coming up to her. "Nice costume. You radiate Megan Fox energy if you didn't know already." He poured himself some punch and took a sip before pointing a finger at her. "How's that Dylan situation going?"

     "There's no situation. She's just an annoying pain in the ass."

     "Oh ok." He shrugged and took another sip of his drink. "I just thought you would be keeping an eye on her considering she's been hitting on your boyfriend. Swear I just saw her follow him out of here."

     Mara looked around the gym, not seeing the short-haired girl anywhere. She put her cup down and took a deep breath before stalking out of the gym. Max smirked and took another sip of his drink as he watched her go.

Mara walked down the empty hallways towards the bathroom. She rounded a corner and right as she did her heart dropped. She saw Dylan pull Hawk into her and kiss him. Mara turned away with tears in her eyes and walked away. She felt deja vu come over her.

This was just like the party at the canyon, but things were worse. She had hope that Hawk was telling her the truth, but now she realized Tory was probably right. What he told her didn't seem right. She was stupid to think he wouldn't feel another girl touching him.

But she wasn't going to fight over a boy. She wasn't going to drown her problems in alcohol. Especially when she had other things to worry about.

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Hawk sighed as he dried his hands in the bathroom. He looked in the mirror and made sure his mohawk still looked good. He had refused to wear his hair another way for the dance.

Walking out of the bathroom he was suddenly pulled forward and a pair of lips were on his. He knew it wasn't Mara because his girlfriend didn't have short hair. Pushing the person away he glared at Dylan as she smirked at him.

"What the hell? What is your problem?"

"Don't worry it's not with you."

"You're crazy!"

"Not crazy. Just vengeful."

Hawk glared at her and wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand. "Stay the fuck away from me."

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       Tory looked at Mara worried as she watched the girl do push-ups on her bedroom floor. "Um, do you normally work out when you're angry, or is this a new thing?"

     Mara stood up and looked at her. "New thing. I decided instead of taking my anger out on bottles of alcohol, I would put it to better use."

     Tory nodded. "That's smart. So I assume you've stopped your little diet?"

     Mara nodded. She had trouble going through her withdrawal so she had decided to take a sip of alcohol twice a day and then she had narrowed it down to once a day to try and control her thirst for it. It had worked and now Mara had started working out whenever she felt the need to have a drink. It was a better way to work out her frustrations.

     "Something just doesn't add up, T. He promised me he would never hurt me again and he didn't show any signs of cheating on me."

     "Well, maybe he didn't. You said Dylan's been trying to make your life miserable. She might have come on to him. How much of the kiss did you watch?"

     "Barely any. I'm not gonna stand there and watched my boyfriend kiss another girl."

"So how do you know he didn't push her off? And I mean was he even kissing back from what you saw?"

"Um, I don't think so."

"You know what I say we should do?"

Mara looked at Tory and shook her head. "What?"

"Show the bitch who she's messing with."

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       Ryan watched as Miguel said goodbye to his physical trainer. Even though they were broken up, Ryan made an effort to be there for the boy. It always helped to have friends by your side.

     "Ok, I have an idea." Ryan turned to look at Johnny who was holding a fishing pole and a magazine. The magazine cover had a half-naked girl on the front.

     Ryan snorted. "Sorry to break it to you, but I think he leans the other way more."

     Johnny rolled his eyes at the boy. "No one can resist hot babes. Plus isn't he binomial or something?"

Ryan slowly turned to the man. "Do you mean bisexual?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever you want to call it. Ok, he's coming." Ryan shook his head at the man and watched as he lowered the magazine in front of Miguel.

"What's this," the Hispanic boy asked them.

"This is a collection of the tastiest babes of 1988. And you're not gonna get to see 'em unless you grab it."

"Ok." Miguel reached up and Johnny pulled the magazine higher so he couldn't reach.

"Gonna have to try harder than that."

"You know I can find these pictures on my phone right?"

"It's not the same. Chicks are hotter on the page. You won't know unless you get off your butt. Or you can just keep getting foot rubs from that pansy-ass therapist."

Miguel sighed and reached for the magazine again.

"Weak!" Johnny said as he pulled the magazine back again.

Ryan rolled his eyes at Johnny. "That's not how you motivate someone. Watch and learn. Is that all you got, Diaz? I thought you were the All Valley champ?"

Miguel looked at his ex in disbelief and Ryan just shrugged. Miguel turned back to the magazine and used his arms to lift himself out of the wheelchair. He balanced himself on one arm and almost reached the magazine until he tripped and fell hard on the concrete.

     "Shit." Ryan rushed down the stairs and ran over to Miguel. "You all right," Ryan asked checking Miguel for any injuries.

     "Yeah."

     Johnny picked the boy up and sat him back in his chair. "All right, gimme a minute, we'll go again. I still have my Vanna White Playboy that'll get you going."

     "Don't you get it? You could dangle a new PlayStation in front of me, I still wouldn't be able to stand up." The boy rolled away and Ryan looked at him sadly.

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"You know why they call this a hibachi," Johnny asked as he lit a barbecue.

      Ryan thought for a second before looking at Johnny. "Because they use these at Hibachi Grill?"

     Johnny and Miguel both looked at Ryan weirdly and he backed up. "I don't do good in school, ok?"

     Miguel chuckled at him and answered his Sensei. "They don't. It's called a kettle grill."

     Johnny shook his head. "Hundred years ago in ancient China, there was a tiny little village of dairy farmers, living fat off their milk and cheese. Then when a drought came, they needed to get water from the river. None of the Chinamen wanted to do their work."

     "I'm not sure that's the appropriate term," Miguel told him.

     "China people, whatever. The point is, they were laying around in hammocks waiting for rain. So a wise man gathered up a bunch of twigs and stuffed it under each of the villagers while they slept."

     "I might be dumb, but what does this have to do with grills and hibachi," Ryan asked Johnny.

     "I'm getting there kid. You know what he did after that?"

     "Lit a fire under them," Miguel answered.

     "Exactly. That's where the expression comes from.  You know what that wise man's name was?"

      "Oh, I know this one! Hibachi!"

     Johnny and Miguel both stared at Ryan and the boy shrunk under their gazes. Miguel turned to Johnny. "Yeah, except that hibachis are from Japan, not China, where there weren't a lot of dairy farmers, historically, or hammocks. You think I'd fall for that?"

     Johnny gestured to Ryan. "Well, he sure did. And no. I knew you'd be too busy calling me out on my bullshit to know what I was really up to."

     "Oh, yeah? What's that?"

     "Lighting a fire under you."

     "What did you do?" Miguel looked down to see his shoelace on fire. "What did you do!"

     Ryan panicked and looked at Miguel who's arms were being held back by Johnny. "Oh, I know this one too. Stop, drop, and roll. Johnny push him out of the chair. He'll do the rolling part by himself!"

     Miguel looked at Ryan and shook his head. "Are you insane?"

     "Depends who you ask. Come on, Diaz," Johnny yelled. "Shake a leg."

     "I can't!"

     "You can if you want it bad enough."

     "It's all I want!"

     "Then focus! Tell your brain to tell your legs to get their asses moving!"

     Ryan watched as the fire started to spread and once it reached Miguel's pants leg he ran and grabbed a fire extinguisher. He ran over and sprayed Miguel putting the fire out.

     "I really thought that would work," Johnny said disappointed.

     "Then why didn't it? My foot was on fire and I didn't feel a thing. Why is nothing working?" Miguel sighed and looked down. "It's fine. I should probably clean up before my mom get's home." Miguel rolled away and Ryan looked at Johnny before following after the boy.

     "Miguel!" Miguel stopped and turned his chair towards Ryan. Ryan knelt in front of him and held his hands. "I promise you we will figure something out. Don't give up so fast. It's going to take time, but I'll be here every step of the way."

     Miguel nodded sadly and Ryan smiled at him. "I'll order us a pizza."

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Tory followed Mara as the girls walked down a busy sidewalk. Mara looked around and smirked when she saw familiar short black hair. It hadn't been hard to find out Dylan's location. Especially when her Snapchat was public and her location was on. Rookie move.

Mara pulled Tory into an alleyway and they waited. Dylan walked by the opening and Mara grabbed her wrist tightly and pulled her into the alley and pushing her against the wall.  Dylan grunted and looked at the two girls.

The short-haired girl tilted her head and smiled amused. "Aw, is the princess mad her boyfriend cheated on her?"

     "Oh cut the shit. We both know you came onto him. You're so desperate to make my life a living hell aren't you?"

     "You deserve it! You have everything! You have a perfect life and you enjoy watching people get bullied for not having enough."

     Mara shook her head. "I didn't even know who you were until this year and I can assure you I bullied no one last year. I didn't laugh at anyone getting bullied either."

     "All of your friends bullied me! You stood by and did nothing! I had to join the wrestling team just to learn how to defend myself against them. Even Kyler knows what kind of people you guys are! He said your friend who was in a coma beat him up for no reason."

      Mara looked at Dylan confused. "When did you come to West Valley, Dylan?"

     "What? A few months before summer. What does that have to do with anything?"

     "Sorry to break the news to you but your friend Kyler was the real bully. Miguel beat him up because Kyler was beating on him every day. You have no idea what happened before you came to West Valley. And you have no idea what any of us went through." Mara glared at her.

     "What, are you two going to beat me up now? Isn't that what you got mad at Gia for?"

     "No." Mara let go of Dylan and the girl stood up and straightened her jacket. "I think you should take one long look in the mirror Dylan and figure out who you want to be. A desperate bitch who wants to ruin people's lives who have done nothing to her or a bad bitch who reins hell on the actual bullies who deserve it."

     "Uh, Mara?" Mara turned around to see Tory looking at her phone. "I just got a text from one of the Cobras. They said Sam and Gia are at the arcade. They overheard them talking about fighting Hawk and few others."

     Mara looked back to Dylan as she answered Tory. "Well, we have a few things to care of then."

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Mara walked beside Tory as two Cobras flanked them. They heard the sound of fighting and walked into the laser tag maze. "Sam LaRusso," Tory called out. "Where are you, bitch?"

Both girls spread out and Mara was cornered by a Miyagi-Do student. The same one who held her arms back so Gia could kick her down the stairs. She repeatedly punched and kicked him and then sent a final kick to his face knocking him out. "Show yourself, LaRusso," she heard Tory yell.

Walking back through the maze to find the girl she saw Hawk holding Demetri's arm behind his back. The Cobras were egging him on to finish the boy and for the first time, Mara wasn't sure. Then she heard her grandfather's voice in her head.

"Those who choose to go against you are not your friends. If they choose the enemy over you it proves they never really cared about you. You should show those who don't care about you no mercy. Those who truly care will be on your side no matter what. I care about you. And I will always be on your side."

Mara's face hardened and she watched as Hawk snapped Demetri's arm. The boy cried out and screamed as he held his arm. Mara and Hawk both watched him, a clear difference in their facial expressions. Mara felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked at Tory. "Don't worry about him. He's just a pussy. Let's go back to your house."

Mara felt herself nodding and she followed her best friend out of the maze. Leaving a crying Sam and Demetri and a glaring Gia.

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Mara's costume for the dance ;) you know she had to go as her bi awakening

And I made this collage of the twins in their sports 😌

If you all thought Kreese was going to be good in this story, I'm sorry but you are sadly mistaken.

I honestly don't know what else to say after this chapter so make sure you vote and leave a comment!