TEENAGE KICKS

CHAPTER FIVE: LUNCHTIME SHENANIGANS

LUNCHTIME WAS A blessing in disguise. It was the closest thing you got to a break from school...during school and Rory took that as the time to take advantage of the free milk.

Cindy and Rory usually sat with the others including Freddy, but just for the day, she wanted to sit alone with her best friend as they chatted about whatever and whoever. The topic of the conversation had shifted from the new Doc Martins that Rory wanted to the new kid on the block.

"Come on Cindy, not this again" she groaned, trying to ignore the stern look the girl was giving her.

Her best friend looked over her shoulder from where they sat at the cafeteria table to the LaRusso boy that was walking to the long lunch line "You have to tell him sometime about your brother, what if he gets the wrong idea about your fight on Sunday?"

The brunette shook her head, nibbling on her lip between her teeth slightly which was a nervous habit that her mother scolded her for. Who wouldn't be wary about telling someone that their own brother was beating them up?

"I can't" she shook her head again, but then gradually started nodding "you're right, I'm gonna do it...mama didn't raise no pussy"

"What did we say about swearing at school missy?"

"Foul language is what gets you into detention" Rory rolled her eyes before bringing both her legs over the bench and standing up "do I look alright?"

"Yes, now go, spread your wings my little birdy" Cindy hollered a bit too loudly, causing some of the surrounding students to look over at them, shrink back at Rory's glare, and continue eating.

Rory once again rolled her eyes before narrowing her eyes in on Cindy's sly smirk "I'm telling him who my brother is, not confessing my undying love for the kid?"

"Hey, you might as well say that while you're at it"

"Ok, I'm going to go now...have fun making up scenarios in that pretty little head of yours"

Rory pointed her thumb over her shoulder and pushed her shoulders back confidently, grabbing a lunch tray and striding over to the back of the boy "Hey"

Daniel jumped slightly and sent a grin to the brunette, showcasing his perfect smile "oh, hi Aurora!"

"huh?"

"oh sorry, I heard Cindy call you that and thought it suited you" Most of the time, Rory would've already had the person on the floor in a headlock, but oddly enough, she just nodded and flashed a short smile at the boy. The noticing the slight tensing in her jaw turned back to his tray "how are you anyway"

Rory grinned to match his energy (she didn't know how anyone could be that happy at school) "Oh I'm doing great" lie "you?"

"Awesome" he then looked down at her empty tray and looked at her with raised eyebrows "not too hungry today?"

"Uh not really" she had already eaten, but needed an excuse to cut into line to talk to him.

"Here, have some pie. I made it myself"

"really?" Rory let him put it on her tray before looking back up at the brunette that currently wasn't looking her way "So, how do you like the valley so far?"

Daniel finally looked over at the secretly nervous teenager "Rory, you asked me that yesterday...nothing much has changed since then" Rory's eyes widened and went to stutter a pathetic reply as to why she was stalling. "Ok, is there something you wanna tell me?"

"Uhhhhh, you remember that dude I had trouble with on the beach Sunday?" Daniel and Rory turned away from the lunch line after getting what they needed.

"Oh, yeah. King karate?" they came to where they had to pay for the food as he rolled his eyes in distaste.

"That was my brother" she rushed out "well technically, step-brother since my mom married his dad when I was 6."

His eyes widened comically, clearing his throat "Oh, that's good to know" he turned his head to look at the ceiling "what? Oh yeah, you're right. You're right. I know-"

"What the hell are you doing?" Rory looked at him as if he had gone mad, wondering if this was a sign to walk off or not.

He turned to Rory and smiled jokingly "it's just this little voice. You know, it's telling me I've gotta be some kind of a yo-yo to be talking to you right now"

That made Rory laugh as the register lady looked to them expectingly "Um, that'll be $2.50"

"Ah wait, for both?"

"$3.45"

Rory reached into her pocket, but Daniel quickly handed the exact money to the lady making her glare over at him "you know, it doesn't matter anyway"

"And why is that?" Daniel squinted, moving to follow after the girl as they walked to where Cindy was sitting.

"Because he doesn't give a shit about me"

★ ☆

A boy and his mother sat in a nice diner, chatting by the window while Johnny and his karate friends stood across the street. All Daniel could think about was how the blonde boy was training at the karate dojo that he went to go see.

"Guess what?" Miss LaRusso set down the boy's milkshake as she came to sit back down across from him.

"What?" the boy had his head perched upon his arm lazily, obviously in another world.

She grinned over at him, looking towards the counter quickly where a woman stood preparing icecream for a little girl "I'm gonna be trained as a manager, isn't that great?"

He shrugged, leaning over to dip his fry in the vanilla milkshake and take a bite out of it "yeah."

"They got this program" she continued "it's two nights a week. As soon as a spot opens up, you're in. And the benefits...I could never get them working in computers." she stole one of his fries "They pay for everything"

Had Daniel listened to most of what his mother had said, no. But he saw how excited she was and nodded his head with a smile "that's great, ma"

Seeing through his act, the mom settled down with a knowing look "what's the matter, Daniel?"

"nothin'" he shrugged, playing around with the food on his plate.

"Ok" she sighed "remember when you went to the country for the summer and you hated it because you had no friends? What happened?"

"I got poison ivy"

Miss LaRusso clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth "you met Kevin and Kenny who became your best friends in the whole world...you got to give it a try. Hey, I know it's hard, but we're not quitters, are we?"

Daniel shrugged "guess not"

"What's with the uh, karate place" she pointed to the karate building across the street that Daniel had gone to go see earlier.

"No, it sucks"

"Good, because we probably can't afford it anyway" she laughed, trying to gauge a smile out of the moody teenager "and the girl situation?"

"It's ok"

"Just okay?" the mom leaned down to look into his eyes "to me, it seems as though the whole world has turned brunette...you got your eye on anybody?" When the boy remained silent, she ooed "ah, cute?"

At that moment, the waitress sauntered over to clean the table behind the boy, not meaning to catch the conversation going on.

"No, not cute. I mean, uh, she's beyond cute"

"She's a brunette, though. Right? What was her name...Rory?"

That made the waitress perk up, wondering if maybe the 2 were talking about another Rory and not her daughter.

Daniel rubbed his face to conceal the slight smile tugging at the corners of his lips "yeah, too bad her step-brother's overprotective of her." Overprotective was one word to describe it, since he wasn't actually protective of the girl, but she was certainly off-limits due to her brother.

Now it seemed to be that they were talking about the waitresses daughter, her own smile tugging at her lips at the thought of a boy liking the girl which meant they finally had something to talk about.

"well, is she as pretty as Judy?"

"Oh ma, she buries Judy in a second"

"she buries Judy?"

"Oh god"

The mom stood up and placed her hand on her son's arm "listen, you'll tell me about it later. I love you" she then brought the hand to his face to quickly squeeze his cheeks "careful how you ride home"

As the woman walked away, the boy sat looking out the window and continuing to speak unknowing of the mom of the girl standing behind him, wiping the same spot on the table that had been wiping for minutes. "Smile. She's got an excellent smile. She's really smart. I don't know, I think she's beautiful. I'd say she's beautiful. I think she's beautiful. I think she's something else"

The waitress's smile widened at the boy's words, walking away after hearing him whisper a "She's hot. Definitely hot"