✓ VIRTUAL AEROBICS; eli moskowitz

59. {scamming surfers}

as the two had their eyes fixated on the map, one of the man's friend began to gradually reach into johnny's pocket and drag out his wallet.

johnny sensed it and rotated, clutching the man's arm and forcing him back. "that's a bad idea." he warned before kicking him onto the ground. "all right man, what's the scam? give me some bum address, try to steal my wallet?"

"no, the address is real." the long-haired man confessed. "as for your money, i'm gonna end up with it either way, so we can do it the easy way or the fun way."

"listen, asshole, you have five seconds to tell me which way that kid went, or i'm gonna take that surfboard and shove it so far up your ass your friends are gonna be surfing you." johnny threatened, making gioia snicker.

"okay." the man chuckled, not believing his words.

"all right?"

"the fun way. good."

"yeah, the fun way."

the man who tried to take his wallet got up from the floor, a rod in his hand. he moved behind gioia, believing she was the most vulnerable out of the duo, and lifted the rope over her head. robby dashed over into a flying kick and crashed the man to the ground before he could touch her.

"hey, would you look at that." the leader hummed, throwing a punch to johnny's face, the man quickly blocked it and kicked him into his side. gioia stood in the middle as johnny and robby began to battle the four surfers.

her head shot to every corner, searching for an opening for her to defend them. as johnny attacked the leader, the man who had the map resting on his back made his way over to him. that was her opening. she considered the most tactical move for her to use against him. gioia knew that her famous sweeping kick would barely affect him, seeing as he was twice her body weight.

the girl scurried over and booted him in the area behind his knee. his leg instantly became feeble, giving her the opportunity to kick him onto the ground. once he was lying face down in the sand, gioia ran across his back and clambered onto a less athletic's man back. she flipped herself over his shoulder, propelling him to the floor while she dismounted on her feet.

once he was down on his knees, robby stepped over and struck him in the face, forcing him into the ground. the two teenagers shared a nod of acknowledgement that they could rely on each other. as the boy moved away, another man strode over and seized her arms, driving them behind her back.

gioia struggled to free herself from his grasp, feeling herself being forced down to the ground. just as she went to throw her head back in an attempt to knock him in the nose, the man was peeled off of her and struck twice. gioia was disoriented, she could see johnny and robby fighting in front of her. but she turned around to see her father, who had struck the man in the stomach and then the nose, rubbing his now throbbing fist. he sent her a quick grin which she reciprocated.

"gioia!"

facing forward, she could see robby now glancing at her. he moved down onto one knee and the girl couldn't help but smirk. gioia charged forward and stepped on his knee, using it as an extra boost to send the last man standing with a high, front kick.

once he was on the ground, groaning in agony, the two shared a high-five in triumph.

"adios, dickheads." johnny muttered as he walked away from the area, robby following close behind.

gioia bent down to where the leader was lying. "you take any money from the boy we're looking for?"

instead of an actual reply, he made an inaudible noise, which gioia simply took as a yes. she reached into his shorts pocket and extracted his wallet. her father observed as she opened it up and pulled out about sixty dollars.

"don't worry, i left a little something for you." she reassured him, tossing the brown wallet to the sand beside him, some grains blowing into his face. "you didn't think we'd beat you up and take all your money? i'm a teenage girl, not a monster."

she patted his back and sent him a sweet smile, jogging over to catch up with johnny and robby. her father hesitated, quite taken aback by his daughter's act of antagonism.

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
hiii hope everyone is well!

fun fact!! emily skinner was originally the face claim for 'neptune' who i wrote as freddy freeman's love interest in a very silly, unpublished book called "JUST LIKE A MOVIE" from 2020...