─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
the three girls had been dropped off by aisha's mother to the beach club. as tory and gioia walked in, their eyes wandered around, amazed at the place.
"this is not the beach." tory chucked once the three reached the balcony, "where's are the homeless dudes on rollerblades and the guys shoving shitty hip-hop demos in your face?"
"yeah, this place seems a bit fancy." gioia agreed.
"no, don't worry, they'll come after they pass out the hors d'oeuvres." aisha joked, making the two chuckle, "we should grab something to eat."
gioia nodded, "yeah sure."
the three girls headed over to the food table, grabbing a plate each. gioia clutched her plate nervously and glanced at all the food.
"you want a slider?" tory asked the blonde girl.
"huh?" gioia asked, she hadn't been paying much attention.
"would you like me to put some sliders on your plate?" tory repeated, simplifying her question.
"ohhh, yes please." gioia nodded.
"so, what's your deal?" tory questioned as she placed the mini burgers on her plate.
"what do you mean?"
"you're a student at cobra kai, but you don't train?" tory questioned as she added more food to hers and gioia's plate, not bothering to ask.
"i had a uh... medical injury during the last tournament. some guy kicked my ribs and all my opponents kept going for it, leading to a few broken ribs."
"shit." tory winced, "that sounds terrible."
gioia shrugged, "glad it's over now, and my chest is healing from the bruises."
"yeah, that's good." tory nodded, "could you hold my plate? i'll be right back."
"where are you going?" gioia asked, although it was none of her business.
"just going to grab something." tory explained as she placed the plate in her free hand.
gioia watches her jog off and shrugged. she placed tory's plate down and picked up a slider from her own, observing as samantha larusso and aisha talked.
"heyyy." tory greeted, a few minutes later. she tugged gioia over, and they joined the other two girls.
"i put your plate down."
"that's fine, look what i got?" tory grinned while showing them a glimpse of an alcohol bottle in her bag.
"where did you get that?" aisha questioned.
"i swiped it from the bar."
aisha and gioia shared a glimpse.
"oh, relax. all the adults are getting wasted, no one's gonna notice if we have a little fun." tory explained.
"you should put that back, you could get into big trouble." sam advised.
"and you are?" tory asked while chuckling.
"oh, sam, this is tory," aisha introduced, "tory, sam."
"oh, the sam." tory scoffed, "come on, like anyone's gonna miss one bottle of vodka. i could swipe half the silverware in this place before anyone would notice."
"you shouldn't steal anything." sam shook her head.
"what are you, a nun?" tory shot back, making gioia chuckle, "come on, are we gonna drink or not?"
"okay, one drink." aisha caved in.
"gioia?" tory quizzed.
she sighed, "just one."
"that's my girls." tory grinned as the three left sam standing all alone.
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
after a few sips of alcohol, the trio was buzzing. they sauntered around the beach club, telling tory stories.
"wait, i'm sorry, you gave her a front wedgie?" tory gasped, referring to yasmine at the party.
"i split that bitch in two." aisha boasted, making the two crack up, "and as if that wasn't bad enough, gioia poured her drink over her head."
"nice." tory nodded, "simple but effective."
"hey." sam called out, making them turn around and stop laughing. "my mom's missing her wallet."
"sucks for her." tory stated.
"you wouldn't know anything about that?" sam asked.
"wait, wait, what are you saying?" aisha questioned her old friend.
"just give me the wallet, and i won't tell security." sam threatened.
"you cannot just accuse her like that." gioia raised her eyebrow.
"are you freaking kidding me?" tory snapped.
"sam, she didn't steal your mom's wallet."
"right. and she didn't steal a bottle of vodka." sam reminded them, "and you wouldn't steal half the silverware in here."
"listen, i didn't rob your mom, bitch." tory concluded, "you know what? let's get out of here."
tory turned around to leave, but sam reached for her bag and pulled her back.
"get off of me!" tory exclaimed as she shoved sam back.
the girl landed on the table, breaking it as she fell. the food splattered all over her as people gasped.
tory pivoted and stepped away, while gioia and aisha stayed.
"are you okay?" aisha questioned the girl on the ground.
"real nice friend you've made." sam groaned.
"you shouldn't have accused her of something like that." aisha scolded before walking off.
"are you going to just stand there or help me?" sam asked the blonde, "your friend has anger issues."
gioia shook her head, "you went for her first, she just defended herself. you should not have jumped to those conclusions."
"i-"
"i should get going, do not want them to leave me hanging." gioia explained before jogging off.
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
"gioia!" bianca barbusca called out her daughter's name.
"coming!" gioia yelled back, she grabbed her two suitcases and began rolling them to the front room.
"two suitcases?" fredrico barbusca attempted to make conversation with her. they hadn't had a proper talk since he moved in, which was about a week ago. all their conversations consisted of short sentences and awkward silences.
gioia used to look up to her father. back then, they were closer than she was with her mum. but he left for los angeles when she was ten. he got caught up in illegal things, and was put in jail for fraud when she was twelve.
now, gioia is sixteen so obviously, things with her dad would be tense. she visited him many times the first year he was put in prison, but as time went on, she began to see him less and less. he would always try to phone her, but she never wanted to talk to him - she didn't really know who he was anymore.
"yeah, nine days is awhile." gioia explained.
"your friends are here!" bianca announced as she stood next to the open door.
gioia glanced up to see aisha, tory, miguel and hawk standing at her doorstep, "you came!"
"you didn't think we'd let you leave without saying goodbye?" hawk smirked.
"of course not." gioia smiled.
"we're leaving in ten." bianca announced before she and fredrico left the room.
"addio figlia." fred bid farewell to her.
"addio papa." she nodded.
"you speak italian?" tory asked in shock. she could hear that the girl had an accent, but she didn't know whereabouts she was from.
"yeah." gioia nodded.
"it's her first language." hawk added.
"that's cool." tory hummed.
"so what are you going to do up in the countryside?" aisha asked as they filed into the house.
"eat healthy, have some fresh air, nothing too different." gioia explained as they sat on the sofas.
"you gonna look after some animals too?" hawk joked.
"very funny." gioia shook her head, "jokes on you, she does not actually live that close to a farm."
"didn't you say she was a hair dresser?" miguel asked.
"yeah." gioia nodded, "might switch something up."
"you would look great with bright coloured highlights." tory pointed out.
"we could be matching with crazy hairstyles." hawk punched her arm in support.
"10 dollars i look better." gioia bet.
"you're on." hawk nodded.
"you guys bet over everything." aisha shook her head.
"and 9/10 times i win." gioia grinned.
"that's true."
"she's right."
"whatever." hawk rolled his eyes.
gioia stood up with a sad smile on her face, "i am gonna miss you guys. even you tory, who i met just today."
"thanks, gioia." tory chuckled.
"it's only nine days." hawk reminded her.
"yes, but i have not been away from you guys that long." gioia pouted.
"we'll text you all the time, girl." aisha reassured her.
"i'll call you too." miguel added.
"promise you will keep me updated?" gioia inquired.
"we promise."
"look at the positive of this." miguel started, "you get a break and when you come back you can start doing karate."
"i forgot about that." gioia smiled, "can't wait to kick your ass again, hawk."
"you wish."
"excited to see how good you are at karate." tory added.
"thank you. group hug?" gioia ordered, her arms wide open.
the four laughed before joining her in a hug. she tried her best to wrap her arms around everyone, but she couldn't.
"gioia, it's time." bianca said as she strolled back into the room, "you ready?"
"yes." she nodded.
"we've got these." miguel spoke out as he and hawk picked up her suitcases.
"thanks guys."
gioia's parents and the teenagers made their way outside the house. hawk and miguel opened the car boot and put her suitcases inside.
"see you later, sushi!" johnny yelled from his apartment door.
"bye, johnny!" gioia waved, "see you guys in nine days."
"bye girl."
"later, gb."
gioia waved once again before she opened the backseat of the car and climbed in. she watched from the window as the group yelled goodbye at her.
"ready to go?" bianca asked as she entered the front seat.
"ready."
⎯ ❃ neens speaks!
it's been soooo long, but the new season gave me motivation!! no spoilers plss i haven't finished it!!
i posted an edit of miguel and gioia on my tiktok if y'all wanna check it out : janiabeans.wp xoxo