" This, if I remember correctly, is not the pendrive I gave you," Flora frowned looking at Demetri and Chris. The trio were standing by her locker 113, which Ethane was trying to break into and failing miserably. The curly haired, tall brunette boy was reeking of weed at almost 8 in the morning, while there Flora was, in her maroon pyjamas, too sleepy and late to choose an outfit. Good thing she had a leather jacket over it. It looked like an actual outfit then.
" Yeah, obviously. " Chris rolled his eyes, " You need a flashdrive to save large files. Not a pendrive. "
" Charming, " Flora excitedly said, a big smile on her face, " And whatever you say, the idea came from my absolutely brilliant mi-"
" You actually saw it on a Crime show." Demetri interrupted her deadpanning.
" Still breaks my heart that the third season was cancelled, dear." She sniffed before putting on a smile again.
" Did someone say heartbreak?" Ethane asked turning to face the trio, " Heartbreak. Also broke my heart, yes, heartbreak did. Broken hearts. Poets got them. Broken heart, broke heart, broke wallet. "
" How high are you, love?" Flora asked frowning, as she touched his forehead, it was sweaty and cold.
" Like Euphoria high?" He gave a charming grin.
" Hate that show, but I do love Rue," Flora grinned before glaring at him, " And stop trying to break into my locker for some drugs, I'll electrify you."
" You hot, but not that hot," He murmured as she took her hand back.
Flora's mini taser with the tiny red rose sticker was out now, which she always kept with herself.
" Oh, you serious." He nodded, understanding, " Goodbye Captian, ye shall see me ...... nevermind, I forgot the next part." And then he was off.
" Farewell, " Flora called out and Ethane ran straight into a wall. And then he stood up, made it seem like he was meant to run into the wall and carried on.
" So Darren Jawbolt bites this dust." Flora informed the two boys, holding her hand out as Chris dropped the new Flashdrive in her palm, " Jeez, doesn't his name sound like a red flag?"
"You better not miss your shot, it took us two weeks to build it," Demetri determinedly told her, " Seduce him into distraction if necessary. "
" Of-course, hon," She dryly laughed, " Because nothing would give up our identity faste-"
" Yo, Flo!" Mitch called out joining the crew, taking a place beside Chris, " Did you hear? Timmy quit Cobra Kai."
Demetri raised an eyebrow to look at Flora, who smirked for a slight second before laughing out like a dork. Her stomach hurt and her eyes watered. Sure her goal was to make Timmy anxious and paranoid, to make sure every step he took, fright shadowed him but this was golden. This was better.
" Is she on drugs?" Mitch asked Demetri, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, I am, love, " She laughed again, like a mad woman. If a normal person took as many pills as Flora took a day to survive, they'd overdose within a week. Why the fuck everything was so hilarious today, she couldn't explain it to herself or her friends. She slummed down against her locker, her legs stretched on both sides like a little kid's. While she made little snort sounds to compose her laughter.
The three boys grew bored of her laughter soon after so they engaged in a conversation about some comic book Flora never heard of. She took off her leather jacket, she could never understand how the delinquents squad wore it in the rom-coms in California's heat, or the greaser kids.
The day carried on and Flora did her best to keep an eye out for Darren's whereabouts, that's when the first text in 3 days came, it was lunch time. And Flora was eating an apple which she didn't want to eat but Sam would report to Amanda if she just gave it to Demetri.
DM
Mr.Turkey 🦃:
Pikachu onesie
Is this ur idea of
prank 🥴
🐸Princess:
No, but I'm glad u
got the package alright.
it's a group thingy
D-balls and
cousin miguel
got them too.
u like it?
Mr.Turkey🦃:
I'm never wearing it.
🐸Princess:
Even if I bribe u
With sex?
Flora frowned, but it was already sent and seen. And she wasn't going to not speak her mind. Even if they were never in a situationship or had feelings for each other she would have sent the exact same thing. Even if she still disliked him, she wouldn't change a single word of it.
Mr.Turkey 🦃:
Is this a promise
i hear larusso?
🐸 Princess :
If I get to
keep a polaroid
of u in it.
Yes.
i'll do you like one of my
french girls.
Mr.Turkey 🦃:
you at school rn?
cuz there's no way
in hell you're up this
early
🐸 Princess:
Okay
i'll not mention
that u just changed the topic.
did i just turn u on sunshine?
and yes, im at school
don't worry
and stop frowning
if those dickwads
give me shit
yk I can handle
it.
Mr. Turkey 🦃:
i wish u didnt
have to deal
with it at all
🐸 Princess:
oh birdie!
I'm daniel larusso's
daughter that should
be enough reason to be
picked on.
oh how come
no one told me
dada had a dick
on his face last year?
Mr. Turkey 🦃:
did i mention
u talk a lot?
I can literally
hear ur
texts.
🐸 Princess:
Want me to stop?
Mr. Turkey 🦃:
yes 😵
🐸 Princess :
You'd have to block me <3
i miss u.
Mr.Turkey 🦃:
Oh
3 minutes later
i miss u too
Flora smiled like an idiot at the text and that's when it happened. Darren walked into the computer lab and Flora followed him behind swiftly. Even though she was not a senior. The class had settled down at their places and Mr. Kelly was setting up the projector while Mr. Dogwood, the PE teacher, told him about some school gossip.
She waited till Darren walked to a desk and emptied his backpack of necessary things for whatever project seniors got, another thing she found out from Ethane, or else this would have been a difficult task.
And then she walked down the aisle. Carefully exchanging her flashdrive with his pendrive/flashdrive, at that point she didn't care enough to recognise while he gawked at a raven girl like a predator. And then she took the last desk.
" Flora, you are in the wrong cla-" Alan, a boy with curly ginger hair, who was a student of Miyagi-Do started to say. Flora liked Alan, he was quiet and found her humor funny.
Suddenly all the computers and the projector's display changed into blank darkness, Flora grinned, the flashdrive was in the port.
Nothing happened.
" I'll murder those two...." She muttered with a fallen smile. It was her best plan. And she didn't have her expectations much high since she saw it on a TV show first and most things aren't real there. But then Demetri and Chris gave her the flashdrive.
And then three different tabs opened. All of them playing some explicit clip. The desk she sat at, her computer was still shut down. But Alan's had the same thing. All the computers played the same thing. The projector did too.
Daddy harder please...
Just like that....
You want me to make you come babygirl?
So good, mhm
And lots of other nasty sounds followed with the videos. Alan was red faced and laughing sheepishly. Darren was red faced, and shocked and trying his best to stop the videos, cross the tabs out, but his screen stayed hanged on them, like the others.
Flora never loved her boys more. She shook her head laughing like the others, took a picture and sent it to Eli.
Mr. Kelly was yelling for whoever did it to stop it while a loud moan drowned his words, and he desperately tried to find a solution from his laptop.
" Silly teenagers, " Mr.Dogwood laughed, " The pranks we did as a kid, Gen-z is funny, man."
Darren finally plugged out the flashdrive and it all stopped, his hand in the air, holding it away like a toxic object.
" Alright Mr.Jawbolt. I'll have you in the principal's office now, " Mr.Kelly said furiously, making his way towards the boy, " Impressive work as you did, I don't think Princeton would think that way."
And then it was all dramatic, Darren's wails of protest, Mr.Kelly taking him away like a policeman. Mr.Dogwood laughing and telling the students about the pranks he pulled as a teenager.
Flora snuck out of the room, not that anyone would notice. And then she exited the school building. She wasn't there to study anyway. Truth be told, she hadn't been much to school since Eli's absence. He was always there, and when he wasn't everything was boring and dull and in monotones.
Assassin Kitten :
birdie u
changed my nickname
such honor how?
alright, I'll change urs
too.
Karate nutter:
Karate nutter?
really?
Assassin Kitten:
you gave me assassin
kitten!
Karate nutter:
okay fine
but it's a compromise
I'm doing.
Assassin Kitten :
My heart just brust 🦋
[Photo of the computer lab]
have i ever mentioned how
much i love school?
Karate nutter:
WHAT THE FUCK
IDEJEJSJEJEEJ
GIMME DETAILS
IS MR.KELLY HIGH!?
WHAT THE FUCK
AGAIN
WHAT THE FUCK
YA'LL JUST HAD A
PORN MARATHON!
Assassin Kitten:
[9 voice messages]
Karate nutter:
that's so sick dude!
Dem and chris seriously
made that!
Must have used
the dark web
AND
YOU ARE FUCKING
BRILLIANT!
Assassin Kitten:
Well i actually
got the idea from the
2nd season of
one of us is lying.
Karate nutter:
No idea
what u r talking about 🤧
but im actually watching seinfield
right now, awesome show u suggested.
if jerry wouldn't date elaine i will.
Assassin Kitten:
Slay!
Im team jerry tho.
he is chill.
Karate nutter:
right🥴
fav hp characters go.
ik u hate the golden trio
Assassin Kitten:
they are horrible for
eachother
If metri ever yelled
at me as many times harold did
at ronnie and mione
i ll chop his dick off.
but fav character
is obvi proff Minnie.
And then comes
luna and fleur.
urs?
Karate nutter:
weasley twins
and lupin
Assassin Kitten:
Freddie is my bf in some
alternative universe
and love moony to the moon
and back,
justice for georgie's ear cuz
the trauma should've
been enough.
.........
Eli's lips twitched upward a bit at her texts. He was still in the basement, like a vampire locked away from the daylight.
Footsteps coming down made him look up and he saw it was William. A pizza box in his hands and a kind smile on his face.
" If you quit being a bitch to me," William said, sitting on the couch, " I'll be more than happy to share this thing. "
A family size pizza was in between them. Eli shut his laptop close.
" What do you want, man?" Eli sighed, he was covered in gray. In a desperate need to be invisible. Talking to Flora was like being in a land where only the two of them existed and nothing changed, but this was it, the reality and it was painful. Painful in his own skin. That horrible scar, lingering there like a curse.
" I don't understand what you are up to," He told Eli, worried , " You stink, by the way, when did you last shower?"
Eli blinked at the man in exhaustion.
" Look, I won't tell you, I understand how you must be feeling or crap," the man said, " I was seventeen, fifty million years ago and I'm not you, so I definitely wouldn't know." He sighed, " But kid, it might look like the end of the world but it isn't. It's just how being seventeen is. Torturous. "
" What's your point, Billy?" He asked, not interested in pizza. His appetite was long gone. He was surviving off sweet bread and water for the last 2 weeks.
" Point is, why are you cooped up here?" he paused, " Does it really matter what the people you don't care about think about you?"
" Well you weren't bulli-" Eli started.
William mumbled in disappointment, shaking his head, " White people..."
" I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just..." He quickly apologised, feeling like a shitty person.
" Marvelous thing is, those racist assholes that bullied me, one of them are in the prison now for robbery or some shit." He calmly said, and he was actually calm unlike Dumbledore, "And here I am, living my best life highschool me couldn't have imagined. The world isn't shit Eli, there's always a do-over."
" Well there isn't one for me,"
" Kid...."
" Are you seriously having pizza after ignoring my texts and calls?" Demetri sounded betrayed when he skipped two stairs and reached the basement floor.
" Really needed a backup, " William amusedly said, " Have some pizza, kiddo." He added, gesturing towards the box.
.........
Flora was in the indoor dojo where Sam was stretching her limbs while Daniel trained the boys outside. She was in a baby pink shirt with Alica Silverstone's face on it, it reached her mid thighs and it was the only thing she was wearing.
" You seem troubled," She told Sam.
" Tory came to see mom," Sam informed and Flora looked alerted, " You were hanging out with Moon then. They are letting Tory back into school. "
"What the bloody fuck!" She was outraged, eyes wide.
" Don't try to argue with anyone, " Her sister said, "Even dad agrees, and leave Tory out of your revenge agenda,"
" You kne-"
" You are my sister, Flo, of course I know." She scoffed, " And you are not being that sneaky. But Tory is one of their best fighters, those shitheads won't be merciful if something happens with her..... I can give her hell from you on the mat though, it's a promise. "
" And you swear to give her trauma?" She asked in all seriousness, her palms on the floor as she leaned closer.
Not funny, Larusso, just so fucking sad.
Those words ringing in her head all the time. Everytime she spoke the voice was there. Everytime her jokes weren't funny the voice was a choker to her. Everytime she felt anxious to interact with someone it was the voice she blamed. Everytime but when she was with Eli.
" I can try," Sam flashed a wicked grin.
That's when the door slid open and Daniel stepped in, " Hey, Flora, Eli is here, thought you'd like to kn--"
Flora wasn't in her spot anymore, running past Daniel faster than a wolf and there Eli was amongst the others. In a gray hoodie and shorts. They were welcoming him, Demetri looked the happiest. Even Chris looked happy, who wasn't the first time he returned.
Demetri saw Flora first, he informed his binary brother. And when the Moskowitz boy turned she flung herself into his arms. Wrapping her arms over his shoulders, a hug with so much force and longing that he had to take a step backwards. He was warm. He was comfort. He was real. He was there.
He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tightly with a mix of joy and tenderness. In that moment, all worries melted away.
" I missed you, big birdie." She whispered for only him to hear, a tear drop escaped her left eye, his mere presence filling her heart with golden rays of light, " I missed you so much, you stupid motherfucker."
" I missed you, too. " He murmured back in her hair.
When they pulled away, Daniel and Sam were approaching the lot together. Daniel had a gi in his hands.
" Hey," Sam offered Eli a hug and a smile. And Flora was so thankful at her for being as welcoming as her father was. She could understand that he had to battle with the voices in his head to get out of the prison it created.
" Are you joining this dojo now?" Flora raised an eyebrow to look at Eli, grinning mischievously " You know Eagle Fang is more badas-"
" Hey, Miyago do is badass, 84's match, don't forget." Daniel exclaimed, frightened to lose an amazing fighter to Johnny, he gave Eli his gi, " Welcome to the team Eli."
" Thank you, Mr.Larusso. " He politely said with a genuine grateful smile.
" Demetri, you know I love you, right?" Flora asked her best friend.
The slender boy rolled his eyes, " Yeah, yeah, put your money on Eli,"
Flora grinned before edging closer to Eli, " I'm going to say it now."
" What?" He frowned, confused.
" What I didn't get to say the first time," Her face was so close to his but it didn't feel unusual, the beats of her heart were insane though, he was beautiful, she was nervous. This would be okay this time, they won't fall apart again, " Or rather, I was cut off, it was really rude actually. "
His breathe hitched, but he didn't dare step back. Her gaze held him captive.
" I'm glad that you are here," She grinned, a defeated look in her eyes, her heart was his now.
Daniel cleared his throat as Flora groaned and stepped back.
" Let's get back to practice guys," He announced, " Team up, and Eli you're with me, let's teach you the Miyagi style."
" That just gave me the chills," The blonde shivered and said, " Oh, false alarm, it's just the ghost of my dada's dead rizz."
" No idea what rizz is," Daniel muttered when Flora snorted and made her way towards the mini pond where she usually sat at to annoy the others during their practice sessions and drew. A chair and a canvas was already there.
A shaky hand grabbed her elbow, and the moment it did, the hand was steady. Flora turned, it was Eli. They were out of the others earshot now. It was like being in a haze where no one could hurt them.
" I just...thanks..." He told her sincerely, blues meeting the golden rays of her eyes under the sun, the sky and the earth, " And I...I heard it...the first time when you said...I heard it." He confirmed.
She blinked at him. The thought of kissing him filled her head with a delightful warmth, like a burst of confetti in her chest. She wanted to kiss him until their lungs gave out. She wanted to kiss him under pouring rain, kiss him because she felt like it. Hold his hand cause it made her heart flutter and steady at the same time. She also wanted him up against a wall with her.
But for now she gave a dorky smile and said, " Again with making my heart go all mushy...."