Everything Has Changed | Johnny Lawrence

002- Nights Like This

I hadn't gotten much sleep last night. I was constantly tossing and turning clearly not used to the new and unfamiliar space. Daniel banged on my door trying to get me to wake up and get ready. What he didn't realize is that I had been up for a few hours unable to fall back asleep. I groaned as I slowly made my way out of bed. After doing my morning routine and putting on some jean shorts and a white tee I headed to the living room and poured myself some orange juice.

"Good morning sweetie"

"Morning" I chugged the rest of the juice and put the cup in the sink.

"How'd you sleep?" Mom asked.

"I slept ok, actually I slept great" I lie as a put on my shoes and pull some gum out of my pocket putting it in my mouth.

"Oh that's good Tiff. Daniel hurry up!" He came jogging around the corner with a toothbrush in his mouth. He struggled to put on his shoes, not very good at multitasking and ran back to finish up. As I opened the door Freddy was there looking ready to knock on our door.

"Hi, you guys ready?"

As I was about to answer him my brother rushes towards the door. "Yeah, we're ready let's go"

-

Once we arrived to the beach he introduced us to a group of boys who were playing soccer. My brother went off to play with them and I looked around taking in the cool breeze.

"Hey, wanna hang out with us?" I turn around and a blonde girl in a striped bathing suit is smiling at me.

"Uhhh yeah, sure" We walk back over to her friends and introduces us. That whole morning we just talked about what girls always seemed to talk about. Boys, fashion, and more boys. But Ali, the blonde girl who invited me to hang out, wasn't very talkative as her friends were when it came to boys and I couldn't help but wonder why. I watched my brother playing out in the sand as the ball came rolling towards us. All of them trying to get it. As the boys started moving on with the ball, Daniel was staring at Ali.

"Hey Daniel, I think you're drooling" I called to him which snapped him back into reality and made the girls laugh as they got up and walked to the water.

"You know him?"Ali asked me as we waded in the water. It was cool but not freezing.

"Yeah, my brother believe it or not"

"You two going to West Valley, right?" she said looking at my brother and back to me.

"Yep, so exciting" I replied sarcastically.

She laughed "Oh yeah, super exciting cause you'll have me to guide you around"

"Can't wait then" we both started laughing even more as we made our way to the group.

-

Night fell on the beach and I was having a great time. Ali was really nice and so were her friends. They had two bonfires going and Ali's radio was playing some music in the background. The boys surrounded one and the girls by the other. The waves broke gently on the shore, a sound I could get used to. Throughout the night Ali and Daniel kept looking at each other, which was kind of annoying but I wasn't going to ruin it. I saw Freddy kick the ball over and it roll right to me. I passed it over to Ali as I saw my brother make his way over here. They both met in the middle, Daniel trying to teach her how to keep it up. I zoned out staring up at the night sky, the stars twinkling bright like diamonds until I heard a rumbling sound coming from up the hill.

A few moments pass before the sound gets closer and I see what looks like a gang ride up on motorcycles. All the boys start to crowd around them as I watch what's about to happen. A blonde boy gets off his bike and calls to Ali.

"Hey Ali I wanna talk to you"

"Just leave me alone" she replied. I guess I know why she doesn't like to talk about boys now. "we've been over all this, all alright. I don't wanna talk"

This boy wasn't having it and he turned off the music. "Well, I want to talk to you,alright?"

All Ali did was turn the music back on but he turned it off again. "What is your problem?"

"Why don't you just take your little cobra kais and get out of here?" she stood up taking the radio with her. He snatched it out of her hands and continued annoying her.

"Give me my radio"

"No" he replied a devilish grin on his face.

"Give her the damn radio" I said standing up.

"And who are you?" he questioned, while he was distracted Ali took the radio back. "God, you are so difficult Ali, just talk to me"

She smiled and turned the music back on. This was not good because the blonde ripped it out of her hands and threw it on the ground.

"You just broke my radio" Ali cried pushing him. He didn't seem at all sorry, what a bitch. Daniel came and picked it up not going unnoticed by the blonde.

"Don't touch it, punk"

"What's going on?" Daniel said. He didn't really like to be told what to do. The boy took back the radio and started teasing him. Then he pushed the radio at Daniel as he fell backwards.

"Hey!" I yelled pushing him back "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Everyone was now focused on what was going on. I looked into his blue eyes as he smirks.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Why do you care? You're being a dick and it's not cool" he steps closer to me and I can feel his breath as he looks at me then diverts his attention to my brother. He does a quick nod and I'm being pulled out of the way by some of his friends.

"Wouldn't want that face of yours getting messed up" he said sarcastically. Or at least that's what I thought it was.

I was struggling to get out of there grip not fully paying attention to what was happening. The blonde boy and my brother were about to fight and I know for a fact Daniel is gonna loose.

The blonde knocked him down as Ali and I were telling him to stop.

"You had enough, hero?" the boy said kneeling down looking at my brother's limp body in the sand. A moment passed and Daniel got up and punched in right in the nose and we cheered. I thought that it would be over but I was wrong they kept going until Daniel wouldn't get back up. I ran over to him and kneeled down rubbing his back.

"Are you alright?" I asked. The group on the motorcycles left and everyone else looked at us concerned and partially embarrassed for him.

"Leave me alone, Tiff" he replied in pain. His "new friends" left and Ali walked over.

"Are you alright Daniel?"

"Just leave me alone, Ali. Everybody just leave me alone" I saw Ali and her friends leaving the beach until it was just us two. We sat there for a while in silence, just listening to the sounds of nature filling our ears.