THIRTY FOUR — balance

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

            BELLA WAS FEELING MISERABLE after the night of the party. she wasn't as smiley as she normally was. she would leave earlier from school and head home only to lay in bed and watch mtv all night. bella hadn't spoken to her father after their argument. she couldn't wait to get out of north hollywood and head to new york. chrissy and ali would go and visit often to check up on bella.

according to the cobras, johnny was drinking the pain away. laura was worried about him because he normally never drank this much. she had never seen him this torn apart. he wasn't in this shape when he broke up with ali, he's taking this breakup worse. he's been drinking more, waking up hungover, leaving unexpectedly, and arriving late at night sometimes even the next day. in school, he acted as if the breakup was just another breakup and kept his head up, but when he got home, it was a different story. he laid in bed listening to his walkman and drinking.

two weeks after the party, bella walked out of history with chrissy and headed to her locker. she opened her locker and placed her books inside. as she turned to the side, she found johnny flirting with another girl, as the girl lightly caressed his arms. chrissy noticed the pair flirting and rolled her eyes.

"you know that's an act right?" chrissy said. "it's just a facade."

"i somehow find that hard to believe." bella sighed as she closed her locker.

"he's a mess." chrissy sighed. "he might seem all high and mighty here, but according to bobby, laura says he's a total train wreck. he comes home, grabs a bottle, locks himself up in his room, and won't come down for hours."

"yeah, well, that's not my fault." bella sighed as she attempted to hold back tears.

"he's complicated." chrissy sighed. "this affected him as much as it affected you. he was head over fucking heels for you, bella. not many ladies make johnny lawrence weak to his knees, but you were one of them. he loved you to the point where he would've killed for you."

"doesn't matter anymore." bella sighed as she ran her hands through her hair. "it's history. i'm just another notch on his belt now."

as chrissy and bella walked to the cafeteria, they got their tray of food and found the table where ali, daniel, barbara, and susan were sitting.

"how're you feeling bella?" barbara said as she put her fork down. "we heard about what happened at the party."

"i'll be okay." bella sighed as she began to eat. "i want to think it was the alcohol talking but i can't believe he beat dylan half to death because he was taking me to prom."

"is he?" ali said. "is dylan taking you to prom?"

"i beat him to it. i told him no." bella said. "i'm not going to prom."

"bella, you have to go!" susan said. "it's the senior prom! you can't miss it."

"well, i am." bella sighed. "besides, i like staying in and watching mtv while eating a whole pizza by myself."

"you are going to prom." chrissy said. "we'll all go together!"

"but you're going with bobby, susan's going with jimmy, and ali's going with daniel." bella said. "you all have dates."

"i dont." barbara said. "who needs a date anyway? besides, you can dance with whoever the hell you want and not be tied down. you in?"

"besides bella, there's a bunch of guys willing to take you to prom or even dance with you." daniel said as his friends from reseda sat on the table. "if you go, you can dance all night and have a good time with no commitment."

"and if you do decide to get a date, we'll set you  up with freddy." chrissy said, motioning to freddy, who was completely clueless to the whole situation.

"what'd i do?" freddy said as the girls giggled.

"since i'm going to prom, you're gonna be my dance partner for the night." bella laughed as she took a sip of her cherry coke. "you in?"

"you got it, bella!" freddy said as he fist-bumped bella. "you're gonna have lots of fun, but wear comfortable shoes because you're gonna be dancing all night."

"i'm taking your word for it." bella laughed along with the rest of the table. this is the first time in weeks that bella has laughed or giggled. as she enjoyed her lunch break with her friends, johnny watched from the other table as the guys ate.

"so is this gonna be a daily thing?" tommy said. "quit staring at her with that look, you're starting to look like a total creep."

"she cannot be serious." johnny scoffed. "watch her go to prom with one of larusso's punk ass friends from reseda."

"oh so she's not going with carter anymore?" jimmy said as he bit into an apple. "did she find out that she was an easy fuck to him?"

"there's a whole line of guys who wanna take her to prom, according to ali." tommy said. "there's no fucking way you're getting her back."

"there's also a shit ton of girls who want you to ask them to prom too." dutch smirked.

"i don't want any sloppy seconds." johnny said. "bella's my girl. i'm supposed to be taking her to prom."

"except she's not." tommy said. "at least, not anymore."

"i solved your problem." dutch said. "skip the prom and we'll go up to the hills and smoke a few."

"we actually have dates." bobby said, motioning to jimmy. "i'm taking chrissy and he's taking susan."

"okay, so while you two go to the prom, tommy, you and i will go to the hills." dutch said. "what do you say? beats staying home and hearing sid bitch at you."

"fine." johnny said as the bell rang and he got his books. as he headed to his next class, he bumped into bella. as they both shared an awkward moment, he stood there speechless.

"hey bella." tommy said, as he broke the silence.

"hey guys." bella softly smiled as she greeted the other guys. her smile disappeared when she made eye contact with the blonde. "john."

bella walked away and headed to class as the guys stood there laughing. "yeah, you fucked up pretty bad." jimmy said. "just let it go. if she's yours, she'll come back."

"whatever." johnny said as he walked to class. "i'll see you guys later."

⸻

after school, instead of going home, bella joined ali and daniel, who were headed to miyagi-do. when bella had said that she needed somewhere to relax and gather her thoughts, daniel said that she could join him and ali, who were heading to miyagi-do.

once she arrived, she parked her car and looked at the many vintage cars that were lined up on the side. she took in the surroundings as she walked into the little house, with ali and daniel.

"this is beautiful." bella smiled as she walked into the backyard. "daniel, this is breathtaking! you really train here?"

"it's beautiful, huh?" daniel smiled. "mr. miyagi fixed it up real nice."

"along with his help." ali laughed. "he painted the fence, painted the house, waxed all the cars, and sanded the floors. it was all part of his training though."

"hey, but those techniques won the all valley." bella smiled. "where is mr. miyagi anyway?"

"he probably went fishing." daniel said. "he'll be back in a few."

"so is this relaxing or what?" ali said to bella. "i told you this was better than the beach."

"yeah i guess you're right." bella sighed as she continued to admire the little backyard. while bella walked around, she heard ali call her inside.

"bella, i want you to meet someone." ali said as she walked with bella inside the little house. "bella, this is mr. miyagi."

"it's great to finally meet you." bella said as she greeted mr. miyagi. "i've heard so much about you from daniel and you guys were great at the tournament."

"nice to meet you too, bella-san." mr. miyagi smiled. "you were at tournament?"

"yeah, i went to go support both daniel and my boyfriend." bella sighed. "well, ex-boyfriend."

"oh, so sorry." mr. miyagi said. "you two made nice couple. what happened?"

"thank you." bella smiled. "we broke up about three weeks ago over a dumb argument. i really miss him and we had this whole plan to go to new york and move in together. now i just can't seem to focus. i'm planning for new york and for graduation, but i'm still hurting."

"pain is temporary. focus on getting to college and finishing school." mr. miyagi said as he made some tea for daniel, ali, and bella. "try to find balance and everything will get better. don't worry about boyfriend. focus on you."

"i really needed the advice." bella sighed as she took the small cup and drank some tea. "thank you, mr. miyagi."

"welcome, bella-san." mr. miyagi smiled. bella continued to drink tea as she felt herself more at peace. everybody had given her advice on how to deal with the breakup, but nobody had explained it or said it just like mr. miyagi had. she had felt a sense of relief and peace, something she hadn't felt in weeks.