TEN — ace degenerate

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

         "WHAT THE HELL?" bella said, as she held the phone up to her ear. "it's 2 am johnny. what do you want?"

"oh i'm sorry princess, did i wake you up?" johnny smirked as he sat up in his bed.

"it's 2 am, yes you woke me up." bella chuckled. "what do you want?"

"i just wanted to talk to you." johnny said. "i couldn't sleep."

"wow, johnny lawrence calling me because he couldn't sleep? what an honor." bella smirked. "i thought you'd call bobby or dutch, maybe even tommy."

"well, maybe i felt like calling you tonight." johnny smiled. "i like hearing your voice."

bella sighed and couldn't believe what she had just heard. she bit her lip and smiled at the remark that the boy had just made. it was no doubt that she was slowly starting to fall for this boy, but she knew she couldn't do that to her friend. her best friend.

"i'm flattered that you wanted to hear my voice." bella smirked as she bit her lip. "why'd you really call though?"

on the other side of the line, johnny laid in bed, actually thinking about why he really called bella. was it to flirt with her? flatter her? or just genuinely talk to her and get to know her? he knew that his chances with bella were slim to none, after his relationship with ali, her best friend. after the 5 minute silence on the line, johnny came up with a random excuse on why he called her at 2 am. his excuse : ex-girlfriend, ali mills.

"i want to fix things with ali." johnny sighed. of course he was going to use ali as an excuse. although he was slowly moving on from ali, he really wanted to talk to bella without raising suspicions about how he feels about her.

bella's heart sank as she heard him mention ali. of course he still loved her, she was his everything. bella sighed as she felt a bit of jealousy in her. she really didn't understand why she felt like this being that she couldn't fall for her best friends ex-boyfriend. she knew she didn't stand a chance.

"how?" bella sighed, trying not to sound heartbroken. "you know she hates you right?"

"yeah, i know." johnny said. "i fucked up and i don't blame her for hating me. i wasn't the best boyfriend and she really deserves better, but i just want to apologize to her."

"what happened that night?" bella said. "the night of ali's birthday. you said it was extended training hours, but i know that's bullshit."

"i did stay at the dojo after class, to get some more training in." johnny said. "afterwards, i went with the guys to get some drinks at a bar. i was gonna go but then the guys and i got wasted. we all crashed at tommy's that night and when i finally came to my senses and called her, we broke up."

"you're right." bella chuckled. "you did fuck up. you should've seen her that night. she was so upset, but she only told her parents that you were at the dojo. if they knew where you actually were, they would've told her off."

"how do i apologize for that?" johnny sighed as he sat up and ran a hand through his hair. "you know her better than anyone."

"yeah, but i don't know her like you know her." bella said. "i know her as my best friend. you know her as your lover; someone you tell all your secrets to and someone who shared intimacy with."

"oh c'mon, a hickey on her collarbone is as intimate as we got." johnny laughed. "her parents wanted to kill me that night."

"i remember." bella laughed. "she was telling everyone that she had burned herself with her curling iron, but everyone knew you were the curling iron."

"anyway, how can i talk to her without her storming off or slapping me?" johnny said. "and i mean it when i said you know her better. shit, you know her better than chrissy."

"if she kills me for telling you this, it's solely your fault." bella said as she twirled the phone cord between her fingers. "we're heading to the beach tonight. chrissy was invited to this beach party some guys from reseda are having, so we're tagging along. please don't do anything stupid when you're there. just have a civil conversation without calling her a bitch. got it?"

"alright." johnny sighed. "what time?"

"just be there." bella yawned. "can i go to sleep now? a princess needs her beauty sleep, you know."

"shut up, you're already beautiful." johnny smiled as he laid back down. "before you ask, yes i mean it."

bella smiled as she laid back down. "good night johnny." bella smiled. "i'll see you later."

"night princess." johnny smiled as he hung up the phone and stared up to the ceiling of his bedroom. he ran a hand through his hair and thought about his conversation with bella. deep down, he was battling his feelings for ali and his newfound feelings for bella. a part of him was still trying to make things work with ali, but the other part of him wanted to be with bella.

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it was around 5:30 pm, later on that day; it was the last sunday of summer. bella sat down on the sand with chrissy, barbra, susan, and ali. the girls all gossiped and listened to music on ali's radio, as a group of boys from reseda were playing soccer. bella and chrissy were getting a soda out of an ice chest that they had brought when they saw ali staring at this one boy.

the sun began to set and it soon got darker. ali and the new kid, daniel were staring at each other and began it hit it off. bella and chrissy saw the sparks fly between them as he taught her some tricks with a soccer ball.

as the girls were enjoying themselves on the beach, johnny, along with the other cobras, arrived at the beach. tommy pulled out some beers out of a backpack as they parked their bikes.

"you're still the ace degenerate, man." tommy laughed as he open his can of beer.

"no, ex-degenerate." johnny said. "8 am tomorrow i'm a senior, i've got one year to make all work, and that's what i'm gonna do. make it work."

"well, it looks like you're a trendsetter johnny. looks like everyone's doing something new." tommy said as he spotted ali and daniel together. "check it out."

as johnny turned to the right, he saw ali and daniel playing with the soccer ball. jealousy boiled up inside of him as he saw bella sitting on the sand, talking to the guys from reseda. he put his helmet back on and drove down into the sand.

"i thought they had broken up, man." dutch said as they put their helmets back on and followed johnny. "him and ali."

"i don't think this is about ali anymore." bobby said. "i think it's about bella now."

"it's about both." tommy said as he and the rest of the cobras drove down into the sand. as they drove down and parked their bikes, they encountered ali and johnny arguing. things took a turn for the worse when daniel stepped in. as he tried to defend ali, johnny pushed him down into the sand and that's when the fight broke out.

bella stood up and tried to prevent johnny from beating daniel up, but she was held back by bobby and chrissy was held back by dutch. as johnny finished beating the crap out of daniel, bobby let go of bella as johnny came up to her.

"what the hell was that?" bella said as she shoved johnny. "i said be civil, not beat the living shit out of him."

"he shouldn't of gotten involved." johnny said as he cleaned his nose from the blood. "sorry princess."

"don't princess me." bella said as she walked away from him. bella walked over to her car and drove off as johnny cursed to himself and left on his bike. he knew he had messed things up even more with ali, and now he had messed up with bella.