LXXVIII. Heartbreak Weather

      Odessa was certain that her mother only gave Johnny a sliver of advice about having a sleepover for the girls because his methods were all Johnny, especially wanting them to play with an Ouija board. "Uhhh, what the hell are we doing?" Hailey voiced her thoughts, shortly him a skeptical look.

"What does it look like we're going, Cooper?" Johnny answered shortly.

"It looks like you're trying to get us haunted. I would like for my life to not be like The Conjuring."

Odessa chuckled. He rolled his eyes at her dramatic attitude, which he guessed he should've been used to by now. "Alright, hands on the table." He instructed and placed his hands on the board.

The girls followed suite, all of them skeptical. Odessa gave him the side eye, wondering what he had up his sleeve.

"Okay, who wants to go first?"

"I'll go," said Devon. "Uhhh, will Mitch ever win the All Valley?" She came up with.

"No," Hailey answered and they chuckled.

"Who the hell's Mitch?" Asked Johnny.

Tory furrowed her eyebrows. "Penis Breath."

"The kid who betrayed us just cause he wanted snacks," Hailey answered more bluntly.

He moved the piece to the no square.

Odesa titled her head. "Uhhh—"

"Okay! My turn," Johnny interrupted her. ""Does Tory want Sam to fall down a flight of stairs, breaking every bone in her little boy?"

The group of girls gave him the same weird look. "What?" Tory muttered.

"Did we hit you in the head too hard with those pillows?" Hailey commented.

"Can it, Cooper." He snapped. He looked down at the board. "Let's see what it says." Johnny went to move the piece to the yes spot even though they fought against him.

Odessa thought that maybe she should've stayed home and continued watching Teen Wolf after all.

"Alright, moving on," said Johnny and he looked between the group of girls. His eyes landed on Odessa and he hummed. "Does Tory want to punch Odessa in the face for still being friends with Robby?"

Her jaw dropped.

"What?" Tory said loudly, looking very confused.

"Okay, I'm bored. What's next?" Hailey quickly said and took her hands off the board.

"Anything but this," Sam responded and stood from the table.

"Wait, let's just—" Johnny said but stopped when all of the girls left the table. Odessa remained in her chair, staring at him. "What?"

"What's your game?" She questioned.

"What game?"

"You ask my mom for girl advice and then you suggest we play with Ouiji board, which I 100% believe was all your idea. Then you try to get Tory to be mad at me?" Odessa went through and she raised her eyebrows. "Whatever sick, twisted plan you have brewing in your brain isn't going to work. Sorry to tell you."

She stood from the table, hearing him groan as she walked away, and she went and sat on the couch with the girls.

Tory glanced her way when she sat close by her. "Why do you think he asked that?" She voiced.

"It's Johnny. Why does he ask anything that his mind comes up with?" Odessa joked, making her smile a little. She started messing with her phone case. "I mean you don't mind, do you? That I'm still friends with Robby?"

"No, of course not," she answered instantly. "It would be kinda wrong for me to mind, I think, seeing as how I'm friends with Miguel." She added, her eyes shifting to Sam who was on the other side of the couch, showing Hailey a video on her phone.

Odessa nodded. "I get it. I like to think of it as we're finally all one big happy family," she said with a big smile.

Tory chuckled again and smiled back.

Suddenly, Odessa's phone lit up and she looked down, seeing that Robby was calling her. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"Umm, why is Robby calling you?" Tory voiced, her eyes staring at the phone screen with her boyfriend's name on it.

"I-I don't know. I thought he'd be with the guys," she answered, feeling and looking confused.

Then, Tory's phone lit up at Odessa instinctively looked over, seeing that Miguel had texted her. "Miguel?"

Sam looked up from her phone. "What? Why is Miguel calling you?"

"It's not a call, it's a text," Tory said while staring narrow eyed at her phone. "On a scale of 1 to 10,  you're a 9 and I'm the 1 you need," she read and pulled another face.

"What the hell?" Odessa spoke and shook her head, feeling even more confused.

"Maybe it's a prank?" Hailey thought.

Her phone buzzed again and instead of a call, it was a text, still from Robby.

Robby
Hey, Dess. . .

"Okay, this is weird. I'm calling Eli," Odessa voiced.

From behind her, Johnny's eyes widened and he panicked. Looking around him, he picked up one of his empty beer cans and threw it at her. It hit her on the back of the head. "OW!"

All of the girls instantly turned their heads and looked his way. Devon widened her eyes. Johnny awkwardly looked between them all. "Uhh, my bad. It slipped." He laughed but it quickly stopped when all four of them stood from the couch. "Uhhh. . ."

Sam crossed her arms. "What's behind your back?" She questioned him.

He shrugged. "My hands. Nothing. Just my hands," he replied nonchalantly.

"Careful, I think your nose is growing a little bit," Hailey snapped and crossed her arms as well.

Tory started texting Robby's number and a second later, the phone ringed.

"Lee, your phone's ringing."

Then, Sam called Miguel.

Then, there was another ring. "Oh, wow, multiple lines. I didn't know you were a social butterfly," Johnny continued.

Odessa rolled her eyes. "Johnny!"

"You're catfishing us," said Tory, fed up with him.

"I don't know what that is, but catfish is gross."

The girls collectively sighed. "You've been messing with us all night, now you're trying to get us all to start fighting," Sam accused.

"We just wanted to help you get your edge back so things can go back to the way they used to be," Devon stated.

"You were in on this?" Hailey asked and she scoffed, looking at her friend. "I told you we shouldn't have come."

"You think things were better when we hated each other's guts?" Tory asked, pointing between her and Sam.

"No. Maybe just south of that, like a really strong dislike." Johnny said but he definitely wasn't making it better.

Odessa rolled her eyes at him.

"I thought you were Miyagi-Do now," said Sam.

"I am Miyagi-Do. Look, we're inside with pillows, chocolate, and air conditioning. I want you to hate each other but in a friendly way."

"You really don't understand girls at all," said Odessa. She scoffed. "Come on, let's go. If we want a sleepover, we can have it at my house." She told the girls and walked away to grab her phone that fell to the floor when he hit her in the head.

"Nice work," Hailey said sarcastically and followed her.

When Odessa walked into practice the next day, she saw Tory and Sam sparring on the deck with Johnny and Devon watching. He looked proud, they looked happy, and she thought that whatever he had planned for last night worked. It made her smile, too. She walked her to Eli, seeing him standing alone. "Hey, killer," she greeted him with a smile.

Eli looked up and smiled back. "Hey, Butterfly," he greeted her back and kissed her. "How was your sleepover?"

"Uhhh, eventually, to say the least," she answered with a light chuckle. "What about you? How was guys night?"

"Oh, eventful," he copied her and laughed. "We actually placed a bet for the tournament."

"Uh oh, Oliver and Gray and bets usually don't go together."

"No, no, don't worry. It's not money." He told her and then laughed again. "It's actually so funny. I bet Oliver and Demetri that if Hammy and I win, they have to get tattoos."

Odessa gasped. "No."

"Yep."

"What is it with you and betting people to get stuck with needles?" She questioned and pointed to her nose ring. They laughed again. "Okay, what was their bet?"

"Oh, is nothing. If they win, Gray and I have to dye our hair the American flag." Eli explained.

Her smile fell. "Huh?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I was thinking make the hawk taller, y'know?" He explained and motioned to his Mohawk for emphasize.

Odessa looked between him and his hair, cringing at the idea of him having an American flag mohawk on his head. "Oh wow. Okay." She muttered. "And Gray agreed to that? The boy who has a whole shelf in his bathroom for his hair products?"

Eli chuckled. "It's apart of the bet. He's got no choice now," he replied and shrugged. His tablet dinged and he looked down, seeing a notification pop up on the screen. Eli picked it up and his eyes widened. "Oh, shit. The announcement just came out!" He announced to the whole team.

Odessa gasped. "Holy shit." She slipped out and stood close by him to look at the screen.

Everybody gathered around them. "Alright. Who's ready to find out where we're going for the Sekai Taikai?"

"I'm ready to see you and Hammy get some new dos," Oliver commented and sent a laugh in Grayson's direction.

Grayson stood with Hailey and he rolled his eyes. "Not gonna happen, Benson." He stated.

Odessa put her chin on Eli's shoulder and he played the video. She inhaled a breath.

"Congratulations on your admission to the Sekai Taikai. We're excited to finally announce the host city for this year's competition."

"Please be Hawaii. Please be Hawaii." Oliver quietly prayed, crossing his fingers while holding Demetri's hand with the other.

"Marital Arts has always had a rich history in the East. And the Sekai Taikai has held many tournaments throughout Asia."

Christian hit Johnny on the shoulder. "What do you think? Tokyo or Japiar?" He asked quietly.

"Jai-what?"

The blonde man's face fell. "Never mind," he gave up and went back to listening to the announcement.

"But in recent years, European teams have shaken up the competitive landscape, bringing a whole new style to the event. Within that region, there's one nation that has continued to stand tall amongst the pack for its growth and dominance in both junior and senior competitions,"

"Oh my god, spit it out already," Odessa commented impatiently.

"Odessa Violet, that's an unusual outburst," Hailey said with a sarcastic gasp, making some of them laugh.

She shrugged a little. "I'm just excited, that's all," she said and went back to watching. Her arm was wrapped around Eli's.

"It gives me great pleasure to announce this year's Sekai Taikai will be held in Barcelona, Spain."

Eli instantly pointed to Oliver and Demetri. "Haha, close enough!" He cheered and let out a loud whoop.

"Oh, thank God!" Grayson let out and practically fell to his knees.

Oliver groaned and threw his head back. He looked at Demetri who was now panicking. "Sorry, babe."

"Sorry? That's all you give me, betting man?"

"Yay!" Odessa cheered and wrapped her arms around Eli's neck, pulling him close out of excitement.

"That's sick!"

"Yes," Christian cheered to himself and smiled, clapping along with the rest of the very excited team. He shook Johnny by the shoulder. "This is gonna be awesome."

The video continued. "As you prepare for your journey, we'll also present the rules of regulation. We intend to test your dojo's quality, not quantity, and each dojo must select ten fighters to compete."

That's when the excitement died down. "Wait, ten?" Said Eli and he quickly looked at the others.

"I knew there was a catch." Hailey spoke and slumped over.

"These ten fighters will participate in team events, with two boys and two girls serving as captains to enter into the individual competitions, which will be televised around the world."

The stakes were higher. Odessa looked at the girls, each of them sharing eye contact with each other. It was no lie that they all deserved to go to Spain and they were all good enough to be captain. The same with the guys. It didn't feel right that they all couldn't go and it definitely didn't feel right that there was a possibility the best of them would have to stay back.

"This is gonna be intense." Grayson spoke all of their thoughts.

Odessa looked over her shoulder at her Senseis. They looked nervous. Her dad met her eyes and gave her an encouraging smile, to which she returned but hers wavered.

I'm so not prepared to say goodbye to these two