─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"gioia, can you get the door!"

"okay!" she announced as she paused her movie and got up from her bed. she walked past her mother's room to see her mom and dad talking. she sighed and strolled over to the door.

gioia opened the door without thinking and standing there was johnny. gioia didn't know what he was doing there, since he was supposed to be training with miguel.

"hey..." johnny greeted her, slightly nervously.

"yeah?" gioia asked.

"you want to help me get miguel back on his feet?" johnny offered.

"no." she shook her head. "i'll see him la-later."

"oh, okay." johnny cleared his throat. "everything okay?"

"yes." gioia said. "what do you want?"

"miguel says that you might be still mad at me." johnny informed her. "so he said we should... talk it out."

"not right now." gioia shook her head. "busy."

"i'm... sorry for not being around when you weren't doing to well." johnny attempted. "if it makes anything better, i came to the hospital while you were out. but carmen and bianca didn't want me there."

"really?"

"yeah." johnny nodded. "and... i threw my phone into the sea so, i couldn't contact you."

"oh."

"miguel was in the coma, you were in your psychotherapy... and things just weren't going to well for me." johnny described.

"getting into fights with hand dryers?"

johnny chuckled. "and men in bars... men in trucks... men in car stores-"

"i got it."

"i lost myself." johnny admitted.

"but i still needed you." gioia reminded the blond man, "a-and you left me. you left miguel and i, when-when you promised you wouldn't."

"look, kid. i'm sorry-"

gioia shook her head. "eat shit, johnny lawrence." she slammed the door in the man's face.

bianca barbusca walked over, catching her just in time. "figlia, you okay? who was that?"

"some annoying y-youth leaders."gioia lied.

"okay... you wanna have lunch here or with the diazs?" bianca questioned.

"diazs." gioia spoke."haven't seen m-miguel."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

after lunch, bianca told gioia that she gave johnny permission to take her on an outing. turns out the man and her mother had been quite good friends and he basically begged bianca to let him take out her daughter. gioia had quickly disagreed, but once she knew miguel was coming too, she couldn't help but say yes.

"where are we going?" miguel asked from the back seat.

"do you not know what a surprise is, diaz?" johnny questioned.

"last surprise you took me on, i had to pretend i was a ''make-a-wish' kid." miguel reminded him.

"well, it worked didn't it?" johnny questioned.

"yeah." miguel nodded. "though, i don't think gioia can pull that off."

"i can pull anything off." gioia told him.

"true." miguel nodded. "but pretending to be a child on her last day on earth might be a little hard for you."

"good point." gioia hummed.

"here we are." johnny parked the car.

gioia quickly got out of the passenger's seat and headed to the trunk. she pulled out miguel's wheelchair and unfolded it. once johnny had taken him out of the car, she assisted him into the chair.

"you okay?" miguel looked back at his friend.

gioia sighed. she hadn't told him what happened at the arcade because demetri had pleaded that she did not to tell anyone and she honestly didn't really want to think about it.

"yeah." gioia nodded as she wheeled him over to the entrance. "karaoke bar?"

"yeah!" johnny clapped his hands in satisfaction. "we're gonna get your voice back."

gioia and miguel shared a look of puzzlement, he had clearly misunderstood her condition but at least he had the right idea.

"sensei, she hasn't lost her voice." miguel explained.

"no?"

"no." she shook her head. "i-i just can't..."

miguel cut her off, he knew more than anyone what she was going through. "she knows what she wants to say, she's just finding it hard to say it."

"okay... well karaoke can help that too." johnny attempted to persuade her.

"how?"

"the words are on a screen, so you can see what you need to say." johnny explained as they walked to the entrance.

the man took the stairs while gioia had rolled miguel up the ramp. she was quite excited to go do karaoke, even though she couldn't sing very well.

"it's just going to be embarrassing for her." miguel joked, "seeing as the only songs she knows is taylor swift and fleetwood max."

"i should push you." gioia threatened.

"what?!"

johnny chuckled at that. "glad you're still funny."

"thanks." gioia couldn't help but beam at that.

"i don't think that's funny." miguel spoke up.

"that's because you never understand our humour." johnny reminded him. "you're an outsider."

"someone's trying hard to get into her good books." miguel scoffed.

"shut it, diaz." johnny glared at him, "here we are."

gioia looked around, the room was completely packed with people, but there was a space where they could all sit together. at the moment, there was a man on the stage who was currently singing an off-key version of 'rent' by pet shop boys.

"it's l-loud in here." gioia scrunched her face.

"i thought your dream date was to take you to a heavy metal concert... or somewhere busy and loud." miguel reminded her.

gioia's face lit up in delight, he recalled something that she told him so long ago. "how do you even re-remember that?"

"because it was the biggest lie you ever told." miguel said.

"am i missing something?" johnny questioned as he sat down at the table.

"if you knew so much, you-you'd know that it was a joke." gioia corrected him. "just wanted to a-a-annoy you."

"then i hope you saying you didn't like 80s rock was a joke too?" miguel asked.

"not then... but i've learnt to enjoy it-it."

"see, only a few minutes in here and she's already saying full sentences." johnny smiled in accomplishment. "you're welcome."

"next up, joy barbra!" the announcer spoke out.

gioia hadn't moved or acknowledged the announcement, not realising it was for her.

"gb!" miguel nudged her.

"that's you." johnny whispered.

"what?" she frowned.

"joy barbra?"

johnny stood up, "she's over here!"

miguel laughed as gioia attempted to pull him down as the spotlight shifted over to them. johnny helped her up and pushed her over to the stage. the girl stumbled as she made her way over.

"here." the man handed her the microphone. "what song will you be singing?"

"80s rock!" a voice yelled out.

gioia's jaw clenched she glanced over to see miguel with the biggest smile on his face. he was enjoying this all too much.

"let's play, sweet child o mine by-"

"guns n roses!" johnny interrupted, yelling out.

"don't know him." gioia clarified before the music began to play. she was lucky this was a more popular song since she did know the words to it.

"she's got a child that seems to me r-reminds me of childhood memories."

johnny and miguel glanced over at each other. gioia could do many things, she was great at a lot of things. but the one thing she could not do was sing.

"where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky."

gioia was lucky that with the song she was singing, it didn't really matter whether she had a good voice or not. just if she had the right attitude, and she did.

"join in!" she shouted.

after that, everyone began to sing along with her. it was overwhelming. gioia danced around the stage in delight, she was undeniably having a lot of fun. miguel had even taken it upon himself to bring his phone out and snap pictures of her.

johnny noticed that as she yelled into the microphone, she hasn't stuttered once. soon enough, the song had ended and gioia soaked up the applause, bowing and waving at the small crowd. she then jogged over to her seat, panting.

"that was definitely something." miguel smiled at her.

she brushed the two strands of her blonde hair out of her face. "thanks. and thanks johnny."

"what for?"

"for bringing us here." gioia stated. "you-you're working your way into my 'good books'." she joked, looking at miguel.

"told ya."

"so look, i know i left you and miguel stranded..." he began, glancing back at miguel, who had his head down.

"yeah, we know." gioia nodded.

"but you two were the only people who never gave up on me, all this time. you gave me a chance and showed me a new purpose in life, teaching you guys to be the best. and you two are the best." johnny explained before taking a sip of his beer.

he glanced at gioia, who was looking at him in disbelief.

"right, sorry." he placed the drink to the side. "okay, i'm already feeling sick from this sappy shit."

"or the beer." gioia shrugged, making miguel laugh and high-five her.

"i deserved that." the man nodded. "but i don't want to give up on you guys. i know that i messed up big time with not being there for you and diaz, quitting when you two needed me the most. but if we can all start over, i won't fail you both again."

gioia smiled, rising up from her seat and walking over to the man. she leaned over and gave him a hug from behind. johnny tensed up, but sighed in relief. he was glancing at miguel, who gave him a thumbs up.

"we can start again." miguel agreed.

"yeah?"

"yeah."

⎯ ❃ janine speaks!

HOW CUTE IS SHE
JOY OF THE WORLD... even though it's joy-ah