─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

mickey, moon, sam and yasmin were lounging on the beach chairs beside the pool at splasharama water adventure. as they rested, sam's younger brother, anthony larusso, had been hawking at them. sam glanced up from her book and grimaced. "ew. anthony, can you not stare at my friends?"

they all opened their eyes to catch the brunette boy with his mouth agape. "no, no, no, i wasn't, um, uh, staring." he quickly explained before moving away from them all.

"he's starting high school in the fall, right?" yasmin smiled, "let's torture him. tell him later i asked if he's been working out."

mickey chuckled, shaking her head and placing her sunglasses back over her eyes. "yas, you are one sick person."

"ew. you guys are so gross, and i want no part of this." sam declined.

"so, sam, how's the whole eat, pray, love journey going?" moon asked.

"actually been way better than i expected." sam explained. "it's been kind of nice to just focus on myself, without all the karate or relationship drama."

"hey, babe." mickey called out. eli and gioia were walking hand in hand over to them all, while miguel stood to the other side of gioia. mickey had seen the girl approaching and smiled, waving her over without even thinking.

"oh shit. i completely forgot that they would come with." mickey face palmed, glancing over moon's body to see sam.

"it's fine. really."

"are you sure?" mickey frowned. "cause i can tell them i'll see them later." she offered.

"no, mick, seriously. i mean, this is gonna happen- gioia is our friend." sam shook her head. "and it's all right. miguel and i are still friends."

"hey. what's up?" eli greeted them, taking the seat next to yasmin.

"hi guys." gioia sweetly waved. as she sat down in the middle of mickey and eli. "everyone okay?"

"yeah."

"hey."

"hi, um... hey, how you doing, sam?" miguel asked, standing in front of her.

"hey, i'm, uh, yeah. i mean, i'm—i'm good." sam nodded. "good. and how about you?"

"i'm cool. i'm good, yeah." miguel stuttered. "uh, is anyone—"

mickey and gioia shared a glance at each other, wanting this to end to save both parties.

"yeah. i mean—i mean, no, but yeah, you can—you can go ahead." sam rambled.

"all right." miguel slowly got into the seat beside her.

"sure, it's—"

"am i alive?" yasmin turned to eli. "or did i die of embarrassment and this is my hell?"

eli just sighed in agreement. "that makes it my hell too."

"oh stop." gioia playfully pushed him. "hey, you want to get into the water or maybe go on a ride?"

"yeah, course." eli nodded.

"great." gioia grinned as she stood to her feet. "let me just go get changed."

"changed?" eli questioned, sitting up with inquisitiveness.

she shrugged. "i brought a bikini just in case, i wasn't sure if i would wear it though." the girl was currently in a long, oversized tee with jersey shorts under.

"you go girl." mickey encouraged her.

"okay." she squealed before grabbing her bag and rushing off.

"she is so cute." mickey gushed.

"i know." eli smiled.

"you are so whipped." yasmin muttered to him.

gioia made her way to the changing rooms, which were on the other side of the park. this meant she was forced to cross where cobra kai had marked their territory. the girl quickly walked, her flip flops smacking down on the damp floor. she was stopped by tory nichols, who was in an orange bikini and had her hair in its natural state.

"gioia." the girl called out, making her way in front of her.

"i know, this is you guys—guys' side of the park." gioia sighed. "i just want to go to the changing rooms."

"what?" tory frowned. "oh, no i don't care where you go. i just wanted to talk to you."

"about what?"

"i mean, i've tried calling you." tory explained. "but i know you were busy in mexico and stuff, so i thought i'd tell you to your face."

gioia crossed her arms. "tell me what?"

"you deserved to win the tournament." tory explained. "and i wanted to give you the trophy."

"look, tory... i don't need your pity." gioia shook her head. "i've finally come to terms with losing, so i don't think this is the best conversation for me right now."

"no, but you didn't lose." tory tried to tell her.

"what do you mean?"

"look, i can't exactly tell you." tory sighed. "but just trust me when i say—"

"trust you?" gioia raised her eyebrow. "really?"

"gioia, i'm really sorry, about everything. especially when i— when i mocked your stutter. i still think about it and i feel terrible." tory explained. "and i just want you to have what you deserve."

"thank you for apologising, tory." gioia nodded. "i really appreciate it. but i can't take the trophy, i just can't. i mean, what would silver have to say about it?"

"i don't care what silver has to say." tory whisper-yelled. gioia was taken aback. "is everything alright?" she asked.

tory glanced behind her to see robby was watching their conversation from afar, waiting to go with her on some ride. the girl sighed. "yeah, just forget it."

"okay." gioia nodded, walking away and into the changing room. she shut the wooden door behind her and peeled off her shirt, revealing her pale yellow, triangle bikini top and a matching coloured hipster bikini bottom.

the blonde girl turned to the mirror and sighed, the large scar horizontally running down the left side of her stomach. she gently traced it with her fingers and for a second she wanted to throw the shirt back on and leave the park.

"my body is beautiful." gioia spoke to herself in the mirror. "i am beautiful." she quickly stuffed her overshirt and shorts into her backpack and opened the changing room door. the girl stepped out of the hut and immediately bumped into someone.

"yo sorry dude." he laughed. "didn't even see you comin!"

"it's okay." gioia brushed him off.

"shit! you alright?" he questioned, his gaze on her lower stomach.

"yeah, it was a while ago." she spoke, softly.

"that is a knarly scar." he chuckled. "i'm wyatt."

"gioia." she smiled.

"care to tell the tale, gioia?" wyatt yukimura questioned, running his hand through his long, dark brown hair.

"it's a long story. i was five." she started. "and i liked fruit and wanted to cut my self some melon—"

"love me some melon." wyatt nodded.

she laughed, making him smile. "same. but the knife was too big for me and it ended up in my stomach. sixty stitches, my mamma was horrified."

"that's suchhhh a chill story." wyatt nodded. "but you should tell people you were like... running down the street or something. and then out of nowhere, a dude comes and takes your bag and as you were like fighting him or whatever, he drew out a sword and you drew out yours and as you defeated him or whatever, he like impaled you."

"i'll try to take that into consideration." gioia nodded. "are you new to town? i don't think i've seen you around before."

"yeah, my sisters and i just moved in." he explained, his eyes moving to a group of people arguing. "sweet tattoo!"

"thank you." gioia grinned, completely forgetting about the now completely healed elephant mark she had on her upper stomach.

"now that looks interesting."

gioia's eyes moved to where he was looking and she sighed, seeing her boyfriend in commotion with kenny and others from cobra kai. "i've got to go, it was nice to meet you."

"nice to meet you too, gioia!"

she rushed over to them, her backpack secured on her shoulder. as she moved, wyatt watched her from afar, a small smile forming on his face.

"kyler, kyler. maybe he needs another haircut to remember who he's talking to." kenny payne joked, a toothy grin on his face.

"careful, kenny." gioia alerted him, stepping in front of him. eli grinned at her presence, knowing if there was one person kenny couldn't big up to, it would be her. kenny visibly stood down for a second, he never had any personal problems with her, except for the fact she was dating eli and was currently on the rival team.

"she's right." eli shrugged. "you sure you wanna take on the champ?"

"dude, you're only the champ because diaz got hurt." kenny reminded him. "robby won as many fights as you."

"and one was against you." eli stated. "that wasn't much of a fight."

"awh, come on now. you really gonna take that from him? from lip?" kyler park chuckled.

"why don't you shut your mouth, tyler?" gioia questioned. "because if i remember correctly... last time you talked this much shit, eli kicked your ass." she turned to her boyfriend. "what was the score again, babe?"

"hmm, i think it was about three to none." eli smirked. kyler scoffed, moving forward and shoving eli in the chest. the boy quickly retaliated, pushing him back harder.

"hey, hey, hey! back off." tory stepped, moving in between the two.

"stay out of this." eli warned her.

"hey, what's the matter? you scared i'm right? champ." kenny taunted.

"enough." tory told him before turning to eli. "unless you want your ass kicked, stay on your side of the park. away from us."

"hey, yo, champ." a young boy called out, putting his arms up and flexing his muscles. eli's face visibly softened, and gioia let out an 'awh'.

"all right. you guys stay on your side, we don't have a problem. better rides on our side anyway." eli muttered as the two turned around to walk away. he quickly glanced at his girlfriend, taking in her new outfit. "and you look amazing."

"you think?" she questioned, her arms around her stomach.

he gently took her hands into his own. "i know. now come on, let's hit up the pool." they moved over to the area of water that was right in front of where the group were all sitting. once gioia had placed her bag on her seat, she pushed eli into the water.

"oh shit!"

mickey laughed. "you are ruthless."

eli quickly got to the surface, moving his wet hair out of his face. "can you help me up?" he questioned, moving to the edge with his arm out.

"don't fall for it, gioia!" yasmin called out.

"it's the oldest trick in the book." moon added.

"please?" eli was close to pleading. gioia's heart melted, he looked so cute and she could barely resist. the girl was taking too long to decide that eli had reached forward and just dragged her down into the water. gioia squealed as she was submerged.

"well... we tried to warn her." mickey shrugged, laying back down.

miguel watched the two splash each other and play around, their laughter ringing in his ears. the boy sighed, glancing over to samantha for a second before turning away.

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!

WYATT MY LOVEEEE
he's so sweet and so cute and so silly and so stupid and