DYLAN OPENED HER FRONT door to Miguel sulking. She gave him a long look and a once over. He stood there cradling his hand to his chest. Upon a closer look, she noticed what looked like a bad rug burn on it, though it was most likely a mild injury he'd picked up from karate practice in the park with the rest of his team.

"What happened now?" She questioned him, eyebrows raised. She opened the door further and let him pass into her apartment. She'd gotten used to him seeing the disappointing interior.

"Eagle Fang, that's what happened." He said it like that answered all of her questions. She nodded at him. "Kreese showed up to our practice in the park. He tried to get Johnny to join up with him again. The whole thing almost turned into a brawl, especially with me and Hawk," He commented slowly.

"Don't duke it out with him yet, alright? You still have a long way to go," She reminded him. He sighed in acknowledgement. "That's not even a dig at you this time. Ice tea?" She held up a can of Arizona green tea.

"Sure. Thanks, Dylan," He told her, grabbing it from her. He looked around her apartment again. It was the same as it had looked the last handful of times he'd been there. This time, he saw the Gorillaz poster hanging on the wall in her room. He could see past the door cracked open. She had an old school boombox on her dresser. "I don't know what's going on with my mom. She still seems super weird about Johnny. I don't know why."

It was probably because Johnny and Carmen definitely liked each other more than friends did, but she wasn't about to drop that news on Miguel. As much as he appreciated Johnny and liked him, it would be weird info to digest at probably the worst time. He needed to recover before his heart stopped.

"Well, they've been like that for ages," Dylan admitted, once again grabbing some neosporin and a larger bandaid and bringing it over to him. "Do you really not have this stuff at home?"

"Eh, your apartment is closer," Miguel tried to defend himself. He had a lazy smirk on his face, and Dylan fought back the urge to smile. He looked cute like that.

"You live like, three doors down." Her voice was monotone, though he could hear the slight twang in it. He knew her well enough to pick up on the teasing. "You're really that lazy?"

"I stand by what I said, Dyl. And besides, do you want an injured boy to walk the extra fifteen feet? What if I break my back again?" His jokes were lighthearted, and Dylan wasn't the one to take it seriously like some people.

"No one gives a shit, Miguel. You can't use that excuse forever," She deadpanned with a small grin playing on pink lips. She had a tinted lip balm on that she always wore, he noticed. It made them look darker. It looked nice, but it probably wasn't the perfect time to let her know. "My declining mental health sadly doesn't get me anywhere when I use that as an excuse," She commented as she nodded slowly, one eye squinted like it was when she wanted to be dramatic. Which she always was.

He smiled at that. Dylan and Miguel could always be themselves around each other. Everyone knew it.

He'd made a similar joke about his injury to Sam when he saw her recently, and she'd almost been angry to hear him make a joke like that. It was like the mood had shifted. Instead of Sam being the light in his life and the girl that always made him look forward to things, she was the one that brought down the mood. The unfortunate part about it was that he knew exactly why Sam wasn't the one to make him feel happy anymore.

In fact, Miguel rarely thought about the LaRusso girl much at all anymore. Hawk would make jokes about it when they were still cool. He'd tell Miguel that he could always hop around from person to person, and choose not to limit himself in case he couldn't figure his feelings out. That was when he was dating Tory, with Sam still lingering on his mind. Now, neither girl was on his mind, and half of him still refused to entertain the idea of why.

Besides, it hadn't worked out with Sam, and it definitely hadn't ended well with Tory. Who was to say it wouldn't go the same way if he so much as started to think about the girl in front of him that way?

"You look like you have something on your mind," Dylan said quietly, analyzing him. "If you have any more burns or bruises that need tending to you can let me know," She continued, trying to get him to talk. "I have a whole collection of stuff for those." She pointed to the little scrapes littering his arms. He sat down in one of the two chairs at the tiny table she used to eat at, he realized. The chairs were a light green, and though it didn't match the rest of the apartment interior, it wasn't unpleasant.

"It's not anything like that," He responded quietly.

Oh hell, she couldn't mend what she was doing to him, that was for sure. He rolled his shoulders back before he inhaled and exhaled slowly. Her eyes flitted over his body, watching his chest rise and fall with an unreadable expression. There was nothing for him to do except stare at her as she dragged her eyes back up to his face. There was something so striking about that gaze of hers. It drove him mad because he didn't have a clue what she was thinking.

For all he knew, she was checking to make sure all his limbs were still intact, and he was reading into it too much. But something about the way she surveyed him intently with those lips parted made him feel like there was something else going on there in that brilliant mind of hers. Did he leave it alone or not?

"I don't think I'm the one with something on my mind, Dylan," He told her, his voice low. "What's on yours?" He asked her. His head cocked to the side an inch.

"That's the question isn't it?" She responded to his question with another question, and Miguel suddenly realized why Johnny was always irritated with her.

"You always do that," He pointed out. When she looked at him finally with a look he could decipher, he gave her a toothy grin. "You answer questions with more questions when you're not sure what to say, or when you have something to hide."

It was Dylan's turn to feel flustered. Because whether he realized or not, he was doing what she liked to do — pick up on the habits and tells of others.

"Oh? And what else do I do that you've noticed," She tried to joke, though she had to clear her throat awkwardly. Rarely did Dylan ever feel like she wasn't in control of something. In this moment though, she had no control over anything. Not the way her mind reeled and couldn't think up anything of value to say, or the twitching of muscles in her fingers pressed lightly against her sides.

"You drag your nails up and down the palms of your hands when you're concentrating, and you bite your cheek when you're annoyed at someone. Trust me, I would notice," He told her, chin tilted downwards as he began to list out her habits with her standing rigidly in front of him. "You also make increasingly more insulting jokes as a coping mechanism," Miguel explained casually. Dylan crossed her arms as she sighed.

"You should be a psychologist," She said sarcastically.

"You think so? Maybe I will Dylan. Maybe I will. Just for you," He said, jokingly winking at her with an exaggerated eyebrow raise.

"Alright, Casanova," She called out to him. He laughed at the nickname. That was certainly a new one.

"What's actually on your mind?" He asked her, surveying her face for answers once more with the topic back on his brain.

"I'm thinking of getting a pet bird. What do you think?" She asked him, voice steady and unwavering so he couldn't be sure if it was another one of her jokes to throw him off her trail or if she truly wanted to buy one.

"I mean, you could get a talking one. It would be cool if you set it on Johnny and made it copy everything he says. We need a good laugh these days," He explained, scratching the side of his head in thought.

"That bird would certainly learn how to curse someone out like a sailor." The moment between them had been lost, and Miguel and Dylan were once again back to how they usually were. They were each in the company of someone who could joke and laugh without shame, and neither could wish for more because of that.

"Nah, it would pick all that up from you for sure," Miguel replied smoothly.

Dylan smiled at him fondly. Her stomach felt the pain of a feeling she wasn't overly welcome with, as did her heart. One thing was for certain, it was getting harder and harder to ignore it bubbling up in her chest and making her heart feel like it would beat right out of her body. Something about that feeling felt comforting, even though only pain could be the outcome.

"What are you up to for the rest of the day?" Miguel asked her, wondering what his neighbor could possibly be getting ready for.

Dylan sighed to herself, pulling out what looked to be a driver's license. Only, Miguel was well aware that she didn't so much as have a real one. Sure, she'd finally gotten her permit from the DMV, but it wasn't as if she'd passed a driver's test as far as he knew.

"Out of the goodness of my heart, I've decided to go visit someone," She said, alluding to a plan she wouldn't be disclosing anytime soon. "And yes, before you ask, I got this from a guy who knows a guy, who knows a gu—"

"I figured," He cut her off. "I don't really care, just, stay safe, alright?" He asked her, eyes scanning her face with worry.

       DYLAN SAT IN THE driver's seat of an old pick up truck that reminded her vaguely of Bella's in Twilight. While it wasn't her's, and if she crashed she'd probably have a pretty pissed duo of girls on her hands to deal with, it wasn't a car that would last very long anyways. Iris' truck was a barely running piece of shit, but it would get the job done.

There was a length of time where Johnny finally showed her the ropes, and Dylan was good enough from the start that she could handle the gas and the breaks without crashing the vehicle. Although, she remembered his critique of her CDs that she'd popped into the player.

"This is shit, Oakes. It's piercing my skull," He had complained.

"I'm not listening to your dumb music anymore than I have to, Johnny," She retorted, pulling her sunglasses up to sit atop her hair. She was lucky that it was wavy enough to prevent them from sliding right off.

"You look like a surfer with those. And I don't mean that as a compliment. It reminds me of the Beach Boys fans I lived down the street from. Don't be like them," He warned, thinking back on a trio of siblings that only listened to what Johnny Lawrence considered boring music.

"I'll have you know that the Beach Boys are great," She commented in defense. "My mom's a huge fan."

"Your mom has shit taste then."

Dylan popped a cherry sucker in her mouth and swirled her tongue over it, savoring the taste. She hadn't had much candy in a long time. Her candy drawer had long since run dry. She watched from the driver's seat of Iris Daley's truck as Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence argued.

She didn't know Daniel very well. She didn't think he was great, and she didn't think he was bad. He was simply . . . there. As he happened to be today, in front of the doorway of the juvenile detention center. Robby Keene walked out shortly afterwards, annoyance on his face as he argued with the two older men who had both tried to help him out.

"I knew he wouldn't go with them," Dylan mumbled to herself, the lollypop in the other hand. She placed a hand on the horn, pressing down and scaring all three men. She pushed her shades further down the bridge of her nose. "Need a ride?"

Robby stared at her like he couldn't believe what he was seeing, eyes hardening as he remembered exactly who she was and the fact that he hadn't liked her.

"Why should I?" He called back. Johnny squinted his eyes, groaning at the sound of Dylan's snarky voice.

"Oakes, what the hell are you doing?"

"Playing savior to boy wonder over here," She answered. Daniel stared at her in confusion. He had also remembered who she was after he looked closer. She looked alright, and her face had definitely healed since he'd seen her in the hospital being wheeled out by his rival. "Maybe I should say boy terror." She turned to look at Robby again. "Honestly buddy, I didn't have anything better to do. Thought I'd stop by and see what the hold up was."

It was a downright lie. Dylan couldn't care much for Robby at all. After how he'd handled his fight with Miguel, she didn't like him at all. But he still existed, and there wasn't anything anyone could do about that. Besides, delinquents usually had the best stories. And she was kind of wondering what had happened to a kid she knew was still in the building he walked out of.

Robby looked like he was weighing his options, though it was obvious he wasn't going to be leaving with his father, or his former father figure. Walking home didn't seem like such a good idea when a jacked up truck was sitting right in front of him, even if he didn't particularly like the driver.

Dylan ignored Johnny's shouts that he would be calling her later. Not that she had a landline for him to ring, and he still wasn't great with cellphones.

"Listen beast mode," She began once he'd slammed the door shut after hopping in. "I'm not exactly doing this out of the goodness of my heart."

"Then why do it in the first place? Everyone knows where your loyalties lie." He watched her cautiously as she put the car in drive.

"You make it sound like this is the hunger games. I got to skip class because Counselor Blatt things I'm a basket case," She explained. "I also wanted to threaten you before I start grilling you, right? Because if you so much as look at my friends weird, I'm shipping you off to Guantanamo Bay. I have the petition started already and most people I know have signed it," She warned him. He glared at her.

"I'm not even going to question it. But do you happen to know a Shawn Payne?" She turned to stare at him weirdly.

"I was just about to ask you that same question. He's still a jackass?" She asked him, a small smile on her face. Robby watched her while he tried to figure her out. "Don't look so surprised. I know everyone. Mostly."

"Beat my face in."

"Good for him," She commented slyly. "In all honesty he probably deserved the beat down you returned to him, am I right? I expect that's what went down at least." She managed to figure out a lot of what went down. "We used to be sort of good friends. There was a mutual friend who actually became a drug dealer and fell off the face of the earth," She deadpanned.

"Makes sense," He sighed, leaning back in the chair. He turned to look at her carefully. "You seem like the type to know people like them." He looked a bit dejected before he said his next sentence. "I didn't mean to kill Diaz, in case you were about to say something. I didn't think that would happen."

"Relax, I didn't come here to berate you. Just threaten, ask questions, and preach to today's youth, or whatever bullshit," She said sarcastically. "Also, I'm pretty sure I have to drop you off where you can sign some forms. Just don't get into more fights with anyone like my boy Shawn. It'll get you sent straight back, and no one wants that."

"How come you know so much?" He asked her quietly, not looking over.

"I went through some stuff a long time ago. Lashed out because my home life wasn't the greatest. Had some mental stuff no one bothered to get checked out. Basically broke down for everyone to see," She began. "No one really remembers. I made a lot of friends with former juvie kids even though I never went myself."

"Must've sucked. Did you keep in touch?" The questions turned a lot more serious, like Robby actually cared about what he was asking her. Curiosity got the better of him this time.

"Only through the grape vine. Things fall through. Obviously they did for my friendships at least. Most of the people I was sort of cool with aren't around here anymore." Dylan never knew what happened to them. Maybe they got better, maybe they got worse. She didn't know.

"You can drop me off here," Robby said, intervening when he noticed they'd arrived. She pulled up to the front, leaving it to him to unlock his door manually.

"Listen," She started quietly. "Don't bother telling them about your shitty home life or anything. They really don't care. It's not like it effects them," She told him honestly. It took him a moment, but he nodded. "Good luck, Keene."

"Same to you. With whatever you have going on in yours," He told her, smiling slightly. She nodded her head in thanks, letting him get out of the car and shut the door. She watched him walk in before she drove away.

She still didn't like him, but Robby wasn't the worst person to be around.

author's note —

one of the first things i ever planned for this book was this scene with Robby. i knew that dylan wouldn't have many scenes with him, and i thought giving them a scene like this would be interesting to work with.

and as a life update, i'm sorry for the lack of updates. i'm kind of going though a lot right now. i've had a lot of appointments for different things, and even though most of them aren't serious, it's still a pain. even though i've been doing online school this year, it's still taking up a lot of time with everything else. i'm having some health concerns and things like that at the moment, and it's probably all a false alarm, but i've been dealing with that and it's been making my anxiety skyrocket. i had some blood work done so i can rule some things out hopefully.

i've been talking to people about my anxiety and i'm probably going to start counseling/therapy soon. really glad we're getting somewhere with that.

i'm changing to another school next year — an actual school and not online for my final year of high school. really excited because a lot of my old classmates and friends from a long time ago go there. i just got to choose classes a few days ago and i chose really fun electives. most of my classes are fun because i'm not doing science or math (i'm horrible at those). that's been the upside of everything! I dropped a class i'm taking now because it's not a requirement too and that took off a lot of stress.

hope you all are doing well! and i'm sorry again for the unknown upcoming update schedule. i hope things have been going well for everyone!