Since no one cares about Peter/Mia or Danny/Leia, I decided to make this a Johnny/Alli centric story. Thanks to all who reviewed the first chapter.

"Finding Harmony"

Chapter 2: Let It All Out

Gazing into the mirror that was hung on the back of her bedroom door, Alli twirled a long strand of her shiny black hair around her index finger. She was supposed to be meeting Johnny outside in about ten minutes, but she had no one to ask for advice on what she should be seeking from him next. Clare was much too inexperienced, Anya was doing "things" with her brother, and and the cool, older girls from her advanced placement classes would think she was immature for asking questions of that nature.

Grabbing her purse off of the doorknob on her closet, Alli exited her room and waltzed into the living room. "Where are you off to now, Alliana?" Her father's voice rumbled as he looked up from the Sunday paper.

"I'm just going to take a walk around the neighborhood father," Alli said as innocently as she could.

"By yourself?" Mr. Bandhari looked concerned now, folding the paper and setting it down in his lap.

"Come on, father. It's only three in the afternoon and I'll probably meet Clare at the park," she lied.

"Whatever you say," Mr. Bandhari mumbled, his eyebrows still raised. "Just make sure you're home in time for dinner!" He warned as Alli was out with a slam of the front door.

As she began walking the block to Johnny's usual parking place, she wondered how much longer she was going to have to keep lying to her parents. She knew her relationship with Johnny was worth every hurdle she had to jump over, but at the same time, maybe it'd be best to tell her parents that she was seeing someone even if she didn't reveal who that someone was.

Wrapping her sweater tighter around herself, Alli turned a corner and tilted her head back to look up into the clouds. That was a big mistake. By the time she'd averted her gaze, she'd collided with a young man. When she fell into his arms, she heard him whisper something into her ear. Then she noticed the mess of scraggly blonde hair and recognized the strong scent of cheap cologne. It was Johnny.

"Wow. That was interesting," Johnny said under his breath. They were facing each other now, and Alli smiled up at him brightly.

"And where are you going, mister?" Rolling his eyes, he grabbed her up by her waist and took a spin, twirling her around with him.

"I was hoping to run into you, missy," he retorted, releasing her from his grasp.

"You just couldn't wait to see me, huh?" Alli teased, stifling a giggle.

"Well, of course," Johnny said sheepishly, now tickling her under her arms.

"Ha ha! Stop, you know that's where I'm the most ticklish!" Letting her go, Johnny's face became serious.

"I was thinking we could go for a walk today," he suggested.

"Sure. What's up?" Alli wondered, shoving her hands into her pockets.

"There are some things I've been wanting to tell you since we started going out," Johnny confessed, not wanting to look at her.

"Like what?"

"Like... why I'm such a bad guy. And why I thought you had no reason to trust me at first."

"That's great," Alli said, even though she wasn't sure she wanted to know all the details. Maybe honesty wasn't the best policy if the truth hurt so much. "I wanted to talk to you about something, too," Alli told him.

"Great. I guess a lot of things are going to come out of the bag tonight."

"Sure," Alli agreed, nodding slowly. Although she wanted to be as honest as possible with Johnny, she also prayed that he wouldn't be angry with her for wanting her parents to know about them. "Can we go to the park?" She blurted out suddenly.

"I didn't know you still liked playing on manufactured equipment with eight year olds, Alli," Johnny teased, letting out a laugh.

"Not the playground, you idiot. The park that sells hot dogs and ice cream cones and cotton candy," she clarified.

"All right. I just hope no one from Degrassi happens to be taking a stroll this afternoon," Johnny said, looking a little doubtful.

--

Upon arriving at the park, the couple took a seat on a bench full of leaves that was situated under a tree. No one was going to notice them under there. "Look," Alli began, "I'm tired of lying to my parents. I'm not used to that, at all. We need to work out other plans."

"Like what?" Johnny inquired, peering into her eyes.

"Maybe we could double date with KC and Clare. Trust me, they won't be suspicious at all if they know Clare will be there."

"That's easy for you to say, Backwoods. You're a ninth grader; they're your friends. Don't you think I'd be uncomfortable being the only almost legal person in the group? Wouldn't Clare be wondering why I was there?"

"If any nosy people were around we could just tell them that you're Clare's older brother. And that... you were just taking us all out because you can drive... and stuff."

"I have my own friends, Alli. And you met them before. I thought you were cool with them."

"I am, Johnny. But you haven't gotten the chance to hang out with my friends."

"And about the lying and saying that I'm Clare's older brother... I thought the whole point of you telling me about all this was that you wanted to stop lying."

"I do. But... if i have to protect myself and my friends, I'll do what I have to."

"You're brave, Alli," Johnny said proudly. "You are, really. But I mean, do Clare and I even look remotely alike?"

"You both have pretty green eyes," she whispered softly, laying her head on his shoulder.

"Aw shucks," Johnny replied playfully. "You're making me blush."

"Well, what about your confessions?"

"Me? Oh, I think I should buy you something before we talk about me."

"Why?"

"Oh, just because." They both rose from the bench and Johnny took Alli's hand in his. "What do you want?"

"A huge blue cotton candy!" Alli squealed like a six year old.

"You're too cute," Johnny whispered and she grinned. Approaching the food stand, Johnny pulled his wallet out of his pocket. "One blue cotton candy please," Johnny told the cashier and handed her a five dollar bill.

"Ooh, you sure you don't want to get another one? 'Cause I'll spin you around faster than that sugar and treat you sweeter than a whole bowl of it," she drawled in a thick Southern accent.

"It's for my girlfriend," Johnny replied with a fake smile.

"Ooh, she's cute," the cashier said, handing Johnny his change. As Alli watched the sugar spin around and around, she smiled. Johnny wasn't the type of boyfriend who would flirt with other girls when she wasn't paying attention or wasn't around. That made her even more excited about what was to come for them.

"Great job back there," Alli congratulated Johnny as they returned to the bench to sit down. "You really impressed me with that."

"I can't say that I'm feeling modest right now," Johnny admitted, his face breaking out into a wide grin. "But I was just being myself. I don't want you to think for a minute that I'd do those kinds of things behind your back."

"Well, I'm glad I know that now," Alli replied, tugging on one of his curls affectionately. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," Johnny said, his smile growing even wider. As they took their seats again, Alli began picking at her cotton candy.

"So... what's so urgent that we actually have to sit down to talk about it?"

"A lot of things," Johnny said softly, looking away. "I mean, we've been spending more and more time together lately and I don't want you to get too involved with me because I am a senior and I do have plans for next year-"

"Just get to the point already!" Alli complained, feeling a clump of sugar melt on her tongue. "Just say what you have to say and I'll deal with it." She gulped down some of her fears. If Johnny was having such a hard time spitting it out, the news probably wasn't so pretty.

"I live... in a trailer park. That's how I met Bruce and Luke and Drake."

"Okay... so?" Alli asked, resting her head on his shoulder once again.

"So... we barely make rent each month and it gets hard. I don't want to have to bring you into that."

"Who's we?" Alli reached up and pushed a ball of cotton candy into his mouth.

"Me, my aunt and my little brother. She took us in after our parents bailed."

"Wow. You must have had a hard life growing up. But you're different now. Kind, sweet, caring, responsible. I need a mature guy like you by my side."

"That's not the point Alli," Johnny said, a long sigh escaping his lips. "You're... you're everything that I'm not. You're classy. You have a stable family, a good head on your shoulders. You're really smart and that could take you far. I just don't want a guy like me holding you back," Johnny told her, watching as she stuffed another ball of cotton candy into her mouth.

Watching her, he felt like a pervert. Sitting there next to him, she looked so young and innocent. As if she wouldn't dare harm an ant. He couldn't fathom how he'd gone as far as to take her virginity. He should have stopped himself before things got out of hand.

"Listen Johnathan," she began, addressing him by his real name. "I'm already developing feelings for you. And you know that. So why fight it?"

"Because Alli, I don't want you to look back and wish you hadn't taken a chance on me," Johnny pressed on. "I just can't help it sometimes."

"We can't keep going back and forth with this. You either want to move forward, or you don't."

"I do want to go places with you, Alli. I really do." Alli reached down and squeezed Johnny's knee comfortingly. "It's scary that you have more confidence in this relationship than I do," Johnny whispered, his breath lingering in the chilly autumn air.

"I can't disagree," Alli said. "But I really want this to work." When the cotton candy was done, Alli sighed and went to toss the stick into a nearby wastebasket. Returning to their little secluded bench, Alli cleared her throat. "Now that I'm all sugared up, we can really get down to business." Facing him, she took his hands in hers. "Please tell me what's on your mind. Right now."

"I used to bully people. All the time. It was my life. Fighting helped me feel better about a lot of things."

"You're different now. You don't do those things anymore," Alli reminded him.

"Yeah," Johnny mumbled, as if he was just realizing this for the first time. "And it's all because of you. And I thank you for that."

"Aw. You're welcome." Alli pressed her lips to his cheek.

"I can't forget those days. A lot of sh-, er, crap went down."

"I mean, how bad could it have been?" Alli wondered, squeezing his hands even tighter.

"Then we all had to go to Degrassi because Lakehurst burned down. That was hard for me, too. Because I grew up a couple of blocks away from the place and there were so many memories...." He left his sentence unfinished and focused his bright green eyes on her dark brown ones.

"It's always hard departing from your childhood," Alli reassured him. "But we all have to do it at one time or another."

"Of course," Johnny agreed, but his confidence seemed to be lacking. "And then I let Gavin Mason beat me to a pulp because I knew I wasn't strong enough for him."

"Then why did you challenge him?" Alli was definitely more concerned than ever by now.

"I guess I wanted to prove to Luke that I was as tough as he was, if not tougher... even though I knew I wasn't."

"What about all those different girls you used to hang with?" Alli asked. If he wasn't ready to tell her about all the things he'd been through with his family and friends, she hoped he'd at least be willing to tell her about his romantic past.

"I never had a true serious girlfriend until I was fifteen. Then that just exploded and my friendship with Luke was never the same again."

"Wow. What was she like?"

"Pretty, sweet, smart. Just like you. Only you're much better," Johnny said, kissing his girlfriend of three months on the forehead.

"What about at Degrassi? Did you get any hot play there?"

"Kinda. Once on the roof with this chick named Darcy. I didn't actually like her, but she was smokin', so I went for it," Johnny admitted, struggling to hold back his laughter.

"Sure," Alli said, punching him in the arm lightly. "That can be fun sometimes. Kinda like with me and KC."

"I'd always hoped to make respectable and upstanding friends, but then my aunt made me waste my Spring Break at this stupid camp for troubled teens. Back then, I was really pissed about it, but I think I actually learned a few things out there in the woods."

"Was Bruce there?"

"No, he was down in Florida getting his drink on," Johnny said. Releasing Alli's hands from his grasp, he sighed in frustration. During times like these, he wished he could tell her about all that he was feeling. But he didn't want to say the words too early; he was worried that's he'd put more pressure on her by moving too fast – yet again. "So, uh, you wanna go to the range tomorrow?"

"Shooting? Hunting? You know that's too dangerous for me," Alli informed him, raising her eyebrows.

"No, not real guns and all that junk. We'll be shooting at targets in a field. Me and you and Bruce and Reese and his chick."

"If you want to invite me to hang out with you and your friends again, that's fine by me, but-"

"Trust me. It's gonna be different from the ravine. I should have known better than to let you follow me out to hook-up central."

"Will there be alcohol and stuff?"

"Nah. I know I won't be drinking any if there is, at least. And of course, neither will you."

"Yeah, I'm not even close to being legal... unlike you guys," she emphasized, poking him in the chest.

"All right, well is it too late to go to the Dot for some food?"

"Um, I told my dad I'd be home in time for dinner," Alli replied sadly, checking her watch and realizing it was nearly five.

"Maybe next time." Johnny sighed, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "I guess we better start walking then," Johnny announced, standing and offering Alli his hand.

"You're such a gentleman," she commented, taking his hand and rising to her feet. "Thanks for telling me all that stuff. Are you sure you don't want to talk to someone like Sauvé about that kinda stuff?"

"No, Alli. Talking to a counselor about my issues won't actually help me. It's just tough."

"You have too much bottled up inside. So anytime you want to talk to me, feel free to call or leave a message. Please," Alli pleaded with her eyes.

"My baggage isn't yours to carry, Backwoods."

"Well, just know that I'm here. I'll always be here for you. As long as you let me." They came to a stop a block and a half away from Alli's house.

"Hey, look at me," she said softly, trying to meet Johnny's gaze. "You mean a lot to me and I hate to see you upset." Leaning down, Johnny wrapped both of his arms tightly around Alli in a hug. Turning his head, he pressed his nose into the side of her neck, breathing in her lovely scent of lavender and chamomile.

"Bye Alli," he whispered, pulling out of the hug and turning around. He'd nearly said it. Luckily, he'd stopped himself in the nick of time.

Please review and tell me your thoughts with a little more than a phrase or a sentence please.