Chapter 4: The Rebel

August 12th, 1995

11:25 A.M.

Los Angeles, California

John Connor pulled on the phone's cord as he listened to Tim complaining on the other end. He quickly moved out of the way so Janelle could grab a towel and wipe off the counter. John rolled his eyes and shook his head slowly.

"Can you please make a decision? Do you want to come with me or not?"

Tim was quiet for a moment before he started talking again, trying not to laugh.

"Your excuses are lame. I'll be outside waiting for you in 15 minutes."

Janelle looked up from the counter and stared John down as he hung up the phone. She placed one hand on her hip and looked at him expectantly.

"No, you're not going anywhere until you clean that room and grab the newspaper before it gets soaked by the Holman's sprinkler."

John grabbed his camo jacket off of the counter and scoffed.

"Yeah, okay."

"John…"

John shrugged his shoulders as he walked out of the kitchen and toward the stairs.

"I said okay!"

John turned away from Janelle and rolled his eyes as he walked up the stairs. He quickly walked around the room, stuffing clothes in dresser drawers and shoving everything on the floor under his bed or in the closet. He then cleaned off his desk and hid his homework under his mattress, hoping that he would forget it was there. Then John sat on his bed for a few minutes and waited, occasionally making a sound to make it appear that he was still cleaning.

John blew some of his dark hair out of his face and eyed the clock, pounding his feet on the floor five minutes before Tim was supposed to arrive. Then he jogged down the stairs, ignoring Janelle cleaning and Todd watching television with a beer in his hand, and closed the front door behind him. He walked straight to the garage and opened the door, ready to ride his Honda XR80 again. John smiled as he checked to make sure everything was going to be okay, revving the engine as Janelle walked out the front door.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Janelle grab the newspaper from right under the sprinkler and walk briskly toward him with a stern look on her face.

"John!"

John kept his back to her as he continued to rev the engine, now trying to ignore her instead of checking it.

"John, I know what you did. Now get in there and really clean up that pig sty of yours!"

He revved the engine again, looking straight ahead and ignored her call again. He watched her walk back into the house and smiled once she was out of sight. Janelle rolled her eyes as she walked back into the house, slamming the newspaper down on the kitchen counter. She rubbed her forehead as she walked toward the television to get her husband's attention.

"I swear I have had it with that damn kid. He won't even answer me anymore."

"Honey, move."

Janelle's eyes widened as she stared exasperated at her husband.

"Would you get off your butt and help me?"

Todd's eyes were trained on the television, ignoring her as he watched a re-run of an old football game.

"Todd!"

"What? What?"

"He hasn't really cleaned that room of his in a month."

"Wow, it's an emergency. Hang on; I'll get right on it."

He set the remote down on the coffee table and quickly walked out of the house. He noticed John's red haired friend, Tim, passing John his backpack before he hopped on the dirt bike with him.

"John! Come on, get inside and do what your mother tells you!"

John slipped his backpack on his shoulders and slowly turned to face Todd. He shook his head slowly as he spoke coldly.

"She's not my mother, Todd."

John pressed on the gas pedal and the two drove out of the driveway and onto the street, away from his foster home and parents. Tim shouted over the wind as they drove toward the nearest bank.

"Don't you think that was a little rude?"

John rolled his eyes as he turned left, ignoring Tim's comment.

John parked his dirt bike and let out a small sigh as he walked toward the bank's ATM. He pulled his backpack off of his shoulders and grabbed his small palmtop out and spoke quietly.

"Please insert your stolen card now."

He plugged the device into the card slot and watched the lines of code appear on the screen.

"Pin number…"

Hundreds of numbers crossed the screen as he watched Tim glance around nervously.

"Will you hurry up? This is taking too long."

John stared at the computer screen, watching the numbers disappear.

"Go, baby. Go, baby. Go, baby."

The numbers slowly decreased and he smiled as he noticed the PIN number digits appear.

"Alright, pin number 9003…"

"Where'd you learn this stuff from anyway?"

"My real mom. Um, withdraw 300 bucks. Come on, baby!"

He handed the palmtop to Tim and eagerly waited for the money to come out.

"Come on, come on! Yes!"

"Hey, it worked!"

"Alright! Easy money. Come on!"

The two boys walked back to the bike and clapped hands once they were around the corner. John grinned as she shoved the money is his pocket while Tim put the palmtop back into John's backpack.

"Piece of cake!"

"So your mom… she's gotta be pretty cool, huh?"

"No, she's a psycho. That's why she's up in Pescadero. It's a mental institute. She tried to blow up a computer factory but she got shot at and arrested."

"Man…"

John put his backpack back on his shoulders and shook his head slowly.

"Come on, let's spend some money."