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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry:
Limited Edition: Romance Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (relationship) rivals
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Shipping Wars: Sam LaRusso/Tory Nichols (no team name yet), Fall Big List (book), 631 words.
The word count is 631 words. I hope you all enjoy Beach Surprises.
"LaRusso," I heard the sharp voice of Tory call from behind me. I could hear the pounding of her sneakers coming at me from across the sandy beach.
I took a calming breath and prepared myself to go on the defensive. I knew that there was no chance in hell that she could return my feelings for her. Tory didn't even like me as a friend much less romantically.
"Nichols," I said, turning to face her. The expression of surprise on her face at how cold my voice sounded was more surprising to me than anything. She was the one who started the hostility in the first place. She was the one who had pushed me into that table when I accused her of stealing my mother's wallet that one time. Not the other way around.
Tory looked around us as though expecting one of my father's other students to walk out of nowhere and attack her. I could see how tense she was and I kind of felt bad about it.
"No one else from Miyogai Do is here," I told her.
"Why would I care if they were?" she asked, trying to keep the surprise out of her voice which was very obvious to me. "It's not like I haven't kicked any of their asses before."
"I just wanted to let you know so you could maybe relax a bit," I told her. "You seemed very tense a few minutes ago."
"Well, I guess it couldn't have anything to do with how you spat my name out as you did," she said, reaching into her purse.
Once more I prepared myself for an attack. Tory was known to have weapons on her when she fought outside of tournaments or karate settings. Why shouldn't I be concerned that she was going to pull out a pair of brass knuckles and start going to town on me? But when her hand left her purse I could feel the surprising shock clear upon my face.
"Where did you find that?" I asked, seeing my notebook in her hand. The pink cover was covered in doodles of hearts with my initials and hers. "I've been looking all over for that since…"
"Last period yesterday?"
I nodded.
"You must not have put it away properly and it fell out of your bag. I tried calling you to tell you you'd dropped it but you just ran off."
I looked at the notebook in her outstretched hand. It looked perfectly the same as it always did. She hadn't done anything with it. Which was also a surprising thought. I would have thought that Tory would be angry enough to want to destroy anything I would hold near or dear.
I reached out and took the notebook with a gentle smile. "Thank you," I said, looking back up at her to find Tory awkwardly toeing the sand with her foot. "For returning my notebook and everything."
"No problem," she said, turning to go.
I found myself not wanting her to leave though. I found myself wanting to get to know Tory Nichols the person. Not Tory Nichols my enemy from Cobra Kai. But Tory Nichols the girl. The girl who didn't think twice about returning an enemy's notebook unmolested. That was the Tory I wanted to befriend and possibly more.
"You can stay if you want," I said, surprising both of us once more. I could tell from the shocked look on her face as she turned around to look at me. "We can talk and maybe get to know each other better, what do you say?"
"Okay," she said, shrugging and following me back over to where'd I'd left my beach stuff.
Perhaps today was going to be a better day than yesterday was? Perhaps?
I hope you all enjoyed Beach Surprises as much as I enjoyed writing it.