NCIS: LOS ANGELES...
WHAT TROUBLE CAN HAPPEN...NOW?
DISCLAIMER:
NCIS: Los Angeles and characters do not belong to me.
SUMMARY:
It's been four years...Dani and D.J. Deeks are now 16, Callie Beale is 15. The three are best friends.
What has changed in four years? What trouble is about to happen?
Sequel to...
Get Out Of My Head, Deeks!
CHAPTER 10: DANI'S REBELLION...
DANI'S P.O.V.
THE NEXT MORNING...
I opened my eyes and it took me a moment to remember where I was.
I was at my Grandma's house and sometime during the night a blanket had been draped over me.
Then I began to remember everything from last night and everything that had been happening...
I would have to go to school today...
I would have to face D.J. and Callie...
I just wanted to pretend to be sick and not go to school at all, but what Grandma had told me last night came to my mind...
FLASHBACK
* "You can't run away when things get tough, because you will have to face them sooner or later." Grandma had said. *
END FLASHBACK
I would have to face this sooner or later...
How about later? MUCH LATER!
Finally getting up, I decided to head home and get ready for school.
Though I would not be talking to my brother or my parents...
AN HOUR LATER...
SCHOOL...
I got to school, when the same thought came to me again...
I didn't want to be here at school, because I would have to face D.J. and Callie.
So instead of heading into the school, I started up my car and left. When I realized I was skipping school...
I felt a thrill, because I was rebelling against the good girl I had been all of my life.
At first I couldn't decide where to go.
I knew I couldn't go to the beach, if mom and dad find out I'm not a school...that's the first place they would look.
I just have to think of a place to go where they won't look for me. I just need to go someplace where I can relax for a while...you just to try and forget.
The key word is...
TRY.
'How can I forget everything that is happening...when it is thrown in my face every time I turn around?'
THE ZOO...
I was kind of surprised when I ended up at the zoo...
I know it seems childish, but I haven't been to the zoo since I was six years old.
That was a little over ten years ago on my birthday. I know there is a good chance they won't look for me here.
It wasn't long before I was walking through the zoo, stopping to look at some of the animals.
"I never thought I would see the day when, Danielle Deeks skips school!" Came a voice, for a moment I froze thinking that I had been caught.
Turning toward the voice I saw that it was...
"Michael? What are you doing here?" I asked, as Michael Gallagher came to stand beside me.
I have known Michael since the kindergarten. That was around the time he started to become the school bully, but in the last few years he's grown up a little bit.
I've noticed that he doesn't bully people as much as he used to.
"I could ask you the same thing. Ever since kindergarten you've always been...Danielle Deeks the good girl..." Michael began.
"Things change and I'm tired of being the good girl." I said with a shrug.
"What changed?" Michael inquired and seemed curious.
"For a long time...
There was a day two weeks after I was born I would hear my parents fighting.
Finally when I was eight years old...I found out the reason. D.J. had been kidnapped two weeks after we were born.
So all my life it's always been more about D.J. then it has me.
D.J. was found when we were twelve years old...it was about him again!
D.J. got Callie pregnant and now it's about the two of them!
What about me? It's never about me! No one seems to care and I'm just sick of everything being about my brother! I sometimes wish he never existed." I confessed to Michael, at the same time trying to understand why I was telling him.
I talked to Grandma last night, but that only seemed to help a little bit.
"Your brother got Callie Beale pregnant?" Michael asked sounding shocked.
"Yeah...the two of them were my best friends. Now I'm not so sure anymore. Everything is changing so fast and I hate it! I don't know what to do." I said feeling frustrated and a little angry.
"You said you skipped school, because you're tired of being the good..." Michael started, but I interrupted him.
"I am tired of being the good girl. Plus I can't face Callie and D.J. right now. You didn't tell me why you skipped school." I pointed, redirecting the conversation.
"I-I..." Michael seemed at loss for words and I looked at him. "You what," I asked. "I saw you leave and thought I would follow you...to see if you were okay." Michael muttered and now it was my turn to be shocked.
"You skipped school to check on me?" I asked him, unsure if I had heard right. "I don't have any friends at school..." Michael began and I was confused, remembering the gang of friends he had four years ago.
"Yes, you do. What about the group you used to hang out with when you bullied people?" I asked.
"I-I haven't hung out with them in a year and a half. I'm tired of being a bully...I just thought if anyone knew...they would laugh at me and bully me. So I just beat them to it," Michael responded and now I was curious.
"If anyone knew what," I questioned and now it was my turn to be curious.
"I've been in foster care since I was five years old. I was told my dad was killed in a car accident and when my mom found out...she didn't care enough to live for me. I don't really remember her. My m-mom killed herself and they never found any relatives to take me in." Michael said bitterly.
Then we began to walk side by side in silence through the zoo for a few minutes.
"I guess we both have a lot going on in our lives right now. I lost my two best friends and..." I began, but couldn't think of how to finish.
"Make a new one...that used to be the school bully." Michael asked with a small smile. "Yeah, I guess we can be friends. Just one condition..." I told him trying to hold back a smile of my own.
It was the first time I felt smiling since I found out about D.J. and Callie.
"Never make you mad?" Michael joked. "Well, there's that to. Never try to beat me up...because I could knock you out." I claimed and could no longer hold back my smile.
It felt nice talking to someone and having a friend on my side.
I have to admit...
Four years ago, Michael Gallagher was a real jerk.
I guess I just didn't know his story and now looking at him, he's not so bad and well...he is kind of cute.
"Thanks for listening to my story, Dani. I didn't mean to..." Michael began and I had stopped him there, because I knew what he was going to say.
"It's okay, Michael. What are friends for," I asked. "Hey, Dani...You're feeling rebellious, right?" Michael asked and I raised my eyebrows at him.
"Michael, I'm skipping school. So what gave you the clue about me feeling rebellious?" I asked and we both laughed.
"I just have an idea about something..." Michael told me with a look of mischief on his face.
"What's your idea?" I asked with curiosity.