A/N: Here it is! The first real Jalli chapter. This story will be about Jalli from this chapter until the end. Everything is told from Johnny's POV since, on the show, it's presented from Alli's POV. I don't own Degrassi ,the book Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, or the song "Brace Yourself" by Ellis.
Chapter 4
Johnny was one of the first ones to arrive at school Saturday morning. He had ridden his bike to school because he didn't feel comfortable about leaving his car there overnight. He decided to read one of the books he'd brought, Catcher in the Rye. It was one of his favorites. He must have read it about six times.
Johnny had always loved reading. Over the last few years his literary tastes shifted from Tolkien and Harry Potter to darker material like Kerouac and Algren. Usually, when Johnny was absorbed in a book, nothing could distract him. Today was different, however.
Two niners who had also arrived early were having a stupid conversation about insects or something. Johnny tried tuning them out but it was hard. That one kid with the glasses would not stop talking. Johnny was at the part where Holden was roughed up by Maurice, one of his favorite parts, but couldn't even concentrate. So he decided to say something to the little tool.
"Hey kid," Johnny started.
"The name's Connor," the kids said in a vain attempt at sounding tough. Johnny didn't care what the kid's name was, he just wanted him to shut up.
"Look, Connor," Johnny started. "I'm doing you a favor. No one wants to hear you talk about spotted moths." This stopped Connor dead in his tracks. Johnny went back to his reading. But he was distracted once more. This time, it was by some squeaky voiced niner girl. He didn't even bother looking up when she introduced herself, hoping she'd take the hint and go away. No such luck.
"What are you reading?" she asked.
"A book," answered Johnny sarcastically, hoping she'd take the hint this time. But no, she didn't this time either.
"That's a joke, right?" Duh!
"That would be correct," he said. Why wouldn't she just go away? At that point, Johnny wanted to strangle whoever had the bright idea of allowing niners to go on the trip in the first place. Just then, Simpson told everyone to get on the bus. Relieved, Johnny got on the bus and sat next to Freddy, a kid from his class. Freddy was listening to his headphones. Johnny could now read in peace.
When they got to the campsite, everyone set up their tents and hung out before the first group activity. Then Simpson and Johnny's science teacher, Mr. Phillips, announced the activity. It was some kind of scavenger hunt. Johnny hoped it would be quick and painless, which it was. All he had to do was stay away from Bug Boy and Squeaky.
When everyone got back from the activity, Johnny got his book out and sat in a lawn chair to read. He felt something hit him on the back of the head. It was Bug Boy, still talking about his boring obsession. He wasn't paying attention to where he was walking and had hit Johnny with his bug catcher thingy. Annoyed, Johnny stood up and punched a hole in it. When Bug Boy threatened Johnny, he looked the kid right in the eye and stood his ground. Bug Boy walked away, taking his friend with him.
"Personally. I hate spotted moths." said a squeaky voice. Johnny turned around. For the first time, Johnny got a good look at the girl who had been pestering him all morning. She wasn't bad looking. Hell, she was cute! She was petite and she had a dazzling smile. She also had the most amazing eyes ever.
Dark eyed girls were Johnny's weakness. He often caught himself staring at many a dark eyed beauty at school, even though he didn't like most of them. Girls like Manny Santos, Emma Nelson, Darcy Edwards, Jane Vaughn, Mia Jones, Liberty Van Zantdt and Chante Black. None of these girls would ever give him the time of day and he would never speak to them. Besides, he had known Jane and Mia most of his life. So, whenever any of them caught him staring, his admiring gaze switched to a hateful sneer.
The girl asked Johnny if he wanted to go for a walk in the woods and he took her up on it. She was a welcome distraction from Bug Boy. He learned that her name was Alli Bhandari and that she was the sister of Sav Bhandari. Johnny didn't like Sav very much. He had been one of the whiners at Lakehirst who got mad whenever Johnny made the honor roll. Johnny secretly hoped Sav would find out that his sister was alone with him in the woods and get pissed.
He also found out that Alli was in the niner gifted program along with Bug Boy and his friend. The kids in that program were known at Degrassi as the Baby Geniuses. So this chick was an intelligent airhead. Interesting.
Johnny was the perfect gentleman. He kept his hands to himself, except when Alli slipped and almost fell and he caught her. After they got back, Johnny and Alli had hotdogs, then Johnny excused himself to go back to his tent and read. Walking back to his tent, he heard people whispering about Alli, calling her Backwoods Bhandari. They had seen Alli and Johnny together in the woods. It wasn't Johnny's problem.
Johnny was almost finished reading Catcher in the Rye when he put the book down to reflect on the day's events. He thought Bug Boy was a little old to still have some weird obsession with bugs. When Johnny was in grade five, he was obsessed with snakes. But he never bored people to death talking about them. Besides, snakes were far more interesting than spotted moths. He had a nice walk with Alli, though. She wasn't as bad as he had first thought.
Just as he opened up his book again, he heard scratching outside his tent. He opened the door to find Alli outside. She asked if she could come in and he moved aside to let her in. Johnny was curious as to what she might want. But then again, he really didn't want to get involved with this girl. People spreading rumors about them making out in the woods was one thing. Having rumors circulate that they hooked up in Johnny's tent could get Johnny into a lot of trouble. He wasn't willing to risk it. This girl couldn't be a day over fourteen.
He tried to dismiss her without being mean but she still wouldn't go. So he took his cards out and proposed a game of Crazy 8's. But she had other ideas.
"Poker," she said. Johnny thought she was so cute that for a split second he considered inviting her to jump in the sleeping bag with him. Forget the cards. But then he thought better of it. First of all, the sleeping bag wasn't his, it belonged tp the school. Plus, he remembered that this girl was a niner . Johnny may have done some bad things, but corrupting an underage girl was not one of them.
So it was a good thing that their shadows would show them sitting up. This Baby Genius turned out to be good at poker, but she couldn't bluff to save her life. She was gushing about how she didn't care about the game, she was just happy to spend time with Johnny. That's when Johnny saw it.
"Snake!" he shouted. He grabbed Alli's hand and led her out of the tent. Everyone heard Johnny and came out of their tents. Danny Van Zandt went into Johnny;s tent and came out with a garter snake. Garter snakes are totally harmless, but Johnny thought it was a Minnesota Rattler. His childhood snake obsession had failed him.
Simpson came out to restore order and everyone went back into their tents, the ones they were supposed to be in. Johnny found out Bug Boy was the one who put the snake in his tent as payback for damaging his bug catcher. Bug Boy was now Johnny's sworn enemy. For the rest of the year, Johnny and his friends would harass this kid mercilessly.
The next day Johnny was the first one awake, the first one packed and the first one on the bus. He'd had enough nature for two days. He couldn't wait to get home, shower and eat some real food.
He got stuck sitting behind Sav Bhandari who was arguing with his sister across the aisle. Sav was upset that she was in a tent alone with a boy. Johnny took satisfaction in the fact that he was that boy.
When they got back to Degrassi, Johnny got his bike and pedaled home. He heard Alli's call after him.
"Bye Johnny!" she called out in a sing song. She probably did that to make her brother mad. Johnny waved without looking back at her.
When he got home, his mom was sitting on the sofa watching a movie on TV.
"Hey Ma," said Johnny. "Did you get downstairs all by yourself?"He was concerned about his mom being alone overnight even though Magda was checking up on her. It was difficult for her to climb stairs in her condition.
"It took a while but I made it," his mom said smiling. "How was your trip?"
"Boring," said Johnny. "I'm gonna go unpack and chill before I get dinner started." Everyone at school who hated him would be surprised to find out that Johnny took care of his sick mother. Not that any of them would ever find out.
After he unpacked, he lay down on his bed and closed his eyes. Thoughts of Alli Bhandari kept popping into his head. As much as he tried driving them out, they kept coming back. She reminded Johnny of someone, but who?
In the following days at school, Johnny barely saw Alli and that was a good thing. Out of sight, out of mind. But on those rare occasions that he did see her, those beautiful eyes captivated him every time. And her voice sounded more familiar the more he heard it. But why?
He had overheard her tell the other Baby Geniuses how she wished someone would send her a rose and ask her to the Sweetheart Dance.
"You like spinning around in circles with sweaty teenage boys?" he joked. "Bruce can make that magic happen right now!" He pushed Bruce into Alli, but she moved out of the way just in time to avoid a collision.
Johnny wasn't sure why he liked messing with her when he should just leave well enough alone. He figured it was a way to control his thoughts and feelings. He didn't want to like this girl, but for some reason he did. Johnny liked to tempt fate sometimes, so he sent Alli a rose but left the card blank. She was smart, she'd figure out who sent it.
And figure it out, she did. She came into detention with some fake story about talking back to a teacher. Hell, Johnny did that on a regular basis, but rarely got detention for it. His transgressions were of a more serious kind.
She kept bugging him about how she knew he was the one who sent the rose. He kept stringing her along. Then he told her that dating would not be a good idea and told her why. She got all pouty and stood up to leave. Johnny thought it was too funny when Mr. Perrino made Alli sit back down, especially when they all knew that she didn't really have detention.
During that same week, the Baby Geniuses had to build a robot and teach it how to play basket ball. That Friday, the same day as the dance, they were to compete against other schools' robots. Johnny hadn't been into that sort of thing since grade school. But that didn't stop him from swinging by the competition to torture Alli.
He didn't even pay attention to the robots, he just kept staring at Alli. She noticed him and came over to him, asking him why he was there. He made up a story about having a brother who was competing. She didn't buy it and he didn't expect her to.
"It's just weird to like a niner," he confessed. She asked him if he was going to the dance. He told her he didn't "do" dances, especially with niners. She told him she was going and she was going to look hot. Johnny didn't doubt that for a second.
Against his better judgement, he asked Magda to stay with his mom while he had some stuff to do. She agreed. He hated imposing on her when she had her own family to take care of. But he had to see Alli.
When he got to the dance, the song "Brace Yourself" by Ellis was playing. Johnny liked that song but he would never admit it to anyone. Alli was standing next to the table where her brother and his girlfriend were taking tickets. He walked right past her and turned in the ticket he bought that afternoon. He walked into the caf and went straight to the punch bowl. He could feel Alli following behind him. As he poured himself some punch, Alli sidled up to him.
"Meet me on the back steps in two minutes,"he whispered as he poured her a cup of punch. Taking a sip from his cup, he left the caf without looking at her. She met him on the back steps just as she was told. She wasn't lying about looking hot.
"I like this song," he said, making direct eye contact.
"Aw, so do I!" said Alli
"Yeah, rub it in, why don't you?" he chuckled.
"So what made you change your mind about the dance?" she asked.
"I don't know," he lied. He knew damn well.
"You do like me,"said Alli. "A lot."
"You're tripping Backwoods," said Johnny. Then he impulsively leaned over and gave her a peck on the lips. She jumped back, squealed and covered her mouth. Now where had Johnny seen that before?
"Was that your first kiss?" he asked, even though it was obvious that it was.
"The next one won't be," she giggled nervously. Johnny laughed and stood up to leave.
"Hey,where are you going?" asked Alli. "You just got here."
"I've got stuff I gotta do," said Johnny. Like take care of his mother. He went back inside the school and left her sitting there.
That night Johnny had a dream. Alli was standing before him wearing a Holy Cross uniform. She was giggling.
"I beat you again, Johnny!" she teased. "You've lost your touch, what happened?" Johnny sat up in bed. Claudia! He hadn't thought about her in years. This explained everything. Claudia and Alli had similar voices, the same infectious giggle, the same pretty smile and those beautiful brown eyes.
Johnny couldn't fall back asleep after that.
At school on Monday, Johnny had written Alli a note and slipped it in her locker.
"Alli –
Sorry I left the dance so early. Could you meet me in the back alley after school? I want to talk to you.
Johnny
P. S. No, this isn't a joke."
After school, he stood waiting for Alli. He started to worry that maybe she didn't see the note or that she was mad at him. But then she came running around the corner. She stopped when she saw Johnny. She was out of breath.
"Ready for your second kiss?" he asked.
"Uh, huh," she said nodding.
"Come here," he said opening his arms. She ran to him and he wrapped his arms around her. He gave her a long, wet, slow kiss. He slipped his tongue in her mouth, she didn't seem to mind at all. When they separated, she looked up at him with those eyes.
"I do like you, a lot," he told her. "We can hang out, but you can't tell anyone. Understand?"
"Yes,' she whispered.
"You better get home before your parents wonder where you are." She nodded and walked back around the corner.
Someone else in this situation might not have taken the chances Johnny did. But Johnny liked the adrenaline rush he got when he tempted fate.
