Lee walks into Tech Town. She was surprised to see a cute boy that looks around her age behind the counter. "Hi, I'm here to pick up some parts. It should be under Cole. It paid for already."
"Oh yeah, here it is." He picks up a big box of parts with a receipt taped to it. "Do you mind me asking what it's for?"
"It's a hobby. I take the good parts from broken computers and make a new one." She has been doing it for a few years now. She would give it away to someone when she was done. Her dad was so proud, he had the first one in his office in a glass box to show off to people.
"You must be really smart." He looked surprised.
"Smarts, it's such a relative term." She hated when people call her that, it put this pressure on her to do great in everything.
"What?" He asks.
"I mean in here or at school, I could be considered smart. But, out there not so much. If I had to spend a day on the streets I would be dead. People skills aren't so good, as you can tell." She laughed at his confused face.
"No, I get it and I think you're fine. That your people skills are fine." He corrected himself when he realized how that sounded.
"I wish the guy at my school felt the same way." She went to grab the box.
He picked it up for her. "I'll carry it out for you." He walks around the counter. Robby still had half an hour before he had to meet his friends outback. "So, you're having guy problems?"
She nods as she leads him to her car. "I did everything but flash this guy at my school to let him know I like him. But, he's got it stuck in his head that I like someone else. I don't know maybe that's just his way of giving me the brush off." She had been doing everything Johnny told her to. She touched his arm and laughed when he told a joke, which was only when they were alone, but still, she giggled and she tried to make it sexy but she ended up sounding like a hyena. She complimented him every day. All he did was look somewhere else.
Robby tried not to gawk when she unlocked the Porsche. She opened the passenger door for him to put the box down. He couldn't help but think the guy she was talking about was crazy. "He's probably intimidated."
"What?" She asks.
"You're sexy." He gave his first point.
"No, I'm not." She shook her head.
"You got a beautiful face, a generous rack, and ass. You look like a thick Instagram baddie." He leers at her, making her blush. "And you're smart, humble, and rich." He pointed at the car. "It's enough to make any guy feel like less."
"I didn't know I could have too many good traits." She closed the door. "Here." She reached into her wallet to give him a twenty-dollar tip.
"I'll just take a name." He pushed her hand down, even though he knew he would regret it later when he came home to an empty kitchen.
"Lee Cole. Now, are you going to take this, or I'm going to have to shove it in your pocket?" She held out the bill.
"Thanks, I'll be following you on Insta. DM me if the guy never comes around." He took the bill before going back to his workplace for the day.
"Sensei told me this morning he's closing the dojo," Miguel told his friends as they walked into the library and sat down at a table.
"What? Why, because his flyer didn't work?" She gasped.
"I don't know. My mom went off on him last night when he brought me home, but I need to learn how to defend myself." He pouts.
"Look where defending yourself got you, a beaten face." Demetri pointed at the bandaid on his forehead. "No karate is for the best, it was starting to boost your confidence."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Miguel asked.
"No, what has confidence ever gotten anybody except for a black eye and their backpack being thrown in the trash?" Demetri shook his head.
"I think confidence can get people far if they have the right outlet," Lee argued.
"Well, I thought it was kind of cool how you stood up to Kyler," Eli spoke up as loudly as his own confidence would let him.
"Are you three insane? Let me ask you, what is the best superpower anyone could have?" Demetri asked the group.
"Super Strength," Miguel answered with no hesitance.
"Wrong, invisibility. A distant second would be super speed to run away fast." He corrected him.
Lee was about to tell him that was the saddest thing she ever heard when Kyler came with his large goon. "Runaway from who?" He put his hand on the back of Eli's chair and leaned over to get in Miguel's face.
"Whom." Brucks correct. Kyler looked at him in confusion. "It's the object of a preposition, remember in English class."
"We were just leaving," Miguel said. They gathered their stuff and stood up.
"Hey, where are you going?" Kyler grabs the back of Eli's neck and turns him around. "Oh, look at this freak." He grabbed his chin to tilt his head up to look at his scar. The bullies laughed at it.
"Okay that enough," Lee put her hand on Kyler's arm.
"Oh, come on Jugs. Look at this, what kind of girl would kiss this shit?" Kyler tilts Eli's head towards her. Eli was holding back tears as he stared at her.
"The best kind." She leaned forward and kissed his scar. Eli's face was flush instantly.
"Damn Elvis, you're into some freaky shit." Kyler snicked along with Brucks.
"Can't you just leave them alone?" Miguel had enough of his bullshit.
"What'd you say?" He let go of Eli to get into Miguel's personal space. "You haven't had enough, Rhea? Huh?" Brucks gave Miguel a shove and Kyler used his off-balance to give a shove of his own. Miguel nearly fell over but he was able to catch himself. "Get the hell out of here, man." Miguel walks out with his head down.
Eli pushes Lee in front of him as they pass by the bullies. Brucks shoved him, but he was able to stop himself from crashing into her. "Great boyfriend you got." Lee nods to Sam who was behind a bookshelf. Miguel, Eli, and Lee were able to walk out of the library.
Demetri wasn't fast enough to escape Kyler's outstretched hand that tugged him back by his backpack. "Hey, you don't want this shit." He took off his backpack and held it over the trash can.
"No, come on. Not the trash. I just threw..." He got shoved back by Kyler and watched as his bag went into the trash. "… a yogurt in there."
"Now, it's double-dip." Kyler smirk as Brucks ohed in the back.
Demetri pulled his bag out that now had yogurt all over it. He met his friends by his locker where he knew they would be waiting for him. "Oh shit, they dump your bag in the trash." Lee grimaced.
"Yup." He opened up his locker and pulled out the wipes to clean his bag. It was sad that he was prepared for this repeated situation.
"They're so pathetic, having to pick on us to make themselves feel big. And Sam hiding behind those bookshelves, not saying anything. I know you like her Miguel, but she's aaahh..." Lee sighs in frustration.
"I do not like her." He shook his head, but couldn't stop the smiling from spreading across his face when he thought about her. Lee gave him a pointed look to let him know she saw through him. "What's your problem with Sam?"
"For starters, she ditches her best friend to hang out with those popular girls. And now, she is dating that jerk, Kyler. Talk about trading your morals for popularity." She crossed her arms. Eli nodded along.
"Maybe she'll break up with him." Miguel hoped.
"I doubt it. She's still hanging out with Yasmine, even though she's cyberbullying Aisha, who has been her best friend since they were small." Lee shared a few classes with Aisha. She invited the girl to hang out with them, but she always turned her down.
Eli and Lee were hanging out in her room, rewatching My Hero Academia now that Hulu had it on dub. "About that kiss," Lee turns to him.
"Don't worry about it, you were just trying to defend me. I get it." He didn't look away from the screen.
"Well, I mean it's..." She was going to explain that the kiss was something. That she wanted to kiss him for the longest time.
"I'm not going to let it go to my head, now pay attention your crazy blonde is on." He nods to the TV. He knew that the kiss didn't mean the same thing to her that it did to him. But, he couldn't hear her say it. To hear her say that the kiss was just a way to shut Kyler up would crush him after the day he's had.
Lee sighed, seeing there was no talking sense to him. If she confessed now he would think she was just taking pity on him. She watched as Bakugo spoke on stage that he would win the sports festival.
Lee and her father were on the couch waiting for his commercial to come on. "Patriot Tom Cole here. When I'm not busy fighting the hated British for your freedom, I'm fighting to bring you great deals, great American deals. And because I love this land we call home, I'm giving every new customer their very own drought-related cactus. In these dry times, it really is the only responsible plant to own. A strong American plant, from the strong American himself, me, Tom Cole. Cole on Van Nuys. You musket down here." He fired a musket before it ended.
"So what do you think?" He asked his daughter.
Lee pushed her lips together as she thought of what to say. "It is good to use the soldier act when you're not a veteran?"
"Patriots are a thing of the past. It is a mascot for a football team." He shrugged off her concern.
"Was the cactus thing to compete with that guy's little trees?" She asked.
"I gotta compete with the guy. And let me tell you, it got to him. LaRusso snapped today, he came into the dealership and kicked a drink out of my hand." He could laugh about it now, but early today he was shocked.
"What?" She raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah, I guess the dick on the billboard, the lunch, and the commercial made him snap." He shrugs his shoulders.
"The lunch?" She asked.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you I sent him sausages. I thought it was good fun, but the guy can't take a joke. I'll order pizza." He got up to get his phone.
Lee wonders if Kyler thought what he did was in good fun. She knew her dad was a bit of a bully. The man hardly knew any of his employees' names and he liked making jokes at other expense. She wonders if, in High School, he ever got physical with his bullying.
