"𝐢 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫."
  •̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚༺♥༻˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙

ROBBY WAS IN DEEP THOUGHT, his mind constantly on the girl he ran into a couple of days ago at the ice cream parlor. He was supposed to be training with Daniel and Sam—but his mind kept wandering back to Lanie.

Not only did he have to deal with the financial struggles back at home and with his mom being gone all the time, it seemed to be the least of his problems. Instead, he was worrying immensely about the girl. Daniel seemed to notice there was definitely something going on in Robby's mind as he kept failing the karate techniques. He intended to figure out what the problem was, worried about his student.

"Hey, Robby, can you come here for a second?" Robby complied and followed Daniel over to the corner of the dojo where they were able to speak freely in private.

"What is it, Mr. LaRusso?"

"I've noticed you have been failing every technique I have been trying to show you. Robby, I know can master these easily, but I also noticed your mind keeps wandering to different places, is everything okay?"

Robby was surprised that Daniel was able to notice his distress, thinking that he was able to hide his emotions well, but obviously, he couldn't. His worry over the girl he met for only three minutes has taken over his life completely and he was finally about to admit that when he confessed his emotions to Daniel.

"So I was at this mini-mall a few days ago and I noticed this girl. Mr. LaRusso, when I say she was beautiful, I mean she was beautiful. Definitely caught my attention, but before I could talk to her, I noticed there were these assholes hassling her, so I fought them and I knocked them out quickly." Daniel seemed to have a look of intrigue plastered on his face and nodded his head, urging Robby to continue.

"So I helped her up and I noticed there were bruises from where the men grabbed her, but they only grabbed one of her arms. As I looked at her other one, I saw there were bruises that  trailed all the way up to her shoulder. I'm just worried about this girl, Mr. LaRusso and before I could get her name, she sped off." After Robby finished his rant, he yanked his blonde locks, frustration clouding his mind.

"Look, Robby, even though you just met this girl, I can already tell you care about her. I'll see if I can do anything to find out who she is, but I can't make any promises." Robby felt grateful for Daniel. He did a lot more for him than what Johnny has and it felt weird for him to have a father figure.

"Thank you so much, Mr. LaRusso, I appreciate you so much."

Now all Robby has to do now, is hope he will run into Lanie again, his hopes being exceedingly high for such a slim chance of this happening, but he was not losing hope.

✧༺♥༻∞

Lanie's fingers felt like feathers against the elegant keys of the grand piano in her home, one of her only escapes from reality. Even though her parents forced her to learn piano at a young age, she did eventually grow to like it for her own interest, not for her parents. Her mind couldn't stop thinking about Robby and she didn't know why. Perhaps it was the interest of wondering why this boy cared so much for a broken stranger like her.

The sunset was fading, the extravagant view soon turning into the dark sky of the night, meaning her father was coming home. People would usually love the sunset, but not for Lanie because this meant her father was near home, something she feared for in her day.

During this time, Tyler would be sleeping, so Lanie didn't want to bother him, knowing his summer school was still intensive work. As Lanie thought of school, a question she has been wanting to ask her mom lingered back in her mind. Mr. Dallas did not show up for her study sessions once again and Lanie was curious, starting to get worried about the older man.

Walking into her mother's office, Lanie gently knocked and Charlotte looked up while nodding her head that she was available. Lanie stood in the dim-lit room and started to speak.

"Mom, do you know why Mr. Dallas hasn't come over for the past few days? I'm starting to get worried." Lanie scanned her mother's face, searching for any signs of concern, but all she got was the typical eye roll.

"I fired him," Charlotte said nonchalantly. Lanie's mouth dropped, her eyes widening, tears threatening to pour out, but she couldn't show any signs of weakness right now.

"What? Why did you fire him!?" Lanie yelled but immediately regretted it as her body slumped, seeing her mom stand up from her oversized chair.

"You said you wanted to go to public school right? So there was no need to keep Mr. Dallas around anymore besides, he was a homosexual. We don't need that around here." Lanie's mouth gaped, her body fuming with pure red anger, not liking the way her mother was talking about people who were exactly like her brother. That was one of the reasons why Tyler only told Lanie about his boyfriend and not his parents.

Usually, Lanie wouldn't dare to talk back to her parents, fearing for what they would do afterward, but she was incredibly angry right now. "Don't you dare say that about Mr. Dallas?  So what if he likes men, newsflash Mom, we're in the 21st century. Learn about this damn generation." Lanie saw how Charlotte's jaw dropped and before she could say anything, Lanie walked out of her office and strutted proudly to her room, a weight in her chest suddenly being lifted.

However, her triumph diminished when her body ran into a large figure, her heart dropping, seeing her father in front of her.

"Hi sweetie, I'm home." Lanie let out a feigned smile, her heart palpitating faster at the sight of her dad. Henry kissed the top of his daughter's head, making Lanie flinch in fear, not sure what he was about to do.

"H-Hi Dad. W-Welcome home." Lanie was about to walk past her father to go into her room until she felt the familiar dreaded grip on her wrist, wincing from the previous bruises that were on it.

"Where are you going? Why did I hear you yelling at your mother when I walked in here?" Lanie swallowed her pride and calmly spoke, hiding her fear. 

"Mom fired Mr. Dallas and I was angry with her," Lanie said softly, but sternly. She saw the icy winter in her father's eyes becoming colder than she has ever seen before. Lanie's heart dropped, already feeling what's coming next. She desperately wiggled her wrist to get out her father's grip but he was too strong.

Suddenly, a stinging pain was numbing her entire left cheek, the momentary paralysis stunning Lanie's entire body. There was surely a bruise to form the next day and Lanie was not looking forward to covering it up for the All Valley Fest she was planning on attending the next day.

Henry finally let go of Lanie's wrist and his face was inches away from hers, his piercing blue eyes not leaving her brown ones. "If you ever talk to your mother like that again, a slap on the face would be the least of your worries." With that, Henry walked off to greet his wife, while Lanie sprinted to her room, locking it and pouring out all of her emotions.

She wanted to scream, she wanted to fly away like a bird and go off to nowhere, but it was incredibly hard to leave a family she once adored with her life. Things change and she was not looking forward to what the future had in mind for her.

Lanie felt alone and there was nobody there to comfort her painfully broken soul, but all of that will change when she runs into a familiar face at the All Valley Fest tomorrow.

very angsty chapter, I'm sorry :(

but i really did hope you are all enjoying this book so far!! I'm already looking forward to my plan for lanie in future chapters!