kickin' it | femina bellator

43 | kickin' it on our own, part ii

They all sat by a table in the food court watching as some men took down the Bobby Wasabi sign to replace it with the new Black Dragons sign.

"I'm gonna miss everything about that place," Milton admitted which was followed by a small chuckle, "Even the weird rat that lives under the radiator."

"Yeah, I mean," Jerry said before realisation dawned on him, "Wait, that's a rat? Rudy told me that was a hairless Brazilian dog. I let that thing kiss me."

"Why would you want to make out with a dog?" Azalea deadpanned before her gaze shifted back to the dojo in sadness.

"That dojo was the thing that kept us together," Eddie said sadly.

"Hey, we don't need a dojo to keep us together," Azalea tried to convince everyone, even herself, "Right, Jack."

"Of course," Jack stood up from his seat and placed his hands on her shoulders, "Guys, nothing is gonna change."

☆★☆

Three months later....

To say that nothing was gonna change was complete bullshit. As sad as it was the dojo was what kept them together and with everything changing they had all drifted apart.

Azalea was sad to say that it was weeks since she had spoken to anyone from the dojo the last time. With Rudy's new job they had gotten a new apartment and it had become logical for her to transfer schools. It wouldn't be a big deal after all, she'd see all her friends after school at the dojo anyways, or so Rudy thought.

Her brother had always been there for her. He had taken her in to live with him and was literally the best brother in the world, no matter how much she complained and teased him. And she did everything she could to make sure he didn't know how bad everything was for her, because she knew he would drop this amazing opportunity if he did.

Meanwhile Milton had transferred to Swathmore Academy and Jerry had somehow gotten a gig there as a caretaker. Eddie had gone back to dancing and Kim had joined the cheer team again.

And Jack. Jack had started hanging out more and more with his new skater buddies. It had started with him skipping hanging out with them a few times and Azalea being the person she was stopped asking him to meet. If he had wanted to hang out with her he would have made an effort.

Azalea on the other hand had done the most soul crushing thing ever, she had rejoined the Black Dragons dojo. There was several reasons behind that decision, one that it made it easier for her to lie to Rudy, seeing as she didn't have to lie, she just had to leave out some minor details.

Another reason was simply that she didn't know what to do with her life without karate. She had practiced it for as long as she could remember and it was such a big part of her life that she wasn't able to just abandon it like everyone else had done.

Never say die.

That was a part of the Wasabi Code, and she was determined not to break it. Which was why she couldn't refuse the offer when Ty offered her a deal.

It was three weeks since they had quit and Azalea could already feel a change in her life. She spoke less and less to her friends for every passing day and from next week she'd start in a new school.

This was also the longest time ever she had gone without practicing karate and it was killing her. She hadn't even been without it this long when she was injured a two years ago. At the moment she was seated inside Falafel Phil's after having been bailed on.

Jack claimed that something else came up, Kim had cheer practice, Milton had homework, Eddie had dance rehearsals and Jerry had something else he didn't even bother mentioning. But at the moment she didn't really mind because she was quite frankly annoyed with her friends.