𝘛𝘙𝘖𝘜𝘉𝘓𝘌. Eli Moskowitz

twenty seven

THERE was a wave of new students in the dojo today. The performance at Valley Fest definitely did its job.

"Everybody, fall in. In neat rows and lines," Johnny called out. "Time to see what you're made of."

Johnny slowly moved around the room, surveying the newcomers.

"Straighten up, ginger twins," he continued on, then stopped at the sight of a man that looked to be in his thirties. "Sorry, parents can't stay for class. It's an insurance thing."

The man looked at Johnny. "I'm not a dad. I . . . I am here to kick some ass, sir!"

Violet and Hawk caught each other's eye and tried not to laugh.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" Johnny asked, side-eyeing the man.

"Oh, yeah, I, uh . . I sold you the mirror. We kind of bonded, talked about rock bands."

"Look, you're a little old. This is a class for teenagers," Johnny told him.

"Well, I can take 'em. I'm not afraid of kids, sir. And my mom, she doesn't charge me rent, so I got a lot of cash to burn."

"Yeah," Johnny stared the man down. "We'll consider this a trial run."

He walked back to the front.

"I thought my last group of recruits was pathetic. But if you do what I tell you to do, you'll at least have a chance of becoming a fighter. But to do that, you gotta fight. So, which one of you has the balls to take on the champ?"

Silence. No one wanted to fight Miguel.

The man from earlier started to raise his hand, but another voice beat him to it.

"I'll take him on."

The nonchalant voice belonged to a girl with brown-blonde hair. She held herself confidently.

"Oh, you will, huh?"

"I saw your little demo at Valley Fest. You guys can put on a show, but can you actually fight?" she spoke, almost in an amused manner.

"That sounds like a challenge," Johnny said.

"I like a challenge."

Violet was liking this girl already.

"Mr. Diaz," Johnny called out, "show little Miss hotshot here what Cobra Kai is all about."

Everyone backed off, so that the girl and Miguel were standing in the center of the room, facing each other.

"Look, are you sure that you wanna do . . ." Miguel hesitated. The girl surged forward and kicked him.

Violet watched on, impressed. For someone who was new to karate, she was doing pretty well. The subtle flirting was a little entertaining to watch, too.

In the end, Miguel had his head pinned down by the girl they found out was named Tory, and not a single person in the dojo wasn't amazed.

After class, Violet went along with Aisha to the mini mart. She was just finishing buying a pack of gum when Aisha let out an annoyed groan.

"Let me guess, dick pick?" she heard Tory ask. Violet snickered as she walked to stand by Aisha.

"No," Aisha chuckled. "My mom wants me to go
to the beach club with her."

Violet pouted, "Aw, really? That's horrible."

Tory laughed. "Yeah, what's so bad about the beach?"

"No. It's just, this girl Sam's probably gonna be there, and she and I are not on good terms," Aisha told them. "Whatever. I'm Aisha, by the way."

"I'm Violet."