VIRTUAL AEROBICS; eli moskowitz

23. {fire and ice}

the blond man sent two punches into the face of a dummy, and then elbowed it in the face.

"enough about self-defense. learn self-offense!" he exclaimed, "don't be a pussy. join cobra kai, and let me teach you the way of the fist."

"and cut." aisha ended the video with a smile on her face.

"all right, did we get it?" johnny queried.

"i think so." aisha nodded.

"all right, great." johnny half-smiled before turning to gioia, who had agreed to edit the video, "just make sure the cobra kai snake comes in at the end, all right?"

"okay." the barbusca girl nodded.

"i want it to really pop." he continued, "make it chrome. and throw thunderstruck under it."

aisha and gioia both shared a glance. "i'm pretty sure the rights for that song will cost too much." aisha spoke up.

"no, i already own it." johnny dismissed her, "cassette's in the car." gioia put her hand over her mouth and turned to the side as she laughed at the man's lack of technology knowledge. "oh. and put one of those hash browns at the end." johnny concluded.

"a what, sensei?" gioia's face scrunched up in confusion.

"you know, like, 'hash brown', team cobra kai or something." johnny described, "and then send it to the internet!"

"i'll try." gioia hummed as she watched miguel and hawk follow their sensei into the back room. she assumed they went to talk about his parentage and decided not to get involved.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"gioia marie! someone is at the door for you." frederico barbusca called out.

the girl was laid on her bed, watching netflix and snacking on crispy m&m's. she murmured audibly in tiredness and rolled off her bed.

gioia switched off her television and quickly smothered down her skirt. she walked out of her room and made her way to the front door. there she saw her dad, johnny and miguel.

"gioia marie?" johnny grinned.

the girl's face reddened in humiliation while the two boys chuckled.

"cmon, gmb. we're going for a ride." miguel announced.

she nodded and turned to her dad, "uh, i'll be back later, papa."

"have a good time." the dark-haired man nodded.

gioia scuffled out her front door and scowled at the two boys beside her, "don't mention my middle name."

"don't worry, we will."

she sighed as they wandered off, eventually catching up with them. she climbed into her designated seat, the passengers seat and johnny drove them to a fast-food restaurant. they entered and eventually the trio were sat together eating burgers. "good, huh?" johnny asked the tanned boy as he at his beef burger.

"yeah." miguel nodded.

"secret's the chopped onions." johnny explained, "you don't like it?"

"not a fan." gioia admitted while she gradually chewed her chips. the girl hadn't touched her burger, besides plucking the burger bread. she had just been eating the chips instead.