Chapter Seventeen
DON'T YOU KNOCK?
Mara groaned as she tried to mix the thick cement. She was working with Gia. The new girl was having trouble carrying the heavy bags. It was clear Gia wasn't used to being worked this hard. She reminded Mara of herself when she first came to Cobra Kai. It was an unfamiliar environment that she was thrown into and she didn't have the chance to transition as easily into being a Cobra like Mara, Miguel, and Hawk did.
Her black hair was tied in a high ponytail as she struggled to pour the cement. "Here how about we switch?" Gia nodded and Mara took the cement out of the girl's hands. It was still heavy for Mara but not to the point where she couldn't carry it. She was definitely having an easier time than Gia.
The girls got back to work and suddenly they heard the sound of a horn honking. All of the students looked to see a giant cement truck pulling into the yard. "You've got to be shitting me." She looked at Gia who looked like she was about to pass out.
"Line up!" Everyone dropped their tools and formed a group in front of the cement truck. Gia stuck close to Mara. "You think winning the All Valley gives you the right to goof off? Well, I got news for you. Winning one championship don't mean squat. A true champion never stops training. You gotta keep moving forward...or else you could get stuck exactly where you are. It's like the cement in this truck. If that drum doesn't start turning, the cement inside will harden and get stuck. Is that what you want to happen to you?"
"No, Sensei."
"Good. Then climb up, get inside, and make it spin." Mara looked over at Miguel confused. Wasn't that dangerous?
"Sensei, we're sorry for messing around," Aisha told him pleadingly.
"We learned our lesson," Hawk added. Mara bit her lip and looked down to prevent herself from saying anything sarcastic to the boy.
Sensei walked over to the truck and pulled the ladder down harshly. "Get in!"
"Sensei, this seems dangerous. I mean, the fumes alone—"
"Quiet!" Everyone jumped at Mr. Kreese's voice and looked over at him. "This man led you to the mountaintop, and you question him? Look at you. Look at all of you. I can't believe this pathetic pack of pussies competed in the All Valley, and let alone won. It's an absolute miracle. And who's responsible for that miracle? Johnny Lawrence. The best student in the history of Cobra Kai. My student."
Mara's head perked up at that. Mr. Kreese taught Sensei? She knew that Sensei won many championships and if this was the guy to lead him to victory Mara knew she wanted him around to teach them.
"You were Sensei's Sensei?" Hawk voiced everyone's thoughts.
"You better believe it, kid. And I tell you I've never trained a tougher student in my whole life. So, if you know what's good for you, you better listen to every goddamn word he says." Kreese looked directly at Mara and she nodded and stepped forward at the same time as Miguel.
"I'll do it, Sensei," they both said at the same time. Sensei just nodded at them and watched as Miguel let Mara go first and he followed her. Hawk followed after them and soon other students were joining the line. Johnny looked over at Kreese to see a satisfied look on his face.
Mara looked into the truck and her mouth dropped open at all of the cement inside. She tried her hardest not to slip as she climbed in, but she ended up falling anyway. Miguel came in next muttering an "oh shit" before helping Mara off of the floor.
Once everyone was inside Johnny stuck his head through the opening. "Don't just stand there. You wanna get stuck? Move!"
Everyone slowly maneuvered over to the wall and started to push. It didn't budge and everyone pushed harder. Mara groaned as her hands slipped down the wall. "Let's go guys! Move it!" She pushed harder and eventually they got it to start turning. "All right. There we go, there we go! A little bit faster!" They all started to push harder at Sensei's yells and the pipe started turning faster. "You got this guys let's go!" After a few more seconds they got the pipe fully spinning. They could hear cheering from outside and Mara smiled to herself at their accomplishment.
Eventually everyone had a turn inside the truck and Sensei had them all line up so he could hose them down. "You should all be proud of yourselves. I know I'm proud. Your parents would be proud, too, if you told them what we did here today, which we won't."
"My dad doesn't give a shit what I do anyway," Mara mumbled on her breath.
"Same, kid. Anyway. You pushed forward like champions. Never stopping. Never being satisfied. Never giving up. And if you keep pushing and keep moving forward, you're gonna go to places you never even dreamed of."
Sensei dismissed them and Mara walked over to Gia. "Hey, Aisha and I are having a movie night with another one of our friends if you wanna join. Could be a way to get to know each other."
Gia smiled at her. "Yeah, I would really like that."
"Great, I'll send you the address. Just come by around 6."
Gia nodded and walked away with a smile. She was finally making friends. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad here.
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Mara entered the house later that day after dropping off Aisha at her own house. The girl still hadn't gotten her license so Mara still drived her. She didn't mind though.
She placed her keys down and her bag and went to Ryan's room to tell him she was having some friends over later. She put her ear to the door and didn't hear anything but music so she knocked and opened the door. "Hey Ryan I just wanted to—oh my God!" Mara covered her eyes and backed out of the room slamming the door shut.
"God damn it, Mara! I didn't even get to finish!"
Mara kept her hands over her eyes and kept her back to the wall trying to get the image out of her head. The door opened and Miguel came out, wiping his mouth off with his hand. Mara peaked between her fingers at him and he gave her a sheepish smile before heading for the door. "I'll uh see you tomorrow. Bye." The front door slammed and Mara's cheeks flushed red from embarrassment. Ryan came out of his room next still zipping up his pants. "Don't you knock?"
"I did knock! I just wanted to tell you I was having some girls over."
Ryan rolled his eyes. "The first time I get head and it's ruined by my little sister." He walked back into his room and slammed the door.
Mara dropped her hands from her face and sighed. She needed to find some bleach to wash her eyes out. She walked into her room and changed her clothes into some athletic gear. She then put on her running shoes and checked the time. It was still pretty early in the day so she had time for a longer run.
Mara walked past Ryan's door and decided not to ask him to come with her. He probably was still fixing his "problem." She left the house and started to jog down the road.
Ryan heard the front door close and he unlocked his phone to call Miguel. The boy picked up immediately. "Hey."
"You can come back now. I think Mara just left for a run."
"I don't feel like being walked in on again babe."
"Don't worry she'll be gone for awhile. I'm not done with you, hot stuff." Ryan knew Miguel was blushing and he smirked in victory.
"Ok, fine. You're lucky I like you."
"Awww, I like you too." Ryan heard Miguel snort on the other line.
"I'll see you in 10 minutes, Ry."
"I'll be waiting."
Mara had been running for about 30 minutes when she heard the sound of a car behind her. She turned around and saw a familiar red car. Scoffing she continued to run ignoring the car coming up on her side.
"Mars! Come on please talk to me."
Mara just turned up her headphones and ran faster. Moon dropped her head and let out a huff. How was she going to explain what happened if she couldn't even get Mara to talk to her.
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Mara bought a bunch of candy and snacks for her movie night with the girls. Aisha was helping her set up while they waited for Sam and Gia to get there.
Miguel had left earlier not wanting to be here when Sam arrived. Mara had found him and Ryan in the hot tub when she came home and she had a clue to what they were doing.
The doorbell ring and Mara went to answer it. Gia and Sam were on the other side and she pulled them both in excitedly. "I'm so glad you both are here! We set out some snacks and we waited for you guys to pick a movie."
Sam hugged her and then went to hug Aisha. Mara noticed that Gia was still shyly standing by the door and she grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her inside. "Don't worry. You'll have fun I promise."
Gia nodded and walked further in. The girls all sat down on the couch and Mara grabbed the remote. "Ok, what should we watch?" She started to scroll through the channels when her phone went off. She looked at it to see 3 missed calls from Moon. She just shit her phone off and tossed it to the side.
"Hey, Mara can I talk to you for a second?" Mara looked back at Sam and nodded confused. The two girls stood up and Mara tossed Aisha the remote so her and Gia could pick a movie. Sam followed Mara into the kitchen and Mara crossed her arms over her chest.
"I saw that Moon has been calling you. I know it's not any of my business, but I think you should talk to her. And Hawk. You forced me and Aisha to talk and now we're friends again."
"It's not that easy Sam."
"Isn't it? You told me to communicate with Aisha and that worked so maybe there's something you're missing with Moon and Hawk. Maybe if you just talked to them you could understand their side of things and you all could be on good terms again."
Mara thought over Sam's words. Moon did seem pretty desperate to talk to her. "I'll think about it. Can we just have a fun drama free movie night?"
Sam nodded and grabbed the bowl of caramel popcorn. "Let's do it."
The girls walked back to the couch and stopped in their tracks when they saw Ryan laying across the floor throwing popcorn into his mouth. He looked at them and waved them over.
"Come on! We don't have all night."
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Ryan has to be my favorite sibling I've written for one of my characters so far! This was more of a filler, but things start speeding up next chapter!
As always if you liked this chapter don't forget to vote and leave a comment!