jj's shift ended around the same time that school was over so i convinced him to drop me off at the cobra kai dojo on his way home from work, although he wasn't too pleased that i was already talking about karate again. jj was pretty protective and he thought karate was "too dangerous" for me, but my parents on the other hand thought it was a great after school activity where i could meet new friends.
jj arrived in front of the dojo and i stepped out of the jeep waving goodbye to him and he drove away. i opened the door causing a bell attached to it to ring. Everyone that had been stretching looked over to me and i smiled seeing miguel standing with a couple unfamiliar faces. he walked over to me and was about to speak, but got interrupted by a man's booming voice yelling over him.
"hey! who are you?" the man said walking over to me.
"hi! i'm davina campbell, miguel invited me," i said with a big smile plastered on my face. this man was definitely trying to act intimidating, but my old sensei was the toughest person i'd ever met so nothing like this really fazed me anymore.
"diaz? you can't just invite people to the dojo."
"yes, i know. i'm sorry sensei, but she's new and i thought she could learn a thing or two from you!"
the man looked back over to me with glaring eyes. "you know how to fight kid?"
"depends on who you ask," i replied, smirking a little. i could tell he wasn't a fan of sarcasm so i wanted to use that to my advantage.
"hawk!" he screamed, still looking me dead in the eyes.
"yes sensei!" i heard a boy from the back of the class yell back to him. he had a bright blue mohawk which reminded me of one of my friends back home who always used to do crazy things with their hair.
"show this girl what you're made of!" the man shouted back to him and held his hand out signaling for me to go over to the mats and fight this "hawk" guy.
"yes sensei!" he shouted again walking to where the sensei pointed.
i was wearing jeans which wasn't my first pick for fighting attire, but i knew i could still take this spikey haired kid, he seemed like the all bark no bite kind. he was kind of attractive, but i'd seen better.
i walked over to the mat and we both bowed to each other.
"you ready to face the fury of the hawk?" he said, smirking at me.
"is that how you get all your girls," i replied back, not impressed. it seemed like i hit a nerve and his smirked turned into more of a growl. before i knew it though he lunged at me trying to land a punch on my abdomen, but i blocked it and kicked his knee as a counter, making him wobble to the side a little. he quickly caught his bearings though and tried to kick me in the same spot he had tried to punch me, and i blocked again pushing his leg to the ground. without even batting an eye i immediately followed him with the same kick he had tried on me and succeeded in pushing him back a little. i did it again before he had the chance to take another breath and he fell to the ground. i put my foot on his chest making sure he couldn't get back up and then looked out into the dojo to see all the students staring at me with their jaws dropped.
"davina, that was AWESOME!" miguel shouted.
"what'd you say your last name was again?" the sensei said stepping out from behind where hawk and i had been fighting.
"campbell," i said with the same proud smile on my face as before.
"well campbell, looks like you're a natural cobra, you're welcome to come for lessons here anytime!"
"HEY!" i heard a scream come from the ground and then realized i had never taken my foot off of hawk.
"oops sorry," i said, offering my hand to him to help him up.
he didn't accept it though, he just swatted it away with disgust on his face and i raised my eyebrows. "tough crowd," i said, walking over to where miguel was standing.
"so how'd i do md?"
"davina... that was amazing! i'm the all valley champ and i don't even know how to do some of those moves! where did you learn all of that?"
i wanted to ask what an "all valley" was, but refrained assuming at some point i'd be filled in on all the crap that goes down here.
"my old dojo, i've taken classes since i was 7, been a black belt since i was 12, and won many... many tournaments," i said bragging about myself.
"woah... you're like... a karate LEGEND!" miguel said freaking out a lot more than i expected him too.
"ok i wouldn't go that far buddy, i wasn't even the best in my cl-" i was interrupted, by an angry hawk standing in between miguel and i facing only miguel.
"um hello? i was trying to have a conversation can you please mov-" i said tapping his shoulder causing him to abruptly turn around and get inches away from my face.
"look i don't know where you came from, but wherever it is you should go back, princess," hawk said with a terrifying grimace on his face.
"well someone's a sore loser," miguel spat out, getting him an eye roll from hawk.
"dude you can't be serious? she's a stranger, she's not one of us, but all of a sudden she can just waltz in here and act like she is? i don't like it," hawk said, crossing his arms.
"ok mr. tough guy, listen here. i could beat all of you with my eyes closed, so why don't you just be grateful that your pathetic little dojo is getting a real fighter cause it looks like you really need it," i said crossing my arms back at him.
"you think you can come into our dojo and shit on it? watch yourself princess."
"okkkkk, let's all just calm down and look at the bright side! davina is here to help us all fight better and sensei clearly likes her so it's not like she's not welcome here! we can all be friends right?" miguel said, but hawk and i were just staring each other down.
i don't know what this guy's problem was. i fairly beat him in a fight and he just seemed to not accept that. it was a pretty lame attitude, especially when i had tried being nice to him. i wanted to start training here if my parents allowed it, but not if i had to deal with a jackass like him everyday. i knew after seeing me fight though, miguel wouldn't back down until i joined so i'd just have to suck it up and put on my usual smile whenever i was around him. god was this going to be hard.
-
"hey davie how was practice?" jj said as i hopped into the front seat of his jeep and he sped off.
"good until some jerk couldn't accept that i'm better than him," i said, rolling my eyes.
"there's that fiery attitude that i love so dearly. come on, tell me though, what happened?"
"well the sensei there wanted me to fight someone to see if i had any skill and he chose some dude who i hadn't met before and then we started fighting and i won fairly quickly and then i tried to be nice and offered to help him up, but he just got pissed at me and started going off on how i wasn't 'one of them' and didn't 'belong in their dojo'," i said, expressively using air quotes to get my point across further.
"look as much as i don't want you to do karate, i know how much it means to you and sometimes you're just going to have to deal with losers like him if you really want to succeed."
"where'd you read that? the back of a cereal box?" we both let out a chuckle and then arrived back at my house.
i ran up to my room right away and texted miguel to see if we could hang out soon. he gave me his number in case i had any more questions or just wanted to meet up so i wanted to take this opportunity and have him introduce me to some of his friends.
i put my phone down and crawled into bed replaying everything from today. i wanted to become close with everyone in the dojo, but if hawk was there ruining everything i wasn't sure how it would all work out. i've only been here for one day and i was already making enemies. lucky me.