─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
the dojo was full of students, all in karate gis. they stood in rows, facing their sensei as he yelled out orders.
"junbi!" johnny called out, "bow." his students bowed at him, "fighting positions."
gioia got into her regular fighting stance, her left foot in front of her right and her fists clenched.
johnny roamed around the room, correcting the flaws in the group's positions, "stabilize your base, hawk. keep your balance, full rotation when you strike."
"yes, sensei!" the boy repeated johnny's punch, "hai!"
johnny stepped over to another boy, and he moved back, "did you just flinch, virgin?" he asked the now frozen boy.
to test out his theory, johnny stepped over to another student and stamped on the floor. just as he expected, the boy recoiled.
"holy shit, we got a room full of flinchers."
"yes, sensei!"
"that was not a question! raise your hand if you've never been punched in the face." johnny instructed.
everyone but aisha, miguel and gioia raised their hands.
"put your hands down." he ordered, "all your lives, you've been avoiding fights so you don't break your nose or lose a tooth. this concussion nonsense. so there's only one solution, and that is before you leave this dojo, each and every one of you is going to take a punch, very hard, to the face."
everyone looked shocked at his words, some of them looked scared.
"miss robinson, sushi, line them up." johnny told the two girls, "unflinch this group."
"yes, sensei."
"are you sure?" gioia asked the man, hesitantly.
"go ahead." johnny demanded before stepping away.
gioia and aisha moved over and stood in front of their targets. the blonde girl gave the boy she was standing opposite a sympathetic look.
"i'm sorry." she mouthed before slamming her fist in his face.
the boy cried out and she glanced away. gioia jogged to the corner of the room and brought the boy a tissue roll. she tore off some pieces and pinched his nose with it.
"next!"
gioia had gone through about four boys: knocking them in the face, smothering them with tissues if they needed it and apologises straight after.
she glanced over and saw eli stood with aisha. gioia watched as the two conversed and glanced over to her. when aisha nodded, eli made his way to her.
"what are you doing here?" she asked him.
"i'm your next victim." he grinned.
"don't be a pussy, next!" aisha yelled at some boy, "hyah!"
gioia gawked at him and shook her head, "no, no. i do not want to punch you. you are supposed to be with aisha."
eli shrugged, "her and i came to an agreement. come on, i'll be fine."
gioia gave him a look and sighed. she got into her combat stance and quickly struck him in the face.
"holy shit." he fell onto the floor, his nose gushing.
aisha looked over as the crowd 'oohed', "he's okay." she announced.
"i'm okay." eli reassured everyone, "it's just a tooth," he muttered, gioia managed to completely miss what he said while she crouched down beside him.
"oh my goodness." gioia quickly gathered up some tissue and placed it on his face, "i am so sorry."
"i didn't think you were going to hit me that hard." eli chuckled in agony as she held the tissue on his nose, "aisha did warn me..."
gioia laughed, "i am very sorry."
"you enjoyed doing that, didn't you?"
she grinned, "a little bit."
"sushi!" johnny yelled from inside the office, "less comforting, more punching."
"yes, sensei!"
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
"how do i look?" miguel asked her.
despite her protesting, the two were stood at samatha larusso's locker as miguel was going to ask her out. he begged gioia to be there for 'emotional support' and she gave in.
"miguel..." she adjusted his shirt collar, "you look fine. it is not like you are asking her hand for marriage."
"okay, okay." miguel nodded.
"look, here she comes." gioia pointed to the brunette with her eyes glued on her phone. she pushed miguel forward, "good luck."
miguel watched as gioia shuffled over to the stairs nearby and stood next to the stairs. the blonde pulled her phone out and pretended to use it. she cringed at a few things miguel was saying to the girl and watched as he spoke.
after a few sentences exchanged, miguel nodded and began moving over to his friend. she could tell something hadn't gone as planned and began shaking her head.
"go back." she whisper-yelled while pointing at the larusso girl, "go!"
miguel grinned and turned back to the girl. they spoke again and samantha walked away with a smile. gioia squealed and ran into her friend's arms, pulling him into an embrace.
"you did it?"
"i-i did it!"
"you did it!" she threw her arm over his shoulder and lead him to her english class, "i knew you could do it."
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
as they warmed up and stretched for their karate session, miguel had been explaining the date he had with samantha at eight.
"i need somewhere romantic, but not too romantic," he stated, making aisha roll her eyes at the talk of her ex-best friend.
"because it is a date, but not a date, yeah?" gioia questioned.
"right."
"you could take her to get tattoos," eli suggested with a smirk.
"what?"
"why?"
"i know a guy, just hooked me up with this bad boy." the blue-haired boy stood up and pulled his karate jacket down, revealing a black inked hawk tattoo, with a blue mohawk.
"oh!" aisha chuckled.
"oh, shit." miguel examined it.
gioia nodded, impressed at the mark, "that looks great."
"that is badass." aisha chimed.
"right?" eli agreed as he looked at them from over his shoulder, "fourteen hours in the chair." he took a deep breath and flexed in the mirror.
"wait, are your parents okay with that?" aisha quizzed.
"oh, they have no idea." eli explained as he pulled his jacket back on, "definitely going to have to wear a t-shirt until college. probably longer... please don't tell them."
gioia snickered at the boy's mini-panic, "do not worry, we will not."
he gave her a grateful smile before sitting back down.
"uh, any other suggestions?" miguel asked, gazing at gioia for assistance.
"i do not know." she shrugged, "but if i was sam, i would like a boy to take me to a heavy metal concert or somewhere loud and busy."
miguel scoffed, "yeah, right."
"gb at a rock concert?" eli chuckled to himself, "when pigs fly."
"pigs do not fly." she raised her eyebrow.
"exactly." eli nodded, "i'm just saying, you don't seem like the type of girl to listen to heavy metal music."
she shrugged, "i am okay with anything. apart from 80s rock." gioia faced miguel with a taunting look on her face.
"okay, that was uncalled for." miguel rolled his eyes at her jab and turned to aisha.
"don't look at me." aisha ordered, "sam and i used to be friends - we're not anymore."
"okay, but i need your help." miguel pleaded.
"fine, um...i know that she likes chocolates and astronomy," aisha told him.
miguel nodded, "i could work with that."
"banned?" johnny's booming voice was heard from his office, "what are you talking about?"
miguel and gioia shared a look before standing up and making their way over to the office.
"no, you don't ban me. i'll ban you!" johnny finalised before slamming the phone onto its holder.
"careful, aren't we still tight on money?" gioia said softly.
"sensei, what's going on?"
"there's a lifetime ban on cobra kai from entering the tournament." johnny informed them.
"what tournament?" gioia quizzed.
"the 'all valley'."
"what? h-how is that fair?" miguel's face fell.
"it's not. there's nothing i can do about it." johnny sighed as he sat back down in his spinny chair.
"w-what happened to uh... never accept defeat?" miguel asked the man, "there is no 'no'?"
"that was girl advice."
"hold on." gioia interrupted their conversation, "you told miguel that there is no 'no' with girls?"
"i-"
"no, what he meant was-"
"i mean..."
"i worded that wrong."
"uh-huh." gioia nodded with her arms crossed as the two struggled to explain, "that is the most bullshit advice ever."
miguel was taken aback by her words, gioia wasn't one to use profanity.
"i didn't tell him 'no means no'." johnny began, "i just meant that if the girl says no to him asking her on that date."
"oh, yeah?" she challenged.
"yes." johnny nodded, "but this is different, this is the real world. there are rules."
"since when do you care about the rules?" miguel tested.
"right! remember when you beat up tyler and his friends outside the small mart?" gioia reminisced.
"good cause."
"we don't take no for an answer." miguel reminded the man, "you said that, you've got to fight this."
gioia pinched him in his arm, hard.
"i-i mean... we can't take no for an answer in this very specific situation." miguel rephrased his words while rubbing his sore arm, "that's gonna bruise."
"sorry." she patted his arm.
"you know what? you're right." johnny stood up, "i'm going to go down there."
"yeah." the two encouraged him.
"and beat their asses."
"yes... no, no, no, no, no."
"what, no, that's not what i meant. i'm saying maybe there's a more delicate approach, sensei?"
"the way of the fist is not delicate." johnny told him, "cobras are not delicate."
"yes, yes, sorry." miguel apologised, "forget delicate. i'm just saying... maybe there's a smarter way to fight back?"
"there is." gioia agreed.
miguel nodded, "you have to stop and think in these type of situations: what would gioia do."
johnny nodded, "you're right, that's always the more gentle way."
"what?" the girl asked.
⎯ ❃ neens speaks!
nothing much to say but the next chapter is mostly with hawk and gb 🤌💕