Kim and I walked into the cafeteria tossing my apple back and forth but I accidentally threw it a bit too high causing it to go over Kim's head and almost hit the floor. The boy in front of us turned around and caught it with his foot. I didn't recognize him so I assumed that he was the new guy. He was slightly shorter than me, with slightly tan skin, brown hair, and two moles on his cheeks. 'He's kinda cute,' I thought.
He kicked up the apple and caught it easily before giving us a smug look that caused Kim to cross her arms and me to raise an eyebrow impressed, "Not gonna lie that was almost cool. I'm Diana"
"And I'm Kim," The blonde added.
"I'm Jack. I'm new." he replies.
Kim snorts, "I can tell, you still have that new guy smell."
"That. And you look too happy to be someone who's about to try the food here." I add with a smirk. "No offense Marge."
"None taken honey. Besides I don't know what half of it is."
The three of us chuckled at the lunch lady's statement. "Oh, can I have my apple back?" I ask with a small smile.
Kim shudders, "I would, you don't want to see her hungry."
"Oh, sorry," Jack said awkwardly before handing me my apple back. "Well maybe I'll see you both around sometime!"
"Maybe you will," Kim says smiling knowingly at the me before going to sit down to do homework.
"Or you can sit with me and my friends." I said with a friendly smile.
"Hey! New Kid! Diana!" I heard Eddie yell.
We both looked over to see Eddie waving them over. "That's them over there" I grabbed Jack's wrist and pulled him to my table.
"Uh, what are you doing Eddie? We save that seat for cheerleaders, prom queens, and super models." Jerry said with a smug smirk.
I smacked the back of his head, "Hun, I'm none of those and you still let me sit here." I sit down taking a bite of my apple.
"Well, I'm Jack. How do you guys know each other?" He asks while sitting down.
"We're friends, we do karate together after school." Milton said, gesturing around the table.
"We don't just do karate Milton. These fists are registered weapons." Jerry holds up his fists for emphasis and sits up, putting them down, "In fact, I already got a few calls about joining the Navy SEALS"
"Navy SEALS? You're afraid of baby seals!" Eddie taunts and we all chuckle. Our moment ended when someone threw a meatball at the back of Milton's head causing him to whine loudly. We all turned to see the Black Dragons laughing again.
"That's awesome! That kid from the Black Dragon Dojo just whaled with a-" Jerry was cut off by a meatball hitting his head causing him to pout in embarrassment, "Not cool man, not cool."
"Seriously Frank! Do I need to come over there to kick you and your little band of cheerleaders' butts again?" I yelled and stood up.
The Black Dragons stopped laughing and Frank meekly said, "No, ma'am."
I glared at them before sitting down causing them to flinch. Jack looked confused before asking, "Wait, I thought you guys knew karate?"
"Yes we do!" Milton said as he stood up. As soon as he looked at the Black Dragons, he quickly sat down again, "but they know it better, well except for Ana, she protects us when she-" Milton was cut off as another meatball hit the back of his head, "can."
I go to stand up but Jack grabbed my hand and stood up instead "It's cool, I got this." and he walks over to the Black Dragons.
"Why did we learn his name? Now I'm gonna miss him" Milton says.
I pat Milton's shoulder, "It's not like he's gonna die, hon"
"Hey, I like your outfits. What are you guys? Cheerleaders?" Jack taunts.
"No!... Bryan used to be," Frank stands up, "So, you got a problem or something?" He does some karate moves that caught the attention of everyone in the cafeteria.
"I didn't come here to fight man" Jack said before turning and walking away. Frank attempted to punch Jack but before his fist could collide with Jack, the boy caught it easily. "Okay, you probably shouldn't have done that." Jack twisted Frank's arm and kicked him into a table.
A fight broke out between Jack and the Black Dragons, they attacked him one at a time but he easily fought them and dodged their attacks. To get the high ground he jumped on to my table, the boys had ducked under the table however I still sat there, watching the fight. One of the Black Dragons dove at one the table in an attempt to knock Jack down but he quickly jumped, causing the Black Dragon to slide across the table and crash into the wall.
Jack looked at me with a wink and smile, I smirked and gestured behind him, "Pay attention hon."
He flipped off the table as one of the Black Dragon's ran forward and the two boys fought before Jack smashed his face into a bowl of pudding. "Enjoy your pudding" he joked and I smiled at the boy's humor. Frank tried to attack Jack but he held the pudding covered boy in front of him as a defense causing Frank to hesitate and Jack kicked the pudding boy's foot into Frank's causing Frank to fall face first. Then Jack turned pudding boy around and shoved him back causing his butt to hit Frank in the face before Jack threw him in the trash can.
Jack jumped to his feet and kicked up a plate of meatballs into the air before doing a spin kick, hitting Frank in the face. Jack looks around and sprinting out of the cafeteria to avoid getting in trouble.
"That was the most incredible thing I've ever seen in my life, and I've been to the Ice Capades." Milton said in astonishment as Jerry, Eddie, and I nodded in agreement.
─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
I was practicing my bo staff routine while listening to music when Jerry's laugh caught my attention. I looked over and took out my earbuds.
"Dude, Eddie just got dusted by Marge the lunch lady again," Jerry said with amusement, leaning against a dummy with Milton eating pizza, and the two men in suits walked out of the dojo unimpressed.
"Guys, what are you doing?" Rudy asks, "They said if we don't win two belts in our next tournament, they're shutting us down."
"What! They can't do that!" I exclaimed, this place was like a second home to me and it was where I met my best friends.
"Yo Rudy if you want to get some belts, you should get that new kid Jack in here," Jerry said while shoving pizza into his face.
"He was just as awesome as Diana!" Eddie exclaims. "At lunch, he took out four Black Dragons all by himself!"
"I don't care about some slap fight at school. Martial arts isn't about beating up kids in the lunchroom, it's about getting better through hard work and discipline" Rudy said before Jerry burped causing everyone to look at him in disgust.
"What? You should be happy it came out the right end."
"Hard work and discipline you say," I said dryly.
─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Rudy stood in front of us to instruct us, "Everybody focus," They took a deep breath and began their daily meditation. The peace of the meditation was soon interrupted by someone crashing through the wall and doing a somersault before standing up. I quickly recognized the person as Jack and my eyes widened in surprise.
"That boy just came right out the wall!?" Marge yelled while we shifted our gazes between Jack and the hole in the wall.
"Okay, you guys have got to try that!" Jack said with amusement.
"Come here you." The security guard said as he poked his head through the hole in the wall.
Jack's eyes widened, "Gotta go. Sorry about the wall. Nice seeing you again Diana." I waved awkwardly at him before he flipped out of the dojo, literally. But he was quickly stopped by mall cops as he reached the doors.
"Who was that?" Rudy asked confused.
"Jack!" we chorused.
"Ooooooooooh," Rudy said. I rolled my eyes at our sensei and looked over to Jack who looked defeated and annoyed.
─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
We sat at a booth in Falafel Phil's talking and eating when Kim walked over to our table. "Hey, Jack! Hey Ana!"
"Hel-lo Kim!" All the boys but Jack chorused while I rolled my eyes at the boys' behavior.
"Um, can I talk to you for a minute?" Kim said to Jack. However, all the boys thought she was talking to them and all of them replied with various ways of saying yes.
"Guys, can you all give me a sec? Vamoose." Jack said, trying to shoo the boys away.
"I would if I could hun," I said because I was at the window seat with Jack in the middle and Milton on the end.
"That means go." He looked at all the boys and then at me, who smiled sarcastically at him.
"I know what 'vamoose' means" Jerry gets up while rambling in Spanish and I chuckled at what he said.
Jack gets up to let me leave and as I walk out I say, "no te diviertas demasiado (Don't have too much fun)"
─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
I was showing Rudy my bo staff routine for the upcoming karate tournament.
~ Start at 0:47 ~
"Di, that was perfect! We're definitely going to get a belt with your routine!" Rudy exclaimed, impressed.
I gave him a tired smile, "Thank you."
Suddenly Jack came in spinning a bo staff, "Hey, guys sorry I'm late!"
Rudy rushes over to him, "Sorry doesn't cut it Jack- wait. Where did you get that astronaut bo-staff?"
I walked over to him. "Whoa, can I hold it?"
He handed it to me, ''It was a gift from the Black Dragons. See, we can all use it" he gestured to me and I did two overhead strikes and a front stab before trying to hand it to Rudy.
Rudy flinches away from the bo staff, "Eh, no. No, students from this dojo are forbidden from even entering the Black Dragon"
I hand the bo staff back to Jack before backing away slowly from their altercation and running over to Milton and Jerry. "What? You can't forbid me from doing anything."
"How could you betray me like this? If it wasn't for me you would have been banned from this mall for two weeks." Rudy exclaimed.
Jack looked shocked, "Banned from the mall? You said I was going to juvie."
I stood next to Jack, "Rudy, why would you lie about that?"
"You know? I say a lot of things. I'm what they call chatty." Rudy said, trying to correct his slip-up.
"You lied to me. You broke the Wasabi code!" Jack said, pointing to Rudy for emphasis.
"Whaaaat? I did- I-" Rudy stammered in a high-pitched voice.
"Kim was right. This place is a joke. I'm out of here!" Jack storms out of the dojo shoving the bo staff into my hands.
"Fine, go ahead," Rudy yells after him and turns to us, "who needs him?"
"We do!" we all yell.
Rudy thinks for a second before realizing, "What have I done?"
I head to the changing rooms to change out of my gi. Once I'm done I pack my duffle bag and start to walk out.
Milton, the first one to see me, said "Ana, practice isn't over yet. Where are you going?"
"I'm going somewhere where there aren't any liars or someone who messed up our chances of keeping the dojo. No offense guys." I said with a sad smile.
"None taken." They chorus.
"I'll see you guys tomorrow." I turn and walk out.
─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Me, Milton, Jerry, Eddie, and Marge are in the dojo helping Rudy pack up the dojo into cardboard boxes. Jack walks back into the dojo with a duffle bag.
"Jack! Your back!" Rudy exclaims, walking up to him.
"I'm just here to get my stuff. What's going on?" He asks.
"We're closing. No Jack and Ana, no belt. No belt, no dojo!" Jerry said, putting down a box.
"Wait, no Ana? Why no Ana?" Jack asks.
I walk out of the back room with a full box, "Because I don't want my victories associated with liars." I shoot a pointed look at Rudy.
Suddenly a middle-aged man walks into the dojo, "Milton David Krupnick. So, this is your French horn lesson huh?"
"Dad, I'm sorry. I was taking karate lessons because kids kept beating me up for taking French horn lessons" Milton explains.
"Let's go Milton! You're lucky you didn't hurt yourself."
Milton shrugs, "It's closing anyway. This is the only place I felt I really belonged. I'll let my bully know I'm available."
I cracked my knuckles, "Don't worry about them, I took care of it, hun"
Milton gives me a small smile and Eddie speaks up, "Now my mom is going to send me back to Mrs. King's Dance Academy." He shakes his head, "My body was not made to Mambo."
"Guess I'm a lone wolf again. That's how I like it. Don't think for a second that I'm going to miss any of you meatbags." Jerry said, tearing up a bit.
"And I'm gonna have to leave the place where I met my best friends," I said teary-eyed, bringing Milton, Jerry, and Eddie in for a group hug.
Milton was the first to leave, "See you around guys." We waved sadly back to him.
Jack stops Milton from leaving, "Milton! Hang on, why don't you show your dad how you can break a board."
Jack sets up a board onto two boxes and Milton follows him over, "Break a board? I can barely cut a well-cooked piece of fish."
"Just believe in yourself and do it-"
Milton cuts him off, "I can't! When I was born, my parents thought they'd given birth to a baby bird. I mean-"
"Do it Krupnick!" Jack yells.
"Hai-ya!" Milton yells, bringing his arm down and breaking the board. He looks at the broken board in astonishment, "Holy Christmas Nuts!"
"That ain't no baby bird right there!" Marge exclaims, shaking her head. Milton got high-fived by the boys but I hugged him causing him to blush.
"That was unbelievable Jack. These guys are your friends, they didn't break the Wasabi code, I did." Rudy said to Jack.
"I broke it too. You don't walk away from your friend when they need you." Jack said looking at us as me and the boys walked over to stand next to Jack and we gave each other small smiles.
"Wasabi?" Rudy asked.
"Wasabi," Jack and I said together.
After that, our training for the tournament began. Eddie managed to pull a muscle on the first exercise and got his ass kicked by Marge... again. Milton somehow punched himself in the face and took down a dummy that rose up again and knocked him to the ground. I kept practicing my bo staff routine and Jerry, being Jerry, walked onto the mat while I was practicing and got hit in the face. Luckily, it wasn't serious. Jack did a series of flips that I copied perfectly but when the others tried it they all ended up on the floor in a pile with Marge on top of everyone.
─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
"And now our visitors: The Wasabi Warriors!" the announcer said.
We walked out doing our own thing, Milton puffed the front of his gi (idk how to explain it), Eddie flexed, Jerry did a body roll into finger guns, I flipped my hair over my shoulder and smiled, and Jack put his arms out and managed to hit Jerry and me in the face. Holding my nose, I walked over to the benches in embarrassment. When we sit down, Jack grabs my face and kisses my nose. My eyes widen as I blushed and looked away.
"Alright, guys Eddie's up first," Rudy said. We looked over at Eddie to see him on his knees, praying.
"Aw, man!" Jack exclaimed before going to help Eddie and I followed him.
"Jack, Di, the guy I'm fighting is huge!" Eddie exclaims.
"Oh come on he's not that big..." I looked over and my jaw dropped whoa! That dude is huge! I thought.
"Wow! What do they feed you?" Jack said, shocked.
"You're going down," he said to Eddie.
Eddie panics, "I don't think I can do this. Even Marge, the lunch lady, throws me around."
"Eddie, look. This is your day to change all of that!" I start.
"Yeah! If losing to Marge gets you angry, use it." Jack finishes patting Eddie's helmet (Pad Thingy? idk).
Eddie quickly takes him down. "We did it! we got our first belt!" Rudy exclaims.
Jack goes up to Jerry, "Okay. Nunchucks are up next. Jerry, all you gotta is work your magic-"
Jerry cuts him off, "Save it Jack, I got this." He walks onto the mat with confidence. But he somehow hit himself in the crotch causing all the boys in the dojo to flinch.
I run over to him, "Jerry! Are you okay?"
He looks around as I help him off the mat, "Everything is purple."
"Okay Milton, you're up next. If you can break more boards than your opponent then we win our second belt."
"I'm ready Rudy," Milton said, lifting his arms, showing them covered by oven mitts.
"Would you please take off the oven mitts?" Jack and I asked.
"Oven mitts? Do you mean weapon warmers?" Milton said, throwing them off and walking cockily towards the boards.
"I love you, Milton!" His dad screamed, drawing a heart in the air.
"I love you too Dad!" Milton yelled back, copying the gesture.
"Wasabi!" Milton's father yelled, ripping open his shirt, revealing his green-painted chest. I went to look back at the noise only for Jack to turn me back around, putting an arm over my shoulder.
"You'll thank me later," Jack said and I nodded.
Frank and Milton bowed to each other. Frank easily broke his board, but Milton asked for another one. "Yes! My man's going for the win!" Jack yelled, doing an awkward dance.
I pulled him back to the benches, "Sit down sweetie."
Milton broke both boards. "He got the belt! We're saved! I get to keep the dojo!" Rudy celebrated. However, our excitement ended as soon as Milton grabbed Frank by his nipples.
"No! No! He's doing a nipple twister! That's illegal!" Rudy screamed. "Milton, you lost the belt, it was in your hands. Do you have any idea what that means?"
Milton sat down dreamily, "It means I just had the best moment of my life"
"That's it. I have to move back in with my parents!" Rudy complained.
"Rudy, I still have my bo staff routine and Jack has the vertical peg," I said pulling my hair up into a tight bun.
"Oh, yeah," Rudy said, perking back up.
I walked onto the mat and bowed to my opponent.
~ Start at 0:47 ~
I easily won my belt. "Ana, that was amazing!" Jack said, running up to hug me.
I hugged him back, "Thanks, Jack! It's your turn to get out there and win our last belt. So get out there and win this thing!"
"Yes ma'am, and when I win are you going to admit you have a crush on me?" Jack smiled cockily.
"Ew, I do not!"
"Yeaah, I think you do," Jack walked away backwards with a wink before turning around and walking over to the vertical peg. Jack and Kim bowed to each other before Jack took a couple of steps backwards and Frank kicked him in the leg causing him to fall onto the ground in pain.
We ran over and I put his head on my lap as everyone crowded around him. "That is so wrong! You are banished from this dojo! Banished, I say!" Ty, the Black Dragon's Sensei, screamed.
"Rudy, I can't get up!" Jack said, leaning on me while Rudy was crouched in front of him.
Rudy desperately shakes Jack, "Yes you can! You're the champ! You gotta get up! You gotta get up champ!"
"Rudy! I can't get up because you're kneeling on my leg!" Jack yelled, and I rolled my eyes.
"Ooooh, sorry my bad" Rudy said awkwardly as he and I brought Jack to his feet and led him toward the benches. Rudy let him go and I led him to the mat. Meanwhile, Kim was quitting her dojo and threw her belt at her screaming sensei.
"Are you going to be able to do this?" I asked.
"I don't know."
"Well, if you do it. I'll give you a kiss on the cheek." I smiled.
"Will you admit you have a crush on me?" he asked with a smug smirk.
"No, Because I don't," I said dryly. "I was trying to give you an incentive. So, do we have a deal?"
"Yep."
"Good." I turned and walked away and everyone looked at me with knowing looks. "You know I can kick your guys' asses right?" They all grimaced remembering sparring practice.
"I can't believe he's going to launch off of one foot," Milton said. "That's one bad mama jama."
"He's not launching off his foot, he's launching from his hands!" Eddie exclaimed.
"That's only been done once before. By a man named Bobby Wasabi." Rudy said dramatically.
"Whoaaaa!" We said impressed.
Jack made eye contact with me and I gave him a small smile. Jack did a roundoff into a backflip and kicked the peg off of the stand. We cheered as we ran over to Jack who was lying on the floor. I helped him up and kissed his cheek, "As promised" I blushed.
"We got our belts! We got our belts!" Rudy screamed. "Come on guys, we're going home!"
"You know what I'm feeling?" Jerry asked.
"I think we're all feeling it," Jack replied and we all jumped up and kicked.
─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Everyone was back at the dojo when Kim walked in. I gasped, "Kim, not that I don't love you, but what are you doing here?"
"I quit the Black Dragon. You guys were alright at the tournament but the way I see it, you need all the help you can get."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jerry said, walking forward. "You can't just walk in here and assume that you can be a part of our dojo. You have to pass a test."
Kim shrugged, "Okay." She walked over to three dummies and easily kicked them to the floor.
"What do you think guys?" Jerry asked, a bit scared.
"She's in!"
"Got my vote!"
"A+! "
They guys looked at each other and then at me and I walked over to Kim and grabbed her shoulders. "Obviously it's a yes! There's too much testosterone here."
Kim laughed and walked to Rudy's office to sort out her transfer.
"Sooo, Di, "Jack said with a smirk, "about that kiss"
"What? You want another one?" I walked up to him and whispered in his ear, "You're gonna have to earn it sweetie."
A/N: Please comment and/or vote! (You don't have to, but it is appreciated)