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Yeah, and I didn't ask.
Go trim your tree.
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Clarisa and Robby were now both stuck waxing the cars, raising the flags, cleaning windows and may more chores Daniel had given the two.
"No, no, no. Like this." Daniel stops both Clarisa and Robby and shows them how to 'correctly' wax the cars.
"Uncle, I already know all this. Why am I still doing this?" Clarisa questions, rubbing some oil off of her face.
"It's never wrong to go back to your basics." Daniel explains. "Strong roots mean strong tree."
Clarisa sighs as she goes back to waxing the cars.
I could have been watching Friends.
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After a while, Daniel told both teens to meet him back at the LaRusso household.
Show me wash the windows." Daniel instructs to Robby as Clarisa sat down, watching the two.
"What?" Robby asks, confused.
"Here, let me show you." Clarisa says as she steps in front of Daniel, taking Robby's place.
"Ready?" Daniel says and she gives him a stern nod.
"Hai." Daniel throws a punch at her, which she swiftly blocks. He tries throwing some more and she blocks them as well, easily.
"Good job," Daniel compliments. Clarisa turns and pushes Robby towards Daniel.
"Your turn, Pretty boy." Clarisa says and sits on the side.
"Ready?" Daniel says, "Hai!" He throws a slower punch and Robby blocks it. Daniel throws some more punches and even adds in a few kicks to which Robby all blocks.
"Woah..." Robby whispers in awe.
Daniel and Robby bow off to each other and face Clarisa.
"This is so cool!" he exclaims yet Clarisa keeps a stolid face.
"It is." She says and pats him on the shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow,"
And with that she leaves.
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The following day, after school, Clarisa walks to the cafeteria, a big surprise awaiting her.
"Clarisa, wait up!" She looks back to see Harleen running towards her.
"Hey Harleen," Clarisa says and Harleen offers her a smile.
"Do you mind if I sit with you during lunch?" She asks and Clarisa nods.
"Yeah sure," She answers.
"Who do you usually sit with?" Harleen questions as they buy their lunches.
"Well, there's Miguel, the bimbo who got into that fight with Kyler, Demetri, who's really sarcastic and Eli, who's kinda cute, in a platonic friend way, but really shy."
Harleen nods her head in understandment. "They seem like cool people." She says.
"Cool, is not the word you'd use to describe them. More like nerdy, dorky, weak..." Clarisa begins to list off as suddenly she bumps into someone.
"Shit," She says as the boy she bumps into turns their head. They had a bright red mohawk, something no one else in the school had. It really stuck out. The mohawk made Clarisa take a moment to realize who it was.
"Eli?" Clarisa says, in shock. Harleen raises her eyebrows from beside her.
"Hey Clarisa," Eli smirks looking down at the girls. Well, looking down at Clarisa, Harleen was closer to his height.
"Why the fuck did you do that to your hair, Eli?" Clarisa exclaims.
"Actually it's Hawk now," He states.
"Sorry, what?" She asks.
"I go by Hawk now, no more Eli." He says, proudly.
"So you turned into a bird?" Clarisa says, purely confused.
"What? No. I joined Cobra Kai. They gave me some advice, so I took it. Flipped the script." Hawk or Eli says.
"Dumb advice." Clarisa states and he rolls his eyes. His gaze then falls onto Harleen.
"You never told me about your friend." Hawk says, stepping closer to her and putting one arm on the wall, beside her.
"Not interested," Harleen simply says before Clarisa drags her away from Hawk.
"See ya," She says as the two girls go to sit somewhere else, away from the boy.
"That's Eli?" Harleen asks, biting hinto her apple.
"No. That's not Eli." Clarisa says.
"That's Hawk."
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That evening, after work, Clarisa was forced into trimming bonsai trees with Robert. Clarisa was silent and noted the awkward glances Robby would give to her. Clarisa never really spoke much, silence was awkward for Robby.
Clarisa looks in the corner of her eye, Robby staring at her.
"Stop staring." Clarisa says, the two words she had spoken that whole time. Robby swallows and counters.
"I wasn't." He states and Clarisa rolls her eyes.
"Sure, tell yourself that." Clarisa says, not even looking at him, but her tree, which was almost completely bald without leaves.
"I don't think that's how it's supposed to look," Robby notices. Sighing, Clarisa turns to the boy.
"Yeah, and I didn't ask. Go trim your tree." She states, making Robby turn away.
Robby didn't know why the girl acted like this. What was with her? He was determined to find out.
"How's it going?" Daniel asks all of a sudden as he pops into the small room.
"I'm sorry, I suck at this." Robby sighs as he puts his clippers down.
"I don't know what I'm doing, I just, I don't get it." Robby states, rubbing his forehead.
"Don't worry, I didn't get it either at first. Mr. Miyagi had to teach me." Daniel tells the young men.
"Mr. Miyagi, that's the dude who taught you kata, right?" Robby asks.
"Yeah, he was a pretty special dude. He taught me a lot." Daniel says with a smile. Clarisa stops for a moment and looks down at her tree. Mr. Miyagi was basically her grandfather. He taught Daniel and Clarisa's mother karate, back in the 80s, he was their mentor first, then Daniel and Isabelle's children's mentor.
Mr. Miyagi was Clarisa's favourite person. Although not fully knowing english, or whatever other girl problems Clarisa had had, he was always open to listen and give the best advice.
Clarisa smiles, a small tear forming in her eye at the memory of him, before brushing it away before anyone could see. She quickly got back to trimming.
"Yeah, he was amazing." Daniel sighs as he goes over to Robby. "Look, what you've got to do is close your eyes. Get everything out of your head. The only thing you can see is the tree. Think only the tree. Then, you visualize what you want that tree to look like. And you make it happen."
Robby begins to cut the tree again, actually making it look good and progressing.
"There you go." Daniel pats his back.
"So this is obviously some kind of metaphor. The tree's like our feelings or something?" Robby asks.
"Well, you guys are the tree, Robby and Katie. You got strong roots. You know who you are, right? So now, all you've got to do is visualize what you want your future to look like. And then you make it happen." Daniel says and the two nod at him.
"Now, try again." Daniel encourages leaving to two again with another silence.
After a lot of trimming and pruning, Clarisa and Robby were finally done.
Clarisa starts to leaving when Robby stops her.
"Hey, wait!" He calls out. She turns her head in his direction, motioning for him to speak.
"Are you free this evening?" Robby asks, stuttering.
"Why?" Clarisa states, squinting her eyes.
"I don't know, maybe you'd wanna hang out?" He asks.
"Hang out?" Clarisa asks and he nods. "Can't. I gotta go take care of my little sister tonight and then tomorrow I have work."
"Oh sure, that's fine. Maybe some other time?" But before he could finish, Clarisa had left.
"Damnnit," Robby grunts, in frustration.
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Clarisa was still in the area, walking home, when she got a message from Amanda.
Auntie Mandy: Hi Sweetheart do u mind
picking up my purse from the dealership
if you're still nearby
If not, I'll get Sam to grab it
Thanks sweetie 😘
Me: No problemo, I'll grab it
Clarisa walks back to the dealership, which was only about 10 minutes of a walk. As she gets there, three figures are at the front of the door.
"What the hell?" Clarisa exclaims as she sees Robby fighting two guys. Rather getting his ass kicked by two guys.
"Clarisa?!" Robby shouts, as he notices the girl's presence. The two guys turn towards her.
"Who's this? Your girlfriend?" The dude with the weird mustache says.
"Nah, I'm just a girl who happens to be his friend." Clarisa answers, plainly. Robby's heart drops a bit at Clarisa's words.
Friend. Just Friend.
"Yeah, well then maybe you know the code." The tall one says, advancing towards Clarisa.
"Don't touch her!" Robby roars and gets punched in the face.
Clarisa winces as he gets punched but turns back to the boy who was ready to grab her. Smirking, she allows the guy to grab her but then Clarisa grabs his arm and flips him over her back, throwing him onto the ground.
Clarisa doesn't even hesitate before kicking him in the face. Left groaning on the ground, Clarisa leaves that boy and grabs Robby by the waist, getting him away from mustache man while kicking the man in the face.
"You had enough?" Clarisa threatens while both guys groan on the ground.
They both slowly get up and the tall one goes to punch her only to recieve a swift block and kick in the groin.
"There. Now if you still aren't done, everything has been caught on camera." Clarisa states and points to the security camera which had caught everything.
"You better watch your ass, Keene." The mustache says as they both bounce.
Clarisa takes a deep breath before Robby turns to her.
"Clarisa are you okay?" He says and Clarisa pushes him.
"What the hell was that for?!" Robby shouts at her.
"Who the fuck were those guys, huh Robby?" Clarisa shouts. "Where's your brain, dumbass? You could've gotten yourself seriously hurt, or even killed!"
Clarisa kicks the wall in frustration and turns back to Robby, a little calmer.
"Explain." She says, harshly.
Robby sighs, "We used to be friends, and we'd steal shit from places together. Just the occasional computer ro whatever. That's why I joined LaRusso Auto Shops. We were planning a heist of a car from here. But after meeting you, and Mr. LaRusso, I realized we were doing wrong. So I had a plan to ditch them and stop them, hand them into the police. And then you showed up."
Clarisa softens a bit as his words.
"You should have said something." She says.
"I know, and I'm really sorry." Robby apologizes.
"Whatever. Come on," Clarisa says and motions for him to follow her.
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Clarisa had brought Robby back to her apartment where the two were in the bathroom, CLarisa cleaning Robby's wounds.
"This is gonna hurt." Clarisa warns as she pours the alcohol onto the cottonball, wiping it across the cut on Robby's upper cheek.
He hisses in pain and grabs Clarisa's wrist. Clarisa takes the cottonball away and Robby's and her cheeks flush as he mutters a sorry and brings his hand away.
"No it's fine." Clarisa states. "You can hold my hand if it helps."
Robby gives her a look.
"Not like that, you idiot." She scowls. "My mom used to say holding someone's hand helps to ease the pain a bit."
"Your mom, where is she? You and Jamie never talk about her." Robby questions as Clarisa brings the cottonball back up.
"She's dead." Clarisa states and Robby's expression drops.
"I'm so sorry, Clarisa. I-I didn't know." Robby says, taking pity on the girl.
"Nah, don't be." She shrugs. "People die. It's just a matter of how and when."
Robby looks down at feet and then back up to her.
"Aren't you gonna tell Mr. LaRusso what happened?" Robby asks.
"No, he doesn't need to know. I doubt those assholes will ever come back." Clarisa says and finishes cleaning the wound.
"Thanks," Robby starts, "For not telling him ad for saving me and for cleaning my cuts."
Clarisa smiles a bit and looks up at him. Robby brushes a hair that falls into her eyes, away from her face. His eyes flicker down to her lips and back up to her eyes.
Suddenly, the door flies open and a bat comes swinging through the door. Clarisa blocks the bat with her hand and kicks the person whoever was wielding it.
"What the fuck?" Clarisa says as Robby turns on the light.
"Clarisa?" A Jameson in just his pajama pants rubs his eyes,. "I thought you were a burglar or something." Jameson looks back and sees Robby. "What're you? Were you guys... you know..."
"Ew! God, no, Jamie!" Clarisa rejects. "Robby fell off of his skateboard so I was helping him patch up."
Jameson looks between the two and shrugs. "Whatever. Just go to sleep soon. And if Robby wants to stay, he can."
"Uh no, that's okay. I'll just walk home." Robby declines.
"You're staying. You're literally hurt, how're you gonna manage to get home." Clarisa says and grabs him by the sleeve. "We don't have an extra room. But you can either take my bed or the couch." She says, throwing a pair of Jamie's clothes at him.
"Uh, the couch is fine, thanks." Robby says and pulls off his shirt, showing his washboard abs. Clarisa couldn't even help herself from not taking a peek.
"Like what you see?" robby teases.
"In your dreams, Pretty boy." Clarisa remarks and shuts off the light, leaving the room.
"Sweet dreams."
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