Chapter Eight
FIRST DAY

Mara pulled up to the house that was on the right side of the street. She checked her car gps to make sure she had the right place and she did. Putting her car into park she pulled out her phone and texted Aisha telling her she was out front. A few moments later the girl had come out wearing black sweatpants and a gray t-shirt. Mara smiled as the girl hopped into the car. The brunette had just wore a long tank top with leggings.

They were heading to Miguel's dojo to join. Miguel had texted her saying they had re-opened so she immediately texted Aisha telling her that they could go the next day.

When Mara's jeep pulled into the parking lot of the small strip-mall in Reseda she was confused to see it was pretty much empty. The two girls exited the car and walked up to the front door of the dojo. Mara opened the door for Aisha and the small bell on top jingled. They walked in looking around the dojo.

"No yoga till five. No matter how bad you need it."

"Um, we're actually here for karate," Aisha explained to the blond man who both girls could assume was Miguel's sensei. "We saw your website. It said there was supposed to be a session today."

"I appreciate you coming in, but there are no girls in Cobra Kai."

Mara furrowed her eyebrows. "Why not?"

"Same reason there aren't women in the Army. Doesn't make sense."

     Miguel stepped in and pulled his sensei back muttering something to him. The two walked into a room in the back, which Mara could assume was his office, and closed the door.

     Mara turned to Aisha who was looking at the floor and playing with her fingers. "Hey, this will be good. Sure he's a little sexist." Aisha gave her a look. "Ok, so he's more than a little sexist. But he seems tough and that's what we need. Someone who will be tough on us and make us stronger."

     Aisha nodded. "I guess your right."

     Mara laughed and flipped her ponytail behind her back dramatically. "I'm always right."

     "Ok, take off your shoes. Hop on the mat." Sensei instructed them as he and Miguel came out of his office.

     The girls immediately did as they were told and hopped on the mat and stood in front of Miguel's sensei.

     "Ok, after further review, I've decided to allow female students. But if you wanna be in Cobra Kai, you can't act like a girl."

     "What do you mean? How do girls act?" Aisha was starting to get fed up with this man.

     "Don't give me that. You know, all emotional, loud, complainy. Never letting you finish a sentence." Mara looked down realizing how many of those categories she fit into.

     "Well, I know a few guys who act just—"

      "Quiet!" Mara and Aisha both flinched, automatically standing straighter at the sensei's outburst. He started to pace back in forth in front of them and the two girls followed him with their eyes. "My student tells me you've both been harassed at school."

    "Yeah. Mostly online. I get mean texts and e-mails sent to me. Makes me not want to go." Aisha confessed.

     Sensei nodded then moved his attention to Mara. "What about you?"

"Well I get my things thrown in the trash and people like to send me mean texts and call me names. They um even cut most of my hair off one time."

He nodded slightly frowning at the girl's words. He turned to Aisha. "Now who sends you these messages?"

     "Well, they're mostly anonymous. These kids create fake accounts, and they tell me things like I'm ugly and that I should kill myself."

Sensei stopped in front of Aisha his mouth dropped in horror. "Oh my God. What a bunch of pussies!"

Aisha and Mara looked at each other in confusion and then back at sensei. This man was crazy.

"Back in my day, if you wanted to tease someone, you did it to their face. It was honor, respect. These geeks hiding behind their computers, what a bunch of spineless losers." He turned to Mara and pointed his finger at her. "And not to mention messing with someone's hair. You never mess with the locks. You're not afraid of these losers, are you," he asked Aisha.

"No."

"You gonna take shit from these losers?" He directed the question at Mara.

"No." She answered confidently.

"Good, because when I'm done with you, you're gonna be sending a message back. Only it's not gonna be with your keyboard. It's gonna be with your fists."

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Mara stood off to the side with sensei Lawrence as Miguel and Aisha prepared to fight against each other. "Ok, let's see what you got, Ms. Robinson. Face me. Bow. Face each other. Bow. Mr. Diaz, show her everything you've learned."

Miguel backed up a little and looked at sensei Lawrence worriedly. "I don't think this is right, Sensei."

"You don't think what's right."

"She's a girl. I'm not gonna..." he gestured to her with his hands and made little fighting movements.

"And? I thought you said women were equal to men."

"I did say that. I didn't mean it like that. I meant—"

"Then show her women are equal, give her everything you got."

"Wait. I just wanna remind everyone this is my first day." Aisha spoke up in a nervous tone.

"Your enemies don't care what day it is. They prey on weakness." Sensei corrected her. "If you want to beat them, you gotta conquer your fears and jump face-first into the fire. Are you ready Ms. Robinson?"

Aisha still looked nervous and Sensei rolled his eyes. He looked beside him to see Mara looking at the ceiling bored. She had zoned out halfway through their conversation. "You know what. Ms. Robinson switch with short-stack here."

Mara jumped out of her daydream and looked at Sensei like he was playing a joke. He just shrugged and gestured for her to hop on the mat. She switched with Aisha and the short-haired girl looked scared for her.

"Are you ready short-stack?"

"I guess."

"Mr. Diaz?"

"Uh."

"Fight!" Neither of them moved and they all stood in awkward silence. "Don't just stand there. Fight!"

     Mara took a deep breath and carefully analyzed Miguel's movement. He got into a fighting position and gave her an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry."

    She saw his leg start to lift off the ground and she jumped back so his foot missed her. He turned and went for a back kick but she stepped out of the way. While his back was turned Mara sprinted across the mat so she was behind him and before he turned to her, she kicked the back of his knees, making them buckle, and sending him onto the ground.  She then kicked him in the back so he fell flat onto the floor. Thank you running muscles. As Miguel was still on the floor she took the opportunity to finish him off and jumped knee first onto his back.

     He groaned in pain and Mara stood up. She looked back at Sensei Lawrence who had a surprised look on his face. "Girl's a natural Cobra."

They all heard yelling start from next door and Sensei put Miguel in charge and went to go check it out. Aisha and Mara helped Miguel stand up and the boy held his ribs in the spot Mara jumped on. "Shit, I'm sorry Miguel."

     He groaned but gave her a small smile to tell her it was ok. "How did you even do that?"

     "I mean track doesn't only involve running. You need to have quick reflexes and strong arms and legs. Plus my brother and I used to play this game where we kicked the back of each other's knees when one of us wasn't looking." She saw Miguel slightly stiffen at the mention of her brother. He was probably still upset about the fight. Mara would be too if she was in that situation.

     "I guess it helps being a natural athlete, but just so you know I will be getting a rematch."

     "I'll be waiting. Hey, do you guys want to come over and have a movie night? I can invite Eli too since he lives across the street."

     Aisha and Miguel smiled and nodded and the three sat down to debate which movie they were going to watch. Sensei Lawrence re-entered the dojo with a stressed look on his face. "Class is over for the day. I'll see you three tomorrow."

The three nodded and went to start grabbing their things. Mara was slipping her shoes back on when someone tapped her shoulder. She turned to see Sensei Lawrence motioning for her to follow him to his office. She turned back to see Miguel and Aisha waiting for her by the door. "I'll catch up with you guys." She tossed her keys to Aisha so they could wait for her in the car.

Sensei Lawrence was opening a bottle of bear when she entered his office. "You do any sports?"

Mara was caught off guard by his straightforwardness. "Yeah, cross country and track. The season is over though until the spring." She laughed shortly and scratched the back of her neck. Where was he going with this?

"That's good. We need natural athletes in here. But we have to do something about your look. You don't wanna be called short-stack and bones forever do you?" Sensei noticed Mara's confused look at him knowing that nickname. "Miguel told me what they call you. You need to show those kids at school that your not a pussy. That you can't be messed with. Change something, flip the script. Then you'll really be badass."

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

     Ryan wasn't sure why he was here. He was still pissed at Kyler for what he did to Mara. Why did he think he could touch her like that and get away with it? He was sat down at one of the booths at the roller skating rank  and sipping on a coke. Kyler and Yasmine were across from him and Moon was beside him scrolling on her phone.

     She had been pretty quiet for the past few days whenever they hung out. She always look distracted, at least to Ryan, like she had something on her mind. He nudged her with his shoulder and she looked up at him. Her eyes weren't filled with the same happiness and energy she usually had but instead they were filled with sadness. He leaned down so he could whisper in her ear. "You ok?"

     Moon shook her head and look down. She handed Him her phone and showed him the multiple unanswered messages she had sent his sister. "I'm really trying Ry. I don't know what to do. She won't look at me, won't talk to me. I know what I did was horrible and I don't know how to fix it."

     Ryan nodded and stood up. "Moon and I are gonna head out."

Yasmine looked up from her phone. "Why?"

"We're heading over to her house, to watch a horror movie. We know you both hate them so we thought we would go alone."

Yasmine scoffed shaking her head in agreement and she tapped away on her phone again. "Well your right. Whatever you can go. Just make sure to use protection."

Ryan scrunched up his face in disgust and saw Moon do the same before she scooted out the booth and linked arms with Ryan. The two walked away from Kyler and Yasmine and headed out to Ryan's car. Once they were inside Ryan twisted in his seat to face Moon and tapped the center console. "Ok, Lay it on me. What's going on with you two."

"I just miss her Ry and I feel horrible for everything I've done. The things we've done to her and others are disgusting and I don't want to be apart of it anymore. Just earlier today Yasmine kicked Sam out of our group and I'm so mad that I didn't realize Sam was telling the truth. I feel like I'm stuck in this web of negativity and I can't get out."

"I understand. I've been feeling that way lately too. Just yesterday in the library I was so angry and disgusted with myself. I let Kyler put his filthy hands on my sister and I just stood there and didn't do anything about it until it was already over and done with. The people we surround ourselves with influence us Moon and I know if we keep hanging out with them it's going to be harder for us to get away."

"But how do we get away without our lives going to complete shit. If we leave they'll make our lives miserable Ry. Right now I just want to focus on getting Mara's forgiveness."

"Look, I know that Mara values actions. You can't just tell her you're sorry and then not show it. Just last night she told me that she was proud of me for helping this boy when he was hurt. Of course I was a dick to her and that probably made everything worse. What I'm trying to say is you have to show her you want to be better. Show her you actually care about her. If you apologize to her and still hang out with Yasmine she won't take you seriously."

Moon nodded going over the boys words in her head. If all this meant she could have her best friend back then she was all for it. "Ok, tomorrow I'll talk to her. I still need to start with an apology. I technically haven't even done that yet."

Ryan nodded and turned back around in his seat. He put on his seatbelt and turned on the car before pulling out of the parking lot. "Just so you know we're actually watching a horror movie."

"I didn't doubt it."

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

     Mara had to admit that having move night without Demetri felt weird. He had always been there when her and Eli watched any movie but instead in his place were Aisha and Miguel.

     The night was a success but Mara couldn't help the odd feeling she had the entire time. It was small things she wasn't used to. Like how whenever she made a comment she expected to hear Demetri give his sarcastic input but he never did. Or when Eli and Mara talked quietly to each other she wasn't used to not hearing the background noise of Demetri's snores when he fell asleep on the floor.

     Don't get her wrong, Mara absolutely loved Aisha and Miguel but she kind of wished Demetri would have been there too. She was still upset with him over what he said about her brother but he was still her best friend.

     Miguel and Aisha had left a little while ago and Eli and Mara were laying on the couch cuddled up together. Her head was resting on his chest while his arms were wrapped firmly around her waist. Their eyes were glued to the tv that was the only source of light illuminating the room.

     "Hey Mara?"

     "Yeah?"

     "I think I should head home. It's getting kind of late."

     She sat up and allowed him to get off the couch. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

     Eli nodded and leaned down and pecked her cheek. "See you tomorrow."

     Once the front door closed, Mara reached up and touched the spot where she could still feel his lips. It was safe to say she went to bed with a smile on her face that night.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Next Chapter is the school fight and man do I have some things planned!

I've started to include Ryan and Moon in chapters some more because they are very important parts of Mara's story. Expect to see a whole lot more of Ryan in this book ;)

I'm interested in what you guys think will happen from now on, so let me hear your theories.

Don't forget to vote and comment if you liked this chapter. Feedback is always appreciated!