Chapter Two
SWEET DREAMS CLARENCE

     After school the next day Mara made sure to get to the dojo early. When she got there she went straight back to her grandfather's office. He was doing paperwork when she came in but looked up at the sound of her footsteps. "Hi, you're here early."

     Mara put her bag down and sat down in one of the chairs. "Yeah, I like to get an early start. And my dad came home early again."

     Kreese nodded understanding why she didn't want to be around her father. "But I did bring you this." Kreese watched as she pulled a container out of her bag and handed it to him. "I made a vegetable wrap with a spinach tortilla. I figured you didn't have time to eat lunch yet so I made you some."

     "Thank you, Mara. I was feeling hungry now that you mention it. You like to cook?"

"Yeah, Mom used to teach me all of her recipes before she..."

"I understand. She did love to cook growing up." Kreese opened the container and looked back at the girl. "How was school?"

     Mara rolled her eyes. "It was fine except for Miyagi-Do who think they're all high and mighty since the whole school fight. It's embarrassing. We shouldn't have lost."

     "I agree. But don't worry, I'll make sure Cobra Kai never loses again." Mara nodded.

"On the bright side, Cross Country tryouts are tomorrow. I'm captain of the team."

"I know you'll do great. And you'll represent Cobra Kai. Possibly get us some recruits." The doors to the dojo opened and Mara looked out the door to see students starting to flood in. "Go on and stretch. Class will start soon."

     Mara nodded and left the office. Hawk had just walked in and she ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hi."

     He smiled down at her and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. "Hey." He leaned down and kissed her and she kissed back happily.

They kissed for a few seconds before Mara pulled away. "Do you wanna help me stretch?"

Hawk looked confused. "In which way do you mean?"

Mara hit his shoulder and he stifled a laugh. "You know which way I mean idiot." She started to walk away from him but turned back. "You are coming over later though, right?"

Hawk scoffed. "Of course I am."

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Ryan could admit when he was nervous and right now he was completely filled with nerves. He couldn't decide whether or not he wanted to go to the hospital. After the doctors said Miguel had woken up Ryan had panicked and left.

It wasn't that he didn't care about the boy he just wasn't sure if he could face him after everything that happened. He didn't want the first face Miguel saw to be one filled with uncertainty and doubt.

Whether anyone wanted to admit it or not Miguel still cheated and the pain was still fresh in Ryan's heart. He hadn't even seen Sam yet, to ask the girl what had happened, and he was too scared to ask knowing he probably wouldn't like the answer he received.

     Ryan had called Moon for advice since Mara was MIA, he didn't know where he stood with Tory, and Max was a complete idiot. "I just don't know what to do, Moon."

     "I say when you're ready, and only when you're ready, go see him. It's not going to fix anything if you avoid him. I understand that what he did hurt you Ry, but maybe there's more to the story. You only saw one second of what happened right?"

"Well yeah. I'm just not sure I'm ready yet, Moon."

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"Life isn't always fair. Sometimes the world can be cruel. And that's why you have to learn to be cruel yourselves."

Mara stood in the front of her row as she watched her Sensei speak. "Weakness is unacceptable. The fight at the school was an embarrassment. You lost soldiers and you lost the battle, but you will not lose again. Diaz was one of our own. What they did to him, they did to all of us. And it will not go unanswered. We will show no mercy. We will show no weakness. We will strike back and we will strike hard! Is that clear?"

"Yes, Sensei!"

"I can't hear you!"

"Yes, Sensei!"

     Later during class Mara was sparring with Hawk when Kreese came out of his office. "Class. You worked hard today. So before you're dismissed, I have a little treat for ya. I wanna introduce you to a friend of mine." He pulled out a mouse from behind his back and Mara's eyes widened.

     "What's its name," Bert asked.

      "I don't know. What should it be?"

     "Hawk Junior." Mara snorted at the name her boyfriend suggested.

     "Bert, what do you think?"

     "Um, Clarence?"

     Mara nodded. "I like that. It looks like Mrs. Clarence too. Perfect name Bert."

     Kreese nodded at them. "Clarence it is. Good. Here, take him." He handed Clarence to Bert and Bert smiled at the mouse and brought it closer to his face.

     "He's so cute, guys."

     "You know, it's almost lunchtime."

     "Oh, can I feed him?" Bert had a hopeful tone in his voice, but Kreese just shook his head and walked over to a covered case.

     "No. But you can feed him." He lifted the cover to reveal a Cobra. Mara's eyes widened and she looked at Hawk with a smile.

     "Uh, what does he like to eat?"

     "He likes to eat Clarence."

     "It's ok. Come on." Bert slowly walked over and Sensei opened the case.

     Bert sighed and turned to Sensei. "I can't."

     "It's ok." Kreese took Clarence from Bert. "I understand. Clarence is your friend. It's ok to object. Who else objects?" A couple of younger students raised their hands and the smile dropped from Kreese's face. "You're off the team. Get out!" Bert tried to object but Kreese stepped towards the boy. "I said out! Get."

     Kreese turned to Mara and gestured with his head for her to come over. Mara didn't hesitate and she took Clarence from his hands. She dropped the mouse in the case and a smirk appeared on her face as she watched the snake eat the small creature.

     "Sweet dreams Clarence."

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        Mara laid in between Hawk's legs as he gently ran his fingers through her hair. The two were supposed to be watching a movie, but neither were paying attention.

     Mara's eyes were slowly drifting closed and Hawk smiled at how adorable she looked. "Come here." Hawk pulled her up so she could rest her head on his chest. He continued to run his fingers through her hair as she snuggled into him. "You know your birthday's coming up," he told her softly.

     She hummed and looked up at him with tired eyes. "What's my present?"

     "Well, I can't tell you that. It ruins the surprise."

     "But you were the one who brought it up. So now you have to tell me."

     He chuckled. "I can say that it involves you. And me. And a lot less clothing."

     She laughed at him. "That's not a surprise if that happens every other day."

     "Well, that's only part of your present. You'll find out the second part on your birthday."

     She shrugged and let out a tired yawn before wrapping her arms around Hawk's torso and burying her face in his chest. He leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead and watched as her lips curved into a small smile. "I love you, Mars."

"I love you too."

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Mara reached down to her heel and stretched as she waited for Coach to tell them what they were doing. Today was cross country tryouts and Mara wasn't worried. She was the best on the team and that hadn't changed.

She looked over at the Asian girl who was also trying out. If Gia thought she could come on Mara's turf and take over she had another thing coming. She stood up and walked over to the girl and two other girls from the team flanked her.

Gia looked at her and crossed her arms over her chest.

     "I would watch your back G. This is my turf and what I say goes."

     "I don't care. I'm not scared of you."

     Mara stepped closer to her and Gia tried to back up but she was blocked by two other girls on the team. "You will be."

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     "We are only as strong as our weakest links. When we remove these links, this is what's left." There were only 11 students left in Cobra Kai now. "We are one unit. With one united purpose."

     The door to the dojo opened and Mara looked back to see Tory entering the dojo. "Nichols. Welcome back."

     "Thanks. That issue I was having...got worked out."

     "That right? Fall in. We've got work to do."

     Mara smirked at Tory and the girl sent her a small one back. "Forwards strike. Ready?" Mara turned back around and got in position. "Ai!"

     "Kyo!"

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     Gia was doing homework on her bed when she got a call. She answered it and was met with Sam's panicked face. "Robby's been arrested!"

Gia sat up quickly. "What?"

"My dad found him and he called the police telling them where he was. He said that was the only way for Robby to get less time."

"Oh my God. I'll call you back Sam." She hung up and immediately typed in another number. She put her phone up to her ear and waited for the line to ring.

"Sylmar Juvenile Corrections Center. How may I help you?"

"Hi, I would like to schedule a visiting appointment."

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This is a very important authors note today. If you haven't seen the recent post on my message board I strongly advise you to go and click the link and read it.

I strongly believe in growth, but as of right now I haven't seen any from him regarding the situation. I strongly believe in separating the character from the actor and I am extremely disappointed in what I've heard about Jacob. This situation will not stop me from writing this story but as of right now I find it extremely hard to look at Jacob Bertrand the same.

I'll be taking a break from this story for a few days to work on my other ones, but another update will be up before the end of the week.