ANTI-KARATE 《cobra kai 》

-0.1 california

chapter one!

TWO YEARS LATER

MOVING TO CALIFORNIA was the best decision that her mother could've made after the death of Lucas Ramirez and the arrest of Carl Deaser. Living in Brooklyn, New York her while life, it was safe to say that California was a huge change of scenery— but a necessary one. Her dad was being held in a prison on the outskirts of NYC, so going across the country was the easiest way to really separate themselves from what happened. Without her dad to support them, the only apartment that they  could afford was in a place called Reseda; a small, rundown neighborhood that was filled to the brim with the lower class people of Los Angeles. Seeing as her mom's condition only worsened after the accident and was unable to work, Alex went out in search of a job— finding one at LaRusso's Auto Group. The car dealership was fancy; run by a wealthy man named Daniel LaRusso. However, instead of having a three foot stick up his butt like most rich people, Mr. LaRusso was a very nice man and once he learned Alex's situation he was eager to hire her— even if she was only fourteen at the time. He insisted on also helping out with the bills every once in a while and offered his house for them to stay if they ever need to.

Needless to say, Alex appreciated Mr. LaRusso and the man quickly became a close family friend.

Another thing that Mr. LaRusso had done for Alex was introduce her to her first friends in West Valley. His daughter, Samantha, and her friend Aisha Robinson got along greatly with Alex, welcoming her to the friend group like they had been best friends for their whole lives.

Alex then moved on to join the soccer team in honor of her brother. On the weekends, when she didn't have to work and when she didn't have a game, she would volunteer to play her guitar for a local charity.

Kids at school somehow figured out what happened in New York with her dad and her brother and started spreading rumors that she was just like her dad and that she may have even helped him kill her brother. Of course, none of it was true, but teenagers were terrible and brutal. So everyone at school either thought that Alex was a saint of a serial killer. It was upsetting, of course, but Alex had gotten used to it. So to say that Alex was less than excited for school to start back would be an understatement.

It was the first day of her sophomore year and she was already late. She had big charity event the following Saturday and had spent the whole night writing a new song to play. Her mom had still been asleep when she finally decided to get up and get ready, so there wasn't really anyone other than herself to remind her what all she needed to get done. She had done all of her own school shopping because her mom just didn't feel like going out this year, so the chance that she forgot the majority of what she was supposed to get was pretty high. She had forgotten to do the laundry the day before as well, which meant her options for an outfit were pretty limited. Settling with a plain black shirt tucked into waisted-high jeans and her long-sleeve Yankees jersey on top with bright orange high-top converse— and although it was end of August in California, she preferred long sleeves and pants to short sleeves and shorts any time of year. Plus, they did keep the classes pretty cold at West Valley High.

With her not-really-matching outfit and her backpack full of a bunch of notebooks and a few pencils, she made her way out of her apartment and to the bus stop. The bus stop was about fifteen minutes down the street and much to her dismay, she saw the bus driving down the road before she even left the parking lot. Cursing to herself, she threw her arms up and groaned, "Damn you, stupid bus!"

"The bus comes by here?" a voice from behind her asked, making her stumble and spin around in surprise. Behind her stood a dark-skinned, skinny boy with dark hair. He was cute— in an cute-puppy-that-makes-you-wanna-pinch-his-cheeks kind of way. He had on a Dodgers overshirt, which make her cringe slightly, but only to stop once she saw his face screwed up in confusion. "I was just gonna ride my bike?"