ANTI-KARATE 《cobra kai 》

-0.3 johnny lawrence

chapter three!

"WE CALL HER DASH," Demetri told Miguel, nudging him with his shoulder as Alex rolled her eyes. It was a terrible nickname that Aisha had started— calling her Dash because she was always in a hurry. Whether it was for soccer practice, school, work, fundraisers, or doctors appointments, Alex always had somewhere to be. Free time just wasn't her forte. "Poor girl with a heart of gold, always in a rush."

Even though his voice was dripping with sarcasm —per usual— his words rang quite true in multiple ways. While her scars made her look quite tuff, there was nothing but softness in Alex's heart. Which is why, later that afternoon between her shift at the dealership and her shift at the diner, she was pouring her heart into trying to make a new song for the fundraiser this weekend at the local park.

She was humming a tune, trying to get it to sound right on the guitar, when Miguel called. He was asking if she was free, to which she made it clear that she wasn't going to be free until two weeks from Friday. The boy had sighed, realizing himself that Demetri was correct.

"What exactly were you going to ask me to do, anyway?" asked Alex, holding her phone up to her ear with her shoulder as she pulled on her converse. The two had been talking on the phone for about ten minutes— Miguel apparently was feeling lonely on his bike ride to who-knows-where while Alex let him listen to her play the tune out. By now, though, it was time for her to leave for work at the diner. Even with two jobs, Alex found it difficult to pay for the bills, her mom's medicine, and food to put on the table. She figured she might have to drop soccer this year to either pick up more hours at the dealership or get a third job.

"Oh, right! This guy that lives in our apartment complex opened up a karate dojo down at the mini-mart. I wanted to know if you'd be interested," Miguel responded, shrugging even though she couldn't see it.

"Oh, no. That's an absolute no. Even if I had free time— heaven forbid— I would not be spending it learning karate. One, I can't afford it. At all. Two, I don't stand for violence. And three, joining a karate dojo would just further insinuate that I'm a violent person and would only feed into the rumors that I belong in a mental asylum," she ranted as she quickly pulled the phone away from her ear and put in on speaker; throwing it down on her bed so she could get her stuff ready for work. "Plus, which neighbor? The sweet old lady who bakes too much, the druggy, vodka lady, grumpy blondie, or that dude who always tries but fails to do backflips?"

Miguel couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at her nicknames as he held in a chuckle. "The grumpy blonde guy, I guess. His name is John Lawrence, and he's actually pretty cool. Saved me from Kyler and his jerks once."

"Hmm," Alex hummed in consideration. Maybe the grumpy blonde wasn't that... grumpy? "Well, I'm glad isn't backflip guy. He tried to sale me LSD one time."

"Jeez," Miguel muttered before furrowing his eyebrows. "Wait, you didn't take it, did you?"

"No, dumbass. I'm not stupid," the girl chuckled. Yawning as she looked down at her digital watch, she groaned internally. "Hey, I'm going to have to get going. I'll talk to you later, though."

"All right, bye!"

"Bye!"

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

"What're you doing out here?" asked a voice from behind, startling Alex. Turning around, she saw none other than Miguel Diaz staring at her in confusion. He knew that her shift at the diner was from eight pm to two am, but it was around three in the morning and Alex was sitting outside the door of her apartment— homework in hand and her headphones on. "Shouldn't you be asleep? Or at least inside?"

Pulling her headphones off her head and setting them to the side, Alex sighed. "I could ask you the same thing."

Miguel rolled his eyes, shifting his weight from one leg to another. Looking around the girl, he saw a box of cereal, a mini-bottle of milk, her backpack, her phone, a blanket, and a battery pack. "I came outside to get some fresh air. There's a weird smell coming from out back. What about you? Looks like you're sleeping out here. Is the smell worse in your apartment?"

"Oh, no, that's just the septic tank working up— it does that every once in a while. But yeah, my, uh, mom wouldn't let me in when I got home," Alex scratched the back of her neck sheepishly, adjusting the thin blanket over her lap. She wouldn't look up at the boy, though, because she knew he was giving her a sympathetic look that she'd seen so many times before. "But hey, the WiFi is a bit better out here, so that's a plus."

"Does this happen often?" asked Miguel, sitting down next to her. He thought about all of those people at school who started and believe the rumors that've spread about this girl and it made him mad. She was the nicest person he'd ever met, but she's also had a worse life— which makes her the strongest person as well. She worked two jobs to pay for bills and provide for her mom who doesn't even remember she exists half the time, volunteers her free time to charities, and life still treats her like shit.

"Maybe two or three times a week," she shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal. "But it's fine because she'll let me back in in the morning, ask me where I've been all night, ground me, then forget that she did. Works out for everyone."

"Not really," Miguel disagrees. He didn't understand how that worked out for Alex— she was stuck, outside, in the cold, by herself all night. "Not for you."

"Hey, like I said— it's fine. I like the cold, it reminds me of New York. And everyone around here has heard about the dumb rumors, so no one will mess with me," she explained, trying to talk him down. If he told the wrong person, social services could get involved, leading to her going into foster care with her mom in a nursing home. Seeing the hesitant look on Miguel's face, she sighed. "It's fine."

"You could always come to my apartment when it happens. I'm sure my mom would love to meet you— she's been wanting me to make some friends. C'mon—," Miguel offered, already beginning to stand up. Alex shook her head, laughing lightly.

"Maybe some other time, yeah? I don't think that three thirty in the morning is the best time for me and your mom to meet," she retorted, making Miguel sigh. "I'll be fine out here, anyway. It's just a few more hours until sunrise."

"But—,"

"No 'but''s, Miguel. I'm aye-okay. But you need to get back inside before your mom notices your gone," she tried to talk him away, giving him an extra-convincing smile.

"Okay, fine. But next time this happens, you're staying the night at my house and not in the cold," he tells her, making her roll her eyes playfully and agree. It was a lie, though, because she knew she would never actually do it. She didn't want to be a burden to the Diaz family— and if it got too cold she could always walk downtown to the LaRusso's house.

"Okay, okay. Now go inside and get some sleep, you look like a potato," she jokes, kicking his shoe from where she sat. Miguel laughed a bit at that, but he couldn't help but feel a little bit of guilt swell in his stomach about leaving her out there.

"All right, fine. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight!"

a/n: hi! I know I said I'd publish a chapter every Friday, but it snowed yesterday where I live and me and my best friend were outside all day and I didn't get a chance to publish this. so sorry for the late and short chapter, I'm going to try to publish another one sometime before Tuesday to make it up to you all! hope you all have a wonderful day!

~chloe