LOVE HURTS

II. Hotshot-wannabe

     Parking her red Chevrolet Malibu in the parking lot, Caitlin glanced towards the entrance of the club, seeing how many people were there. She groaned internally. The more people there, the more likely she'd run into someone from school, and that was not good.

Luckily, just as she was starting to get out of the car, five rowdy boys ran outside, three of them without shirts, soaking wet, Sebastian right in the middle of them. Caitlin chuckled under her breath, crossing her arms as the boys made their way over to her.

"Cate!" Seb exclaimed, running closer to give her a big hug.

Caitlin held her hands out to him. "Oh, no you don't. I am not getting the smell of chlorine all over me right after I took a shower." She turned to the rest of the boys. "Everyone, you are going back in that pool to dry off. Grab a towel, go back to your parents, and in a few minutes, we'll go home. Deal?" They all nodded enthusiastically and turned around to run back inside. Seb, however, stayed at the car with Caitlin while she locked the car and grabbed her phone.

The two of them walked into the club, the sound of kids and adults having fun making its way to her ears. Sebastian never lost his energy the entire way. When they made it through the front gates and into the pool area, he grabbed his sister's hand and pulled her over to a group of women where a few of his friends were already hanging out.

Caitlin recognized a few of the ladies. Abigail Fox, Jake's mother, grinned wide when she saw Caitlin approaching. Turning away from everyone else, she enveloped the teenager in a tight hug while Seb ran off to the rest of his friends.

"It has been so long, Caitlin!" she said, the smile never coming off her face. "You know, I was beginning to think something happened to you! Other than how much Sebastian talks about you, I'd think you fell off the face of the earth!"

Caitlin forced a smile on her face. Adults made her want to go home and crawl under her bed sheets until there was no memory left of them. "Yeah, I've just been a little busy at home. Thank you for always offering to look after Seb, by the way. I really appreciate it." Despite her slight stumbling over a few words, Caitlin was proud of her ability to form the sentences.

"Oh, no worries," dismissed Abigail as she led Caitlin over to the rest of the women. "I was just saying how I do not look forward to when my little Jake grows up and is in high school! I swear, high school boys are not exactly something to live for."

Snorting, Caitlin crossed her arms. "That's an understatement."

For a few more minutes, she stood with the ladies, listening to them gossip. She was only half-heartedly listening until the topic switched to something Caitlin had only heard a little bit of before.

"Did you hear that my other son, the one in high school, is in that karate dojo? Cobra Kai? They won the All Valley Karate Tournament!" Caitlin's attention turned to the middle-aged Latina woman who had started speaking. "Ever since, he's gotten more confident in everything he does. I totally recommend it."

"Cobra Kai?" Caitlin asked, inserting herself into the conversation. She knew she had heard it before, she just didn't know where.

The woman nodded her head vigorously. "Yeah, I think it might do you some good, too. Everyone who's gone to that dojo to learn karate has come out of it better than before, you know. You might like it."

Caitlin gave her a small smile. "Yeah, I'll check it out." Or maybe I won't, who knows? "Excuse me." Leaving the group, Caitlin sighed, dropping her smile. She doesn't hate people, she just has a very short social battery. While most kids her age go to parties all night, Caitlin would much rather stay at home and do absolutely nothing.

She was so immersed in her own thoughts that she didn't realize someone was in front of her until they collided and she nearly fell over. Before Caitlin could fall back too much, however, the other person grabbed onto her arms and pulled her back. She was about to thank whoever it was, until she saw who it was. Miguel Diaz.

The problem wasn't that he had ever bullied her, it was that he had never tried to stand up for her whenever she was getting bullied. Or, for that matter, that he never even tried to become friends with her. Not to mention that Caitlin had heard he was turning into a bully because of Cobra Kai from the bullied, which he had been before.

Miguel stared at Caitlin, his eyes squinting slightly. "You look really familiar, where do I know you from?"

Caitlin laughed. "Because we've gone to the same school since 9th grade. You were just too busy to realize it." She stepped back, forcing him to release his grip on her.

"Woah, calm down, Princess."

Caitlin glared at him. "Call me princess again and I'll punch you in the face."

"I'm sure I can block a simple punch," Miguel grinned.

Pushing her blonde hair out of her face, Caitlin looked away, searching for Sebastian again. When she found him having his hands at her, she gave Miguel a sneer. "Well, this was fun, but I don't have enough time to deal with idiots on my calendar for today." With that, she quickly walked away from him, probably leaving a shocked expression on his face.

As swiftly as she could, Caitlin gathered Seb and his friends, saying one last goodbye to their parents before having them all pile into the small car. Even though Caitlin had told them all to dry off, not all of them were completely dry, and all of them smelled of chlorine.

Before she pulled out of the parking lot, Caitlin locked eyes with Miguel again from where he stood at the entrance. She hadn't realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt before, until he stood there with his hands in his swim truck pockets, an arrogant smirk on his face. It only grew wider when he realized she was looking at his abs.

Caitlin's eyes widened and she looked away quickly, backing the car out of the parking lot as quickly as she possibly could. She was not going to fall for some arrogant karate kid hotshot-wannabe. Not today.

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Hey! Here's another update! Do you guys want me to also update on the weekends, since I'll only be doing it on Tuesdays and Thursdays? Let me know! Also I feel like this chapter is really bad, let me know what I should do to make it better.

Thanks for reading!

-Syd