Three Years Ago

It was three years ago that Jack Brewer met the messed up, wide spanned crew of the wasabi dojo, that was led by Rudy Gillespi, a carefree irresponsible karate sensei. Three years since he met the boy who would change his life and the way he saw things.

Jerry Martinez was the crazy acting highschool freshman who always did things spontaneously without think-ing and he never cared what other people said about him. He was horrible at karate and was only a white belt at time Jack met him.

Milton Krupnik was the overly shy smart guy with Obsessive Compulsion Disorder and he had a lot to say if you ever asked him for help. He was only a white belt too.

Kim Crawford was the pretty blond who could be obnoxious at times but was otherwise nice to everyone. As kind as she was, the minute you said the wrong thing to her was the minute she turned into a vulture and attacked. Kim was a skilled black belt like Jack was.

Jack sat on his bed, thinking about what everyone used to be like before they met him. What he used to be like before he met them. He could remember everything clearly, almost as if it happened yesterday.

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Jack strolled into the lunch room, unsure of whether he should just bear the embarrassment of being the new kid and sitting by himself or making friends and sitting with them. He hated first days in new schools. He'd been in six over the past three to four months and it wasn't fair. His parents kept moving around a lot but they said that this would be permanent. Jack hoped it was.

A girl with blond hair walked into the cafeteria, not watching where she was going because she was tossing and apple into the air and catching it and she tripped, her apple flying into the air. Jack moved gracefully and caught the apple in the crook of his foot and flipped it back up into his hand.

He looked at the girl who was standing there with a shy smile on her face.

"Hey is this yours?" He asked.

She nodded and he handed it back to her. "Thanks...you're the new kid Jack right?"

Jack smiled and nodded, putting his hand in his pockets. "Yeah...I don't have anyone to sit with."

The girl made a face of excitement. "Well you can come sit with me and my friends! They won't mind. By the way, I'm Kim."

Jack grinned back at her and followed her to a table with two other kids sitting there. One had ginger hair, freckles and blue eyes and the other was obviously latino with dark hair, brown eyes and fair skin.

"Yo Kim who is this?" The latino demanded looking Jack up and down, an eyebrow raised.

Kim glared at him and turned to Jack. "Guys, this is Jack Brewer. He's new here at Seaford High School."

"Oh cool!" The ginger haired boy exclaims happily. "We finally have another friend!"

"Cool it bro." The latino said. "We don't even know if hombre even wants to be our friend."

"Oh..." Was the reply.

"Anyway I'm Jerry and the ginger here is Milton." The latino introduces.

Jack smiled at them. "Nice to meet you guys. I would love to be friends with you all. I don't really ha--"

Jack cut himself off when a curly haired guy with an ugly rat face came up to the table and gave Milton a wedgie. Milton gave a cry of pain and embarrassment as he took it and Jack was up without any hesitation, slamming his hands down on the table to get his attention.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Jack demanded.

The boy looked up, anger crossing his features and he stormed over to Jack, who met his gaze evenly. Showing no fear because he wasn't scared of him at all.

"What did you say to me?" He demanded.

"He didn't say anything Frank! Really!" Kim tried but the boy-Frank-completely ignoted her.

"I said...leave him alone." Jack repeated. "Or do you have a hearing problem?"

Frank didn't respond. Instead he threw a punch at Jack. Everything slowed down as he caught Frank's fist and people gasped. Jack looked at him and inclined his head.

"You probably shouldn't have done that." Jack quoted.

And with that Jack had flipped Frank on his back and stepped away as two of Frank's buddies came at him at the same time. Jack took both of them on, doing spin kicks, dodging and ducking, punching and kicking, jabbing...every move that he learned in order to get his black belt, he brought to the fight.

Soon enough all three of them were beat and Jack was the one standing proudly with his arms crossed. He glared at Frank and said,

"You leave my friends alone or next time it'll be worse. Now...scat!"

Frank flinched and jumped to his feet, sprinting out of the cafeteria with his two buddies trailing behind him. Jack turned around and noticed Jerry was staring at him with something he wasn't sure to descrbe. Milton and Kim were staring at him in shock.

"You have to come to our dojo after school!" Milton stated.

At first Jack disagreed but then he finally agreed to go and that was when he met Rudy and now they were family.
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Jack smiled and quietly recited the promise they made when they became the official Wasabi Dojo.

"We swear by the light of the dragons eye to be loyal, honest and never say die."

It was a real promise to keep. It was the code.