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CHAPTER THREE
"the painful awkwardness of
teenagers"
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(original)

SHIRA MONROE WAS THE best mother anyone could have. 

She was the one person in life who Jules has always been able to count on. She had this aura around her, that whenever Jules had something - anything really - on her mind, she just had to confide it in her mother. She was there the first Hanukkah without her dad, when she spent the entire time not feeling in a very celebratory mood, so they stayed at home together and baked for days on end. She was there Jules's first day in West Valley, and she has been there for her in general for as long as she could remember. 

 She was Jules's safe ground... but damn-it, the woman could not cook. 

 She could bake like a genius. Cookies, cakes, you name it. She just... God, she was awful at cooking. She burns things that shouldn't even be able to burn, and Jules swears that she once started a fire while making soup. It was getting to the point that it was absolutely ridiculous... so it was no surprise when Jules found herself in the kitchen that evening. 

 "Are you sure you're doing that right?" 

 "Ben-zona," Jules muttered under her breath, before raising her voice so that her mother could hear her. "Ma! It's pasta sauce, not rocket science!" 

 "Well we haven't had guests in a really long times, and I want it to go well!" 

 "It'll go fine! Stop stressing!" 

Jules could hear her mom mutter something under her breath, but before she could turn to try and assure her that if her pasta sauce somehow managed to be as horrible as she seemed to think, she would personally go and get pizza, there was a knock at the door. 

 Shira jumped as if the sound had physically affected her, rushing over to stand by Jules, snatching the spoon from her hand. "Is this almost done?" 

 "Are you going to do the annoying thing that you do where you act like you made the food, when I actually made the food?" 

 Shira blinked once, and Jules rolled her eyes, pulling her hair out if it's ponytail and pulling a face at her mom. "You're a child."  

 "Go get the door Ahava!" 

Jules couldn't help but snicker as she jogged over to the door, opening with a florish and plastering a smile on her face. "Hi!"

 The first thing she noticed was, wow, Miguel's mom is really pretty. The woman had a kind smile on her face, her curly, dark hair falling neatly over her shoulders, a dish balanced in her hands as she reached her hand out to shake Jules's. "Hello, you must be Jules." 

 "Uh, yeah, that's me!" The girl grinned again, before wincing at the over-enthusiastic tone of her voice. God, she was awful at this. "Uh, come in!" 

 She opened the door wider, taking a step aside in order to let the three inside. Miguel passed, a small incline of his head and a bashful smile being her greeting, as the woman who Jules presumed was his grandma followed behind. The girl watched as the older lady gave her a once-over, before leaning over to Miguel. "Ella es bonita."

"Yaya!" 

 Jules furrowed her eyebrows and shut the door behind them. 

 ***

"THIS IS DELICIOUS." 

Jules was very tempted to stab herself in the eye with her fork. 

She literally has never felt so awkward in her entire life. She was tempted to slowly sink beneath the table and crawl away to the safety of her bedroom. The only problem was that she was surrounded on all sides, and that her mother would probably murder her if she didn't sit up straight. 

 On the plus side: Miguel's mother (who Jules learned to be named 'Carmen') made this really good dessert... something about 'three milks' that tasted like heaven condensed into cake form.

That didn't make this any less awkward.

 "Thank you," Carmen smiled politely, setting her fork down on the table. She cleared her throat as Shira rose from her seat, grabbing Jules's empty plate, along with a few others. Then, with a smile and an "I'll be right back", she disappeared into the kitchen. 

Jules pursed her lips. She wanted to try and say something to ease the atmosphere, but at the same time she would rather drown herself in whatever three milks were used to make this cake. She caught Miguel's eye, the boy looking like he was having no more fun than she was. 

 Finally, Carmen spoke. "So, Jules, how are you liking high school?" 

 It sucks. People are dicks. It smells bad. 

 Jules smiled, "it's good." 

  There was a pause, which Jules used to try and listen for her mom. However, she began speaking before she could convince herself not to. "How's the valley treating you? It must be a pretty big change." 

 "It is, but we're managing." Carmen's eyes practically glittered as she shared a knowing look with her mother, who mumbled something in Spanish under her breath.

 "Alright!" Shira re-emerged from the kitchen, clapping her hands together, "Jules, why don't you go take Miguel out?" 

 The girl rose an eyebrow. "Like on a date or with a sniper?" 

 Shira pulled a face, gently tapping her arm to urge her up from her seat, "you're hilarious. Go on, show him around the neighbourhood! It'll be fun!" 

It took a lot of grumbling and quiet complaining, but eventually Shira got the two teens up from the table and right out of the front door, shutting it behind them with a fleeting "have fun!" 

 Jules pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh my God, I'm sorry, she's a psycho." 

 "She seems nice," Miguel shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pocket as the two fell into step. Jules wasn't exactly sure where they were going, but it was better than standing in front of her front door. 

 "So what have you really been up to? I mean, i don't really believe that you've done nothing since you've moved here." 

 A smile spread across Miguel's lips. "Actually, I did start something." 

 "Like, a club?" 

 "Uh, I don't think it can really classify as a club." The boy tilted his head to the side somewhat sheepishly. "More like a... lesson."   

 "A lesson?" Jules repeated, her eyebrows knitting together. As far as she was aware, the only lessons you could get around where the two lived were... violin and chess. The chess being run by some group of kids at the highschool. She squinted her eyes at Miguel as they walked. Nah, he doesn't seem like much of a chess guy. "Like... violin?" 

 The boy scoffed as Jules tightened her jacket around her, the wind making goosebumps rise on her arms. "No, karate." 

 The lights of a streep lamp cast their shadows on the pavement as Jules tried to make sense of this situation. Miguel may not look like he was on the chess team at school, but he also didn't look like he did karate. Maybe someone who got beat up by someone who did do karate - 

Jules couldn't help the soft chuckle that passed her lips, the sound making Miguel's head snap over to him. He laughed incredulously, poking her arm. "You think that's funny?" 

 "A little," she admitted, brushing her hair behind her ear and shooting him a sideways look. "No offense, I just didn't really take you as the kind of guy to do karate. Who even teaches you?" 

 Miguel's head perked up as if struck by an amazing thought. He stopped walking, making Jules almost trip over her shoelaces as she tried to look back at him. "What if I showed you?" 

 "Cool, are we gonna break into someone's house?" 

 "Not today!" He held out his hand. "Come on, Ana! It'll be fun! I'll introduce you to Sensei!" 

 Jules eyed his hand. "What did you just call me?" 

 Miguel's hand dropped, and Jules could tell from the dim light of the street lamp that his cheeks were turning pink. "I- uh - your full name is Juliana, and I thought-" 

 "Chill out, Diaz." Jules reached out to grab his wrist, pulling him forward a few steps. "It's cute. And I thought we were gonna go meet your karate master." 

 A smile broke out on Miguel's face, and the two teens took off running into the darkness of the night. 

 ***

 "SENSEI?" MIGUEL'S VOICE rang out, echoing off of the walls of the seemingly empty building. Jules took in her surroundings, craning her neck to see every inch of the surrounding walls. The previously vacant building in the strip mall seemed to be undergoing mediocre renevation. 

 "This piece of shit is where you do karate?" Jules muttered, not entirely sure that Miguel heard the skepticsm melting into her tone. She stepped over a paint can, wandering over to the far wall. The words painted on the wall stared back at her, Jules running her fingers over the words. She mouthed the words as she read them; "strike first, strike hard, no mercy." 

 Her eyebrows only further pinched. "Cobra Kai?" 

 "What the hell are you-" 

 Jules whipped her head around, almost knocking over a can of paint as an incredulous scoff passed her lips, her arms crossing. The man seemed to have the same thought as she did, as they spoke in nearly perfect unison. 

 "You've got to be kidding me." 

 Johnny Lawrence's eyes drifted between Jules and Miguel, the two holding varying levels of confusion as they stared back at the man. Johnny pointed a finger at Jules. "What the hell are you doing here?" 

 "What the hell are you doing here?" 

Miguel chuckled nervously, obviously not expecting this interaction to take place. "So... you guys know each other." 

 "Believe it or not, our first meeting wasn't at that mini mart." Jules drawled, cocking at eyebrow. "This asshat is your Sensei?" 

 "Watch who you're calling an 'asshat' little girl." The blond shot back. "This is my dojo."  

 "Oh so you're a karate master now? Where do you find time? You know, between the screwing up people's TV's and drinking gas station beer?" 

 "What the hell are you doing here?" 

 "I - uh - I thought I'd show her the dojo!" Miguel exclaimed, looking less and less confident in his plan as he watched the two stare each other down. "Jules kind of strikes me as the kind of person who would be good at karate." 

 "I would be amazing at karate." She corrected, her eyes never leaving Johnny. The man snorted. 

 "Sure, princess, whatever helps you sleep at night."

 Miguel could instantly tell that was a bad choice of words from the way that Jules's eyebrows shot up on her face and she took a challenging step forward. "I'll have you know that I could one hundred percent kick ass if I wanted to." 

 "Really? Using what, your nail file." 

 "I'll take that nail file and-" 

 "Okay!" Miguel interrupted, taking a step in between the two and holding out his arms, laughing nervously. "This has been fun, but we actually have to go-" 

 "Wait one second-" Jules walked over to Johnny. "How much for a lesson, Sensei?"

 The condescending tone of her voice made Johnny's lip curl in distaste. If there was one student he would never teach, it was Juliana Monroe. "Sorry, I don't teach girls." 

 That didn't do much to help Jules's already pissed off attitude. She actually laughed, although the sound was more angry than if she had screamed, which was kind of scary to the two males. "You're joking. Why on earth would you not teach girls?"

 "Because their bones are hollow! They think fighting is all scratching and hair-pulling, and don't want to mess up their face!" 

 Jules blinked once. "Everyone's bones are hollow. They're filled with bone marrow and fat tissue." 

 "I'm not here for a science lesson!" Johnny snapped, rolling his eyes as Miguel stifled a laugh at Jules's response. "Why don't you just get out of my dojo?" 

 "Gladly." Jules stuck up her middle finger, biting her lip to keep from physically strangling someone as she grabbed Miguel's wrist, stomping for the exit as she dragged the boy along beside her. 

 Her voice was a tense whisper; "you never told me your sensei was that guy." 

 "In my defense, I didn't know that you hated him." 

 "Come on, Diaz, let's get out of here." 

A/N:

they already own my entire heart ngl-

and omg i am so excited for what i have planned for jules and johnny's relationship! it will be so funny y'all, they will be iconic! i'm also so excited for season 2, imaging jules beating the shit out of tory is keeping me from kiling someone at this point lmao.

i added this chapter so that i could properly build up miguel and jules's relationship! they will be so cute, i physically can not deal with it, and omg i have so many iconic scenes planned i just need to get season 1 fully up and running!

(do you like the new cover? i made it myself!)

tell me what you think so far loves, and please vote and comment!

thanks for reading!

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TRANSLATIONS:
"ben-zona" - son of a bitch
"ahava" - my love
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