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CHAPTER NINE
"jealousy, jealousy"
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(all valley)

"I, PERSONALLY, WOULD be honored to punch that kid in the face." 

Miguel subconsciously smiled as he watched Jules raise her hand in the air, grinning innocently at Sensei Lawrence, as he shot her a perplexed look. "I wasn't asking for volunteers!" 

 Jules scoffed, crossing her arms across her stomach and tossing her ponytail over her shoulder. "I know. I just thought you should know that I am available to punch some kids in the face." 

 The boy next to her shot her a lovestruck smile, tilting his head to the side slightly. "You're so cool." 

 "Eyes forward, Virgin."

 There was something about Juliana Monroe that intrigued Miguel in all of the best ways. First of all, she wasn't exactly a nice person. In fact, Miguel had once seen her get mad and throw a beaker full of potentially dangerous chemicals against the wall of their chemistry classroom. She speaks insults like a second language, and isn't afraid to punch someone if they are rude to her... yet, he doesn't think she's mean. In fact, he admires her for it. It has been awhile since the boy had met someone so headstrong... yet, so loyal. He had never doubted for a second Jules's true feelings for him, because she would have told him if she disliked him. 

 But still, part of her was a mystery. 

 Engima would be the better word to describe her. She was the first person he had truly made friends with in Reseda. Ever since he met her in the convenience store, he thought that she was (obviously) very pretty. She was all sharp edges, dark eyes and quick wit. All messy hair and ear-piercings that looked like they really hurt to get done. At first glance, Juliana Monroe was a hurricane ready to tear apart anything in it's wake. 

 But now, he didn't really know how he felt about her. Infatuation brewed in his chest whenever she slung an arm over his shoulder, or moved his hair from his eyes, and it only doubled in the rare moments she let her facade fall; flashing him finger-guns and laughing at her own jokes that weren't even funny.  

 In short: Miguel was hopelessly infatuated with Juliana Monroe. 

"Just because you asked, now I'm not gonna let you do it." Sensei drawled, earning a middle finger from Jules. She turned to Miguel, shooting him a 'can you believe him?' look. The boy grinned, shrugging his shoulders in response. 

 "Miss Robinson, Line 'em up." 

 "Well if I can't do it, I at least want to go first." Jules shoved the boy who had a not-so-discreet crush on her aside, marching to the front and parking herself next to Miguel, squaring her shoulders as Sensei disappeared into his office, and Aisha shot Jules a nervous look. "Are you sure?" 

 "Hell yeah!" She bounced slightly, her white gi exposing her collarbone as she took a deep breath. "Do it before my hype wears off!" 

 There was a dull thumping sound as Aisha reared her fist back and punched Jules directly across the face, making some people in the class gasp as she stumbled to the side. Miguel held his arms out, steadying her as she groaned and rubbed her cheek, swearing rapidly. 

 After a second, she raised her hands in a thumbs-up, "good job, Aisha." 

 She turned to Miguel, patting his shoulders and smiling at him. "Thanks for not letting me fall, Diaz." 

 "Yeah," he chuckled nervously as the girl pulled away. "No problem." 

 There was beat of silence, before Miguel slowly began to back away, gesturing to the door of the office, "I-uh, have to-" He didn't even finish his sentence, turning to practically run into the darkened room. 

 "Hey, Sensei, I have to ask you something." Miguel began, watching as Johnny absentmindedly flipped through a catalog. 

 The man didn't even look up. "First Aid's under the counter. We got a bleeder?" 

 Miguel sighed deeply, shaking his head, "no-" his voice trailed off slightly as he heard a boy yelp in pain and something that sounded suspiciously like Jules's laugh. "Well, actually yeah, there's a lot of blood, but this is about something else." 

 Johnny set his magazine aside, leaning back in his chair as he observed a very nervous looking Miguel. "What's up?" 

 "Well, there's this girl-" 

 Johnny didn't even hesitate. "She hot?" 

 Miguel ignored him, "And she's funny, and smart-" 

 "Hot?" 

"And super cool, and-" 

 "Hot?" 

 Miguel sighed deeply, a smile tugging at his lips. "Yes, she's hot. Super hot." 

 Johnny grinned in satisfaction. "Nice." 

 "And I really like her, but I have no idea if I should tell her or not, because we're friends, and it would be weird-" 

 "Hold up," Johnny leaned forward in his chair, his eyebrows pinching together as he shot Miguel a judgmental look. "If we're talking about Monroe right now, I am going to throw this bottle at you." 

 He took Miguel's nervous silence as an answer, rolling his eyes and groaning. "Diaz!"  

 "What? I know you don't really like her, but she's actually really, really cool!" 

 "Let me tell you something about Julie Monroe," Johnny began, Miguel biting his lip to keep himself from correcting his miss-use of her name. "She's a demon. And you know what demons don't have? Feelings." 

 Miguel rolled his eyes, "yes, she does!" 

 "Once, she threw a banana peel at me when I knocked on her door to ask if I could borrow some milk for my coffee." 

 Miguel paused, doing his best to hide his grin as he awkwardly rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet under his Sensei's intense gaze. After a long bout of silence, he finally spoke up. "That's kind of funny." 

 "It wasn't funny!" Johnny shouted, "that girl is my sworn enemy for life." 

"That's kind of sad, Sensei." 

 "Whatever," Johnny slammed his bottle down on his desk. "Is there anyone else in the world that you could date other than Monroe?"

 Miguel's face fell. "That's actually why I came here. There's this girl at school who's actually really nice, and I think she might like me, but-" 

 "Ask her out." 

 Miguel groaned. "That doesn't seem fair, Sensei. I really like Ana, but I'm worried that if I tell her, and she doesn't feel the same way, it could screw up our friendship." He leaned his head back, sighing deeply. "She's impossible to read when it comes to stuff like this." 

"Because she has no feelings. Tell me Diaz-" he leaned closer to the boy, his elbows on his desk. "Have you ever seen her cry?" 

 "Well, no, but we've also never really been in a situation when crying would be needed." 

 "Okay," Johnny paused, deep in thought. "Have you ever seen her show any sort of empathy- other than-!" He rose his voice as he noticed Miguel about to speak. "-Other than something involving her friends." 

 Miguel smirked, crossing his arms triumphantly. "Yes. Once she told me that she would willingly die for Jack from Titanic."

 "Oh my-" Johnny groaned loudly and dramatically, leaning his head into his arms as he lightly banged his head against his desk. He paused for a minute as he regained his composure, looking up at Miguel through squinted eyes. "You want my advice? Ask out this other chick. Maybe it'll take your mind off of whatever curse Monroe cast on you." 

 Miguel rolled his eyes, a smile playing at his lips. "She's not a witch." 

 "Then why does she dress like a drummer in a punk-rock band?" 

 "Because she's cool!" 

There was a knock on the door, and then a slight creaking as it was swung open, Jules popped her head through, a small bruise already beginning to form on her cheekbone. She didn't seem rattled, instead just smiled at the two males. "Hey, guys, Aisha punched every single dude in there in the face. It was so funny, can we do it again?" 

 Johnny whirled around to give Miguel a pointed look, only to huff indignantly when he saw him smiling endearingly at the brunette. 

 "I'll be right out." 

 ***

"YOU'RE GOING ON A DATE with Miguel?" 

Jules started over at Sam, her eyes wide and her mouth dropped open in what might have been shock. Her friend smiled, her eyes glittering as she rifled through her closet, pulling out miscellaneous items of clothing and tossing them onto her bed. "Yep! I was actually pretty surprised, but he's super nice so I figured why not?" She gestured broadly to her bed, "and I need your help finding something to wear." 

 Jules rose an eyebrow, looking down at her black jeans and grey cropped shirt, glancing over at Sam coyly. "You're asking me for fashion advice?" 

 "I needed a second opinion!" Sam spun around, grabbing Jules's wrist and gently dragging her over to stand in front of the display of clothes on her bed. "Whenever I went out with Kyler, I just kind of wore whatever Yasmine did, hey-" she looked over at Jules just in time to catch the girl rolling her eyes. She gently punched her shoulder, "Don't roll your eyes, I'm past that. Which is why I called you." 

 "Just call me a fashion expert," Jules drawled, smiling at Sam in a way that was entirely too forced. 

 She didn't understand why she was so pissed off about this whole situation. Sam was her friend, Miguel was her friend, she should be happy that they were going out. Instead, she just felt an insane pressure pressing against her chest, like someone had walked over and dropped a boulder on her heart. She had never really experienced the emotion 'jealousy' before, but she sure as hell didn't like it. She thought of Miguel and his dorky smile and perpetually awkward attitude, and felt her annoyance only double because god damn it, he was supposed to be her dork. She didn't even realize it, but the fact was blatantly obvious, as it was staring her in the face. She liked Miguel Diaz. 

 And it was annoying as fuck. 

"I like these jeans," Jules shrugged, picking up a pair of regular denim jeans, "they're the ones that you can wear that cute belt with." 

 Sam gasped, pointing to Jules as if she had just said the cure to world hunger. "Yes! You're a genius." 

 Jules snorted, jokingly tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I know." 

 "I want to wear my white jacket, but I don't know what to put on under it-" 

 Jules watched as Sam turned back to her closet, her words coming out at a thousand miles an hour. She could feel an immense sensation of guilt bearing down on her shoulders, since she didn't feel one hundred percent support for her friend. Instead, she felt envious, an emotion that she vowed she would never show. Burying herself in her loyalty for Sam would definitely help her mask any feelings she may have for Miguel. 

 "Where's he taking you?" She asked, her tone nonchulant as she sat down on the bed, holding one of Sam's fluffy pillows to her chest. 

 "I'm not sure," the girl responded, running a hand through her hair as she gazed into her closet. "He didn't say." 

 "Huh, cool, cool-" 

 The door of Sam's bedroom swung open, Jules jumping slightly in surprise as Daniel LaRusso poked his head inside. Sam groaned, shooting her an unimpressed look, "Dad, could you knock?"  

 "Sorry, honey-" Daniel gave Jules a very confused once over, before awkwardly stepping inside and smiling at her. "Jules, it's been a while. How are you?" 

 "Hi Mr. LaRusso," Jules smiled at the man, raising a hand in greeting. "I'm good, how are you?" 

 "Good, great! I-" His surprised gaze flitted between Sam and Jules, although he wasn't doing a very good job of hiding his excitement. Jules couldn't blame him, after having a house full of Yasmine's for the last month, it would probably be refreshing to see your daughter hang out with someone who wasn't the modern-day equivalent to Regina George. "When did you two start hanging out again?" 

 "I dunno," Sam shrugged, "a few weeks ago?" 

 "Weeks?" Daniel's voice was high in disbelief, "and she's just coming over for the first time now?" 

 "Actually," Jules piped up, raising a finger. "I came over three times before." 

 "How did I not see you?" 

 Jules shrugged, "I'm sneaky." 

There was a small moment of silence, and Jules glanced at her phone before jumping up. "Oh, I didn't realize what time it was-" she turned to look at Sam. "I have to go."

"Alright," Sam walked over as Jules shrugged on her jacket. "Where to?" 

 "Well I told Sensei I would come to the dojo early to help him clean blood off the floor, but I'm pretty sure he's just gonna have to do it himself." Jules shrugged, facing Daniel LaRusso and noticing how his eyes darkened at the mention of her afternoon activity. 

 "Hey," he spoke before Jules could make it out of the door, she glanced over her shoulder at the man, who stared at her with knitted eyebrows. "You're in Cobra Kai?" 

 "Yeah, I am." She smiled at the man, "I'm not half-bad either." 

 "Yeah? Well-" He glanced over at Sam, before turning back to Jules with a ghost of a smile on his face. "If you ever want to learn some real karate, I'd be happy to teach you." 

 For a moment, Jules was too shocked to even respond. She did not come over to Sam's house expecting to be offered a karate class by her auto-shop-owning father. She wasn't stupid, she new that Daniel won the All-Valley when he was young, but Jules wasn't really aware he had continued on with the hobby. She blinked, "Wait, what?" 

 "Dad, stop harassing my friend!" Sam called from her room, making Jules smile. "Just let her go to her class!" 

 "Alright!" He raised his hands in mock-surrender, turned back to Jules and pointing at her. "My door is always open." 

 The girl grinned, "thanks, Mr. LaRusso." She waved to Sam, before turning on her heel and walking right out the door. Still, an unfamiliar feeling twisted in her gut, and she sighed. 

 This was going to be a very eventful class. 

 ***

"MONROE! YOU'RE late!" 

 "I know, I know-" Jules groaned as she kicked off her shoes, still dressed in her clothes from before, as she didn't have any time to change before coming to the dojo. "I'm sorry, I'm here." 

 "Yeah, I'm aware." Johnny drawled, scowling as he watched the girl run a hand through his hair. Groups were scattered across the dojo, stretching before the lesson, so Jules figured she couldn't be too late. "Where were you?" 

 "I was with my friend and underestimated how long it would take to run here." She bent over to catch her breath, sweat beading on her forehead. "I am not as athletic as I thought." 

 "Whatever, get warmed up. If you're late again I'll make you do suicides." 

 She glanced up, looking around the dojo with a confused look on her face. "Where?" 

 "Just warm up!" 

 Jules nodded, stepping over various people as she made her way to where her friends were situated near the back of the dojo. She sat down between Aisha and Eli (or, Hawk, as he apparently goes by now) and sighed. "Hi, guys." 

 "Hey, Jules." Eli smirked at her as she sat down, earning a light head-shove. Jules wasn't sure how fond she was of the new Eli Moskowitz. On one hand, she loved that he was more confident, on the other, he was a little bit of a dick. 

 "Hi," she yawned, stretching her arms above her head as she glanced over at Miguel, only to find that he was making a very stark attempt to not look over at her. "What are we talking about?" 

 "Where Miguel is gonna take Sam out on their date," Eli grinned at the boy as Jules felt another pang to her stomach, biting the inside of her cheek as the boy with the blue hair turned to her. "Any suggestions?" 

 "I don't care," she muttered, rolling her eyes once, before realizing how weird she probably looked. She cleared her throat, turning to look at Eli, since she didn't want to meet Miguel's burning gaze. "I mean, um-" she blurted out the first thing she thought of, "you should go get tattoos." 

 "What?" Aisha blurted out, her tone incredulous as Eli grinned. 

"Hell yeah!" He crowed, reaching over to fist-pump a still very annoying looking Jules. "You got one?" 

 "I actually do-" she stood up, lifting her shirt high enough to expose the bottom of her ribcage, just below the band of her white sports bra. "It was a stick-and-poke that I got last year after Hanukkah. Some guy was doing them for anyone over the age of sixteen. So obviously, I lied and got one. It means 'soul' in Hebrew." 

 "Wow," Aisha smiled as Jules dropped her shirt and sat back down. "That's badass."

 "Yeah," Eli nodded, "definitely hot." 

 "Hey, Moskowitz," Jules flicked his forehead, "I'll punch you." 

 "What do you think Miguel?" Aisha's tone was condescending as she shot the boy a coy look, crossing her arms as Jules glanced over at the boy. His face was red, and he looked away as soon as Jules made eye-contact with him. 

 "Yeah, it's- it's cool, I like it." 

 Jules smiled, "thanks, Diaz." 

 "Yeah, Monroe's is cool, but check this out-" Eli rose to his feet, turning away from the group as he took of his gi altogether, revealing a tattoo that took up the majority of his upper back. It was a bird - a Hawk presumably - with wings outstretched and talons bared. Jules, for a moment, was unable to speak just from the shock that this was the same person who she was comforting mere days ago. When she found her voice, she laughed. "What?"  

 "You like it?" The boy asked, glancing at Jules as he shrugged his gi back on. "Fourteen hours in the chair." 

 "Holy shit, Moskowitz," Jules lightly shook her head, sharing a look with Aisha. "Did your mom pop a fuse when she found out?" 

 "Actually, I haven't told her." His confident expression faded as he sat back down. "I'll probably have to wear a shirt until college... maybe longer." He winced, "Please don't tell them." 

 "I won't-" she quickly pulled her phone out of her back pocket, "But let me see it one more time, I promise I won't take a picture." 

 Miguel cleared his throat, "Um... any other suggestions?" 

 "I have one," Jules made a point to not look at Miguel as she took a picture of Eli sticking his tongue out. "Plan your own date. Actually, that's a good idea-" She turned to shoot him a look, words blurting out of her mouth before she could compose herself enough to stop them. "Why doesn't everyone just plan their own dates? And pick their own outfits, and not constantly nag Jules about it!" 

"I'm sorry, did I do something?" Miguel asked, putting his hand to his chest as Jules furiously did deep breathing exercises. 

 "No, Diaz, you didn't do shit." She rose to her feet, huffing and shaking her head. "You didn't do anything, I'm just an idiot, okay?"  

 Eli and Aisha shared a look, both watching Jules as if she was the star of their favorite television show. However, before she could say anything that she would regret, there was a loud shouting from the direction of Johnny's office. Jules rubbed her hands over her face, groaning loudly, before turning to jog over to the room. 

 "Banned? You don't ban me! I ban you!" Johnny yelled, Jules entering just in time to witness him slam the phone down on the reciever, not once, but three times. She crossed her arms, shooting him a look. He glanced up at her, "What?" 

 "Are you finished your little temper tantrum?" She drawled, even though she knew she wasn't any better. Her sensei snorted, rising to his feet.

 "Hell no! There's a lifetime ban on Cobra Kai from entering the tournament!" 

"What?" A new voice demanded as Miguel made his prescence known, his eyes wide in disbelief as he glanced over at Jules. "How is that fair?" 

 "It's not!" The man snapped, slumping back into his chair. "And there's nothing I can do about it." 

 "Ha, bullshit!" Jules retorted, crossing her arms tight across her stomach as she clenched her teeth. "We can burn their houses down, give me a list of addresses." 

 "Yeah!" Miguel piped up, before pursing his lips as he realized exactly what Jules said. "Well, no, not neccessarily the arson thing, but you were the one who told me to not take no for an answer!" 

 "Yeah, that was girl advice. This is completely different." 

 "Wait, what?" Jules blurted out, glancing between the two males who were both all of a sudden making a point to not look at her. 

 Miguel coughed awkwardly, before continuing. "You have to fight this!" 

 "Yeah! With fire." 

 "No, not with fire!" 

 Johnny stared at the two teens as they argued back and forth, his eyebrows pinching together. It had never struck him until now; he had never really seen Juliana Monroe and Miguel Diaz not get along. The thought didn't sit right with him, so he stood up to get them to shut up. "You're right." 

 That sentence was so foreign to the teens that they both shut up in perfect unison. Jules' lips pulled into a frown. "About the fire?" 

 "No not about the-" Johnny groaned. "About fighting back. I'm gonna go down there-" 

 Miguel grinned, "yes!" 

 "And beat the shit out of them." 

 Jules pumped her fist. "Yes!" 

"What? No you can't do that!" Miguel exclaimed, stepping in front of Johnny before he could exit the room. "What I meant was, maybe there's a smarter way to go about this?"

 Jules snorted, causing Miguel to look over at her. She shot him a glare, her tone sharp, even if she had no idea why. She didn't want to be rude to Miguel, in fact, she wanted to do the opposite. She wanted to tell him the true reasons as to why she was being such a bitch, but whenever she tried, the words got stuck in her throat and came out as a snide remark. A part of her wouldn't allow herself to tell the truth, so she did what she always did: she hid. 

 "The way of the fist isn't smart." 

 And then she turned and walked away.