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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
"miyagi-do"
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(glory of love)

IT WAS LATE THAT night the next time Miguel and Jules spoke.

 She was laying on her bed, hands folded together over her stomach as she stared up at the white paint of her ceiling. She was so numb to the events of that day that she didn't even feel remorse; she was just confused... what was she supposed to do now? Karate had become such a huge part of her life, and she still wanted to compete in the next All Valley... actually, she wanted to win the next All-Valley; and she wanted to do that more than anything.

 She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice Miguel until he fell through her window. 

 He wasn't very graceful about it, whisper-shouting her name to catch her attention, before falling directly onto his back onto the carpeted floor. Jules jumped, before relaxing when she realized it was just her dorky boyfriend, laying back down to resume her staring contest with the ceiling. "We have a door." 

 "It's the middle of the night," he responded, ruffling his hair, "I didn't want to bother your mom."

 "Cute," she drawled, not even blinking as Miguel laid down next to her. They sat like that for several minutes, nothing but silence circulating through the room, before he finally spoke. 

 "Did you mean it? That you're quitting Cobra Kai." 

 Jules felt her chest clench, her heart beginning to beat faster as she swallowed deeply. Slowly, she nodded, feeling Miguel's gaze on her as her words came out soft and tense. "Yeah, I have to. I can't handle it anymore, Miguel, it's just not worth it."

 "But don't you love karate?" Miguel asked, the two turning so that they were facing each other. "I understand you wanting to get away from Kreese - I actually yelled at him for ten minutes about that." He blushed, "I think half of it was in Spanish, it's all kind of a blur. Johnny said he was getting rid of him - and did he actually hit you?" His eyebrows pinched, "why didn't you tell me?" 

 "I'm not used to sharing things about me," Jules admitted, a frown making her eyebrows crease. "I didn't think it mattered, I was going to get my revenge on him anyway. I - I guess I didn't think it mattered."

"But it does matter, Ana." The boy persisted. "Because I care about you, and even if he won't admit it, so does Sensei. So if Kreese was making you miserable, you should have just said something and we would have helped you." 

 Jules felt it then - a hot sensation in her eyes that meant she was about to cry. She refused to, her lip trembling as she shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. "I can't. I can't, because nobody has ever cared about me that way before." 

 "That's not true," he shook his head. "Your mom cares about you, Demetri does, Sam does, you're special, Ana, I don't get why you can't see that." 

 Jules did start crying then, putting a hand to her mouth. Miguel didn't waste a second, leaning forward to pull her into his arms. She buried her face in his chest, feeling the weight of everything that had happened in the past few months shatter over her head. She had never heard someone say that they cared for her that much, and the words made the tight grip that was always prominent around her loosened. 

 "It's not just Kreese," she mumbled, her words muffled. "It was everything - Hawk, Tory, everyone treating me like some freak because of who I hang out with." She inhaled to try and calm herself down. "I usually don't give a shit about that kind of stuff, but Cobra Kai used to be a safe place, and now it's an army of extreme dickheads." 

 Miguel sighed, "I miss how it was before." He admitted, running a hand through her hair. "When it was just me and you. It was simple." 

 "I loved it," she pulled away long enough to look her boyfriend in the eye. "Mig, I don't know if I can just quit karate." 

 "Well, that's why I came." He shot her a small smile, "after you didn't answer you phone-" 

 "I threw it at a wall and broke the screen." 

 "-I called Sam, and we talked for a bit..." he shrugged, "she said that you needed something to get your mind off things. So she brought up that this rollar rink has an eighties night tomorrow, and she was going to force you to go." 

 Jules couldn't help but laugh, wiping at her eyes. "Sam is gonna take me on a date?" 

 "No, I am. Sam's bringing Robby Keene," he shot her a hopeful glance. "And she said that before, she wanted you to come down to Miyagi-Do. Are you up for it?" 

 Miyagi-Do, even the name of the dojo made her want to laugh. Miyagi-Do and their meditation rituals, and self-defense mechanisms, and soft aura, and bonsai trees... she wouldn't fit in there at all. 

 But she was intrigued, so all she said was:

 "Of course I am." 

 ***

YEAH, MAYBE NOT.

The second she stepped foot in the Miyagi-Do dojo, all eyes were instantly on her. The group was standing in a circle, listening to something that Daniel was saying, and Jules could instantly pick out a few recognizable faces. The main one belonged to Demetri, whos face lit up when he caught sight of her. "Jules! You're actually here!" 

 She smiled, somewhat awkwardly, as she folded her hands in front of her. "Yeah... hey." 

 All of the previous Cobra-Kais looked incredibly confused, but Sam just beamed; jogging over to pull her into a tight hug. Jules hugged back, thankful for the moment of consolation, before the LaRusso girl pulled away. "It's awesome that you're here, it'll be great, c'mere-" 

 She grabbed onto her hand and pulled her over to where Daniel was standing. He patted her shoulder with a good-natured grin. "Hey, stranger, are you ready to learn some real karate?" 

 Real. She snorted, looking over the group. She could take any of them, for sure, and when her eyes met Robby Keene's, she tried to search for signs of Johnny's in them. She got nothing, so she just shot him a tight-lipped smile; turning back to Daniel. "Let's see what more you can teach me."

"Alright!" The man clapped his hands, "everyone, form a circle. We're going to do the same exercise as yesterday, just to try and give Jules a sense of what the Miyagi-Do fighting style is about." 

 A skinny blond boy tentatively rose his hand, clearing his throat. "Uh, Sensei, I don't think she's really... Miyagi-Do material." 

 Jules narrowed her eyes at him, crossing her arms as he continued. "I mean, she was one of Cobra Kai's star fighters; she's still dating one of them... how do we know she isn't going to try and trash the dojo again." 

 Daniel opened his mouth to speak, but Jules cut him off. "First of all, you look like a five year old. Second of all, you seem to be really proud if you think that I would undergo a secret spy mission to try and wreck your dojo." She took a step forward, "I left Cobra Kai because I was sick of being treated like a sociopath for being loyal to my friends: that concept would be familiar if you had any friends to be loyal to. So hush, or I'll light your car on fire." 

 She turned to Daniel, watching as the man sighed deeply. 

 "So what's the drill?"

***

"SEVEN!"

Jules wasted no time, spinning on her heel and dodging around a kick that Chris (who was one of the only Cobra Kais Jules actually liked) dished out. She dropped to the ground, sweeping his legs out from under him and making his back hit the ground.

Daniel sighed. They had been doing this drill over and over again, and Jules knew that the man was trying to find her faults... unfortunately for him, none of his newer students - even the Cobra Kai ones - could take her. 

 "Four!" 

 Robby darted out so quickly that Jules almost didn't block his hit. The two went back and forth for a few seconds, before the boy lunged at her from the side. She ducked under his arm and hit his exposed side. 

 She whirled around to look at Daniel, "is this what we're gonna do the whole time? Because-" 

 "Eight!" 

 Sam moved surprisingly quickly, forcing Jules onto defense as she hit at her again and again. The Monroe girl grunted, not used to this change of pace, and spun around to try and kick Sam. She dodged, and Jules had to literally jump out of the way to avoid her next kick. 

 Sam hit her from the side, which Jules blocked, before spinning around and landing a kick to her side. Jules grunted, Sam laughing at the victory. 

 Daniel grinned, "nice work." 

 Jules crossed her arms, "what now? Do I have to sand a deck?" 

 Daniel squinted at her, "normally, I would say yes. But for you, I think the biggest thing here is mindset. You're so used to the 'strike first' aspect of offense, but what have you done for defense?" 

 Jules pursed her lips, "once, I defended myself against like, ten guys at once in the middle of a foodcourt." 

 The man nodded, "yeah, I heard about that. Impressive, really, you're a great fighter, Jules." 

 That made her smile. She liked getting positive feedback, especially since what she was used to is Johnny favoring her over a bunch of dorks. "Thanks, Mr. Larusso, or wait-" she cleared her throat, smiling coyly. "Sensei."

 He grinned at her, so she continued. "How do I get into the defensive mindset? Are you gonna blindfold me and throw baseballs at my head?" 

 Daniel blanched, sharing a look with Sam, who patted Jules on the shoulder. 

 "We do things a bit differently here, Lia." 

***

JULES DIDN'T LIKE defense.

When you fight offensively you have control over the outcomes. You know what is about to happen, and you know that there is always a fifty-fifty chance of what will come next: you win, or you loose. When you're defending, it's all about anticipation. You have to guess most of the time, and Jules didn't like that... she liked knowing for certain the events to come. 

 She stood between Sam and Robby, in the middle of a wobbly surface floating in the middle of a pond. It was taking enough of her attention to keep from falling off, especially since Robby weighed more than Sam; so the surface was tilting slightly to her left. She had to keep her legs tensed and braced so that the surface stayed balanced, and she wasn't sure how she was supposed to defend herself when she could barely stand. 

 "It's easy," Daniel called from the surface, where the rest of the students were watching with piqued interests. "Just defend yourself. There is no need to strike first, or strike back. Just stay on your feet and don't get hit." 

 Jules gritted her teeth, lowering her voice to whisper to Sam. "Your dad is crazy."

 "I heard that, Monroe!" The man shot back in a teasing tone. "Ready? Robby will start."

Jules shifted her feet so that she was looking at the boy, cocking an eyebrow. He seemed amused, like he knew what was about to happen, and held out his fists, "ready?" 

 She copied the stance, her legs beginning to shake. "I think so." 

 He somehow managed to aim a kick at her side without falling, but Jules wasn't as lucky. She tried to hold her hand out, but her balance was off and she slipped on the slick surface; directly into the water. 

 She resurfaced with a cough, wiping off her face and cursing herself for wearing mascara as Sam laughed.She blindly stuck up her middle finger at her friend, before peeling off her shirt and tossing it to the side, cracking her knuckles as she clumsily climbed back onto the surface. 

 Sam and Robby seemed to be having no trouble, which lead Jules to believe that they had done something like this before. They only stumbled ever-so-slightly as she climbed back on, having to rise up from all fours to avoid falling over again. 

This was going to be a long day.

 ***

"SO, HOW WAS MIYAGI-DO?" Miguel asked, a teasing edge to his tone as he watched Jules struggle to stand up straight on rollerskates. "Learn some defense? Do some nice, relaxing meditation?" 

 "I almost drowned." She deadpanned, wincing at her sore legs as she clumsily rose to her feet. She would admit, she was loving the vibe of the roller-rink... from the costumes, to the music, to the florescent lighting; it was all a good way to get her mind off karate drama. She had decided to dress as Heather Chandler from her favorite 80's movie, and had enlisted Sam to be Heather Mcnamara... she only hoped that Robby would be able to be convinced to wear the Heather Duke outfit, since Miguel said he would only dress as JD.

And he admittedly pulled it off well, although the trench-coat was concerning as they were walking down there. 

Jules was wearing a white mini-shirt, with knee-high red and white checkered socks, a white blouse, and a red blazer. She had spent two hours with Sam getting her hair to stay in tight curls, and learned the very pleasing fact that she could pull off red lip stick.

 ( Not pink, though, that looked awful with her complexion. )

 Jules' legs were awfully sore from the hour and a half she spent balancing in the middle of a pond, but she eventually did get the hang of it. She had never gone rollerskating before, and her boyfriend was having a great time showing off how good he was at it. 

 She took a few steps forward, before yelping as she lost her footing. Thankfully, Miguel managed to catch her, his hands on her hips; her red skirt swishing around her thighs. He chuckled, "wow there, Heather, maybe start off slow." 

 She looked up to give him her best puppy-dog eyes, "please teach me." 

 "I will, but it's twelve dollars an hour." 

 "I'll pay you with my love." 

 "Oh how cute," a new voice drawled, and Jules could feel her fight or flight activate as she turned to glare at Tory. The girl was wearing (and unfortunately, rocking) a Madonna get up, and judging from the tray in her hand; Jules presumed that she worked there. The blonde sized Jules up, cocking an eyebrow. "I wasn't expecting to see you for a while, especially not after your little tantrum back there. Did you have fun ditching Cobra Kai, traitor?" 

 "No," she stood up as straight as she could, her hand on Miguel's shoulder. "But I did have a fun time kicking your ass and murdering you before."

 "Jules!" Sam's excited voice called, just as the girl skated over. She had a similar get-up to the brunette; only replacing the red with yellow. Robby was next to her, begrudgedly donning a green blazer, but he had blatantly refused to wear the skirt. "We found a blazer in Robby's size that looks exactly like- oh." A disappointed sigh left the girl's lips as she saw Tory standing there.

 Tory snorted, "wow, I can't say I'm surprised. Did you join Miyagi-Do immediately after leaving Cobra Kai?"

Jules clenched her jaw, "yeah, I did." 

 There was a pause, but she couldn't help but add: "because I actually strive to get better at karate, not just talk shit about people and then cry when they beat the crap out of me." 

 "Okay, I think we should go-" Miguel laughed nervously, and Jules glanced at him. She remembered the origin of Tory's dislike for her, and smiled. She then leaned forward, pressing her lips onto Miguel's for what was probably longer than neccessary, before pulling away and nodding. 

 "You're right, babe, we should. You still need to teach me how to skate." 

 He grinned, turning and holding her hand to keep her upright. Jules watched as Sam flipped Tory off, before skating over to link their arms. The action almost made Jules trip, and Sam laughed. "You just need to end that bitch." 

 "I know, she's like Yasmine if she was poor, more aggressive, and on crack." 

 "Can I just say that I am loving the look we've got going on?" Robby announced, doing a little spin as Jules stumbled like a baby, Sam and Miguel being the only thing keeping her upright. "Whoever's idea it was to do Heathers is a genius. I don't understand why Miguel couldn't have been the other Heather, thought." 

 He didn't even hesitate, "none of the Heathers were Hispanic, that's why." 

 "Neither was JD!" Robby exclaimed, "also, none of the Heathers were Jewish, either!"

"Well Heather Monroe is about to pull a muscle, so if someone wants to teach me how to skate, that would be very much appreciated."

They did just that, and Jules felt like a young child. Sam was instructed to hold onto Jules as Miguel skated a few feet away. Robby then skated next to her as she struggled to stay on her feet, until she practically collapsed in Miguel's arms. Sam cheered, they got a few dirty looks from couples around them, and Jules felt on top of the world. She missed hanging out with her friends. Back when things were simple and there was no weird karate history between them... this was kind of like that. It was easy, and it was fun.

"You know, you need to tell me your tragic backtory." Jules drawled. She was sitting on a bench as Miguel untied his skates, claiming that they were too large. Sam and Robby were a few feet away, giggling about something and drinking Pepsi from styrofoam cups. "How did you learn how to skate so well?" 

 "Hm," Miguel jokingly put a finger to his chin. "Well, when I was a young child I was abducted by a rollerskating cult, and I had to learn or else they wouldn't feed me." 

 Jules snorted, playfully rolling her eyes. God, you really are a dork aren't you?" She mused, rising to her feet and practicing skating back and forth. "My tragic backstory began when a small Latino kid moved nextdoor to me, and started harassing me about joining his karate dojo." 

 "Nope, I think you're confused." Miguel shook his head, "I think you mean when the love of your life started mooching off of your electricity bill, and then developed a huge crush on you after he watched you curse out his karate Sensei." 

 Jules burst into laughter, clapping her hands together as she turned to face him, placing her hands on her hips. "Everyone sees stories differently, hey-" she grinned, holding her hands out, "I think I'm getting the hang of this-" 

 Her voice was cut off when a shove at her back sent her falling to the ground, her hands managing to catch her before she smacked her head off of the hars surface. She looked up just in time to see Tory shoot her a smug smirk over her shoulder. "Whoops, sorry, Princess." 

 Jules was trying to figure out how to stand so that she could kick her ass, but before she could, someone else did. Sam had skated over, sliding over the small bench to hit Tory's legs out from under her. The girl flew backwards, her platter spilling food all over the floor and making Jules' eyes widen.  

 "What the hell?" A man with a security shirt on demanded, before turning to Tory. "Tory, are you okay?" 

 The girl responded by groaning, rubbing her head. Jules was still trying to figure out how to stand up as the man turned to point to Sam and Robby. "That's it, you're out!"

 Robby spoke up, "but she started it-" 

 "I said get out!" 

 Jules managed to get onto her feet, before immediately falling down again. "Bitch you're lucky I can't get up, I will rock your shit!" 

 The security guard looked concerned. "Yeah, you too." 

 Miguel managed to lift Jules off the ground, all while she was seething with anger. 

 She wasn't sure how, but this thing with Tory had to end. 

 And she was going to end it.

A/N:

me updating twice in two days:

ANYWAYS - because the next chapters will be very dramatic, i have created a new thing that i like to call 'meme of the chapter'! here's the first:

ha, okay:

the next chapters will be the real spicy shit, so prepare yourselves! tell me what you think will happen please!

ALSO MIYAGI-DO JULES!!! this obviously won't last, since y'all better know she'll go right to eagle fang, but i just thought the concept was too funny to pass up!

thanks for reading, and lots of love!