"You've trained hard. You've gotten stronger, tougher, faster. You've done your best. You're ready for this tournament, am I right?" Johnny yelled, standing on top of a bus while his students stood below him in an abandoned junkyard.

"Yes, Sensei!"

"Wrong!" He yelled, throwing his beer can onto the floor, right at the students feet. Frankie let out a small yelp, side stepping away from the beer can before it can splatter on her.

"Your best ain't shit! If you want to win the All-Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament, you gotta give me better than your best. Which is why from now on, you're gonna get my worst. You understand?" Johnny asked and Frankie looked up at the man with a nervous look.

Johnny seemed to always have some dangerous tasks for the students to do and it really did stress Frankie out.

"Are you losers?" Johnny yelled and Frankie sucked in a breath of air, courage settling in her chest with the oxygen. "No, Sensei!" She managed to yell out with her teammates.

"Are you nerds?"

"No, Sensei!"

"Are you sure?"

"No, Sensei!" The students screamed. When Johnny dropped his head and groaned into his hands, Frankie thought back to what her sensei asked and how she answered. Realizing her mistake, Frankie cringed as Johnny climbed off the bus. He let the kids to a row of ties and started to have all of them run down them.

Frankie was the first in the line and as always, Frankie did the task with ease. She brought her knees as high as she could without faltering, her knees aching, or breaking a sweat.

Johnny loved the fact that Frankie was good at anything he through at her and clapped his hands enthusiastically as she past him. "Let's go, Frankenstein, good job!" He screamed, making the girl smile wide.

What she didn't know was behind her, Aisha tripped trying to catch up with Frankie and when she fell, it was like dominos falling, none of the students having time to catch themselves before they toppled over each other. When Frankie got to Johnny, she heard the groans behind her. She turned around and gasped at all of her teammates.

"Oh my God." She whispered, her hand coming up to her mouth in shock as Johnny groaned.

"Come on let's go." He muttered to Frankie, starting to walk away. When he looked back to see if Frankie was following him, his eyes fell on the rest of his students slowly starting to get up. "Hurry ip! Move those asses!" Johnny screamed.

Johnny let his students to a metal storage bin, and gestured for the students to walk up the small stairs beside it to get on top of it.

Frankie's jaw fell when she looked into the bin and saw broken glass and rusted metal inside. There was a long wooden beam that went from one end of the bin to the other.

She felt Miguel and Hawk come up and stand on either side of her and she heard both of them gasp when they looked inside the crate. At the same time, Frankie, Miguel, and Hawk all looked up at Johnny standing on the other side of the bin.

He smirked, raising his hand and gesturing them to come to him. Frankie stared at her sensei in fear but slowly started to push Miguel towards the beam. "Uh... You're his favorite you go first." She whispered.

Miguel gave Frankie a betrayed look but before he could back down, he was already one foot on the board.

Miguel walked across the beam slowly, his arms out by his side to keep his balance. When Miguel reached the end, Frankie took a small step back, hoping not to go next but Hawk grabbed her shoulders from behind her, stopping her from walking.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere. You're next." Hawk said, his own voice filled with nervousness at the task their sensei was having them do. Frankie gulped and slowly walked up to the board. She looked down at the metal and glass beneath her before she closed her eyes and held her head forward.

She opened her eyes and walked across the board a little faster than Miguel but still pretty slow. She never stumbled and she didn't even have to hold her hands that far out on her sides.

Johnny looked back to the students behind Frankie when she was about halfway through the board, his eyes landing on Hawk. "Come on! Two of you can go at once!" Johnny yelled at Hawks eyes widened.

When the boy still didn't move, Johnny groaned. "Come on, let's go, move your ass!" He yelled, a lot more aggressive this time.

Hawk quickly got on after that, making the board shake for Frankie from him practically jumping on. Frankie yelped, throwing her arms out a little higher on her side to keep balance as she tried to walk as fast as she could for the end.

"There's nothing to fear except for fear itself, and not falling in a bunch of sharp metal and broken glass, so don't do that!" Johnny yelled just as Frankie got to the end of the beam. She hopped down to stand with Miguel and Johnny, who watched her in absolute awe and amazement.

"How did you do that so easily?" Miguel asked, his eyes wide as he stared at Frankie before turning to the beam and watching Hawk and Aisha struggle to walk across. Frankie shrugged, making Miguel turn back to her.

"I did gymnastics for five years." Frankie said and Johnny smiled, slowly nodding his head. As Hawk finished the beam, Johnny raised both of his hands and pointed at Frankie. "I like you, Frankenstein. You're good at everything. You're my favorite."

Frankie's face grew into a smile as Hawk and Miguel looked at Johnny with betrayed expressions. Slowly, laughter came with Frankie's smile and she turned to the two boys beside her. She pointed at both of them, practically hunching over from how hard she was laughing. "I'm the favorite!" She taunted.

Once everyone crossed the beam, Johnny had everyone line up in an empty part of the lot as he handed them jerky. "You want to win, you gotta be hungry. You guys hungry?" Johnny asked, handing the last beef jerky to Bert.

"Yes, Sensei!"

Johnny smirked, stepping away from the kids as she reached into his pocket. "Good." He said, pulling out a dog whistle. "So are they."

He brought the whistle to his lips and a low hum echoed through the junkyard. Frankie looked around the yard as she started to faintly hear dogs barking. She looked past Johnny and saw three huge dogs running straight for her team.

Frankie screamed, dropping the beef jerky and immediately running towards one of the nearby trucks as the rest of the teens scattered. 

"Don't be afraid! They smell fear!"

She pushed herself up onto the bed of a pickup truck and climbed up onto the hood. Frankie looked around the yard and watched as everyone made it to safety except Hawk, who was struggling to find anywhere to climb.

Frankie quickly got down on her knees and leaned over the edge of the truck, her hand out for Hawk.

"Hawk!" She screamed, making the boy spinning around, his eyes wide in fear. When he saw Frankie, relief washed over his face but he didn't move. Frankie looked behind the boy and saw all of the dogs run straight for him. "Come on! Get up here!"

After a couple seconds, Hawk ran for Frankie, his hand out and ready to grab Frankie's. As soon as he was close enough, Frankie grabbed Hawks hand and pulled him up onto the top of the truck before the dogs could bite him.

Both teens were out of breath and Hawk laid back, sprawling out on top of Frankie. "Thank you." He breathed out and Frankie chuckled, leaning back on her elbows. "You're welcome." She muttered, a small smile on her face before she shoved Hawk. "Now, get off of me!"

...

After karate, Frankie, Hawk, Aisha and Miguel all decided to head to the movie theater to watch Avengers: Endgame. Hawk ended up inviting Demetri as well after the boy found out Hawk was going without him.

Somehow, Frankie ended up sitting in between Demetri and Hawk, but she didn't mind. Demetri couldn't say anything snarky anyway, they were in a movie theater.

She bought herself a small popcorn and a cheery icee and about halfway through the movie, Frankie noticed Hawk start to take small handfuls of her popcorn and start to throw it at the people in front of them.

Frankie turned to Hawk, a small glare on her face. "You know I bought those for just me, right?" She asked, watching as Hawk grabbed another handful from her bag. Hawk looked to Frankie with a confused look as he threw the popcorn at a girl in the front row.

"You offered me some." He said and Frankie's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. "To eat not throw at other people." Frankie whisper yelled, catching Demetri's attention on the other side of her.

The boy looked back and forth between his bag of popcorn and the back of Frankie's head before he tilted the top of the bag towards Frankie.

"Want some of mine?" He asked, making Frankie look away from Hawk and to Demetri. Frankie's mood softened and she gave Demetri a small smile and took a couple pieces. "Thanks." She muttered, tossing the popcorn into her mouth. She smiled at the taste. Ever since they were little, her and Demetri always got the same amount of butter and salt this tasted exactly like her bowl.

"Jesus Christ, you're such a nerd." Hawk chuckled out, making Frankie look away from the screen and to Miguel and Aisha, who Hawk was talking to.

Miguel frowned, shaking his head. "I'm telling you, it's not just on my mind. Sam was acting weird the other day when her dad walked by." Miguel said, looking up to his friends sadly. Aisha gave him a reassuring smile and tilted her head. "I've known Mr. LaRusso since third grade. He's a really nice guy, you just have to talk to him."

"I haven't even been invited over yet. She's probably too afraid to introduce me."

Hawk rolled his eyes at Miguel words, looking away from his friends and back to the big screen, shrugging his shoulders. "Dude, just go over there. It's an alpha move." He said. Frankie's eyes widened and immediately she leaned forward so she could see Miguel past Hawk and Aisha.

As soon as she locked eyes with the boy, Frankie pointed at Hawk beside her. "Uh... Don't listen to him!" She whisper yelled just as Hawk threw another piece of Frankie's popcorn into the audience in front of them.

He hit a man on the back of the head and he was quick to spin around. "Who the hell did that?" He yelled, catching Frankie's attention. She turned to the man just as Hawk tried to "casually" look back to the screen.

Frankie turned back to Hawk, her jaw clenched. She shook her head and continuing to glare at Hawk, Frankie grabbed her popcorn that was sitting in between her and Hawk and moved it so it was in between her and Demetri.

"Give me this back!"

emily speaks...
quick little chapter because im actually so excited for the next one
THE PROGRESS‼️ THE ANGST‼️ im so excited

yes i added demetri to the movie theater scene and even though his part in it was little, it's a little growth for him and frankie so im happy😊😊😊

i'm gonna be home for the weekend because im seeing WALLOWS‼️‼️‼️‼️so there might not be updates over the weekend but we never know your girl may find time to write.
I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH AND I HOPE YOU ENJOY