I FEEL SO HIGH SCHOOL . . . !
© 2024 ━━ chapter one
ace degenerate

LIFE FOR OLIVIA LAWRENCE HAD ALWAYS BEEN DIFFICULT. her dad didn't have the best track record of work, and she lived in a dingy two bedroom apartment that always seems to be littered with empty junk food bags and coors light bottles. but she made it work, especially when she had to make sure her dad got up and got himself to work to pay bills. that morning she hadn't had to get up to get him up though because he did it himself, she also was surprised to hear him attempting to cook something. she made her way out of bed, and went to check what he was doing in the kitchen-living room area of the home.

when she made it into the room, she saw him cooking bologna. she knew she would have a couple pieces when he was done, but also knew he wasn't going to eat anything else but that so she decided to add toast on the side.

"morning," she softly spoke to her father as he turned towards her.

"morning. here you go," he put the bologna on her plate as they made their way to the table to eat. they ate in silence like they normally did, it was comforting to them and they never minded the silence. but her dad always had some old movie or tv show from the 80s playing on the tv to keep some noise, as he squirted what was left of the ketchup onto his plate. after they finished their meals, he took the trash out and was off to work while olivia stayed home. she could faintly hear him talking to someone and decided not to investigate, because her and her father weren't very well liked by their neighbors, and she wouldn't want to instigate and make that feeling worse. so she spent her day inside, talking to her best friend, savannah larusso, an unlikely pair given the history of their dads, but they made it work. they had become friends before they knew who the other was related to, and they weren't going to let their fathers thirty-something year long grudges stop them from being friends.

LATER THAT NIGHT olivia had been concerned when her father hadn't made his way home like he normally would, and she couldn't reach his cell phone either to even see where he was. her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock on the door, she went to look in the peephole and saw someone who looked to be her age in the doorway. she unlocked the door and opened it wondering what the boy could want at this time of night.

"hey, i'm your new neighbor. my name's miguel," he introduced himself to her. she looked at him confused because he really didn't need to introduce himself to her this late at night.

"um...hey? my name's olivia. may i ask what you're doing here at this time of night?" she asked him the obvious question one would ask when your new neighbor shows up to your house unannounced at almost ten o'clock at night.

"oh right!" he seemed to have forgotten what he came to the door for, "um do you live with a middle aged man? he has blond hair and a beard."

that was her father alright that miguel was describing, "yeah, that's my father. do you know where he is?"

"he might've gotten arrested after fighting some kids that were picking on me at the cornerstore," miguel was trailing off as he spoke more, scared of the response he could get from the blonde in front of him.

"oh...that sounds like my father alright. it's ok though i know who will ultimately bail him out in the morning. thanks for letting me know though," olivia knew the boy wasn't to fault for her fathers dumb decisions. the man had always had a short temper and this came as no surprise to her that he managed to do something like that.

"no problem," miguel responded back before they said goodbye to each other and olivia closed the door. that night her sleep was a little restless as she wondered how her dad was holding up in the jail's holding cell. but she eventually fell asleep after she tossed and turned for a few hours.

THE NEXT MORNING olivia and her new found friend, miguel, sat outside their houses hoping her dad would arrive sooner than later. their silence was quickly answered when johnny's car pulled into the small parking area. the teens hurriedly put their phones away and raced to his car as he got out.

"hey, i just wanted to say thank you," miguel thanked the man for his action the previous night.

"all right, well, you said it," her dad did not seem happy to see the boy, as he was the reason he was in jail for the last 12 hours. he started walking towards the front door as miguel and olivia followed him.

"so, last night, was that, like, taekwondo or jujitsu or mma or something?" he kept piling on different fighting styles trying to find the one her dad had used.

"it was most likely karate, that's the style he knows," olivia dumped the knowledge as miguel nodded in thanks.

"yeah, she's right, it's karate, old-school karate," johnny deadpanned. he was completely uninterested in the conversation they were having.

"do you think you can teach me?" miguel was desperate after his apparent beat down the night prior to learn the fighting style.

"me too! i've been dying for you to teach me," olivia added on hoping her father would teach the both of them.

"what? no," johnny checked the mailbox for any mail and he was quick to dismiss the teens, not wanting to teach them at all.

"what? come on. when school starts, those guys are gonna make my life miserable," miguel was still begging. but to be fair he had a point. karate was good for self defense, and with the way kids act at west valley high to those not popular, you would need to be able to defend yourself.

"it's not my problem," johnny once again shot down the boys pleads for him to teach him.

"but dad, we can both benefit from this. you know i don't hang with the popular crowd either, nor do i really need to defend myself at school currently. but you never know i could need this in my future too," olivia hoped this would convince her dad to teach them.

"exactly! look, if i just knew a little bit of what you knew, then i would be-"

"forget it. i don't do karate anymore, all right? besides, i need to find a job," johnny lost his patience with both the kids, now tired of them begging him to teach them karate. even though olivia is his own daughter, he still just didn't want her to get caught up in karate like he did, look where it got him now.

"well, you could open your own karate school," miguel still tried to drive home anything that would get him into karate with johnny. olivia nodded her head at this, agreeing. it was a good idea that could get her dad some money with the more students they get, she doesn't see what could go wrong with it. he knows the sport, that's all that's needed.

"it's called a dojo."

"you could open your own dojo," miguel corrected his words at the response johnny gave him.

"look, i'm not getting into this with you two, all right? i'm not even sure i'm allowed to be around kids right now, well except for my own," he pauses between his word. "all right, you want my advice? stop being so annoying. maybe you'll stop getting your ass kicked."

johnny walks away after that leaving olivia and miguel outside. both upset that their pleas didn't work. olivia just doesn't understand why her father was so against the idea, it could be great for him, and also bring karate back to the valley.

"maybe we can try again when he isn't fresh out of jail?" olivia suggested to the boy.

"okay..." miguel trailed off a disappointed look in this face. olivia placed a hand on his shoulder giving him a reassuring look.

"don't give up, i'm sure my dad will come around. he's just had a rough twenty-four hours, and it was probably like a said, just a really bad time to ask this from him," olivia tried to be hopeful for miguel, even if she wasn't so sure herself that her dad would come around. miguel gave her a smile, as olivia started to walk towards the front door of her house, giving miguel a wave as she reached the door. he waved back, walking towards his house. after that both turned towards their doors and entered, glad to have made a new friend.

olivia entered her house, and heard sid talking to her dad, while his caretaker sat on the couch watching tv. she waved to the woman on the couch, and revived a wave back. she managed to come in right when he was describing her grandmother, talk about something no one wants to hear come from someone's mouth. she didn't want to get involved so she sat down, but she immediately regretted choosing to stay in the main room rather than her bedroom.

"well, high praise, coming from a world class daddy like you. how old are robby and olivia now 15, 16?" when's the last time you saw robby?" sid taunted johnny. it gave olivia a sick feeling in her stomach, sure her dad had his moments, but he always was trying for the both of them. she couldn't say the same for robby, she had barely ever seen him, but they also were just merely born around the same time, they had different mothers. their only relation was their dad, so it wasn't in her power if he stayed here or with his mom like he chose to.

"just get the hell out of here, man," johnny didn't want to see sid either after the day morning he's had already. he'd only been home a total of five minutes and he couldn't even have a moment to sit and think, with all the bothers in the way.

"i'll get the hell out of here when i'm goddamn good and ready!" sid yelled back, which made olivia shrink in her chair. she didn't like the way this conversation was turning, it had gone so downhill in the matter of seconds.

"sid!" his caretaker reprimanded him.

"what?" he groaned in annoyance, olivia continued to sit in silence, not that she could even form any words at the moment to even speak.

"blood pressure!" the older woman reminded him to not work himself up too much.

"keep watching your bullshit judge show, will you, rhonda? and stay out of this!" sid snapped at her, even though she was just doing her job. olivia had dazed off at this point, blissfully unaware of what was happening around her. she was so in her head, that she hadn't even realized sid had left, nor did she notice her dad leave the room, ice pack in hand.

THAT NIGHT as olivia tried to fall asleep, she could hear the grumblings of the tv as her father was out there. she could only assume he was watching some movie from his youth, while drinking some sort of alcohol. olivia tossed and turned, before hearing her dad banging on things, then what sounded like broken glass. she jumped out of bed at that, and ran to check what was happening in the living room. she turned and saw the broken tv, and then turned to her dad who got up to start getting ready to leave.

"look dad, wherever you're going, i'm going with. you're clearly not in the right state of mind, so let me drive. you can just give me instructions," olivia wasn't going to let her dad go out on his own, she made a haste decision and grabbed her coat and put her shoes on.

"you can come along, but you're not driving my car," her dad grumbled out to her, still hesitant on her driving his car. olivia rolled her eyes at this, and followed anyways hopping into the passenger seat, as her dad started their journey. she didn't even know where they were going, but she was always going to be by her fathers side and that was that.

she was however concerned as she continued to sit in the car, she should've begged to drive with the way johnny was driving the car. he was still drinking, the alcohol dripping down his face, and he continued to get honked at as he swerved between the lanes. olivia just sat back, thinking this was the moment she was going to die, in a car going to who knows where. she clucked her seatbelt like her life depended on it, because with the way her father was drinking and driving, with his child in the car no less, her life did depend on it.

her thoughts raced through her mind, as she wondered if it would've just been better to not investigate the crash, and be at home in her bed trying to sleep. she could only hope savannah, or miguel were having a better night than this. she couldn't even grab the bottle in her dads hand as it was closer to his window than her, and she would rather not be the cause of them crashing, if it wasn't going to already be her father who did that to them.

his driving only got worse, as the effects of the alcohol were starting to hit him. olivia silently prayed under her breath that she would live to see another day. johnny was clutching his head, and pounding on the steering wheel, but all olivia wished was for them to reach their destination sooner, so she could take over and drive them back home. sooner she saw her dad turned, and everything made sense. why he left the house so late at night. he came back to where his life had all fallen apart at. the all valley building, where his infamous fight against daniel larusso happened, thirty-three years before.

she left her dad get out the car on his own, he needed his moment to himself. he walked himself under the gate and started at the parking spot, where he got choked out by his old sensei. it was a surreal moment, he felt himself almost transported back to that day. he could vividly see the argument that ensued, kreese breaking his trophy, him gettting choked, his friends trying to stop it all, being saved by mr. miyagi. his thoughts were interrupted as he heard a crash behind him.

olivia was the main thought on his mind. she sat in the car right where it had been hit. she shielded her face as the impact came, luckily okay after it all. she turned and saw three faces she recognized, of course, it was yasmine, moon, and sam. she wasn't surprised by the first two girls, but sam being there shocked her. she didn't know she hung out with the two girls, only having really seen her with aisha. and based on what her savannah had told her about sam, it wouldn't be in sam's nature to hang out with them. she came back to reality, when her dad banged on their window demanding they open the door, and then they drove off. great, they're so never going to let olivia live that one done. johnny yelled after the girls but it could do nothing as they were already gone.

olivia did get into a crash, just not the way she thought she would. she sat in her seat the shaken up from the whole event, she probably had whiplash with the way she swung after the hit. it could've been way worse though, she was annoyed however that her airbag didn't work properly. but it was already said and done and she couldn't do much about it. her dad got in the car clearly pissed, he tried to start the car to no avail, before hitting the wheel. only then did the airbag, at least the one for the driver seat, kicked into gear and shot at him.

olivia sat in the cold, still shaken up as the car got towed away. her dad stood in the street still, with the paper in his hand detailing the information about his car. johnny called a cab to take them home, as he sat next to his daughter. he wrapped an arm around her, as she leaned her head on his should, tired, but mainly just wanting the comfort of her dad.

THE NEXT MORNING olivia awoke with a pain in her neck, which she expected after the events of the night prior. she had a little time to herself, as her dad was seemingly gone. she could only assume it was something about his car. she couldn't watch tv, as that was broken, so she took to her phone to find entertainment.

she barely had time to even sit and enjoy though, as her father quickly burst into the front door, grabbing her from her seat outside. he dragged her all the way to where miguel had stood, which wasn't very far from their house, as he was only at the recycling bin. once miguel turned right into johnny, and he got both teens to stand next to each other, johnny knew he could speak now.

"are you guys sure you're ready? cause once you go down this path there's no turning back," johnny asked then both.

"you're gonna be our karate teacher," miguel asked. olivia jestered towards miguel, asking the sam.

"no. i'm gonna be your sensei," johnny corrected the sentence. this made miguel and olivia break out into wide smiles, excited for what was to come.

"i'm gonna teach you the style of karate that was taught to me, a method of fighting your pussy generation desperately needs.

i'm not just gonna teach you how to conquer your fears. i'm gonna teach you how to awaken the snake within you. and once you do that, you'll be the one who's feared.

you'll build strength. you'll learn discipline. and when the time is right, you'll strike back." johnny finished, as both olivia and miguel nodded at him. they were prepared to do whatever it takes to learn karate.

johnny made his way back inside the house, as miguel went back to his. olivia followed behind her dad and saw him take the check sid gave him out the trash, with that check he bought the new and improved cobra kai building. over the next couple of weeks it got renovated into the perfect dojo, with the iconic cobra kai slogan 'strike first, strike hard, no mercy' on the wall, and the mats and mirrors to accompany it. only then did miguel and olivia realize they were prepared for their journey.

word count 3206
date published july 23, 2024

━━ A SPEAKS
the first chapter is done! um...so this chapter has no savannah...one, because this episode is about johnny and two, she doesn't hang out with her sister, yasmine, and moon, so i didn't want to try and shove her into that scene when they hit johnny's car. and it made sense for olivia to here because she's literally johnny's daughter. anyways trust more savannah is coming soon in the next chapter so be on the lookout for that. hope you enjoyed this chapter and i'll see you in the next one! enjoy this meme on the way out!

(please ignore how actually bad this manip is...)