Johnny shook his head. "No,  it's okay. You don't have anything to worry about, Tal. This is my dojo. It's not like he can kick me out of it."
Thalia exhaled deeply and nodded. She trusted him. She did. She had to. Her eyes darted to the picture frame sitting on his desk. She remembered that day very clearly. She was the one who took the picture. "Sometimes I miss him so much, it hurts. Other times I hate to even think of him."
Johnny glanced at the photo of him and a young Christian. Before now, he had not seen Thalia in years. He couldn't imagine how hard it was for her dealing with the divorce and the struggle of being a single mom. "You're a strong woman, Thalia. Odessa's strong, too. You have nothing to worry about. I have it handled."
Thalia's smile wavered and she nodded. "I'm trusting you, Johnny Lawrence."




















Odessa had been to the beach club many times. It was her favorite part of Summer. Seeing Tory's face as they walked inside the club was priceless. "Okay,  this is not the beach,"  she said as the girls stood on the balcony and observed everything. "Where are the homeless dudes on roller blades and the guy shoving shitty hip-hop demos in your face?"
"Don't worry. They'll come after they pass out the hors d'oeuvres." Aisha said with a laugh. 
"Remind me to be in the pool when that happens." Said Odessa with a small chuckle. From below them, she spotted Sam and Robby lounging out on beach chairs by the pool. Great. She sent Sam a small wave when they met eyes. It was awkward. She figured it would be. It was her own fault. 
Robby and her met eyes and she fought the urge to smile at him, remembering their last interaction. He said something to Sam and looked away. 
Tory went to look around the club while Odessa and Aisha went to eat. She headed straight for the lobster rolls. "Hey." Sam greeted them awkwardly. 
The two girls paused getting their food and looked at her. "Hey." Aisha said back with no emotion 
"Hey, Sam." Odessa said with a small smile.
"So. . . how's it going?"
Aisha scoffed.  "You realize we're not okay." She spoke like it was obvious.
Sam shook her head. "What are you mad about? You guys are the ones who stomped all over our Valley Fest demo."
Odessa grew uncomfortable again. She awkwardly scratched the back of her neck. 
"Only after your father attacked our dojo.  What were we supposed to do?" 
"He didn't attack you guys." 
"Snake in the grass?" Odessa butted in, her voice small, but she was on Aisha's side. 
"Real subtle."  The girl scoffed. 
"He's just trying to do the right thing." Sam defended her father. 
"What? So Cobra Kais wrong?" 
"It's not wrong.  It's just. . ." They waited for her to continue. "What are we doing? It's our summer vacation. We're at the beach and we're fighting about karate?"
Aisha lightened up. "When we should be fighting about boys."
Sam chuckled.  "Or who's gonna get the last piece of pretzel bread." 
Odessa smiled at them. At one point in time, the three of them were close friends. Their countless sleepovers caused them to grow closer as they got older. But something that would never change was that Odessa and Aisha were bullied and Sam was friends with the girl who bullied them. It was something she could never stop thinking about no matter what.