"What's on your mind?" Her father asked Zoe as she cut up the vegetables, "You're not as talkative as you usually are."

"Murder." She nodded, chopping the veggies more aggressively. Her father just hummed, walking behind her and gently grabbing her wrist, letting her release the knife so he could take it, taking her job of chopping the vegetables.

"Okay, so why is murder on your mind? That shouldn't be on your mind." He asked before he saw that she turned away again. "Is anyone bothering you?"

"Yeah, him." She rolled her eyes and jumped up to sit on the counter.

"Oh. Him." He nodded before rolling his own eyes, Zoe smiling at his mimicking actions.

He finished cutting the vegetables and went in front of his daughter. She slumped her head on his shoulder, "I hate everything and everyone... Except for you, Sam, and Zach, sometimes."

"Sam, huh?" Her father spoke with a smile, "Well, I'll tell you what. If you finish chopping up the veggies, I can order some takeout and we can watch whatever movie you feel like watching."

She lifted her head, "Really? What if I want to watch the lego movie and then watch Midsommar?"

"Well, I love Will Arnette and Florence Pugh so it works out." He smiled at the girl. She hugged him tightly before releasing him and grabbing a container to put the veggies in.

"What are you thinking of getting for takeout?" He asked as he pulled out his phone from his pocket.

"Hmm... Thai?" She suggested.

"I know I'm getting the Guay Teow, what do you want?" He dialed the number, waiting for her daughter to respond before he hit the call button.

"Pad See Ew. I've been craving it forever." She smiled as she slumped onto the couch.
Once he finished the call, the duo got their dishes about 30 minutes later.

"Thank you." She grinned at her dad.

"No problem." He grinned back.

"Hey." Zoe walked into the dojo, seeing Sam was already there on her phone. She looked up and smiled, walking over to her.

"Hey, how was dinner with your dad?" She asked.

"Good, really good. Sorry by the way for just acting like that out of the blue, I didn't mean to worry you." Zoe told her as she set her bag next to Sam's.

"I'll always worry about you, I want you to feel safe," Sam told her without thinking. Zoe went to say something else but the practice had started as Johnny yelled out to them to come over for announcements.

"Ready? Bow." Johnny instructed.

"Sensei Lawrence and I have the same goal of preparing you for the tournament." Daniel started the conversation.

"But we have different ways of getting you there." Johnny completed.

"We realize that teaching you opposing viewpoints at the same time can be a little confusing," Daniel explained a little more.

"So we've discussed and come up with a solution. We're gonna divide and conquer." Johnny revealed their plan.

"How stubborn are those two?" Zoe muttered to herself.

"Eagle fangs out front!" Johnny notified them.

"And I'll be back here with the Miyagi Dos." Daniel nodded.

Miguel raised his hand, I thought we were stronger working together."

"We're still working together." Daniel asserted to the students.

"Just separately." The blonde man announced, "On opposite ends of the dojo. All right, Eagles, follow me."

Zoe gave Sam an urgent look, "Listen, you know how we're the only females? I was thinking that-"

"You can go with Eagle Fang, it's okay." Sam insisted. Zoe gleamed and jogged away to the front. She didn't know why, but his odd techniques intrigued her a bit.

"Why are you here?" Miguel asked as they walked towards the front.

"Listen, I want to see what his class is like, okay? And don't say I should go to Miyagi Do to flirt with Sam. One, she may get sick of me, and two, I think we should try something new. Plus, I technically haven't made a decision yet on which dojo I'm choosing." Zoe rambled.

"Fall in!" The blonde man announced as they made a semicircle to face Johnny.
"Hawk, since you're new to Eagle Fang, come on up."

"Yes, Sensei?" He bowed before johnny swept his leg. "What the heck?"

Zoe raised her hand, "I'm new but I don't want to have that happen to me."

"We're not doing that to you, you're new. Today we're gonna practice our front sweeps. On Hawk." Johnny told the team about their practice.

"All right, I know I was a dick, but I'm sorry." He apologized to Johnny. It sounded like a genuine apology but after what he did, Zoe didn't know whether she wanted to forgive him or not.

"Talk is cheap." Johnny avoided his apology.
"Who's next? Ponytail, you're up!"

Miguel noticed Zoe wearing her braids up in a ponytail, the boy nudging her, "Zoe, you're ponytail."

"Can I do something else?" Zoe asked. Johnny shook his head so the girl gave the boy an apologetic look before squatting down and sweeping his leg, the girl twisting herself away and into a sitting position, "I did it!"

"Nice job, ponytail! Try not to do whatever the hell you did next time." Johnny said to her with his aggressive voice. After Zoe, johnny called the rest of Eagle Fang before Daniel pulled him away, the practice ending shortly after that.

"Ugh!" Sam groaned in disgust as she read the text messages Zoe was sent the other day, "Shouldn't he know that he was blocked for a reason, he shouldn't get into another person's phone just to text someone."

"Yeah," Zoe leaned back in the car they were hanging out in, hiding there before practice started, "I just don't understand, why now?"

"Maybe there's something that's coming soon and he wants to go since he does homeschool now. Shouldn't he like be in college?" Sam turned to Zoe.

"He was forced to fail the year that he had tried to do what he did. He tried to blame it on me but one of his teachers told his parents he had been failing the whole year so it wasn't my fault." Zoe explained.

"Well, at least one faculty member at our school sees things realistically and not from one person's point of view." Sam scoffed.

"For real." Zoe laughed slightly.

"Hey guys," Miguel popped up, a worried look appearing on his face, scaring both Sam and Zoe.

"God, Miguel!" Zoe breathed out, her hand releasing from Sam's.

"Oh... Oh. Hey. Am I interrupting something?" The boy now realizes, a smirk on his face.

"Just us having a nice conversation. What was it you wanted?" Sam asked, her voice sounding irritated. So many interruptions would happen when she and Zoe were alone and sometimes she just wanted to drive away far so no one could talk and it could just be them two.

"Nothing, actually. Well, it's not nothing. But I think I can just handle it on-"

"What Miguel?" Zoe cut him off.

"Hawk brought a whole bunch of tools including a sledgehammer and I think he's going to break the gate." He explained quickly. The two girls turned to each other before rushing out.

"What's going on?" Zoe interrogated Hawk.

"I'm going to rip out some weeds over in that area and build another sparring deck.' The boy explained, showing the blueprint.

"Oh... Miguel thought you were doing something bad. Need a pair of hands?" Zoe asked. The boy nodded, and as the Miyagi Fang group wandered in, someone would explain and they would chip in.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Daniel inquired Hawk as he walked with the tools. Hawk explained it as the group walked forward to be in the conversation.

"Mr. Miyagi just used this area for extra storage, but a new deck would make a lot more room for training," Sam added in.

"And the more training we get, the more ability we have to win the All Valley tournament." Zoe shrugged, knowing it was an obvious thing but it still was a good reminder.

"And we're all going to help build it. Assuming our Senseis approve?" Miguel asked.

"Sounds good to me."

"Yeah, sounds awesome."

AN: I low-key want to do holiday-themed chapters for all of my fics. Should I?