XVIII.                                       Heartbreak Weather

      Odessa spent a lot of time in the Larusso home when she and Sam were friends. Her knowledge on karate came from Daniel Larusso. Of course she was no export on the sport but Sam was and she taught Odessa a lot. Daniel's style of karate was very different than Johnny's style. She stood by Grayson and the pair were watching Miyagi Do's demo on the Valley Fest stage. "It just looks like their dancing." He said with no interest.

"I think it's beautiful." Odessa disagreed. She was amazed by their technique. It was calm and collected. Rehearsed. Not forced.

She knew that crashing their demo was pouring gasoline on a fire but she couldn't say no. She was apart of Cobra Kai. Johnny was her Sensei. She had no choice but to abide. When the lights cut off and changed colors, Miguel shouted out their dojo's name and the students came jogging out and into the crowd. "Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai!" They chanted.

The huge Valley Fest banner was now branded Cobra Kai. Johnny stood on the stage and smiled proudly at his students. The bright lights and smoke coming from the stage caused everyone watching in the crowd to switch over to their side. When all of his students were on the stage front and center, Johnny turned to them. "Cobras,  show them what real karate looks like!"

The more presentations and fights they did, the crazier the crowd got. Hailey and Odessa grunted as they went back and forth, the lights shining on them. Odessa blocked her hits from her face and chest and she grabbed Hailey's hand. She spun her around and kicked her back which made her stumble to the floor.

Aisha and Eli's board breaking was a crowd pleaser. Oliver's kata and Grayson's nunchuck performance he had been practicing practically won them over. The cheering was crazy. They were preying that Johnny's cement trick would be the perfect ending.

Oliver and Grayson rolled out a table of cement bricks stacked on each other. "Light 'em up,  boys!" Johnny shouted at them.

Grayson poured gasoline on the bricks. Oliver lit the torch and sat them on fire. Johnny watched the flames grow bigger and bigger. Sucking in a deep breath, clearing his mind, he relaxed a loud yell and punched through all of the bricks with a clean break.

"YES!" Shouted Oliver.

It was a perfect ending. "Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai!" The crowd started to cheer.

Odessa and Hailey knocked their shoulders against one another out of excitement. With a bright smile, her blue eyes scanned the very large crowd as they praised them. She somehow found Robby's eye from afar and he was watching her. The smile on her face faded as disappointment showed up on his. He walked off with Daniel and Sam and her eyes stayed on the back of his head. She felt Eli reach for her hand and and lift it up in victory.

Odessa didn't know how to feel about Kreese. Johnny trusted him. He knew him better than any of them. But she was skeptical. He was peculiar. Off putting. The way he spoke and the things he did made her uncomfortable. She was convinced she was just being crazy. "You gotta understand, the Mogadishu in the 90's was a hellhole. Warlords controlled whole swaths of the city. My team and were charged with cleaning the place up." The man told the Cobra Kai students.

Odessa sat on the floor with Miguel as they listened to his story. Eli and Oliver stood on either side of Kreese, his story amazing them. "How many warlords did you kill?" Asked Eli.

"You keep track of every ant you stomp on?" Kreese asked.

Oliver thought it was the coolest thing ever. "Whoa." He said with wide eyes.

"That's badass." Grayson added from on the floor.

"They were outgunned. We were outmanned," the man continued. "I tell you. . . Rwanda was no joke."

Miguel narrowed his eyes for a split second and stood from the floor. "Don't you mean Somalia?" He questioned. "Mogadishu's in Somalia. Rwanda's a whole different country."

Kreese eyed the boy blankly. Odessa felt off putted again. "Of course. Somalia." He corrected himself. "I've spent so much time in the sandbox it all kind of bleeds together you know?"

"Listen up!" Johnny's voice echoed through the dojo. He looked around and didn't recognize some of the new faces that showed up. "I see we've got some new recruits. Everybody fall in. Neat rows and lines. Time to see what you're made of."

The students quickly lined up in their usual lines. At the sound of voice, a lot of the new comers looked nervous.

"Straighten up, ginger twins." He said to a pair of red headed boys he passed by.

Oliver scoffed. "That's an offensive term."

"Can it, Orphan Annie."

A snort came from Grayson and the red head quickly punched his arm. Johnny eyed an older man standing in the midst of them all. "Sorry, parents can't stay for class. It's an insurance thing." He informed him.

"I'm not a dad. I—I am here to kick some ass, sir!"

He eyed him suspiciously. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

The man nodded with a smile. "Oh, yeah. The, um. . . I sold you the mirror. We kinda bonded, talked about rock bands."

Odessa pulled a weird face.

Johnny nodded slightly. "Look, you're a little old. This is a class for teenagers." He said with a sigh.

"Well, I can. . . I can take them." The man said with a laugh. "I'm not afraid of kids, sir. And my mom, she doesn't charge me rent, so I got a lot of cash to burn." He continued and pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket.

"Well, you always said you wanted a sugar daddy, Hails." Oliver said with a laugh.

Hailey scrunched her nose. "I was thinking more Cillian Murphy."

"Definitely Robert Downey Jr." said Odessa.

"Ooh, him too."

"We'll consider this a trail run," Johnny confirmed and he walked back up to the front, noticing the two girls whisper about their celebrity crushes. "What would your mom think if she heard you taking about older men?"

Odessa just shrugged. "She had a crush on Ryan Reynolds."

"Who doesn't have a crush on Ryan Reynolds?" Oliver questioned with a scoff.

"I'm more of a Blake guy, myself." Said Eli. Miguel and Grayson agreed with him.

"Shut up!" The Sensei shouted and made them go quiet. "I thought my last group of recruits was pathetic. But if you do what I tell you to do, you'll at least have a chance at becoming a fighter. But to do that, you gotta fight. So, which one of you has the balls to take on the champ?" He announced and motioned to Odessa.

Her eyes went wide and they turned to stare at her. "i'll do it!" Oliver accepted and quickly raised his hand.

"I want someone to fight her. Not kill her."

Nobody was willing to take her on. They all stood there in silence. "I'll take her on." Said a voice in the back of the room.

Odessa turned her head and saw a girl standing there. She didn't recognize her. Johnny smirked. "Oh, you will, huh?"

The girl smirked back. "I saw your little demo at Valley Fest. You guys can put on a show, but, can you actually fight?"

Hailey scoffed at her attitude. Her dark eyes looked her up and down.

"That sounds like a challenge."

"I like a challenge."

Johnny turned to Odessa. "Miss Beaumont, show little miss hotshot here what Cobra Kai is all about." He instructed.

"Yes, Sensei." Said Odessa with slight hesitation. Everybody backed up and left the two girls on the mat. Before she could utter a word, the unknown girl lunged forward and kicked her in the chest.

The class groaned. "Okay, I already don't like her." Hailey said with a sneer and she glared at the girl.

Odessa caught her balance and huffed. "Okay. Game on." She threw a kick at her but the girl was quick to dodge it. She grabbed Odessa's arm and attempted to twist it but the blonde was quick to sweep her legs from under her, sending her down on the mat. Everyone watched with wide eyes as the girl got up and threw a punch at her. Odessa blocked her punch and used her other elbow to knock her in the stomach. "You're telegraphing. I can see it coming."

The new girl exhaled and sent a kick to her chest, making her fall. "You're being too nice. I saw your fight. You don't know how to actually take someone on." She criticized.

Too nice. Odessa was tired of hearing people say that to her. Who cared if she was nice? The world needed more nice people. But then, she remembered where she was. She was in Cobra Kai. No mercy was the rule. Glaring coldly, Odessa grunted and she kicked the girl's leg. She fell to the ground and she hovered over her, folding her arms together. "Am I still too nice?" She huffed.

"World star." Oliver chanted.

There was slight fear that she would lunge at her. Odessa held her breath as she held the girl's arms. Everyone watched carefully. But to her surprise, the girl smirked. "My name's Tory. . . with a y." She introduced herself.

Odessa relaxed and let her up. She grinned and held out her hand. "I'm Odessa, with an a."

Odessa walked around the Mini Mart while she waited for her mom to pick her up. She grabbed a pack of Tylenol to relieve the pain in her chest. Tory with a y came in and walked down the same isle she was in. "Scale of 1-10, how bad do your boobs hurt?" She asked with a small smile.

Odessa looked at her and laughed. "A solid 8. They feel like rocks." She said and rubbed her chest.

"Didn't mean to come off so strong. I thought you'd be easy."

"Did I change your mind?"

Tory titled her head and smiled again. "Yeah, you did. You're really good."

The girls walked to the end of the isle and saw Aisha staring at her phone. "Hey, A. Is everything okay?" Odessa asked the girl.

"Let me guess. Dick pick?" Said Tory with a chuckle.

Aisha groaned. "No, my mom wants me to go to the beach club with her." She complained.

"Oh, my god. That sounds so miserable."

"I hate feeling the warm sun against my skin."

The two girls laughed and Aisha shook her head. "No it's just. . . this girl Sam's going to be there and she and I are not in good terms." She said to Tory, her eyes cutting slightly to Odessa.

"I thought you guys made up?" Said Odessa with raised eyebrows.

"It's whatever." She smiled at Tory. "I'm Aisha, by the way. You already know Dessi."

"Tory." The new girl introduced.

"With a y." Odessa added in.

She pointed to the spiked bracelet on her wrist. "That's a cool bracelet."

"Oh this? It's not just for show. Some creepy guy at the mall tried to grab me once but I managed to block him and give him a gift he won't ever forget." Tory explained with a wicked smile.

Odessa's eyes widened. "Oh shit, I need one of those." The amount of times she bad been harassed at the mall was astronomical.

"You seem like you already know how to kick ass pretty well." Said Aisha.

Tory grinned. "I've had a couple kickboxing lessons, but, i've always wanted to smash boards blindfolded."

"The secret is poking little holes in the blindfold."

Odessa gasped. "You ruined the secret!"

The three of them laughed again. "Hey, you two wouldn't want to go to the beach with me, would you?" Aisha offered, almost begging.

The blonde smiled cheerfully. "I would love to!"

"I guess I could suffer through a day at the beach." Tory took the offer with a teasing smile.

Odessa put an excited hand on Aisha's arm. "Just text me the details. I'll see you guys later." She waved goodbye to them and walked out of the Mini Mart. She paused slightly when she saw Eli standing outside the dojo on the phone.

"So you got pushed around. So what? Get over it. You were in a karate dojo. That's the whole point." Eli snapped.

When she got closer enough, she narrowed her eyes. "Who are you talking to?" She asked when she reached him.

He jumped slightly from surprise but his face quickly dimmed back to an annoyed expression. "Demetri." He emphasized.

Odessa looked at his phone to see Demetri on the other line with a bandage over his nose. She gasped. "Oh, my god. Demetri, what happened?"

"Aggregated assault! I looked it up. That's a year in prison and a ten thousand dollar fine."

"Stop being such a bitch, Demetri." Eli spat.

Her eyes widened. "Eli, our friend was assaulted!"

"You know what happens to snitches." He threatened, overlooking what she just said.

Miguel walked out of the dojo and watched the interaction.

"They get immunity!"

Eli shook his head. "Snitches get stitches."

"I have stitches! I have several stitches!"

"Don't do anything stupid or you'll regret it."

Odessa locked her jaw in anger and he hung up the phone, not waiting for Demetri to respond. "What is your problem?" She snapped.

"What's going on guys?" Miguel asked, joining the conversation.

"He's a pussy who couldn't handle training with Kreese, Dess. He's not Cobra Kai material." Eli argued with her.

She couldn't help but laugh in disbelief. "So you care more about someone being Cobra Kai material than your friend getting hurt? What if it would have been me? Or Hailey, Oliver, of anyone else?" He voice gradually got louder.

Not used to seeing her so angry, he faulted a bit. "That's ridiculous. Of course I would care!" He continued to argue.

"So it's just Demetri then? Why? Cause he's not 'cool enough'?" She air quoted. She scoffed again. "Since when were you so shallow?" The look on her face caused both Eli and Miguel to look frightened.

"Odess—"

He was cut off by Thalia honking her horn loudly, signaling she was there to pick up her daughter. She looked at her boyfriend and released an aggravated sigh. "Looking at you makes me want to punch you in the face. Bye, Miguel." She stormed off to her mom's car.

"Dude, not cool." Miguel scolded.

Eli just shrugged. "She'll get over it." He spoke bitterly.

He looked at him in disbelief. "She's your girlfriend." Miguel reminded him who he was taking about.

"Exactly."