XVI.                                         Heartbreak Weather

      Oliver's eyes widened like a child when he spotted Johnny standing by his newly improved Challenger. He quickly hopped out of his Jeep. "Holy shit, that's so badass!"

Odessa rolled her eyes lightheartedly at his excitement and she climbed out of the Jeep as well. She passed by the red head gawking at the vehicle and she smiled when she saw Miguel standing outside of the dojo. "Hey, player. Why do you look so down?" She asked and nudged his arm with hers.

He looked at her in sorrow. "Sam still isn't taking to me. . . Do you think I can use your phone to call her?"

Odessa looked over her shoulder and saw a hyperactive Oliver talking to Johnny about his new car and she laughed when the man rolled his eyes when his back was turned. She looked back at Miguel to see him looking at her with desperation. "Okay, yes, but if she blocks my number i'll be pissed at you." She warned him.

She handed him her phone and told him the password. Miguel took it gladly. "Thank you, Dess. I owe you!" He exclaimed and went off to call Sam.

Odessa shook her head and walked in the dojo. Eli spotted her and waved her way. "Babe, come here!"

The girl smiled at Chris and Mitch and furrowed her brows at him. Eli wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pointed to the new kids. "We're trying to think of nicknames for the newbies. I'm thinking Shithead One and Shithead Two." He explained to her.

Aisha shook her head. "I was thinking Mary-Kate and Asshat."

"I was leaning towards Tweedledee and Tweedledumbass." Hailey chimed in with a smirk

"Well, my name's Chris —"

"Did I say you could speak?" Eli raised his voice, making him go quiet.

Odessa laughed and Miguel joined their banter. He handed her back her phone and patted Chris on the back. "Guys, they're just messing with you."

Odessa smirked. "Besides—"

"Everyone knows your names are Assface and Douchebag." He finished and the two of them high fived.

They all laughed while Chris and Mitch started fighting over who got which name.

Odessa put her hand on Miguel's arm. "How did it go?" She quietly asked.

The boy shook his head slightly and his lips turned downward. She patted his arm sympathetically. The chime on top of the entrance door went off and everyone turned their attention to an older man standing there with a duffel bag in hand.

"Who's that?" Eli whispered.

Grayson shook his head and he eyed the man weirdly. "No clue."

"Jesus Christ." The unknown man muttered to himself. He went around and eyed the groups of kids.

"I'm getting major pedo vibes." Hailey said out loud with her arms crossed. Her dark eyes eyed the man sharply.

"Hailey, you think every grown man is a pedo." Said Oliver.

Miguel had the courage to talk to the man. "Hey, uh, can I help you, sir?"

He looked the boy up and down and smirked. "No. . . but maybe I can help you."

Odessa walked up and pulled Miguel away from the man, giving him another weird look. There was a hint of realization in his eyes when he looked at her, the same look that Johnny had the first day he saw her in class.

Johnny came out of his office and the two men started talking. "Class, we have a visitor." He announced to his class while walking to the front. "This is Mr. Kreese, he's just an observer. Pretend like he's not even here. Mr. Diaz, warm them up." He instructed Miguel.

He started to walk to the front but Kreese held his hand out. "Why not have the champ do it?" He suggested and his attention turned to the blonde girl a few rows back.

Odessa pinched her brows. Miguel looked between her and Johnny. Their Sensei nodded. "Odessa, warm the up." He instructed.

She walked to the front of the class and bowed. They bowed to her. "Fighting positions!" She called out, cringing at her own voice. Everyone followed her commands. "Front kick! Forward strike! Side jab!"

At her words, everybody dabbed and started laughing. She chuckled along with them until she saw Johnny's stone cold face and then she quickly stopped.

"What the hell was that?" The Sensei loudly asked.

"We were just messing around, Sensei. We have eleven and a half months until the next All Valley tournament." She answered, slightly scared.

"Besides, we already know how to kick ass." Eli added in and everybody laughed again.

"Oh, really?" Johnny challenged. "So you know everything? There's nothing left to learn, huh?"

Aisha suddenly started laughing.

"What's so funny, Miss Robinson?"

"I'm sorry, Sensei. You just wouldn't understand." She said with another giggle.

"Oh, god, please shut up." Hailey whispered in panic.

"try me." Johnny challenged again.

Aisha leaned closer to him. "It's a snake-doo."

Oliver slapped his hand over his forehead.

He narrowed his eyes. "What's a snake-doo?"

The whole class started hissing like snakes. Kreese rolling his eyes and made fists with his hands out of aggravation. "QUIET!" Johnny shouted out of anger and embarrassment. Everyone stopped doing the snake thing and stood straight up as the Sensei walked down the line of kids. "Five tomorrow morning. Corner of Fulton and Raymer. You don't show and you're off the team! Class dismissed."

He walked back to his office and the class was silent. I hope he knows that i'm an absolutely bitch in the mornings." Hailey scoffed.

Johnny was quick to find out that Hailey was right. Not even five minutes after arriving at their destination, he had been flipped off, cursed at, and had cement thrown at him. "Don't add too much water. You wanna make it nice and thick." Johnny announced to his students who were mixing cemented into wheelbarrows.

"Sensei, why are we mixing cement?" Odessa grunted while storing the cement in the other wheelbarrow. Eli was helping her pour it in.

"No questions. Keep stirring!"

"I'm going to smack him in the head with this shovel," Hailey snapped and her grip around the shovel tightened. Miguel looked at her with fear in his eyes.

Odessa heard a loud truck horn and she turned around to see a cement truck pulling into the lot. "Oh, god. What now?" Oliver groaned and leaned against the shovel tiredly.

Johnny shook hands with the driver and had the kids gather around. "You think winning the All Valley gives you the right to goof off? Well, I got news for you. Winning one championship don't mean squat. A true champion never stops training. You gotta keep moving forward or else you could get stuck exactly where you are." He motioned to the truck. "It's like the cement in this truck. If that drum doesn't start turning, the cement inside will harden and get stuck. Is that what you want to happen to you?"

"No, Sensei!" All of the students shouted.

"Good. Then climb up, get inside, and make it spin."

They went quiet and Odessa glanced at the brunette beside her. "Is he serious?"

"Are you serious?" Hailey voiced out loud.

"Sensei's, we're sorry for messing around." Aisha tried reasoning.

"We learned our lesson." Eli added.

Johnny ignored them and dropped the latter on the truck. "Get in!" He shouted again.

Nobody moved. "Sensei, this seems kind of dangerous," said Miguel. "I mean the fumes alone—"

"Quiet!" Kreese suddenly yelled and everyone jumped. "This man led you to the mountain top and you question him? Look at you. Look at all of you. I can't believe this pathetic pack of pussies competed in the All Valley and let alone won." The man sneered at them. "It's an absolute miracle. And who's responsible for that miracle? Johnny Lawrence. The best student in the history of Cobra Kai. My student." His eyes met Odessa's briefly. "Well, one of them anyway."

"You were Sensei's Sensei?" Eli asked with wide eyes.

"You better believe it, kid." Kreese confirmed. "And I tell you i've never trained a tougher student in my whole life. So if you know what's good for you, you better listen to every goddamn word he says."

Odessa suddenly felt a rush. He was intimidating but Johnny trusted him and Johnny led her to be the All Valley champion, so she had no choice but to trust him. She hesitantly raised her hand. "I'll do it."

The students looked at her in shock but Kreese smirked. "You're Christian Beaumont's daughter?" He asked her.

She blinked in surprise. "Y-Yeah. . ."

"You're just like him."

She visibly cowered under is stare. Johnny noticed this but she started to walk up the latter of the cement truck. Miguel and Eli followed after her. She reached the top and peaked her head in, her blue eyes widening. "Holy shit." She said out loud, her voice echoing.

They helped each other slide down into the truck. Eli reached for her hand as he slid down and Hailey and the other came in as well. Odessa's grip tightened on Eli's hand as she tried keeping herself from slipping in the cement. She thanked the Lord above that her hair was already pulled back.

"Are you doing okay?" He questioned while grabbing both of her hands to keep her steady.

"Yeah, I think so—" Odessa started to say but fell again, cement now coating her white tank top.

"This man will die—" Hailey fell as well and brought Grayson down with her.

"Don't just stand there! You wanna get stuck? Move!" Johnny's voice echoed as he peered into the truck.

Oliver glared at the man before trudging forward, placing his hands on the wall. He glanced back to see them just standing there. "Well, are you going to help or what?"

They listened to him and trudged the cement to help him move the wall. Their cement coated hands made it hard for them as they groaned while trying their best to get the wall to move. Odessa felt her legs being coated in cement. "Come on, guys. We got this!" Grayson grunted while pushing against the wall.

"Come on. Let's go!" Eli grunted as well.

Odessa used all her strength to push against the wall and she finally felt it move.

"A little bit faster!" She heard Johnny shout from outside.

"I'm going to kill him!" Hailey groaned loudly and used all her strength to give the wall another push.

The group of teens pushed harder and before they knew it, the wall started spinning. "Faster! Faster!" Eli shouted.

"We're doing it!" Odessa cheered ecstatically when they truck began spinning and all the cement swished around them.

"Hell yea–" Oliver's voice echoed before he slipped again and brought Grayson down with him.

Odessa rubbed a towel through her wet blonde hair. Johnny finished spraying all of them with a water hose to try and get the cement off of them. "You should all be proud of yourselves. I know i'm proud. Your parents would be proud, too, if you told them what we did here today — which we won't."

Odessa cringed at the thought of her mom yelling at her for almost drowning in a cement truck.

"You pushed forward like champions. Never stopping. Never being satisfied. Never giving up. And if you keep pushing and keep moving forward, you're gonna go to places you never even dreamed of."

She smiled at his words and passed the towel to Hailey.

Johnny walked passed her and smiled awkwardly. "You won't tell your mom about this, right? She'll probably kill me. . ."

Odessa laughed. "Don't worry. My lips are sealed." She promised and zipped her lips.