" I CAN BE ANYTHING
TELL ME WHAT YOU NEED
I CAN BE YOUR BABY IN REAL LIFE, SUGAR
I CAN LIVE IN YOUR DREAMS "

— kerosene! (yves tumor)

00. MAVIS ST. JAMES HATED CALIFORNIA. she didn't like the palm trees, she hated sports, boys, the color yellow, parents who didn't understand their children, the public education system, the blazing heat on her skin, city traffic, and kids who thought they had a right to be better than you. Mavis loved fire, the color red, Iron Maiden, people who cared and wanted to understand, parents who would do anything for their children, the crashing waves of the ocean on its most brutal day, and knitting when it was cold. She craved passion and rainstorms that hit during the evening and lasted through the night. Mavis felt happy when she was understood and appreciated for being different. Most of all, Mavis St. James wanted the world. All of it.

Johnny Lawrence hated punks who thought they could take what was his. He loathed his step father, and being seen as weak. he couldn't care less for most of the kids he went to school with. he didn't try to know any of them. he didn't really want any problems even that that was all that he looked for. johnny had his life figured out. he and his friends had a plan for their senior year of high school. they would stick together, rule the school, win karate tournaments, scrape by with good enough grades to graduate and get into a college their rich parents would pay for, and Johnny would get Ali back.

Mavis stayed out of the way. she didn't stick up for anyone but herself. she burned bridges and built up new ones each year. she and her dad paid their way through a life in cali by living in a shit complex in reseda and working more than one job. she babysat with dara jones occasionally on weekends — one of her only friends. Mavis only knew Johnny Lawrence through Bobby Brown, her class partner in gov the previous year. he was an asshole, but she could be too sometimes. Johnny had a bad case of the feels. he couldn't let Ali Mills go, even though she'd moved on.

unfortunately, Mavis would be seeing johnny Lawrence more than she wanted to throughout her last year of high school.

MAVIS ST. JAMES / fivel stewart

DARA JONES / paulina alexis

JOHNNY LAWRENCE / billy zabka
HARLOW BRIDGER / katelyn nacon
MARCO ST. JAMES / diego luna
BOBBY / ron thomas
TOMMY / rob garrison
DUTCH / chad mcqueen
JIMMY / tony o'dell
DANIEL LARUSSO / ralph macchio
ALI MILLS / elizabeth shue
MR. MIYAGI / pat morita
JOHN KREESE / martin kove

author's note —

it's been in the works for a little while cause y'all know me and my cobra kai fics. speaking of which, this is NOT related to FIGHT CLUB in any way, so don't expect this to be a prequel or anything. it's just a johnny fic taking place during the first karate kid movie :) enjoy the references tho to fight club cause i'll throw a couple in.

i'm also trying to make mavis different than dylan (my oc in a different fic) because i have a problem with making all my characters variants of each other. mavis does more for her own benefit than any previous character i've had.

since summer is basically here i knew it would be great to publish this book so hopefully it ends up being alright lmao