this is my first Karate Kid story so please, no flaming

Anything in Chinese has a translation next to it in italics

Mei Ying is a minor character in this story

Akari

I was sitting in the park reading when I saw Harry and a new face.

"Mínglì!" he yelled to me, "Hēi!" Akari! Hey!

I looked up at him, "Hā lì! Zhè shì shuí?" Harry! Who is this?

His friend looked at me confused as I raised my eyebrow, "This is Dre," Dre nodded.

"Hey," he said uncertainly.

Harry turned to him, "This is my friend, Akari. Don't worry about Chinese around her, she speaks English."

"Nice to meet you," I said slowly in English, "You are from America?"

Dre nodded as I stood up. I was a few inches taller than him, so he must've been at least 12 or 13. Harry and Dre decided to go play basketball when I saw my grandfather playing ping-pong, so I decided to play with him.

"Yéye!" I said as I walked over to him. He and his friend smiled as his friend handed me a ping-pong paddle.

At first, he served it gently and I returned it. Harry and Dre were watching. As the ping-pong ball went back and forth, it started going faster. It wasn't hard for me to keep up until I heard Dre's voice.

"That's so cool!" he said. When the ball came on my side, I swatted it down on the table, causing it to stop motion.

"Want to try?" I asked him. He nodded as he took the paddle out of my hand.

Dre took his place "You know, I have no problem beating old people."

I looked at Harry confusedly, "He'll learn," he whispered.

"Back where I come from they call me Ping-Pong Dre." I raised an eyebrow as Yéye served the ball softly, like he did with me.

Dre hit it back, of course, just as softly, but after another couple hits, he spiked, earning him a point.

Yéye looked at it in shock, but soon turned into a grin.

He served it quickly with a spike and Dre missed each time, "Come on man, I'm 12."

I giggled. I was a couple of years older than him.

Once, Yéye hit it, and when Dre blocked his face, it came towards mine. I reached my hand up and grabbed it before it could hit my face, "The goal is to keep it on the table."

After a few more attempts, Dre finally gave up and handed the paddle back to me, "I'm done."

"I know. At least let me help you get one point off of him."

He seemed to be going over the idea in his head, "Fine."

He got into his place with the paddle in his hand and I got behind him and grabbed each of his wrists with my hands.

I nodded to Yéye and he served it, fast. I used my instincts and moved Dre's hand with mine, spiking it back, scoring a point.

Yéye smiled and nodded as I released Dre's hands, "And that's how you do it."

Dre nodded as Harry put his arm around my shoulder in a hug and he and Dre left. I remained with Yéye to practice more for a few minutes when I heard a commotion behind me.

I knew it was a fight, but I decided not to get involved, so I stayed where I was.

Next Day

"Hey," I heard as I put my last book into my bag.

I turned and smiled when I saw Cheng, "Hey, what're you doing here?"

He kissed me lightly and smiled, "What, I can't walk my girlfriend to school?"

I rolled my eyes as he put an arm around my waist and we walked towards my door, "Māmā, Women yào zǒuliǎo!" Mom, Dad! We're leaving!

"Yǒu yīgè hǎo de yītiān!" Have a good day! my mother called back.

As soon as we got out the door, we headed to the schoolhouse, "Oh yeah, did you hear?" I asked him.

"Hear what?"

"There was a fight at the park."

I felt him stiffen, "Yeah, I heard. You don't know who it was, do you?"

I shook my head, "Do you?"

"No." I shrugged as he pulled me closer and we walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence.

When we got there, we were greeted by the usual gang: Liang, Zhuang, Song, and a couple others.

"Fūfù yǐjīng dàolái," Liang mocked. The married couple has arrived.

"Cháoxiào nǐi xiǎang yào de, dàn zhìshǎao wǒomen qíshí jiéhūn," Mock all you want, but at least we'll actually get married one day. Cheng mocked back and the other laughed.

The guys were all laughing. When we started dating, I started spending more time with his friends, mostly because we're in the same dojo.

I noticed a small figure walk by and I smiled, "Dre."

He turned to me and looked down, "Oh, hey Akari."

My smile disappeared, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

He tried to walk away, but I placed my hand firmly in front of him, making him immobile, "What happened?" I asked as I caught sight of black forming around his left eye.

"I ran into a pole," he said as he pushed my hand away and started to walk away.

But I said something right before he was out of earshot, "Interesting pole."

Okay, that's it for chapter 1. plz review and tell me what you think.