Sam pov

I walk in my house once we get home from the beach club with a huge grin on my face. I can't believe I got Blake's number.

"Hey Sam, how was the beach club?" My dad asks pleasantly when he walks into the kitchen.

"It was great!" I say a little to giddily.

"I've seen that look. Any boys I need to worry about?" My dad asks suspiciously pointing at me.

I roll my eyes.

"Ugh, no dad. I did meet our new neighbor's son though. His name is Blake," I say.

"Oh, his father just started working for me. Today was his first day. He's a hard worker and a respectful man. I hope you were nice and introduced yourself. It's not so easy being the new kid. Trust me, I know," my dad says very sure of himself.

"Of course. He hung out with us on the beach," I say shrugging.

"In that case. I'm gonna invite him and his family over for dinner this Friday. Welcome them to the neighborhood," my dad says.

My eyes go wide in alarm.

"W-wait what? Dad, hold on," I stammer out and follow him into the living room where my mom sits typing on her laptop.

My dad turns to look at me confused.

"What's the problem?" He asks causally.

"Oh, n-nothing. I just… I don't know," I say feeling my face heat up.

I glance over at my mom who immediately sees through me. She gives me at knowing smile.

"Okay, great," my dad says and walks out of the room.

"Sam, why don't you have a seat real quick?" My mom smugly says with a smile.

I walk over looking vulnerable.

"So you met the new kid. How'd it go?" My mom asks clearly knowing the answer.

"It went great. He's… very nice," I say not wanting to reveal anymore.

"Ah," my mom says with a teasing grin.

"Is he cute?" My mom jokes.

My cheeks heat up immediately.

"Yes… I-I mean, no! I-" I stammer out.

My mom folds her arms and gives me a lopsided smile. I sigh.

"Yes, he's cute, very cute," I say.

"I knew. Your not good at hiding it," my mom teases.

"Is it really that obvious?" I say giving her an embarrassed smile.

My mom chuckles and gives me a sympathetic pat on the back.

"Well, I'll make sure Daniel doesn't embarrass you when they come have dinner with us. Plus, I'm sure the kid will be just as nervous as you are. He's lived here for what, two weeks? So just relax and be yourself," my mom says sincerely and gives my shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

"Thanks mom," I say and run up to my room feeling relieved.

I immediately get my phone out and scroll through my contacts until I find Blake's contact. I suddenly had a great idea.

Blake pov

I'm chilling in my room while the events of today go through my head. I liked Sam's friends for the most part. The guys were alright, but Moon was cute.

However, after Sam went out of her way to talk to me like that, my crush only got bigger. I wanted to kick myself because I spent two weeks only glancing at her in passing whenever she'd walk into her front yard. Not creepily or anything, but I'd just be walking past a window or going to my brother's car.

I thought she'd immediately not like me because of my scars or because I wasn't all confident and outgoing like Kyler or them. I liked hanging out with them, but I barely knew most of these people so I'd just play it by ear. Sam seemed awesome though, but I bet she's already going out with one of the other guys. Kyler seemed to like her.

My phone suddenly dings.

SL: hey, what's up?

My eyes light up at the message. She actually texted me. I smile at my screen while brainstorming a response.

"Come on Murphy, think," I whisper to myself as I lean back onto my pillow.

BM: not much u?

SL: same. Had a great time today. How are you liking the valley so far?

BM: still pretty new, but living close to the beach is pretty nice

SL: yeah, it's pretty sweet. Btw, I'm having a pool party tomorrow around noon. You should come!

BM: awesome, I'll be there. Thanks!

SL: no problem. Gonna be a lot of fun

Sam pov

"Yes," I whisper to myself and punch air.

I couldn't believe I pulled that off. Well, now I have to plan a pool party and invite everyone else. Wouldn't want to look like a liar.

Thankfully, everyone's very much on board and excited. Moon texts me on the side asking if I invited Blake.

SL: yes, I did. Why?

M: haha! I bet you're excited to see him without a shirt

SL: Moon!

M: chillax, don't get all worked up. It's bad for your chankras. I was kidding ;)

SL: okay, but between you and me. I am a little excited

M: good luck

I put down my phone when my mom calls me for dinner. Dinner goes as it usually does. My parents ask me all kinds of questions about my day, Anthony won't shut up about the Blake and keeps making kiss noises.

Finally, I just sit in my room and relax. However, as I'm about to call it a night, my phone rings.

It's a call from Blake.

"Hey Blake, what's up?" I greet causally into the phone.

"Hey Sam, your gonna kill me, but just… hear me out," Blake says sounding out of breath.

My heart begins to beat really hard. What happened? Was he okay? Did he do something bad?

"What happened?! Are you okay?" I ask alarmed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, but I'm out in Reseda and I need a ride. I get if it's too much to ask," Blake says and stammers out the last part.

"No, no, it's fine. I'll come pick you up. What are you doing out there?" I ask confused out of my mind.

"Long story. I'll tell you everything when you get here. Thank you Sam, I really appreciate it," Blake says sounding sincere.

"No problem at all. Plus, my parents have been driving me crazy ever since I got home. Itl be nice to get out of the house," I say and hang up.

I can't help but smile. Some alone time with Blake would be nice. And I'd have a chance to get to know him without any teasing from Yasmine or Moon. Blake texts me his location and I put on my shoes.

"I'm going to meet Yasmine!" I call on my way out the door.

The drive is decently long because of traffic, but when I pull into the strip mall, I'm shocked when I see Blake sitting on the curb. He's covered in bruises, he has a bloody nose, a split lip and a black eye.

"Hey," he says with a sheepish grin when he climbs into my car.

"What the hell happened to you?!" I snap at him in concern, but I definitely sound angry.

"Nasty fall," he says jokingly.

"This isn't funny! We need to get you some medical attention!" I remark frustrated.

"No! No hospital, please. Look I would've called my older brother, but my parents are gonna kill me if they see me like this," Blake remarks.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" I ask having no clue what to make of this.

"I-I'm not sure. My plan was to hang out away from my house until they go to sleep, then sneak back in," Blake says.

I laugh at his dumb plan. This makes my anger dissipate.

"Trying the stealth approach huh," I tease with a grin.

Blake smiles for a second.

"What happened?" I ask sounding a little too concerned.

"Me, Kyler, Brucks, and a few other guys went to buy beer at that mini mart, but some scrawny kid named Miguel outed us for not being twenty one. Kyler got pissed, but some homeless looking dude started yelling at us. Kyler being the dumbass that he is started taunting the bum and shoved him. Then suddenly, the hobo starts doing karate and kicks all our asses three ways to Sunday," Blake says sounding tired and a bit frightened.

"Why didn't you guys just leave?" I ask.

"I tried to stop the fight, but the bum probably thought I was trying to fight him so he beat the shit out of me to," Blake says.

I can't help but feel sorry for Blake. He was probably so excited to hang out with some new friends, but he's now going to spend his night icing his wounds. I try to think of a solution.

Blake pov

I sit in Sam's car trying not to think of my eye that's nearly swollen shut or the aching pain in my once again bruised ribs. Who the hell was that fucking bum? I decided to leave out telling Sam that Kyler and them completely had it coming for bullying the Diaz kid, but it still hurts.

"What if we drive around for a bit? We can grab some food and just chill out," Sam suggests with her smile.

I feel heat growing in my face. Thankfully, it's too dark for her to see the blush creeping it's way onto my face. I was really embarrassed that she had to see me like this. Imagine if she saw me almost have a panic attack when I got a flashback of Noah back at the mini mart. I didn't want to hang out with Kyler and them anymore. I'd just suck it up and go to that party tomorrow just to hang with Sam and Moon then ditch those aholes.

Maybe I'd hang with Miguel and find new friends, but I wasn't about to spend the rest of high school hanging with douchebags who bullied nerds for no reason. As someone who's suffered from bullying, I wasn't about to become the very thing I hated or stand idly by watching Kyler and Brucks shove kids in lockers.

We get food at McDonald's and just spend the night chatting. Sam holds a full ice cold water cup against my eye and I hiss in pain.

"Come on its not that bad," she teases as she cleans the blood with napkins.

We're sitting in her car with the roof down so the summer breeze feels very good.

"So, you moved here from Austin, right?" She asks as she munches on some fries.

I take a sip out of my Powerade and nod.

"We're you born there? Or have you moved before?" She asks as she dabs at my split lip.

"We've moved around a lot since I was a kid," I answer.

"Where were you originally from?" Sam asks.

"Beaver Creek," I answer.

"Oh cool! How was the snow?" She asks excitedly.

"It was great, but not a fan of the cold if I'm being honest," I answer with a cheeky grin.

"But it's snow. My family always goes to visit my dad's relatives over in New Jersey during Christmas and it snows there to. Snowball fights are the best," Sam argues.

"They are fun, but after living there, you get used to snowy winters. One thing I do miss is skiing though," I answer reminiscing fondly about my past until Noah comes in my mind and I tense up before shoving the memories deep into my head.

"You okay?" Sam asks concerned.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," I answer shaking my head slightly.

We spend the next hour just chatting about our lives. Sam tells me all about how she did karate when she was little and I talk about living in the mountains. Some things we have in common are that we both love hiking and snowball fights, but aren't big mountain bikers.

She tells me a funny story about hitting her dad with a kick to the jaw that made him eat soup for a week. I've never met her dad, but Sam really seems to love him a lot. I mean, of course she does, he's her dad, but he seems like a really great guy.

I leave out most of the details about anything mafia related and just say we've moved a lot because my dad's job. Overall, it's just fun and casual friends talking. Yeah… friends.

As much as I realized I was crushing on Sam, the insecure part of me realizes that she was WAY out of my league. She's beautiful and popular while I'm just some guy that lives near her. Maybe she feels bad for me.

Around 11:00pm, Sam decides to drive me home and when we pull up to her driveway, we lock eyes. Despite how corny it sounds, I could get lost in her blue eyes and she has the most beautiful pearly white grin. The eye contact last a bit too long and I look away.

"Sam?" I say.

"Yeah?" She answers sounding a bit nervous.

"Thank you for helping me out tonight. It means a lot," I say giving her a warm smile.

She grins at me.

"Of course. What are friends for?" She says and I feel my heart sink slightly when she uses the term "friends."

"Well… see you tomorrow I guess," I stammer then get out of her car and walk across the street to my house.

Luckily, my family is asleep and I make it to my room without an issue. I turn off the lights and fall asleep before my head hits the pillow.

Authors note: so that's the end of chapter two. Next chapter will

Be the Blake vs Kyler fight at the pool party, but plenty of differences from my cannon storyline. I hope you guys don't get to confused by the constant shifting of pov's. Let me know in the comments if it gets annoying. Also, the drama and lovey dovey chapters are almost over don't worry and the karate will start very soon. As usual, feel free to comment any questions or concerns and HAPPY READING!

Also, regarding "Two Dojos One Family," I'm about halfway through the Blake vs Hawk fight. It gets INTENSE so be ready for a treat. That chapter may take a bit of time as my school workload is picking up and this fight is very detailed, but it will absolutely he worth the wait.