Blake pov
One more day till school and ironically, I couldn't be happier. Everything was working out. I even did something I never thought I'd do in a million years the last full day before school.
I was the first one out of bed and felt fully rested. We didn't have training today since Sensei Lawrence gave us the day to get ready for school and we usually had Sundays off.
I'm down stairs preparing a full meal for my family and I. Got some scrambled eggs on the stove along with bread in the toaster. I'm currently making pancake batter as well to cook. I drop a bunch of chocolate chips into the bowl and begin to stir with a smile on my face.
My dad walks in with his morning coffee and does a double take upon seeing me.
"Are you sick? Or am I hallucinating?" He asks.
"Huh?" I ask with a small grin.
"Your the first one out of bed on your last day to sleep in. What's going on?" He asks sounding lighthearted but a little concerned.
I let put a small laugh.
"It's a new day. Also last day of summer so I plan to enjoy it as much as I can," I remark.
My dad shrugs and sits down at the kitchen table where his laptop sits. He sips on coffee as he does some work and I finish cooking.
Pretty soon, my mom and Noah wake up as well and we're all eating my meal at the table. My brother went back to school a few days back so it's just been the four of us.
Breakfast is actually pleasant as I taught myself to cook a last year during my out of school suspension and was pretty natural at it. Everyone was in awe of the fact that I got up early on my last day of summer, but didn't make a big deal about it.
Once dishes are done and I shower, I chill on my bed and try to think of some plans. Maybe Miguel and Hawk would be down to go to the mall or to the beach club for our final day. However, before I can think of a plan, Noah walks in.
"Hey, you got any plans?" He asks casually.
"Not yet? What about you? Got plans with anyone at Miyagi Do?" I ask in a friendly tone.
"Robby and Sam haven't been answering their phones. Demetri and Chris said they have to get ready for school tomorrow and Trace is in the same boat," Noah confirms.
"Sucks, my buddies haven't reached out either," i remark sheepishly.
"I guess it makes sense. Sam was absolutely hammered last night and Demetri almost picked a fight with that rooster headed fuck," Noah remarks.
My head pipes up at that. I sit up and look at Noah alert.
"What happened?" I ask suspiciously.
"You didn't hear?" He remarks.
"No, I got out of there pretty early," I remark leaving out details on purpose.
Last thing I needed was to spill the beans about Miguel and Sam. That was a problem they'd need to figure out themselves. I was Miguel's friend, not his baby sitter and I certainly wasn't a gossip girl. I've yet to check on Tory, but she'd probably assume I was giving her pity which she'd be not too fond of.
"Well, after that douchebag poured a beer on Demetri's head, Demetri got on the stage with Moon's karaoke system and basically exposed everything about Hawk," Noah confirms scratching his wrists nervously.
Oh… FUCK. Not good. Not good at all. Demetri had the mouth of the south and I had no clue what Hawk was hiding. I knew some stuff, but Demetri definitely knew more. They were best friends for their whole lives until about halfway through this last summer.
"Everything, everything?" I ask in dread.
"Everything, everything," Noah confirms.
"Didn't know roosterfish was also a nocturnal wiz god," Noah quirks with a slight smirk.
"Nocturnal wiz god?" I ask confused.
"Your pal Hawk, wets the bed, dude," Noah remarks trying to hold back a small smirk.
"What? Bullshit. We're sixteen years old. Nobody wets the bed after they're six at the latest," I remark in shock.
I really hope Noah was pulling my leg here. If Hawk was a bed wetter, well… it'd actually be kinda funny, but if the school found out. He'd really be back at square one. Like before karate square one. Maybe even worse. Mohawk or not, a teenage bed wetter doesn't typically have much pull.
"I'm dead serious. He also cried when Dobby died in Harry Potter," Noah remarks more casually.
Noah had no reason to lie about this unfortunately. Sure, he didn't like Hawk, but he wouldn't invent a possibly detrimental rumor like this.
"Oh please. That's not bad. Everyone cried when Dobby died," i remark.
"Fair, but he didn't like it. Facial expression said it all," Noah says after a sigh.
"Anyone who laughed at Hawk crying when Dobby died is a hypocrite. They cried to. You're a goddam empty void if you didn't," I remark honestly.
Yeah I also wailed like a little girl when that adorable creature kicked the bucket. Sacrificing himself to save Harry and dying in his arms. Yeah, I cried okay!
Noah looks somber.
"What's up?" I ask concerned as he spins around in my desk chair.
"Thinking about that now. Hate to ruin the mood, but I miss when I actually could cry," Noah says shaking his head.
"What do you mean?" I ask sitting up on the side of my bed and scooting closer to my cousin.
"After the incident with you and me, I cried. A lot. Then they broke me. Promoted me and tried to get me to do more… more… assassinations," Noah remarks sounding empty.
I'm shocked. I didn't know what to do. What could I say? What was a supposed to think? How many lives had he taken? What was Noah hiding?
I get stone faced.
"How many?" I ask sternly.
Noah closes his eyes.
"Look at me. Tell me how many," I remark without changing demeanor whatsoever.
"Would've been probably a lot, but… someone reached out. Also, there's one more thing… about you," Noah remarks.
"W-what?" I ask actually starting to get terrified.
"Kovar… wasn't the one who gave me the order to try and recruit you. He wasn't," Noah says cringing.
My world was shattered at that point. If not Kovar… then who? Who wanted me in the Bratva so badly or dead? The only person I even knew of besides family members was Kovar. Hell, I met him once without knowing who he was. What the hell?
Kovar was in some Russian prison being fed slop and doing forced labor in frozen shackles while a blizzard tore through his skin. That was exactly what the bastard deserved for everything he'd done. If there was someone else, maybe we weren't safe.
"Noah, who. Was. It?" I ask through gritted teeth.
"He's not coming after you or any of us," Noah remarks sounding terrified.
"NOAH! ANSWER MY QUESTION!" I yell and grab him by the shirt collar.
"I don't, know his name!" Noah yells back.
I let go and put my hands on my head.
"If you're lying about this…" I say while trying not to panic.
"He had an American accent. Or at least whatever voiceover he used on the phone did. Completely off the books, never heard of the guy," Noah rambles through short choppy breaths.
I sit on my bed and sigh. I shut my eyes and grip my knees as I try to calm down.
"He called himself, Gin. Had a lot of money. Provided me the briefcase then once the mission went the way it did. After I… almost killed you. He… reached out again," Noah confirms.
I look at him.
"What was it this time?" I ask.
"This man, or woman, or whoever. I think it was a man. I still don't know if he used his real voice over the phone. Never once met them in person. They were the main reason I was able to get a team together to bring them down. Guy was able to organize an entire database with names, locations, business ties, government connections, you name it. Dude, had all the cards. In only a few months, Kovar was in hiding, his henchmen going on trail, cops, government officials, small business owners, arrested or off the grid. The Bratva was history. My dad was caught in the crossfire and we couldn't do anything. After that, the man never spoke to me again," Noah remarks.
I couldn't believe it. Some guy who happened to know I existed. I understand Kovar had some weird attachment to my family most likely due to my grandparents, but they had much more important matters to attend to than simply recruiting Murphy offspring. There were a dozen other capable families who'd serve themselves and their children on a silver platter.
This Gin, or whatever their name was, knew me specifically.
"Gin… like the card game? Or "Jen" like the name?" I ask.
"Never asked for spelling. One postcard they spelled it like G-I-N. Like the card game and the liquor," Noah confirms.
"Jesus, have you told my parents?" I ask.
"Yes," Noah confirms.
"What? They never said anything," I remark in protest.
"They know how much you love it here. Haven't heard a peep from anything related to this guy since the day Kovar was put in cuffs. If he helped take them down, we probably weren't in danger," Noah remarks.
I sigh… in relief. He stayed away for a reason. He probably knew I didn't die that day, but he'd gotten rid of those guys for a reason. If he was still after me, he would've come for me by now. I guess for once, it really was over. He or she was possibly out there somewhere, but they wouldn't remove an entire organized crime syndicate just for the sake of recruiting me or anyone back into it. It just wouldn't make sense.
Plus, if this person had any slip up in covering their tracks, Bratva stragglers would catch up and I'm sure the rest can be left up to interpretation.
"Okay, if he took them down, why the hell was this person after me?" I ask confused, but more out of curiosity.
"I don't know. If I had to guess, I'd say it had something to do with your dad. He was gramps' son after all and my dad's brother. Maybe he assumed your dad could help him get more names or info to expose. I guess he chose to target you in order to flush your old man out. Gramps was a rather highish ranked member and then he was killed so he figured since my dad's hanging out a Colorado state pen," Noah figures.
I sigh.
Noah sinks into his chair. Then my mind went swimming. You know what, fuck it all.
This information was known now, but I simply was just over it. I just wanna be a kid and enjoy my life. Screw it, I was gonna end my summer with a fun ass day and nobody would stop me. I glance over at Noah.
"You wanna… hang out? Just me and you? Like old times. Fuck it man, it's our last day of summer. Lets go do something fun. Plus, we've been so worried about this pointless karate drama that me and you haven't had a lot of chances to hang out," I remark.
Noah perks up at this.
"What do you have in mind?" He asks with a smirk.
I shrug with a small smile.
What follows leads into being probably one of the most fun days of my entire summer. A day of just pure enjoyment.
We started by going to Six Flags and I gave Noah a bunch of grief for puking blue icee all over some poor young couple after going on the Full Throttle. We both scream laughed our way through the Superman and the Goliath. We both grew up loving roller coasters.
"Yo, vomit commit, you sure you wanna wait in this line? I doubt you could take the Riddler's Revenge after that chili cheese dog," I taunt as we wait in a huge line.
I had some magic power. I could eat a billion fried oreos and go on every ride in this place and only walk out with a giddy grin.
"I'll manage," he remarks and gulps.
Finally after AN HOUR we went on the 2 minute long ride and… had an absolute blast. Noah thankfully didn't yack up his food this time.
"Dude, wanna go see Deadpool 2?" Noah asks as we leave the park.
The sun was beginning to set and my parents didn't want us out late since we had school tomorrow.
"Hells yeah," I respond and lightly punch him in the chest.
We laugh all the way through the movie and enjoy the action scenes. Finally, when we get home, my mom and dad smile warmly when we get in around 10PM howling in laughter.
"You boys have fun?" My mom asks with a smile.
"Yes aunt Sarah," Noah says not getting rid of his grin.
"Yeah mom," I say with a smile of my own.
"Good, bed in a few. You both have school tomorrow," my mom remarks pointing at both of us.
We nod and go upstairs, but weren't tired in the slightest.
"The fact that you puked blue icee everywhere, bro," I tease putting my grinning face into my hands.
"Hey what can I say? Guess I felt like being the girl from The Exorcist," Noah remarks with a grin.
"Nasty, when she spat that green goo all over the priest," I say pinching my face in disgust.
"Yeah, putrid. Funny thing is I discovered who she was from Scary Maze Game," Noah remarks.
"Right in the childhood," I whisper.
I remember that damn screaming jump-scare photo haunting my 7 year old nightmares.
"Blake look, I know I've said it a hundred times, but… I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I-I ruined your life. You're gonna have those scars forever. It's my fault," Noah says in a broken voice.
Despite what he said about his inability to cry earlier, he sure as hell looked like he was about to. I was so done being mad at people and grudges were just too tiring. I pull him into the first hug I've given him since we were children.
"Noah, I…" I whisper and pause.
He returns the bear hug.
"I forgive you. You fucked up. The worst thing you've ever done and guess what," I say letting go and holding my hands outward.
He looks at me with eyebrows raised.
"I'm hard to kill," I joke.
He basically face falls.
"Don't even joke like that," he remarks giving me a deadpanned expression.
We say our good nights and I hit the sack content. Waking up for school SUCKS.
"God fucking dammit," I mutter as the realization hits that I'm in for a ling day.
Both Noah and I are like zombies when we go downstairs.
"Rise and shine," my dad taunts and we both give him a tired glare.
"Blake, make sure you go see your teachers during tutorials and kiss their asses. They'll give you the benefit of the doubt grade wise," my mom says handing Noah and I our back packs.
"Yeah, yeah, mom," I remark nonchalantly.
We take our first day pictures and I make the biggest frown possible while Noah has a wide grin. Well, until my mom makes me smile for the last one. I'm just glad we didn't have a dress code.
Last year, I tried to look nice on the first day because I had an impression to make. Now, I had a place and so did Noah thanks to a summer of karate.
I simply wore a black long sleeve Henley shirt with grey sweat pants while Noah wore a Colorado Rockies tshirt and blue jeans.
We packed our gym clothes to go to karate practice after school. For me, Cobra Kai and for him, Miyagi Do.
Noah said Sam had been giving him rides to the dojo all summer with Robby because our training time and their's overlapped. I just hope I wouldn't get curve balled with any big projects on day 1 and for a chill day at training so I could come go right back to bed after.
"Also, counselor Blatt reached out about Noah and Blake, I offered you up. You only have to deal with that vile woman for a few minutes. Since Noah's a new student, go ahead and go to the office with him and help him get his schedule and everything," my mom walks us through as we walk to my car.
"Alright mom, I'll take care of it. I've give him the grand tour of the dirty halls and show him the broken toilets as well as the frozen expired burgers they probably have for lunch today," I lightheartedly remark with a smug smile.
"Blake," my mom sternly, but lightheartedly says.
I smile. We both take our turns hugging my parents and get in the car.
My parents wave as my dad gets in his car to head to what I assume is LaRusso Auto and we head to West Valley.
The student parking lot had some spots thankfully as my mom was generous enough to pay for a parking pass again. Noah joins me at the hip as we walk in the front doors avoiding the crowd.
"Seems simple enough, nerds," he gestures to some really geeked out kids.
"Jocks, goths, no idea what those chicks are," he remarks gesturing to the different groups of people.
The unknown crowd looks like a bunch of hippie looking individuals. Someone catches my eye. A girl in a red dress with her hair in a bun. Moon stands in the middle of the hippie crowd.
I just shrug and walk past them indifferent. After a very tense awkward session with counselor Blatt and our principal, Noah is good to go for classes and I walk him to his homeroom.
This would also be the same hall I'd have my chem class in, but Noah was in AP while I was in good old academic. Two familiar faces catch my eye as Noah says goodbye and walks in.
Miguel and Hawk.
"There's the man!" Hawk shouts over the crowd when we make eye contact.
Miguel perks up and gives me a smile and a nod. I do my very best to hide how awkward I feel. Hey dude, you cheated on your girlfriend and she went and kissed me. You figured any of that out yet?
"What's up y'all?" I say and dab up my two buddies.
"Don't tell me you got in this class," Miguel remarks sarcastically.
"Nope, guess I'm not enough of a nerd," I joke.
I decide to address the potential elephant in the room.
"Hey Miguel, have you talked to Tory at all since the party?" I ask.
His face goes stone.
"No, she ghosted me. I've been texting and calling her since Saturday night. Nothing," Miguel says.
"So what? Probably just isn't on her phone," Hawk casually remarks lightly punching Miguel in the chest with a grin.
"Actually some stuff happened and-" Miguel begins to nervously say but the first bell rings.
"I'll, talk to y'all about it at lunch," Miguel says as he and Hawk enter the homeroom.
Well, this would be fun, Noah sharing a home room with my two best friends who he didn't get along with. Well, Hawk especially, but him and Miguel were okay enough. What could go wrong?
I'm walking to my home room which is upstairs when I catch sight of a head of dark hair at her locker. I smile and get butterflies as I realize who that is.
"Just couldn't wait to see me, could you princess," I joke as I saunter up.
Amelia turns around with a smile. She places a hand on her hip and eyes me up and down.
"Says the fella who walked up to me," she teases.
I chuckle.
"Who's your homeroom teacher?" I ask.
"Miss Jensen, history. You?" She asks.
"Mr. Brantley, I don't care," I say looking at my schedule and not bothering to see which of my classes he teaches.
"Sounds lame," she says.
"This whole place is lame," I say giving her a light smile.
Well, I'll see you at lunch," she says when the second bell rings.
"Yeah for sure. Don't wanna be late on day one. My teachers will develop plenty of reasons to dislike me as the year goes on," I say.
"You'll be fine," she says putting a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
"Bye," she says with a grin before leaning up to place a quick kiss on my lips.
I'm surprised for a second.
"What? Thought I'd get you back after you struck first the other night," she jokes.
"See ya," I warmly say and give her a side hug before we go out separate ways.
I'm one of the last people to show up, but I barely make it before the tardy bell rings. My homeroom is a computer lab. This is fine.
Comfy chairs and computer games were an upgrade to having to look at Yasmine's bitchy face like last year. Only downside was no Miguel in my homeroom this time around.
However, another face is sitting a few chairs down. Robby fucking Keene. Well, we didn't currently wanna strangle each other right now, but I'd have to see him first thing in the morning every day for 9 months. Great way to start my day.
He doesn't see me and the intercom turns on for the welcome back announcement. High on coffee and antidepressants as usual.
As I begin to tune out the announcement and scroll through my phone, the mic begins to squeak and sputter which gets everyone's attention. It sounds like some sort of struggle. My eyes begin to dart around the room alert and I lock eyes with Robby.
Surprisingly, we share the same expression, concern and "what the fuck is going on?"
One more very unpleasant high pitched screech of acoustic feedback. It almost sounds like the lady is being attacked.
"Give that back!" She barks sounding scared and stressed.
"Oww," she yelps.
"You're not allowed to be-," the lady remarks flustered but doesn't finisn her sentence.
The next words shake me to my core and I lose the ability to think. I'm hallucinating or just that bored where I'm imagining this.
"Samantha LaRusso, you know what you did, and now you're gonna pay for it. I'm coming for you, BITCH!" The ominous voice of Tory Nichols spits into the intercom
Authors note: after a year and a half of waiting (sorry btw, been very busy and full of ups and downs), we're finally here. The big climax of Two Dojos One Family. Shits about to go down as you can imagine.
PLEASE feel free to predict whatever you want in the comments. I'd love to hear your theories/suggestions, or just you're energy as we enter the last leg of this journey. Happy reading and no mercy.