After class, Devon pulled Johnny aside. "Hey Sensei, what did you mean I'm having people over tonight?" she asked.
Johnny fixed her with a totally serious look. "Two words," he said, "slumber party."
Devon frowned. "Slumber party?" she repeated. She knew what he meant, but why? Slumber parties were things you did with friends. And she'd never had any, at least not for long. She'd always figured they were scared off by her ambition and competitiveness. For some reason she could influence people by presenting water-tight arguments but couldn't win friends the same way. Not that she cared anyway. Popularity seemed to go to the people who weren't prepared to stand up for what they believed in. Slumber parties were for the weak.
"Yeah. You, Nichols, LaRusso. Slumber party."
Having those two round at her house didn't sound so bad, but it didn't answer the question why. "Stop saying slumber party! How the hell's that gonna help?"
"Just trust me on this one, okay? After we're done with them, they'll have their edge back and more besides."
"O-kay," Devon said slowly. It wasn't about her at all, she had to stop thinking about herself. But still, she felt woefully unprepared for this. If only her mom was still around, she'd at least have someone to ask for help. This might not be about her, but it was making her feel so alone and incompetent, and she hated that. She quickly looked around to check if anyone might overhear and lowered her voice. "But Sensei, I've never thrown a slumber party before." She crossed her arms and looked down. "Never even been invited to one. It's been just me and my dad for so long, I have no idea about any of that girly crap!"
Johnny smiled and patted her on the arm. "Hey. Don't worry about it. I've got this," he said softly, as if he could tell exactly what she was thinking. Devon felt tears pricking at her eyes, but she was not going to cry, especially not in front of her Sensei. "I'm a girl dad now, remember? Your dad might not wanna get involved in all that girly crap, but I'm all over it! You don't have to do this on your own, I'll be there with you."
A smile formed on Devon's face. It was pretty nice that Sensei Lawrence was so keen to help. But wait, was he inviting himself? "You're coming to my slumber party?" she said incredulously.
"Hell yeah!" he said without hesitation.
Devon's reflexive instinct was to say something like boys aren't allowed, but that went against her belief in gender equality. It was her slumber party and she got to decide who was welcome. And having Sensei Lawrence there to help her made her feel more confident about the whole thing. At least if she messed up, he'd crack a joke or cause a distraction. "You sure?" she said.
"I've realised lately that I've gotta step up. Gotta get some practise in before my daughter's born. And I've gotta be there for my girl students too."
"Just your girl students?"
"Okay, okay, I'm there for all my students, including the ones that happen to be girls."
Devon thought about this for a moment. "You know, this might actually be fun," she said. And then, because she didn't before, she added, "Thanks, Sensei."
"Hey listen, I'll come over to your place an hour before to decorate. We've got a bunch of pink stuff left over from the baby shower, we can use that."
Devon laughed. "Pink stuff? Are you sure that's what people do?"
Johnny put his hands on his hips. "Pfft, are you trying to say I don't know how to throw a slumber party?"
Devon shrugged. "You probably know more than me," she said, starting to walk away.
"Okay, I'll bring the decorations and I've got the music covered too. You bring one of those ouija board things and, uh… tampons and cookies or whatever."
She turned back to him. "Now you're just messing with me."
"What? You think I don't know what girls like?" he said, and Devon was about ninety percent sure that he was joking, but with Sensei Lawrence she could never be totally sure.
Devon shook her head. "Just leave the rest to me," she said.
She already had a few ideas forming in her mind. She'd have to stop by the mall and pick up a few things. This was actually pretty exciting. The thought of hanging out with Tory and Sam outside of the dojo was actually pretty cool. She was probably getting ahead of herself but maybe they could be friends. They wouldn't be scared off by her competitiveness, they were plenty competitive themselves. Of course they'd still be rivals, but they could be both.
There was just one thing left to do. Devon looked around for Tory and Sam and saw them chatting together. Perfect. What if they said no, Devon thought suddenly. What if they laughed at her? She pushed those thoughts away. She had to just go over there and ask like she expected them to say yes. Taking a deep breath, she strode over to them.
"So I was thinking, slumber party at mine tonight?"
Sam and Tory turned around.
Tory cocked her head to one side and looked at her suspiciously. "Huh, what?"
Sam looked surprised, but smiled. "Hey, sure, that sounds like fun," she said, and looked at Tory.
Tory gave Sam a shrug and looked back at Devon. "Okay, yeah, why not?" she said.
Devon found herself grinning. She kind of wanted to jump up and down like she was still in middle school, but she managed to play it cool. "Great! I'll text you both the details," she said. This was gonna be great.