Lee was running on the beach in the morning. She picked up speed when she saw a large figure ahead. "Hey, I'm Presley Cole. I'm with the Cole Car Company. You're Axel from Iron Dragons, right?"
"Yes. I'm Axel Kovačević." He introduced himself.
"That is Croatian, right?" She recognized the last name of a tennis player.
"You are right again." He was surprised that she was keeping up with him.
"You are dominating out there, bruh. That power could take you all the way." She did muscle poses.
"Bruh?" He was confused by the nickname. "My sensei says I need to refine my technique."
"There is always room for improvement but there is a reason the saying goes, dance with the one that brought you." She shrugs.
"Dance with the one that brought you?" He stops to think.
She had to skid to a stop. "Besides being a good Shania Twain song. It's got the cutest music video. It means to keep doing what has been successful for you. Think of Ronda Rousey, she dominated with her judo. She let people get into her head and tried boxing. She lost the belt. Does that make sense?"
"I believe so. You're saying no matter what technique I learn, my strength will be my best tool. It's what I can rely on to win." He smiles when she nods.
"That's the smile that the cameraman keeps begging you for." She slapped his arm.
"Are you with that Cobra Kai guy?" He has seen Kwon by her side when not competing.
"We are trying things out." She liked that people knew just by looking at them.
"It is okay for us to be…" He points to himself and then to her.
"Friends… yeah. Most of my friends are guys." She frowns. "Sorry, if I seem flirty. Who knows maybe I was. I've been told that I'm naturally charming."
"Yes, you are." He nods with a weak smile.
"Do you want to get coffee? There's a cute cafe. Come on, follow me." She ran to get ahead. He caught up with her in two seconds. "This is not fair, your legs are twice as long as mine." She pouts. He laughs at her puffing in defeat when he runs ahead when she points out the cafe. She got a café bombón. He got a café cortado.
"I love coffee in other countries. It's hard to go back to Starbucks after this." She threw her head back in bliss after the first sip.
"Is it bad in America?" He found the expressive American girl to be cute and funny.
"It is all about mass production and speed. Both of those things affect the quality." She took another sip. "Tell me about the lavender fields?" She asked about the one thing she knew about his country.
"They are beautiful. It smells amazing. They go on for miles." He pulls out his phone to show her pictures.
She looks at his scenery shots. He took a few of the beaches they were on. "Do you like photography?" A few of the shots seem arty.
"A little." He nods. "I like doing nature shots."
"I know you're willing to hike high to get them." She looks at the shot from the top of the mountain.
"I like hiking. I like the outdoors." He tells her.
"I hate those things. The only marathon I like is Netflix. But, good for you." She hands him his phone.
"You hate hiking? I think you can do it." He saw her stamina while running and talking like nothing.
"I always fall. People say they are going to take me on an easy trail. But, next thing I know they want to go off the trail because it is boring for them. Or go to a different place because the easy one is crowded. It ends the same with me in the trunk covered in mud, lucky people bring an SUV or a truck." She swears off hiking.
He laughs at her getting animated as she waves her hands around to show the chaotic change of plans. "I can take you."
"No. NO. That's how it always starts. You hiking people are the same." She shook her head.
"No, I promise I won't let you fall. You come to Croatia. We can do it after the lavenders." He smiles as she continues to shake her head like a child.
Lee went into the hotel lobby with Axel. "I can not bribe me with lavender to go hiking. I can see the waterfall from the bottom."
"You have to hike to get to the bottom." He was amused to give the information.
"I don't need to see that either then." She threw her hands in the air in defeat.
"What's going on?" Kwon had been looking for her after his morning practice. He had checked her room, the pool, and the practice spots, and came up empty. He was fuming when he came to the lobby to see her coming in with another guy laughing.
"I went for a run on the beach. I ran into Axel. Well, I had to chase him down." She laughs while slapping Axel's arm. He pats her head.
"You went running on the beach by yourself. It could be dangerous. You should have waited for me." He was trying to keep his temper in check.
"The sun would have been beaming by the time you were done with practice." She wrinkles up her nose. "Besides, there was no danger. So no harm, no foul." She gave him a peck hoping to make him less tense. "I'm going to shower, play nice." She patted his shoulder.
When the elevator door closed behind her Kwon turned to Axel, "What were you doing with my girl?"
"Making friends. She says she has a lot of male friends." He put his hands in his pockets.
"She does. I'm not naive like her. There is no man making friends with a pretty girl and only wants to stay friends." He had played this game already. He wasn't going to have someone pull the same moves as him.
"I would never disrespect her boundaries." He was offended by the accusation.
"Sure, you won't. She will never go hiking or see lavender with you." He put a stop to those plans.
"That's up to her." He shrugged.
"I don't think you understand." Kwon took a step closer.
Yoon moved quickly to put his hand on his friend's shoulder. He spoke to him in Korean, "Kwon, don't start anything. We are in the lobby. Are you trying to get thrown out of the competition?" He pulls him away. "I'm all for you getting with Lee. But, not if it's going to throw you off your game."
"Nothing throws me off my game." He bumps his shoulder as he makes his way to the elevator.
Lee shoved her arms into the robe and tied the belt tight. Someone was knocking so hard that the pictures on the walls were shaking. She throws it open, knowing two guys who would be dumb enough to do this. "Kwon, what the fuck? You are going to break the door."
He pushed his way in and slammed the door behind him. "You are not talking to him ever again!"
"Don't shout. My dad is in the next room." She put a finger up to her lips.
"I meant it. I don't want you talking to that giant moron again." He hissed.
"What the hell did he say?" She crosses her arms.
"That he could take you if he wanted to." He clenches his jaw.
"He did not say that." She shook her head.
"I read between the lines." He put two fingers apart in front of his eye.
"It looks like you're giving me the peace sign." She bites her bottom lip to stop laughing at him doing a Kawaii pose with an angry face.
"I'm not playing around, Lee." He moves his arm to his side.
"I know you're not, but you're acting ridiculous. This is our second day as a couple. You are making me feel like I'm going to be an episode of Dateline." She found this concerning.
"Dateline?" He tilts his head.
"It's a documentary show that covers murders." She had to explain all her references today. "He doesn't want to be more than friends. He knows we're dating. He asked if it was okay for us to be friends. I said, yes because it is. I can be friends with whoever I want."
He nods taking that in before moving on. "Like you were friends with me?"
"Stop. I never crossed the line with you until Eli and I broke up. And, we didn't break up because of you, so point made." She crossed her arms.
"Yeah, you broke up because you wanted to explore." He scoffs.
"What are you saying? If you think I'm capable of being unfaithful then how would we do long distance?" She pulled the robe tighter when it began to loosen.
"We're going to be fine if you listen." He pulls on her earlobe.
"I can compromise. How about that? I won't hang out with him alone." She pushes the wet hair away from her face.
"No guy alone." He pushed.
She shot him a glare. "Fine, no guy alone."
"I won't be with another girl alone." He promised.
"I'm going to finish my shower. Are you going to stay here?" She asks.
"Yeah." He picked up the remote to turn on the TV.
She grabs a change of clothes. "If it makes you feel better I don't have his number or anything." She opened the bathroom door.
"It does." He kept his eyes on the TV despite it speaking Spanish.
"Ridiculous," She muttered before going to the bathroom. When she gets in the shower, the lights turn off. "KWON!"
"Not Ridiculous!" He yells through the door.
"Kwon. Stop laughing!" She couldn't believe he was interrupting her shower twice this morning. She grumbles under her breath when he turns them back on. "Ridiculous jerk."
Lee was helping Sam warm up. "I don't know what we're going to do. We're getting our asses kicked out there." Sam huffs. Cobra Kai and Iron Dragon were leading the competition. Miyagi-Do wasn't doing well. If they didn't start doing better then they would be eliminated. "Our team is so fractured. Robby is in his head about Tory. Miguel is resentful about Robby not being a good leader. Demetri and Eli are fighting."
"Maybe you guys need some team bonding," Lee held the mitts high.
"Like what?" She kicks the mitts that Lee is wearing.
"I don't know, but there are a ton of tourist things to do here: take a dance class, visit a museum, go sightseeing. You guys need something to bring you back together." She suggests.
"I don't know if that's going to be enough." She sighs.
"You don't have the time for the therapy you all need before the next event." Lee teased but Sam wasn't amused.
"Our Sensei aren't on the same page. Do you think you could talk to Johnny?" Sam punched the mitts.
"Everyone needs a different teaching style. Miguel, Devon, and I thrived under Johnny. You, Demetri, and Robby under her dad. Why choose one when half the group will suffer because of it? You guys should choose who to guide you and go from there." Lee never knew why people didn't see the choice of all the above as an answer in life.
"That's a good idea." Sam laughs at not thinking of such a simple solution.
"Yeah. I'm full of them. Let's go, you've got an event to win." Lee pointed at the clock.
They gather their things and walk out of the practice room. "I haven't seen my dad since last night. He was supposed to warm up with me." She tried to call him again. "Dad? Where are you? I'm getting worried. Please call me."
"Faster! Let's go" They stopped in front of an open door to see Axel with Sensei Wolf. Axel kept avoiding the hit. "Stop! What are you doing wrong?" When he didn't answer, he got hit. "Again." Axel throws a punch and avoids a hit. Sensei Wolf got frustrated and threw down the punch mitts to hit him repeatedly. Axel cowered and turned his head to the door to avoid being hit in the face. His eyes meet the girls. Sam pulled Lee away. "You're wasting my time. Eyes Here! Focus!"
"What the fuck!" Sam whispered. "That was crazy. I don't even know what he was doing wrong."
"He didn't take the opening," Lee answers.
"What?" Sam turns to her.
"Swing at me the way the Sensei did." She stopped in front of her. Sam was hesitant. "Come on." She did, Lee ducked down to avoid the punch but touched Sam's ribs to show what she meant. "You take every opening you can get, it's how you win a match."
"Someone gets it." The clapping made them turn to see Axel and his Sensei.
"We have to get going." Sam grabs Lee's arm to pull her away from the dangerous man.
They didn't do well in the event, only Miguel won his match. Johnny texted her to meet up with them in the locker room. "What I saw from you just now, it wasn't karate. It was a weakness. You fought like little lambs waiting for slaughter. We keep going like this, we'll get eliminated tonight. Some of you will put this behind you. But some of you are going to carry this for the rest of your lives. Knowing you had this chance to make something of yourselves. But instead, you crumbled under the pressure. You're going to go on to live shit lives in shitty apartments with shit jobs. And always have to live with this failure. So you want to save some humiliation, why don't we skip the next round and catch the next flight home?" He was met with silence. "What is wrong with you guys? Where is your fight? Don't you want to stand up for yourself?"
"You're putting all the blame on us like it's not also your fault. If my dad had been there, we never would've lost like that." Sam crosses her arms and leans against the locker.
"Yeah, well, he didn't show up." Johnny scoffs.
"Probably because of you. You keep distracting him trying to prove your way is better when it's so clear that we should've been using Miyagi-Do. You shouldn't be wearing that gi." Sam screams at him.
"Don't talk to my Sensei like that." Lee and Devon scream back. Devon got up to get in her face.
Sam glares. "Your sensei got you knocked off the board in ten seconds. I would sit down if I were you. You're not helping us. I don't even know how you made this team."
Lee grabbed Devon's arm before she could sit down. "What are you going to do if she doesn't, Sam? You're going to swing?" When Sam didn't say anything, she laughed. "I don't think so. You want to blame Johnny for your failure, fuck off. You are on the mat by yourself, you could use Miyagi-do if you wanted to. But, you didn't and that's on you. You want to blame everyone else for the team being fractured but you're a part of the problem."
"Say the girl who didn't even have the balls to compete." Sam glares.
"Because I didn't want to take this opportunity from someone who could use the money for college or to start a career in karate. Unlike you, who took it without a second thought. We can see who should have been captain of this team because Tory kicked ass out there. You're getting yours kicked." The girls stared at each other, Lee daring Sam to make a move.
"Well, I for one, will be putting all this behind me when I'm off at MI…" Demetri broke the silence.
"Shut the fuck up about MIT. Some of us care about winning the tournament." He gestured to Miguel and himself. "Be nice if you did too."
"Guy, can we cool it? This isn't helping." Robby stood up to make the girls stand apart from each other. "We need to focus."
"Maybe you should listen to your own advice," Miguel mutters.
"You got something to say," Robby asks.
"I already did." Miguel stood up to walk out.
"We're not finished." Johnny blocks him.
"No offense, But I'm pretty sure we've heard enough from you." Miguel walks around him to go out the door. The team followed him out.
"What am I going to do?" Johnny looked at Lee.
"You need to find Daniel. Because half of the team doesn't respond to you." She sighs at the hopelessness going around in her group.
"Yeah, thank you for coming." He ran a hand down his face.
"I think I add to the chaos but you're welcome nonetheless." She laughs.
"We've now entered the elimination stage of the Sekai Taikai. The dojo who does not win tonight will be headed home. The previous rounds have determined your current rankings. The number one team will face the number 16 team. The Number two team will face the number 15 team, and so on." The host announced.
"So they got to fight Dublin Thunder. They're pretty rowdy." Lee was watching in the stands with her dad.
"You will be fighting on a platform. Two teammates at a time." They raised a platform into the air. "Once a fighter falls they are out. But, another teammate can climb up to take their place. However, the fighting never stops. So get up quickly, don't leave your teammate alone two-on-one. When all the fighters of a dojo have been knocked off, the team is out."
The fights between Iron Dragon and Cobra Kai were impressive. "Tory! Tory! Tory!" Tom chanted along with the crowd when she knocked someone's teeth out.
"Dublin Thunder and Miyagi-Do up next." The announcer told the crowd. Sam and Robby were up first. Robby got knocked off their platform in a few minutes.
"That's your captain." Tom chuckled.
"He's better when he doesn't have a broken heart." Lee defends him. Devon got up there to knock someone off. Soon, Sam did the same. "Okay, we're five to four."
Sam got knocked off with a hard kick to the side. "Four to four." Tom corrects.
Eli went up next. He was defending himself well. Devon tackled a girl off the platform when she was going to attack Eli's blind spot. Johnny sent Demetri up next. While the guy Demeti was fighting was down, he kicked the guy that Eli was fighting. The guy had a good hold on Eli so he ended up pushing both of them off the platform. "What a dumbass." Lee cursed.
"Shit." Demetri looks down at his mistake. He got kicked from behind, knocking him off the platform.
"Come on, Miguel!" Lee cups her hands to yell. Tom jumped up to cheer when Miguel was able to knock them both off. Everyone but Robby got up to celebrate with Miguel. Eli lifted him in the air.
Lee was meeting Kwon in the lobby. She saw Axel. She went up to him. "Hey, Axel."
"Hello, Lee." He nods.
"I want you to know that I don't think what your sensei did was right. It's not okay for him to hit you as punishment." She thought he might have got the wrong impression when she was explaining what he did wrong to Sam.
"I can't blame him. I have a hard time getting things. He must be frustrated." He looks down at his feet.
"Hey!" She called for him to look into her eyes. "It's not okay." Her head turned when she heard the ping of the elevator opening. "Got to go." She walked towards it to see spiky hair.
"My eager girl." Kwon hooks an arm around her neck to lead her out of the hotel and into the back of a taxi with Yoon and Tory. After telling the man where they were going, they took off.
"Congratulations on making it to the next round." She smiles at the Cobra Kai members.
"Thank you." Yoon nods.
"I didn't know you guys were joining us." She looks at Tory.
"We're going on a double date." Kwon smirks.
"It's not a date," Tory yelled.
"Jeez, I'm not hideous." Yoon laughs.
"I'm happy, you're here Tory. She dances well." She told the boys. "She stole the show at prom."
"That was a good night." She smiles while looking out the window.
"Jae. I'm going to step on you with my heels." She hissed at him.
"Keep up if you don't like getting stepped on." He tugs her forward as he steps back.
"Can I lead the next song?" She was having a hard enough time remembering the step without worrying about getting stomped on.
"Hell no." He scoffs.
"Come on." She whines.
"If you keep up with me for the rest of this song. I'll dip you." He grabs her hips.
"And twirl." She negotiated.
"Fine, a dip and a twirl." He rolled his eyes.
The dance partner next to them listens to the conversation as they dance in silence. "I can't imagine he is, but is he a good boyfriend?"
"You're concerned for Lee?" Yoon raised an eyebrow.
"She's a friend." She looks at Lee's smile as she keeps up with Kwon. He had a smug smile that made Tory want to slap him.
"I have known him since I went into the dojo at seven. I've never seen him keep a girl around for too long. I never saw him let anyone get too close." He was only getting close to Kwon now.
"Jeeze, she knows how to pick them." Tory shook her head.
"One day, I noticed he was on his phone all the time. He rushed off after practice. A girl is all over his Instagram. I never saw him seek anyone out until she came along. I would be worried what would happen if she wasn't interested in him." Yoon watches Kwon nip at her cheek making Lee giggle.
"That's not comforting." Tory narrows her eyes at him.
"Look, Kwon is not the best guy but he cares deeply for Lee. I wouldn't worry." He shrugged.
"So, you would let him go out with your sister?" She tilts her head.
"My older sister is twenty-five and my younger sister is ten, so no." He shook his head.
She let out a big sigh, she only agreed to go with them to see Kwon and Lee together. Lee was beaming when he spun her away to pull her back to him. He dips her while leaning down to kiss her. The teacher praised them for their passion. "I'm not worried. Lee's a tough girl. It would take a lot more than a guy like Kwon to take her down."
"I don't know. He already set a rule that they can't be alone with the opposite sex." His sparring mate was quite triumphant about it.
"Are you trying to make me turn against them?" She didn't know his angle.
"One thing I learned about life is that if a couple wants to be together then they will be. Don't matter how much you warn them it is headed for disaster." His face fell as he thought of a bad memory.
"Who was it?" She wonders.
"My older sister. She married a drunk abusive bum who ended up leaving her with two kids." He wished he could find the guy.
"I'm sorry." She squeezed his shoulders. The music and the lesson ended.
Lee bounced over to them with Kwon holding her wrist. "I had a lot of fun. How about you guys?"
"I had fun." Tory did. She loved dancing.
"I'm glad." Kwon smiles at her. Tory was shocked that it looked sincere. "Maybe this team bonding will make you less selfish on the mat." She grinds her teeth to hold back from attacking him.
"Don't ruin it." Lee side-eyes him. "Let's go to the bakery next door. I want a Xiuxos and a coffee."
"This woman and her coffee." Kwon rolls his eyes but follows her out.