Chapter 5

It takes about 10 minutes for us to reach the dojo, located in a shitty strip mall in Reseda.

"This is the place?" I ask confused.

"Yea man trust me sensei Lawrence is the real deal, you'll see." Miguel says with a slight worship in his tone.

Wow what a dump, but I'll give it a shot, if he's a good teacher than the place we're taught doesn't matter.

The four of us all stand in front of the dojo waiting for the sensei to show up, its still a little early so we just wait.

I notice a few people from school have actually shown up even a few not from our school, there's actually alot of girls here at the moment.

"Why's there so much people here? I thought you said you're the only student." I ask confused.

There's about 20 people who have showed up.

"Uhh well about that you see, I uhh recorded the fight and used it to promote our dojo." Miguel says nervously.

Ahh no wonder these girls are staring at me like that, they're looking at me like I'm some movie star.

"Well I don't really mind, but ask next time."

"Of course sorry."

"It's cool."

About 5 minutes later the person I've been looking for shows up, a blonde man with blue eyes, he's face looks haggard, he kind of looks like a homeless person.

That man is my father Johnny Lawrence.

He looks around shocked that so many people showed up.

We walk inside, Miguel and I get changed in the boys bathroom, I'm wearing a full black Karate-gi the top is slightly open showing off my pecks and sixpack.

We walk outside and I go stand by the wall observing all the people that came, they're all standing around chatting.

None of them are karate material, but my past self was exactly like them, I was practically a useless dork, until uncle Daniel showed me Miyagi-Do, I found i had a talent for Martial arts and poured all my energy into becoming good, Martial Arts changed me for the better.

I notice how most of the girls are eyeing me with lust in their eyes, there's even a women in her 20's looking at me like I'm prey.

"Quiet!!!" Sensei Lawrence yells shutting everyone up.

"Face front." Sensei Lawrence yells.

I walk over to Miguel and stand on his left.

Sensei Lawrence starts examing everyone, eventually his eyes land on me and they widen in shock.

"How old are you?" He asks me.

"16 Sensei." I answer.

"16 I thought you were in college already jeez, you done Karate before?" Sensei Lawrence asks me curiously.

"Yes Sensei, I've done some Taekwondo." I answer vaguely.

"Yea I can see that." Sensei Lawrence says intrigued.

"When I look around this room I don't see Cobra Kai material, apart from well one of you." Sensei Lawrence says looking at me, "I see nerds, losers, a fat kid with a funny hat and his tits popping out, but in my short time as a sensei, I've also seen miracles." He pauses and looks at Miguel, "Maybe there's some hope for you yet." He says with his tone hopeful.

"Now I need to see what you guys can do, so fall in," Everyone looks at him clueless, "uhhh line up." He orders.

Everyone starts queuing in a line behind Miguel and I.

"No not like that, lines, lines stand next to each other." He says frustrated.

"Uhh do you mean rows." Dimitri comments.

"Urghh!!!" Sensei Lawrence comments frustrated.

Eventually everyone lines up in rows.

"Alright I'm going to show you the Jab punch, watch me."

"Hiyah!!!" he throws a quick left right combo.

"Alright now whenever I yell "Hiyah!!!" You guys do the Jab punch."

"Yes Sensei!!!" Miguel, Aisha and I all yell.

Sensei Lawrence looks annoyed at the others.

"When I ask a question you reply with yes or no Sensei understood!!!"

"Yes Sensei!!!" Everyone yells together.

"Good now get ready."

All of us get in position, ready to do the Jab punch.

"Hiyah!!!" He yells.

I throw a left, right combo.

"Hiyah!!!"

I do the Jab punch again.

This goes on for a few minutes, with sensei walking around correcting everyone's mistakes.

Eventually sensei gets to the front of the class and looks in Eli's direction.

"Hey lip."

Eli's starts looking at sensei uncomfortablely.

"Yea you, the one with the freaky lip, who did you think I was talking to?"

"Uhh excuse me Mr. Lawrence?" Dimitri speaks up.

"Sensei Lawrence!!!" Aisha yells at Dimitri.

"Ok." Dimitri says conceding.

"You shouldn't be making fun of peoples physical appearances."

"What so I'm never supposed to mention his lip at all?" Sensei asks.

"Well yeah."

"Maybe that's what they teach you in school, but in the real world you can't expect people to act how you want them too."

He's right, I was made fun of all the time, before puberty hit, even my brother and "dad" would talk shit about me.

"You hear that lip, how are you supposed to handle an elbow to the teeth when you can't handle someone making fun of you.

"Uhh by calling the police." Dimitri says sarcastically.

"Dimitri just shut up, if you don't want to be here then just leave." I answer getting annoyed by his clever mouth.

"Uhmm ok." Dimitri says scared.

The rest of the lesson was basically just being taught the basics.

After the lesson was done, I went to go change back into my normal clothes.

As I'm walking towards the door I hear, "Hey you"

I turn around and see Sensei Lawrence standing by his office door.

"Yes sensei?" I ask confused as to why he called me.

"You're really good." He compliments me.

"Thank you for the compliment sensei." I say and bow my head towards him.

"What was your name again?"

"Max, Max Mills sensei."

As I say my surname his eyes widen in shock.

"Mills... you wouldn't happen to be Ali Mills child would you?" He asks nervously.

"Uhh yea my mom's Ali Mills, she spoke fondly of you Sensei Lawrence."

His eyes widen shock again.

"Really she spoke about me?"

"Yea, she told me about how you guys dated and how good you were at Karate, so when Miguel handed me your flyer, I decided to join this dojo, hoping to learn some things."

"That's awesome, how's your mother these days." Sensei asks curiously.

"She's good sensei, she works as a doctor in Denver."

"Oh she became a doctor wow." Sensei says amazed.

"She always was a smart one." Sensei says a fond smile on his face.

"Is your mom here in LA?" Sensei asks casually.

"No I'm staying with my grandmother, I don't really like Denver so I moved out here to keep my grandmother busy."

"Ohh ok, you're a good kid." Sensei says, but I can here the disappointment in his voice.

"Alright I'll see you tomorrow kid."

"Uhh I won't be here tomorrow sensei, but I'll be back on Thursday." I let him know.

"Alright I'll see you Thursday, tell your mom I said hi." He says going back into his office.

I arrive at home to the smell of roast chicken.

"Hey grandmother I'm back." I announce my arrival at home.

"Ohh Max you're finally back, I'm busy finishing up dinner." My grandmother shouts from the kitchen.

Honestly my grandmother doesn't act like she's rich, she could've let Anna cook, but then again I'm glad she is cooking her food is really delicious.

After dinner I wash the dishes and greet my grandmother goodnight and go take a shower, after showering I change into my boxers and sit on my bed, I look at my phone and see quite a couple of messages and missed video calls.

Everyone just video calls nowadays, I think amused.

The missed video calls are from Sam and my mother, and a few friends from back home, and there's also a message from Yasmine, [Hey Max it's Yasmine, just messaged to say I enjoyed meeting you today, I can't wait for Friday🥳]

I message Yasmine back saying, [It was nice meeting you aswell Yasmine and I can't wait to get wasted on Friday 😈.]

I decide to video call Sam on my laptop.

I set my laptop on my lap and call Sam.

It rings for a few seconds before Sam answers.

"Hey Max... woah!!!" Sam says and stares at my body.

Sam just stares at my body in a daze, until I speak snapping her out of her daze.

"Sammy you ok?" I ask in a teasing tone.

"Uh... what?" Sam says in a daze.

"I said you ok?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

"Yea, I'm fine, I'm fine." Sam says shaking off her daze.

"So how'd it go at the dojo?"

"It was fun, sensei Lawrence is tough and I'm pretty sure quite a few kids won't be showing up tomorrow, but he's a good sensei overall."

"Oh that's good." Sam says with a smile.

"Yea, so how was your day?" I ask.

"Urgh I did my essay for English and it was a nightmare." Sam says sulking.

"Hehehe!!! Yea Romeo and Juliet Essays are the worst, luckily for me I don't have to do one." I say with a smirk.

"What really?" Sam asks shocked.

"Yea, I already did my essay in Denver at my old school, so they asked for a copy of the my essay, Mrs Jones marked and graded it again, so I'm all set." I tell her smugly.

"So what did you get?" Sam asks curiously.

"A+" I say a cocky smile on my face.

"Seriously!" Sam asks shocked.

"Yea of course."

"Ok then can you help me with mine please." Sam says with puppy dog eyes.

She looks really cute, I think to myself.

"Of course, let me see your essay."

We spent about 2 hours talking with each other before hanging up.

After finishing my call with Sam, I put my laptop away and head off to dreamland.