𝟷. 𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑠

Julie Barron-Monroe was nothing like her mother, she had never fought in a tournament or for her honor, nor had she almost died...twice, Jules couldn't travel to a foreign land for her mentor, and hell Jules could barely even talk to a guy let alone get a boyfriend. That last one was because of her mother, the women in her family were cursed and so Jules didn't want to be like them. She had heard of the shitty things her grandfather and father had done and swore that she wouldn't be the same.

She stood in her house, the one that always felt empty no matter how much stuff was crammed into the rooms. That same feeling of emptiness filled Jules, it was something she couldn't shake, always being in her mother's shadow. Even in her own house Jules came second to Victoria's Golden Days. Jules stood in front of the newspapers framed and hung up on the wall. In big words it read:

"Mysterious dojo with only two students defangs Cobras"

Underneath, there was a photo of her mother and Daniel smiling as they held up the trophy. Jules scoffed, that trophy meant more to Victoria than her own daughter did. She hated the photo but her feet felt glued to the spot and like she couldn't move.

What she also hated was the fact that in a couple of days it would be the first day of school. A day she dreaded because that meant everyone would find their cliques except for Jules. The stoners would become friends, the band and choir kids would all hang out together, and the popular girls would look for their newest girl to take advantage of. It seemed like everyone had a cliques, even Sam who had been invited to the popular girls by Moon and Yasmine. Jules wondered where the club for kids who's parents were stuck in their Golden Days of karate was because she would be the president.

"Julie!" A voice called pulling the girl from her thoughts, looking over Jules saw her mother

Jules smiled as Victoria walked up to her daughter, smiling as she saw Jules looking at the old photo.

"Hi mom." Jules said to her mom who replied. "Remember when you were little and we would spar all the time." Jules gave a smile at those words, she used to love to do karate before her mother put so much pressure on her

"I remember when I was around you age, life was so hectic and chaotic but through karate and Mr. Miyagi I learned how to balance."

Jules forced a smile, there was her mother. She couldn't go a couple of sentences without talking about her old days, 'Mr. Miyagi that' and 'Mr Miyagi this'. For once Jules wanted her mother to talk to her about now not then. Victoria let out a sigh getting lost in her golden years.

"How was work?" Jules asked but got no answer

She looked over to see her mother lost in space and so Jules asked again. "Mom?"

"Hmm?" Victoria said looking at her daughter before heading into the kitchen. "What do you want for dinner?"

Jules shrugged and followed after her. "I don't care. How was work."

Victoria nodded, "it was okay, very hectic but that's usually how it is."

Jules sat at the table zoning out, thinking about school. She'd have to face Kyler and his bullies, the popular girls now along with Sam, and everyone else who didn't care enough to know her. Most of the adults knew her at Victoria's daughter and the kids couldn't care enough to even look at Jules, making fun of her because of her mother.

Victoria saw her daughter zoning off and sighed.

"You excited for school?" Victoria asked and slid into a seat at the table but Jules scrunched up her nose. "If I said yes then I'd be lying."

"Why?"

Jules shrugged, "because I don't have any friends."

"What about Sam?" Jules gulped at that question. Sam LaRusso, the daughter of her mother's best friend Daniel LaRusso, the daughter Victoria wanted and the girl that Jules hated

"We've....grown apart." Jules replied not wanting to say that they only hung out when they were forced

Victoria nodded and clicked her tongue, that was a shame. She had hoped that Julie and Sam would become friends.

"Well Julie, I need you to promise me that you'll try to make friends. I don't want you sitting in your room every Saturday night." Jules laughed at that but rolled her eyes. "Fine mom, I'll try."

"Good, now go take a walk get you something from the convenience store." Victoria said and gave her daughter some money

Jules laughed and took it, she couldn't even stand her daughter when she got home. Jules thanked her mom and turned heading to the door, she pulled her shoes on and headed out into the night.

The night was calm as Jules walked down the street. She made it to the mall, she still couldn't believe that the piece of shit was still standing. There was barely anything there, Jules was sure that only the convenient store was the only thing still running. Quickly the girl crossed the street but stopped as she saw Kyler.

"Shit." She cussed and stood around the side watching as him and his goons walked into the store.

The only other people seemed to be a homeless woman and a homeless man. The man sat on the curb and started to eat his pizza as Kyler went in. Jules stood there not wanting conflict, she had to keep from fighting at least for the first week. The last thing Jules wanted was a lecture from her mother about how 'fighting was bad because someone always got hurt'. So the girl got comfortable and just waited for the group to leave.

That was when she heard boys arguing, Jules looked around the corner to see Kyler pushing some boy out of the store. They were yelling at him for blowing their cover, and Jules rolled her eyes. She watched as Kyler pushed the kid into the bushes, she hissed as the boy groaned. God that must've hurt, the goons cheered as they surrounded the boy.

"Ooh, what do we got here?" One of the goons asked and picked up the bottle. "Ooh pepto."

Kyler laughed. "Oh shit. Someone has freakin' diarrhea!" The boys laughed as Brucks said. "Hey, we should call him 'Rhea."

"Give it back, dude. It's for my grandma." The boy begged

"Oh it's for your grandma." Kyler mocked as he opened the bottle. "Shit, I'm sorry, man. Hey, you want it? You can take all that shit."

Jules watched as Kyler poured it all over the boy, he called Kyler an asshole and Kyler punched him in the stomach. He fell onto the ground, Jules couldn't watch anymore. She moved from behind the corner.

"Hey!" The bullies looked at Jules. "Pick on someone your own size."

Kyler just laugh, "look who decided to join us, little miss karate. Trying to live up to mommy Julie."

The guys laughed and Jules clenched her fist, no one called her Julie besides those she cared for. She rolled her eyes, "you're an asshole Kyler."

That made him mad, Kyler rushed forward and tried to punch Jules but she dodged and pushed him away.

"What are you doing, get her!" Kyler yelled at his goons

They rushed forward all trying to attack Jules, she made space between them landing punches and kicks towards the guys. Kyler came up behind the girl, sending a kick into her back. She fell forward into on of the goons before getting pushed to Kyler, Jules was too discombobulated to fight back.

Kyler pushed the girl once again towards one of his friends who purposely missed. Jules landed face first into a car.

"Hey!" The man who had been sitting on the curb yelled. "Watch the car, man."

Jules groaned and ran her hand across her face hoping for no blood, she smiled as she felt none. Looking back she saw the blonde haired man standing up.

"Just leave the dork and the girl alone." He said to the bullies

Jules looked over at the kid, Kyler and his group were distracted so Jules walked over to him.

"Are you okay?" She asked and he nodded

"A-are you okay?" He asked back. "You got more of a beating."

"Don't listen to them, they're just a bunch of losers." Jules said before she turned back to watch the fight

The man sent a kick into Kyler's face knocking the boy to the ground. The other ran up to the man and tried throwing punches but he just blocked them, sending a kick into another one of their chests. He looked like a pro but just as the fight was getting good, Jules remembered that she didn't need her mother on her ass.

"My name is Miguel by the way." The boy told Jules waiting for her answer but she turned and ran down the street.

Jules knew that this year wasn't going to be the greatest, it may even be miserable but misery loves company.