𝟼. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑏𝑟𝑎 𝐾𝑎𝑖

It was all her fault, she was right there. If she just wasn't so stupid then Miguel would've been okay. They should've never gone to that stupid dance. Jules laid on her bed in her room, her tears had ruined her makeup which at this point was half wiped off. The thoughts of Miguel looking so helpless and bruised filled her head.

Jules heard a knock, but she was too numb to do anything. She heard her mother's voice call from behind the door.

"Julie." Her voice was soft. "Can I come in?"

Jules looked at her door as Victoria walked in, she held a concerned face. She just looked back up at the ceiling, feeling her bed dip as Victoria sat with Julie.

"I'm sorry Julie." She said and combed through the girls hair as Jules mumbled. "It's my fault."

"No, it wasn't." Victoria shook her head. "Kids are just cruel, this happened to me too."

"Miguel did nothing to him, Kyler attacked him for no reason."

Victoria picked up her daughter and pulled her into a hug, Jules just cried and Victoria let her knowing that it was better. Once Jules's crying had lessened, Victoria pulled back and told her daughter:

"How about you go take a shower and calm down, I'm really sorry that happened."

Jules nodded sitting on her bed, Victoria pressed a kiss against the girl's head and walked out of the room. Jules picked herself off the bed and trudged into the bathroom pulling off the stupid skeleton costume and jumping in the shower trying to wash all of it away.

After her shower, Jules fell into her bed wanting to sleep until all of this was over.

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Her hands shook as she held onto her phone looking down at the address, she had searched around hoping someone knew where Miguel lived. It took a couple of hours but Jules had finally gotten, so she stood in front of the door holding the plate of food and bowl of soup Victoria had made.

The girl lifted her hand and knocked on the door, she heard feet shuffle and a woman talking. The door opened and Jules smiled at a woman who had to be Miguel's mother.

"Hi." Jules said

The woman looked confusedly at the girl. "Hi?"

Jules cleared her throat, "Mrs. Diaz, I'm Julie Barron, Miguel's friend." She paused and took a breath. "I brought some food and soup that my mom made. It's a roast and some chicken noodle soup."

Jules handed the woman the plate, Mrs. Diaz opened and closed her mouth as she took the plates from the girl.

"Thank you." She replied

Jules nodded before adding. "I wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened to your son, if I had been there I could've saved him. I'm so sorry Mrs. Diaz."

Tears started to pour from her eyes, Carmen quickly put the food down before pulling the girl into a hug. Jules held on tightly to the woman, not wanting to let go.

Miguel showed up to school the next day, bruised and battered. Jules heart pang in her chest, she felt horrible for leaving him there. She sat down next to Demetri in the library, Miguel was already there.

"How you feeling, Miguel?" She asked

He nodded and smiled, "um, okay. Thanks for the food my mom appreciated it."

Jules smiled and nodded back as they continued with their conversation. Demetri turned back to Miguel.

"So, that's it? No more karate?" He asked making Jules's eyebrows furrowed as Miguel just shrugged. "I guess so."

"What?" Jules asked and Miguel sighed telling her that Johnny was closing down the dojo

Demetri put his hand on the girl's shoulder, "it's probably for the best."

Jules looked over at the boy and glared at him, Demetri slowly pulled his han from the girl looking back at Miguel.

"It was starting to boost your confidence." He added as Jules furrowed her eyebrows. "Isn't that a good thing."

Demetri shook his head and looked back at Jules. "No, what has confidence ever gotten anybody except for a black eye and their backpack thrown in the trash?"

"Friends, a girlfriend, not being alone." Jules listed off

Eli smiled at Miguel. "I thought it was kinda cool how you stood up to Kyler." Jules smiled at him, he was nice and sweet. Demetri yelled back at Eli. "Are you insane? Let me ask you: what is the best superpower anyone could have?"

"Super strength." Miguel answered. "Wrong." Demetri said

"Flying?" Jules gave it a shot, "wrong." He also said to her

"Invisibility. A distant second would be super speed to run away fast."

"Run away from who." Jules jumped at the voice, her fist clenched as she saw Kyler with his hand on Eli's back

The boys tensed up but Jules stared daggers at Kyler. She didn't know why the bully was here.

"Whom." Brucks corrected Kyler. "It's the object of a preposition. Remember English class."

"We were just leaving." Miguel told them as they all quickly grabbed their bags. Jules rolled her eyes, she wanted to stay and rock Kyler but that would just make more trouble.

So she got up with the rest and tried to leave, Kyler grabbed Eli and turned him around putting his hand on Eli's face.

"Look at this freak." He said staring at the boy's lip. "Oh, shit! What kind of girl would ever kiss this shit?"

"Leave him alone Kyler." Miguel told the bully and Kyler let go of Eli, Jules took a step closer to Miguel

If there was a fight this time, she wasn't going to run away. Kyler walked closer to Miguel.

"What'd you say? You haven't have enough, 'Rhea?"

Brucks pushed the boy as Kyler pushed his face. "Get the hell out of here, man."

Miguel and Eli quickly got out of there, Jules stayed by Demetri keeping an eye on Kyler. He grabbed Demetri's backpack pulling it off the boy.

"No you don't want this shit." Kyler said and held his backpack over the trash

"No, come on not the trash. I just threw a....yogurt in there." Demetri said looking into the trash where his backpack was

Kyler walked past the two, shoulder checking the girl as they left.

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Jules walked out of the building, sighing as she looked at her phone. Her mother was working late and she had no dojo to go to anymore. She turned and started walking down the sidewalk.

"Julie!" She heard her name being called

Jules stopping and looked for the voice, her eyes stopped at one car. A smile covered her face as she bounded up to the car, Nicole sat in the car smiling as Jules got into the passenger seat.

"Aunt Nicole." Jules said happily

"I was thinking since your mom's working late, we could have a girls day." Nicole said back and Jules giggled. "Yay."

Nicholas turned her car back on and started driving, Jules smiled and sat in the car. She loved Nicole, she was the only adult who never compared her to her mom.

"So how's everything?" She asked and Jules sighed. "It's been okay."

Nicole could tell there was something wrong, and so she reached over and grabbed Jules's hands.

"I don't know if you need to here this but just know you're not alone, you have me and your mother." Jules scoffed

"Here for me? She cares more about karate then me." Jules said and Nicole sighed

"I know that it seems like that a lot but trust me she cares about you. She's just stubborn." Nicole answered

"Yeah she seems more stubborn than me." Jules rolled her eyes and crossed her arms

"Do you know why you mother named you Julie?"

"Because it was cute name?"

"Because in college your mother started teaching a girl karate, she was sweet and kind, she cared about others, she was stubborn, but also she taught your mother a lot. You know what this girl's name was?"

"Julie?"

Nicole nodded, "so just remember that your mother cares about you and hopes that you'll grow up to be kind, sweet, caring, maybe even a bit stubborn, and able to not only learn but to teach your mother."

Jules rolled her eyes, she couldn't escape being compared. The girl sulked in the seat and Nicole sighed as they continued driving.

"Could you drop me off close to the mall." Jules said and Nicole looked over at the girl. "It's just I forgot that I'm tutoring this kid."

Jules face contorted in disappointment as she said softly. "Could we take a rain check on this girl's day?"

Nicole nodded, maybe Julie wasn't as lonely as her and Victoria thought. "Of course."

It reminded her of the first time she found herself here, standing in front of the Cobra Kai sign. Jules didn't know why she was here, maybe it was because she wanted to see it one last time, or because she didn't want to believe it but still, she stood there. Waiting as if something would happen if she just waited long enough.

Johnny was inside but Jules was too scared that if she went in, she would start crying. It sucked that the first place that Jules felt at home at was closing down for good.

"Jules!" Miguel yelled as he ran up to the girl

Jules looked confusedly at the boy who seemed so happy. He stopped by the girl laughing and smiling.

"You won't guess what happened." He said panting. "What?" She asked

"My mom is letting me do Cobra Kai again." Miguel said and her body reacted faster than her mind

Jules jumped forward and on the boy, hugging him tightly as Miguel laughed. "I love your mother, let's go tell Sensei the good news."

She grabbed his hand and rushed into the dojo, they watched as Johnny walked out from his office. Jules stared at Miguel who smiled.

"My mom says I can train again." He told Johnny who couldn't believe it for a second. "She did?"

"Yeah. I mean, if we still have to dojo." Johnny walked from his office toward the teens. "We do for now but I need to know, are you ready to take things to the next level?"

"Yes Sensei." They both nodded

Jules held a huge grin on her face, nothing could take her down now.

"You got your ass kicked because you didn't have any defense." Johnny began to circle his students. "So I'm gonna teach you the best defense that you could know. And the best defense..."

He said as he stopped in front of the kids before bringing his hands up to them and yelled. Jules stood there ready for anything.

"Is more offense."