chapter four, better late than never

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          Kayla Vera knew that she wasn't the ideal legal guardian, with being a bartender and a stoner mixed into one, but she always did everything she could for her little sister. She's had her fair share of people looking down on her because of what she does and how she raises her sister, but at the end of the day, they always had each other.

     Kayla also knew how much karate meant to Izzy. With how much Izzy keeps in, karate is a good outlet for her. If there was one thing about Isobel, it was that she bottled her emotions up. She's been that way ever since their father died and mom abandoned them. Karate, and Cobra Kai, was the only thing that seemed to let Izzy let her emotions out without using her words.

     She also has yet to meet John Kreese, the sensei that Izzy desperately tries to make proud, but from Kayla has heard through the grapevine.. he wasn't that much of a good person.

     And what Kayla didn't expect was being halfway through a joint when the doorbell to the apartment began ringing. "Ugh," Kayla groaned, inhaling the smoke in her mouth and putting the joint out in the ashtray.

     She exhaled and the foggy air left her mouth as she got up from the couch, walking over to the front door. Kayla knew Izzy had left to go to the park for karate training and they didn't get much visitors besides Kayla's friends from work that would show up drunk during the night, but it was currently 12:50 in the afternoon. So, she had no idea who it could be.

     Kayla swung open the door and was greeted with an old man, her eyebrows knitted together. "Can I help you?" She asked.

     John Kreese stood outside of the door, making a face when the smell of marijuana flowed from the open apartment door. He let a sigh, looking at Izzy's older sister. "Are you Isobel's sister?" He questioned.

     Kayla stared at him blankly. "Yeah, who's asking?"

     "John Kreese. Your sister attends my dojo, Cobra Kai." He responded to the girl, watching Kayla nod as she came to a realization.

     "Oh, so you're the John Kreese." Kayla muttered, pressing her lips together before continuing. "Izzy isn't home. She said she went to karate training.. did she not show up? Oh my god, is she okay?" Kayla began to panic, standing more straight.

     "Your sister is fine. The only issue is, she didn't go for Cobra Kai training." Kreese vaguely said, not saying anything else as Kayla looked at him like he made no sense.

     Kayla sighed, bringing her hand up to rub her forehead, "Okay. Is she.. seeing a secret dojo or something?" Kayla laughed as she asked, dropping her hand back down to her side.

     Kayla didn't understand what the fuss was about. If Izzy was going to a different dojo, Kayla would support her if it made her happy. And from Kayla sensed lately, Cobra Kai didn't seem to make Izzy as happy as it used to. Kayla assumed the man in front of her was at fault for that.

"In a way." Kreese confessed, "Your sister is dating Miguel Diaz." He told the girl, Kayla's face dropped at his words. "That's why I came over, to talk to her about that."

A breath left Kayla's mouth like she didn't know what to say, "Damn, okay. I–I didn't know Izzy was dating someone, especially Miguel. She talked so much shit about him." Kayla was talking to herself mostly, not even looking at Kreese.

She was internally slapping herself for not realizing her sister was dating someone. (Don't worry Kayla, they're just fake dating).

"I'm afraid this is going to distract her from the tournament.." Kreese trailed off, looking past Kayla into the foggy apartment. "As well as her home situation."

That was when Kayla laughed again. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?" She asked, making a face like she wanted him to repeat himself. "First of all, Izzy has amazing focus and she's a natural fighter, so she'll win no matter what. Second of all, don't try and tell me how to raise my sister." Kayla scoffed at the man.

She didn't even give Kreese a chance to reply as she went to close the door. "Have a good day." Kayla told him, shutting the door.

Kayla locked the door and let out a heavy sigh, "Asshole." She whispered and made her way over to the couch where she relit her joint, immediately taking a hit from it. She picked up her phone from the couch and opened it, going directly to the messages to text Izzy.

Kayla
We need to talk when you get home.

Kayla
Also, do you want to get our nails tomorrow?

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     When Izzy got to the park, Miguel was already there waiting for her. He sat on a bench, seeming to be using his phone as a distraction until Izzy showed up and when she approached him, he quickly stuffed it into his pocket when he looked up to see Izzy there.

     "You're late." He said as he stood up, facing Izzy who made a face at him.

     "Better late than never." Izzy spoke like she made a good point.

     Not even five minutes in and Miguel was already rolling his eyes at her. "Let's go." Miguel sighed, leading the two into the grass where they had a good spot to fight.

     "So, I think it's cool you want to go to UCLA." Miguel suddenly said, motioning for them to get into their starting positions.

     Izzy slightly put one leg out, raising her arms up and forming her hands into loose fists. "Really?" She asked.

     She remembers when Ethan told her his parents always said they wished he was dating someone that wanted to go to an Ivy League, and he was forced to agree with them.

     Miguel nodded. "Yeah, I mean, my top choice is Stanford," He confessed, but there was a hint of playful bragging involved, "but UCLA is an amazing school." Miguel said in awe.

     "Stanford, huh?" Izzy breathed out, growing tired of what she took as stalling and she moved first, kicking her leg up only for Miguel to block it and use her leg to push her to the ground. A huff left Izzy's mouth as she stared up at Miguel offering his hand out to help her up.

"So you're one of those prestigious assholes?" She questioned sarcastically, taking his hand into her own and felt him pull her up to a standing position.

Miguel shrugged as he disconnected his hand from hers. He smiled as he spoke, "I wouldn't call myself that." He told her as they moved into their starting positions once again.

Izzy didn't say anything else before she went to strike first again, going to throw a punch that Miguel blocked by grabbing her arm. The fight consisted of a few more blocked hits and kicks from each other, until when Izzy went to throw a punch again and Miguel grabbed her arm once again to pause them for a moment.

"You're telegraphing. Your moves are way too predictable." He warned her in a way like he was giving critique.

Izzy used this as an opportunity to raise her leg to kick his chest, the boy letting out a huff as he tumbled back a few steps. "Don't worry about me." She told him, pushing strands of her hair out of her face that fell from her ponytail.

Miguel quickly turned and kicked his legs underneath hers, watching as she collided her back with the ground. She let out a slight groan, Miguel crouched down beside her, smiling down at her as Izzy fluttered her eyes open to see his face.

     "You okay?" Miguel asked, trying to hold back a laugh as he stood up to reach his hand out for her to take once again.

     "I'm fine." Izzy breathed out, "Nice move." She told him, taking Miguel's hand again, but this time using her strength to pull and flip him over on the ground and Izzy moved to a straddling position to keep him down, her forearm held to his throat.

     They were both breathing heavily after the amount of fighting they just put up with, and Miguel looked surprised. "Nice move." He recited her words, a slight smirk on her lips as he stared up at the girl.

     "I know," Izzy said confidently with a smile on her face, laughing just a little bit.

Miguel's smirk turned into a smile at how confident Izzy was in herself when it came to karate. Then, a realization hit him – he was actually enjoying this one-on-one time. He liked spending time with Izzy outside of school. He wanted to punch himself in the face because, why? What about Izzy is making him want to keep spending time with her?

"So, does this mean I win?" Izzy asked, she still hasn't moved from her spot on Miguel.

"Sure. It's not like it's the real thing anyway." Miguel said nonchalantly as Izzy moved from the position she was in.

She was the one to stand and reach her hand out for Miguel to take, "Oh yeah, I'll win that too." Izzy spoke casually as Miguel grabbed her hand and stood up with her help.

"Mm," Miguel hummed, tilting his head like she was wrong, "I think you're overestimating yourself, Izzy." He was now standing in front of her, looking down at her as she peered up at him.

     Izzy rolled her eyes as a response, using the palm of her hand to press against his chest and push him away from her. "Fake boyfriends are supposed to support their fake girlfriends." Izzy shrugged, going over to her bag to get her phone out.

     Miguel raised his eyebrows as he picked up his water bottle. "Oh, are they?"

     Izzy looked down at the lock screen of her phone, her eyebrows furrowing when she saw the texts from her sister. "Weird. My sister texted me saying we need to talk when I get home." Izzy spoke into the open air. 

     "You think she found out about you having a.. boyfriend." He put air quotations at the last word and Izzy just turned her head to look over at him.

     It felt like her heart had dropped. "Shit. If she did, she's probably pissed I didn't tell her, but I can't tell her we're fake because I know she'll tell someone." Izzy sounded panicked, like upsetting her sister was something she never did.

     "Why would she be pissed?" Miguel genuinely asked.

     Izzy didn't respond to the texts, instead, she let out a sigh and placed her phone back in her bag, and turned to face Miguel. "I just haven't really seen anyone since what happened with Ethan." Izzy shrugged.

     Oh. Miguel forgot about Ethan's existence until right now. He didn't know the full story behind Izzy and Ethan, besides the fact that they dated for a few months. Apparently, there was a lot of drama or at least that's what he remembers Sam going on about in her rants to convince him to end it with Izzy. He didn't want to ask what happened between them, so he pushed that thought into the back of his head.

     "Does she not allow you to have a boyfriend or something?" Miguel knitted his eyebrows together.

     "Uh," Izzy dragged out the word in a sigh and then quietly laughed, "Ethan sort of broke my heart. She doesn't want to see someone else treat me the way he did, I guess." Izzy explained, the topic was clearly a sensitive topic to her.

     Okay, now Miguel really wants to know what happened between them, but it just didn't feel like the right time to ask.

     "Anyway," Izzy quickly said, the awkward silence becoming too much for her to bare. "Nina is actually having a party tomorrow night. Her parents are out of town for some business trip, so she's going to try and throw this huge rager." Izzy changed the subject, fiddling with her fingers as she and Miguel faced each other while being a few feet away.

     "On a Sunday night?" Miguel questioned.

     "Yeah, I'm going and as my fake boyfriend, you kinda sorta have to go too." Izzy told him, smiling just a little bit as Miguel raised his eyebrows at her words.

     Well, he didn't have much of a choice anyway. It wasn't like he was going to say no, he was actually going to say yes because it was a free pass to spend a little more time with Izzy which was an unusual and new feeling for him.

     "Alright. As your fake boyfriend, I guess I'll go." Miguel nodded, hiding his own smile when he saw Izzy's grow a little bit at his words.

"Wonderful. Just so you know, Nina wants to do some sort of spin the bottle slash seven minutes in heaven game and we can just.. skip out on that part, cause you know.." Izzy trailed off, referring to the fact that they were in a fake relationship.

Miguel made an 'o' shape with his mouth and nodded, "Oh yeah, we can totally skip that part." He agreed, smiling as a way to reassure her.

"Cool," Izzy smiled, "So.. are we fighting again or you wanna just end it here?" She asked, placing her hands on her waist.

Miguel gave her a look like she was crazy. "Oh, we aren't leaving until I win." He told her, motioning for her to come over and get in their starting positions.

Izzy raised her eyebrows at his words, "I guess we'll be here all night then." She said it like Miguel was going to take it as a miserable situation.

But, he just shrugged his shoulders with a smile. "I guess so." Miguel responded.

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     Once Izzy walked through the front door of her apartment, Kayla was in the kitchen making dinner for the two of them. Izzy let out a sigh, setting her bag down and walked into the kitchen where Kayla looked over at her sister and stopped what she was doing.

     "Oh, hey you." Kayla smiled, "How was your karate practice with Miguel?" She asked, tilting her head as she waited for an answer.

     "How did you even find out?" Izzy sighed, sitting down at the circular dining table by the opening of the kitchen.

     "John Kreese." Kayla announced, nodding her head when she saw Izzy sit straight up at the sound of his name. "Yeah, your karate sensei." She confirmed.

     "He came by?" Izzy questioned to which Kayla just nodded again. "Why?"

Kayla rolled her eyes at the memory of what Kreese came by for. "He thought your new boyfriend was going to distract you from the tournament. He said he needed to talk to you, he's probably going to try and convince you to break up with him or something." Kayla explained.

Izzy had to stop herself from reassuring her sister that her relationship with Miguel was fake and just until the tournament.

"Well, that's too bad. I'm my own person, I can date whoever I want." Izzy shrugged, leaning back in the chair she was sitting in.

"Exactly," Kayla smiled at her sister's words, her attention going back to the food that was cooking.

Izzy watched her sister, a question itching in the back of her throat. "So.. are you not upset?" Izzy cautiously asked.

"What?" Kayla furrowed, looking over at her sister. "Of course not, I mean.. I wish you told me, but from what I've heard, Miguel seems better than that white boy." Kayla admitted to Izzy.

Izzy let out a laugh, shaking her head at her sister. That's how much Kayla didn't like Ethan, she didn't care to address him by his name.

After Izzy didn't say anything to Kayla, Kayla took it as her chance to continue talking. "So, do I get to meet Miguel?" Kayla asked, glaring over at her little sister sitting at the table.

Izzy wanted to slap herself. She was seriously not expecting Kayla to ask that. This seriously sucked, Izzy thought. Another harmless dinner wouldn't hurt though, right? Nothing could go wrong. Izzy let out a long sigh, looking at her sister with a defeated look.

"Fine. I guess another dinner wouldn't be that bad. Not tomorrow, though. Nina is having a party." Izzy explained as she stood up from the table to pick up her bag and go back to her room.

"Oh, cool, she is? Remember to text me if you get too drunk and need me to pick you up! And don't drink from open cups!" Kayla called out to her sister that continued walking to her room.

"Uh huh, I got it. You're the best! We can also get our nails done tomorrow before the party!" Izzy called back to her sister, opening her bedroom door and shutting it.

Tonight was going to be very long, because all Izzy could do was stay up worrying about what was going to happen tomorrow.

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authors note.
i hate writing fighting scenes i'm sorry if it sucked </3 i'm very excited to write the next chapter and then finally get into the actual plot of the show because right now it's just miguel and izzy build up SHSBDJS

i hope you guys are loving them just as much as i am <3