STRIKE FIRST - A COBRA KAI STORY

C H A P T E R O N E

Rae woke up to the sun shining and birds tweeting. She rose out of bed and entered the kitchen to the smell of bacon, which she knew was her dad's favourite breakfast, yet only as a treat. She could tell that it was going to be a good day, or at least she hoped.

"Morning dad!" Rae greeted him, practically perching on his shoulder.

"Hey kiddo. Did you sleep well?" Johnny asked her. The girl nodded, and turned on the TV.

Moments later, she could hear sizzling as her dad placed two slices of bacon onto a plate for her, and the same for him.

"Breakfast is served." He announced. Rae rushed over to their table and started vigorously munching on the meat.

"Wow dad, this is really nice. You been spending extra or something?" the blonde asked.

"Nope. It's the regular. Just thought I'd put a bit of salt on it." Johnny responded.

"Good idea." Rae stated. As she heard gunfires on the TV, she was slightly startled and changed the channel over. Johnny chuckled to himself as she did so.

After several minutes, Johnny broke the silence by asking, "So, what're you doing today?"

"Dunno really. Probably gonna study for back to school but otherwise nothing really."

"Nerd." Johnny muttered. It was one of their many inside jokes. "Anyway that's good, you can help me sort out my iComputer. It hasn't been turning on."

Johnny was hopeless with technology, and had Rae teach him everything he knew. Who knows how Rae originally learnt.

"Dad, your computer isn't apple. It's a dell. Sure though, I'll help you."

"Yeah obviously it isn't an apple, it's an iComputer."

Rae couldn't tell whether her dad was being sarcastic or not.

"Thanks dad, the bacon was nice." Rae said as she stood up to go back to her room, until her dad stopped her in her tracks.

"Come on, you gotta help me take out the trash." Johnny told her. "It'll only take a minute."

"Fine." Rae rolled her eyes.

As they closed the door to their apartment, a boy with chocolate brown eyes and dark hair approached them. He was unfamiliar to the area; Rae would know as she had lived there her whole life.

"Hey, I'm Miguel. My family and I just moved into 109." He introduced himself. As Rae started to turn around to greet him, her dad interrupted her.

"Great. More immigrants." He muttered sarcastically.

"Dad!" She slapped him, obviously embarrassed.

"Actually, we're from Riverside." The boy continued, "I was wondering if you were having trouble with your water pressure, 'cause I know our sink's being weird and.."

"Dad. Bottles go in the blue bins." Rae informed him.

"Listen, menudo, I've lived in this shithole for over ten years. The pipes don't work. The fountains full of piss. The only good thing here is that I don't have to talk to anybody." as Johnny said this, Rae scoffed, "Apart from the kid. So, nice knowing you."

Once Johnny finished his little rant, he walked off.

"Okay, well.. Have a nice day. I guess." Miguel said.

"Hey, sorry about him. He's probably just in a bad mood. It's silly really because we just had his favourite breakfast so in an ideal world he would be bouncing off the walls with happiness but I guess that's just not today. I've just gone on a tangent. I'm sorry. Ignore all that. Anyway, I'm Rae." She introduced herself.