I tapped my fingernails against the glass of the bus window, eyes glancing over my weak nails that had once been long acrylics but were removed before the tournament.
"God, could you stop that tapping Annette? You're driving me insane over here"
Giovanni spoke, but the sly grin on his face told me he didn't really care about the constant tapping, he just wanted a reason to break the deafening silence that surrounded everyone on the bus.
We were on our way to the Sekai Taikai, an international karate tournament hosted in Barcelona, Spain. Luckily our dojo was located in Italy, so the flight was only around two hours, and the drive from the airport wasn't much longer. Our dojo's name was "Guerrieri d'Acciaio," translating to "Steel warriors" in English. There were 6 of us who made it to the competitive tournament: 4 boys and two girls.
I sat next to my best friend Cecilia, who had her eyes trained on the phone screen in front of her, mindlessly scrolling through TikTok. Luca was doing homework on his computer, and Antonio, who sat next to him, was looking out the window and had his music on full volume. Matteo was asleep on the seats in front of me, his legs sprawled out and eyes shut. He resorted to sleep to ignore the rest of the group's constant chatter and banter, which surprisingly had died out because it was nearing the end of the 2-hour bus ride. On the seat opposite Matteo, Giovanni sat restlessly from having to be stuck in the travel bus since our last rest stop a couple of hours ago.
"I thought you liked listening to Asmr?" I said teasingly, but accepted his request for me to stop tapping my nails against the glass.
He smiled, shaking his head, "I only like that shit when I'm trying to fall asleep, and right now, the only thing I want to do is get out of this bus"
"We don't have that much longer, Vanni, do you want me to come over there and keep you company?"
Giovanni and I were incredibly close. We joked about being twins in another life because we always had a sort of "twin telepathy," where if one of us had an idea, it was very likely the other had the same one. Giovanni lived for the rush of adrenaline, something we both had in common from the moment we met each other. Not only did it make him one of my best friends, but it also made us an unstoppable duo on the mat.
"Yeah, if you can make it past Cecilia without getting yelled at," Giovanni whispered, but Cecilia heard it, turning her head in his direction but still looking down at her phone.
"Fuck you, Gio," She scoffed, but we both knew that she was using that harsh tone jokingly. Giovanni and I made eye contact, trying to keep our laughter contained to let Matteo get his precious sleep before the tournament.
Suddenly, Luca shut his laptop abruptly, getting up and walking towards the bathroom. Before he closed the door behind him, he turned to the rest of us while smirking,
"We have 10 minutes till the bus gets to the tournament building, and we need to change into our Gi's. Luckily, I got dibs on the bathroom first," He said, followed by him abruptly shutting the bathroom door.
"That sly bastard," spoke Gio, grinning as he turned back to the rest of us. I laughed and shuffled through my bag beneath my seat, trying to find my sage green gi.
Excitement coursed through my veins as I realized I would be reuniting with my American friends from Miyagi-Do. I had been in the Valley last year as an exchange student, and while I was there, I met various people from Cobra Kai and Miyagi Do while continuing my karate training.
Although I was excited, I couldn't help but be curious about the competition we would face on the mat and what chance we had at winning the tournament.
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Authors note: Heres the first chapter, mostly just setting the scene and describing the relationships! Chapter 2 will be out tomorrow, and will most likely be longer than this one :)
