The Karate Kid

"I'll be back in a few minutes, mom. I'm going outside for a walk."

"Okay, don't do anything stupid!"

"No promises..."

I headed down the stairs from my apartment to go walking. I could hear voices from around the front gate and I'm guessing those are the new people moving into apartment 20. When I made my way out to the gate, I saw a woman, around thirty with dark curly hair carrying some boxes. Right next to her is a tell dark-haired boy who looks around my age. His chocolate brown eyes have a hint of anger noticeable in them. Besides that, he is quite attractive. My gaze shifts from his eyes to the woman and she is making her way up the front walkway towards me.

"Hi, are you by any chance moving into apartment twenty?" I asked her.

"Yes, we are." She says with a warm smile. I like her already.

"Well, welcome to the building. Do you need any help carring anything?" I ask, trying to be polite.

"If you don't mind, that would be lovely. There are only a couple boxes in the back. Thanks!"

"No problem." I say and make my way towards the boy and the car.

As I approach him he is trying to untie a bike from the roof of the car.

"Need some help?" I ask him, and he jumps a little before turning around.

"Oh. Uh... Yeah, sure."

I nod, then walk around to the back of the car and step up on the side so I can reach the roof.

"What's your name?" He hesitantly asks me when we are facing eachother on either side of the car.

"I'm Summer. What about you?"

"Daniel Larusso. I just moved here from New Jersey."

"Oh, cool... What apartment are you? I'm 19." I ask him.

"I'm moving into apartment 20."

"Awesome!"

After a few minutes of struggling with the bike, we got it off the roof and I grabbed the boxes that were sitting in the back.

"So there's a party at the beach tonight, you wanna come?" I ask him while we are making our way up the steps to his apartment.

"Um, yeah, sure."

"Okay, I'll come by at around six, and we can walk over. The beach isn't very far from here."

"Alright, see you then." He says and smiles. That little bit of anger in his eyes is gone now, and I can see a gleam of happiness present in his features. I can't believe I'm thinking this, but he is actually really attractive when he is happy.

"Oh, where should I put these boxes?" I say, snapping out of my train of thought.

"You can just set them down, I'll take them inside."

"Okay, I'll see you tonight then"

"Yeah, see ya." He says smirking.

I'm kind of happy that we are right next door to eachother. I think I just might be developing a little crush on Daniel....

When I enter my apartment I see a note from my mom on the counter saying that she went to the grocery store and will be back soon. I don't really have anything to do today since it's one o'clock and I have to meet Daniel at six. So I secide to catch up on my drawing practice. I go out on the balcony and decide to draw the trees and horizon. I've always loved drawing landscapes in my free time. The trees and sun and flowers are all appealing to me and I want to be able to capture their beauty on a blank piece of paper. The big trees remind me of when I was little, I loved to mess around and climb the trees. I used to sit up in the tall branches of a tree and read books all the time. It helped me clear my mind when I was stressed, which was a lot of the time, actually. My dad moved away when I was nine. He just packed up one day and left my mom and I by ourselves. I remember crying myself to sleep every night after that, wondering what caused him to leave like that. After about a year, I finally realized that neither my mom or I did anything wrong. He was the one who decided to leave us, so that was his problem. Since I came to my realization, I haven't really thought about him very much for a long time. I'm sixteen now, so that makes it seven years. He has never called or written to us so we have no idea where he is, what he is doing. or if he is even still alive.

I guess I got caught up in thought, because when I looked over at the clock it read 5:30.  I decided to start getting ready. After a few minutes of looking for what to wear, I settle on my new red bikini, baggy sweatpants and a tank top to cover up with while we walk to the beach. I put my wavy brown hair into a ponytail and I add some light mascara and eyeliner to compliment my light green eyes. I don't usually wear makeup very much, but I guess a beach party is a good excuse.

When I finish getting ready I head over to Daniel's apartment. I get to his door and It is already wide open so I peek in and see him taking things out of boxes and setting them on shelves. I knock on the door softly and he turns to me and smiles. I can see a hint of something in his eyes, but I'm not quite sure what it is.

"Hey, my mom really needs my help unpacking...can I take a raincheck on that party?" He asks me nervously.

"Yeah..do you need an extra set of hands to help?" I ask him, because quite frankly, I only want to spend time with him.

"Yeah that would be great!" He says and his eyes turn happy immeadiatly.

We spend the rest of the night unpacking things from boxes and arranging them all around the apartment, telling eachother about ourselves, and messing around. I saw a lot of pictures of him from when he was very young and also many photos of family members. There was a story behind every photo that we took out of the boxes, and there were a lot. The fact that he is so sentimental about this stuff draws me to him even more. Just the sparkle that appears in his eyes when he is remembering a happy memory, or the hint of grief noticeable when he is remembering a lost loved one, his eyes amaze me. I have never felt this way towards somebody before, especially not someone whom I had just met not even eight hours ago. And honestly, I quite like it.

A.N.: Hiii!!! This is my first fanfic, so please don't judge me! Anyways I hope you liked it so far! I will be posting the next chapter in a couple of days.  :)