𐙚˙ ༘ ⋆｡ ˚( DECODE ! )
❛ GIRLHOOD ❜
CHAPTER THIRTY !

CHARLIE SAT DOWN BESIDE TORY, ALYSSA, AND AISHA, the four of them stretching. As they listened to Tory and Miguel talk about their date night, Hawk walked into the room. Miguel quickly stood up and approached him.

Charlie kept an eye on them, unable to hear their conversation but a smile gracing her face when they did their secret handshake.

"Everybody, fall in" Johnny commanded as he walked out his office. The students did as asked and waited for his instructions. "today, we'll be learning one of the most important lessons a cobra Kai could ever know."

Charlie exchanged a glance with Hawk, half-expecting to see Kreese by Johnny's side. However, Kreese was absent. "Where's Sensei Kreese?"

"Shouldn't we wait for the sensei emeritus before we get going?" Ray chimed in, only to be met with Johnny's stare. "Or not."

"Mr. Kreese will no longer be joining us," Johnny declared, causing the students to exchange puzzled glances before he continued. "i made a promise when I became your sensei, to always look out for your best interests. Despite how hard this may be for all of us, he didn't have our best interests at heart."

Charlie's eyes fell to the floor when he said those words. She felt conflicted about Kreese's absence. He had helped her so much with her mother, but when he mentioned the tournament, it seemed as though his motivations were not for her benefit.

"John kreese may have founded cobra Kai, but he no longer represents what this dojo stands for. His cobra Kai was old and outdated. He refused to move forward and what happened when we do that, Mr Diaz?" Johnny turned to face Miguel.

"You get stuck, like cement," Miguel responded, his expression filled with slightly disappointment.

"exactly. To be a great fighter, you gotta learn to adapt. This creed on the wall.." Johnny gestured toward the painted words, "follow it to the letter, it'll make you strong. It'll make you formidable. But it'll also make you an asshole. 'Cause that's just black paint on a white wall. But life's not black and white. More often than not it's grey. And it's in those grey areas where Johnny Lawrence's cobra Kai sometimes shows mercy. Doesn't mean you can't be badass, it's still a requirement. But you have to learn to think, not just with your gut, or your fists, but to really use this." he pointed to his head.

With a swift turn, Johnny grabbed a board. "which leads me to today lesson." Charlie gasped quietly when he smashed the board against his own head. "Headbutting. Grab a partner."

Alyssa and Charlie paired up, the curly haired girl shaking her limbs slightly, ready for the hit. Alyssa tightened her lips and then forcefully collided her head against Charlie's, causing the girl to stumble backward.

An audible "ooo" escaped from some of the students, but Charlie quickly reassured them with a thumbs-up. "I'm good."

【☆】★【☆】

"OKAY THE APP IS DOWNLOADED," Miguel stated, settling down next to Johnny on the sofa.

Charlie was sat on the arm of the sofa and sent a knowing glance at him. "super hot babes, dumb questions. Okay what are your likes?"

"My likes?" Johnny squinted his eyes at the boy, "What am I supposed to say? 'Long walks on the beach'? I like muscle cars, martial arts, and Iron Eagle. And Iron Eagle II."

Miguel remained motionless, refusing to jot anything down. Johnny raised his arms in slight frustration. "why aren't you texting this down? Computer dating was your idea."

"Look, you have to take this seriously," Miguel advised, while Charlie nodded in agreement. "Don't you wanna find someone?"

Johnny sighed, "it used to be simple. Find a chick in a bar. Bump into her hard, but not too hard, pretty hard. Then you buy her a beer."

"And that worked?" Charlie chuckled, prompting Johnny to nod.

Miguel shook his head disapprovingly, but Johnny pressed on. "tried and true, Diaz. That's how the cavemen did it. Casement that's another like. Like the ones in those insurance commercials."

"look, I think I can fill out the rest of this on my own. What about clothes? What are you wearing?" Miguel asked, trying a different approach.

"You're gonna teach me about fashion now?" Johnny scoffed, expecting Miguel to shake his head but he didn't, "might have to."

Handing the phone to Johnny, Miguel tapped Charlie on the shoulder, signaling her to go with him. The two of them made their way to Johnny's closet.

"So, I was thinking a buttoned-up shirt and some distressed jeans, you have any of those?" Miguel yelled to Johnny as they looked through the hanging clothes.

"I have old jeans, if that's what you're saying." Johnny yelled back from the other room.

Charlie focused on finding something for Miguel while he and Johnny talked about the dating app. Miguel gave instructions on how to use it.

"Ooo, how about this?" Charlie held up a gray jacket, but Miguel gave her a funny look, making her understand and put it back.

Miguel pulled out a top that seemed to belong to a different decade, making the girl laugh when Miguel held it up to her, " '80s, Miguel. Not the '50s."

He sighed and returned the item to its place before Charlie's eyes landed on a red jacket. She had seen Johnny wearing it in some of his old photos, and without hesitation, she pulled it out and held it against Miguel's torso, nodding in approval.

"Hey, can I borrow this jacket?" Miguel called out with a grin.

"Yeah, whatever."

【☆】★【☆】

WITH JOHNNY ON HIS DATES, Alyssa invited Charlie, Tory and Aisha over for a sleepover so that Charlie wasn't alone. The four of them had spent the night playing board games, occasionally getting told off by Alyssa's parents for how loud they were.

The next morning, Charlie woke up an hour earlier than the rest, desperate to use the bathroom but not wanting to bump into her parents. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her friends starting to wake up.

"Thank you, thank you" Charlie muttered, darting towards the bathroom.

After returning to Alyssa's bedroom, the girls were still sprawled out on the floor, falling in and out of sleep.

"Good morning starshine!" Charlie chimed, quoting one of her favourite movies, "come on, it's almost noon."

"Ugh, I don't want to," Tory groaned, burying her face in the pillow. Charlie pulled the pillow from beneath her, causing her head to flop.

Alyssa also groaned as she sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "She's right. We need to start getting ready for Moon's party."

"Party? What party?" Charlie's eyes widened as she turned to Alyssa. Aisha had now sat up to, head falling to the side as she struggled to stay awake.

"Didn't I tell you?" Alyssa asked, to which Charlie immediately shook her head. "Well, Moon invited us to this little end-of-summer house party thing."

Charlie groaned and buried her head in the pillow. "I have no party clothes."

"Most people are going casual anyway," Alyssa reassured her, placing a comforting hand on Charlie's back before standing up. "But I want to get there early, so you can wear something of mine."

Charlie sat up and watched as Alyssa rummaged through her closet. She kept her eyes on the clothes in front of her, whilst talking to Aisha and Tory. "Did you two bring party clothes, or do you need some?"

"We're good, thanks though," Aisha replied, her head resting on Charlie's shoulder as she drifted in and out of sleep. Charlie smiled and rested her head on top of Aisha's.

"Alright," Alyssa began, pulling out a pink dress. "What about this?"

Charlie shook her head, a thin line on her lips. The blonde sighed and returned the dress on the hanger, offering various suggestions that Charlie declined. Finally, Alyssa grabbed a white shirt and tossed it to Charlie.

Charlie held it up, looking at the cropped item, before Alyssa threw a black skirt at her as well.

"Alright, put those on, and then I'll find you some tights. What kind of shoes do you want to wear?" Alyssa asked, placing a hand on her hip.

Charlie held the outfit in front of her before standing up. She looked at Alyssa's shoe collection, the collection being big due to wealthy parents before deciding.

"How about those?" Charlie pointed to a pair of black heeled boots. Alyssa grabbed them and handed them to her.

"Your feet might hurt after a while," Alyssa warned, but Charlie simply shrugged and made her way to the bathroom.

After doing a small routine of brushing her teeth, washing her face, styling her curls etc, Charlie put the outfit on. She smoothed out the shirt and admired herself in the mirror, a small smile creeping across her face as she began to appreciate her appearance.

"Hey, you almost done?" Aisha called out from the other room, making Charlie quickly tidy up before opening the door.

"What'd you think?" Charlie spun around, seeking the approval of her friends and her smile grew when she found it.

"You looks amazing," Aisha exclaimed, followed by a nod of agreement from Tory and Alyssa. The three had already got dressed; Alyssa wore an oversized green jersey and blue jorts, Aisha wore a burgundy floral dress and black boots while Tory had a red top, a red flannel, and black jeans.

"And so do you," Charlie replied, placing a hand on Aisha's dress to feel the fabric. "I love this."

Charlie then turned to Alyssa. "The jersey suits you perfectly." She then shifted her attention to Tory. "And the flannel looks great on you."

"Thanks, sweet," Alyssa beamed before noticing a look on Charlie's face. "What's up?"

"Can any of you braid? I really want this hairstyle," Charlie said, presenting a picture she had saved earlier.

Aisha nodded with a smile, "I can."

The three of them settled down, with Tory sat on the bed next to Aisha, Charlie below her, and Alyssa seated in front of Charlie. Alyssa applied eye makeup to the girl facing her while they all sung the lyrics to the pet shop boys songs.

It didn't take long for Aisha to finish Charlie's hair, and when she finished, Alyssa handed Charlie a face mirror to see. She was surprised by how good it turned out.

Charlie turned around and hugged Aisha tightly, a wide grin spreading across her face. "Thank you!"

"Of course." Aisha smiled as they both pulled away.

"Now, finally," Alyssa interjected, gathering the trio in front of her full-length mirror. The mirror was thin so Aisha and Alyssa stood up while Tory and Charlie leaned down, doing various different poses for each photo.

"Okay, you ready?" Tory asked, turning to the group. They all nodded before expressing their thanks and goodbye to Alyssa's parents, and leaving the house.

✧ • • 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗘 𝗜𝗦 𝗪𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 • • ✧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

this chapter was such a drag, I just didn't know what to write without it sounding too boring but it kinda did. I needed to include kreese leaving though so sorry.

i loved the last bit though because it shows how their friendship kinda is before the whole school fight thing happened, i don't want it to be based loosely around just hawk.

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this is how i wrote the outfits to be ( but you can of course chose whatever outfit you like to imagine ) -

Charlie's outfit :

(but with this top) :

alyssa's outfit :

and then lastly, this is how aisha plaited Charlie's hair :

please comment and vote !