User blog:J'adore-la-plage-et-les-montagnes/Focus

FOCUS 

If there was one thing Jack Brewer was good at, it was focus.

Since the age of four,  he was trained by his grandfather to close his mind.

Everything outside the square, the fight,  was not there.

He would blast different sounds while Jack practiced, put  distracting posters on the wall.

He would even place bulky objects around him, but Jack never wavered in his concentration.

He was like a stone when he was in the zone, unpetrenable.

Not even his opponent shook him,  until he went up against his cousin Kai.

After such a lowly defeat, he lost hope in his abilities and quit karate.

Not long afterward,  he moved to Seaford.

...

And there he met his match, the one and only  Kim Crawford.

She renewed his faith in martial arts and gave him courage and confidence.

Something inside him sparked whenever she was near him.

He had never met a girl who shared his fevent passion for martial arts. Certainly not a girl as beautiful and kind.

Although his feelings remained buried for quite a while, the occasional pang of jealous anger would hit him when he saw other guys around her.

But that didn't stop his  wall of concentration in  the square.

He channeled his agression into his moves.

One day Kim challenged him to a spar, forcing him to confront their friendship.

He knew his strength, but he also knew hers.

Despite his absolute focus, he threw the match, for her.

Later he knew that was a mistake.

He learned that friendship accounted for nothing in the square.

Then he had the opportunity of the lifetime. a scholarship at Otai.

Four years without friends in a strange place.

She had written him a letter. Did that mean something?

He had written one to her, too. Saying what he was too embarassed to say to her face.

But he threw the opportunity away, for her. And his friends.

Then he forgot her for a day. Completely forgot all the times they spent together.

It infuriated him, how he could forget someone so beautiful and amazing.

Standing in front of the bricks, not knowing what to do, he looked at her.

One smile, and he remembered. All their fun times, and her "slip"  earlier that day.

Then came their stint in Hollywood.

The "kiss" had been awkward, but they shook it off as "acting".

Then she was gone, and Jack was truely afraid for the first time in his life.

He found her, and she was also scared. He knew then that he would have to be there. For her.

And then that moment. Atop the Hollywood sign. Truly one of the best moments of his life.

He realized then that a world of opportunity was there, for the two of them, if he kept moving closer... and closer.

Then they were rudely interrupted, and again shook off an almost kiss.

They were at the best of times when Rudy was offered a high-paying job.

They were forced to train under the most hated sensei in town, who hated them right back.

Jack realized that he, Kim, and the guys would never be treated the same, and they left.

He promised her that they would still be together, without a dojo.

He didn't keep that promise.

For three months he had to watch her move on.

For three months he had to hang around shady characters.

He couldn't bring himself to practice karate, it reminded him too much of her.

The final blow came when hi tried to get the group back, and she rejected him.

Then Jack saw him. His replacement in Kim's heart. And he realized how much he loved her, and much he couldn't have her now.

But situations changed when she came around to see Rudy with him and the guys.

They were fighting to get their dojo back.

For one week they trained, practiced, and got back into shape.

Jack, Kim, and the rest of the Wasabi Warriors were doing karate... together.

All was well.

Jack thought after all this, he had Kim back.

He cheered her on as she fought in the tournament.

And then it was his turn.

He was just about to win, but then he looked up.

He broke the most fundamental rule his grandfather had taught him.

He saw him again. Him with Kim.

Utter confusion welled up inside him.

Karate was Jack and Kim's thing, and Brett was crossing a line.

He was distracted, and it cost him the win.

He lost his focus... and Kim.

But every story has a happy ending... and now it's time to wait and see where their happy ending will take them...