╔.𖥸. .════════════════╗

𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬

chapter eighteen
and I'm so sick of them
coming at me again

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ALYSSA SAT AT her lunch table with Yasmine and Moon, absentmindedly eating a carrot with her chin in the palm of her head as she listened to Moon talk. The Miaygi-Do's all had their own table in the lunch room, and Alyssa would sit with them most of the time so she could stick with Demetri — who she had also gotten way closer to lately. However, on the days she didn't sit with them, she would sit with Sam, who had gone back to her old table of sitting with Yasmine and Moon.

Obviously, Alyssa adored Moon. As for Yasmine, well . . . she didn't necessarily like her, but she could tolerate her. Yasmine seemed to have toned down a little bit after returning from her summer trip, but she could still be a bitch.

"Hey!" Demetri's voice called, and Alyssa turned away from laughing with Moon to see him walking up to their table carrying something large covered by a sheet. "You ready to rock . . . our Earth science presentation?"

Oh. That. By some way of the fates, Demetri and Yasmine had ended up being science partners. Alyssa watched in amusement as Demetri put down the thing he was carrying on the table and sitting in the free seat next to Alyssa.

"I'm ready to go back to a world where we don't have to talk to each other on a regular basis," Yasmine replied.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Demetri protested. "My popularity's on the rise, while yours is steadily declining. But, uh, maybe we can meet in the middle, like a sexual Venn diagram."

Alyssa rolled her eyes, letting out a small laugh. "You're ridiculous."

Demetri then placed a hand on top of her head and shook it a little bit. "Hey, Ally."

She gently swatted his hand away, giving him a small smile. "Hi, Dem."

"So what's under the sheet?" Moon asked.

Demetri pointed at her. "I'm glad you asked." He stood up and ripped the sheet off of the top, revealing a very impressive science project built out of Legos. "Behold . . . what scientists believe to be the Valley when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Go ahead, press the hadrosaur egg."

Yasmine reached forwards and pressed the egg. Bird sounds started to screech and the volcano roared, spewing smoke out of the top. Alyssa's mouth fell open in shock and she looked at Demetri in impressment. Sure, she had seen him built countless Lego sets, but this was incredible.

"Not bad," Yasmine told him. "My parents may not have to pay for my A this time."

"Oh, your parents will never have to pay for an A again," Demetri stated.

Demetri continued to talk about his project, telling them about it. Alyssa grinned as she listened. And for once, Alyssa actually believed she was having a good day.

Didn't last for long, though.

Hawk's eyes then settled on them from across the room. The way Alyssa had her chin in the palm of her hand, a smile on her face as she listened attentively to fucking Demetri. A familiar feeling ignited in his stomach — he hated that she looked so bright, and he hated that she was supposed to be his enemy but he still felt all of these things for it.

It was safe to say that Hawk didn't like that.

". . . and at eight-thousand two-hundred and fifty-one individual pieces, this meticulously assembled model represents the exact moment before the asteroid hit—" Demetri began.

A soccer ball then soared across the room, knocking into Demetri's project and successfully destroying all of his hard work. The ball rolled across the table and landed right in Alyssa's lap. Alyssa's eyes slid from the ball to Demetri's project. They finally landed on the culprit, who was laughing with his stupid fucking friends. Alyssa scoffed incredulously as she stared at Hawk.

Hawk walked up to them, all high and mighty. "Oh, I'm sorry, man. Looks like my ball just got away from me."

"That took me three weeks to build," Demetri said.

"Eh, took my ball three seconds to destroy." Hawk's eyes then searched for his ball, and they finally settled on Alyssa's lap. "Hey, Sweetheart, be a good girl and give me my ball back, would you?"

(Alyssa would like to point out that him saying good girl was not the cause of way her mind was spinning. Definitely not.)

She glanced down at the ball before looking up at him, her blood boiling. "No."

Hawk paused, his eyebrow raising. "No?"

"No," Alyssa confirmed. "It's mine now." She nodded her head towards his table. "Run along."

He took a dangerous step towards their table, some of his friends following him as back up — which honestly said a lot, because angry Alyssa was not someone to be messed with. "It's yours now?"

"That's what I said." Alyssa stood up from her chair — she knew she shouldn't go anywhere near him, but standing gave her less chances to be cornered than sitting. "Unless you couldn't hear it over your gigantic ego. My God, you seriously have to be humbled."

"Lys," Hawk warned.

"Oh, we're going there," Alyssa voiced, nodding. "Okay. You want your ball back, E?" Her eyes narrowed. "Be a good boy and beg for it."

"What did you just say to me?" Hawk demanded.

"I think it's time for you to learn that your actions have consequences. You destroyed Demetri's science project, so now I'm taking away your soccer ball." She moved it between her two hands. "Sucks for you."

Sam then stepped up beside her, crossing her arms across her chest with anger flashing across her features. "You better back off, or you won't be lucky."

Hawk scoffed, and his eyes set on something in the cafeteria for a moment. "Yeah, like you'll start anything, Princess. Actually, why don't you go sleep around with someone new and break his heart?"

Alyssa's veins instantly filled with new anger. She wasn't stupid — Sam had made her fair share of mistakes. Alyssa, as her best friend, can say that with absolute confidence. Her and Sam have had many talks about it. But for Hawk to sweep in and absolutely slut-shame her was unacceptable.

She opened her mouth to retaliate, but Sam already beat her to it. Sam reached forwards and pushed Hawk back by his shoulders, sending him into his friends.

"What's going on here, Miss LaRusso?" Counselor Blatt interrupted, and Alyssa had to resist rolling her eyes. "You know our guidelines against physical contact." She then looked at Hawk. "Did she enter your personal bubble without your verbal consent?"

Hawk then put on a whole soft, scared boy façade to make himself seem innocent, which only made Alyssa's anger increase an astronomical amount. "Yeah, she definitely triggered me in my safe space."

"What are you talking about?" Demetri argued. "He started by destroying my science project."

"That was an accident!" He then shrugged. "You probably shouldn't bring your toys to school anyway."

"I don't want excuses," Counselor Blatt stated. "I just want you all to respect each other."

"She's right, guys," Hawk said, and Alyssa tilted her head at him, her eyes narrowing even further. "We should stop the aggression. Micro and macro."

Real rich coming from him.

Sam glared at him. "Oh, give me a break."

"Hey," Counselor Blatt warned. "Consider this a warning, Miss LaRusso. And get these Legos off the ground, someone could get hurt."

Hawk waited for her to walk away before turning to the three Miyagi-Do's "For you pansies, no space is safe."

"Really?" Alyssa countered. "Because I distinctly remember absolutely destroying you in that school fight before you ran away like a little bitch."

His eyes flashed with anger before they flickered down to the ball resting against her hip. "How about you just give me the ball and walk away?"

"No," Alyssa refused, wrapping her arms around the ball tight and holding it in front of her, resting it against her stomach. "Maybe if you stop acting like a dick I'll give it to you, but since I don't sense that happening in the foreseeable future, I'm keeping it."

He took a step closer to her. "This can all be over if you just give me the ball."

"Like this will ever be over." Alyssa stared up at him, and the ball was the only thing stopping their bodies from being completely pressed up against one another's. "And I'm not going to back down that easily."

His jaw clenched. "Fine. Keep the ball — for now. I'll get it back."

"We'll see about that," Alyssa replied. "Oh, and if you ever say some misogynistic shit like that to Sam ever again, you're fucking dead, Moskowitz."

"She—"

"Dated two people. Big deal. Weren't you the one bragging about having a full rotation of girls by midterms? Why is it that everybody laughs when you say something like that but the second Sam kisses two guys it's like the world is ending? You're such a fucking hypocrite. I know for a fact that if the roles were reversed and Sam was a guy, nobody would even blink an eye at her dating two people. In fact, she'd probably be the man." She scoffed. "I never thought you would stoop to that level, but then again, you surprise me a lot these days."

Alyssa gave him one last harsh look before turning around and walking back to her seat. She could feel Hawk's gaze on the back of her head, but she ignored it, just like she ignored the pain in her heart, and slumped down into her chair. Alyssa glanced over for a moment to see Hawk retreating back to his friends.

"I'm going to destroy him," Alyssa stated.

"Which actually means that you want to jump his bones," Yasmine said.

Her head whipped over to her. "What?"

"Come on, everyone sees it," Moon insisted. "The fact that you're always at each other's throats provides for a lot of sexual tension between you two."

Alyssa gave her an incredulous look. "Moon? What are you saying?"

"The truth. I always thought you two would be the next couple, even if we were dating. Besides, him and I didn't work that well together."

She shook her head. "As if I would ever date him. He's insufferable, and annoying, and infuriating, which is literally everything I don't want."

Moon shrugged. "Whatever you say. It's pretty obvious."

Alyssa sighed and looked down at the ball she was holding. "And what the hell am I supposed to do with a soccer ball?"

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

SOCCER WASN'T EXACTLY Alyssa's favorite sport to play, but in order to get a good grade for gym class, she had to participate. Alyssa sat on the bleachers next to her friends, tying her shoes while listening to the cheerleaders.

"These gym shorts pinch in all the wrong places," Demetri complained.

"Come on, have a little school spirit," Sam told him.

"Oh, yeah. Go Mountain Lions."

Demetri then let out a very unenthusiastic roar.

Alyssa raised an eyebrow at him. "That wasn't very Gryffindor of you."

He rolled his eyes. "I think you should know by now I'm a Ravenclaw."

She let out a small laugh before her eyes caught on people in the distance. Walking in was the team they would be playing in red pinnies, also known as the Cobra Kai's, led by Hawk. The smile immediately slipped off of her face. She didn't really think that anyone could annoy her as much as him.

"I wish we could do something about those cretins," Demetri admitted.

Sam straightened up. "We can."

"How? Counselor Blatt will give us detention just for breathing near them."

"I don't see her anywhere, do you? Besides, what's a soccer game without a little physical contact? They think we're doormats. Let's prove 'em wrong."

Alyssa picked up the soccer ball she had taken from Hawk and stood up from the bleachers. "Dibs on Hawk. I'll fucking launch him into the trees."

The ref blew the whistle, calling everyone who was playing out onto the field. Alyssa and Hawk, as what seemed to be always, were immediately drawn to each other. She rested the ball against her hip and gave him a challenging look.

"You want your ball back?" Alyssa questioned. She let it go so it dropped on the ground, and she placed her foot on top of it. "Come and get it."

The ref blew the whistle, and Alyssa kicked the ball first, successfully starting the game. She started to kick it all the way to their goal, meanwhile Sam kicked one of the Cobra Kai's over and stomped right on his chest.

Alyssa had just about made it when a body suddenly collided with hers, and she fell straight to the ground. She let out a grunt as her back pressed into the ground. Alyssa looked up, only to see Hawk on top of her, pinning her wrists to either side of her head. She breathed heavily and her heart raced against her chest — no, not from him, definitely not.

"Looks like I got the better of you," Hawk said.

Alyssa gritted her teeth. With all of her might, she swung them over. Her chest landed on his and she pinned his wrists to the side of his head this time. Alyssa stared down at him, their faces inches apart. Hawk blinked at her in surprise, clearly not seeing that coming.

"And it looks like you're obsessed with me," Alyssa countered. "You may knock me down, but I will get back up. Every. Single. Time. I can do this all day."

She placed her hands on his chest and used it to push herself up. Alyssa walked away from him, pulling a piece of grass out of her hair with a frown. She looked at her wrist for a hair tie, only to see that she didn't have one. Alyssa glanced around for a moment, only to spot Moon off to the side, holding her pom-poms and talking to a very familiar boy next to her — Cam.

"Hey, Moon!" Alyssa called, jogging over to the two of them. "You got a hair tie?"

"Yeah," Moon responded, slipping one off of her wrist and handing it to her. "Don't worry about giving it back to me, I've got a bunch."

Alyssa let out a sigh of relief. "You're a lifesaver." She started to gather her hair to the top of her head and turned to Cam with a smile. "Hey."

Cam grinned back at her — bright, as it always was. "Hi." His eyes then went behind her head for a moment, and some of the sparkle disappeared from his eyes. "Uh, any particular reason why Hawk is staring at you?"

Alyssa's eyebrows knit in confusion and she turned around. Hawk was jogging around the field with the members on his team. Sure enough, his gaze was right on her. Once their eyes locked, Eli smirked and gave her a wink. Alyssa scowled at him before turning back to Cam, vaguely hearing the ref call to take it easy on the physical contact.

"He just likes to bother me," Alyssa explained, tightening the ponytail she had put in. "Well, I've gotta get back to the game. See you later."

Alyssa turned around and jogged back onto the field. She immediately went to Demetri's side, who was walking away from Hawk. Alyssa glanced back at Hawk for a second before slowing down to a walk.

"What'd you say to him?" Alyssa inquired. "He looks pissed."

Demetri shrugged. "I hit him in his soft spot."

"Which is?"

"You."

Alyssa rolled her eyes — she didn't really know what that meant, but she also didn't want to delve deeper into it.

The game continued on, but the physical contact only got more and more intense. Kicks were thrown left and right and the ball kept flying at people. Alyssa was pretty sure she would have a lot of bruises all over her later from how bad it got. She breathed heavily, the wind having gotten knocked out of her earlier, as she glared at Hawk.

"You know what?" the ref called, making the game stop. "That's it! Everyone to the principal's office now!"

The last thing Alyssa wanted to do was talk to Counselor Blatt. That woman was incredibly infuriating, but due to a series of unfortunate events, they all had to take turns recounting their sides of the story. Alyssa had already went, standing out in the hallway with everyone else. Hawk was the last one to go, and knowing him, he would just sweet talk Counselor Blatt to get what he wanted.

Air in the hallway was thick with tension. Alyssa leaned against the lockers, her arms crossed across her chest as she stared at the Cobra Kai's across from her harshly. The door to the office then opened, and out came Hawk and Counselor Blatt. Alyssa's eyes followed Hawk carefully.

"Caldwell, Johnson, Rickenberger, the three of you and Eli are free to go," Counselor Blatt announced.

Alyssa let out a scoff of disbelief. Hawk looked straight at her, and he did the one thing he knew would get on her last fucking nerve — he winked. Her jaw clenched in anger, and she glared harshly at his retreating figure.

"Unbelievable," Demetri commented.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Sam exclaimed. "What about us?"

"The rest of you will be receiving rehabilitative, not punitive, Saturday detention," Counselor Blatt answered.

Alyssa's eyes widened. Detention? She had never gotten detention before. Oh, her mom was going to kill her.

"Detention?" Demetri repeated. "Oh, great, there goes another blemish on my permanent record."

"This is bullshit!" Sam shouted.

"Miss LaRusso!" Counselor Blatt scolded. "That is not how we express ourselves here. I think you need two weekends of rehabilitative detention."

Sam hit her fist against the lockers, and the sound plus the vibration made Alyssa slightly jump. "This school sucks!"

She then completely walked away. To be honest, the only one of their group who could both calm Sam down and understand what was going on in her head was Alyssa. Everyone knew it — and that's why all of her friends turned towards her expectantly.

Alyssa sighed. "I've got it."

She walked in the direction that Sam had gone. Alyssa quickened her pace when she saw Sam in the distance, heading towards the lobby of the school.

"Sam," Alyssa stated, making the girl stop in her tracks and turn towards her. "Let's just take a second to breathe real quick."

"I don't want to breathe," Sam argued. "Aren't you angry?"

"Hell yeah, I'm angry. Did you see that motherfucker? He winked at me."

"But you liked it, didn't you?" Sam froze for a moment, closing her eyes in frustration as Alyssa just blinked at her. "Sorry, I didn't mean that."

"What is up with everyone saying shit like that to me about him today?" Alyssa voiced. "Can't they see — can't you see he makes me sick?"

"Just forget about it." Sam crossed her arms angrily. "I can't believe we got detention and they didn't."

Alyssa gave her a knowing look. "Sam, babe, this is way deeper that detention, you and I both know that. What's really going on? Just tell me — because whatever you're feeling, I probably am, too."

Sam shook her head. "I'm just so tired of them treating us like this. They keep walking all over us, and nobody's listening when we try to say anything about it. And when we try to fight back, we're always the one taking the heat." She vaguely gestured in the direction of Counselor Blatt's office. "Exhibit A."

"I know." Alyssa let out a deep breath. "And as much as I hate to admit it, we can't really do much about it, because the universe just likes to fuck our lives up." She looked up at the clock on the wall. "Gym's almost over, we should probably head back to the locker room."

"I'll be there soon," Sam told her. "I just need to calm down a little more."

"Okay," Alyssa agreed. "I'll see you in a few."

Alyssa walked in the direction of the girls' locker room to get changed back into her normal clothes. Unfortunately, that locker room was close to the boys' locker room. As Alyssa rounded the corner, she saw all of the Cobra Kai's, still in their red pinnies, leaning against the lockers and joking around, no doubt about how they had gotten off free. She honestly didn't want to walk past them, but that's just the way her world worked, unfortunately.

"Nice shorts, Liu," Rickenberger called when she got closer.

Alyssa rolled her eyes. She wasn't really surprised that he said something like that — Rickenberger was notorious for hitting on women. Alyssa ignored him and continued walking towards the locker room, wanting nothing more than to go in the showers and drown herself.

"Aw, come on, don't be like that," Rickenberger continued, and she could practically hear the smirk in his voice. "Hey, but I think you should wear your hair up more. More practical, don't you think?

Alyssa stopped in her tracks, disgust filling her insides when she realized what he was alluding to. She looked over at their little group to see them laughing and patting Rickenberger on the back — well, all except one, who she didn't seem to notice looked murderous. Alyssa sighed and reached up, pulling the hair tie from her hair and letting her hair fall back around her shoulders.

She tossed the hair tie in their direction, and it landed right in front of Rickenberger. "If you ever wonder why you can't get any girls, that's why. Sexualizing women isn't something that real men do, but you wouldn't know that because you're a pathetic little boy. So grow the fuck up."

Alyssa felt a slight sense of satisfaction at the way Rickenberger's smile dropped. Her eyes involuntarily slid over to Hawk, and she raised an eyebrow as if to say nice people you associate yourself with. Alyssa scoffed and continued walking off, threading her fingers through her hair and pushing it back a little away from her face.

She walked into the locker room and went over to her locker. Alyssa put her combination in, but for some reason, she couldn't get Hawk's eyes looking at her out of her head. She paused for a second, a horrible realization coming to her mind.

There was only one explanation for her racing heart, her fluttering stomach, and the thoughts in her head. Maybe it had always been there, but her feelings of hatred might've been used as a mask for some other feeling and now they were suddenly coming to light. And it definitely wasn't good — not for the situation they were in right now.

Alyssa let out a groan, her forehead falling against the lockers. "Oh, fuck me."

•─•°•❀•°•─•

THE MAN IS SUCH ALLY AND SAM'S SONG BROOO

also next chapter is like when THAT happens so lots of pain 🥰