Newbies

  COBRA KAI WAS CHANGING DRASTICALLY, and anyone who was there since the start could sense that. Besides Cleo, only Hawk, and a few others had been there since before the All-Valley so, they were the only ones who tensed when Kyler, and his friends came through the door. However, Cleo then felt a sense of relief knowing the attention would fully no longer be on her.

It would be on these new kids.

"Class, welcome our new students!" Kreese yelled above the class, him and Jack approaching the front of the room.

Everyone quieted down slightly, and turned their attention to the small group of about seven students, all of them known for their aggressive nature at school.

"I'm going to call you... Chodenose and Taintbreath." Mitch, who had earned the name of Penis Breath and Ass Face upon his Cobra Kai arrival said to the new group confidently, thinking that would slide like it did with him.

"What the hell did you just say?" Kyler questioned, stepping up to him.

Tory bumped Cleo's shoulder slightly, and the two exchanged a look before chuckling to themselves.

"Oh—...uh—.. no, no. Nothing. It's just this thing we do around here sometimes." Mitch stuttered out nervously.

Kyler flexed at him, and the boy jumped backwards, obviously in fear.

"Think they have what it takes?" Tory asked with a raised brow.

"They might be good." Cleo replied, letting herself shrug slightly. "But they'll never get as good as we are right now."

"Why do you think that?" The Nichols girl asked, her brows now knitting together while she tried to understand the statement.

"They didn't have to work for it, not like us." The Harper girl explained, as a matter a factly. "We'd do anything for karate, and have. They don't even show themselves that much loyalty."

Tory understood now, and wearing a slight smile, she nodded as Kreese spoke up again.

"Everyone, fall in. Joining Cobra Kai is a privilege. It's not a gift. Which is why our recruits must earn their position in this dojo. Prepare yourselves for combat. Only the strong will survive." He explained, Cleo looking back towards her father who's arms were crossed against his chest.

"Looks like he was thinking the same thing." The Harper girl spoke, whispering over to Tory.

... but, would she be one of the strong?

IT WAS NOW TIME FOR CLEOS FIGHT TO BEGIN IN the Cobra Kai dojo. Kyler had already fought Mitch, in which Mitch lost terribly. Tory fought one of the girls that was brought in, and won by far. Now, it was Cleo's turn, and the girl she was going to go against was much bigger.

The girl, Mallory was the first to run forward, trying to send a kick to Cleo's stomach. The Harper girl slid under her opponents body, and quickly stood to her feet. Then, with a swift motion, she sent the kick that Mallory had intended on delivering straight to her face.

"Ouch!" You could hear Kyler yell from the sideline's, laughing goofily.

Cleo rolled her eyes, and looked towards Kreese for confirmation she was done with her fight as Mallory stumbled to the ground.

"Finish her." The man spoke simply.

The Harper girl couldn't even fathom what that might mean. Mallory was already on the floor, writhing in pain. What more could he want from her?

"But—.." Cleo's eyes shifted to her fathers, who looked remorseful but, nodded his head.

The girl closed her eyes, before taking a deep breath, and bending onto her knee. Slowly, she drew back her arm, everyone watching closely to follow her next move. Then, quickly, she drove her arm forward, her fist hitting the girls face.

The feeling of blood on her hands was nothing new for Cleo. She felt it seep from Mallory's nose, and onto her hands as she stood up. She felt her grandfathers eyes on her, happy and she couldn't understand why. For as long as she had been alive, she was told by teachers, and friends that violence was bad.

She was taught differently by her family, and it made her feel like a monster, unphased by blood and violence.

"Good job, Queen Cobra." Kreese spoke to the girl, and there it was again, that damn nickname she could not get rid of.

Cleo took a breath, uttered a small sorry to Mallory, and walked to the locker room to get away.

CLEO TYPED AWAY AT HER LAP TOP, TRYING TO get any information she could on her mother. Tory's brother was laid on the couch beside her, fast asleep after a long afternoon of playing outside. It was crazy to say but he was the peace that Cleo needed to feel like herself.

Whenever she came to take care of him, and Tory's mom, she instantly felt better and just wanted to make sure they were okay.

"Okay... Giulia.. where are you?" She mumbled to herself, typing in every detail she knew about her mother.

What if her sanity, and humanity depended on finding her mother? She figured that was the case because, as this Cobra Kai, Miyagi-do feud continued, she was loosing herself more and more.

So far, it was made obvious Giulia moved from place to place, and never stayed anywhere for long. Her father passed, that much was clear from an obituary that Cleo found online. However, even after hours of looking she couldn't find a current address.

The Harper girl did have one last resort, that she would hate to turn to which was, asking Daniel Larusso about her.

"Hey." Tory entered the house as Cleo continued to scroll through pages and pages of things on the internet about Giulia, none of which were helpful. "I figured you would have left already."

"We got caught up hanging out and then when he fell asleep I decided to stay till you get home so, you know, he'd be safe." The Harper girl looked up to Tory, who now was standing a few feet away. "Did something happen at work?"

"I seen Miguel, in his wheelchair." Tory shook her head, trying to remove the image from his mind. "He told me that I need help, i'm not—... i'm not crazy, right?"

If Tory had asked this a few weeks ago, Cleo full and well might have answered yes. However, after her worsening anger issues, and the multiple physical assaults she had committed lately, if Tory was crazy, she knew she had to be psychotic. That couldn't be true at all, could it?

"No, I don't think you're crazy. You're perfect, Tory." The Harper girl replied, concluding it was the best possible answer she could have given, all while being the truth in her eyes. 

"Thank you." The Nichols girl commented with a smile, plopping down onto the couch. "More research on your mom?"

Cleo would hardly call it research.

AUTHORS NOTE —
Apologies for taking so long to update, I have a lot going on!

Do you sense Cleo and Tory getting close again?

Hope you enjoyed!