 ( chapter nine )
THE COBRA KAI BIRTHDAY TAKEOVER.

"Okay, you both need to remember how big this night is. We cannot have anyone at the party who hasn't already been pre-approved. VIPs only." Yasmine reminded, walking with Moon and Charlie down the hall. Charlie just smiled lightly, sending Moon a small look. She didn't see the big deal with the party being specific people, that just made it lame.

"Everything's ready so it should be good to go." Moon smiled, ignoring the look Charlie sent her so she wouldn't laugh. "Good. Now, we need to have some muscle around us who can keep the nerds away. I think Brucks and Kyler will fit the bill." Yasmine decided. "Ew, seriously?" Charlie frowned, looking at the girl.

"It's my party, my choice." Yasmine shrugged. "Okay." Charlie replied, catching Hawk down the hall when he waved toward the girl. "I'll catch you guys later." Charlie smiled, waving goodbye to the two. "Don't be late!" Yasmine yelled toward the girl, turning back to Moon to keep planning as Charlie made it up to the boy. "Hey."

"Hey. You're still coming to the park with us, right? Get a taste of Cobra Kai outdoors." Hawk smirked. "Oh, yeah. Very excited to witness greatness." Charlie nodded, walking alongside the boy as he moved away from his locker.

"You know, the sarcasm is pretty obvious. You might need to be shown just what Cobra Kai can do." Hawk laughed, obviously messing with the girl. "I would love to see one of you try. I think I'd pay you ten bucks if you could even catch me." Charlie smiled, following the boy across the street from the high school to the playground the karate students would be using as an unofficial practice area.

Charlie didn't fully understand why they were doing it, but she didn't truly care enough to question the group.

"What's up, nerds?" Charlie questioned, smiling as Demetri, Aisha, and Miguel all looked up at the two. "Hey." Aisha smiled, scooting over slightly on the bench the three were on to force the other two to do the same and make room for the girl. Charlie quickly took the seat, beating Hawk to it. "You just proved my point. You wouldn't be able to catch me before I was gone."

"Yeah, yeah. Bert! Come spar it up." Hawk spoke, directing his attention to a small blonde boy.

Charlie waved slightly to Demetri, frowning when she noticed Miguel refusing to look her way. "Is he okay?" Charlie wondered to Aisha quietly, making worried eye contact with Demetri a moment later. "I'm not sure." Aisha frowned. Demetri sighed, looking toward Miguel. "Come on, eat something. It'll make you feel better."

"I told you I'm not hungry, man." Miguel replied sadly. "I still think you're overreacting." Demetri spoke honestly, only confusing Charlie more. "I'm not overreacting, dude. I know what I saw." Miguel replied.

"What exactly did you see?" Charlie questioned, wishing to be in the loop to understand the boys frustration. "He saw her eating dinner with some chode." Hawk spoke, spinning around and kicking Bert in the face. "It's probably just her brother or something."

"I'm so confused right now." Charlie frowned. "No, dude. Brothers don't look at their sisters like that." Miguel replied, continuing to ignore Charlie. "Depends on what part of the country you're in." Demetri shrugged.

"Look, I just don't want what happened to Sensei to happen to me." Miguel frowned. "All right, so you go over to this kid and beat his ass so he doesn't have the chance." Hawk spoke, putting his two cents in. Charlie frowned, looking at the boys. "Okay, seriously. What are you talking about."

She watched as the three looked between each other for a moment before Demetri sighed, looking at the girl. "Miguel went to Sam's house the other night and saw her there with some guy, and you."

"Robby?" Charlie wondered, confused on where all the animosity was coming from. "Why didn't you tell me some guy was gonna be there making eyes at my girlfriend all night?" Miguel wondered, sending a hurt look Charlie's way. "Okay, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. That boy just works for Mr. LaRusso. They were coming back from some training thing and he was offered to stay for dinner. It really wasn't a big deal." Charlie explained, not understanding how Miguel could act so angry. She'd never seen him that way before.

Demetri looked between the two, hoping a deescalation could occur. "It seems to me like assumptions are flying and so are accusations so maybe we should just take a step back and think about this." Hawk shook his head, disagreeing. "I think this kid needs his ass kicked, even if he isn't making moves yet. Show him who's boss."

"Don't listen to Eli." Demetri scoffed, rolling his eyes. "It's "Hawk." The blue haired boy replied, sending his friend a look. "Yeah, whatever. The fact is, Sam's given you no reason not to trust her. And even more so, Charlie obviously hasn't given you a reason to not believe her. I'm sure if something was actually going on you'd be the first person she'd tell." Demetri defended.

Charlie sent the boy a thankful smile, one Demetri just nodded back to. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Miguel nodded. "Sorry, Char. I should have asked you about the dinner before accusing you of stuff." The boy continued, sending the girl an apologetic look. "All good, Diaz." Charlie smiled, happy Demetri was able to put Miguel's head back on straight.

"Yeah." Demetri nodded. "Oh! That little bitch." Aisha suddenly scoffed, staring at her phone. "What?" Miguel questioned, voicing everyone else's confusion as they all tried to look over Aisha's phone. "You know that video I posted of me breaking that board?" Aisha questioned, giving context.

Charlie quickly moved beside Hawk and behind Demetri, looking past Miguel to see what Aisha would show the group. "Look what Yasmine commented." Aisha frowned.

Charlie quickly read it over, frowning as well. Impressive... can't believe the belt made it around ur waist.

"Oh shit." Miguel spoke, eyes widening. "What the fuck?" Charlie frowned, rereading it again. She truly couldn't understand why Yasmine had such a vendetta against Aisha. "I gotta do something." Aisha decided, pulling her phone back toward her again.

"How about we kidnap her and have my boy Rico tattoo "bitch" on her face?" Hawk suggested, immediately gaining a shocked look from Charlie. He was so lucky he was cute.

"Calm down, Hawk." Demetri spoke, voicing everyone else's thoughts. "All right, I hear how you're saying it, and I don't like it." Hawk replied, speaking to the tone Demetri used when saying his name. "Let's think of an idea you couldn't get arrested for." Charlie spoke, patting the boys arm lightly.

"That's what makes it cool." Hawk shrugged, smirking toward the girl. "Wait, wait, wait. I've got a better idea. Look." Aisha realized, pulling up Yasmine's Instagram story about her birthday party.

"Yasmine's throwing a birthday party at the Canyon later?" Miguel confirmed, clearly having heard nothing about it before. "Not if we strike first." Aisha replied, smirking. "Charlie, what do you think?" Miguel wondered, tilting his head back to look at the girl.

Charlie bit her lip, thinking for a moment. "Screw it, this can teach her a lesson." Hawk smiled, looking over to the girl. "Hell yeah."

It seemed Yasmine's party had just changed from VIPs only to anyone who found out.

———————

Charlie walked into the convenience store beside the Cobra Kai dojo, joining the rest of the group to see if Hawk would be able to buy alcohol with his fake. Charlie honestly expected the man behind the counter to break the ID in half, something about the name Walter Hawkman feeling like a dead giveaway.

But she just held out hope, excited to be apart of the plan as the group all moved around the store. "All right, be sure to stalk up good." Aisha commented excitedly. "I'm inviting everyone. "VIP only," my ass."

"I still don't understand how we're gonna buying alcohol." Demetri spoke quietly, looking across toward Aisha and Bert before sending Charlie a worried look beside him. "Oh please. Never underestimate the power... of the Hawk." Hawk spoke, walking to the freezers and grabbing a pack of beers.

Charlie laughed a bit, looking toward Demetri. "More like never underestimate the power of a fake ID and a guy who doesn't care enough to question it. At least we hope." Demetri nodded, finding her telling of the situation to be a lot more plausible.

Charlie moved to stand beside the candy isle, watching discreetly as Hawk set the box on the counter. "Sup? Oh, did you catch the game last night? See Puig with the walk-off?" The boy wondered, taking notice of the man's shirt. "No, man, but I heard he flipped the bag to the moon." The owner replied, smiling.

"Yeah, I was at the bar last night with my buddies from work. Whole place went wild." Hawk explained, completely lying. "I wanted to go, but my girlfriend dragged me to some lame-ass play." The man replied with a shrug. "Bitches will be bitches." Hawk spoke, basically forcing the eye roll out of Charlie's head.

"Yeah." The man nodded. "So, how much it gonna cost?" The boy wondered, looking toward the food and alcohol he'd brought up before looking at the man. "Gotta check your ID first." The man replied.

Hawk chuckled, playing into the idea of being older. "I'm flattered." The man just stared at him, showing the boy that he wasn't kidding. "Do you really think I'm underage? I mean— that's my frickin' kid right there." Hawk continued, pointing to Bert.

Charlie bit down on her lip, trying not to smile or laugh. Fighting the man on pulling out the ID would only make it more obvious he wasn't over 21, but pretending Bert was his kid was a nice touch.

"Yeah, I still need to see it. It's required by law." The man explained. "Oh yeah, for sure. Just upholding the law. It's all good." Hawk nodded, pulling out the ID and handing it to the man nervously.

Charlie watched carefully as the man inspected the ID, looking back at Hawk as well before sighing, handing it back. "Whatever." He bent down to grab something, Hawk turning around to the group quickly and sticking out his tongue, holding a rock and roll symbol as well before he turned back to the register casually.

"Uh... how about eight bottles of that vodka right there?" The boy wondered, resting his luck. "Yeah." The man nodded. Charlie smiled, now the party could really begin.

———————

Charlie walked around the party happily with Demetri by her side, the two moving to the drinks as Charlie decided to refill her cup. The music was playing and they'd all been drinking and dancing for an hour or so by now. "I myself am just going to stick with Mr. Pibb, but I'm interested to see what your drink of choice is." Demetri spoke, watching the girl. Charlie smiled, looking at the options. "You really can't go wrong with vodka and orange juice."

"Interesting." The boy nodded, watching the ratio of vodka to orange juice the girl put inside her cup. "So it's basically vodka with a drop of orange juice."

"Hey, don't judge." Charlie laughed, bringing the drink to her lips and feeling the warmth move further into her body as her head grew fuzzier. She turned her head slightly, watching as Hawk chugged something out of a solo cup while playing cup pong. She just watched him for a moment, biting down on her lip and smiling as the two made eye contact and the boy sent her a look, almost asking if she'd come over.

"I'll see you later." Charlie spoke quickly to Demetri, moving to go talk to the blue haired boy. "I just don't get it." Demetri sighed, shaking his head lightly as he watched the two.

"Hey." Charlie smiled, stopping once she made it over to the boy. "Hi." He smiled, staring into her eyes. He quickly finished the game he was playing, looking back at the girl again. "You wanna go sit?"

"Yeah." She nodded, letting the boy take her hand and pull her toward a log to sit on. "You know, I never had the guts to tell you before, but I think you're amazing." Hawk spoke, continuing to hold onto Charlie's hand. She smiled, eyes moving between his lips and his eyes. "Yeah? What's bringing it up now?"

"This whole... reinventing myself thing has really just shown me that if I want something I can't just wait around. I have to make a move." Hawk explained, testing the waters as he moved his hand to rest it on the girls hip. She just moved closer, keeping their eye contact. "Then make a move."

Hawk smirked lightly, placing the hand that wasn't on her hip on the girls cheek, moving to connect their lips. Charlie smiled into the kiss, feeling her stomach do flips as her lips pressed against the boys. She knew she'd thought he was cute, but now she could really see herself seeing where this went.

Demetri watched with wide eyes from beside Miguel, shocked that Eli Moskowitz was now kissing Charlie fucking Moreno. "How the hell did he pull that off?" Demetri almost screamed. He just didn't get it. He didn't understand how a hairstyle was able to change the boy from Eli to Hawk. And he didn't understand why it was working.

"What?" Miguel questioned, finally looking up from his phone. Demetri pointed to the two, the other boy just rolling his eyes. "Who cares, dude? It's a party. At least she isn't ignoring his messages." Demetri sent Miguel a weird look, knowing the boy was definitely projecting his own problems onto what they were witnessing.

Charlie pulled away after a moment, smiling as she looked at the boy. "That was fun. We should do it again sometime." He laughed, nodding. "I don't think I'd complain. Does now work for you?" Hawk pulled the girl toward him again, connecting their lips once more. It was all he'd ever hoped for, finally being close to the girl he'd had a crush on since freshman year.

Charlie just laughed, happily kissing the boy back. She pulled away again after a moment, meeting the boys eyes. "Want to walk around a bit?" He nodded, wrapping an arm around Charlie's shoulders as the two made their way around the party.

It had begun to get dark again when Hawk and Charlie found themselves sitting down again, lips once again pressed together eagerly.

"Charlie!" She suddenly heard, pulling away and looking around before catching sight of Ari. "Hey!" Charlie smiled. She quickly turned back to Hawk, kissing him one more time. "I'll be right back."

"Okay." The boy nodded, watching her with a small smile as she ran toward the girl waving her down. Demetri took that as his time to sit beside his friend, needing to understand what power Eli suddenly had.

Charlie stopped when she was next to Ari, quickly hugging the girl. "I'm glad you made it." Ari nodded, smiling. "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt. I was just hoping you'd introduce me to your friend over there." Ari smiled, pointing toward Moon. Charlies face lit up, nodding quickly. "Of course."

She hadn't even realized Moon was there, happy to introduce the two. Charlie and Ari walked past Hawk and Demetri, Charlie walking backwards for a moment to get the mohawked boys attention. "You coming?"

"Definitely." He nodded, standing up and wrapping an arm around the girls shoulder while Ari followed as well. "Ari, this is Hawk." Charlie introduced, the two quickly greeting each other.

When the three made it to Moon they found her talking to Aisha, something that made Charlie smile. "Hey, Moon! I didn't see you get here." Charlie smiled, pulling the girl into a hug. "Yeah, it seemed you were a bit busy." Moon laughed, looking at the boy who'd come with Charlie. "I'm Moon."

"Hawk." He nodded. "I actually came over to introduce you to Ari. She's on the soccer team with me and I think the two of you would get along." Charlie smiled, sending Moon a wink. "Hey." Moon smiled, eyeing the girl immediately with a smile.

"Hey! You think it's funny crashing my party?" Yasmine suddenly snapped, walking straight up to Aisha. Charlie moved back beside Hawk, the boy wrapping his arm around her shoulders once more as well. "It's not really your party 'cause we were here first." Aisha shot back, taking a step toward the blonde.

"Yeah, well, I know you and your little karate gang think you're cool, but we all remember who you really are. You're just a fugly bitch, and your friends are all freaks." Yasmine spat, sending Hawk a glare as well. "Come on, girls. Let's go." Yasmine finished, looking toward Moon and Charlie.

Moon frowned. "No, I'm staying." Charlie nodded. "Me too." Yasmine just looked between the two, glaring. "I apologized to Aisha for what we did, and you should too." Moon finished, offering Yasmine some advice.

"Whatever. You both deserve them." Yasmine spoke, rolling her eyes before slamming into Aisha as she went to walk off. "Hey, Yasmine!" Aisha yelled, catching the blondes attention again. "Huh? What?"

"Let me help you to your car." Aisha offered, sticking her hand down Yasmine's pants and pulling up, giving the girl a birthday gift she'd never forget.

Yasmine screamed, everyone around the group turning to them as Yasmine was literally lifted off the ground by her underwear. "No mercy, bitch!" Aisha yelled, shoving the girl to the ground.

Everyone around them began laughing, finding the situation hilarious. Even Hawk and Ari laughed, the only ones not doing so being Charlie and Moon as Yasmine ran off.

"Come on, let's go find Miguel." Hawk spoke, pulling Charlie with him. "See you guys!" She spoke to the other three girls, Aisha leaving Moon and Ari alone as well to get to know each other.

"You okay?" Hawk wondered, noticing the mood change of the girl. "Yeah, I just don't find her pain funny. I mean... she's still my friend, even if she deserved some type of punishment from Aisha." Charlie replied. "Yeah, that makes sense." Hawk nodded. "Don't let it cloud your night."

Charlie nodded, taking the advice seriously as the two made their way over to Miguel and Demetri. "Hey, guys." Charlie smiled, leaning into Hawk. Miguel didn't say anything, just looking past the two angrily. "I knew it."

Charlie looked up, noticing Sam and Robby entering the party together, hand in hand. She was sure there was a perfectly good explanation but Miguel was obviously drunk and it didn't look good. "Shit." Charlie spoke as Miguel walked past the three, going right over to Robby and Sam.

"I think I should... stop him." Charlie spoke, dizzily moving out of Hawks grasp. "Are you sure? Do you want me to go with you?" The boy asked, arm hovering around her. "No, I don't think that'll help. I'm just gonna try and get Miguel away before something goes wrong." Charlie replied, moving toward the three as she watched Robby frown.

"Wait this... This is your boyfriend?" Robby asked Sam, looking toward Miguel like he recognized him. Charlie made it over to the group, steadying herself on Miguel as she grabbed his arm. "Hey, maybe you guys should talk later."

Miguel just shook the girl off, staring daggers at Robby. "Yeah, Miguel, relax. This is Robby. He works for my dad." Sam explained, just proving what Charlie had said earlier in the day. "Seriously, Miguel. Just take a step back and clear your head." Charlie spoke. "Stay out of it, Charlie." Miguel snapped.

Charlie felt Robby grab her arm slightly, lightly pulling her away from Miguel and closer to himself and Sam. Hawk watched from afar, angrily ready to walk forward but Demetri stopped him immediately.

"So, he works with your dad. Okay, that makes a lot of sense." Miguel nodded, getting back on topic. "What is that supposed to mean?" Sam wondered, frowning. "Wait. Have you been drinking?" She questioned worriedly, not understanding any other reason the boy would be acting this way.

"No, no, no. You don't get to turn this on me. I texted and called you all day, and you couldn't answer me back once?" Miguel questioned, anger laced in his tone. Charlie didn't object as Robby moved her a bit closer, almost ready to step in front of both girls. She didn't like what she was seeing and she really didn't like how Miguel was acting.

"No, I literally couldn't. My mom took my phone." Sam tried to explain. "Oh! Oh, that's so convenient." Miguel spoke, obviously not believing the girl. "Miguel, stop." Charlie frowned, staring at the boy.

Miguel just shot her a dirty look, only making the girls frown harden on her face. "Hey, man, just leave—" Robby tried, suddenly being shoved by Miguel. "You get out of here."

Robby was pushed straight toward Charlie, knocking the much smaller girl over with Robby falling on her. "Miguel, stop it!" Sam gasped, having no idea what to do. Robby quickly got off of Charlie, anger taking hold of him as he moved right back toward Miguel. "Hey, man, you wanna try that again?"

"Try it again, huh?" Miguel replied, staring straight at the boy. "Don't!" Sam snapped, suddenly on the ground as well as when Miguel went to swing toward Robby he only hit Sam in the face.

"Sam, look, I'm sorry." Miguel spoke, trying to help Sam up after Robby moved over to Charlie to help her stand, moving back over to Sam when he realized Miguel was near her again. "God, you asshole!" Sam yelled, shoving Miguel off of her. "What the hell was that? My dad was right about Cobra Kai. Good luck at the tournament. I won't be there."

With that Sam stomped away, Robby just sending Miguel one last look before turning around as well. "Hey, you want to come with us?" He quickly asked Charlie, hand on the girls arm. "No, I'm okay, thanks. I drove here." Charlie replied, wrapping her arms around herself. "Okay." The boy nodded, moving past her and following after Sam.

"Sam..." Miguel sighed, just watching. "Sam! Sam, wait!" Robby shouted, running off to catch up with the girl.

Charlie just looked forward at Miguel, seeing the way he didn't even look at her or seem to care that he was the reason she'd been the pillow to someone else's landing. She was okay, but the old Miguel would have cared. "You've changed, Miguel." Charlie frowned, feeling her eyes watering a bit.

The boy she knew was sweet and caring, someone who'd never hurt a fly. She thought that Cobra Kai was just helping him with confidence but maybe Sam was right, maybe it was just making him an asshole.

Charlie turned around at that, b-lining toward Moon and Ari as both girls had watched the whole thing, Moon immediately pulling Charlie right into her arms. "Char..." Miguel sighed, realizing how much he'd fucked up tonight.

He just watched as Hawk moved toward the girl, placing an arm on her back and wrapping his arms around her after she turned into him and wrapped her arms around him. Miguel frowned, shaking his head.

Charlie pulled away from the blue-haired boy and watched as Miguel sat down on a log, Demetri sitting beside the now clearly regret filled boy. Charlie just turned away from him again, ready to go home.

AUTHORS NOTE!
I ruined my daily uploads but it was for olivia rodrigo so I think it was a worthy cause

anyways dramas building as the season is ending!!!