chapter fifteen, pretty lies, ugly truth

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Izzy was supposed to feel like she was untouchable, because she won the All Valley and proved that she had what it takes to be tough and resilient. She proved herself to be Cobra Kai material, at least in Terry Silver's eyes she did, until the moment she gave up her trophy and ran off with the boy he told her to never see again.

This past week and a half were a lot for Izzy, more than she expected. She never thought she would see her mom again, but now Izzy knows she probably will never see her again. Izzy never thought that she wouldn't be a part of Cobra Kai, but here she sat, next to Miguel while Demetri was by Eli's side as he got his tattoo fixed.

Izzy had her chin resting in the palm of her hand, her elbow sitting on the arm of the chair she sat in. She was staring at the artwork that filled a nearby wall, too lost in her own thoughts about Cobra Kai to realize how quickly she was shaking her leg from the nerves in her body. Miguel was quick to notice, though.

"Hey," Miguel spoke softly, reaching his hand out to rest on her leg, feeling her stop once she felt his touch. "We can go back if you're worried about your sister."

          Izzy glanced over at him, letting out a sigh as she leaned back in the chair and shook her head. "I'm not worried about my sister." The girl muttered, her gaze shifting elsewhere.

          Her words just made Miguel's eyebrows furrow and he sat up a little bit in his seat. "What are you worried about then?" He asked Izzy.

An uneasy breath came from Izzy as she shook her head. "It's nothing." She tried to lie, shrugging the topic off, but Miguel knew it was something.

          "You can tell me." Miguel whispered to her, both of their attentions on the other and felt like it was just them two in the room.

          Izzy let out a sigh, glancing at the boy before her eyes looked at his hand that still rested on her leg. "It's Cobra Kai." She muttered and Miguel let out a breath, like he had guessed right. Izzy was quick to keep talking, "It's all I see on social media." She huffed.

"Is that where you wanted to go after this? Cobra Kai?" Miguel questioned, watching Izzy reluctantly nod her head.

"I need to talk to Tory. I just hope she's there." Izzy confessed, her eyes falling upon Eli who was checking out the new tattoo he had got to cover up the old one on his chest.

          Miguel looked confused yet worried. He wasn't sure how Cobra Kai would treat Izzy after she practically betrayed them, but she was their champion after all, so Izzy had to talk to someone from her old dojo about her actions. To distract herself, Izzy stood up and walked over to Eli who was showing his tattoo to Demetri.

          "It's a lotus flower. Symbolizes a new beginning, which is what I have now." Eli explained, noticed Izzy's presence and turned to show her the tattoo.

          Izzy raised her eyebrows like she was impressed. "You got that for Miyagi-Do?" She asked.

          The boy just shrugged, "Yes and no," He answered with a smile, "The reaper was a bitch to cover up. A giant flower was the only option." Eli sighed, looking between Izzy and Demetri, then at Miguel once he walked up to the group.

"You know, I still can't believe you two weren't actually dating and tricked all of us for, like, a whole month." Demetri spoke up, eyeing the couple of the group.

          Eli let out a laugh, "Yeah, and now you guys are actually dating?" He asked to confirm the situation and Miguel nodded, but Eli just smiled. "Badass."

Izzy smiled to herself, but she kept quiet while Miguel got lost in a conversation with his two friends. "So, you ready to go? Izzy has to go somewhere real quick." Miguel told both Eli and Demetri.

          "Yeah, I'll meet you guys out there." Eli said, gesturing his head to say that they could leave.

          The three made their way out of the tattoo shop and towards Eli's car that was parked outside, Izzy standing with Miguel and Demetri in the California heat by the car. They were quiet for a few moments before Demetri spoke up again.

          "You know, that explains the amount of tension I sensed when I found you guys outside of Miyagi-Do at the Lawrence versus LaRusso fight." Demetri spoke so that his words could fill the air, mixed in with the distant traffic and commotion of the city.

          Miguel and Izzy shared a quick look, a noticeable smug grin forming on Miguel's lips that made Izzy's eyes roll. Miguel turned to look at Demetri, trying to hold back a laugh just as Eli walked out of the tattoo shop and over to them.

"Yeah, we didn't really make it official until the night of the All Valley, which ironically was the night we were supposed to end the fake relationship." Miguel explained to his friends.

"Oh yeah, congrats on being a champion, by the way." Eli smiled at Izzy, holding his hand up for a high five and Izzy grinned at him, giving the boy a high five.

"Congrats to you too. We sort of have this connection now, you know?" Izzy spoke playfully, joking around with the Moskowitz boy who nodded, matching the playful energy Izzy was radiating.

Miguel furrowed his eyebrows. "Connection?"

Izzy's eyes shifted to the boy that stood beside her, smiling at her boyfriend. "Yeah, Hawk and I both won the All Valley." Izzy laughed lightly as she followed Eli and Demetri who was going to get into the car.

The Diaz boys gaze just followed Izzy. "I mean, I won an All Valley too—"

They all had gotten into the car and from the backseat next to Miguel, Izzy gave the directions to her destination. Eli was driving while Demetri sat in the passenger seat, and Izzy ignored their questions about where they were even going. She knew neither of the boys in the front would willingly go to Cobra Kai.

Izzy was also right the moment they pulled up outside of Cobra Kai and Eli was quick to speak up. "What the hell are we doing here? I thought you were done with them." Eli asked, he and Demetri glancing back at the girl who sat behind Demetri's seat.

        Was Izzy done with Cobra Kai, or was Cobra Kai done with Izzy? The girl wasn't too sure, but seeing this new dojo and hearing all of these new things that Silver made happen with Cobra Kai, Izzy knew her face had to reappear at some point. Besides, all she was here for was to see Tory, and hopefully the girl was here.

         But Izzy also didn't know what waited for her on the other side of the door to Cobra Kai.

          "I–I am." Izzy breathed out, her eyes on the very luxurious and new building Cobra Kai belonged to. The three boys looked at Izzy as she kept talking. "I won't take forever. I just need to do something real quick."

         She finally looked away from the window and saw all three of the boys staring at her, but Izzy's eyes shifted to Miguel and her gaze met with his. Miguel nodded to her, telling her it was going to be okay.

"If you aren't back in ten minutes, we're going in." Eli said as a reassurance to Izzy.

         Demetri was quick to correct him. "They're going in."

         Izzy forced a smile to her face, "My saviors." She spoke sarcastically.

          Her eyes went back to Miguel and he was the one who knew what this meant for Izzy. "You got this." He told her, watching the girl nod.

          An uneasy breath left Izzy's lips. "Okay. I'll be right back." She huffed, opened the car door and got out, making her way to the large doors that led to Cobra Kai.

The girl glanced back at the car once before finally going in. She was impressed at how drastically different this dojo was compared to the one at the strip mall in Reseda. She should've expected it from Silver, because all she really knew about him was that he was wealthy.

Her feet guided her through the halls, entering a large room that split down the middle with two separate mats on each side. There were students on both sides of the room, but there was no Silver, or even any sort of Sensei for that matter. Half of these people Izzy didn't even recognize from a few weeks ago before the All Valley.

          That was when Izzy took note of a lady sitting behind a desk and all of the ads Izzy saw on her social media filled her mind. It seemed like a place Izzy couldn't afford to even think about.

"Hey Isobel," An unfamiliar voice called out and turned Izzy's head to see who was talking to her. She recognized the boy from having class with him a few times, he was Izzy's lab partner last semester and he accidentally lit her sweater sleeve on fire. Evan. That was his name.

          "Uh," Izzy muttered, looking around at some of the other students that had glanced over at her. She looked back at Evan, "Is Tory here?"

         Evan shook his head. "She didn't show up today. I was starting to think you weren't ever gonna show up either, same with Robby. He hasn't come back." Evan spoke, furrowing his eyebrows at the girl, almost like he was asking why she hasn't been back.

          "Oh, I'm just here for Tory. Some things happened after the tournament, so I'm just taking a break from karate, I guess." Izzy shrugged, looking around to see some kids she recognized from before. Her eyes fell upon Kenny who stood with Kyler and Ethan, and a girl beside Ethan.

         Riley. The same girl who overheard Nina and Izzy's conversation about Izzy and Miguel's relationship being fake, then told Ethan who told Silver. If you asked Izzy, she was to blame for Izzy's current situation.

          Izzy's presence caught Ethan's eye and he made his way over to where Izzy stood with Evan. "You finally break up with Diaz? I heard you two ran off somewhere together." Ethan asked.

          "Oh shit, yeah, weren't you guys just faking the relationship?" Riley laughed, her eyes on Izzy. "Wait– is Miguel single now? Can you hook me up with him?"

          Izzy stood there, staring at the girl who had a smile on her face. She couldn't tell if Riley was being genuine or petty, either way, Izzy wanted to rip her head off. She almost did, her hands curled into fists and everything, Izzy could feel her fingernails piercing the skin of her palms as she forced a smile to her face. She needed to be calm, because the last thing she needed right now was a fight.

          "You're not really his type." Izzy laughed bitterly, watching Riley roll her eyes at Izzy's words. A sigh then left her lips, "I'd love to stay and catch up, but I have to go." Izzy slightly frowned, acting like she didn't want to leave when it was the complete opposite.

          Izzy then turned to head back the way she came, making it around a corner before Evan followed after her. "Isobel! Wait up." The use of her full name made her eyes roll, but she stopped and turned to face the boy.

         "Yeah?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

         "Are you going to come back? Everyone's been talking about it, and you, and to be honest I think it'd be pretty badass to learn from an actual champion." Evan shrugged, he had always been nice and friendly, but being in Cobra Kai seemed to help him stand out more.

          All Izzy could do was shrug as a response. "I don't really know."  She told him, "Look, I have to go–"

"It's cool, I'll see you later." Evan nodded, smiling at the girl before he turned to head back to where the rest of the students were at.

When he walked away, Izzy's gaze shifted to the walls surrounding her and took in what Cobra Kai turned into it in such a short time. Her eyes glanced up at a corner in the ceiling, noticing a security camera pointing in her direction. Izzy's eyebrows furrowed, brushing it off and turned to finally head out of the building.

          A huff left her lips, her eyes on the ground before they shifted up to see Miguel and Eli making their way towards the front doors. When they saw Izzy, they quickly stopped and Izzy raised her eyebrows at them.

          "Seriously? That was not ten minutes." Izzy scoffed, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

          Eli pointed to Miguel, "Blame him. He wouldn't shut up worrying about you." There was a playful smile on Eli's face as Miguel smacked his hand away.

          Izzy felt herself smile, glancing at Miguel just as Demetri yelled out from the rolled-down passenger window. "Yeah, it was getting really annoying. Hey, can we go now?" Demetri asked the three.

          Miguel looked back at the girl and she nodded, but as they walked back towards the car, she stopped before opening her door. "Wait–" She called out, seeing both Miguel and Eli look over at her.

          "Do either of you know where Tory lives by any chance?" Izzy asked, a hopeful expression on her face.

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Finding Tory's apartment took longer than it should've, but they managed to figure it out. Izzy repeated the process of promising it wasn't going to take long, all she had to do was see Tory. The Vera girl made her way through the apartment complex, but then her eyes fell upon Tory standing getting the mail from her mailbox.

"Tory." Izzy spoke up, catching the blonde's attention and seeing Izzy brought a quick smile to Tory's face, but it disappeared quickly.

Tory shut the mailbox and turned to Izzy, "Hey. What are you doing here? Thought you were grounded." She laughed quietly.

"I am. I just– I just came from Cobra Kai," The mention made Tory tense up, like something must've happened between the All Valley and Izzy coming back from Mexico that Izzy didn't know about. "What?" Izzy was quick to ask.

Tory would feel bad if she lied to her or kept the truth from her. Izzy was the All Valley champion after all, but that was more of a reason for Tory to not tell Izzy the truth. Tory let out a hesitant sigh, deciding that if there was someone she could admit this to, it was Izzy.

"Cobra Kai didn't win. Silver paid the referee. After you gave me the trophy, I went by the old dojo to see Silver and I overheard him talking about it." Tory confessed, it was obvious keeping this sort of information was getting to her, but admitting it was just as hard.

A weary laugh left Izzy's lips as her eyebrows furrowed. That was the ugly truth behind the luxurious lies of the new Cobra Kai. "Wait– what? Does anyone else know?"

          Tory shook her head. "I confronted him. He made me decide if I want to stay in the dojo or leave, and I ended up staying. I–I think I'm going to go to Kreese. He's the only one who can help." Tory told the other girl who listened to her talk.

          Izzy couldn't shake the feeling that she didn't actually win the All Valley. It made her feel horrible, and it made her feel worse knowing Tory was left to suffer the consequences now that Izzy isn't a part of Cobra Kai.

          "Are you gonna come back to Cobra Kai?" Tory then asked, causing Izzy to look at her.

          She shook her head, "No. I.. I don't think I'm going to. I know I should because I'm the champion and all, but.. Silver made me choose the dojo or Miguel." Izzy shrugged, looking away from Tory.

          "And you chose Miguel?" Tory questioned, earning a nod from Izzy. "Explains why you left after you won and disappeared for days." She said it with a smile on her face, a light laugh to her words and it made Izzy shake her head, smiling to herself.

          "Yeah. I did choose him." Izzy sighed, "I just don't know what I'm going to do without having karate or a Sensei to keep me on track." Izzy thought out loud.

          Tory was quick to reassure her. "You got out, though. Some say you made the right choice." She told the brunette in front of her.

          Izzy sent her a look. "Others say I'm a traitor." She spoke and those few words gave Tory deja vu of when she painted Hawk as a traitor and made him suffer for it.

          "Who gives a shit what people say?" Tory rhetorically asked, "Besides, you and Miguel are right for each other."

         A smile appeared on Izzy's lips at the comment, but then it faded when a thought came to her head. "I don't want to leave you alone in there." Izzy frowned as she referred to Cobra Kai, her eyes shifting to look at Tory.

          Tory just shrugged like it was nothing. "Don't worry about me. I can handle it." She nodded, trying to convince Izzy that it was going to be fine.

          Although Izzy believed that, she still felt guilty for not pursuing her future in Cobra Kai. She knew it would be nothing but hell if she returned, not just in the dojo but for her and Miguel as well. All Izzy could do was smile, even though she felt like she was slowly beginning her decline to rock bottom.

          "I should go. I need to get home before my sister realizes I snuck out." Izzy sighed, pressing her lips together as she watched Tory laugh at her words.

          "Thanks for coming to see me. I kind of missed you." Tory admitted to the other.

          Izzy's lips turned into a smile, but then she took a step forward to pull Tory into a quick hug. "I'll see you again." She laughed, pulling away from the hug, and waved a quiet goodbye to her friend.

The moment Izzy got back to Eli's car, she was quiet, not saying a word the entire car ride while Demetri and Eli went on about going to the waterpark the next day. Miguel sat next to Izzy, his eyes on her while her eyes were on the scenery they passed by. He knew whatever she and Tory talked about, it must've affected Izzy, because she was completely zoned out.

Izzy felt like she truly had come full circle, she was right back where she started. A part of Izzy was still clinging to the feeling of the referee raising her hand and declaring her the winner as confetti exploded everywhere. Another part of Izzy wanted to forget about the entirety of Cobra Kai, but something was telling her she wouldn't get the chance to do that.

          They dropped Izzy off first, just as the sun was beginning to set, and Miguel walked with her to the window that led to Izzy's bedroom. Izzy paused for a second, hearing her Taylor Swift playlist repeating the same things and she let out a laugh, realizing her sister hadn't gone into her room.

          Izzy pushed the window open and Miguel held her hand as Izzy got through the window, leaving Miguel on the outside. She turned to face the boy, slightly bending to have her face in front of his.

"What did you and Tory talk about?" Miguel then asked, his eyes on Izzy as she let out a quiet sigh.

           "You're nosy." Izzy pointed out, her voice in a low whisper, smiling a little bit when his eyes rolled.

           Miguel smiled at the girl, "So.. I'm guessing you wouldn't want to sneak out tomorrow and go to the water park?" He said quietly to her.

          His words made Izzy's head tilt, her lips pursing out as she made a face like she had to think about it. "Mm," Izzy hummed, "I'll have to think about it." She frowned at the boy.

          He made a face like she was unbelievable, but then a sigh left Miguel's lips. "What do I have to do to make you say yes?"

          Izzy looked at him for a second, but then a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "Can you come over later tonight? Like.. around midnight?" She asked him.

          Miguel's eyebrows knitted together at first, unsure of the reason why, but he nodded. "I'll be here." He promised the girl.

          She slightly tilted her head at him, but then rested her elbow on her window sill and held her pinky in the air, indicating what she wanted. Miguel cracked a smile when he saw her pinky, his eyes going from her finger to her face.

          "A pinky promise?" Miguel questioned.

          Izzy shrugged. "You don't have to, but if you don't, it gives me a reason to be mad at you." She said it like she made a good point.

"I don't know, Isobel, you're pretty cute when you're mad." Miguel frowned, like it was inevitable to think her being mad at him would phase him, but he wrapped his pinky around hers.

Her eyebrows raised at the use of her full name. "If you're trying to make me mad by saying Isobel, it won't work." She moved her face slightly closer to Miguel's as she spoke.

"Bummer." Miguel muttered, his gaze flickering down to look at her lips as he moved his face closer as well to feel his lips hover over her.

          Izzy leaned forward, closing the small gap that was in between their lips, and kissed him. Miguel's hand came up to hold her jaw, keeping her face in place as he kissed her back. The kiss didn't last too long before the sound of Eli honking his car told Miguel to hurry up.

          They ignored the first few honks, but then it continued, and Izzy finally pulled away from Miguel, annoyed by the sound of the car honking.

          "I'll see you tonight." Miguel said to his girlfriend, a smile on his lips, quickly leaning in to place one last quick kiss on her lips before heading away from her window and back to Eli's car.

          Izzy smiled to herself before closing the window and the curtains that covered them, going back to laying in her bed and staring at her ceiling, counting down the minutes until she could see Miguel again.

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authors note.
i could make an entire powerpoint presentation on how every taylor swift song relates to miguel and izzy LMFAOOSJSJ izzy being a swiftie just makes sense to me

there may or may not be smut in the next chapter

( gif made by saevrz )