chapter twelve,
mercy II

    Mackenzie and Charlie sat in a seat on the other side of crowded restaurant from Hawk, Aisha, Demetri and Moon. The girl slumped down in her seat, staring at the four.

"We can go sit over there if you want?" Charlie says, laughing a little.

"Sorry." She sighed, sitting up. Kenzie glared over at Aisha who was recording a video about their victory. Mackenzie picked at her food as she continued to watch them. "You did really good." Charlie repeated.

Mackenzie smiled weakly at his words. "Thanks," she said, though her heart wasn't really in it.

    She took a small bite of her food, still lost in thought.

    Charlie could tell there was something on her mind. "Is everything okay?" he asked, studying her intently.

    "Do you still like him?" The boy asked, slurping his drink through the red striped straw. Mackenzie blinks, "What?" She said caught off guard.

    "What do you mean? I never liked him." She lies. Charlie laughed, "C'mon. I saw the way you two look at each other."

    "No, no." Kenzie shakes her head, "We're just childhood friends." She glances over him, she watches as he smiles at Moon.

🥋 ⋆⭒˚｡⋆

    As Kenzie arrived at the dojo, a larger amount of kids were waiting outside. She couldn't help but smile knowing that Cobra Kai was actually becoming for popular.

    The girl held onto the straps of her bag and walked over to the dojo. Meeting Hawk and Miguel who arrived on their scooters.

    "Hey, Kenz." Hawk smiled.

    "Hey." She replied in a soft tone. It felt weird between them.

Miguel looks around awkwardly before speaking up, "Looks like we've got some new students."

   "Fresh Fish. Check this out." Hawk scoffs walking over to two boys, "Hey, mouth-breathers. Move it."

The boy who was standing in front of the entrance moves away with a smile and his friend immediately opens the door, "I'll get that."

Mackenzie stands behind Miguel and Hawk. "So you guys wanna be Cobra Kai, huh?" Eli asks then pretends to punch them, making them flinch.

"You've got a long road ahead of you." He laughs as the two enter first.

Before Mackenzie follows after them, she stops. "I'm sorry about that. Cobra Kai is actually fun, just don't get on anyone's bad side."

The girl smiles before walking into the dojo. "What the hell happened in here?" She hears Miguel say.

Once she is fully inside, she glances around at the place. It was trashed but everyone else seemed to think it looked cool.

    By the time Johnny entered, she hadn't had changed into her gi which she knew would already make him annoyed.

    Sensei Lawrence says somethings to the two boys from earlier, she couldn't quite hear what it was but she knew it was bad if they had to leave.

    "Everyone, fall in!"

    And so everybody listens and does what was instructed.

    Mackenzie stands beside Aisha and patiently waits for instructions. "Must've been a rager, Sensei." Hawk smirks.

    "Were you celebrating all weekend?" Miguel asked.

    "Celebrating what?" Johnny replied. The slowly losing their smiles as he continued to talk, "My students are a bunch of pussies. Diaz, Hawk, up front."

The boys walk up to the front and stand beside Sensei Lawrence. "Hawk." Johnny turns to him.

    Eli's body posture tenses up at his Sensei's tone, "Did you attack your opponent when his back was turned?"

    "Yes, Sensei."

"Diaz, Did you purposely attack your opponent's injury?"

"Yes, Sensei."

Johnny stands in front of the two and questions, "You think that makes you badass?"

Miguel stutters trying to figure out what the right answer was. "Uh.."

"What's the matter, question too tough? Maybe you need some help."

Sensei Lawrence turns around to face the class, "Miss Alexopolous!" He yells, startling her.

But she contains herself, "Yes, Sensei."

"Two cobras in the jungle. One kills the strongest lion, the other kills a crippled monkey. Which cobra do you wanna be?"

Mackenzie paused before speaking, confused about the question. Knowing the right answer, just not knowing if that's what her Sensei wanted, "The one that kills the lion, Sensei."

"And why is that?"

"Because it killed a stronger animal."

"Correct!" He yelled, walking back and forth. "Cobra Kai is about being badass. And the basest badass is the one who beats his opponent when he's at his strongest."

Johnny glares at Eli, "Not when his back is turned."

Then Miguel, "Not when his injured. Is that understood?

"Yes, Sensei." All the students say in unison.

"That means no more cheating. No more fighting dirty. From here on out, those are pussy moves and you don't wanna be pussies, do you?"

"No, Sensei."

"Good." Johnny sighed, "It's why I had you wear your white belts. We're starting over."

Mackenzie frowned at his words. After all the work she had gone through, all vanished away in a blink because her friends were jerks.

Throughout that day, the girl had blanked out. Most of it didn't feel real.

— leila's notes !

we are back for season two! very short chapter, wanted this to kind of be a recap and starter for this season where everything changes so here's a glimpse.

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