chapter fourteen,
fire and ice

Mackenzie wished she never agreed to meeting up with Eli, Moon and Demetri. All she did while she was there, was sit on her cobra kai beach towel while the others played volleyball.

Johnny had given all the students merchandise in order to spread the word about the dojo. Kenzie believed that his trick wouldn't work but she was soon surprised when two girls came up to Demetri as he was using one of the beach towels.

"Cobra Kai?" A girl asked as Demetri wiped his face with the towel. "You guys won that karate tournament, yeah?"

Demetri slowly revealed his face by removing the towel. " The All valley.. the Rumble in Reseda? Yes, we.. uh, we certainly did." He lied.

    "Cool. We're gonna go for a swim but maybe play with you later?"

    Mackenzie scrunched her face with disgust as she watched her brother miserably try to flirt, then blurted out laughing when Demetri almost missed the net he tried leaning into to.

    She immediately covered her mouth and turned away, taking a sip from her drink.

    "Look at you, player." Moon laughed softly.

    Mackenzie pulled the black sunglasses that were previously resting on her head now onto her face, covering her eyes from them rolling at the sight of Moon.

"Yeah, it would be nice if you'd actually earn the Cobra Kai cred you are so happy to claim. When are you ever going to sign up?" Eli hissed.

"I don't know, I'm kinda enjoying the gain without the pain." Demetri shrugged with a half smile.

"Just admit you're afraid of Johnny." Mackenzie raised her eyebrows, calling her brother out for his lies.

"Oh shut up, Kenzie." He grumbled.

From behind Mackenzie, a voice spoke. "Hey guys." It was Miguel, who showed up with a frown.

"Hey! There's the man." Eli smirks, handshaking the brunette boy.

    "What's up?" Miguel sighed, not looking like his usual cheerful self.

    "No. No more of this." Eli's smile drops, "Look, it's a beautiful day out. The beach is packed with babes. No more sulking about Sam."

    "I'm not sulking, it's about Sensei." Miguel flatly denied.

    "Is this about his rap sheet? My parents read it online. I think it makes him more badass." Eli joked.

    "It's about him and Robby Keene." Miguel says. Mackenzie turned her attention over to the two boys conversation.

    "Why are you talking about Robby Keene?" Mackenzie chimes into the conversation, resting her arm on Eli's shoulder.

    Miguel gave an unsure look, not knowing whether to spill the truth or leave it alone and mind his own business.

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Mackenzie sat on the mat, stretching her legs while listening into Eli and Miguel's conversation. She was half paying attention and half scrolling on her phone.

Still one video caught her eye.

"Holy shit. Mr Larusso started his own dojo and disses Cobra Kai!"

This says allowing, stopping everyone from their warm ups.

"Lemme see." Miguel says, taking the phone from Kenzie.

Miguel inspects the video before trailing his way into Johnny's so called office, which lingered of beer.

"Free karate. How am I supposed to compete with that? Snake in the grass- he's talking about us!" Mackenzie overheard Johnny fuming about.

"Great." Kenzie groaned before plummeting into the ground.

That day at Cobra Kai wasn't a usual day for Mackenzie. Johnny had everyone stop practicing and help him create a video to compete with Mr Larusso.

    While the all students immediately rushed over to Sensei Lawrence to help him get revenge, Kenzie stood back with her arms crossed.

    As Hawk blindly turned his head around his spotted the girl with a confused expression, focused on the small circle around their sensei.

    "Hey," Hawk wrapped an arm around her, "What's wrong?" He asked.

    She took in a deep breath before speaking, "I just have a weird feeling about all of this. How we're now using karate as a tool for revenge. How we're not using it for the right reasons."

    Hawk chuckled at her confession, "You gotta be kidding me? Kenz, look at it this way. We're expressing ourselves through karate. Come on, let's just join in and then you can run away from all your problems."

    She knew she should've been hurt from that comment but something inside her felt numb. "Okay. Sure." She exclaimed softly.

After a long lesson, Mackenzie had arrived home and was extremely distracted.

    She paced her through her room, back and forth trying to decide if she was going to show up for the valley performance at the fest.

    She knew what the right option was, but then again it was low move to pull. Especially since she was hopefully still on good terms with the Larusso's.

Without even thinking at this point, the girl ran straight through the hallway and outside to her car. Driving off towards the festival.

"It's okay.. it's going to be okay." She prepared herself as she gripped the leather steering wheel.

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"Now time for the grand finale." Daniel says after finishing his performance with Sam and Robby.

He brings out a cart containing set up right in rows. As he wheels the icicles across the stage, the sound system powers down.

The Cobra Kai students approach, "Cobra Kai!" is heard from a distance. The chants growing stronger as they march their way through the crowd and up to the stage. The audience turns around and follows them, leaving the Miyagi Do set up abandoned.

As Mackenzie chants and marches with her team, she locks eyes with Sam. A sorrow feeling sinking down into her stomach.

    While the performance continued, the energy on stage was electric, but Mackenzie's mind continued to wander to her brief glance in Sam's direction. She couldn't help but feel guilty about being part of Cobra Kai's presence at the festival, knowing how it might affect her connection with Miyagi-Do.

    The chants echoed in her ears, but they couldn't drown out the doubts and questions swirling in her mind.

On the main stage, the cobra kai students are circling around doing synchronised actions, impressing the entire crowd. Sparks shoot up into the air causing the audience to be amped up for the performance.

"Cobras! Show them what real karate looks like!"

And the students follow their sensei's instructions. The Cobra Kai students behind to spar with each other. As Mackenzie spars with Aisha, she can't but feel guilty for taking the spotlight away for Sam and her dad.

On the stage, Miguel is the last one standing for that performance. Then, it moves onto Aisha blindfolded and kicking wooden planks apart.

Then, it was Hawk's turn. He pulls Mackenzie's brother, Demetri, onto the stage for his act. He nervously holds up the board as Hawk runs up and kicks apart the wooden board.

The performance ended in a bunch of merchandise being thrown into the crowd and Johnny punching through wooden slab set on fire.

As Mackenzie stands alongside her teammates, staring into the crowd. While everyone was smiling, the girl felt a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Once the show was officially wrapped up, Mackenzie couldn't shake the sense of unease. She watched as her teammates basked in the success of their performance, but the feeling of guilt continued to eat away at her.

The cheers from the audience should have brought her a sense of satisfaction, but instead, she couldn't help but wonder if she had made the right choice.