─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"Hey, I snuck you this jello." Noelle said. The next day at lunchtime, the girl moved away from her friends the second she saw Robby enter the cafeteria. The boy sat in his usual spot, alone, but Noelle was determined to change that.

Robby glanced up at her to see the oh-so-cheery look on her face. He had no idea how the girl could remain so positive in such a terrible environment. His eyes fixated on the green treat in front of him. "I prefer red." Robby told her, standing up to his feet.

But Noelle mirrored his sudden movement. "See, I knew you'd say something broody like that— that's why I brought red too. I even brought blue." She pulled out two more mini tubs. "I'm not too sure what the blue's flavor is though..."

Robby looked disgusted at the sight of the treats. "They're melting." He pointed out.

"Yeah, because I had to hide them, idiot. And I'm not a walking mini fridge, am I? Humans are warm-blooded," Noelle informed him as she looked him up and down. "Even your cold-hearted self."

"You just can't help yourself, can you?" Robby asked, tossing his still-empty paper plate into the bin and turning to the door.

"If you're going to be a jerk, why can't I be one too?" Noelle challenged. "I'm not as passive as you think I am."

"Wrong. I don't think anything of you, because I don't think about you." Robby told her.

"Yeah, that's really convincing." Noelle teased.

The boy sighed and stopped in his tracks. "Look, I have a girlfriend, okay?" Robby spoke, but he was unsure whether he was trying to convince her of that or himself.

Noelle snorted out with laughter. She laughed so hard she had to lean forward and hold her stomach. Robby watched this all with a straight face. "You are just so full of hot air, aren't you?" She asked in between giggles.

His face fell. "What?"

"Why would I care about that? You think I wanna be your girlfriend?" Noelle giggled. "Oh, that's funny— that's cute actually. But who's to say I don't have a boyfriend myself?" She challenged, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Do you?" Robby asked, a part of him more interested by her potential answer than he wanted to let on.

"Well, no... but what if I did? It's still rude of you to assume otherwise." Noelle huffed.

"Not rude if I'm right." Robby shrugged.

"I'm not looking for a relationship. Even if I was, it definitely would not be with someone with a criminal record—"

"You're literally—" He started.

"Ah-ah-ah. That's different because I'm innocent." Noelle explained to him. "Legally innocent? No. Morally? Yes. Anyways. I just want to help you— I know how lonely it can feel being here and how hard it might be for you. Being away from your family for so long."

"Family?" Robby scoffed at her words. Noelle raised her eyebrow. "What was that?" She asked.

The boy shook his head. "I don't know you, Noelle, so I won't be confiding in you."

"Look around, Freshie," Noelle said to him. "You don't know anyone here. And trust me, it's better to partially know someone than to know no one."

"Then I'd rather partially know someone else," Robby finalised, stepping away.

"Who's that gonna be, huh? Because everyone else around here wants to beat you up!" Noelle shouted after him. The boy just shook his head and kept on walking, not looking back at her. He made his way over to a different room as Noelle frowned and re-entered the cafeteria.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"Are you just going to keep pretending I don't exist?" Robby asked the girl. Juliet groaned at the sound of his voice, glancing up from the book in her lap. "Honestly? Yeah. I'd rather do that." She said.

"It's not a coincidence we're both here." Robby said, sitting down on the bench beside her. Juliet gave him a look. "It quite literally is a coincidence." She said with confusion.

"So you've been here the whole time?" Robby asked. Juliet sighed, shutting her book. "Look, just because we both hung around with the wrong people, doesn't mean we have to be friends." She said.

"But we were friends." Robby reminded her. She quickly shook her head. "You threw me under the bus." She whisper-yelled back.

Robby leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "I am so sorry about that whole thing, Julie." He said earnestly. "But it wasn't me—"

"Trey and Cruz?" She interrupted. "You can't keep blaming them."

"I stopped hanging out with them after the All Valley. You didn't." Robby reminded her, growing slightly annoyed at her accusations.

"Only because you had Mr. LaRusso looking out for you to keep you out of trouble." Juliet reminded him.

"That's not fair." Robby told her. "That isn't on me. They gave you up for a lesser sentence, I had nothing to do with that. You had the opportunity to leave Cobra Kai and you chose not to. You could've been with me... with Demetri."

Her head snapped up at his words, her eyes softening. "No. Don't bring him up. I don't want to talk about him." She said. There was a part of her that was clearly bitter about this. Bitter because Robby was right. She chose Cobra Kai even when Miyagi-Do would've been better for her.

Robby seemed taken aback by her words, he thought everything was fine between them. Demetri didn't mention anything. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to—"

Juliet shook her head, standing to her feet. "Just drop it... please." She said.

Robby frowned, something wasn't right with her. He and Juliet had been friends for a long time, even after she and Miguel beat him in the All Valley Tournament. "Okay. Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine. I'll be out of here soon." Juliet said, nodding. She suddenly remembered why the boy was in the same place as her. "Hey... you and Miguel—" She started.

Robby shook his head. "No. I don't wanna talk about that." He said quickly. Since she used that line against him, Juliet respected his wishes.

"Okay." She agreed. Just then, she saw her cellmate pass by the door. Juliet smiled a little at the sight of her. "You can cut Noelle some slack, you know? She is... really insufferable, like an over excited puppy. But she has good intentions."

"I'm sure she does." Robby hummed, looking away from her. Juliet knew that meant their conversation was over, so she stepped away.

Maybe Robby was right, maybe he wasn't directly involved in her arrest.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

Later that day was community service at the local soup kitchen. This wasn't one of her usual community Noelle knew she was getting an early release, but that was because of how many community service hours she had accumulated. While her main volunteering was performing at the children's center, she also enjoyed the soup kitchen.

"What are you doing here?" Robby questioned the girl, who was tying her hair into a low bun.

"Erm... community service?" Noelle said as if it were obvious.

"No, I mean—your name wasn't on the list," Robby explained.

Noelle placed her hand over her heart. "Awh, you were looking out for me?" She teased.

"Yeah." Robby admitted. "I was looking to see if I would have to switch to a different service."

Noelle just shook her head with a smile. "You know you're not the first, right?" She told him.

"What?"

"The first Freshie to act like they don't care and then warm up to me," Noelle explained. Robby scoffed, pulling on the yellow SJDC long sleeve over his t-shirt. "What, you think Shawn Payne welcomed me with open arms? No, he was a complete jerk, but now we're on good terms, and I'm certain we will be too."

Robby shook his head with disbelief. "You think everyone has to like you?" He challenged.

"Oh no, I'm a firm believer in free will," Noelle explained. "It's just that from experience, I know how this will end."

"And I'm the one full of hot air," Robby scoffed, watching her struggle to tie her apron around her waist. The girl didn't give him a snarky remark back, trying to focus on the task at hand. She could feel his gaze on her and glanced up at him.

A few seconds passed as Robby's green eyes were fixated on Noelle's brown. Robby huffed, as if seeing her struggle was frustrating for him. He stepped forward, taking the two strands from her hold and tying it himself. The boy tried to ignore the tingling feeling on his skin as their hands grazed.

He also tried to ignore the growing smirk on Noelle's face as she intently watched him tie up her apron. "Thanks. I still struggle to tie my shoelaces and stuff, if you can believe that." She said with a joking tone.

"Yeah, I can believe that." Robby said, retracting his hands. "There. Easy."

"Come on, let's go!" Their guard on duty ordered. Robby quickly shoved his hands into his jeans pocket and stepped away from her. Noelle was confused about that whole interaction for a moment. But, she just chuckled to herself before moving over to Delilah and asking them for assistance.

The kitchen had been going well. The smell and look of the food was making Noelle feel quite sick, but she knew she couldn't judge. Noelle was separated from her friend, having to be at the front of the kitchen, serving while Delilah was at the back. She and Robby remained in silence as they served the people their food.

"Hey, Robby," A blonde man spoke up. Robby looked up, his face morphing into one of irritation. Noelle discreetly glanced up too, trying to find any physical similarities between the two.

Quickly, Robby gazed over to her to see if she was paying attention to who had come to visit him, but Noelle pretended she hadn't noticed.

"You shouldn't be here," Robby seethed.

"It's the only way I could see you," His father, Johnny Lawrence, explained. "I heard you're doing community service to try to get out early. That's good, I respect that... Is that a black eye? Are you fighting in there after everything that's happened?"

"You're seriously gonna lecture me about starting fights?" Robby scoffed.

"Alright, you're right. I'm sorry. I just wanna say I screwed up and I know—"

"Save it." Robby cut him off.

"Look, I'm just trying to say—" The man started again.

"What? That you're in my corner? That you've got my back? 'Cause let's be honest, that means jack shit." Robby seethed.

Noelle's jaw went slack at his harsh words before she bit her lip to hide her amused smile. "Mr. LaRusso said the same thing, and look where I am now." Robby finalised.

"Forget about LaRusso!" Johnny sighed, clearly frustrated.

"Hey! Quit holdin' up the line!" One of the ladies in the line exclaimed. "Don't make me throw a shoe at you!" Johnny turned around, and the lady seemed to recognize him, the two going into conversation.

"This your dad?" Noelle asked, gesturing her head toward him.

"Mind your business, Garcia," Robby warned her.

"Are you okay?" She questioned, softly. He finally looked up at her, taken aback by her gentle tone for a second before his expression hardened. "Yes." The boy mumbled.

"You better not be eatin' my soup, Goldilocks. I called dibs on them beans," The lady from the queue grumbled.

Johnny turned back to face his son. "I'm not leaving until we talk." He stated.

"It's gonna be a while," Robby told him. "If you noticed, I'm a little busy."

"Well, that's good 'cause I'm hungry." Johnny shrugged. Robby poured the ladle of soup into one of the styrofoam bowls and placed it on the counter. Much to Noelle's surprise, Johnny took it and made his way over to one of the tables.

"I don't mean to pry—" Noelle started.

"So don't." Robby cut her off. "I'm going to the bathroom." He announced. Time passed, and Robby eventually returned. He moved to a different section of the kitchen as his dad sat watching him.

"Here you go, miss," Noelle spoke, placing the corn on the cob onto an elderly lady's plate.

"Thank you, my dear," she smiled, taking in Noelle's physical appearance. "You know, you remind me of my daughter."

Noelle smiled. This was not the first time she had heard this during her time volunteering. She thought it was sweet— the idea that she reminded people of their family members. "I'm sure she was a lovely woman." Noelle said.

She laughed. "She was, she really was."

Noelle frowned at her use of past tense, picking up an extra corn on the cob and placing it onto her tray. "For good measure." Noelle said, sending her a wink.

The lady's face lit up with joy, and she smiled at Noelle. "Thank you, my dear."

"Enjoy your meal."

"Aren't you just an angel." Shawn teased once the old lady had walked over to a seat. "Don't tell me you're growing soft."

"Be quiet." Noelle hushed him. "That was a really sweet interaction."

"You have that conversation with different old ladies every time we're here." Shawn reminded her.

"Sorry I've got a heart and you don't." Noelle hummed, stirring the small remains of the soup as she waited for Robby to refill the tub. She glanced up to see him arguing with his father.

"Robby, come on." Johnny spoke, reaching for the boy's shoulder. Unfortunately, Robby had already placed one of his hands on the large pot of soup.

"Don't touch me, you asshole—" He exclaimed as he pulled away from his father. Instantly, the pot dropped onto the ground, the yellow liquid spilling all over the floor. "I don't need you anymore."

"Come on." The guard seized Johnny's arm.

"Hey, I got it. I got it." Johnny sighed, moving toward the exit.

Shawn burst out into laughter, his friends quickly following suit. Robby looked back at them to see their amusement, while Noelle was just frowning. He sighed, heading over to the storage closet to grab some cleaning supplies.

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
noelle meeting johnny!! (he does not recognise or remember her when they meet next...)

i've changed up juliet and robby's story a little bit so it makes more sense in her book🤭🤭 i'll probably post that one once i've finished writing season 3