╔.𖥸. .════════════════╗

𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬

chapter twenty-one
you have thrown it all
away, stand back, watch
it burn

╚════════════════. .❀.╝

"NO, I'M TELLING you, Danny Phantom had no reason to be that attractive. He's a fucking cartoon character."

So, quick recap. Sensei LaRusso had officially started up Miyagi-Do again so they could work together to bring down Cobra Kai. Alyssa hadn't realized how much she missed karate practice until, well, she was back at karate practice. Now, she was walking through the school before first period with Sam. The two were just kind of wandering around, taking about anything that came to mind.

Sam giggled. "Ally, I know. You've told me many times."

"And I'm going to keep saying it," Alyssa promised.

Sam then, quite literally, ran into Miguel. Upon their collision, Alyssa instantly started to laugh, but she reached up a hand to cover her mouth.

"Oh, sorry, I—" Sam began.

"I'm sorry, Sam," Miguel let out.

"No, I'm sorry, I should've been watching where I was going."

"Me — me too."

Alyssa let her hand drop from her mouth and smiled at Miguel, ignoring the playful glare Sam was sending her way. "Hi, Miguel."

"Hey, Als," Miguel greeted.

"So, uh, congratulations on being back on your feet," Sam told Miguel, considering it was the first time seeing him actually walk. "Literally."

Miguel nodded a little. "Thanks."

Sam's eyes then flickered to all of the Cobra Kai's, who were sitting behind Miguel. "Anyway, Ally and I will let you get back to your friends."

"They're not my friends anymore," Miguel replied, and Alyssa felt her heart warm yet sink at the same time. "Not after what they did to you guys."

Alyssa glanced in between Miguel and Sam. They seemed to be having a moment, nothing but pure adoration flashing in their eyes.

"Uh, I should probably get to study hall."

"I'm actually headed that way, too," Sam revealed.

Miguel looked at the girl next to Sam. "Where're you going, Ally?"

"Also that way, but I can take the long way if you two want to catch up," Alyssa responded.

"Nah, no way," Sam stated. "Include Miguel in on your rant.. If I have to hear it, so does he."

"Let me guess," Miguel voiced. "She's talking about how hot Danny Phantom is. I've been on the receiving end of that one too many times."

Alyssa's mouth fell open in shock. "Yeah, because it's a valid point!" She shook her head and started to walk away, the two of them laughing as they followed after her. "Unbelievable. Make fun of me all you want, you know I'm right."

They then went through the doors from the lobby, entering one of the hallways. Alyssa was blissfully unaware to the way Hawk's eyes trailed after her, almost longingly.

"So, uh, you think enough time has passed for us to be friends again?" Miguel asked to Sam, hope evident in his tone. "Or start over?"

Sam held her hand out to him. "Hi. I'm Sam. Nice to meet you."

Miguel shook her hand. "Miguel. It's a pleasure."

Alyssa let out a small laugh and glanced away from them. However, when her eyes set on what was happening behind Miguel, she quite literally screamed.

Demetri's back was pressed up against the wall, and Yasmine was in front of him, her hand roaming from his chest to his face. They were furiously kissing as if there weren't a bunch of people around them to see.

"Yasmine?" Sam questioned in shock, making the two immediately separate.

Alyssa reached up and covered her eyes with her hand. "Oh God, it burns."

Demetri let out a dazed chuckle. "Hey. Um . . . we were just, uh . . ."

"Doing study work," Yasmine finished.

Demetri nodded. "Yup."

"For what?" Alyssa inquired, lowering her hand. "Human anatomy?"

"So you two are . . ." Sam trailed off.

"What?" Yasmine replied. "Ew. Ew! No. Like I would ever date this freak."

Demetri stared at her. Yasmine patted his chest for a moment before setting off down the hall.

"Whatever, Cruella," Demetri called after her. "Why don't you go kill a bunch of dalmatians?" He turned to the other three, letting out a blissful sigh. "I am one-hundred-and-one-percent in love."

"I — you — what?" Alyssa stammered as Demetri pushed his way through them to walk down the hallway. "Oh my God, we're talking later."

"I can't believe that just happened," Sam admitted.

"Yeah, I guess, uh . . . love conquers all," Miguel said.

Alyssa slowly looked at the two of them. "No. Kill me. I want that erased from my memory forever."

"I'm not going to kill you," Sam voiced. "I would miss you way too much."

"If you truly loved me, you would put me out of my misery." She shook her head. "Go on without me. I'm going to go wash my eyes out with soap."

And with that, Alyssa walked away from Sam and Miguel, heading towards her locker. She was only just putting up a front of how disgusted she was — okay, no, she was disgusted, because what the hell did she just see, but she also wanted to leave Sam and Miguel alone. Alyssa could tell they needed some time together, and she definitely wasn't going to get in the way of that.

She finally reached her locker. Alyssa let out a deep breath and put in her combination and opened it. She tucked some of her hair behind her ear and tried to stare at the metal long enough to get the image of Demetri and Yasmine out of her brain.

Hawk stopped in his tracks, staring at her figure down the hallway. She looked pretty, like she always did. There was never a time where Alyssa didn't look pretty. However, that wasn't the reason he stopped. No matter what he did, Hawk couldn't get any of Alyssa's words from that night out of his head. They were on repeat, like it was a broken record — one phrase more prominent than the others.

Broken arms could heal with a cast. Broken hearts? Not so much. Even if they were on rival sides . . . hearing that had made Hawk start to reconsider everything. So, he went off down the hallway in her direction.

Somebody suddenly leaned against the lockers by her. Alyssa looked, only to see Hawk standing there. She rolled her eyes in complete and utter annoyance.

"I really don't have time to deal with you right now," Alyssa told him, looking back into her locker and moving around her books. "I just saw Yasmine and Demetri making out about a minute ago, and I'm, like, three seconds away from throwing myself off of the roof of the school because of it. You're dangerously close to making it two seconds, so if you could get over whatever obsession you have with me and leave me alone like I asked, I would greatly appreciate it."

In true Hawk fashion, he did not leave her alone.

Hawk shrugged. "Did I ever tell you that I beat up Brucks when he tried to join Cobra Kai?"

"Congratulations, would you like a gold sticker?"

"Just reminded me of what you told me. How either you or I would beat up Brucks and give him a taste of his own medicine."

Alyssa paused, her hand on the binder she had to take out. She was suddenly transported back to that day in the library when Kyler and Brucks had interrupted their study session.

You know, one of these days, either you and I are totally going to beat up Brucks to give him a taste of his own medicine, and he's gonna deserve it.

I don't think that'll ever happen, Lys.

Well, turns out it did happen. However, Alyssa saw right through Hawk. She always could, and that hadn't stopped even after he flipped the script. Alyssa could see what was going on.

"Oh, good," Alyssa commented. "Did you strike first? Did you strike hard? Did you show him no mercy? Did you finish him, Eli?"

"Yeah," Hawk responded, detecting the venom in her tone. "You know he deserves it. You know everything he did."

"But what about everything you did?" Alyssa countered. "So you finished Brucks. Great. You're right, he deserves it. But you know who didn't deserve to be finished?" She turned to face him, crossing her arms. "Demetri."

Hawk's jaw clenched for a second. "Lys—"

"I don't really know what you want me to say to you. I'm happy for you? Mazel tov? You did it?" She scoffed. "Yeah, okay. I literally don't give a single fuck about Brucks. Demetri, on the other hand, he's one of the people I care about the most." Her eyes narrowed. "I see what you're trying to do, and it's not working."

Alyssa shut her locker and started to walk off down the hallway in the direction of her next class.

Hawk followed after her. "What exactly do you think I'm doing?"

"You're trying to get me to let my guard down," Alyssa answered. "Just like I did that night. I was vulnerable with you for about ten minutes. I spilled my guts out to you while you just stood there and took it, and now you're back, probably to get me to do the exact same thing. Which I can't, because I already told you everything."

He went a little faster and stopped in her tracks, successfully blocking Alyssa. "That's not what I'm doing. Not everything I do has bad intentions."

"I don't really know how you expect me to believe that. I mean, look around, Eli. Not sure if you've noticed, but you've caused a shit ton of hostility around here because of your bad intentions. And I'll admit, maybe I've said some things and done some things I regret, but your problem is that you just don't know when to stop." She sighed. "I'm sorry if you're now just realizing exactly what you lost, but I don't want to do this. I know we're constantly at each other's throats, but if this is truly some kind of game of yours that'll make me let my guard down just so you can break me again, I don't want to play."

Hawk shook his head. "It's not a game."

"I'm finding that hard to believe. It's always some sort of game with you." Alyssa looked up, and as much as it hurt her to do, she stared him right in the eyes. "I'm tired, E."

The nickname rolled off her tongue so easily. Hawk blinked at her, his veins turning to ice. Alyssa didn't even seem to notice what she had just done.

"Like, really fucking tired," Alyssa continued. "This thing — whatever you and I have going on, it's so God damn exhausting. I don't care if you think I'm weak for it, but at least for right now, I'm laying my armor down. So this is me asking you to just stop." Her voice lowered. "Please."

She brushed past him and walked down the hallway. This time, Hawk didn't stop her. He stayed in the same spot, the crowds around him fading into a dull buzzing noise as he let her words sink into him.

Alyssa reached into the side pocket of her backpack and pulled out her headphones. She instantly plugged them into her phone and put them into her ears. Even if the walk to her next class was only a few minutes, she didn't want to deal with everyone talking around her. Especially with all the thoughts in her head.

She opened up Spotify and absentmindedly pressed play on the newest playlist she had made. Instantly, a very familiar song played through her headphones. The beginning of the song was just enough to make her cross her arms across her chest and focus straight ahead, like she was in her own little world.

"You and I walk a fragile line, I have known it all this time, but I never thought I'd live to see it break. It's getting dark and it's all too quiet and I can't trust anything now, and it's coming over you like it's all a big mistake. Oh, I'm holding my breath, won't lose you again, something's made your eyes go cold."

A lot of songs reminded her of Hawk. This one especially. She had never thought her and him would break apart, ever. Before her very eyes, she had watched the blue eyes harden, like ice. Everything about him was just cold now.

"Come on, come on, don't leave me like this, I thought I had you figured out. Something's gone terribly wrong, you're all I wanted. Come on, come on, don't leave me like this, I thought I had you figured out. Can't breathe whenever you're gone, can't turn back now, I'm haunted."

Alyssa had always thought she knew Hawk inside and out. Turns out, she was wrong. She didn't know that all of the pain inside of him was harboring this new person. And although she promised herself she was done crying over him

"Stood there and watched you walk away from everything we had, but I still mean every word I said to you. He will try to take away my pain, and he just might make me smile, but the whole time I'm wishing he was you instead."

She had definitely done some things to cause hostility, but most of what had happened between them because of Hawk and flipping his script. Everything she said that night outside of Cobra Kai and on her driveway was true — how she didn't recognize him, how she didn't like who he had became, how he broke her heart. Then Alyssa had met the sweetest guy ever who wanted nothing but to have a relationship with her, but her own stupid feelings for Hawk had gotten in the way.

"Oh, holding my breath, won't see you again, something keeps me holding on to nothing."

And, through it all, Alyssa just couldn't seem to let him go.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

ALYSSA WOULD LIKE to consider herself a very good friend for not letting Sam go alone to the hearing.

As a result of the karate violence, especially after the school fight, the Valley was debating getting rid of the All Valley Under-Eighteen tournament. Sam had convinced her to attend the city council meeting with her family so Sensei LaRusso could argue about it. However, everything that had been going on so far proved to be absolutely boring.

Exhibit A.

The chairman of the council tapped their gavel. "Mr. Carter, please, we need to move on."

"And now I'm hearing the city wants to rename manhole maintenance covers," Mr. Carter explained. "Do you know what we called a manhole back in my day? A manhole. And that's just the start."

Alyssa put a hand on her forehead. "Oh my God."

"Don't worry, dad," Sam reassured Sensei LaRusso, who was skimming through his notes. "You got this."

Somebody new then sat in their row. Alyssa looked over, only to see Sensei Lawrence had just come in. Sensei Lawrence's gaze set on her and sent her a small nod. Alyssa gave him a two-fingered salute.

"What are you doing here?" Sensei LaRusso inquired.

"Fighting for the All Valley," Sensei Lawrence answered. "What about you? You gonna read from your diary?"

"There's nothing wrong with being prepared."

"Yeah, and I don't need notes. I'll shoot from the hip."

Sensei LaRusso looked at his wife. "This is gonna be a disaster."

The chairman hit their gavel again. "Okay, next we will hear appeals for the cancellation of the All Valley Under-Eighteen Karate Tournament. Who would like to speak first?"

Sensei Lawrence and Sensei LaRusso got up immediately and walked their way to the front. Alyssa then noticed somebody else get up in the very front row and took the podium. He was older, a lot older, and he looked mean. Unfortunately, Alyssa recognized him. It was the very same guy who had punched Demetri across the face all those months ago.

It Cobra Kai's main Sensei, John Kreese. Miguel had told her about him. He was the one corrupting all of the people inside that dojo, Hawk included. Alyssa's eyes settled into slits. She hoped that he could feel her glare.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm retired Army Captain John Kreese," Kreese announced.

"Thank you for your service," the chairman stated.

"It was an honor to serve. And I continue to serve right here in our community, by teaching our children strength and discipline through karate."

"You're kidding," Alyssa muttered to Sam. "He's teaching them how to be weapons, and they sure as hell don't have any discipline."

Sam patted her hand comfortingly. "I know."

"I was devastated to hear about the cancellation of the tournament because of the fight at the high school," Kreese continued. "Why are my students being penalized because of the violence perpetrated by . . . dojos like Miyagi-Do?"

Alyssa's eyes widened in shock. Oh, some audacity he had. The fight had literally been started by Cobra Kai. After all, Tory — a Cobra Kai — had made that decision to strike first and fight Sam. Also, as he spoke, she could hear all of the manipulation seeping through his tone. No wonder all of Cobra Kai was just an army of assholes if they had somebody like this teaching them.

"Now, wait just one minute," Sensei LaRusso protested.

"Mr. LaRusso, please," the chairman cut in. "It's not your turn to speak."

"I apologize, Councilwoman Roberts. But this man—"

"Councilperson Roberts," Kreese corrected.

Councilperson Roberts nodded to him. "Thank you, Captain Kreese. Please, continue."

"I think my colleagues here would agree that all we want is the best for our students and our community. Cobra Kai's goal is to prepare the Valley's youth for the unfortunate realities of the real world. It's hard out there. I'm simply just preparing them to defend themselves."

"Councilperson Roberts, I'm sorry, but this guy is selling you a bad bill of goods," Sensei LaRusso interrupted. "Just a few weeks ago, my students were injured by a bunch of his Cobra Kai's in an abandoned recreation facility."

"And who started that fight?" Kreese argued. "If memory serves, your out-of-control daughter."

"Oh, I am going to kill him," Alyssa seethed, getting ready to stand up

"Hey!" Mrs. LaRusso shouted, swiftly stopping Alyssa from doing anything. "You leave my daughter out of this, you piece of shit!"

Sam stared up at her in shock. "Mom!"

"Ma'am, please restrain yourself," Councilperson Roberts said.

"It's funny that you say that, because I've had to file a restraining order against her for physically assaulting me," Kreese revealed.

Alyssa shrugged. "As she should."

Mrs. LaRusso scoffed. "Assault? Are you kidding me?"

"Maybe I should make the call to the authorities?" Kreese suggested.

"That won't be necessary," Councilperson Roberts reassured him, signaling to someone.

A police officer stepped up to her. "Ma'am—"

"Hey, do not — do not touch me, okay?" Mrs. LaRusso said, bending down to pick up her bag. "I'm leaving. I'm leaving! Okay? But that man is a lunatic!"

With that, Mrs. LaRusso left. That only left a mildly confused Sam and a very angry Alyssa sitting in the row.

"Councilperson Roberts, I assure you that I am a positive influence to my students, and the hundreds of students before them," Kreese promised.

Alyssa rolled her eyes. Positive influence, sure. Because Hawk was totally being positively influenced. Maybe he had started to become mean under Sensei Lawrence, but Kreese was just making him ruthless.

"Horseshit!" Sensei Lawrence shouted. "Your Honor, John Lawrence, Eagle Fang Karate. This man has poisoned the minds of his students. And I should know, I was one of them."

Kreese looked over at him. "Were we competitive? Sure. But it was all for good sport."

"This man is a thief and a liar."

"And he put a live cobra in my dealership," Sensei LaRusso added.

Councilperson Roberts banged their gavel again. "Enough! Sit down. All of you."

Together, Sensei LaRusso, Sensei Lawrence, and Kreese all sat in the front row right next to each other.

"It is clear this karate tournament is causing division and rivalry in our community. You gentlemen have made an excellent case today as to why this tournament should not continue."

"Wait!" a very familiar voice yelled.

Alyssa turned, her eyes widening slightly. Standing at the top of the staircase was none other than Miguel. She watched as he started to walk down the stairs.

"Did you know he was coming?" Sam whispered.

Alyssa shook her head. "I had no idea."

Miguel stepped up to the podium. "My name is Miguel Diaz. I was in the school fight. I was the one that got kicked off the second floor. You know, uh . . . I thought I was gonna be paralyzed. I relearned how to stand. I relearned how to walk. And I want the tournament to continue."

"We are very happy for your recovery, young man," Councilperson Roberts stated. "But I'm afraid you don't understand—"

"Yes, he does," Sam interjected, standing up from her seat. She grabbed onto Alyssa's wrist and let go when Alyssa stood up as well. The two of them then started to walk down the steps towards the podium to join Miguel. "We're the ones getting hurt. We're the ones fighting. Our voices should matter the most. And we want a place where can compete, fairly and safely."

"When I first moved here, I was bullied," Miguel began, sparing a quick look at Alyssa — she remembered those days. "And I realize that there's no escaping it. There'll always be a kid who wants to steal your lunch money, or give you a wedgie, or give you a swirlie."

"A swirlie?" Councilperson Roberts repeated in confusion.

"It's when you, uh, dunk someone's head in the toilet and flush it," Sensei Lawrence explained. "Pretty funny, actually."

"Sensei!" Miguel scolded. He turned back around and took a deep breath. "Instead of burying your heads in the sand, pretending that bullying doesn't exist, or that you could just get rid of it, what you need to do is teach kids how to defend themselves."

"Both in the physical and mental aspects," Alyssa agreed. There was only so much you could do to heal a broken heart. "Because, um . . . sometimes the scars on the inside hurt more."

"Karate is about discipline. It's about inner strength. It's about confidence. Lessons that you can use for the rest of your life. Look, I — I don't know where I would be today, or who I would be today, if it wasn't for my Sensei." He glanced back at Sensei Lawrence for a moment. "Look, we don't need this tournament to do cool kicks or to sell tickets, we need it to show the bullies of the world that we're not afraid. It's called the All Valley because it's for everyone, to give everyone the chance to show what they can do, to fight, to become a champion. And we deserve that chance."

Councilperson Roberts looked around at her colleagues, who all nodded. "To be honest, I don't get the Valley's fascination with karate. But . . . if it means that much to all of you, and you're willing to sign waivers stating that the city is not liable, then . . . the All Valley Under-Eighteen Tournament is officially back on."

The hitting of their gavel officially sealed the deal. Alyssa smiled brightly, and before she even had a chance to blink, Sam turned and tackled her in a hug. Alyssa laughed loudly and hugged her back tightly for a second before locking eyes with Miguel. She gestured for him to join them, and Miguel wrapped his arms around the two of them. The three shared one giant group hug for a moment before letting each other go.

Now that the All Valley was back on, she knew she would have to face Cobra Kai again for real. However, that was way in the future. So, right now, Alyssa decided to focus on their victory.

•─•°•❀•°•─•

big things next chapter! big things, I tell you!