warnings: violence!

___

COBRA Kai officially had new potential students. There are tons since kids want to join to escape the bullying they receive.

"The gi really suits you." Miguel complemented.

Cameron analysed herself, "Really? I was hoping for a black shading but it's cool."

"Is black your favourite colour?" he inquired.

She countered, "It's technically a shade."

"Oh yeah, that's true."

"And blue is my favourite colour, but I don't wear it all the time."

He nodded, drinking in her words as Aisha came over, stripped of her glasses, but wearing a matching gi to them.

Aisha greeted, "Hey guys."

"Looking good Aisha," Cameron smiled.

"Thanks, are you ready to show these newbies how to kickass?"

"Let's do it."

Miguel started sparring with her, throwing punches, hard enough that they tapped her palm.

"Quiet!" Sensei yelled, ceasing any chatter. "Face front." they all followed his command as he began to walk, studying his potential students. Demetri just happened to be the first one he spoke to.  "Nice shirt."

The boy crookedly smiled, "Thanks."

"I'm joking. It sucks." Johnny insulted, looking around, practically in disgust before his eyes landed on a grinning kid with braces, "Word of advice: If you got shit for teeth, don't smile"

Cameron mumbled to Aisha, "He's really not a people person."

She quietly agreed, "That should be advertised on the website."

"My God, makes me feel like a virgin just looking at you." Johnny murmured to the young kid, as he continued his insults," When I look around this dojo, I don't see Cobra Kai material. I see losers. I see nerds. I see a fat kid with a funny hat with his tіts popping out. But in my short time as a sensei, I've also seen some miracles." A small smile graced his student's faces, although Cameron didn't know if she should take it as an insult. "So maybe there's some hope for you yet. First I need to see where you're at. So everybody, fall in!"

No one moved.

"That means line up." Everyone assumed that he wanted them in lines behind his three students. "No, not... not line up in a line. Lines. Get in lines."

Demetri tentatively asked, "You mean, like, rows?"

Johnny's face fell into his hands, "Ugh."

Soon everyone understand his command. Rows, not lines.

"Fighting positions!" Stances were taken and fists were up. "Jab punch!" Sensei shook his head,  "Nope, wait till I say go. Hiya!" They moved. "Hiya! Hiya!" Again. He watched for any faults and there were many. "Come on, you want to stand straight." He approached a shorter student, "Plant your feet in there. Hiya!" He scrunched up his face, "Are you sure you're right-handed?" He did not like what he saw when he went around the room. "Hiya!" He grumbled when he approached another kid. "Come on, tіts, you can do better than that You got weight; use it. Ready?"

Johnny was not impressed as he stood in front of the room.

"Hey, Lip. Yeah, you." He called out to Eli. "The one with the freaky lip. Who do you think I'm talking to?"

Demetri defended, "Excuse me, Mr. Lawrence."

"Sensei Lawrence," Aisha promptly corrected.

Demetri let out a condescending laugh, "Okay. You really shouldn't make fun of someone's physical appearance."

"Oh, is that so? So I'm not supposed to mention his lip at all?" Johnny questioned.

Cameron turned to find Eli helplessly looking around.

"Well, yeah. Yeah, maybe that's what they teach you in school, but in the real world, you can't expect people to do what they're supposed to do. Right?" Johnny stated, "You hear that, Lip? If you can't handle someone making fun of you, how are you gonna handle an elbow to the teeth?"

"By calling the police?" Demetri said as if it were obvious.

Miguel quietly pleaded, "Dude. Knock it off."

"What? He does realize the Nazis lost the war, right? Why should I be scared of him? Because he's got a snake on his wall?" Demetri gestured to the sigil. "It's not like he's a teacher who can give us a bad grade. We're paying him. He works for us. It's not like he can actually hurt us."

And boy was he wrong.

"Oh, shit," Miguel whispered, briefly shutting his eyes as others moved out of the way allowing Sensei to walk up to Demetri.

"You done?" Sensei questioned standing in front of him.

Demetri asked, "What?"

"Hit me. Go ahead, hit me." Sensei gestured to his face, "Strike me right here." It prompted Demetri to weakly try but failed. "Harder." Demetri failed again.  "Is that all you got, princess?" Demetri tried again, but Sensei's arm was swung forward, driving his entire body to flip to the ground,  where he kneeled in front of the flinching boy. "Hiya!" Sensei rose and pointed around the room. "Let that be a lesson to all of you."

"Do you think Sensei knows he's an asshole?" Cameron whispered, feeling nothing but sympathy for the best friends.

Miguel tiredly inclined his head, "Trust me. He does."

The class didn't last that long today.

Cameron questioned whether she should continue going, seeing how brutal it was. Johnny Lawrence was arguably worse than the bullies most of them faced.

Miguel joined her as she sat outside on the stone wall where she anxiously texted someone on her phone. He caught the worried expression.

"Hey don't worry about everything in there. It's intense and even though he doesn't say it, Sensei thinks you're great. He knows how badass gymnasts can be. Saw a compilation of Gabby Douglas on YouTube last night and started thinking how many kicks are involved and wants you to show me even more."

"I'm happy about that and Gabby was amazing," Cameron mustered up a smile, looking away from her phone,  "It's just my dad. He's a little down at the moment."

Miguel quietly asked, "Is it work?"

Cameron winced at the assumption, "No. He left his job a while ago. He's like a house dad now."

"That's cool. Like my Yaya."

Cameron subtly nodded, "He's in a stump I think. But he'll be fine. That's what my mom tells me. Plus the meds he takes — shit I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

Miguel quickly reassured, "Secret is safe with me. When I had really bad asthma the doctors prescribed me Ventolin."

She squinted her eyes, "But I swear you don't use an inhaler anymore."

"Sensei says he cured it," Miguel didn't mind. It saved spending money for inhalers.

"But that isn't how it... never mind."

"Just know. Your secrets are safe with me." Miguel stated, and her eyes lit up slightly.  "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something."

He was interrupted by a beep.

"Oh, that's my mom. I gotta go. I'll call you later," she said getting up. But before she could leave he gave her a hug she wasn't expecting. Feeling her tense he went to pull away but she accepted the warm yet awkward embrace. Finding comfort in his racing heartbeat. "Thanks... bye Miguel." She pulled back, bashfully staring at him as she took a step back. "Great hug and everything."

"Amazing form — from the hug I mean. Shit."

He stopped himself from further embarrassment when she jogged over to the passenger side of her mom's car.

"Is that him?" Alexis asked, waving at the boy who flushed but returned the gesture. "He's cute."

"Mom drive. Please."

"Just a question."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

LAUGHTER spread through the biology lab when Sam LaRusso walked in, with a piece of candy on her shoulder as she sat down.

"Thanks for the Blow Pop, guys. Really never gets old," she drawled sarcastically, removing it and settling it down.

"I would just stay home if I got teased like that," Cameron whispered to Miguel.

Miguel frowned. "Yeah, but they're just rumours."

"Rumors that can ruin girls' lives. Hey, look at how everyone treated Aisha. Sam's friends were the ones to do it."

"But not her," Miguel defended, earning an odd look from her.

"Hey, everybody. Who let the pigs out?" Mr Palmer exclaimed as no one responded. "I did because I ordered the fetal pigs. But seriously, get in your groups."

Cameron looked down at the worksheets.

Sam rose from her seat to speak to their teacher.

"Mr. Palmer, my partner's absent," she informed.

Mr Palmer exclaimed, "Oh, who wants to take Samantha in? This little piggy needs a group."

No one said anything, as she turned to look around at her peers.

"Don't all volunteer at once."

Miguel was the one to raise his hand, "We'll take her."

"Why?" Cameron quietly questioned him.

"Just being friendly," he answered as Sam gathered her things and approached their table

She accidentally hit Cameron's shoulder as went to place her bag on Miguel's left side.

"Thank you." She said, smiling.  "I'm gonna go grab a chair."

Miguel replied, "Yeah. No problem."

Cameron sighed.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Great," she flashed him a faux smile as Sam returned, sitting down on the chair she got.

"Hey, Cameron." Sam waved.

Cameron only gave a curt nod in response, "Sam."

They steadily placed on gloves and aprons and grabbed a scalpel.

Cameron took the lead as she actually understood this class without any help. And wasn't a nauseous feral pig. 

"What were you thinking for sеx?" Sam questioned making Miguel all flustered.

He stammered, "Uh, I mean..."

Cameron rolled her eyes.

Sam continued, "Because in the male, this tract opens up near the umbilical cord. So I think ours is female."

Miguel stiffly nodded, "Yeah. Um... Yeah, I concur."

"Thanks for, um, helping me out, by the way."

"Oh, yeah, I mean, I'm sure you... you would've found another group."

Cameron's grip on the scalpel tightened as she listened to them speak about the fight. And how to correct his stance and skills in Karate, stunning them with how much Sam knew about the martial art.

They joked as Cameron got more and more quiet. Focusing on the dissecting before her hand cramped up and she let go of the scalpel all together with a small groan.

"Do you guys want a banana?" Samantha asked, taking them out of her bag, "People keep sneaking them in my bag. It's because of that stupid rumour that I'm sure you guys have heard about me."

"Oh, no. Yeah, you shouldn't worry about it. Those guys are assholes to us too. I mean, they call me 'Rhea, so..."

Samantha disagreed, "Not anymore."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Not anymore," Miguel responded with a smile that she mirrored.

"Mr Palmer," Cameron raised her hand, gaining not only the teacher's attention but her lab partners as well. "Can I use the bathroom?"

"Sure," he gave permission.

She didn't hesitate to discard the gloves and apron, packing away her pencil case and left.

"Is she okay?" Sam questioned.

"Oh, Cameron?" Miguel spoke with indifference "She's not that chatty. Unless it's with people she likes."

"Oh."

"Yeah, sorry."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"HE was asking for you in geometry. Asking me why you haven't answered his texts," Aisha said through the phone as Cameron remained in the school bathroom.

She hadn't come out since first period.

"And what did you say?" Cameron said.

"That your phone was dead. Why aren't you speaking to him?"

Cameron groaned, "He was flirting with Sam."

"That bitch." Lily gasped. "She totally likes him. I saw him looking at him like rainbows shit from his ass after he took down Kyler."

Cameron groaned, "I think I was right about before. I think this was all in my head. He never liked me. He actually just sees me as a friend. So starting tomorrow I'm distancing myself."

"Good". Lily agreed.

Aisha argued, "Don't you think you're being over dramatic? He could've been just being nice to her and not flirting."

"How was he behaving?" Lily asked as she packed up her bag before the bell went.

"They were staring at each other a lot. He didn't even notice that I wasn't talking," Cameron's voice lowered the more she thought about it.

Lily scoffed, "Asshole."

Aisha retorted, "Not helping Lily."

"Boys are dumb. So be like me and not like them."

Cameron sighed, "I'm just gonna go to sleep through my next classes."

Aisha asked, "Wait are you still coming to Cobra Kai?"

"I guess."

"Why don't you just talk to him and tell him how you feel?"

"'Cause I prefer to suffer in silence. It's a comfort. That and boyfriend audios.  Shit," their giggles made her regret blurting that out. "this is why I don't like to talk about my feelings because I reveal shit. See you at lunch."

Maybe she did misread all the signs between her and Miguel.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"OKAY, everybody fall in." Johnny walked into the dojo, confused by the lack of kids. "Where's everyone? Crater face? Nose ring? Slingshot?"

"They quit, Sensei," Miguel informed.

"You serious? I mean, good. That was a test." Johnny walked through, trying to recover from his obvious annoyance. "I wanted to see who the quitters are. Not you guys. You're in it to win it. Right, you could be at home, playing your computers, playing your video games, eating candy. Instead, you're here, doing pushups, learning how to fight." he pointed at Eli, "Lip. Look. Even Lip's tougher than those guys. He's no quitter."

Eli, tired of the crude name, quietly asked,  "Could you please not call me that?"

"Excuse me, what?" Johnny raised his voice.

"I said, could you please not call me that."

Feeling the tension rise, Miguel stepped forward, "Um, I'll warm 'em up, Sensei."

Johnny dismissed him, "No, no, no. Lip has something he wants to say. Sorry, speak up, Lip. Or is your tongue messed up too? Are you one of those challenged kids?"

"Um, the doctor said I could be on the spectrum," Eli responded.

"I don't know what that is, but get off it pronto. All right? If you don't want me to call you Lip, then don't have a weird lip. Can't you get surgery for that?"

"I was born with a cleft lip. This is the scar from the surgery."

"You mean it was worse before that? Or did the doctor just screw up? Because if this is the after photo, that sucks, man. You should sue."

Cameron groaned into her hands. She not only wasn't in the mood for today, but she also didn't want to deal with this grown-ass man's rudeness.

"Can we just please change the topic?"

"You don't think I want to? It's tough when it's right in front of me. If you want to be something other than a nerd with a scar on his lip, then you gotta flip the script. Okay? Get a face tattoo. Or gauge your eye out. We'll call you Patch, all right? No, don't do that one. You'll still look like a freak." Eli couldn't take it anymore, gathered his shoes and left. "Uh, great, really? Another quitter?"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CAMERON rushed out of the dojo straight after that shit show.

She was pretty much over the whole day.

Not as much physically drained as mentally. She needed to cool off and she told her mom she wouldn't need picking up, instead, she went to the mini-mart to get a drink.

A can of Fanta was in her hand after she walked out and paid.

Just as she was about to get her headphones out of her bag, her name was called.

"Cameron!"

"Goodbye Miguel," she didn't even bother turning around, but his footsteps picked up.

"Did I do something wrong? I've been texting you and was gonna ask if you wanted to come to my house and study but you haven't been answering your phone"

Sighing she glanced behind her to see the confusion on his face, "You didn't do anything. It was me. I was wrong about something. Don't worry."

Miguel jogged around her, halting her stride, which made her frustrated sigh.

"Well, I am. Because we haven't gone this long without talking before. I thought we... don't you want to talk anymore?"

She closed her eyes as she uttered, "Yeah."

"Then tell me what went wrong," he said almost pleadingly as he stepped closer.

Cameron clenched her jaw as looked directly at him, "Do you like Sam?"

Shocked by the question, he stammered, "W-what?"

She groaned, "See. You get all flustered when you're around her. You were literally like that in biology and that's like my favourite subject right now. So it made shit even worse."

"I don't like her."

She scoffed, "Then explain your body language."

He threw his hands up, "What body language?"

"It was turned to her the entire time Miguel. You didn't even talk to me when she sat down," she snapped.

"Because you went quiet."

"Because she sat down. Ugh. Forget it. It's like talking to a brick wall. And I hate having to explain myself, especially about bullshit. Don't text me," she went to move but his body blocked her, much to her annoyance.

"Cameron! I was just trying to include her in our group. You know by being nice," he tried explaining himself, totally unaware of his body language toward her.

"Whatever Miguel. I should really find a different mini-mart,"

He shook his head, "You're overreacting."

And that was the second time someone said today.

Her face fell making her fiercely reply, "Don't tell me about how I feel. I already don't like confrontation."

"But you're in Cobra Kai. How is that supposed to work?"

She scoffed, "I guess it isn't." 

"What is that supposed to mean?" Cameron barged passed him, feeling very tensed and emotional as he did. Miguel called out, "Cameron! I still have your number, I can just call you!"

"Well don't!"

Today was a mess and Cameron wished she asked her mom for a ride but now she's busy.

Turning a corner on the street, her body collided with another, causing her can of Fanta to drop to the floor and burst in front of them, splashing over their shoes as the fiz settled on the concrete.

"Great," her voice said shakily as she glanced up at the boy in front of her.

His brown hair was cropped to his jaw, and his brown eyes seemed apologetic, but the LaRusso motors shirt he wore only made her more frustrated.

"Sorry. I can get you another one," he suggested, panicked when her eyes teared up.

Her voice cracked, "Don't bother."

"Are you crying over a drink?" he didn't mean to sound so dismissive but that she just set her off.

"I'm not overreacting!"

He raised his hands in defence, "I never said you were."

He watched, stunned by the interaction but knew he wasn't the only one to have a shitty day.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CAMERON still came to another Karate class the next day. She didn't want to quit, since it was a way to let off some steam. She just didn't want to talk.

Miguel had tried texting, Snapchatting, DMing even emailing her. But nothing. Just radio silence. He even personally made her a meme that was blanked.

She had stood on Aisha's left, furthest from him and closest to the door.

Miguel forced his gaze away from her, trudging to the front to tell his Sensei, "Three more absences, Sensei."

Aisha remarked, "Bunch of pussies."

"No, it's my fault," Sensei admitted. Turning to face his class, "Since you joined Cobra Kai, I have been hard on you. I've called you names. I've humiliated you. Some of you I've hit. And for that, I don't apologize. Cobra Kai is about strength. If you're not strong on the inside, you can't be strong on the outside." he stalked back and front as his gaze dragged through his students.  "And right now you're all weak. And I know that because I was you. I used to have no friends. Used to be the weirdo kid. Not that weird." he made direct eye contact with Bert, "I still hooked up with babes and all, but... The point is, I wasn't always the badass Sensei I am today. Just like a Cobra, I had to shed my loser skin to find my true power. And you guys will too."

The bell chimed as someone walked in with a blue mo-hawk.

"Welcome to Cobra Kai," Sensei greeted, not recognising Eli. 

Everyone turned to him, his friends in shock at the new confidence.

Miguel stunned, asked,  "Eli, what happened?"

"I'm flipping the script," he answered, voice deeper and harsher than before.

"I like the hair," Cameron said, barely smiling. "Especially the blue."

Eli smirked, "thanks."

Miguel glanced between them in irritation, something only Aisha caught.

Sensei walked closer to Eli, "Wait, are you the kid with the lip? Nice cut, bro." he complimented,  "You see that?" he pointed at him, "Doesn't matter if you're a loser or a nerd or a freak. All that matters is that you become badass." he decided on a new name for him, "Hawk. Fall in."

Taking off his shoes, he stood beside Cameron.

"Fear does not exist in this dojo, does it?" Sensei asked him, walking passed.

He answered, "No, Sensei!"

"Weakness does not exist in this dojo, does it?" Sensei asked Cameron.

She answered, rolling back her shoulders, "No, Sensei!"

"Pain does not exist in this dojo, does it?" Sensei asked Aisha.

He answered, "No, Sensei!"

"Defeat does not exist in this dojo, does it?" Sensei asked Miguel.

He answered, "No, Sensei!"

Satisfied with their answers, Sensei turned, looking to the front of the dojo, "Class, are you ready to learn the way of the fist?"

They all yelled, "Yes, Sensei!"

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a/n:

cameron shutting down after seeing her crush interact with anyone guy is me, unfortunately. and because she hates confrontation she just won't say anything because as shown everyone would tell her she's overreacting whether they knew it irritated her or not. to the point, that she would literally project onto a stranger who may or may not be robby dora keene.

the angst in this chapter was real. also, johnny in this episode made me cringe so hard. he was so terrible.

and apparently, miguel's asthma was partially due to his anxiety, which makes sense since anxiety can cause panic attacks and much more. but if it was just because the writers forgot about it I wouldn't be surprised.