warnings: violence!

___

CAMERON recognised Silver instantly, it was like a chilling feeling at the back of her neck. So when all the kids were escorted inside, only for them to draw the doors open to see the tense exchange after another tense exchange.

Miguel asks, "Your dad is pissed. Who is that guy?"

Sam shrugged, "I have no idea"

"Terry Silver," Cameron answered, just staring ahead at the guy.

Sam rolled her eyes, "Of course you know him."

"Would you also like to know he ambushed me in Staples yesterday?" Cameron said coldly, ignoring the surprise flashing on their faces.

"That's why you looked spooked," Hawk realised but was waved off.

Miguel quietly exhaled, "Another secret."

"What?" Cameron questioned him, not hearing what he said.

"He looks like a Highlander," Bert commented.

Nate corrected, "The Highlander. There can be only one."

Seconds passed as they tried hearing the rest of the Sensei's conversations, only for it to end with Silver and Daniel walking off, leaving Johnny and Kreese.

Class ended abruptly, but Miguel wouldn't let Cameron escape so easily. His disappointment spread through Cameron like a cold sweat.

"What do you want Miguel? I'm not gonna sit and listen to you try and defend Sam or accuse me of more shit," she kept up her strides, out of the Dojo as everyone else seemed to drive off.

He managed to get ahead of her, blocking her path, earning a frustrated sigh and an irritated expression.

"I'm not defending her. I'm making sure you don't get caught up in all that bullshit again," he stressed.

"Why? Because I'm not respecting Miyagi-do teachings? Like you do and making rooky moves instead of being all in?"

He scoffed, "Right."

"What?"

"This is about you and me," he believed, gesturing between them, making her frantically shake her head.

"Get over yourself."

"Not get over yourself." he snapped back, causing her to reel aback, "it's not all about you. You get that right? If you don't want to be here don't. But don't take it out on me or the rest of us that do. I was trying to help you back then."

"Then stop. Give up. It'll make your life so much easier. After all, it's not about me."

"Nah, just about you and Hawk right?" he rebutted, startling her.

"What are you talking about?" She honestly had no clue.

"Secret after secret," he remarked, angrily, "you and him."

"There is no me and him. We're friends," she explained, his anger made hers subdued, "that's all it is Miguel. He was there for me and I was there for him, I am there for him. It's called a friendship, that's it."

His face scrunched up, "I'm supposed to accept that like you can't seem to accept that me and Sam are just friends."

"No I can't," she said, with an edge to her tone.

He stepped closer, aggravated by her turning away, "And why is that?"

"Because then..." she trailed off, eyes gleaming with a level of fear.

"Then what Cameron?" his voice lowered, yet she averted her gaze.

"If you, continue to be around her, her perfect life, then..." Cameron's hand reached up to her drying throat as if to soothe it. "Never mind."

"Don't." Miguel didn't accept that. "Don't do that, not now. Tell me, Cameron." having enough of her silence, he cupped her face, briefly stunning her as her eyes met his, seeing the distress she was putting him through. "You can tell me anything. You know that. So tell me."

She forced herself to swallow fear and let her hand fall from her neck and hover above one of his.

"Come on," Miguel was pleading with her. "Tell me."

Cameron's blink turned rapidly, wanting the tears that formed to fade, but they only threatened to escape.

Miguel captured one with his thumb, wiping it away, which triggered more.

"Not here," her throat burned as she spoke, "not now. Don't make me."

His head dropped to hers, drained and tired as he let out a sequence of deep breaths, contrasting her staggered ones.

There they stayed, suffocated by the unspoken words that loomed over them.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

SCHOOL felt tricky the next day. Even with Hawk's new colour inspiring her nails, Anala's constant and sometimes overbearing support and a few more friendships mended, Cameron still didn't want to be there.

In homeroom, she felt Miguel's longing stares and she wanted to look back, but it stung. Thinking of all she wanted to say, all she thought would be good to express to him yet their breakup lingered, the harsh words exchanged and the sobbing and heartbreak that ensued.

"Is he pissed with me?" Hawk referred to Miguel who was surprisingly not being off with him.

Cameron reassured as they stood around the main entrance to the school, "Nope, only me."

"I could talk to him," he suggested.

"No, that's for me to do," Cameron declined his offer with an appreciative smile.

"What's holding you back?"

"Fear of abandonment I bet," Anala made them jump, and annoyed Cameron with her assessment. "Hey."

"She's not wrong," Hawk said, turning to his friend.

Cameron rolled her eyes, "Shut up man."

"See you later, I need to go and find Moon, she's doing my reading today," Anala stated, before waving them goodbye.

"She needs a bell," Cameron murmured, watching as the girl joined Moon, Yasmine and Demetri.

Hawk argued, "And you need to grow some balls."

"Or I could kick yours," Cameron retorted before her gaze was drawn to Lily's who neared them.

"Brutal," the Leigh girl commented, looking between them with intrigue.

"Yeah, it's been my speciality for a while," Cameron remarked, with a callous shrug, "excuse me."

Hawk scratched at his forehead, when his friend walked away, leaving him with his ex-girlfriend.

"Didn't realise this was a bad time," Lily said, apologetically.

"It's not, she's just dealing with shit," Hawk motioned to Cameron's retreating figure.

"Right, you replaced me after we stopped being friends," Lily said cheekily.

"Ouch, a replacement is all I am?" Hawk feigned offence.

"Never," she playfully patted his arm, momentarily shocked by how bulkier it got. She cleared her throat, and gestured to the purple mo-hawk, "I like the new colour."

"Moon told me that it signals alignment," he said, quietly thanking her for the compliment.

"And do you feel aligned?" Lily wondered aloud.

Looking up to see Demetri and Yasmine all over each other, made him change his answer.

"Nope."

Lily laughed.

And Hawk missed that sound.

"Did you hear about the Twitter rant Sensei Lawrence went on?" Bert rambled on the phone to Cameron as she put some things in her locker. She glanced up when she saw, Demetri making his way over with Hawk, Sam and an apprehensive Miguel, "check it out."

"Yeah, I will." she ended the call and closed the locker she leaned against when they stood in front of her,  "This about the Twitter rant?"

Demetri answered, "Which somehow he knows how to use Twitter, I'll never understand."

"Looks like he and Sensei LaRusso are gonna have a rematch," Miguel said, filling in the gaps for her.

Surprise flickered through her eyes, "shit."

"They're really gonna fight?" Hawk asked, holding back his laughter.

"Apparently. Should've seen this coming," Sam said.

"Who does he even think he's tweeting to? You're his only follower?" Demetri couldn't contain his amusement as he spoke to Miguel.

"I don't know. H-He seems serious about it," Miguel stammered, still coming to terms with it all.

"So this is real? Sensei and Sensei are gonna throw down?" Hawk needed to be sure. Miguel and Sam's nods were confirmation enough. "That's awesome!"

They all merely looked around at each other.

"Sup guys, cousin." Drew greeted, receiving a mixture of tired waves or enthusiastic words of acknowledgement. He then turned to the brunette, "Samantha can I grab you for a second?"

She slowly nodded, "Sure."

Cameron tossed her head back against her locker in mild annoyance when the pair strayed away, leaving the boys to look at her.

"What's going on there?" Demetri asked teasingly.

Cameron quietly answered, "I literally have no clue."

Hawk and him began talking about the upcoming fight, whilst Cameron craned her neck to the side, meeting Miguel's tired eyes.

"Umm, sorry for yesterday."

"Instead of apologising, we could just talk without the shouting and the background noise," Miguel suggested, blankly.

He watched as she deliberated over his response, clinging to the hope that she would agree for once and put aside any stubbornness, especially after he walked her home yesterday.

"After this fight..." she fumbled with her hands when she landed on a proposal. "Is that good for you, you know to talk?"

"Yeah," Miguel breathed out, not daring to smile, just in case it was too good to be true.

She nodded, "Good."

"Great."

Perhaps the suffocating suspense would falter quicker than expected.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"KNOCK knock," Drew joked as he stepped into his cousin's room.

"Stop." She rolled her eyes as she grabbed her headphones off of her bed. She was sporting a  jogging outfit and slicked hair, "What do you want?"

He sighed at her bored tone, "Back to hating me now? You know I don't have much time left in this town, might wanna start being nice to me."

"What do you want Drew?" She repeated. He closed the door behind him, "I need to go on a run."

Drew proposed, "I'll join you."

She turned down his offer, "I want to be alone," she said, placing her headphones around her neck. "Whatever shit you have going on with Sam isn't my concern. It's your life do what what you want."

"Wow," he breathed out in disbelief.

She groaned, "Isn't that what you want to hear?"

"You're sounding like a dick again," Drew definitively stated.

"What do you want from me, Seriously?" She asked, exhausted by his relentless pestering.

"Honesty."

Cameron blankly stared at him before arching a brow, "You want me to be honest?"

"Yeah."

Cameron huffed, "Then fine, ask away."

He studied her and asked, "If I told you I like Sam, what would you say?"

Her jaw tightened at the mention of the girl, "Live your life."

"Liar."

"Fine, I wouldn't want to speak to you," she said, shrugging and coiling her fingers into her palms.

"And why is that?"

"Because she's a bitch," she said as if it were obvious, yet he didn't rest there.

"That's not a problem for you, you are one and have been for a while, you've been friends with so many," Drew pointed out, staying where he stood.

"Because I don't like her. I just don't okay. She's a snitch, she's a dick, and I don't like her. Never have and probably never will be." she exclaimed, chest rising and falling, making his eyes widen, "But again your love life is your business. You're almost 18 now. You do whatever you want Drew. I'm serious. I mean you started giving Miguel driving lessons without caring how I feel."

His shoulders slumped slightly, "I'm sorry about that."

He thought he was doing something good.

"No, it's fine. Honestly, I'm starting to think there is no point saying what's on my mind since it doesn't get me anywhere," her voice quieted toward the end.

"Just tell him you still love him."

"Fuck you," she said, rolling her eyes, yet he ignored her.

"It'll make you feel better. Trust me. I'm a fuck up in my relationships. Don't be the same." whether it was a warning or advice, she wasn't sure. Still, he tugged at her door handle just after saying. "Enjoy your run. Be safe."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CAMERON wasn't bothered about the upcoming fight. She did want to watch it, wondering who would come out on top. And what would come of it all. Fighting, arguing, and disagreements over how to preach to their students? Discord on discord on discord. Something she was used to and yet was she getting sick of it? Or was it creature comfort that was becoming a second skin?

And then there was Miguel, who she promised a conversation. A long and overdue conversation that she just dreaded. And yet it would be nice — to understand each other, regardless of preferences and learnings.

I'm a fuck up in my relationships. Don't be the same, ugh. She wanted to kill her cousin for putting that in her mind.

hawknoteli

at rico's. changing 
hawk tattoo. won't
take long. have fun
without me.

cj

I doubt it.
read

And that was over 40 minutes ago. And now she watched as Miyagi-do and Eagle Fang readied to watch the fight in the evening, pulling out their phones. but Chris had a selfie stick to get better angles. It was actually pretty impressive.

Daniel warmed up, in his white Gi.

"Hey Cameron,"  Miguel calmly greeted her.

She mustered up a smile, "Hey Miguel. Wanna take a bet on who's gonna win?"

"Don't you think no matter who wins, we're all gonna lose out?"

"Depends on whose lessons you value most," Cameron countered.

"i-I actually like learning both, don't you?"

"I don't think I do," Cameron said, completely honest. Which he appreciated, but frowned out, stirring odd feelings in her stomach. "He's here." she nodded when Johnny entered their dojo, ignoring Chris's constant questions as he walked up to the sparring deck. "Good luck with your umpiring."

"Thanks," he flashed her a haste smile then joined Sam, much to her dismay who was the other umpire.

In the time it took for Johnny to get changed into a black Gi, Hawk still hadn't replied. He should've been here by now. But the fight was starting. Umpires spoke, making each Sensei bow to them, then to each other.

Johnny was fidgety in his fighting position, whilst Daniel was calm and firm.

"Ready?" Miguel asked, as his and Sam's flags went up.

"Fight," she instructed.

Cameron anxiously texted on her phone, missing the first point of the match. It was awarded to johnny who landed a punch to Daniel's side.

"Come on CJ, you're missing it," Mitch nudged her, then went back to commenting on the spirit of the match.

But she ignored him, pressing her phone to her ear, hearing it ring for 5 seconds only for it to go to voicemail.

"C'mon bro," she saw that Daniel had a point now. 1-1, "Pick up when you see this. You usually do, and it's kind of worrying me."

She huffed in frustration only to capture another point that Daniel landed, much to her dismay.

"Let's go Sensei Lawrence!" she yelled, startling him with her support. He nodded at her and then the rest of the students, knowing he would only need to equalise. He needed this. But Daniel wouldn't give up, taking out Johnny by making his arm go limp, yet he brought him to the ground and sent his foot to his chest. "Yes, Sensei!"

"Hawk is missing all of this, where is he?" Chris questioned.

"Must be still at the tattoo place," she answered, with a huff.

They all waited in anticipation watching to see who would win the final point, they scuffled, pushed, kicked and defended.

Only for them both to knock each other out, rendering them to the ground.

"Oooh!" went the crowd.

The umpires were unsure about who to give the point to.

"Check the replay," Demetri spoke up as the Sensei's tiredly and achily got up.

Everyone turned to Chris, who held up his phone to replay, watching their senseis knock each other out with a fist and a kick at the same time.

"Go to another angle," Johnny tiredly instructed.

Glancing up at him, Chris said, "There is no other angle."

"Don't you guys have another phone?"

Cameron's attention was drawn to the hooded figure who trudged up to them.

"Where have you been?" she recognised Hawk.

"Hawk?" Miguel called out, stepping down to approach him.

"Shit. Eli, what happened?" Demetri then asked.

They all stood back in shock when he pulled down his hood, revealing his purple Hawk was jaggedly cut off.

"Oh my god," Cameron covered her mouth, as gasps surrounded them.

Johnny pushed his way off of the deck and forward to question him, "Who did this?"

"Cobra Kai," Hawk answered timidly, then put his hood back on.

"Kreese and Silver did this. They need to pay," Johnny stated.

"Jesus, Johnny. Please. Kreese tried to kill you," Daniel protested immediately. "You wanna fight them both?"

"Damn right. Look what they did."

"Dousing the fire with gasoline, that's your answer?" Daniel huffed, "Why am I not surprised?"

"Sensei, stop," Miguel said sadly, to Johnny.

Cameron sighed deeply as she walked over to Hawk, rubbing his shoulders as he fought tears.

"You still think your way is the only way. You were so proud when they pulled their little sprinkler prank. If they kicked ass like I taught them, this never would've happened," Johnny voiced

Daniel challenged, "If they fight every time they're provoked, where does that lead? Back to the hospital? Or to jail? Just 'cause you spent time in both –"

Sam  cut him off, "Enough, Dad."

"What?"

"Johnny's right," Sam said, taking her father by surprise, "It doesn't matter how many times we stand up to Cobra Kai, if we don't strike back, they're gonna keep coming at us."

Swallowing that bitter bill, Daniel turned to Johnny with betrayal in his eyes, "And you were worried about my influence on your kids? Is this what you want, Johnny? To have my daughter and the rest of my students acting like you?"

unknown number
(maybe robby keene)
now we're even.
Seen

"Holy shit," Cameron's face contorted, between guilt and anger.

She couldn't believe she ever considered going back to that hellhole, but the fact she did only once led to her closest friend paying the price.

"All your precautionary actions are just passive aggression," Cameron spoke up, and all eyes were on her.

"Cameron don't." Miguel tried reasoning with her, but she just shook her head.

"You trying to get Cobra Kai banned again was a flop," she said directly to Daniel. "All I'm saying is that this could've been avoided. Instead of the pussy footing that leads us to this point. Eli is the number one example of that. I get striking first isn't your teaching, but it's better to have done nothing than anything at all."

"Ain't that the shitting truth," Johnny firmly agreed with her.

Daniel's lips curled into a sneer, "Johnny."

"She's right."

"I know I am. This victim mentality is spreading clearly," Cameron snapped back.

Johnny turned back to Daniel, "You don't have to worry about that anymore. 'Cause we're done."

"Works for me," Daniel settled on that.

"Eagle Fangs, let's go."

Miguel reluctantly followed as both classes seemed to be up in arms about this.

"Sorry," Cameron whispered to Hawk as they left the dojo.

He said nothing, and she dropped back when Miguel said her name.

"Are you happy now?" he questioned quietly.

"If you think I would be with this, you don't know me at all," Cameron struggled to suppress the hurt she felt.

"I didn't mean about Hawk –"

But his voice fell on deaf ears as she speedily unblocked a contact.

cj

i know we're not
talking. but this isn't
about me. it's about eli.
something fucked up
happened. you should
check on him.
seen

As Eli hopped out of his car, and walked to his house, feeling all the shame in the world, his phone buzzed. His eyes were too heavy with threatening tears to be shocked that Lily wanted to call him. He watched it ring for a moment and then ended it. Not thinking he was enough to talk to her.

No Mo-Hawk. No girlfriend. He was nothing.

He felt like nothing.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

a/n:

happy new year, wishing everyone a peaceful and prosperous year!

robby and cameron have such a cousin-dynamic relationship in my opinion. the type of cousin relationship that gets better with age. but damn, him sending that text was nasty work. so now, she's just gonna feel guilt for starting this, and through her guilt she'll deflect and project.

you might also feel like her and miguel are going around in circles... they definitely are. pre-fight they were on track, but it's obvious they want different things in terms of how they want to be taught. will cameron change her mind anytime soon?

try not to get too mad with cameron, after all this is the anger stage of her story.