𐙚˙ ༘ ⋆｡ ˚( DECODE ! )
❛ BROKEN ARMS ❜
CHAPTER FOURTY-ONE !

"YOU KNOW WHY THEY CALL THIS HIBACHI?" Johnny asked Miguel, as Charlie parked her bicycle on the rack.

"They don't. It's a kettle grill," Miguel replied, causing the girl to giggle, drawing the attention of both boys.

Charlie approached, hugging Miguel's shoulder, and placed a box of chocolates on the table for after the meal.

"A hundred years ago in ancient China, there was a tiny little village of dairy farmers, living fat off their milk and cheese. Then when a drought came, they needed to get water from the river. None of the chinamen wanted to do their work." Johnny began, tending to the grill.

Miguel and Charlie exchanged weird glances while the boy spoke. "not sure that's the appropriate term."

"China people, whatever. The point is, they were laying around in hammocks waiting for rain. So a wise man gathered up a bunch of twigs and stuffed it under the villagers while they slept. Know what he did then?" Johnny directed his question mainly at Miguel, leaving Charlie free to start eating the chocolate, too impatient to wait for the food.

Miguel shrugged at the blonde. "Lit a fire under them?"

"Exactly." Johnny confirmed, pointing his lighter at Miguel, "that's where the expression comes from. Know what that wise man's name was?"

"Hibachi?" both Miguel and Charlie asked, as Johnny crouched beside Miguel.

Johnny nodded. "Damn straight."

Charlie kept her back turned to the two, fumbling with the bbq so she could get one of the sausages out and put it in the bun.

"Except that hibachis are from Japan, not China, when there weren't a lot of dairy farmers, historically, or hammocks. You think I was gonna fall for that?" Miguel questioned Johnny, prompting laughter from Charlie as stuffed the hotdog in her mouth.

"No," Johnny shrugged. "but I knew you'd be too busy calling my bullshit to know what i was really up to."

Charlie's brow furrowed, and she turned around, her eyes widening at the sight of Miguel's flaming foot.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Miguel asked, still oblivious to the fact that his foot was on fire.

Johnny smirked and showed off the lighter, "lighting a fire under you."

"Miguel!" Charlie gasped, her yell muffled by the hotdog in her mouth.

"What did you do?" Miguel initially questioned with confusion, before panic overtook him. "What did you do?!"

Before Miguel could do anything, Johnny quickly grabbed both his arms and held them behind his head.

"Are you insane?" Miguel exclaimed as the panic completely took over.

"Depends who you ask. Come on, Diaz!" Johnny attempted to motivate, "Shake a leg!"

"I can't!" Miguel sighed, turning to Charlie with a pleading expression.

Charlie moved forward to help him, but Johnny shot her a glare, causing her to stop, "Charlie, stay right where you are. Miguel needs this. You can move it if you want it badly enough."

"It's all I want!" Miguel yelled in frustration.

Johnny nodded, a smirk playing on his lips. "Then focus! Tell your brain to tell your legs to get their asses moving!"

Miguel strained with all his strength, squeezing his eyes shut, but nothing seemed to work. The fire slowly spread, covering his foot, rather than just the lace.

"Dad!" Charlie warned, her gaze fixed on the flames.

Miguel also seemed to realise when he began yelling,  "Sensei, it's going up my leg!"

"Oh, shit!" Johnny exclaimed, snapping his fingers toward the fire extinguisher, signaling Charlie to grab it. She hurriedly rushed over and sprayed Miguel's foot until the fire was completely put out.

All three of them let out a collective sigh of relief as the fire disappeared. But still that sense of sadness remained when Miguel's foot stayed motionless.

"I really thought that would work," Johnny murmured, rubbing his forehead as he kept his eyes on Miguel.

"Why didn't it?" Miguel questioned, his voice filled with disappointment, "My foot was on fire, and I didn't feel a thing. Why is nothing working?"

Charlie comfortingly rubbed his shoulder, and he sighed. "It's fine. I should probably clean up before my mom gets home."

"Need any help?" Charlie offered as he began to wheel away.

"Nah, it's fine. See you," Miguel replied before disappearing into his house.

Charlie and Johnny exchanged defeated glances, realising that all the sausages were now burnt, leaving them without nothing to lift their spirits.

Just then, Charlie's phone pinged so she grabbed it and saw a message from Sam.

Hey, need some help at the arcade, you free?

Charlie's eyebrows furrowed in confusion but she wasn't doing anything so she didn't have a reason not too.

Yeah of course, be right over.

【☆】★【☆】

CHARLIE RODE HER BIKE SO FAST SHE THOUGHT HER PEDALS WOULD FALL OFF ANY MINUTE. When she reached the building, she locked her bike to the rack and quickly entered her code before rushing inside.

Her eyes scanned the area, but she couldn't see the girl. She could feel her heart in her throat, whatever Sam needed her for she hadn't yet revealed so it just kept the girl on edge.

Suddenly, she collided with someone from behind. She turned and saw Sam wearing an annoyed expression, which quickly faded when she realised it was just Charlie, "Charlie, you're here!"

"Yeah," the curly-haired girl replied with a smile.

Sam's gaze shifted to Charlie's cast, feeling guilty for asking her to come. She knew that Charlie had a broken arm but it wasn't the first thing that came to mind when she asked Charlie to come over.

"Um, how's the arm?" Sam asked, scratching the back of her head.

Charlie gave her a weird look before glancing down at her casted arm, "Um, it's good, thank you?" Then she narrowed her eyes at the shorter girl, "But I know you didn't bring me all this way just to ask about my arm. What's going on?"

"Can you fight?" Sam blurted out, immediately regretting her words when she saw Charlie's face.

It was a face of contemplation and hesitation, as if she wanted to fight but knew she shouldn't. She still had a week before her cast could be removed completely, but even then, it was a risk. However, knowing Sam and how her intentions were normally good, Charlie was willing to take that risk.

She nodded quickly, "Yeah, I'm good to go. I don't need to use my arm that much. I've got these weapons," she laughed as she jumped on her legs to gesture to them.

Sam chuckled, and more people from Miyagi-Do joined them, surprising Charlie. But then, everything started to make sense.

Why would Sam need her to fight alongside the Miyagi-Do students? It had to be related to Cobra Kai. And where Cobra Kai was involved, Hawk was sure to be there.

She hadn't forgiven him, nor did she have any intention to do so, however, she didn't want to physically fight him either. After all, he was the boy she had grown up with for thirteen years, the boy she once considered her best friend. Whatever he had done or planned to do didn't seem like a good enough reason to fight him.

Oh, how wrong she was.

"Where are they?" Sam asked as Chris approached the group.

He glanced back to where he had just come from before facing them again, "They snuck into the old laser tag place next door."

Sam nodded, processing the information. "How many?"

"Four of them."

"Six of us," Sam grinned, looking around at their group that outnumbered Cobra Kai, "I like our odds."

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Demetri asked, his nerves clear since their arrival.

Charlie placed her uninjured hand on his shoulder, offering a small pat for motivation. Sam spoke up once again, "We're not on school property. This is our chance to fight back."

Sam stole a final glance at Charlie, silently seeking her approval given that it was her old team and she was in a cast. Charlie nodded with a determined smile and the six of them began walking towards the Cobra Kais.

"Who the hell wants a warm beer? You didn't bring an ice pack?" Charlie heard Hawk's voice from outside.

Her heart raced, memories of their recent kiss flooding her mind. But she pushed those thoughts aside; now was not the time.

Chris pulled a lever, making the room turn a a blue hue, and five of them entered, while Charlie hesitated for a moment.

"What do you want?" She heard Hawk scoff so she finally walked inside. As she stepped in, she could see Hawk's features falter at the sight of her.

"Payback," Sam declared, and all hell broke loose. The Miyagi-Do students struck first, defying their usual training.

Charlie initially remained still, searching for an opening. Finally, a smaller boy approached her. She dodged his blow with her free hand and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to stumble backward in pain. His face reddened with anger as he lunged at her again, managing to strike her leg, making her growl out of pain.

When she saw the smug smirk on his face, she swiftly kicked his leg, causing him to fall to one knee. Then, using the hardness of her cast, she struck his face, sending him crashing to the ground.

She groaned in pain and clutched her cast, mentally cursing herself out for doing it.

As she turned around, Hawk was stood right there and their chests pressed together from how close he was.

"What are you doing, Charlie?" Hawk seethed, delivering a kick to a kid that came at him in his hip so he could continue their conversation.

She didn't respond, causing Hawk to glance down at her injured arm in a cast. And with a sigh he finally looked back at her, "You're already in a cast, you shouldn't be here."

"Like you care," she scoffed, feeling someone approaching from behind. Without hesitation, she swung her head backward, connecting with the boy's nose.

The boy clutched his bleeding nose before leaning down to swoop Charlie legs, causing her to fall onto her back, her arms taking most of the impact.

"Ah! Shit!" she groaned in pain, now don't get her wrong she still didn't like to swear but in moments like this it's all she could do.

And that's when her words felt true.

Like you care.

She looked up at Hawk, who seemed torn between helping her or walking away to fight again. But instead, he remained motionless, just standing there.

Charlie rolled onto her side, using her uninjured hand to push herself up. Finally making up his mind, Hawk attempted to help her by grabbing her forearm and lifting her up.

"Get off me!" Charlie ripped her arm from his grip and he gave her a confused expression. It was as if he was completely unaware of the impact he had on others, like a brick wall stopped him from seeing all he was doing.

She looked like she was on the verge of tears, and Hawk's heart ached. He wanted to hug her, comfort her, to erase the pain he had caused.

Charlie took a deep breath of disbelief before walking away, leaving Hawk standing there like a deer caught in headlights.

She had tackled one more boy to the ground before hearing an awfully familiar voice, "Sam LaRusso!"

Charlie's eyes widened as she turned towards the corner where Sam stood, both girls sharing a look of shock.

"Where are you, bitch?" Tory's voice echoed as she entered with two boys trailing behind her.

Without hesitation, Charlie quickly ran over to Sam, crouching down beside her before Tory could see, "You stay here, I'll cover for you," she offered, placing a reassuring hand on Sam's shoulder.

Sam's eyes welled up with tears, "I'm so sorry."

"Hey, no," Charlie shook her head, dismissing Sam's guilt, "You didn't do this. They came here to provoke Chris. You just wanted to prove you couldn't be bullied."

Sam fell silent, her gaze falling down before noticing Charlie's cracked cast, "Charlie, your cast!"

Charlie glanced down, realising the damage to her cast, too preoccupied with Hawk to have even noticed. She looked back up at Sam, determined not to show her own distress, especially when Sam was one second short of a panic attack, "It's okay. Stay here, alright?"

"Show yourself LaRusso!" Charlie heard Tory call out from a distance. With one last squeeze, she headed towards Tory's voice, leaving Sam behind.

"Tory!" Charlie called out, walking towards her.

Tory greeted her with a wide grin, "Charlie! What are you doing here?"

"Please, can you not?" Charlie pleaded and Tory already knew what she meant. Can you not pretend like what happened didn't happen and can you not start a fight with the miyagi do's.

Tory scoffed, "Are you seriously defending them?"

Charlie didn't respond, instead turning her attention to the sound of Demetri's pleas behind her, "No! Please, stop! Eli, stop! Stop!"

Without hesitation, Charlie lunged forward and pushed Hawk away from Demetri, ignoring the pain shooting through her injured arm, "Hawk, get off him!"

"Grab her!" Tory commanded, nodding to two muscular boys standing nearby.

Charlie hadn't even noticed until she felt arms pulling her back, "No! Get off me!" She struggled to free herself, kicking and wriggling, but it was no use.

She casted a betrayed look to the girl beside her, "Tory?"

The girl she had went to the beach club with, the girl she had admired for her strength, the girl she had called a friend. That girl was now forcing her back.

Unable to reason with the girl, Charlie took a different approach, looking over at Hawk, "Hawk, don't. Please!"

"It's fine, I'll go!" Demetri attempted to reason with the boy, his words drowned out by the cheers of the Cobra Kai students urging him on.

Hawk glanced back at Charlie, a look of apology in his eyes and then she knew what he was about to do.

A sickening crack echoed from his arm and the boy below hawk began groaning out in pain.

The group began cheering and Tory made the boys release Charlie, allowing her to rush to Demetri's side.

"Hey, I'm sorry," Charlie said, carefully helping him up to examine his arm, "I'm so sorry, Meat."

She didn't know what she was sorry for. Maybe it was seeing him like that, maybe it was letting him think they could win this fight, or maybe it was all from the start - when she had convinced him to join karate in the first place.

Whatever the reason, she couldn't stop apologising.

Her eyes welled up, the mixture of guilt and agony in her arm all washing over her as the adrenaline wore off.

As the Cobra Kai students began to leave, Hawk lingered behind for a few moments, keeping his gaze on the two. He watched as tears left Charlie's eyes and the groans coming from Demetri and he felt like an asshole, he was an asshole.

"Charlie," he whispered, leaning closer and bending slightly to reach her level, "Charls, I'm sorr-"

"Get out!" She screamed in his face, finally turning look at him, her red eyes burning holes into him, "Get the hell out! I never want to see you again!"

He bit back a gasp that wanted to escape his mouth. He shouldn't be shocked, he should've known that what he did was inexcusable.

If he believed he had lost her before, he was in for a rude awakening, because this was going to be far worse than anything he could imagined.

✧  •   •  𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗘 𝗜𝗦 𝗪𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚  •  •  ✧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

😓😓😓😓😓😓😓😓

poor Demetri but at least Charlie and him can have matching casts !

sorry for the long chapter I just wanted to get it all into one and then like the aftermath (hospital) can just go into the next one

please comment and vote !