Battle Wounds

eleven.

Despite it being early morning, the park was busier than Harper expected it to be. Still half asleep, she sipped her iced coffee in the hopes of it jumpstarting her system. Of waking her up. But as she finished off the drink that promised to caffeinate her, she only felt a slight buzz. It wasn't nearly enough for the kind of morning the day had planned for her.

She questioned her last-minute decision to come here when she'd been so against it. Because she knew, deep down, that it was a bad decision. That nothing good could come of it.

I shouldn't be here. This is such a bad idea, Harper told herself as she came upon a small parking lot that cut into a section of the park.

"You're late, foster!" Hawk said as a way of greeting.

Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Harper looked in his direction. "What are you talking about? How can I be late when you didn't tell me what time to be here?"

"You just are. I've been waiting for almost thirty minutes," he said, stepping away from his car and walking toward her.

Her eyebrows rose up in amusement and a smile tugged at her lips. "You were waiting for me?"

Hawk glowered at her question. "Yeah, because you're late."

"Will you stop saying that? I'm not late," she said.

"Well, you're not on time either."

"Maybe if you told me what time to be here then you wouldn't have waited so long," she said with a head tilt.

"Fine. Next time I'll tell you," he said.

Harper bit her lip to keep from laughing. "You think there's going to be a next time?"

"Don't make this into a thing, foster," Hawk said, not finding her humor funny.

"I'm not but you're just..." she trailed off at the irritated look he threw at her. Taking a breath, she let it out but not before mimicking his posture and scowl. "Okay, I'll stop. Sorry."

"Great," he mumbled. "So, can we just do this already?"

Harper nodded before confusion clouded her features. She looked around them with apprehension as if the answer would be carved into a tree. "Do what exactly? This isn't some sort of trap is it?"

Hawk threw a look over at her. "No, it's not a trap."

"So your Cobra Kai friends aren't lying in wait for the perfect moment to jump out and beat me up?"

"No," he said and paused as he attempted to hide the hurt look behind his signature scowl. "You really think I'd do that?" He asked after a few seconds passed by in silence.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully, shrugging. "I don't really know you, you know."

"Well, I wouldn't do that to you," he said seriously.

Taken aback by his words, she nodded. "Okay, good to know. So are you going to tell me why I'm here? Because I still don't know."

"To train," he said as the smirk she hated so much appeared on his face.

"To train?" She repeated, dumbfounded. "You mean like karate?"

"No, I mean soccer," Hawk answered with a roll of his eyes. "Yeah, foster, I mean karate."

Harper let out a laugh but stopped when she realized he was serious. Shaking her head, she backed up a couple of steps. "Yeah, that's not - I'm not doing that."

"Why not?" Hawk asked.

"Because," she stated, crossing her arms.

"Great answer."