The next day at the dojo was just like every other day. My body was sore but oh well, work through the pain. I hadn’t seen Eli at school and I was a little worried about him. I wanted to talk to him but he wouldn’t answer my calls either. Everyone was already in their lines when my dad walked out… well, for the most part.
“Three more absences Sensei” Miguel sighed
“Bunch of pussies” Aisha spoke up
“No it’s my fault” dad sighed, i looked over at him in shock “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. And right now you’re all weak, and I know that, because I was you" huh, there's a surprise. I've always thought of my dad as the popular highschool jackass "I used to have no friends, I used to be the weirdo kid- not that weird, I still hooked up with babes and all-" hah, okay there it is "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 front door bell rang, we all looked over instantly seeing a tall boy with a bright blue mohawk walk in. They looked pretty hot, majorly bad ass. My eyes widened when I realized who it actually was.
“Welcome to Cobra Kai” my dad greeted
“Eli what- happened?” Miguel gawked
I smiled in astonishment, he looked… confident.
“I’m flipping the script” he announced
“Wait, are you the kid with the lip?” Dad asked, “Nice cut bro. You see that? Doesn’t matter if you’re a loser or a nerd or a freak. All that matters, is that you become badass”
I looked over at Eli who gave a confident smirk. He was basking in the praise, and I was happy for him.
“Hawk” I grinned
“Yes, Hawk” my dad was pumped “Fall in” he nodded
He kicked off his shoes and stepped onto the mat beside me. I was smiling so much, so happy for him. He saw growing, it was about time he got some recognition.
“Fear does not exist in this dojo does it?”
“No sensei!” Hawk answered
“Pain does not exist in this dojo does it?”
“No Senei” I answered
“Defeat does not exist in this dojo does it?”
“No Sensei” Miguel shook his head
My dad turned with his back to us, standing in the middle at the front.
“Class, are you ready to learn the way of the fist?”
“Yes sensei!” we all chorused
I could just feel the smile on my dad’s face. I was smiling too. I looked over, Hawk was smiling. It was unbelievable. Maybe this was actually possible.
~~
Soon everyone in the dojo had their own gi. We were growing as a group of people. Granted we weren’t all friends, we didn’t all hangout constantly, but we were all united by their weird cliche force of… I don’t fucking know but whatever it was it was nice.
“Junbi! Bow” we did so “Fighting positions!”
We all took a pose. Dad kicked Hawk’s foot out, making him stumble a bit.
“Stabilize your base Hawk, keep your balance, full rotation when you strike” dad showed him first
“Yes sensei, hai!” he took a pretty nice punch
Dad jumped at one of the boys making them flinch.
“Did you just flinch, virgin?” Remember all the nicknames?
He walked over to another boy, who also flinched.
“Holy shit we got a room full of flinchers” he gawked
“Yes sensei!” all the kids answered, making me snicker
“That was not a question!” He turned to us “Raise your hand if you’ve never been punched in the face” Almost all the kids raised their hands “Put your hands down. All your lives you’ve been avoiding fights, so you don’t break your nose or lose a tooth. This concussion nonsense” I rolled my eyes at that “So there’s only one solution and that is before you leave this dojo, each and every one of you is gonna take a punch, very hard, to the face. Ms. Robinson line em up! Unflinch this group”
“Yes sensei” she nodded
I looked over at her and Miguel, we all nodded together. I walked with Aisha to the front of the class, looking over everyone. Now I was short, sure. I mean- I was slightly below average I guess, but I wasn’t tall by any means. But I held power over the room. I knew I was the best fighter there, and I would be ready to prove it at any second. I nodded to Miguel and he stood beside me.
“Remember how this feels” he spoke up. Aisha started to punch kids in the face one by one “Do you wanna feel it again? No! Then do whatever you have to do, to not feel it again” Miguel ordered
I smirked softly, knowing those were my words. After that I took a deep breath. Don’t get cocky Harley. Be confident, not cocky.
“Harley, you wanna take this one?”
I looked to where Aisha was pointing and it was Hawk. I chuckled at his smirk.
“Sure” He held his smirk as I walked over to him “Try not to bleed pretty boy”
“Don’t hurt yourself princess”
My eyes widened slightly. Okay… so that was very new, on both parts. Maybe we were both getting a little cocky. I cracked my neck before landing a hard swing to Hawk’s jaw, sending him flying by my dad’s office door
“He’s okay” I called out
“I’m okay” Hawk nodded, slowly getting up
I smiled softly as I helped him stand. He wasn’t bleeding, I must’ve missed the right placement for that. I think I hit his mouth.
“Not bad” I chuckled
“You ain't seen nothing yet” he grinned
I laughed, shaking my head and shoving him back to his spot. I walked over to Aisha who was smirking at me.
“What?” I whispered
“You two are so cute” she giggled
“Man, shut up” I groaned, shoving her off with a smile.
She laughed and continued on punching the kids. Eli- sorry, Hawk, had always been cute. As long as I’ve known him he’s been cute and kind and timid. Now he was cute, kind and… cocky. But in a… good way? Maybe not good- appealing? Yeah, he was cocky in an appealing way.
-'|'-'|'-'|'-
Oh? Is that some flirting I see?