─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
"and where have you been?" theo questioned, sitting on the chair behind the kitchen counter.
"what the hell are you doing?" tabitha groaned, closing the front door. "you're not my mom."
"no." theo nodded. "but i am your twin, so you are obligated to tell me."
"went to get some drugs, got with some boy instead. then some man came knocking on his door to take him to his house, so i had to climb through his bedroom window." tabitha explained, scanning the fridge. "thank goodness he lives on the ground floor."
"you're using again?" theo questioned, his heart pounding in his chest as he awaited her answer.
"it was just a little mary jane." tabitha told him, the white ecstasy pill sitting in her letterman jacket pocket. "and don't say 'using' like it was ever a serious problem."
"okay. wait, you got with a guy?" theo inquired. "was it miguel? you guys have got this hate thing going on right now, but i can see right through it."
"gag me with a literal spoon." tabitha laughed. "hell would have to literally freeze over twice before i'd consider touching the champion."
"so you hate him because he's good at karate?" theo hummed. "you forget you're good at karate too."
"no, i'm great at karate. and i hate him because he's boring." tabitha corrected.
"you don't even know him."
"know enough." tabitha shrugged, pulling out the carton of orange juice.
"so, who was it?"
tabitha paused. "you know i actually forgot his name."
"been in this place for a week and you're already ticked off one night stand from your list." theo joked. "for all we know, you could now be at risk of an sti."
"please, we did not have sex." tabitha laughed. "i just met the guy. what do you take me for?"
theo shrugged. "i take you for my beautiful sister who—"
"spent my last money on the weed, don't bother." tabitha cut him off.
"what if i just wanted to compliment you?"
tabitha laughed. "i know you, teddy. now, don't come into my room."
"okay." theo nodded, watching her depart the kitchen. "wasn't even going to!"
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
"her name is tabitha." hawk explained to his best friend, demetri alexopoulos, "she's really mean, will most likely call you the wrong name, will definitely insult you."
"she got any positive attributes?" demetri questioned, not really understanding why he would have to or even want to hang around with her.
"she's—" hawk started.
"she's hot!" demetri finished off for him, his eyes on the girl walking towards them. "why, hello."
"what the fuck are you?" tabitha questioned, looking him up and down as she placed her navy blue beach bag on the sand. she wore a black bandeau bikini top with low waisted, denim blue shirt shorts.
insult? check.
demetri was taken aback by her forwardness while his friend just laughed. "i'm demetri, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"tabby. pleasure's all mine, dementia." tabby replied.
wrong name? check.
"actually—" demetri began, but the girl. "you know what? never mind."
"tabby, this is my girlfriend, moon." hawk introduced, his arm around the brunette's shoulder.
moon lewis immediately smiled, more than happy to have another girl friend around. "hi, lovely to meet you."
"you too." tabitha nodded, unsure as to why such a preppy girl like her would even consider dating hawk.
miguel arrived, pulling hawk over for a private chat. while they spoke, tabitha took the time to get to know demetri and his nerdy self. as he rambled on about star wars and game of thrones, tabitha was consensually been burying him in the sand.
"well, thanks for letting me know." tabitha nodded, standing up and dusting the sand off of her jean shorts. "i'll be sure to add them to my watch lists."
"that's all i ever wanted." demetri grinned. "so... let's get me out of here, yeah?"
"hey, moon!" tabitha called out, moving away from the boy. "you up for a game of volleyball?"
"of course!"
"tabitha!" demetri called out. "you've really got to get me out of here. i have two very attractive girls wanting to play with me. not play with me... but okay okay volleyball. tabitha? tabitha!"
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
they had spent most of their afternoon at the beach, lounging, chatting and playing volleyball. hawk, miguel and tabitha made their way to their karate class and by the time they had started warm ups, the boys had already continued their conversation.
"so, i did a deep dive online, and you were right." hawk told the boy, "sensei is definitely keene's father."
tabitha nearly broke her back hearing that. she was doing stretches as hawk and miguel spoke, left in utter shock at the name mentioned. "wait, keene as in robby keene?"
the two looked at her, confused. "yeah. you know him?" miguel asked.
"no, never heard of him before in my life." tabitha shook her head, going back to her warm up.
great. she had hooked up with her sensei's son. the fact created an odd sense of excitement in her, it was bound to cause drama at some point.
"i just don't understand why he wouldn't tell us." miguel continued in disappointment.
"i don't know." hawk shrugged, "but it explains why he's giving us shit for kicking keene's ass at the tournament. it's show no mercy, unless it's his son. then we gotta be pussies."
"won't be too hard for you guys." tabitha remarked.
"shut up, tabby." hawk rolled his eyes.
miguel glanced at her, waiting for her to retaliate. but she simply scoffed and continued to warm up. the boy was surprised, if he even dared to use that tone with her, she'd absolutely lose it.
"wait, keene was at the tournament?"
"yeah. but miguel beat him in the final round." hawk told her.
"interesting." tabitha slowly nodded, she didn't expect that.
aisha made her way over to them, her mobile phone in her hand as she frowned. "you guys, have you seen the commercial?"
"what commercial?"
"sam's dad started his own dojo and he dissed cobra kai." aisha revealed.
"sam? who the hell is sam?" tabitha frowned in confusion. she turned to hawk with an accusatory expression. "why haven't you filled me in on everything?"
"because you don't listen to me." hawk shot back. "can we see?"
aisha nodded and miguel reached for her phone. the boy clicked on the youtube video and the two others moved in closer to watch along.
"because at miyagi-do, it's not about the money." daniel larusso began advising. "it's about the karate."
the only thing tabitha could think about was how familiar the man in the advertisement was. yes, she had seen posters and billboards of his auto shop, but there was something more personal about his face.
"wait, why are we paying for karate if this other guy is giving it away for free?" someone asked.
"good point." tabitha nodded.
"really?" miguel gave her a look.
"not all of us are made of money, diaz." she shot back.
just as the short video ended, johnny abruptly entered the room and began barking orders. next thing the students knew, they were stood in rows, watching aisha record johnny's own cobra kai commercial.
"there's a lot of talk going around the valley about free karate." johnny told the camera, "but everyone knows that in life, you get what you pay for. you wanna really kick the competition?"
he then kicked a potted plant in a student's hands making the soil and ceramic go all over him. he immediately ran to the bathroom, desperate to get the soil out of his eyes.
"then you need to get your ass over to cobra kai. screw that lame meditation bullshit." johnny rolled his eyes, directly insulting miyagi-do, "what you need is bone-crunching, face-smashing, good ol' american karate."
the blond man sent two punches into the face of a dummy, and then elbowed it.
"enough about self-defense. learn self-offense!" he exclaimed, "don't be a pussy. join cobra kai, and let me teach you the way of the fist."
"and cut." aisha ended the video with a satisfied smile on her face.
"all right, did we get it?" johnny queried.
"i think so." aisha nodded.
"all right, great." johnny half-smiled, "just make sure the cobra kai snake comes in at the end, all right?"
"okay."
"i want it to really pop." he continued, "make it chrome. and throw thunderstruck under it."
"you are so out of touch with reality." tabitha shook her head at him.
"i'm pretty sure the rights for that song will cost too much." aisha spoke up.
"no, i already own it." johnny dismissed her, "cassette's in the car. oh and put one of those hash browns at the end." johnny concluded.
"a what, sensei?"
"you know, like, 'hash brown', team cobra kai or something." johnny described, "and then send it to the internet!"
"oh to be so young and naive." tabitha jokingly sighed as she watched miguel and hawk follow their sensei into the back room.
─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───
it was now evening and cobra kai had arrived at the all valley fest, prepared to show up miyagi-do's karate display.
"cobra kai, cobra kai, cobra kai!" the team chanted, advancing into the festival with their black and yellow gi's on. alluring, flashing lights illuminated from every corner of the stage, giving the team a type of radiance miyagi-do was missing.
on the stage, the students demonstrated kicks and tricks. behind them was sparks and smoke emitting from a machine.
"cobras, show them what real karate looks like." johnny ordered from the sidelines.
they all had different skills to display, miguel was brawling with his fellow teammates as the crowd roared in excitement and shook their neon glow sticks at the champion.
next was aisha, who impressively broke through a line up of wooden boards, all while blindfolded.
tabitha stood forward, bowing at the crowd before aisha tightly tied her hands behind her back. robby keene watched from afar, his mouth slightly hanging open at the sight of her in a cobra kai uniform. this was not good.
instantly, four of her teammates came to attack her and her challenge was to knock them down with just her kicks.
johnny had been a little skeptical about her act, not wanting her to mess up. but what he didn't know is that she had some experience with karate, even having her own championship title under her name.
the four boys charged at her and one by one, she aggressively kicked and knocked them down to the floor. the crowd began to cheer at her victory, her brother and demetri being the loudest of them all.
miguel stood at the side of the stage, a surprised look on his face. in his defence, the team hadn't done any sparring together yet, so he hadn't really seen the girl in action. he was just wondering how she could already do such perfect kicks after only three lessons. it took him about three weeks.
and next, it was hawk's turn. he hauled demetri up from the audience and forced a wooden board into his grip. he used tabitha's cupped hands as a boost and flipped himself into the air, kicking the wooden plank in half.
the team threw t-shirts of their logo to the audience, smiling as the people caught them.
"light it up!"
their final act was for johnny to punch through inflamed cement blocks. there was an eerie stillness from the crowd while the man prepared to break the blocks.
even tabitha was nervous, biting her lip as he raised his hand. once he successfully split it, the audience went wild, applauding and screaming.
finally, the team assembled to soak up the applause. the students and their sensei bowed to their audience. in the group of people, daniel larusso had his eyes on tabitha silver, trying to decipher where he had once seen her.
"cobra kai, cobra kai, cobra kai!" they chanted.
⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
teddy and tabby the best twins ever!!!