IRIS

chapter thirteen

Iris watched Miguel, concern flooding her whole body as she watched the boy punching the air.

"Yo, Miguel, calm down, man. Save some for the tournament." Miguel simply glanced over to Hawk, a pissed look on his face before he continued punching the air.

"Hey, don't even bother. He's been super aggro ever since the breakup." Aisha nudged her two friends, telling them to not take Miguel's attitude personally.

"Hey, where's Sensei?" Iris looked around at the group, not seeing the older blonde anywhere. "The tournament is gonna start soon."

"He'll be here." Aisha spoke almost as if she were bored of the conversation.

"I don't know about that." The three teens looked down at Bert who Iris hadn't realized was listening to the conversation.

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw him last night at the mini-mall. I was buying a carton of milk...when I heard him in the parking lot, yelling." Iris looked up at Hawk, worry covering her features. "I could tell he was drunk and he kept yelling 'we're all gonna die kid, we're all gonna die.'"

"Why didn't you tell us this earlier?" Panic set in for the three older teens as they looked at the small kid in surprise.

"I don't know. I guess I'm used to seeing him drunk, it didn't seem like that big a deal."

"Well, we're here and he's not. So it's officially a big deal." Iris grabbed Hawk's hand trying to get him to calm down and not snap on the smaller kid.

"What if something happened to him?" Iris directed her concern to Hawk, worry eating away at her.

"Like what?"

"I don't know, like he drove his car off a cliff, or bought a gun and blew his brains out." Iris glared at Hawk, not wanting him to scare Bert, the kid felt bad enough for not telling them in the first place.

"No, Sensei would never kill himself. That's too pussy a move."

"Whatever." Hawk dismissed Aisha, trying to come up with a solution on his own. "I mean, we're here. We're gonna have to do it without him."

"Do what without me?" Sensei Lawrence's voice made the three teens turn, a smile appearing on Iris' face as she realized he was alright.

"We didn't think you were gonna show up." Hawk admitted to the older man, a soft laugh escaping his lips as he did so.

"I may not always win, but I never back out of a fight."

"Alright. Let's sign up." Miguel snapped to the older man, quickly getting on Iris' nerves about how pissy he was being.

"Not yet." Sensei Lawrence looked around at all of his students, still surprised they made it this far. "There's one more lesson I have to teach you." Sensei Lawrence led the group into the building, bringing them over to the side he had them all line up in a circle. "You've all learned to strike first, to be aggressive, not be losers." Sensei Lawrence looked down at the two smallest kids in the dojo before continuing.

"I taught you to strike hard, put every ounce of your power behind everything you do. But I haven't taught you the third rule of Cobra Kai. 'No mercy.'" Sensei Lawrence stopped in front of Iris, he looked between Iris and Miguel a serious look on his face. "The older you get, the more you're gonna learn that life isn't fair. You wake up one morning feeling great, and then life throws a spinning heel kick to your balls, takes a big steaming shit in your mouth."

Hawk scrunched his face up in disgust at the man's analogy, looking down at Iris for a split second before turning his attention back to Sensei Lawrence.