Cold Hearted ⭒ Cobra Kai

4.1.0

Chapter Fifty-Four: The Choice

"I want to wear his initial on a chain round my neck. Not because he owns me, but 'cause he really knows me- which is more than they can say."

~Call It What You Want by Taylor Swift~

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Revised: September 12, 2022

Warnings: abuse, addiction, anxiety, biphobia/homophobia, depression, domestic violence, slight eating disorder, language, panic attacks, sexual harassment/assault/abuse, violence, and other mature themes

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Zion's POV

The dojo's bell rings as the door closes behind me and it causes everyone to turn to me. Well, the whole six of them.

"You finally showed up," Tory says, but I don't see much happiness in her expression.

"I didn't know we were going to practice today," I explain to her.

"Yeah, well, the All Valley isn't going to win itself. Sensei told us the stakes and we need to put every ounce of our energy into winning this thing," she reminds me.

"Yo, I'm telling you, man. When I get to ASU, honeys be lining up for this snack. You know what I mean?" I hear Kyler laughing with the four others.

I turn to make a sarcastic comment to Tory about Kyler, but she's already headed their way as he drones on and on about college.

"You guys are pathetic," Tory calls them out. "If you'd have handled your business, we would've won that fight."

"Okay, whatever. Hawk, he switched sides," Kyler argues. "He had the upper hand."

I roll my eyes because one person shouldn't make that big of a difference.

But, it's scary, because he did.

"Yeah, and Miguel just got out of a wheelchair and he still kicked your ass," she says angrily.

"You know what? At least I'm still here. Half the squad quit!" he yells back at her.

"Quit?" I echo in surprise. Sure enough, there's no Mikey or Rickenberger or Elijah or any of the others to be seen. "Cowards."

The dojo's bell dings again and I see Robby walk in with a green jacket and an entirely different outfit on. He looks at me and I look at him, but I can't get a good read on what he's thinking.

"Speaking of cowards," Tory mutters.

Robby walks past all of us and to the back room. Tory looks at me for an explanation of what happened, but I can only shrug.

"That fool doesn't even practice, but he gets to stay?" Kyler asks the guys. "I don't get it."

"What I don't get is why you keep acting like you're better than everyone else here," I snap at him. "You've always been barely tolerable and you're just lucky that we need numbers. Your ego is your downfall because you let down your guard."

"Didn't you let Demetri and Hawk kick you into a glass table?" he reminds me.

"Unlike you, I've won fights before, in the real world and in a tournament setting. And anyway, I didn't 'let' them win," I retort.

"You're not as good as you say you are. Your girl emotions cost us that win. It's what led us to an illegal break-in," he looks at Tory and then to me, "and what caused you to not hit your ex."