Out of Place [Cobra Kai OC x Robby Keene]

64- We're Back

"Wait!" Miguel says from the other entrance to the board room. He glances over at me, giving me a small nod. The two of us start walking down to the podium. I keep my head held high, making sure my stride is confident even though I'm shaking and I feel like I might throw up.

"Our tournament has been cancelled," Mr Abelardo informs all of us who are competing. My heart seems to stop for a moment. Just like the All Valley...

"What?! They can't do that!"

"Yeah, it's only a few days away!"

"Why would they do that?!" Various peers say in protest.

"They don't want to 'support an environment of violence'- the committee's words, not mine," Mr Abelardo says, earning a lot of groans and sighs.

"But we've been doing these tournaments for years and this has never happened,"

"Why couldn't they just do this after the tournament?!"

"I hear you, I hear you, I'm not happy about it either. You all remember the big fight that happened at the West Valley Highschool, right?" Mr Abelardo asks, stealing a glance at me. Everybody nods. Only a few of them were actually at the school when it happened, but I know everybody heard about it on the news. My face feels hot. I was the only one here who was actually in the fight...

"it was a karate fight. There have been fights popping up all over town, supposedly linked to it. There are two karate dojo's that have been feuding for the past few months, so they're blaming karate and not the people actually exacting the violence. For one reason or another, they're dragging tae kwon do down with it. I'm sorry guys."

I felt kind of... frozen when Mr Abelardo told us. It didn't feel real for a few moments, just like when Mr LaRusso said that the All Valley was cancelled. One kid started crying. It takes a lot of focus for me to not do the same as I continue walking down the stairs.

"They cancelled the All Valley karate tournament too..." I finally pipe up over everyone saying words of protest and crying and the overall general dissent, causing everyone to look over at me, "there's a hearing soon to try to appeal for the tournaments to not be cancelled."

I pass Sam, Mrs LaRusso, and see Mr LaRusso, Mr Lawrence, and Kreese as I continue walking, all of them looking from Miguel to me as we walk in. I can feel Mr LaRusso's eyes trained on me. I think Miguel looks over at me at one point, but I don't look back. If I don't focus forward, I think I'll fall over or trip over my own feet.

"So... what are you saying, Kata?" Cameron, the boy that I did the demonstration with at the last tournament asks. I look around at all of them, my hands starting to shake and my heart pounding hard and fast.

"I was in the fight at West Valley High. I was beat up after trying to fundraise money for my friend's surgery. I got in a fight while trying to protect my friends. I've been in the middle of all of the violence that the council members want to cancel the tournaments over, and I still want to compete, just like all of you," I say, recalling the courage I use to lead classes.

"Again, what are you saying, Kata?" he asks again. I look at him, then around at everyone, then at Mr Abelardo. I know what I have to do.

I take a deep, but discrete breath, trying to bring back that same courage. I finally arrive at the podium, Miguel at my side. He came to my apartment last night, and just as Robby and I planned to compete in the All Valley, we came up with a plan to do this today.