Before I Forget

The Final Countdown

By the time Sky reached the crossroad of hallways, the fight was already on. A head shorter than anyone, she couldn't see what exactly was happening, but as she pushed herself through the crowd, she heard yells and screams, felt the tension rippling in the air like an electric current.

It wasn't just Tory versus Sam anymore - in the couple of minutes it had taken Sky to get here, Miguel and Robby had gotten into the fight also - and right in front of Sky's eyes, Hawk joined the violence.

"It is on!" he yelled, throwing Nate and Bert to the sides, and started attacking anyone who came his way.

"Shit–!" Sky groaned, and tried to get through the mess of fighting teenagers. She needed to get to Sam and Tory, she needed to stop this before anyone got seriously injured!

But someone swept her off her legs, and Sky landed on the floor face first, barely managing to soften the impact with her hands.

"The fuck–?" She pushed herself back up, but her attacker was already on her. It was Rickenberger - her former teammate and Hawk's friend. He aimed a kick at Sky's face, it scraped her cheek as she swiftly pulled back.

In a heartbeat she was back on her feet, her legs finding the wide fighting stance without her even having to think about it.

"You joined Miyagi-Do," Rickenberger smirked as if it justified his attack.

"I didn't!"

"Yeah, right. You're not Cobra Kai anymore, bitch–!" He tried to attack her again, but now Sky was prepared. She blocked his punch, grabbed him, and swiftly kneed him in the gut with force, making him slump against the wall.

Sky swallowed hard. Rickenberger. He had put his name in the 'Get Well Soon!' card she had gotten from all the Cobras only a couple of weeks ago. And now he was attacking her in school? Had everyone lost their fucking minds?

Sky backed away, her heart in her throat, but she didn't have time to even draw a breath when she felt someone grabbing her from behind. An arm wrapped around her neck, pinning her against someone's chest, and fingers dug to the softness of her ass with such force that it hurt.

"What's up, slut? You like it rough?" some guy breathed to her ear, and for a heartbeat, Sky froze.

She wanted to scream, but she couldn't. The taste of panic took her breath away. That guy was a head taller than she was, and he was strong. It was Matt. His grip around her neck was choking her, and his other hand was feeling her frontside now, moving to her breasts–

No, no, no! Shit, not again–!

With a sickening feeling in her gut, Sky swirled around, her elbow finding the face of her attacker. She didn't hold back but hit him again before he could recover, and then once more. She felt his nose crunching under the impact, there was blood on her knuckles.

"Asshole—" she cried – and saw a flash of black and red slamming into the guy from the side, throwing him to the lockers with such force the doors rattled.

Hawk.

He was furious, he attacked the guy without restraints, his fist hammering his face, his other hand gripping the front of the guy's shirt to keep him in place. Blood splattered, it stained Hawk's hands. The boy he was beating the shit out of, had no chance - he was already out of it. And Sky realized it wasn't Matt. Of course, it wasn't. It was just some dude, she didn't even know his name.

Screaming, Sky grabbed Hawk's arm and tried to pull him back.

"Enough!" She yelled. "Stop it!"

Hawk turned to look at her over his shoulder, one hand still pushing the guy against the lockers. His chest heaved with fast, deep breaths, his lips were drawn back, revealing his teeth. He looked alien, dangerous, like he was burning from the inside out.