𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓, Miguel Diaz

S02:E02

•~3rd person P.O.V~•
Rachel sat, curled up in a chair in front of Ms. Sandra, her dad right beside her. Rachel turned her head away from him, suddenly the room that used to make her so comfortable made her want to run away from it.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Lawrence." Ms. Sandra smiled at him, she'd never seen Rachel so quiet before. Johnny nodded at her. "Rach has told me that you two don't communicate very well." Johnny glanced at Rachel.

"Yeah." Ms. Sandra nodded.

"Why do you think that is?" Johnny gulped, remembering this was for Rachel's sake.

"Well, I don't really know." Ms. Sandra glanced at Rachel who still hadn't said anything or even looked at her dad.

"Rach tends to yell a lot, does she do that at home?" Johnny shrugged and nodded. "Would you say when she yells it makes you not wanna listen?" Rachel felt as if she were punched in the stomach as her dad responded.

"Yeah." So this was her fault? She couldn't help when she yelled, her anger just built up so quickly.

"Do you think her yelling has lessened with her diagnosis and her medication?" Ms. Sandra asked.

"Not really." Johnny rubbed the back of his neck.

"Rach," She looked up, Johnny looking at her, "could you tell him why you yell?" Rachel shrugged. "Okay, instead of Rach speaking to you, I'll take a video of Rach and what she says. I'll put it on a flash drive and you can watch it on your computer, alright?" Did Johnny know what a flash drive was? No, he didn't, but since he had students that did, he'd ask them. Johnny stood, putting his hand on Rachel's shoulder before he left.

"I'll be at the dojo." Rachel nodded, still not looking at him. She already knew he was going to the dojo, that's why she dress the way she did. Leggings with Nike socks and a long-sleeved, black and grey athletic shirt, and Air Forces.

"Okay, are you ready?"

~

Rachel walked into the Cobra Kai dojo, the flash drive nestled carefully underneath the jacket she always kept in her backpack. She wasn't paying much attention, her music blared in her ears as she threw her bag down.

"Rach," She looked up, pulling out her headphones, "do you know who that guy is?" Miguel pointed forward, Rachel's eyes following the tip of his finger. Her jaw dropped.

"You got to be kidding me." Miguel furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at her, her eyes narrowing. She stomped over to her dad. John Kreese. John Kreese! Why the hell was he here?! She tapped her dad's shoulder, the two men looking at her, finally acknowledging her presence.

"Rach." Johnny sighed, slowly smiling.

"Why is this guy here? Didn't he try to...I don't know...kill you?!" Rachel whisper-shouted, her dad glancing at John Kreese.

"He's just gonna observe, nothing else." Rachel folded her arms, she didn't believe him. John Kreese was like Daniel LaRusso, in a weird sort of way. Daniel LaRusso was like Rachel's stand-in dad. John Kreese was her dad's Daniel LaRusso. Except John Kreese was an evil terrible man. Daniel would never do the things he did.

"I don't believe you." Johnny put and hand on Rachel's shoulder, she quickly shrugged it off, before Johnny sighed and pulled her away from Kreese.

"Listen, I'm promising you that he's only gonna observe, nothing else, and who knows? Maybe he's changed, I'll be able to tell, and if he hasn't, I'll just kick him out. Alright?" Rachel didn't respond. Rachel had also been promised that her dad would go with her to her mother's funeral, and that promise was broken. "You just gotta trust me on this." Trust him.

Trust was a weird thing. Some people say to earn trust you have to give trust, but others say you're naturally born with trust. It's when you're older that that trust gets taken away. Rachel agreed with both, at first she gave out trust to everyone like candy to little kids, but now people had earn her trust.

She wanted to trust her dad, she really did, but he'd let her down so many times that it was hard. It was hard to break down the barrier she'd worked so hard and so long to build. Sometimes, she felt as if her younger self still lived inside of her, shoved deep down inside of her so she could never come out. But it was situations like these where she finally came to light, convincing older Rachel to give in to her dad like she always had. Maybe he'll change, maybe he'll be my dad again.

"Okay."

"I don't think we've formally met," Kreese said, sticking his hand out to Rachel after Johnny brought her back from the hallway. "John Kreese." Rachel shook his hand, just like she'd promised her dad she would, and pretended to be civil.

"Rachel Lawrence." She muttered.

"What the hell was that?" Johnny shouted, Rachel's ear pricking up as she took out her earbuds. What were his precious little Cobra's doing now?

"We were just messing around. We have 11 and a half months until the next All Valley." Miguel chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, besides, we already know how to kick ass." The students around them chuckled, Rachel could see her dad getting more and more angry by the second.

"Oh, yeah, really, huh? So, you know everything. There's nothing left to learn, huh?" He asked, the room staying silent. "Rachel!" Her eyes went wide as everyone turned to look at her, her dad motioning for her to come forward. "So you know what to do when you're opponent is more advanced than you are?" Johnny asked, Rachel, felt as if her heart was beating in her throat as she glanced from her dad to the class.

"Sensei, what's your point?" Miguel asked, Rachel, giving him a look, practically begging him to shut up.

"Rachel, choose someone." She slowly smiled, her eyes immediately meeting with Miguel's.

"Diaz." Miguel felt his heart drop, there was no way he could hit Rach. He couldn't beat her either, and he was supposed to be the champ.

"Everyone around the mat except for Diaz and Rachel." Everyone did as they were told, Rachel and Miguel faced each other on the mat.

"Ready? Fight!" Surprisingly, Miguel didn't strike first, Rachel did. But, Rachel's trick to her great fighting skills, was deception. Miguel swept her legs from underneath of her, just like she thought he would, and she kicked his knees bringing him to the ground, just like she hoped. With her legs on either side of him, one of her hands pinning his arm down, she brought up her fist to 'finish him' just like her dad had taught her. Then she hesitated, and it freaked her out.

She'd never hesitated before. She knew it had nothing to do with her Miyagi Do teachings or her IED. It was something else. Maybe it was the way he stared up at her, his big brown eyes opened wider than quarters. Miguel felt as if someone had turned the thermostat up so high that it broke.

"Okay Rachel, you've proved your point," Johnny announced, Rachel breaking through the trance she was in and standing up.

"5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Corner of Fulton and Raymer. You don't show, and you're off the team. Class dismissed." Rachel quickly went to grab her things, she couldn't look at Miguel, she had to leave before he tried to talk to her.

~

"Yeah, we made a whole stupid flash drive but I just..." Rachel sighed.

"What is it?" Amanda asked Daniel, sitting silently next to her.

"Of course I want him to hear what I said in the video, but I don't want him to hear it and think I don't appreciate him." Rachel cleared her throat. "And I'm not sure how to give it to him." She chuckled a bit.

"I've gotta go talk to him about Robby, I can give it to him while I'm there." Rachel gave Daniel a small smile.

"You don't have to." Daniel shrugged, taking the little stick and shoving it into his pocket.

"I don't mind."

Later that night, when Daniel saw Johnny with Kreese before he left out of anger, he slammed the flash drive into Johnny's hand.

"You're daughter wanted me to give you this." Was all he said.
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A/n: I gotta go to school tomorrow :(
Word Count:1,422