little bird // r.keene

xxxvii. hiding.

Wren didn't catch any Cobra Kai members in the changing room thanks to her run in with Mr LaRusso so there was no one to see her throw on her gi and wipe the rest of the blood off her face but it didn't matter. Even without the dried blood there was still a large bruise on her face topped with a cut and no matter how hard she tried to wipe it off. It made no difference.

She was late and she knew it. All of them were already in the hall as the other students were introduced. Wren clenched her fists as she walked in, another dojo were being introduced and she made her way towards the mat to stand on the end of her dojo's line.

She stood on the end, her hands knotted together in front of her, her hair pulled back into a braid that felt like a rope down her back so there was nothing hiding her face.

Hawk couldn't stop looking at her.

He elbowed Miguel, who was on his left and pointed to her despite the crowds in front of them. But Wren didn't so much as look their way.

Sam couldn't stop looking either, she knew for a fact Wren hadn't had the bruise earlier that morning and couldn't help toss the thought over and over in her mind that someone had done that maybe mere minutes after she left Sam's home. That someone had done that to Wren at all.

Sam couldn't help but think about Miguel then. How he had hit Wren when trying to get to Robby, she looked at him, but he was already staring at her. Sam tore her eyes away first and like that... Miguel felt worse than he ever had in his life.

The announcer raised the microphone to his mouth, "And finally, fighting unaffiliated from North Hills, we have Mr Robby Keene." Wren's eyes skimmed to the door where sure enough she saw Robby jogging out onto the mat, he hadn't mentioned fighting today. She had droned on and on last night about her nerves for today, about seeing Miguel and Hawk again, and yet he failed to mention him signing up himself... Something about that didn't sit right with Wren, it made her feel like an idiot.

The crowd gave a light applause and he smiled when he passed his father, Johnny let his eyes linger on his son as he passed.

But then he saw Wren, stood on the end of the Cobra Kai line up, emotionless and bruised, Robby's smile faded in a heartbeat but he couldn't stop at that moment, he jogged over to the other side of the mat.

"I didn't know he was fighting." Amanda said to Daniel, leaning over so Sam could hear as well.

"Neither did I."

Robby kept looking at her, hoping she would maybe, just maybe look over at him back but Wren kept her eyes trained on the mat in front of her. He could see her bruised eye from across the hall, Robby kept his firsts clenched behind him.

Had she run into those men who were after her father again? He should have gone with her to Sam's, then they could had arrived together and he could have prevented the whole thing. Why didn't he just get up earlier? Why did they have to go after her? No.

He looked again, even over ten metres away, Robby couldn't help but know he thought about Wren Evans a lot more than he probably should.

It was the way she talked and moved, how she looked at things. Not like how she saw the world, but how she literally looked at things. He remembered noticing how her eyes seemingly darken whenever she focused too hard or wondered about things that were out of her reach.

He thought about how she protected people. How she had protected him against Hawk and Miguel, how she had stopped him from having to go home to a place with no food or electricity. How she had taken him in.

I'm calling us even.
No questioning it, Evans.

His note had said. But he didn't believe it. She had told him how he had probably saved her life the night they met but it didn't matter to Robby. To him, he she had saved him from something every time they had encountered each other. And he would save her every chance he got if it meant stopping her from feeling the things she told no one about.

Robby wanted nothing more than to go over to her, hold her, tell her no one would ever give her a black eye again. But he couldn't. Not when they were watching. His dad, Daniel LaRusso, Sam, Hawk, Miguel... It would only make things worse.

Robby wanted too. But he didn't.