The Cut That Always Bleeds | Cobra Kai

Chapter 1

Isabelle had been texting back and forth all night with Miguel. He seemed like a super sweet guy, and he made her laugh. They bonded over their mutual interests in superhero media. Miguel also kept gushing about how he was learning Karate and trying to convince her to join.

Due to them texting most of the night, she woke up later than usual. Isabelle grabbed her phone to see multiple texts from one of her friends, Sam, who invited her to a pool party at her house in an hour.

Isabelle quickly got up from bed to get ready. She wore a basic white bikini and a long-sleeved beige blouse to cover her arms and back. Grabbing her beach purse with all the essentials, she rushed out before being late for the party.

~

She was sitting at the side of the pool beside Sam, sunbathing. Music was blasting, people were chatting in the pool, and some boys were flipping into the pool. Isabelle was having fun and enjoying this last stretch of freedom before school.

"Okay, you were totally right," Sam said, smiling at Yasmine. "This is so much fun."

"Told you. It's always better to be the one throwing the party.

"And Kyler's been eye-banging you all day," Yasmine sassily replied while gesturing towards Kyler, who was across the pool.

He noticed all of us girls turn to look at him and smile while making eye contact with Sam. Isabelle rolled her eyes and groaned, she liked Sam and Moon, but everyone else at this party were assholes.

"He is an asshole," she whispered to Sam. "And so not worth your attention. You're sweet, don't go for a guy like Kyler. Even his name is a red flag."

Sam rolled her eyes and ignored the advice, not taking Isabelle seriously. She doesn't take it to heart and simply lays back down to tan.

Moon gets up to film a video for her channel, and suddenly, there's yelling.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! What the hell is going on here?"

Immediately, Isabelle shoots up in surprise to find Mr. LaRusso fuming as he turns off the music.

"All right, everybody, get out of here right now."

Sam immediately goes to try to calm him down while Isabelle quickly grabs all her stuff and leaves. She did not want to be around for that shitstorm to go down. Sending Sam a quick text to let her know she had left and that if Sam needed anything, she was here.

~

"I need one of you bitches to pick me up for school tomorrow," said Yasmine in the group Facetime call.

Sam asked, "How is your car still not ready?"

"My dad is getting me a new one," Yasmine replied, raising her hands in quotation marks. "He felt bad about that 'deer' that jacked up the Range Rover."

Isabelle's jaw dropped, "You hit a deer?"

"No, Is. Last night, Yasmine rear-ended a guy's car," Sam informed Isabelle.

"Omg. That's horrible. Why didn't you call the police?"

Sam looked down in shame, "I know. I'm still kind of freaked out about it. I feel guilty about just driving away."

"From that meth-head zombie?" Yasmine jumped in to defend her actions, her tone condescending. "If I hadn't gunned it, we'd be chained up in his basement right now."

~

The next day, Miguel just got his lunch and was wondering where to sit. He remembered that Isabelle goes to the same school, so he quickly scanned the lunchroom, trying to find her. To his dismay, she was nowhere in sight. Nervously, he looked around for a table to sit at and hopefully make friends. Finally, he notices a table with only two boys.