little bird // r.keene

xxxii. burned bridges and broken bones.

The wall behind the Biology block wasn't the most ideal place to smoke before school but it's all Wren had. Even when walking to school, she felt stare after stare fix on the back of her skull- to the point where it gave her a headache. Which were becoming increasingly frequent these days.

Anyhow, the wall hid her from most lingering gazes expect a small path that lead up to the main school building. Not the most private but it was better than nothing.

She took a long drag, pocketing her lighter back in her jacket and slung her bag down by her feet. Wren pressed her back against the wall and rested her head against the brick behind her, which was cold to the touch, letting her eyes skim shut.

"I've never really understood the appeal of smoking." Wren kept her eyes shut, she knew that voice anywhere and if anyone was going to ruin her tranquillity- she was glad it was Demitri.

"No one is asking you to. What are you- Oh my god." Wren turned to face him mid sentence and her eyes immediately widened. Her shock was extreme, she knew it, but she couldn't help it. Because on his arm, Demitri had a cast. "What the fuck happened?!" Wren pushed herself away from the wall.

The last time she had seen Demitri, he had tried talking to her after Miguel fell off the balcony. Of course, she hadn't really heard anything he had said and she left the school promptly after Miguel had been taken away.

It felt like a lifetime ago.

Wren was sure it was.

"I err-" Demitri hesitated, looking from her back down to his cast. Shame. Bold and clear. "I..."

"Demitri," They made eye contact, Wren's cigarette still burned and yet it was completely forgotten, "It's me." She said gently, "What happened?"

"There was a fight," Of course there had been, how could Wren expect the dojo's to suddenly get along, even after Miguel ended up in the hospital? "We, err, the Miyagi-Do's tried to ambush the Cobra Kai's..." He said slowly and Wren listened intently.

Immediately her stomach contorted- this fight had been whilst she was 'slipping away as Tory called it. Wren's mind circled over and over again- thinking that maybe, just maybe, if she had been there then Demitri wouldn't be in a fucking cast. She mentally scorned herself.

He bit his lip and tried again to explain, "We, we thought we could take them. It was going to work... Sam wanted to-" He rambled, and normally Wren would have welcomed Demitri's rambling but at the mention of Sam's name- Wren snapped.

"Demitri. Who did this to you?" She asked, firmly. His eyes flickered once more, as if attempting to conceal the truth but he just couldn't lie to Wren. Not after all she had done to try and protect him these last few months, when the dojo rivalry was at its peak.

"Hawk had me on the floor. He had my arm behind my back." He said in short sharp sentences. "Sam disappeared. I couldn't see anyone, I begged him not to but... Tory told him to do it and he did."

Wren's expression dropped. But how could she be surprised? Friends or not... Hawk was a fighter, and Demitri had been in his way. The Miyagi-Do's had underestimated Cobra Kai. Nothing new but... Hawk had broken Demitri's arm. And Tory had told him to do it.

Wren recalled their bond when she first met them; Eli and Demitri.
Best friends.
No- Brothers.

Looking at Demitri now... Wren couldn't trust anything she remembered because the Demitri standing right in front of her in a cast was proof enough that you couldn't trust the past. No matter how much you wanted to.

"Fuck." She dropped her cigarette and crushed it under her foot. Wren slung her bag over her shoulder and stalked out from behind the wall and onto the main walkway up to the school. Demitri scurried after her and even despite his long legs, he struggled to keep up.

"Wren- stop. Wait."

"No. No. None of this is okay, Demitri. He can't just break your arm!" She half yelled and her raised voice only added to the lingering looks people were giving her.

People knew her, even if she had never met them before. But they didn't really know her. They knew of her. Wren knew why too. The fight at the school. It made people admire her but it also made them afraid. And right now, Wren really wasn't helping her case.

"I'm not arguing that but you can't start a fight here. Not now. All the teachers are super duper strict now. If you start a fight, even with someone from your own dojo- they'd expel you before you can throw one punch. Trust me." He said under his breath, placing his non injured hand on her shoulder, as if to steady her.

"I don't care." She snapped, pulling away from his touch to go hunt Hawk down. Friends or not. Friends or not, there was no way she was going to just do nothing.

"Well I do." Demitri snapped back and Wren stopped in her tracks, he saw her confused expression and sighed, "You've hardly been at school these last few weeks, Wren and it's been weird without you for me." She closed the gap between them so they could talk quietly. Countless kids still walked scatteredly around them on their way into the school. "Eli is Hawk now, for good. Miguel was in the hospital. You were MIA. I just, I know I can count on you... You've proven that based on how many times you've saved my ass. The Mall fight. The school fight. Wren just promise me you won't get expelled. I don't know what I'll do with myself if you do."

And Wren realised, even though Demitri was a proud member of Miyagi-Do and had friends there. Part of him still lived in the days of their little group of him, Wren, Miguel and Eli. He missed them. All of them. Her included. Demitri could only watch as Hawk morphed into an enemy. And Demitri couldn't save Miguel.

But he could convince Wren to stay. Or at least he was going to try.

"Okay." She told him, "Okay. I won't get into a fight with him but I promise you Demitri... This isn't finished." She swore and Demitri gave her a small nod, he understood.

He broke his eyes from hers and scanned the people around them before letting them fix on the school ahead of them in a sort of day dream.

"Oh I know it's not."