Red venom, Cobra Kai.

35. Situations.

Taylor let out small grunts as she punched the punching bag in the back room of the dojo, letting out her frustration. Over the past couple of days, Taylor felt guilty. Guilty about what happened to Hawk, and guilty about everything else. All the fights with Miyagi-Do, all the bad decisions that she had made. But she couldn't take it back. It was quite literally impossible. So that's why Taylor had been distancing herself from some people. Even Harvey, who she hadn't heard much of lately. Her main focus was karate and the upcoming tournament. After Cobra Kai wins, Taylor would then decide what the best decision for after would be.

"I've noticed that you've been coming here early every morning." Taylor spun around, recognizing Silver's voice from the doorway. "Everything okay?"

Taylor shrugged. "Yeah, I just had to let out some fume, I guess."

"Fume." Silver stepped forward. "So, I'm guessing that everything isn't okay."

"I honestly don't think it'll be okay for a while. Not until I make up with my dad, at the least." Taylor sighed. "I feel bad."

Silver furrowed his eyebrows. "You feel bad? Why? From what I heard, you didn't do anything wrong. He just didn't want to respect your choices, so that's on him. Not on you." Taylor looked up at him. "He should be the one trying to make up with you. But where is he? With Diaz. Not even with his own children."

Taylor didn't come up with words to say. In a way, she knew he was right. Robby and Johnny haven't even had a nice, proper conversation for several years. Taylor could agree with that. She looked at the ground. "I have to get to school. I'll be late." She looked back up at Silver. "Thank you, Sensei." She gave him a quick bow before rushing off to her bag and shoes before heading off to school, lost in her thoughts once again.

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊

"Hey, Taylor!" Moon ran up to Taylor, putting an arm around her shoulder. "I haven't heard from you in ages. How're you doing?"

Taylor, slightly startled, sighed in relief when she saw it was only Moon. "Uh, hey. I'm doing good, actually. You?"

With her usual heartwarming grin, Moon nodded. "I'm doing great. I've got this test coming up though that I'm not excited about, but I think I'll do fine. I think you'll do fine, too. Have you studied lately?"

Right. The test.

"Yeah, I studied a bit last night." Lie. "I think we'll both do good."

"Great! I'll see you later, then? Yasmine's waiting for me," Moon stated.

Taylor gave her a nod. "Yeah, see you later." With that, Moon took her arm off Taylor's shoulder and sped off into the school building.

Shit. How could Taylor possibly focus on the test and the tournament? It sounded impossible. Kreese did say that they would have to put in two hundred percent because they now have two senseis, but that would mean Taylor would have to put in three hundred percent now because of school. Maybe she could find a way to skip the test. She could use the old saying about how her dog ate her homework or that her coffee spilled on her paper, but Taylor didn't have a dog, nor did she drink coffee. Shit.

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊

Taylor panted, starting to slow down after she had ran awhile on the track field. But to cool herself off, she chugged down some of her ice cold water that had been sitting in the sun for the past half hour, so it wasn't very ice cold anymore.

Looking around, Taylor tried to find Harvey somewhere. She had seen him earlier in class, but they had no time to talk to each other since he left class quickly, just after it had ended. Actually, the two had never had a proper conversation in a while. Sometimes Harvey didn't even turn up to the dojo. Something must've been going on.

Just as Taylor was going to give up on looking, her eyes darted over to Miguel and Johnny walking around the field. Taylor swallowed down her water, her eyes widening. What was Johnny even doing there?

In the hope of going unnoticed, Taylor placed her bottle next to her bag and proceeded to walk towards the bathroom, but of course her wishes could not be fulfilled, as Johnny called out her name.

"Taylor!" Taylor tried to act like she hadn't heard him, but he shouted a second time. "Taylor! Over here!" Taylor slowly turned around, pretending to try and find who was calling for her. And then she saw her dad waving his arms in the air like a loon.

Rolling her eyes, Taylor gave him a small wave back before turning back around and walking straight to the school. She couldn't get far before Miguel caught up to her.

"Hey." He said, stopping in front of her.

Taylor stopped walking. "Hello." She said solemnly.

"Uh," Miguel's eyes moved to Johnny, who was just catching up to them. Taylor turned around too, noticing Johnny just walking up. Rolling her eyes, Taylor scoffed, trying to walk around Miguel, but Johnny grabbed Taylor's shoulder and stopped her.

"Wait a second, please?" He asked, basically shoving Miguel out of the way. "Please?"

Taylor sighed, eventually nodding. "Fine. Quickly, though. I've got to go to the bathroom."

"Okay, okay." Johnny caught his breath before speaking again. "I just want you to know that I am sorry. I'm sorry for not letting you do what you want, and I know that you must feel like shit because of me. But, you can always come back to my place, you know? You don't have to stay at Cobra Kai anymore. I didn't really kick you out," Johnny scoffed at himself, shaking his head. "I'm not really good with... words."

"I get it." Taylor nodded, looking down. "I appreciate your apology and your offer." Her eyes moved to the flyers in his hand. "What're those?" She asked in curiosity.

Johnny looked down at his posters before holding one out to her. "My dojo advertising." Taylor took the small poster, looking at it carefully. "I'm not working with LaRusso anymore. He just doesn't get my style of fighting."

Taylor slowly nodded her head as she listened to him, looking back up. "I don't know if that's a good thing or if it's a bad thing."

"What? Me leaving him?" Taylor nodded. "Why would that be a bad thing?"

Taylor shrugged. "Well, I don't know." Taylor folded up the flyer and held on to it. "I'll, uh, hold on to this, thanks." Taylor glanced over at Miguel, who was still awkwardly standing to the side. To put him out of his misery, Taylor looked back at Johnny. "This conversation has now ended. Thanks for the offer and the apology, and this." She held up the paper flyer.

"No problem." Johnny shrugged. "Just think about it, yeah?"

"Yeah. Thanks." Taylor gave him a small nod before walking away, forgetting that she had to go to the bathroom in the first place.