Red venom, Cobra Kai.

37. Challenge accepted.

It was a few days before prom started, and Taylor was getting nervous. She knew showing up alone would disappoint Quinn. Taylor thought about calling up Harvey to see where he was because she hadn't heard from him in ages. It was like he disappeared off the face of the earth. But Taylor decided she would wait one more day until she would call him. She hoped he would be at school, but he missed most days.

As the school day started and Taylor entered the building, she immediately made her way to Harvey's locker, hoping he would be there, but no. He was not. Of course he wasn't. It wasn't like she fully expected him to be there.

Instead, on the other side of the hall, she spotted Sam LaRusso. Taylor hadn't seen Sam in a while. Honestly, she tried her best to avoid the girl. But, while Taylor was looking right at Sam, Sam looked right back at her. Of course, she had to do that. Taylor quickly adverted her eyes back to Harvey's locker, pretending that she hadn't looked in the first place.

Before Taylor went to walk away, she found Sam approaching her from behind.

"Taylor." Sam said, walking up to the girl. Taylor turned around, facing Sam with a sigh. Taylor didn't say anything. "How are you?" Sam asked in a casual, soft voice, like there were no troubles.

Taylor looked at the ground. "Good. Yeah, I'm good, thanks." She looked up. "You?"

Sam smiled. "I'm doing well, thank you." Taylor nodded, feeling very awkward at this moment. She just wanted to walk away. "So, um, what's happening? Miguel's told me that you're not staying at Johnny's anymore."

"Yeah, I'm not. I'm staying at the dojo until I figure out where to stay."

Sam nodded. "Would you want to go back to Johnny's?"

"I don't know," Taylor scoffed. "Lately, I've actually been thinking about it, but I'm not a hundred percent sure."

"Fair enough." Sam nodded, smiling again. "Well, I hope you figure out what you wanna do soon."

"Yeah." Taylor muttered, glancing behind Sam. Taylor's awkwardness almost instantly disappeared, and excitement replaced it as she saw the one and only Harvey Walker approaching his locker. "I gotta go," Taylor quickly said, giving Sam a short and quick smile before rushing over to Harvey, who hadn't even noticed Taylor yet.

Sam cleared her throat, thinking the conversation went rather well. She looked back at Taylor one more time before walking away.

"Harvey!" Taylor exclaimed, finally escaping Sam. Harvey looks up at his name being called and sees Taylor walking up to him. His expression is neutral, and then he instantly grins as he runs up to her. "Where the hell have you been?" Taylor asked as she stopped in front of him.

"Away." Harvey shrugs, still keeping a smile on his face. "I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Yeah, why is that? Like, where were you?" Taylor asked with determination, crossing her arms.

Harvey's smile slowly started to fade. "My grandmother. She's sick. I've visited her a lot, lately, so I haven't had the time to come to school or to the dojo. The principal knows, so I'm basically not skipping school." Harvey explains to Taylor.

"Oh." Taylor mutters, her smile fading as well. "I'm sorry about that. Is she getting better now?"

Harvey unfortunately shakes his head. "No. No, she's not. I think she's getting worse."

"Is it cancer?"

"Yeah, cancer." Harvey nods. "She's going into chemo soon. Hopefully, she'll be better afterwards. But, I don't know." He slicks his hair back with his hand. "So, how have you been?"