**CHAPTER CONTAINS SEASON 3 SCENE IN IT**
**SEASON 3 SPOILERS**
CHAPTER 13:
ZELENA'S POV
A head of blonde hair paired with a black denim jacket passes by me followed by a hurried Miguel trailing hot on his heels like the pair of them are on a mission. "What the hell is Sensei Lawrence doing here?" The mumble tumbles from my lips though no one can hear the question, let alone answer the damn thing. Deciding this may be my only shot to see the man who gifted Miguel and I with a safe space to release our darker emotions and the power to sense right from wrong and when to stop in a physical fight before it gets too deep, my palm slams against the bottom edge of my locker door to effectively shut it. My left hand rises to clamp my fingers around the locker hook and the circular base, clicking it closed before returning to rest in my lap against my thigh.
With ease I turn my chair in the direction the pair were headed and wheel down the hallway toward the clearing by the staircase where I'd landed. "Okay, listen up!" I didn't need to be close to hear the echoes of Sensei Lawrence's words thanks to his naturally loud volume of choice. Still, I wheel faster only to pause behind a little ways behind Miguel to remain hidden by his frame and keep her Sensei talking. "I screwed up. And I'm sorry. I made it about me. And that's not what a sensei does. I took the easy way out. I gave up." There's a softness in my sensei's tone that eases the pain clawing inwardly at his sudden appearance after essentially avoiding me.
"What happened here at this school..." The pause unsettles me and my eyes drift towards the suddenly more electrically white staircase only a bit away from the group and their discussion. Free-falling floats through my conscience again. "It rocked me to my core. I couldn't look myself in the eye, let alone face all of you."
Hawk takes a step forward in front of a smirking Caleb Briar and the rest of the rather quiet Cobras. "Yea. I guess it makes it easier to tell yourself that. But the truth is," He moves forward again, slithering inch by inch towards our old Sensei. "You bailed on us long before that fight happened. You got soft." A brief moment of seclusion where Hawk and I had our last heart to heart before shit hit the fan replaces the faint imagery of me falling. He'd admited to struggling with who he was and we sought out Sensei Lawrence only to find he had left. He was M.I.A and the only man Hawk had had in his life to build his confidence- show him the better path- was in the wind. "And we paid the price."
The ghost touch of my hand against Hawk's lingers across my skin as my eyes flutter shut to relive the moment. Just a second of it. His warmth radiating onto me, contradicting the coldness burying the remaining emotions in his eyes. The environment was warm that night though the breeze from the coast was cool as we sat on the front steps of his house. It had been the last time he contacted me following our "final argument" because I had ignorantly reached out upon catching my own wind of news about his break-up with Moon.
Tumbling down the rabbit hole into the event shortly running behind that, I snap my eyes open to hear my Sensei's leaving words. "Wanna stick with Kreese? Go ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you when your life ends up in the shitter. Or you could sack up and join my dojo." I see the flash of Eli once more in the way he tilts his head up toward our Sensei, but focuses on something behind him. "Havenhurst and Magnolia, tomorrow at 4:00. If you wanna save yourselves, train the right way. You better be there." He walks away, turning the corner instead of coming back my direction.
Their eyes follow him while my eyes remain on Hawk and the upturn of his lips only slightly as he tries to fight a smile. While angered with him for snapping Demetri's arm, I can't help the small smile that tugs on the corners of my own lips at the motion. I hesitate for a moment, deciding between 'chasing' after Sensei Lawrence or sharing my peace with Miguel in middle ground. I didn't want to ambush the poor man, but I also didn't want to leave anything unsaid between us especially if he truly had been rocked by the accident like he claimed to the group of Cobras.
"You okay?" Miguel warily asks, suddenly in front of me instead of near the group of his old mates.
Unspoken emotions suppress my ability to effectively communicate, pressing down with this invisible force in my throat. I settle with nodding and swallowing hard to clear the congestion. "He looks good." The words are croaky- raspy.
"He wanted to see you. Zel-" There's a discomfort washing over the previously 'normal' stature Miguel held. His posture curves and flattens, his eyes darkening in concern, and his voice lowers in volume. "I-He, Zel." He bends at the knees, squatting to be eye level with me after he fails to find the words he wants to say.
"I'm not mad, Miggy. I know- It's hard to see me after everything. After all, Robby is his son and I am sure a ton of people have put their two-sense in about how he was an outside force and therefore reason, in causing all of this." My top teeth chew on the inner edge of my bottom lip to distract my senses from the waves of emotions crashing on me all at once. The more I think about it the more disbelief and irony rise to the surface. A titter bubbles until it blossoms into a laugh that escapes my lips. Miguel's eyebrow raises inquisitively, confused by my unnatural reaction. "It probably sounds crazy to everyone who isn't us. I really miss Sensei Lawrence's old school personality. Obviously he has some work to do to get up to speed, but in the weirdest of ways, he understood us. Listened and took what we said to heart."
Miguel joins me in laughing, shaking his head along at the nonsense he could picture Sensei Lawrence doing. "Okay, we should probably get to our last class of the day." He gestures to my chair and I nod, granting him the permission he had silently asked for. Positioned behind me and grabbing the handles a few inches on either side away from my neck, he asks, "If you can stand and walk as well as my mom says you do, why are you in a wheelchair?"
I tilt my head back, peering up at his curious stricken face. "More for comfort. My doctor thinks I still can't do extremely long walks without my muscles giving out. In a few days I should be cleared but until then as a precautionary measure as requested by the school and your mom, it was either this or crutches as final agreement to return." His lips part in an 'oh' shape. I turn my head forward again, settling against the backrest as he begins to push me at his walking pace. "Also, this is your last class of the day. This is my free period until I am cleared to do extreme physical actvities."
At this bit of information he jokingly grumbles and suddenly my peers move quickly out of the middle of the hallway. My right hand reaches for the armrest, fingers curling around it for secuirty while my left arm circles around my backpack to secure it against my chest. All the colors of clothes, peers, faculty, lockers, walls, floors start to become jumbled messes of flashes as Miguel picks up his pace. A loud squeal rips from my throat as we round the hallway corner. Fits of laughter follow, my head tilting back in pure enjoyment of his wild ride.
My eyes try to focus on at least one object to pause the dizzying affect the flashes of color were creating for me. We turn left, passing English classes when a particular short sleeve catches my attention. The blonde in front of him smirks softly, her cheeks pinkening, but before I can see anything else we race past them. What the hell was Yasmine blushing around Demetri for?
YOU ARE READING
In My Blood (Eli Moskowitz/Hawk FF) (Cobra Kai)
Fanfiction"...be fearless and stand up for what's right even when it is the hardest thing to do..." Perhaps it was poor advice whispered softly in Zelena Bloom's ear while her mother carefully cradled her between her arms as a child. Some sense of sweet nothi...
