Always there | Cheng X Reader | A Karate kid fanfic

Chapter 19: The Tournament Begins!

Previously...

"You want to beat Cheng, right?" I asked in response. "I can help you."

If Dre and Harry weren't surprised that I'd approached them, their eyebrows shot up and their jaws dropped at my words.

"Huh?" Harry said dumbly, stunned.

"Wait, wait, wait," Dre said quickly. "Why would you want to help me beat your best friend? Slash boyfriend apparently?"

My eye twitched at the words 'best friend' and 'boyfriend', but other than that, I kept up my polite smile without a hitch. "Long story."

"Well, thanks, but no thanks," Dre said slowly. "I've already got Mr. Han anyway."

"Mr. Han has never been in this particular competition," I said smoothly. "I've made it to at least the semi-finals every year since I was nine. I can give you tips."

As if sensing that I wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, Dre sighed and shrugged. "Alright, fine, whatever."

"Meet at the park after school then," I said, smiling like a cat who'd caught the mouse.

"Yeah, sure," Dre said, still looking at me suspiciously. I just nodded and turned, walking towards my friends with a triumphant and smugly satisfied grin at the look of utter shock on Cheng's face.

"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded.

I gave him a cool, innocent look. "What am I doing?" I smiled. "Nothing at all."

~First Person P.O.V~

"What do you mean you're not coming?"

I scoffed. "It means that I will be staying home, tucked warmly in bed, and not venturing out to help you hunt down crickets."

"Cut the sass, Y/n," Cheng snapped from his end. A sigh escaped the phone's speakers. "This is our pre-competition ritual though. You can't just say you don't want to go!"

"I don't want to go," I said slowly, mockingly.

Cheng made a strange, huffy, choked sound of frustration. "Fine. Have it your way," he said in a clipped, carefully controlled tone. "I'll catch them myself." With that, he hung up.

Rolling my eyes, I rolled onto my side, tossing my phone lightly onto the carpeted floor before rolling back to my original spot. Burying my face in my blankets, I glared at the wall as if blaming it for all of my frustrations.

Frustration...

"What a perfect word to describe Cheng," I murmured into my blankets. Perhaps it was my own fault for having such high expectations.

Not caring if I was being unreasonable, I ached with hurt and indignant anger that he didn't try harder to convince me into going cricket hunting. After all, like he said, it was our tradition. He was just going to give up after a five-second argument? Didn't it mean more than that? It sure meant a lot to me.

"What are we doing again?" ten-year-old Cheng asked, sitting up on his knees. He glared across the lawn at me, crouched in the grass, scanning the ground intently. "I'm tired. Can we go inside now?"

I lifted myself up with a sigh, rolling my eyes. "We're looking for crickets!"

"Why?" Cheng asked as I bent into the grass again, almost lying flat on my stomach. My hair, starting to get longer, was drawn haphazardly into a ponytail with choppy bangs framing the sides of my face and jutting into my eyes. "The tournament's tomorrow and you want us to catch bugs?"