Like A Phoenix ➳ Cobra Kai

The Pre-Party From Hell (7)

Last night, Grandma Marnie showed Kat photos from her mom's high school albums. You could tell it's the 80's by the frizzy hair, excessive yet fashionable accessories, and the retro vibe of it all. According to grandma, she admitted that Ali, the gorgeous blonde bombshell of her time, had dated quite a few studs, not to mention one photo she saw; it was a muscular blond guy with these sterling blue eyes. God, he was hypnotizing—with a chiseled jawline and curved lips, Kat couldn't deny her jealousy of her mom. Man, was he hot or what?

She looked around the halls, analyzing each student who passed through the corridors. Hm, how interesting, she thought. Somehow, her mom managed to find these attractive guys in this same high school over thirty years ago, and yet, here she stood, looking at the watered-down kids of her generation. Though Hawk was incredibly hot, and yes, he's interested too! Then again, looks aren't everything, she pouted. Ugh, hormones suck.

A sly smile stretched across her delicate features as she placed one of Ali's high school photos of her and the blond hottie in her locker. On the other side, she put a photo of another one of her mom's boyfriends. He was bronze with fluffy black hair, and dark, mysterious eyes, as he sat in a photo booth with her mom, Ali. "Why," she whined, stroking the two pictures that were held by a single magnet in her locker. "Why must you be a middle-aged man now?" Her shoulders slumped while she stuck her head halfway into the locker door.

Quickly approaching was the sound of clicking heels, followed by a light, airy voice that called her name. "Kat!" she ignored it, "Kat! Hey, uh. What are you doing?" Her eyes drifted from Kat to her swung-open locker, sporting an attractive blond man next to a beautiful light-haired girl. To the left was a photo of—her racing thoughts coming to an abrupt halt. The guy in the picture looked familiar, she couldn't tell who, but compared to her current problems, she decided not to dwell on it. He and the girl from the other photo sat in a photo booth smiling, his arms around her. They looked happy. Sam grimaced at the sight of teen love and quickly looked away.

Oh, she recognized that voice, alright. It's Sam. No, please keep walking. I must mourn for a man I can never have, she thought. Swallowing her pride, she yanked herself from the primarily empty locker. "Hi, Sam. What's up?" Kat said, forcing a smile.

Sighing, Sam gathered her thoughts. "Well, as you may know," she cleared her throat mid-sentence, "my um, 'friends' aren't my friends, and nobody wants to be associated with me." Sam paused, pouting at Kat. To which she nodded for her to continue. "I was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime," she said with conviction, smiling brightly.

"Oh! Sure," Kat laughed, "I thought you were gonna ask about my strange hobby of collecting photos of men I find attractive." She shamefully said, wiping the tear from her eye as she laughed much too hard. "Want to see?"

Sam stood in silence, her eyes drifted to the picture, and she quickly looked back at Kat, her mouth hanging agape as she tried to process what she was looking at, "Kat, is that my dad?" she exclaimed as her usually pale cheeks flushed pink.

Kat let out an audible gasp, covering her mouth with her scarred hand that wore rings like a mannequin. "He's your dad?" She turned towards the photo, glancing briefly before turning back to Sam. "Lord have mercy," she cried out, "do you need a stepmom or-"Kat retorted, flipping her hair and ruffling the ends.

Her face pulled in confusion, then disgust, and suddenly, she felt numb. "You know what," Sam flared her arms around, "I don't wanna know." Before turning away to walk towards class, Sam remembered what she originally wanted to say, "Wait! Kat, I remember. Okay, so Yasmine is having a party tonight at the beach," Kat silenced the girl before she could say more. "There are too many people around us. Text me during lunch," Kat whispered.

Though Kat told Sam to text her during lunch, she must've forgotten, considering she didn't. Still, her reliable friends met up at their usual hangout spot, the park. How wonderful! Kat just loved parks, especially flying bullets and trauma! Sitting with the group on a medium-sized park bench, they informed her of the plan: get a fake ID, find snacks, and ruin an undeserving girl's party. The idea itself made Kat excited about tonight.

With a devilish grin, she waved around her fake id, "Guess who turned 22," she gloated, showing her friends the legitimate-looking card. "What about you guys?"

The group nodded, impressed. While Demetri pulled out his Star Wars-themed wallet, taking out a single, semi-thick ID, he flashed it mere inches from Kat's face. "Boom! I am Mclovin," he announced with a giant smirk and eyebrow twitch that was beyond forced.

Gasping, Kat grabbed his ID and caressed the lining of the letters. "You love Superbad too?!" she squealed, pulling Demetri into a hug while jumping up and down with glee.

Unbeknownst to Kat, Eli was giving Demetri the "death stare." Since they were kids, Demetri knew Eli's boundaries, he had anger issues, and even worse, he got jealous quickly. So, looking at his expression, he noticed one of two things, Eli would eat his heart for breakfast, and two, he doesn't want him touching 'his' girl. This worried him; he couldn't bear the thought. "It's okay, Kat. You can let go now!" he patted her back as if he were tapping out in a wrestling match.

"Before I forget, has anyone talked to Sam today?" Everyone shrugged, but Miguel's posture stiffened at the thought. He nodded, "I know where she went; Sam and that kid Robby took off sometime during 5th period. I haven't seen her since then," his voice quivering as he swiped the sweat from his forehead.

Hawk noticed his strange demeanor, and putting two and two together; he consoled his friend. "Hey," he playfully punched Miguel's arm, "Don't worry about it, man. Sam's totally into you, dude."

Aisha was the first to speak after a long, awkward pause. "Well, are we getting the drinks or what?!" She joked, "Let's fucking do this shit!" The group laughed, walking towards the nearest liquor store.

Once there, the friends decided to disburse and make their intentions less pronounced, with Demetri and Miguel getting snacks, Aisha taking watch, and Hawk trailing Kat as she stashed bottles of cheap, convenient store booze in her hand-held cart.

Upon reaching the cashier, an older college student, his eyes glanced between Kat and Hawk, observing their cart suspiciously. Kat acknowledged the man's hesitation, leaning towards the counter with her cart filled with beer bottles. Instead of having her fake ID stashed in her wallet, she slowly pulled it from the crevices of her bra, using two fingers, and handed it to the man, never turning away from his intense stare. His cheeks flushed as he grabbed the ID, looking at it and back at Kat. He nodded, promptly scanning their items.

Smiling, Kat turned to Hawk for assurance of their plan going off without a hitch, but he glared daggers in the cashier's direction. She shrugged his ice-cold stare off as jealousy, then paid the measly fifty bucks for cheap booze. Miguel and Demetri followed along, holding a handful of beef jerky and sprite.

As she left the store, a bag filled with booze in one hand, the other wrapped around Hawk's arm, the two walked towards Aisha, who hid inconspicuously behind a tree. "We got it," Kat exclaimed. Moments later, Miguel and Demetri left the store, with Demetri shoving a bag of beef jerky down his pants.

"Dude, seriously? You're doing this again!" Hawk grumbled.

"Well, my friend. They don't call me 'the meat' for nothing," Demetri said with a wink. The friend group scurried to Demetri's grandpa's old, beat-up Chevrolet 66' and drove to the Canyon, where they would soon confront Jasmine and her friends.