Inextricable//A Cobra Kai Story

Chapter 12

School the next day felt like a never ending nightmare.

The word about Eli and what happened with everyone at Cobra Kai got out, obviously, it's a little hard to hide a missing mohawk for the entire school day.

AJ would occasionally glance over at him during their class together hesitant to say anything when she noticed how tense his jaw was. She could hear the whispers of everyone around them and she was counting down the seconds before either one of them exploded.

She exploded first.

"You guys are being fucking rude so knock it off before I come over there and knock your heads off!" AJ whisper yelled at the girls behind them making sure that they understood she was serious about punching them.

The girls quickly nodded knowing AJ's reputation and following through on a fight.

AJ gave them a fake grin before turning back around trying to pay attention to the lesson again.

Eli looked over at his girlfriend with a slight look of annoyance, a little bit with her and a little bit with the girls behind them. She was so worried about her constantly running to him to fix every problem but now it felt like he was constantly running to her.

She went into Cobra Kai and yelled at them for him. While he appreciated it, it made him feel weak, just like the missing hair was.

Eli glanced at the clock counting down the seconds until the class ended. Instead of waiting for the girl next to him he just grabbed his stuff and walked out.

AJ's jaw dropped a little as she watched him. Her head slowly tilted to the side out of confusion, the pose reminded others of Maddy from Euphoria and they had enough sense to move out of her way when she started to follow him.

"Hey Eli!" AJ snapped as she followed him to his locker, "What's up?"

"Nothing" Eli shrugged dismissing her completely.

"No wait?" AJ laughed a little trying to figure out what the hell was going on with him, "What's up with that one Mohaw-" she cut herself off forgetting that she couldn't say that nickname anymore.

Eli sighed when he heard her cut herself off. He leaned against his locker staring down at her, "You know you're being fucking rude right now"

AJ's eyebrows furrowed together when she heard what he said. It sounded so much like the Hawk he used to be to everyone, but never her, and it hurt.

"Is that what this is about? Because I yelled at those girls?" She crossed her arms trying to hide her hurt expression.

"It's about you always leaping at the chance to protect me" Eli told her before continuing when he saw how confused she looked, "I don't you to protect me from everything, I can handle this. I know you want to help but sometimes you make it worse and put a target on my back. I know we're a team but what you're doing isn't teamwork, it's saving because that is all you long to do. Be the hero in everyones story. Be in the spotlight. Be the champion."

"That-" AJ sighed, "That's not true, I just want to help you and I'm sorry if I overstepped! But this feels very contradicting to everything that has happened in our past with you stepping in and helping me and protecting me. Why is it such a bad thing for me to do the same?"

"Because like I said, you do it for you" Eli shot back at her despite regretting every word and moment of it, "I think I just want to be alone for the rest of the day, I'll text you later tonight or in the morning"

He didn't give her a chance to respond before he walked away down the crowded hall.

AJ scoffed as she watched him walk away, "Asshole?" She whispered still wildly confused with everything.