My Cobra Guy

Episode Thirty-Two

John Kreese sat in his office chair. Robby had helped him delete Gretchen's pictures and texts from his phone; he didn't want another reminder of his humiliation. The students had remained late to scour the parking lot for the girls who'd vandalized the dojo. Nothing had been turned up, except a Ruby Woo lipstick, and lots of glitter. Kreese was still finding glitter he and Silver had tracked into the dojo. The rest of the shame though, that was gone, as if it never were.

Gretchen's texts had been the last thing to go. She'd played him so well, listening to him late when few people had ever done that, making sad "Awww, Potato Cheeks," comments when he spoke of difficult times. He'd look at his phone throughout the day to get a picture or a "Hope your day is fabulous! Xoxo" message, peppered with lots of hearts. He had no idea how she made images like that appear in the texts.

But none of it was real, and now, someone affiliated with Miyagi-Do was laughing at him.

Robby Keene, his star weapon, was the first to arrive. These days, his gaze was dark, full of pride and rage. He came right to Kreese's office instead of going to practice.

Kreese effected his finest smile and leaned forward. "Something on your mind, son?" What so many of his students wanted was a father figure; give them that, and they were easy to manipulate. Be someone strong and reliable, you'd have their complete devotion and loyalty. Danny-Boy and Johnny had made this too easy for Kreese when it came to Robby.

Robby's mouth flattened into a grim line. "There's a video online, Sensei." He didn't hesitate, even though he was delivering bad news.

"What kind of video?" Kreese asked. "Show me."

"I removed it from our social media," Robby said, stepping around the desk to use Kreese's laptop; a few of the students were the ones doing all of his social media work. "But, whoever made the video has a fansite for Miyagi-Do." A few keyboard clicks and pink splashed across Kreese's laptop, tiny flowers floating, along with some girly love song.

At the top of the page was the image of the text that had been displayed at the dojo. Kreese's hands clenched into fists.

"There are profiles of all the Miyagi-Do students on here," Robby continued. "There are a few we don't recognize. It might be worth a look, but the information isn't that useful, just crap about how people are 'adorbs.'"

"After the video, put the computer on the page with the profiles," Kreese said. "And send Terry the link to this page. Good work."

"Thank you, Sensei." Robby's posture relaxed, and a small smile slipped. It faded as he clicked on a flashing purple button that read "Cobra Kai Fun Times!"

A video started playing, with a shot of black-haired girl standing in a parking lot with her two friends; however, she was the only one who spoke.

"It's an hour long," Robby whispered.

"Go practice," Kreese said. "I'll call you if I need you."

Kreese watched the entire video, the broad flapping her gums and giggling and squealing in his dojo. He listened to her natter on about how the All Valley was trivial. This little girl dared put down his life's accomplishments? But if she didn't see the importance of the All Valley, could she be part of Miyagi-Do? She'd pay when Kreese and Silver crushed Miyagi-Do.

* * * * *

Daniel wandered through the spacious house that he'd so long called home, revisiting the memories - his children's first steps, late night conversations with Amanda, parties and guests. So many milestones. But more than ever, this felt right: a time to close this chapter and move ahead. He'd still have everything important, and he'd fight to protect that.

His students were going to need him now more than ever, especially since a few seemed inclined to put targets on themselves. Had Johnny spoken to Regina yet? And who was with her Friday night? As far as he knew, Regina didn't have friends outside the dojo, aside from the ones who'd gone away to college.

The whole prank reminded him of the time Johnny had spray painted a dick on his face on the LaRusso billboard. Had Johnny ever had a child he was unaware of? Maybe June drank too much one night.

He shook his head and chuckled, but that name popped into his head again. Matt Foley. Was Matt just a motivational speaker? Could Johnny possibly be exploring things with this Matt character? No! Johnny would never experiment with other men.

More than likely, Johnny was overreacting to getting a boner when Daniel was on top of him.

Or was he? When Daniel had carried Johnny after the concussion, Johnny seemed to want nothing more than to be close to him. He could blame that on the concussion, but when paired with Johnny's recent internet search, impromptu boner, and physical avoidance of Daniel?

I make him nervous!

The realization came as a dizzying blow that left giddiness in its wake. If I ever need to beat him in a fight... Johnny had taken right off that day when he'd ended up with his head on Daniel's chest.

But Johnny Lawrence? Being affected by Daniel?

This theory intrigued him enough to want to test it. All he needed to do was fight him, find ways to get Johnny in close-contact positions.

He'd just have to be careful not to have Johnny's ass against his crotch again.

What if his theory proved to be true? What if, dare Daniel think it, Johnny Lawrence was crushing on him?

Daniel forced himself to take deep breaths to calm himself. He didn't know yet. And the fact still remained that Johnny had been saying Matt Foley's name, some kind of weird litany.

This motivational speaker could be hoping to take advantage of Johnny's confusion and uncertainty. He could also just be a motivational speaker, and Johnny might be repeating the name when he recalled the techniques Foley had taught him?

This bore further investigation. If he were just a motivational speaker to Johnny and no more, then Daniel still wanted to know what he was telling Johnny to help him. Could he be the reason Johnny had changed so much lately? If so, he might be able to help the students at Miyagi-Do, make a real difference. Daniel would pay to get him there.

Daniel plopped onto the couch, phone out with Foley's social media on his screen. He sent the man a message: "Hi. Would you be interested in speaking to a group of students?"

Wouldn't Johnny be surprised?

Matt's response was damned near instantaneous. "Yes! When and where?"