patience is key | the karate kid

xvi. one huge, gigantic love-hate square

xvi. one huge, gigantic love-hate square

THE FINAL bell rings throughout the high school, signaling that school day is over.

    Daniel hops up from his desk and quickly gathers his things, remembering that he and Ali were going to go to the arcade, today. He'd been waiting all day for that final bell to ring, for he wanted to see her so badly. Only her.

He runs out from the classroom and finds her across the way at her locker, talking to Suzy and a couple other friends. He watches as she shuts her locker door. Then her friends start to hug her one by one, and all of a sudden Daniel feels worried.

"Hey, Ali," Daniel says as he approaches her, feeling confused. "Ready to go?"

Her friends turn around and all give him a dirty look. He gulps nervously and tightens his grip on his books.

"Why don't you just go away." Suzy says, looking at him up and down. "Can't you see she doesn't want to talk to anyone right now?"

Daniel takes a step back and Ali emerges from the girl group to look at Daniel. He can tell that she'd been crying, though tries to cover it up with a broken smile.

"Sorry, Daniel," she says quietly. "I'm afraid I can't go today. I just, I need to be by myself."

    She looks at her girlfriends and nods, then starts to walk away from Daniel.

"Wait, Ali—"

"Get off her case, dude." Suzy says. "Besides, shouldn't you be hanging out with Kathleen?"

Daniel opens his mouth as she turns to leave, and she makes sure to give him a nice long glare before walking away.

Daniel stands there in the middle of the outdoor hall, confused about what had just happened.

Did Ali find out that he's from Reseda? Or that he's friends with Kat? That must've been the case considering what Suzy said—

"Well, used to be friends with Kat." Daniel corrects himself out loud. And then he begins to think again, and he thinks long and hard.

"Why didn't Kat just tell me about being friends with Ali?" Daniel mumbles, squinting his eyes. "I feel like I'm in some tragic, teen romance movie."

Don't we all, Daniel?

————

Kat gathers her books and pens all together and shoves them inside her bag before leaving her last block, history. She waves Mr. Faucet goodbye and walks out of the door, and once she steps out, something covers her eyes.

"Guess who?" A familiar voice says. Kat smiles a little to herself and takes the much bigger hand off of her face.

She turns and is pleasantly surprised, seeing the blond haired boy. All by himself. No Cobra Kai gang. Just him. Johnny Lawrence.

"Hey," Kat says, finding him more attractive and sweet than ever. "How was your day?" He shrugs.

"Ah, you know how school is," he laughs a little and wraps an arm around the girl's shoulders while walking down the hall. "Need a ride?"