Queen of Cobra Kai

Episode 1.7

"Holy shit. We got a room full of flinchers." Sensei was working hard to mold a class of nerds into a class of badass fighters, and I could feel his frustration in every lesson. He made it a requirement to be punched in the face by Aisha before we were allowed to leave for the day. This was for the several students who had never had a blow to the face. Luckily, Sam had punched me when we were seven and messing around behind Daniel's back. When Daniel saw I had a bloody nose, he gave the both of us a long lecture on how karate was only meant for defense. 

Everyone lined up, and Aisha began punching each kid. Hawk was in the back of the line so focused on the task that he didn't notice me staring at him. It had been a few days since he made his transformation into Hawk, and he was different. He stuck by my side at school, which helped with my Miguel and Sam problem, but as soon as we entered the dojo he would focus on whatever Sensei's lesson was for the day. He said that he owed for everything he had become, but he was so serious about Karate. I just wished he would ease up. 

I was leaning on the wall outside of Sensei's office, waiting for Hawk to get punched so we could leave, when I heard a Miguel say something interesting. 

"There's this girl at school..." He said. My heart fluttered with the idea of him talking about me. I kept my eyes on Hawk, but my ears were listening to what Miguel was saying. 

"Is she hot?" Sensei asked. 

"...and she's super smart..." Miguel continued. 

'Hot?" 

"...funny and cool..."

"Hot?" 

"Yes she's hot. Super hot." Oh my god. This was a good sign for a possible future with Miguel. Hawk looked over at me and grinned. I smiled back, but the smile was for someone else. 

"Nice." Sensei sounded weirdly proud. 

"I think you'd really like her. She likes karate and I mean I want to ask her out, but I just don't know." My whole body froze. He wasn't talking about me. He was talking about a girl who Sensei Lawrence didn't know. Miguel wanted to ask Sam out. I should have seen this coming, but I guess Hawk had been able to distract me enough. That thought motivated me to find Hawk. He was sitting on the floor after being punched by Aisha, so I went to help him up. 

"Look at what Aisha did to you." I used my thumb to wipe some blood from his bottom lip. This turned out to be more sensual than I meant causing me to blush. We still hadn't talked about what was going on between us, and I wasn't sure if I was ready. Whatever it was was going to have to wait because I was still working on getting over Miguel and Sam. I didn't want to fully commit to Hawk until I knew I truly liked him and not because he was a good distraction. 

"Can I drive you home?" He asked while pushing a piece of hair behind my face. I quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching because I wasn't use to public affection. 

"Sure." He put his arm around my shoulder and started to lead me to the door. Miguel came running out of the office calling my name out. I turned around to see him jogging up to me, and I took a step away from Hawk causing his arm to fall. 

"Hey, do you want to do something tonight? I have a few things I want to ask you about." He was talking directly to me. Sam had already asked me to come over, so she could probably ask me about the same thing. 

"I'm busy, sorry." I said. I felt Hawk smiling when I rejected Miguel. 

"Oh, okay. I can just talk to you at school then. See ya later." He was sad about something, making me feel bad for turning his plans down. He left Hawk and I standing by the door.