WILDFIRE ► COBRA KAI

Chapter 9

"Fuck!"

The obscenity slipped out under the brunette's breath as her triple turned into a double. Her muscles cried with fatigue as she pushed herself deeper into her skate program, ignoring the way her legs burned when she attempted an Ina Bauer.

She refused to let up. Not until she had completed the rotations that led into her final pose. A furious rapping of palms together caused her to straighten up with bewilderment.

She thought she had been alone in the rink since her coach had stormed off. That was, after she had ripped her a new one for skipping so much practice in favor of karate.

Flynn felt a heavy sigh shuttle out of her when she caught sight of Miguel waiting for her by the wall. By trying to balance skating and karate—along with school and occasionally photography club which she half-assed—there was a newly intense pressure on her at all times.

She could feel it constantly lighting a fire under her ass like a slow cooker. Ignore it, she reminded herself as she skated towards the Diaz boy. She wasn't giving up karate now. 

"Hey," she let out breathily, gloved palms curling around the rink wall for support. "The hell you doing here?" She shot him her best tired grin.

"That was," Miguel shook his head, and she noticed his golfball-sized eyes. "Holy shit!"

"Thanks," she panted out a laugh, stepping off the ice and onto the hard floor. "But that was actually kind of bad. Glad it still looks good to the untrained eye, though."

"Good?" Miguel reeled, following her to a nearby bench as she went to peel off her skates. "That was amazing! God, I wish karate looked that cool."

"Yeah, it is a pretty sport," she conceded, slipping the first skate off with pretend casualty. Really, she was biting down on her bottom lip as the rough leather scraped over the bruises concealed by her socks. "Think that's honestly why I started in the first place. To little kid me, it seemed like the biggest flex."

"It definitely is," Miguel agreed. Her heart warmed at his support and the awe painted over his features. It must've been his first time ever seeing someone skate.

"I don't know, dude. You've done some shit recently that has earned you some major street cred, so," she chuckled, tired of herself being the subject of discussion.

She pried her other skate off with slightly less pain, resting both of the skates on the floor before turning to him again. "So, what's up? I know you didn't just come to watch me skate."

"I came to heed a warning," he answered in a theatric tone that earned a hum of laughter from her.

"Oh yeah?"

"It's about Eli."

That sobered her up, her lips curving downward instantly. "What happened?" Her mind began to conjure horrible images of Eli getting beat on or crying. "Was it because of karate?"

"It's not anything you're thinking," Miguel eased, sensing the distress he had invoked in her. He waited until he saw her shoulders cave a little from the tension to continue. "He changed his look. And his attitude, I think."

Flynn blinked. "What?"

"He got a mohawk."

Silence passed through them like a lonely breeze. Flynn's bottom lip quivered. Then her top. Suddenly, a wheeze rocketed out of her. Her hands circled her knees as she shook with laughter. "Dude. What?"