Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Thanks for reading my story! Big spoilers ahead for the end of Season 4

***

Tory sat in her car listening to the radio, the engine off and her hands on the steering wheel. She was parked several houses down from Kyler's house—it was the closest parking she could find—but if she turned her music down she could hear the crappy techno booming from his house. She shook her head. They were definitely going to get a noise complaint. But that's not what was bothering her. She thought back to what she had seen and overheard: that Sensei Silver had paid off one of the judges to rule the fight in her favor. And she remembered the hit Sam scored as she backed up, when her foot had crossed the line. The judge had ruled it out of bounds, and in the moment she had been glad for that decision, but now she wasn't so sure. The points she had scored she felt sure of—and she hadn't even gone after Sam's good eye—but what if Silver hadn't paid off the judge? Would the fight have ended with a third point for Sam? It wouldn't have been so bad if the judge had awarded her an unfair point—if he'd scored a strike that Sam blocked, for instance—because then who could say who would have won the last point? But if he had scored the bout fairly, more and more she felt sure the fight should have been over sooner, and it should never have gotten to that final kick to the midsection.

Her phone dinged, and she already had a feeling who it was going to be before she checked it: a message from Robby said, "Are you coming in?" She looked up like she could see him from that distance. He must have seen her car, but she couldn't see where he was.

Sitting in the car wasn't going to make her feel any better, and maybe a couple of drinks was just what she needed to take her mind off of it. Tory sighed and got out of the car. She walked up the path toward the house and knocked on the door. There was no answer. She pushed it open and stepped inside.

"Hey! The Queen of the Valley is here!" Kyler crowed from across the room. The house seemed full; there were more than just Cobra Kais here. Kyler snaked through the crowd. He handed her a red cup and she didn't ask what was in it before drinking. "How are you feeling?"

"Have you seen Robby?" she asked, trying to play it off.

A grin spread across Kyler's face. "Oh, I see how it is. I haven't seen him yet."

"What?" Tory stepped away, sipping the drink absent-mindedly. It tasted like nail polish remover and Gatorade, and she shook her head as she set it down to fish out her phone. There was another text from Robby. "I was thinking we could talk before we go in." And then, just as she was looking at her phone, another message popped up: "nm" No wonder he knew she wasn't at the party: he must have also been outside. What had kept him late after the tournament? She had some ideas.

Tory groaned and went to the door. "Hey, you're leaving already?" someone called from behind her, but she ignored him. She picked out Robby's car—it was on the other side of the street—and as she walked over he got out and leaned against it.

"You didn't have to actually leave the party," he said, his winning smirk not hiding something deeper in his eyes.

"What's going on?" she asked, trying to play it cool as she leaned against the car beside him.

"Oh, I just..." He trailed off, folded his arms, unfolded them, then jerked his thumb over his shoulder back towards the stadium. "I talked to my dad."

"Oh, shit," Tory said.

"No, it's not like that." Robby's eyes got wider, and he hurried to say, "It was actually... I mean, I wouldn't say good, but it's been a while since we talked, you know?"

Tory's brow wrinkled and gave him a quizzical look, asking, "What was it about?"

"There's just some things I wanted to get off my chest," he said. For the first time, Tory saw that there were tear tracks on his face. "I..." Robby turned his face away, his lip twitching. "It's stupid."

"It's not stupid," she said. She leaned over, her face serious, trying to look into his eyes. "Tell me."

"I just... I thought I was helping Kenny. I didn't want him to go through what I went through. But he's just getting angry and full of hate, the same as me. And I'm afraid if he stays with Cobra Kai..."

"He's gonna end up in juvie?"

Robby winced, but nodded. "Yeah," he said, looking a bit hurt, but honest. It was disarming.

Tory raised her eyebrows and gave him a push on the shoulder. "Or All Valley Champ. Cobra Kai got us to where we are. And don't think I didn't see you hesitate in your match against Lip. If you hit him when you had the chance, we'd be King and Queen of the Valley. I kind of like the sound of that."

He raised his eyebrows and his shoulders at the same time, letting them fall together. "There's always next year, right?"

Tory frowned. "That's it? 'There's always next year?' That's not how a winner thinks."

Robby shook his head and leaned away. "I ... guess? I hoped I was talking to you, not Kreese or Silver." Tory winced. Ouch. "Anyway, I'm just... not really feeling the party? Do you want to maybe just go to a movie or something?"

"Go to a movie?" Tory scoffed. "I just won the All Valley Tournament. I am definitely getting plastered and making some bad decisions, and I really hope you'll be there to be one of them." She grinned as she leaned in towards him, pivoting to put him between herself and the car. "Remember Prom?"

"I'm just... not in the mood right now." Robby put a hand on her shoulder. He was gentle about it, but it still made her lips tighten. When she opened her mouth, about to say something out of her stung pride, he quickly added, "I've got a lot on my mind, okay?"

She groaned. He looked so soulful and earnest that she couldn't even be mad at him, not really. "Fine," she growled. "But if you're not here to make sure I don't do anything dumb, don't be surprised what you see on socials tomorrow."

"Let's be honest," he said, glancing at the house with a grimace, "I'll probably be seeing it live."

She trailed a finger down his chest. "You could have seen it in 3D," she said, tilting her head with a teasing smirk. "If you had less on your mind." She poked him in the sternum.

"Ouch," he said, wincing.

"Don't be a baby. I get it. Go drive around or stare at the ceiling or whatever you need to do."

He grinned a bit weakly. "No, I mean ouch. I got this big bruise right there."

"Oh. Sorry." She bit her lip. "See you tomorrow?"

He tipped his head with a pained expression, raising his eyebrows. "No choice. We've got that History quiz."

"Right." In previous years the tournament had been after school, but classes had gotten pushed back because school had been shut for a while after the incidents.

She started walking backwards towards the house and pointed a finger at him with a sly smile. "I'll try not to kill THOSE brain cells."

He laughed. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"I think that's a pretty short list."

They both laughed, and Tory turned back towards the house. Still, as she got to the door, she turned back to watch him drive off. Did she just turn down a make-out session? Or listening to Robby talk about his feelings? She was feeling bad for a moment, but then she thought what if he wanted to talk about Sam or the LaRussos? She must have heard that name a hundred times that day. She shook her head and opened the door.

"Look who's back!" someone cheered, and someone else handed her a fresh drink. Tory took a long sip. She was champion: it was time to act like it.

***

The next day, Tory sighed as she opened her locker to get her books. She knew other kids were looking at her and whispering. Winning the championship had been a mixed blessing; at least kids had something else to focus on other than the school rumble that had taken place the previous year. From somewhere behind her, someone said, "It's no wonder she won. Beating people up is all she knows." She slammed her locker with a groan of frustration that made it so even more people were looking. She rolled her eyes at herself. Now she had to put her code back in to get her books out. She almost wished she could blame it on the hangover, but she'd only had a couple of drinks before leaving the party. Without Robby there to waste time with, she just wasn't feeling it.

Speak of the devil.... "Point! Winner Nichols," Robby was leaning against the lockers, his arms folded. "Oo, tough break for Locker. Couldn't even score one point. Another clean sweep for Nichols. When will Locker learn?"

Tory gave him a look between annoyance and fondness, pressing her lips together as she wrenched her locker open for the second time and started shifting books into her bag. "You're gonna be late for class."

"So will you," he said, the smirk only growing.

"I'll see you later." She walked away from him, trying not to smile.

"Hey, Tory, wait up!" he called after her.

"Later, loser." She gave him the finger over her shoulder and kept walking, so he couldn't see her grin. "I only hang out with champions!"

"Oh, come on," he said, jogging to catch up. "For one thing, I'm pretty sure that limits you to Eli and Miguel...."

Tory growled and turned on him. Before he could say anything in his defense, she took a quick breath and held up her hands. "I'd better be nicer to you, if those are my choices. Sorry."

He stopped, his arms hanging limp at his sides. "You are?" he asked, confused.

"Yes, I am," she said. She put a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow. "Is that such a surprise?"

"Kind of?" he admitted.

"I'll see you at lunch," she said as she turned around, strutting through the now mostly-empty halls towards her class.

When she walked in, the teacher stopped in the middle of writing something on the board. "You're late. You know you're already on thin ice, Nichols," she growled.

Tory bit back a scathing retort. "Sorry. I had trouble with my locker," she mumbled, and made her way to the only empty seat in the class. The worst part about coming back after the semester had started: she had no control over where she was sitting. And that seat happened to be beside Samantha LaRusso, who was very definitely avoiding eye contact, pretending to be diligently copying everything down that the teacher was saying. Then again, this was Samantha LaRusso. She probably WAS diligently copying down everything the teacher was saying. Tory rolled her eyes and got out her notebook. Whatever she was feeling, she had to pass this class, even if that meant setting everything else aside.

The teacher turned back towards the class. "This brings us to your homework for today. Please open your notebooks. LaRusso, what did you have for your answer to the first question on the homework?"

Sam visibly slumped. Even LaRusso wasn't feeling confident? Tory smirked. That was a first. Still, Sam looked up meekly, head almost bowed, and said, "Tybalt."

"That's correct," the teacher said. "LaRusso, please hand it to the front of the class."

Tory tried not to look at Sam, who she thought must be giving her a smug look. She refused to give Sam the satisfaction. She stiffened and gasped when the teacher called her several students later. "What about you, Nichols?"

Tory hadn't even opened her notebook. She started flipping pages desperately. Had she even remembered to do the homework? "Um..." she found the most recent page. "Mercutio."

"Well, that's better than nothing, but I'm going to need you to explain why you chose him."

Tory's mouth fell open in indignation. "You didn't make her—I mean, them—explain their answers!"

"No, but I'm asking you to." The teacher's eyebrows shot up. "Is that going to be a problem, Nichols? Are you only a champion with your fists and not your mind? Or did you maybe have one of your lackeys do the homework for you?" There were a few whispers in the classroom. Tory's cheeks flamed.

"I don't need to cheat," Tory said, a bit too loudly. She wished she had taken a minute to look over her notes before class. Too late now. Involuntarily, she glanced at LaRusso, just to see the smug look on her dumb—but Sam's notebook was open. And on the closest edge of her desk. And each of her answers was carefully annotated....

Tory looked away, back at her own notebook. "Umm..." She tried to think of the answer. The best she could do was, "Because once Mercutio died, Romeo felt he had to kill Tybalt, and then there was no going back."

The teacher nodded, satisfied. "Acceptable, but you said Romeo felt he had to kill him. Remember what we talked about in the last class, about being star-crossed: do you think Romeo had a choice?"

Tory looked at Sam out of the corner of her eye before answering. Sam was looking straight back at her with an unreadable expression. "No, I guess he didn't."

"That's right. Now, for the next question...."

When class was over, Tory shoved her things in her bag and was already slinging it over her shoulder as she got up from her desk. She absolutely didn't want to be leaving at the same time or later than LaRusso. But then she heard that all-too-familiar voice calling from behind her, sounding somehow soft and sickly sweet even when shouting across a classroom, "Tory!"

Tory turned, all too aware from the burning in her cheeks that everyone in the classroom had heard Sam. "What?" she demanded.

Sam hurried up to her, closing her own bag hurriedly. "I thought we could talk." She tucked some of her brown hair behind her ear in that nervous way she had.

"I've got nothing to say to you, LaRusso," Tory snapped, turning on her heel and stalking out into the hallway.

But Sam hurried after her. "I heard what you said after you won."

Tory stopped, the hot feeling suddenly turning to ice, like she had just had a bucket dumped on her head. "Huh?" she asked, and immediately mentally kicked herself. Could she sound any dumber?

"I'm okay, just a little bruised." Sam didn't quite look her in the eye. "And, for what it's worth, I don't think you hit me in the eye on purpose."

Some part of Tory just wanted to accept the apology. It just wasn't how she was wired. "What do you care?" Her eyebrows arched up, and she put a hand on her hip. "The judge didn't detract a point, so clearly he didn't think it was a big deal." Right as the words left her lips, that sudden thought came right back to her: but what if he would have, if Silver hadn't paid him off?

Sam stammered a moment. "I know, but I wanted to tell you that I don't hold it against you."

"Why would you hold it against me?" Tory asked with a sneer. Deep down, Tory felt genuinely bad about it. Looking at Sam's round little face all screwed up with annoyance, though, Tory just couldn't get there. It felt too much like letting LaRusso win, and for once Tory winning just felt too good to let go of. "It's a karate tournament. These things happen. It's not a slap fight."

Sam gave her one of her patented looks of cold condescension. "I guess I couldn't expect you to expect to win clean."

Tory's face flamed. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, balling up her right hand.

Sam's eyes went wide. She clearly hadn't expected that to hit quite so hard. Before she could say anything, a teacher's voice cut through the students milling in the hall. "LaRusso! Nichols! Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Yeah," said Tory, not to the teacher but to Sam. She shouldered past her, making sure to jostle her on the way. "I do." With her back to her, Sam couldn't see that her cheeks were burning and she was biting her lip. Why did LaRusso always get under her skin? She groaned. And now she had that History test to worry about.

Tory was loading her books into her locker before lunch, sighing and shaking her head. When she closed the locker, she jumped, because Robby had been waiting behind the locker door.

"Jeez! You're sneaky. Is that something they taught you at Miyagi-Do?"

"Maybe. It was mostly circling. Let me show you." Robby circled in and around her until he was kissing her.

Tory kissed him with her eyes shut, but as she opened them after they leaned apart, she spotted a familiar face over his shoulder. Like she didn't already have Miyagi-Do on her mind as it was.

"Was it that bad?" Robby asked, looking hurt.

"It wasn't you," Tory said, shouldering her bag in a huff. "Come on. I don't want to be late." She stomped towards the cafeteria.

"You know someone will just let us cut ahead," Robby said, hurrying after her. It was true. At least with the Cobra Kais around she never had to worry about not having a place to sit at lunch.

"I know," she said. "Let's just say I don't want to—" She looked over her shoulder to see if Sam could hear—she was speaking loud enough—and as she started to turn back she ran straight into Devon Lee.

They both went sprawling, limbs tangling, their bags swinging them both off balance. As Tory got back up, with Robby helping her, Devon got back to her feet before either of them could offer her a hand. With just six weeks of training, she had really learned to take a fall and spring back up like a champ. Tory stood looking at her wide-eyed: she knew she had a reputation as a bully as it was, and here was someone she didn't really know, and she'd all but confirmed it....

But then Devon stuck out her hand. "I just wanted to say congratulations on the win. You fought really well." She had somehow managed to recover and act like they hadn't even made contact.

"Thanks," said Tory, taking her hand after a second. The handshake was firm and polite. She eyed Devon suspiciously, waiting for the next part. She realized she was waiting for Devon to say 'But you wouldn't have won if it would have been a fair fight.'

"I look forward to next year," Devon finished. At least she hadn't kept holding on to her hand like a teen movie villain.

Well, there it was, but compared to what had been running through her mind, Tory was almost relieved. "Me too," she said. She hurried by, almost running. She didn't want to look back to see if Sam had seen. The last thing she needed was to see that cute face.

***

The History test was a blur. She sat sucking on the pencil eraser or chewing on the pencil, trying to concentrate on the papers in front of her. She had studied—she felt bad enough with a volunteer looking in on her mom while she was at school, so she had to make the most of it—but her thoughts kept going off on their own paths. She hadn't been watching her feet—she had been looking at Sam, the way she had been taught—but she knew Sam's punch had knocked her back, and that her back foot had gone over the line when the ref called it. Had he really called it her way because of the bribe? She tried to think back to every other moment in the fight, to moves that had been counted as blocked but that might have scored, to every point she and Sam had scored. Then she thought of that elbow to the face. Tory really had struck out without thinking, that part she was sure about, but she remembered hearing Johnny Lawrence yell that it should have been a point deduction. She tried to push the thought down. Maybe she was just letting her demons eat away at her, letting them taint her victory and take her triumph away from her. Was it possible the judge hadn't pushed things in her favor? No—Silver had sounded too pleased with the judge's calls. He must have known at least one call went her way when it shouldn't have.

The teacher called for them to hand in their tests. Tory groaned. As they got up to go, she tried to hurry: she knew Robby would ask her how the test went, and she didn't want to admit she didn't even get to the last questions. She hoped there hadn't been an essay question at the end.

"Hey, wait up!" she heard him call, but she was already on her way out. Maybe if she skipped her locker and went straight to her car... No, she had stuff she needed to study. But she still went on. She knew Robby had been watching—everyone had been watching—and she didn't want to talk to anyone who had been there. She pushed through the front doors, trying not to look back to see if Robby was following her and telling herself she could download the books she needed online.

But she didn't go to her car. She didn't know exactly why she did it, other than that if she didn't get answers, she wouldn't be able to sleep, and with summer vacation coming up she didn't have a lot of time left.

She didn't know what expression it was that passed across Sam's face when she saw Tory waiting by her car. Annoyance? Frustration? They all looked so similar, that scrunched-up look with the furrowed brow and a lot of pout. Tory physically fought to resist rolling her eyes.

"What do you want?" Sam snapped.

The words spilled out of Tory. She wanted to say something—anything—to establish just where they stood with each other. Why else would she be waiting by Sam's car after class? "Now that Miguel's gone, you'd better not start making a move on Robby."

"Miguel's not gone, he's—traveling," Sam said, managing to look angry and confused at the same time. "And I don't want Robby."

"Don't think I didn't see you staring at him at Prom." Tory pouted at Sam mockingly. "Since when was a LaRusso satisfied when there was still something she wanted that she couldn't have?"

Sam huffed. There it was, that brightening of her eyes when she got upset. "That's not fair. You got the stupid trophy, didn't you? And I didn't say anything."

"Because you were trying too hard not to cry." Tory rolled her eyes.

Sam's face tightened even more, and she shook her head with lots of brow furrow. "This isn't you, Tory. You weren't gloating after the match. You tried to check on me."

"Maybe I just wanted to make sure your Mom wasn't going to come hassle me again."

Sam raised her eyebrows and dropped her shoulders, like she felt sorry for Tory. "Who are you trying to convince, me or you?"

Tory's mouth fell open. She stood there for a minute without anything to say, and she looked around to make sure no one saw that dumb LaRusso had left her speechless. She asked in an undertone, "Well, um, was I out of bounds when you hit me?"

"What?"

Tory sucked on her teeth and glanced around again. She asked, faster and only slightly louder. "Was my foot over the line when your punch landed?"

Sam hesitated, taking a step back and half-turning her face away. "What, you want me to say the call was fair?"

Tory was surprised, and she knew it showed on her face. "No." She tried to change that look to one of casual contempt. "I don't care what you think, I just don't want you spreading rumors, okay?"

Sam scoffed. Tory had seen scoffs like that in the mirror. She tried to remember if Sam did things like that when they first met. "Don't worry. I'm not going to tell anyone you don't deserve it. The judge made a call, and I'm not a sore loser." But there was a flash of something in her eyes. Pain? Disappointment? Wow, she really had wanted it.

Almost as much as Tory had. And now she had it. But that didn't ease the sour feeling in her belly. She tried to push her, making it sound like she was just trying to get a rise out of her. "But you think I wasn't over the line, don't you?"

"Yeah." Sam nodded, her lips pressed together. There was that look of ... compassion? More like pity. "I do."

"Whatever." Tory turned around and stomped towards her car. This was a mistake. She shouldn't have–

"And you do, too."

Tory stopped in her tracks. She looked back at Sam. She was standing there, arms crossed, looking at her, like she expected Tory to say something.

"You don't have to pretend with me," Sam said. "I know you're not happy with the decision. You think it was unfair. So do I."

"I..." Tory took a deep breath, and then another. She knew she was going to have to say it, and she knew she was going to regret it. "I wasn't out of bounds." If she admitted it and LaRusso said something, they might still do a review, and....

Sam nodded. She didn't look angry, or sad, or disappointed. She looked resigned. "Yeah, you weren't."

Tory swallowed, and she wished she could stop thinking about her mother. She didn't want to think about her mother right now. Her aunt Kandace was right, no one knew how much time she had left. Now, Tory had the trophy. Her mom could feel that, just once, her daughter had done something right. "So what happens next?"

Sam shrugged. "If you think I'm going to tell anyone, I won't."

"I don't need your pity, LaRusso!" Tory snapped.

"Then you don't need to give me any either," Sam shot back.

Tory shook her head. "You know, you're the one who's acting like this is a big deal. It's not like you got what you wanted."

"It's not like you got yours," Sam said, her voice low. "But if it's close enough for you to be satisfied, that's your call."

Tory was surprised. "Is that how you really feel?"

"Sure," Sam said, but she didn't turn away. She stood there looking at her with those big blue eyes, her chin tucked down slightly, like she expected something else to happen. Why couldn't she just get in her car and drive away? The conversation was over.

"Yeah, well...." Tory couldn't help herself. She was already thinking about her mom. Yes, there was the trophy, but her mom had also seen her struggle. She'd been in trouble with the law, and now she was finally back in school, and while some part of her thought that if her mom never found out it wouldn't hurt her, there was another thought: if she didn't do the right thing now, she didn't know if she could take it back later, or if she'd be regretting it for the rest of her life. "You're right. I was in bounds."

Sam blinked. She didn't seem quite as surprised. "What?"

"Yeah, I guess. It's just, I didn't want to admit it. That's all."

"And now?" Sam asked. She was looking at Tory with the kind of look you give a dog on your street that barks at you every day but suddenly starts wagging its tail.

"Now I am." Tory nodded. "I guess."

"So, what do we do now?"

Tory paused, thinking about that. She knew she should say something. "I don't know."

Sam shook her head, her lip lifting. "Then I guess it doesn't make any difference, does it? You'll keep the trophy."

Tory stammered. "Well, I..."

"It doesn't matter," said Sam, pulling her car door open violently. "You'd better enjoy it, because next year, I'm going to beat you. And everyone's going to watch me."

Tory didn't move. She watched Sam get in her car and drive away. She waited until she was gone before she walked to her own car. She drove home slowly, trying to figure out how she felt about what had happened.

She didn't have to wait long. She parked her car and got out, slamming the door shut behind her. She was just walking up to the front porch when she heard her name called. She looked around, and there was Robby. He was standing at the edge of the driveway. She waved, and he came towards her.

"Hey," he said. "Are you okay?"

"Sure." Tory shrugged. "I mean, I'm fine."

Robby smiled. "You look good. You ready for karate? I was thinking I could drive you...."

Tory looked over her shoulder and checked the time on her phone. "I can't. I got called in to do a shift."

"Well, you know, if you're not doing anything tonight... I mean, maybe we could go get something for dinner."

Tory shook her head. "I'm sorry, Robby, the volunteer is only staying till five, which means I have to be back by six."

Robby looked at the door, then back at her. She felt a knot of guilt when she saw that hurt look on his face. "Maybe I could come over for dinner?"

She pressed her lips together. She felt awful and knew he could see it all over her face. "I don't think that's a good idea."

His face fell. "All right," he said, nodding as he started back towards his car. "See you tomorrow?"

"Hey." She stopped him with a hand on his arm and gave him a quick kiss. "You better believe it."

He kissed her back, but only for a second. "Do you want me to let Senseis know why you're not there?"

She winced, but nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."

He nodded, but she could see the way his eyes clouded over as he turned away. Tory wanted to reach out and touch him, but she didn't. She didn't want to promise him something she couldn't give him, so she just let him leave and went inside to get changed for work. LaRusso probably doesn't have to deal with any of this, she thought. She probably never worked a day in her life, and both her parents were healthy and loving and.... She threw herself on her bed and buried her face in her pillow, groaning. But she didn't have time to feel sorry for herself. If she hurried, she could check in on her mom before she had to rush to her job.

Chapter Text

When Tory got home from work, she barely had time to make dinner and eat with her mom and little brother before she had to hit the books. She was determined not to repeat the History test from that day. Her aunt's words were still in her head, and Tory knew she was right: Kandace knew how to play the game, and she'd clean up and parade into the courtroom, the concerned sister mourning Tory's mom and wanting to take care of her dead sister's kids—especially poor little Brandon, but also Tory, because all she needed was some discipline. And then she would mention—out of concern, of course—Tory's criminal record, her trouble holding down a job, her trouble in school... well, she could do something about at least two of those. The History test might have been a dud, but she could at least pull out the last few classes. Considering she'd only been back in school a month, it was a tall order, but she had no choice.

She didn't even remember how late she'd been up. When her alarm woke her up, her head was on her open Physics book, and she still had her makeup on. Tory got up and rushed to get dressed—well, changed—and to make breakfast before school.

The school day passed in the same blur. Fortunately, it seemed like Sam was staying away from her. She had probably said everything she wanted to say the previous day. Tory was fine with that: she had enough to worry about without thinking about what the LaRusso princess had on her mind. She wondered whether Sam would keep to her promise and keep the thing about the finals to herself. She had promised, but what was that worth?

At lunch, the rest of the Cobra Kais were loud and boisterous: even the tests weren't enough to dampen their spirits, and they threw food at each other and at Tory, who sat next to Robby. Tory ate her sandwich quickly and then got up from the table so she wouldn't have to be near them anymore.

Robby caught her eye as she was walking past him. "Hey," he said, standing up from his seat. "I'll see you at the dojo, right?"

Tory nodded. "Yeah." She couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes. She knew she was neglecting him, but with school, her mom, her little brother, her job... there was just too much going on. Tory had to keep reminding herself that this wasn't forever, and it didn't mean she had to stop caring about him. It was too easy to push him away.

After school, she was one of the first kids to arrive at the dojo. She started warming up, going into the back room to practice on the dummies. It felt good to be able to let loose and just hit something, yelling with every strike and letting her body go on autopilot. After a year of training, she was finally feeling like she belonged here. She didn't know what she would do about the tournament, but for now, she was just happy to be doing something that felt normal.

She became so engrossed she didn't notice when the other Cobra Kais started arriving, and it wasn't until Robby called her name from the door that she snapped out of it. "You coming?" he said.

"Yeah, sure," Tory said, pushing her damp hair out of her face. "I'll meet you there." She ran through her warm-up exercises, and then went out to join the others on the mat. They were all waiting for her. Sam was among them, in the front row, in her gi, but she felt nowhere near as confident as she had been at the tournament.

Sensei Silver strolled to the front of the room, grinning. "I'll bet you all feel real good after that, don't you?" His eyes fell on Robby. "Cobra Kai is the best of the best, huh?"

Robby met his gaze without fear. Tory tried not to look at him, keeping her eyes straight ahead. "I won't let you down again, Sensei," Robby said, in a strong clear voice.

"Oh, is that right?" Silver said, raising his eyebrows with that same wolfish grin. "Well, if you say so..." He turned back to the class. "We're going to start with some basic stances today. Basics. Discipline. Nichols, would you honor us by leading the drills?"

"Yes, Sensei," she snapped, and moved to take her place at the front of the room. This was routine for her, and the feeling of the whole room running through the drills together helped calm her. The rest of the Cobra Kais got into their positions and started moving as one.

Sensei Silver watched them for a moment before he stepped forward. Tory didn't know what to make of his expression. His eyes flicked between her and the rest of the Cobra Kais. "You seem to have gotten over your little spat, Tory," he said in a low voice.

She felt Robby shift in the front row, but she ignored him. "What are you talking about?" she said, and added a quick, "Sensei?" when she saw his expression.

"I think everyone here heard what you said to your enemy after your fight." Silver pointed to the stencil on the wall. "What does that say?"

Tory didn't even have to follow his gesture. "Strike first! Strike hard! No mercy!" she chanted at the top of her voice.

He spun on his heel and towered over her. "I didn't hear that last part, Nichols."

"No mercy!" Tory repeated, louder. Her cheeks were burning. The whole class could see that she was blushing, but she wasn't about to break discipline. She stood with her shoulders back, facing him without fear.

Sensei Silver stared at her for a moment and then turned back to the class. "That's right," he said. "That's our mantra. It's written on the wall. Everyone who knows Cobra Kai knows that. Not just for others. You do not ask for mercy. You do not ask the enemy if they are all right. It is not your job to make sure they are all right. That is their responsibility. And if they can't hack it, they stay off the battlefield. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Sensei!" everyone shouted, none louder than Tory.

"Have any of you ever heard of a hundred man kumite?" Silver asked.

It was Robby who raised his hand. "I've heard of it, Sensei."

"Do you know what it is?" The sarcasm in Silver's voice was biting.

Robby nodded. "I've seen one on the Internet. It's the most brutal test of a karateka. It's like a gauntlet. One person has to fight against a hundred people in a row."

"A test of endurance, grit, and willpower," Silver said, nodding as he circled Tory. "Nichols might be the All Valley champion, but she still has to prove she's the Cobra Kai champion. That means give no mercy and ask for no mercy. Do you think you can do that, Nichols?"

Tory hesitated, but then tried to shout all the louder to make up for it. "Yes, Sensei!"

Silver's smile was almost a sneer. "We'll see. Lucky for you, I'm not going to make you go through a hundred enemies. That's not mercy, it's just knowing that you couldn't do it."

He was looking at her like he expected an answer. A second too late, Tory said, "Thank you, Sensei."

"But don't think this is going to be easy. You'll have to fight every single Cobra Kai in this room, one after the other. Nichols has to score a hit on each one. Nobody stops until I say so. Starting with Keene." Tory's face tightened. She knew why Silver was choosing Robby first: with her biggest competition coming first and wearing her down, she would struggle that much more with each following opponent.

Robby looked with alarm at Tory, but then he got his face under control as he looked at Silver.

Silver stepped to one side, and the rest of the Cobra Kais followed, lining up on either side the way they did when they sparred. "Starting positions."

As they lined up across from each other, Tory and Robby looked into each other's eyes. There was deep understanding there: they both knew that Robby wouldn't take it easy on her. Not only would he not risk Silver's wrath, he wouldn't insult Tory by letting her win. It didn't matter how they felt about each other off the mat. On the mat, they were opponents. The word 'enemy'—a word both Kreese and Silver used, and one that Tory found increasingly in her own vocabulary—slipped into her mind. Tory shook her head, her hair whipping around her face. She couldn't bring herself to think of Robby as her enemy any more than she had thought of Sam as her enemy.

That thought made her hesitate. Robby, who was watching her closely, saw the shift in her expression and came in fast. Before Tory knew it, his shoulder and hip were pressed into her and her feet had left the ground. Her back and shoulder hit the mat, but she was already reacting, swiveling her hips and kicking out at him as he came down with her. Robby rolled away, her kick glancing off his arm as he defended himself.

Silver's voice cut through the cheering of the Cobra Kais. "No point! Keep going! You're letting him set the pace, Nichols. This is your first enemy. What are you waiting for?"

Tory got up and shook her head again, blinking hard. She stepped closer to Robby with several quick steps, and he backed away, maintaining the distance. Tory tried a roundhouse kick, but Robby leaned away from it, and it was her turn to back up as he used the opening to come in with a flurry of strikes she barely blocked. Sam had lied to her, betrayed her, put her down like she was nothing. Her haughty attitude and cushy life only rubbed salt in the wound: Tory had fought and clawed for everything that had been handed to Sam on a platter. She shouldn't have felt bad about hurting her; if anything, perfect little LaRusso deserved it. But Tory DID feel bad.

With Tory's arms raised to protect her torso, Robby hit her with a side kick to the belly. Tory took a step back and went down to one knee. She looked at Silver instinctively. Robby took two steps back and did the same.

Silver's voice was exaggerated, like he shouldn't have to repeat himself. "You go to the next opponent when Nichols scores a point. She hasn't scored a point, has she?"

Tory and Robby exchanged looks again. Her jaw was set grimly, and his mouth was pressed into the same line hers was. He gave her a subtle nod and she returned it. They were both going to see this through.

They both stepped towards each other and exchanged blows, feet shuffling rapidly to open or close distance as they circled each other, parrying each other's strikes and returning them, only to have their own parried in turn. It wasn't long before the cheers of the Cobra Kai faded and Tory could hear their breathing, concentrating on every move. Tory felt a tightness in her throat and chest, but she refused to give in. She wouldn't let Robby down. She wouldn't let Silver or anyone else see any weakness in her. The longer the fight went on, the more she felt Robby, his intentions and his emotions. Every movement of his eyes, every shift in his face, she felt in her stomach. There was nothing else like it: she had never felt so close to someone as when they were across the mat from her. Even when she was kissing him.... The idea wasn't so jarring. There was the same hyperawareness of his body, his warmth, his closeness, feeling him almost as keenly as she felt herself reacting to him. She remembered Prom Night, the convertible, his hands and hot mouth on hers. Their bodies crashed together, each trying to guide the other, to get what it needed from it...

As they came back together, she struck at his solar plexus and he countered it with a quick thrust to her nose. She ducked under the attack and pushed him away with an uppercut that was deflected off his chin. As she brought her hand back down for another blow, he swept out at her legs, knocking her off balance and then following up with a kick that knocked her down flat on her back. She struck the mat with her arm as she hit, lessening the impact, and rolled away to avoid his chop as he came down to hit her. She got back to her feet and, as he straightened, aimed a front kick at him. Robby sidestepped the kick, coming in fast, but Tory managed to block his strike with both hands. They exchanged a flurry of blows, each strike followed in rapid succession by a counter that was, in turn, countered, back and forth, neither able to get through the other's defenses.

Tory backed away from Robby, her chin down, panting through her gritted teeth. His face was set, his jaw fixed, like it was just the two of them, like she didn't have every single other person in the room to contend with in addition to him. With every exchange she was running through her energy, and she still had all the other Cobra Kais to go through. She could expect even less sympathy from them, and they would all be fresh. She had to finish this quickly. They circled, and then Tory rushed in, spinning on her back heel as she aimed a kick at his midsection. He blocked it with his knee, but instead of letting him take the initiative Tory shoved him hard in his chest, forcing him to step back, giving her room to step, bring her opposite leg back around, and aim for his head. She saw it in his eyes: he knew what was coming, but she couldn't give him any leeway. She wasn't going to lose. Not to Robby or Terry Silver or Sam or anyone else.

Tory landed her kick just right, and she felt her foot slap against the side of his face. A second later Robby was on the mat, and Tory moved towards him instinctively, but then her eyes snapped over to Silver's face. He was watching her with a grin that was mostly sneer, leaning forward like a vulture watching the last struggles of a rabbit. Tory recovered her fighting position as Robby pushed himself to his feet and rubbed at his shoulder, his face turned away from her. She wanted to say something, but Silver was already calling a name, and the next Cobra Kai was rushing at her, trying to take her by surprise.

Tory countered with a flurry of kicks, aiming low at his midsection as he came in close, but he jumped back, evading each attack. He kept circling around, staying out of her reach, trying to wear her down, but Tory was already starting to breathe hard, and she'd only gotten through the first opponent—the toughest one, for sure, but it would only get harder the more tired she got. She rushed in, and after two quick strikes that got blocked she landed a solid one to his chest.

Silver didn't even call it, he just said the next name, and Tory was spinning, looking for where the next attack would come from. She caught a glimpse of a girl coming up behind her, and Tory swiveled hard, bringing her hands up to block, but the side kick still caught her on the upper arm. It would be a block in a tournament, but it sent pins and needles down to her fingertips and she knew there would be a bruise. She countered by pivoting and aiming a roundhouse kick that landed square, and Tory recovered her balance just as Kyler came in, landing another punch to her stomach. "Yes, good, Park!" came Silver's approving bark, even though he hadn't called his name. She was knocked sprawling, but she rotated up onto her feet and rose with a bob back to her fighting position. This time, when she got back up, she was ready for him, blocking his knee strike and then countering with a flurry of quick strikes that left her opponent unable to do anything, his elbows lifted and hands protecting his head.

"She has to score a point, now!" Silver shouted. Tory heard the words and had them ringing in her ears as she stepped back to balance herself and spun first one and then the other leg out, rotating on her other heel, the first kick withheld as a feint while the second landed on her opponent's ribs with a crack that sent him staggering.

Tory was breathing hard now, panting through her mouth with her chin dropping. She was having trouble keeping her hands all the way up and had to fight the urge to stop keeping her legs bent. Her knees and thighs were getting sore, but she stayed in her fighting stance, waiting for Silver to shout the next name.

But he didn't. She risked shooting a look at him from the corner of her eye. He was watching the rest of the Cobra Kais, and she realized just as they did that he was waiting for one of them to take the same initiative Kyler had shown. It was Kenny this time, and he came in almost too fast for her to respond to, hitting her with three punches and then a kick that she struggled to block completely, feeling them land on bruised flesh. She crowded in, using her superior size and strength, and shot a front kick at his chest.

He dodged it easily, pivoting behind her to put a foot on her back and drive her down to the mat. He threw an elbow to the back of her head that left her seeing stars. She fell to her knees and forearms and rolled aside, knowing he'd be following up, and she felt his knee impact the mat where she had been a moment before. She lifted her hips and legs, wrapping one leg around him from the front and the other from the back, yanking him off balance and using the momentum of him coming down on his back to lift herself up. She him him hard across the chest, feeling the edge of her hand smack his ribs. Kenny went limp in acknowledgement, and Tory let go, getting back to her feet.

"No point!" Silver shouted behind her.

She turned to look at him. Kenny, lifting himself on one elbow, also looked at Silver with shock and dismay. "We're not done yet," she said, sucking her teeth and trying not to look at Silver. She tossed hair out of her face. "Get up." She could feel the gaze of the Cobra Kais, a heat that crawled over her neck, and she swallowed and grit her teeth.

Kenny groaned as he stood, clutching his ribs, but he stood up. He took several quick breaths and then got into his fighting position, eyes fixed on her. She could feel the way he was fighting down more than the pain; he refused to let her see his fear, his knowledge that the fight could only end one way. He hated his weakness more than any of them did. Something twinged inside her when she saw the way his face twisted to hide it, the shame and anger that burned him as hotly as it radiated out. She knew that look too well. It was like seeing herself when she first started karate. But she was stronger now. She was champion. Wasn't she?

She wanted to wipe that look away, to bury it as deep as she had buried the feelings she saw in him. She came in hard, aiming for his ribs this time with a jarring combination of punches and then kicking him hard in his side. The blows landed squarely, and he went down again without striking out a single time. As soon as he hit, he started pulling himself up and away, and she was reminded of a hurt stray cat dragging itself into the bushes, refusing to bleed where anyone could see it.

Heat radiated from Tory's face, singing the tips of her ears, and she looked at Silver. Her jaw clenched so hard it ached. She just wanted him, needed him to end it. He stared back at her, the same passionless steely gaze she was all too familiar with, no twinge of compassion or even enjoyment. Letting her feel it. Forcing her to. She stared right back at him. She didn't even care that he felt the defiance in her. She was too tired, too hurt to try to hide it. His lips twitched. Was that a smile? She ground her teeth so hard they hurt. Of course it was. He loved seeing anger in them. He preyed on their fury just like he preyed on their pain. It was all part of that war he and Kreese seemed to be fighting with the whole world, a war that they had made her and Robby and the rest of the Cobra Kais footsoldiers in. Then, finally, he nodded and called the next name.

The rest of the fight was a blur. Tory moved on instinct, letting her emotions flow out of her, bursting out with the snap of her wrist or the turn of her hips. With each body that hit the mat, she felt herself growing colder, and she knew there was only one way this was going to end. She had to know it, because if she didn't come into it with absolute belief she would break. That was the point. Silver had already taken her victory away by bribing the official. Now he wanted to break her again. He wasn't trying to get her to prove herself. He was hoping she would fail, because he didn't want one champion, he wanted a pack of loyal attack dogs. But this time, she was going to beat it. She was going to beat him. She was going to prove herself, and Sensei Silver couldn't pay anyone off to change the results.

There was nothing she could do about it. Nothing anyone could do about it. This was the road she had been on since as far back as she could remember, and there was no getting off of it. It was who she was. It was like it was written on the wall in the bold black stencil. She was getting hit more often now, and part of her wanted to just stop even trying to block. The pain was going to come. She was too weak to stop it and too stubborn to quit. She was too tired to keep any of her walls up: she was laid bare, a raw nerve for every one of them to see, sweating and grunting and fighting to her last breath. All she could do was keep striking out and hope that something landed, enough to get her through to the next threat, the next thing that wanted to hurt her. She kept going through the motions, not even stopping when she got hit or fell, pushing the pain and stiffness away like a heavy blanket that threatened to stifle her. But she didn't let it take control of her. She pushed against the pressure that wrapped around her like a hand on her throat, forcing herself to breathe evenly through it, in through her nose and out through her mouth, until her breath consumed her. It was a constant, a reinforcement, carrying her through like a current, past Robby, past Samantha LaRusso, past her mom and Brandon and everything else.

Another student stepped back, Tory's knuckles stinging, her eyes stung by sweat and exhaustion. She got back into her stance as best she could, raising her hands, forcing herself to keep her feet planted and knees bent despite the heavy ache that radiated through every joint and muscle.

But Silver said nothing. After several more shallow breaths, she looked at him. He was watching her with that same little psychopathic smile. Most days, she would have felt proud, felt the heat of glory flow through her like a balm until all the pain went away the way she had when she held the trophy, when he took the microphone and declared the absolute dominance of Cobra Kai over the whole valley. But it didn't come. She didn't even hate him. She just felt exhausted, in pain, so close to finished that all she wanted to do was curl up and cry. But she wouldn't let him see her do that. She wouldn't let any of them see her do that. She had survived him, and she always would survive him. That's what she did. She grit her teeth, fought down the pain, and raised her head higher.

"Well?" she said.

"That's it," he said, his voice soft, like it should have been obvious.

"I thought you said every Cobra Kai in the room." She raised her hands with difficulty and dropped into her fighting stance again. She couldn't even suppress her wince this time.

His smile spread like a glacier raking furrows in his face. "Cool down, Nichols, and then get some ice on you."

That was it. They didn't cheer. No one even clapped. She had survived, and that was all.

She gritted her teeth as she walked to the back, feeling the eyes of every person in the room on her. She took every step consciously, careful not to limp, despite the ache in her knees, shins, and thighs that she knew would be bruises by the time she was changing back into her street clothes. She almost lost her balance when she stepped onto the treadmill, but she refused to fall, instead speeding it up until she was jogging, letting every step turn the pain into numbness until her stride was getting longer and her breathing deeper and steadier.

That numbness spread through her, turning her pain into a dull background ache that left nothing in the foreground but her breathing and the steady beat of her steps on the treadmill. She saw herself reflected in the mirror, and she shook her head with a scoff when she realized how sweaty she looked, how dark under her eyes had become. Her lips were chapped and her hair was sticking to her face. Her eyes shone brightly, shimmering. Samantha LaRusso would never look like this: bruised, aching. Daniel LaRusso would never humiliate one of his students under the pretense of challenging her, wouldn't dismiss her with a "Cool down, LaRusso, and get some ice on you" when she survived his bullshit challenge. She bet he made Sam dinner after training, something nice with an Italian-sounding name that didn't come with a plastic film over it and never saw the inside of a microwave. She bet they sat down together around the table and talked about how their day went and asked each other to pass the salt. She bet her little brother was doing well in school and that Sam could be there for him when he was being picked on and that he didn't have to worry about—but who was she kidding, everyone knew Anthony was a piece of shit who had bullied Kenny, though the thought of him at the table with perfect Sam and her family made Tory laugh unexpectedly, and it was only after she hiccupped into the laugh that she realized it was a sob, and as she wiped her face with the back of her arm she realized there were hot tears and not just sweat running down her face.

She slowed the treadmill, panting, and as she felt her muscles relax the pain started settling back in. Part of her wanted to keep running, to run forever, to block out the rest of the world until the ache inside her and the ache in her body felt like one and her breaths pushed them all down until all there was was the movement of her body. But she ached too much, inside and out, for that to work completely. She strapped on the ice packs, and there was something comforting in the familiar screech of the tape as she stuck them to herself. She stopped to fix herself in the mirror, brushing away her tears and trying to wipe off the damaged eyeliner with a tissue. She blew her nose in it, careful not to get eyeliner on her face. This is you, she told her mirror. Trying not to get tears and eyeliner on your nose after getting your ass kicked.

She wanted to tell them all to kiss her ass and leave her alone. Tell Daniel and Amanda. Tell Robby, even. Tell Silver. Just say fuck all of it. Let someone else deal with it, because no matter what the judges said she had lost anyway, so what did it matter? Let them take that victory from her, it would be just one more thing she lost. It was inevitable. She was going to lose everything no matter how hard she fought.

She took a long, shaky breath and squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the pain in her face from how hard the muscles were clenching. No. She wouldn't stop fighting. She couldn't. She would walk right back out there and show them that no matter what they took away from her she wasn't going to stay down as long as she had breath in her body.

They had been sparring when she came out, but they stopped to look at her, silent, as she walked back out. She knew she was a mess, with all the ice packs bulging out her gi like some sort of shuffling Frankenstein, but she stuck out her chin and lifted her head. Their looks held... what? Respect? Awe? Pity? She didn't want any of it. She caught Robby's look, and with that the familiar hardness in her chest loosened. So maybe she did want some of it.

Silver gave her a look, appraising her with his cold glittering eyes, taking in every bruise and wincing step. "Take the rest of the day off, Nichols."

For a few minutes she stood by the wall, watching them. She didn't want to leave yet, to go back to the world of homework and chores. She just wanted to be there and be around the others, but the longer their practice went on the more she noticed they weren't meeting her eyes. There was a barrier of ice between them. It had been them against her, they had seen her suffer, and now she was resting while they went on working. Tory watched Silver, standing at the front of the room, the same as always. He was giving instructions to Kyler like it was just another day of practice, showing him how to shift his balance as he threw a side kick. She could see the intensity in the set of his jaw, the clenching of his fists as he spoke, and she couldn't help wondering what was going through his mind. Did he hate her? With Kreese there had been the sense that he was their commander, training them for war, but with Silver she couldn't tell. She was reminded of what he had said about opening more locations. She didn't know how she felt about it. The more places he opened, the more people would be reached by Cobra Kai. Changed by it, the way she had been. It had taken her anger, her disillusionment, and it had given her purpose, strength, focus. She looked at the wall. Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy. It was something she had always known. Strike first, because it will come from somewhere else if you don't. Strike hard, because there's no holding back when even your best might not be good enough. No mercy. Because she'd never —

The face of Amanda LaRusso swam up in her memory and she rolled her eyes instinctively. Still, Sam's mom had been right. The volunteer helping with her mom had been a huge help to Tory, and if she hadn't asked for help she would never have gotten any. She sighed to herself as she watched Robby train. For what it was worth, she knew his dad was at least trying, even if he was a loser. Her dad wasn't trying at all, and she wasn't even sure she wanted him to, wherever he was. As hard as it was, they were making it on their own—though who knew how much longer that would last. Her thoughts about the LaRussos and her family were replaced by the image of her aunt outside the dojo. She shook her head like she could shake the memory out of it. It was doubly hard because she had come to the place she felt like the rest of the world fell away and she could just do her own thing. But the rest of the world just refused to stop at the door.

"I'm going to take off," she said to Robby when they took a break to stretch before starting on skills practice.

He nodded. They met each other's eyes, and she felt a rush of emotions when she saw the feelings in his face. She could see that he felt torn about what Silver had put her through. There was a respect there, an acknowledgement for what she had done, but also a hesitation, like he wasn't sure how to act with her after seeing her stripped down like that, every raw nerve on display in front of the dojo. She gave him a shaky smile, and he smiled back, and then turned away to finish stretching.

She stood up and walked toward the locker room, and her hand was shaking as she unlocked the door and pulled it open. She got changed gingerly, feeling where the strikes had broken skin and scabs made her gi cling to her. When she was done, she pulled it off, folded it carefully, and tucked it into her bag. She grabbed her gym bag and headed out the back door.

In her car, she checked her phone for the first time. In addition to the usual notifications—it looked like some of the Cobra Kais had broken the policy against phones without Silver noticing and had posted excited updates to the kumite—she saw a text from her boss.

"we got 2 girls with the flu. u got ne friends who can do friday? need one more. ill throw u 50 xtra $"

It figured she was working for a grown man who leered at teenagers and texted like a twelve-year-old. She took a deep breath and looked out the window. The homeless woman was eating a chimichanga and staring at her. It felt oddly fitting.

She texted back, "I'll see who I can find." Fifty bucks didn't sound like much, but she needed every dollar when they were behind on utility bills.

By the time Tory got home, she'd gotten messages back from pretty much everyone she could think of. She had sent them all the same message: it was just a toy launch at a store at the mall, so all they had to do was wear the costumes and get their pictures taken with little girls. No speeches, just a couple of hours of standing around and letting kids braid your wig. She put her phone back in her bag and got out of the car. So much for the fifty bucks. Leaning against the hood, she took a deep breath, almost literally swallowed her pride, and posted it to social media. So what if people at school made fun of her for it? There was just one week left anyway, and her dignity wouldn't feed her family. LaRusso had probably told everyone about her job anyway.

When she got inside, her mom and Brandon were both surprised to see her. She told her mom she felt like she'd pulled something at karate—the ice packs definitely sold that story. She didn't want her mom to worry; that was her job. "Grab your books. I'm going to check your homework," she told Brandon.

"Don't you have all those tests to study for?" he shot back, shaking his head at her. It was a very Tory thing to do. She realized she was more or less becoming his mom, and she didn't know how she felt about that.

"Yeah, but I'm home early, which means I hope you did your Math," she shot back.

As she helped him spread his books out on the table, her phone dinged. She opened it and saw a DM. Her eyes went wider and her jaw clenched when she saw who it was from.

"My dad said I should do your thing." It was from Samantha LaRusso.

Tory pressed her lips together and glared at her phone so hard it was a surprise the phone didn't crack. She didn't know which seemed worse: that Samantha LaRusso followed her on socials or that her parents did. She looked over at her brother, who was unwrinkling a sheet of paper that was, supposedly, notes for a book report.

She texted back. "Thanks." and hit send. Let LaRusso read that however she liked. She put her phone down and looked back at Brandon, forcing a smile. He was looking at her with a puzzled expression; she could only imagine what face she must have made when she saw Samantha LaRusso pop up in her DMs. "Tell me about your book. What's the title?" She tried to pour on enthusiasm she wasn't feeling. She could stress about the rest later.

Chapter Text

That night, Tory lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to imagine how it must have happened. Was Daniel LaRusso following her on social media, trying to get some sense of what pity package to send her next? She could picture the LaRussos at the dinner table, leaning together to scrutinize her selfies to see if there was enough pasta in the cupboards. Tory snorted. Then again, it was also more than possible that she had wound up on their timelines because of people sharing it. There were lots of people, especially after the tournament, who were probably getting a kick out of All-Valley Under 18 Champion Tory Nichols begging for someone to come put on a costume and spend several hours on her feet talking to seven-year-olds about princes and ponies.

Tory sighed and rolled over onto her side, curling up and clamping her eyes shut. It was already after midnight and she had a test in the morning. The idea of getting even six hours of sleep was more of a dream than anything she'd be having tonight. She let her breath out in a long, steady flow, the way she had been taught, trying to release her tension along with it. To make herself smile, she tried to imagine Samantha LaRusso in a plastic wig and a cheap princess costume. It didn't work. She just felt sad.

***

In the morning, Tory was slow getting up. She'd managed to make toast and eggs for her mom and Brandon, but the toaster only made two at a time and the frying pan wasn't big enough to fit enough eggs for three, so she watched Brandon eat while she went through her notes for the Pre-Calc test. She stuffed some cold toaster pastries into her backpack to eat in the car as she hurried to the door, yelling at Brandon that if he didn't come with her he'd have to get a ride with a friend because the bus had already left.

The first couple of periods crawled. Tory tried to peek at her notes every chance she got, and she got called out on it by her Physics teacher.

"Tory, why don't you bring that to the front of the room so we can all enjoy it?"

Tory snorted and raised her eyebrows. "Maybe because I'm not twelve and I'm not passing notes?" They'd already had their big test the day before, so there wasn't much her teacher could do but take points off for participation, and she doubted she had many to begin with, considering how late in the semester she'd joined.

There were a few snickers and whispers.

"Well, since in this class we believe in empirical evidence, why don't we test that theory?" The teacher held out her hand.

Tory shrugged and got up to hand her the notes.

She started reading aloud like it was going to be something juicy, but her tone changed quickly. "Polynomial functions and models.... While you're in my class, why don't you study Physics?"

"Because we're just talking about what we learned in the class, when I could be actually learning right now?"

The teacher handed her back the paper. "Shouldn't you have learned this before today?"

Tory's face was already hot, but the laughs at that only made it hotter. "Yeah, probably." She tried to sound as bored as possible, already heading back to her desk.

English was next. That meant sitting beside Sam for a whole period. At least it would just be a review for the test the next day, so hopefully all they'd have to do was take notes.

"Good morning, everyone. I thought we'd have a bit of fun and mix things up a bit," their English teacher said as they shuffled in. "So let's play a trivia game. I'm going to put you into teams and give each team a list of the questions. The team that gets the most right gets five bonus points on the test tomorrow! Take your time: I've designed these to be hard, so I encourage you to use the whole class period. You'll only score full points for each question if I feel you've explained the nuances of the situation, so try to do more than give a couple of words. I've left you plenty of space for each one."

Tory could feel her whole body tense up like she was about to take a kick to the gut. Please say "let's count off" or "choose your team" or ANYTHING other than putting us into teams with...

"Let's see. Why don't you four be in a group... and you four... and...."

Tory let her head hang. Some days are just like that. When she raised her head again, Sam was looking at her. Her mouth was pressed into that tight line and her eyes were narrowed. It looked like being made to do the event tomorrow hadn't improved her attitude towards Tory. Tory glared back at her.

The teacher handed the group the questions, and Sam immediately snatched it and started scanning them. "Okay, I think we can do this," she started saying, talking to the other two like Tory wasn't even there. "Let's go through the ones we know for sure and then circle back to ones we're not sure on, and then if there's any we just don't know we can come up with some good guesses or flip a coin or something." There were some nervous smiles from the other two.

It was just like Sam to assume she was in charge of everyone else. Tory seethed, but it was probably better than getting orders from her. As the group started down the sheet, with the paper firmly in front of Sam, who was writing in the answers, Tory leaned back on her elbow and watched them with an expression somewhere between bored and hostile.

Ten minutes into watching Sam lead her band, Tory cut in. "You've got to write more than that."

Sam gave her a glare every bit as withering as the one Tory had anticipated. "She speaks."

Tory tried to ignore her, making like she was talking to the other two. "Yeah, Hamlet kills Polonius for eavesdropping on him and his mother, but you should also say he thinks he's killing his father, not Polonius. That's why he says the thing about 'I took thee for thy better.' Because he thought Polonius was Claudius."

Sam scoffed and leaned her head to the side, cranking her death stare's wattage even higher. "Speak again, my angel!"

"It's 'O, speak again, bright angel!' And anyway, we're talking about Hamlet, not Romeo and Juliet."

Sam put her hand over the page like Tory might try to lean in and write on it herself and leaned in. "We're talking. You're just sitting there. I'll bet you would take the points, too, after we did all the work. You're good at taking points."

Tory's mouth fell open, but she didn't have a good retort, because that one had caught her off guard.

Before she could come up with something, Moon, who was in the next group, looked back at them. "Maybe you're talking to the Tory who lives in your head, not to the one who's sitting across from you."

"I don't have a Tory in my head!" Sam looked offended at the thought, which made Tory frown. What was so wrong about thinking about her? It's not like the very idea of her was diseased or something.

"Stay out of it, Moon." Tory snapped. She shot Sam some sharp side-eye. "She'll never listen to me."

Moon gave her that round-eyed look that would have been more obnoxious if it weren't so earnest. "You never asked. Your Sam has already acted before the one in front of you even opens her mouth, so Real Sam can't compete."

Their teacher raised her head from the pile of papers she was grading on her desk. "There should be no communication between the groups. If you're sharing answers, both groups will lose points."

Moon looked horrified. "I wasn't—"

The teacher gave her a thin, I-just-want-to-get-to-the-end-of-the-year smile. "Just stick to dispensing your wisdom to your own team, please, Moon."

Moon nodded, and Tory couldn't help but feel a little bad for her. it must have been on her face when she glanced back at Sam, because a second after Sam met her eye she dropped her gaze and started writing. Tory peeked and saw that Sam was adding her answer.

When Sam caught her looking, she flushed and looked up, her whole face tightening. "It's not like I didn't know that," she snapped.

Tory raised her eyebrows and gave her her best fake smile, one she usually reserved for the moms of kids who were behaving badly.

Maybe Moon had a point. Unless Tory actually tried to contribute, how could she know if Sam was actually going to shut her out? Besides, if she tried and Sam really was a bitch to her, she'd be doing it in front of the others, and then it wouldn't be just Tory who saw what a self-righteous, privileged little brat she was.

"Let's just… try to answer the questions," Sam muttered, not making eye contact.

"Sorry," Tory said. "I'm just... tired."

Sam glanced at her almost unintentionally, but she didn't say anything for a second. Her face went from tight slack out of sheer surprise, so before she could say anything Tory added, "And I only got halfway through Grapes of Wrath so you're on your own for the next one."

That got a response out of Sam that Tory would neve have expected: halfway between a smile and a laugh. Sam looked away, blushing, pretending to be looking to the rest of their group for an answer. Tory watched her, her brow furrowing and her mouth drawing off to one side. Huh.

From them on, Sam listened more, though she never actually asked Tory what she thought. On the other hand, she didn't ask the others, either, in so many words, but instead just kind of left a space in her own musings out loud like she was granting them time to talk. Tory didn't have much confidence they'd get the bonus points, but at least she'd made it to the end of the period without murdering Sam, and she could use the time in which Sam was taking the paper to the teacher to grab her stuff and beat her to the door.

***

Tory was stuffing her things into her locker when Robby appeared. "Hey, stranger," he said and gave her a kiss.

She sighed, her touch on his cheek lingering even after the kiss. "I know I haven't been a lot of fun."

"When were you fun?" he teased, grinning suddenly.

Tory felt a pang in her gut, and her smile vanished. She gave him a poke. "Hey."

Robby's grin faded. "Sorry. How was Sam Class?"

Tory scoffed and shook her head. "I don't know. Not terrible, I guess?"

His eyebrows shot up and the corners of his mouth turned down. He nodded slowly, like he was turning her words over in his head as he leaned on the locker beside hers. "So a huge improvement, then?"

Tory cracked a smile at that, slamming her locker shut. "Shut up."

"At least with the test being tomorrow, she won't be able to ruin that," he said, the grin creeping back like it was checking to see if the coast was clear. "Unless she's mastered telepathy."

"I wouldn't put it past her. Now that they lost the bet, maybe she's switched to practicing that, just so she can keep messing with me." Tory gave him a quick kiss. "See you at lunch?"

"Totally." He gave her a wink and turned to walk off before she could respond, like he just knew the effect it would have on her. There was even a swagger in his step. She honestly didn't know if she was impressed or irritated. At least Sam never swaggered. Swanned, more like. Maybe preened.

"Ugh," Tory said to herself as she turned towards her own class, startling a freshman. Why was she thinking about Sam again? Moon was right. Sam really was taking up free real estate in her head. She continued in that space for the rest of the day. If anything, it only got worse. It was like trying not to think of a brown-haired, blue-eyed elephant. Okay, maybe not an elephant. More like a bunny. An obnoxious, self-righteous bunny who somehow managed to hop into Tory's life every time she turned around.

***

Something felt off as she walked through the doors to the dojo after school. Normally, she felt a rush of relief, like all the pressures from the day—her family, her job, school—just dropped off as she stepped onto the mats, but this time that feeling wasn't there. As she went to the back to get warmed up, she rolled her neck from side to side, feeling the familiar tension in her neck and shoulders. Maybe it would just take a little longer than usual.

Robby was already in the back warming up on a boxing dummy. He looked over and smiled when she walked in, and she shot him the smile back as she started up the treadmill.

She glanced over at him without turning her head. "Did you notice Sensei Kreese isn't here today? He wasn't here yesterday, either."

"I think someone said he got arrested." Robby delivered a series of blows to the dummy, breathing out hard with each strike.

Tory stumbled on the treadmill. "What?" She had to step to either side of the ribbon to get her balance back.

Robby stepped back, wiping his forehead on the back of his arm. "Yeah, someone in the group chat said their dad heard from a friend who's a cop that he got arrested for assault and battery."

"Wait, you have a group chat and I'm not in it?"

Robby raised his eyebrows with an incredulous grin. "That's your takeaway from that?"

She made a face and shook her head with a lopsided smile. "I mean, that's the most surprising thing you said. I'm just kind of surprised he wasn't arrested earlier, like when he beat up that kid Demetri." She started jogging again.

Robby shrugged and turned back to the dummy, jabbing at it almost casually. "It's... I promise, we don't have a chat behind your back or anything. It's... from something else."

Tory had almost gotten back into the rhythm when she had a thought that made her step to the side again. "Wait... is this a Miyagi-Do group chat?"

Robby tried to laugh it off, though she noticed he didn't turn back towards her as he said, "I think they forgot to take me off when I left."

She tried to sneer and act casual, even though her face was suddenly cold. "And this is the first time you're telling me? We could have been laughing at those dorks this whole time! There's got to be some solid gold stuff on there." She forced a sneaky smile onto her face. It was like trying to get an elephant across a frozen lake. Or a bunny.

"It's mostly just dumb memes. It's no big deal."

She tried to make her voice sound casual. She was glad she was facing the wall as she ran. "What do they say about me?" She could just picture LaRusso complaining to all her friends about how that bitch Tory Nichols hadn't won the tournament fairly. They probably even had memes about her. She'd said she wouldn't tell anyone, but they were probably all talking about it.

Robby was breathing harder from warming up, and he stepped away from the dummy, rolling his shoulder. "So they talk a lot of shit about Cobra Kai. Can you blame them? We shit on them all the time, too."

She turned off the treadmill and stepped off. "I can blame you for not telling me." She tried to make it sound like teasing, but it wasn't and it didn't come out that way.

Robby gave her a look that was a mix of confused, hurt, and annoyed. "Why are you freaking out? I'd leave, but then they'd all get the notification and they'd be weird about it."

"So show me."

"What?" Robby took a step towards his gym bag, like she was going to go for it right then.

Tory stepped towards him. "Show me your phone."

He backed up a step, holding his hands up. "No. No, I'm not showing you my phone!"

Tory took another step. "You don't trust me?"

"Of course I trust you!" Robby was just about pushed up against the bench that had his gym bag on it. "Don't you trust me?"

Tory frowned and narrowed her eyes. She had to fight to not actually make fists. What was he being so secretive about? Was Sam sending messages? Was that why he was still reading them, because he still had a thing for her? What if he was actually talking to them? To her?! "Not if you're hiding something! Are you actually sending messages to them?"

"No!"

"So show me!"

A new voice from the door made them both turn. "Show you what?" Kyler had just come in.

"Nothing. I'm going to go stretch." Tory stalked by him with a nuclear scowl.

"What's her problem?" she heard Kyler ask Robby.

"Forget it." Robby sounded tired and angry.

Some of the other Cobra Kais were streaming in, and when they saw the look on Tory's face as she took her spot on the mats they exchanged looks. She could hear them whispering to each other.

Tory shook her head with a sigh. Why was he the angry one? He'd been hiding this from her the whole time. From all of them. Kreese would have agreed with her: there could have been useful intel in those messages that they could have used, like when Robby showed them the techniques Miyagi-Do used. But she knew that wasn't really what was bothering her. They were probably throwing all kinds of shade on her and he never even thought to mention it.

Sensei Silver stepped out of the office.

"Sensei, I won't be able to come to practice tomorrow. I have to work."

"Yes, of course." Silver's head inclined just a little, and he pursed his lips, like he disapproved but couldn't do much about it. "You're the champion, I suppose." He hadn't said as much, but the implication that she wasn't treating karate seriously made Tory frown. She worked harder than anyone there. It's not like she could get the store to change the hours on their dumb toy launch.

Tory blurted, "Is it true Sensei Kreese was arrested?"

"Was he?" Silver looked surprised.

Tory furrowed her eyebrows and put a hand on her hip. "Don't you know?"

Silver shook his head. "I haven't heard."

She scoffed. "And you don't think that's weird?"

It was impossible to read Silver's face. He still had that small smile, like some sort of sphinx. "Watch your tone, Nichols."

Tory had never really learned when to keep her mouth shut. She took a step forward, shaking her head to emphasize her words. "Wasn't he your war buddy? What happened to Cobra Kai never dies?"

Silver's face never changed. "If you need something to occupy yourself with, why don't you give me a plank until everyone is out here?"

Tory wanted to snap back, but looking into his eyes she felt like a snake looking into the glittering eyes of a mongoose. There was always something sinister and mocking in his face, like everything they fought for was some sort of joke to him and he was above it all. Kreese had felt like an officer about to lead his troops into battle, but Silver felt like he was playing chess and she was just a pawn.

"Yes, Sensei." Tory got down onto her elbows in a plank, staring down at the mat and trying to keep her body completely still. She breathed steadily, in through her nose and out through her mouth. She tried to ignore the stares of the other students as they came out. She didn't want to think about what they might be thinking. They probably knew she was being punished for something. The previous day, every single one of them had stood across from her and traded blows. Silver had said she would be the Cobra Kai champion, but when it was all over, all he'd done was tell her to ice up and go home early. Now, he was having her do a plank in front of everyone before the practice even started. Was he trying to make her prove that she had the humility to be champion, or was he trying to break her down, to show her that he could do whatever he liked to her? Either way, she wasn't about to give him the satisfaction. All her life, people had been trying to break her. They hadn't succeeded yet.

Another minute dragged by, and then another. Tory tried not to think of time and just focus on her breathing. The only sounds were the soft whirring of the treadmill and the occasional thud of a punching bag. She gritted her teeth. Why were they still warming up when they were late? They should have been stretching on the mat and getting ready for katas. She closed her eyes. Breathe in. Breathe out. Her arms, chest, and abs were starting to really burn.

Finally, she heard the treadmill turn off and the slap of feet on the mat. She opened her eyes and looked up at Silver, but he wasn't even looking at her. She heard the door open, and Kenny came in. He stopped at the edge of the mat and stared at her. She exhaled through gritted teeth.

"What are you waiting for? Are you trying to be even later?" Silver snapped at him, and for once Tory was grateful for it. She closed her eyes again and listened to Kenny's feet running across the mats to the back. Breathe in. Breathe out. It must have been five minutes already. She tried to stop herself from shaking. She needed to focus on something. The last thing she was going to do was break with Silver watching her. She thought about Robby. Prom night had been amazing. Dancing with him had been even better because she'd known everyone was watching. It had been good to put everything aside for one night, but even that only reminded her how rare it had been, since she had to focus on school or work or her family when she wasn't in school. She wobbled, gasping in through her mouth. She immediately pushed that thought away.

She thought about her family, but she was too used to digging down to use them for motivation. Besides, while they were good for getting her to head back out of the bathroom after a break while she was at work, it didn't feel right now. And then, of course, inevitably, she thought of Sam. She thought of the smug look she'd probably have if she saw her now, each breath feeling more labored than the last, her whole body threatening to tremble and throw her off. How would Sam react if she collapsed to the mat? Would she laugh and say she knew she couldn't do it? Or would she feel sorry for her, acting like Sensei was some sort of sadist just because he wasn't having them sit around in a circle drinking tea and listening to the birds shitting on the lawn?

Her whole body felt like it was on fire. She almost didn't notice when there were footsteps on the mat.

Silver's voice cut through the images of Sam scoffing, Sam laughing, Sam's eyes looking all big with pity. "Line up!"

With a long exhale, Tory brought first one knee forward and then the other, and then she slowly got to her feet, pushing herself up with her hands. She was already feeling exhausted, and training hadn't even started yet.

By the time they were changing back into street clothes, Tory's legs were so wobbly she had to hold on to the bench to stand. She was so tired that she was basically on autopilot when they left the building and headed for the parking lot.

She didn't even register when Robby said, "Hey, Tory, you okay?"

It was only when he came over and touched her on the arm, repeating what he'd said, that she heard him. She shook her head, trying to clear the fog. "Yeah. Just... tired."

He nodded. She was half expecting him to stay something, but there was something new between them, something that tied both their tongues until enough seconds passed that they both noticed. Maybe it was the thing with the phone, not to mention the idea that Robby could still be talking to Sam while he was dating her. Maybe they were both just tired after a grueling practice.

***

On the car ride home, Tory put on the angriest music she could find on her phone. Nothing was going right. She wished that Robby would talk to her. It wasn't that he was still on that dumb group chat so much as that he was weird about telling her about it. She wanted to know what he was thinking. More than that, she wanted to know what he was feeling. Was this a red flag? When they first got together, she had felt triumphant that he was into her. The idea that someone who had dated Samantha LaRusso could want to date her made her feel, for once in her life, like she was doing something right. Now, Tory was thinking that someone who could move on that quickly from Sam might move on from her, too.

She tried to tell herself that it was stress and self-esteem messing with her head. With Miguel gone searching for his dad, Tory was worried that Sam couldn't resist going for what she wanted. That's what happens when you never learn to live with not having whatever you want, Tory told herself.

Just one more day to go, she told herself as she sat down at the table with her books after dinner. If she could just squeak through one more day of tests, she would have the summer to get shit figured out before the next year started. Maybe she could even have some fun. She thought back to last summer: going to the beach club, swiping some vodka, getting accused of stealing a wallet by Samantha LaRusso. She rolled her eyes and snorted.

Brandon looked up from where he was working on his homework on their laptop. She gave him a look that said "don't worry about it." It was a look he was used to, so he dropped his head back down. She leaned over to make sure he really was doing something school related and not playing Minecraft. Satisfied, she went back to her books.

Tory's phone buzzed and she looked at the screen and groaned. She couldn't go five minutes without Samantha LaRusso somehow edging into her life. She had sent her a direct message: "So, are you going to tell me what you actually do at this job, other than tell little gremlins to dump glitter on people?"

Tory pushed her phone aside and looked back at her book, picking up her pen and flipping to the next page of her notebook. She didn't even notice she was tapping her pen against her notebook, faster and faster, until Brandon looked over at her with an annoyed expression.

She raised her eyebrows at him and then looked down at her phone again. Well, fine. Johnny Lawrence had talked about being the bigger person—well, bigger man, since he hadn't gotten the hang of anything like inclusivity—but where had that gotten him? His dumb Eagle Fang hadn't even been in the top two. She picked it up, rolling her shoulder like she was warming up for something, and then typed back, "I guess you wouldn't know what it's like to have some bitch come and fuck with you while you're doing your job because you've never had one."

The answer came back before Tory even set down her phone. Sam must have been sitting there watching the app. "I'm doing this as a favor to you." and then "If you try really, really hard, do you think you could stop being an asshole long enough to let me know what I'm supposed to be doing?"

"They want us to learn some stuff about the dolls in case the kids ask about it." Not that Sam probably had to learn about expensive dolls from a website. She probably had a closet full of them as a kid and never played with any of them for more than a week. "And we have to work out which of us is which."

"Okay, which one is left?"

Tory couldn't help but smirk. "We'll figure that out tomorrow."

"Then how am I supposed to dress?"

That actually got a laugh out of Tory. "They'll give us the costumes when we get there." You probably didn't think you'd be getting changed in a mall bathroom, did you? she thought to herself.

"Tell me they wash them."

"You want me to lie to you?"

"Thanks for nothing."

Brandon looked at her again. "How come you're allowed to text your friends but I'm not?"

Tory shook her head. "It's for work. I'm NOT texting my friend."

He stuck out his lower lip with a dubious expression. "Then why are you smiling?"

She set her phone down. "None of your business."

"Is it that Sam girl?"

Tory felt heat rush up from her belly. "What? Why would it be her?" she snapped.

Brandon gave her a perfect unimpressed look. "'Cause you never stop talking about her?"

"Hey — I —." Tory pushed the laptop closer to him. "Do your homework."

Tory took a deep breath and let it out slowly, like she did before a fight. Just one more day. Tests, then the event, and then it would be the weekend. She could do this.

She was looking forward to seeing Sam squirm. She found it so funny when she could watch Tory suffer. Now the sparkly plastic shoe would be on the other foot. Tory sighed. Well, there would definitely still be a shoe firmly wedged on her foot, but she had a feeling nothing could take away the sweet satisfaction of seeing Samantha LaRusso dressed up like a doll in a brightly-lit toy store surrounded by little kids all begging for her attention. This time, she found she was really looking forward to it.

Chapter Text

Between classes the next day, Tory was walking with her books in her arms, her notes spread out on top.

"Heads up, Nichols!"

Tory's head snapped up just as Devon stepped to the side, just in case.

"If you plowed into me twice in one week I'd have to think you were using underhanded tactics to take out the competition." Devon delivered it with such deadpan Tory couldn't tell if she was serious or not.

"If I was aiming for you, you'd know." Tory said, smiling lopsidedly with one eyebrow raised.

Devon tilted her head to one side. "Yeah, okay. Dial it back, champ. We all know you won. I was there, remember?"

Tory smirked. "Were you? Barely."

"Tell that to everyone I beat on the way to the semifinals."

"Sure, I'll get right on that."

Devon wasn't fazed at all. She took a step forward. "All right, then. What are you going to do now? Shove me in a locker? Knock my books out of my hands? Come on." She stood glaring, almost daring her.

Tory looked around. Some of the other kids in the hallway had stopped to watch. There were whispers going around, and Tory raised her chin with a scoff as she looked back at Devon. "Give me a break."

When it became obvious Tory wasn't going to make any aggressive moves, Devon raised her eyebrows. "I'm disappointed, Nichols." She walked by her, brushing against her just enough to let her know it was deliberate.

"How many times do you want to get your ass kicked by me?" Tory snapped back, almost my instinct. There were a few more whispers, and one kid even went "ooo."

Devon stopped to look over her shoulder at her. "Oh, right. You asserted your physical dominance. Is this where I put my tail between my legs and get in the submissive posture?"

Tory screwed up her face and raised her eyebrows, leaning her head back. She didn't even know what to say to that.

"Right," said Devon, like she'd just won something, and turned to walk off.

"What was that all about?" Tory asked Moon, who was one of the kids who had stopped to watch the faceoff.

"Don't let it get to you. She probably just reads a lot of werewolf fiction." Moon smiled at her and patted her arm, and then headed off to class.

"Huh?" Tory shook her head to shake it off, but it still took her a second to remember which way she was going. "What are you looking at?" she snapped at the handful of kids who were still watching as she pushed through them.

***

Since it was the last day of school, Tory stuffed as many of her books into her backpack as she could and piled the rest into her hands, determined to clean out her locker with one trip. She didn't have too many decorations in there—a picture of her mom, a picture of her and Robby—and she put those in the front pocket of her backpack. The straps digging into her shoulders, she headed for the door.

Tory heard the first few seams pop in her backpack before she even got to the front doors. She let out a groan. She really should have known better, with the kind of week she was having. She took a deep breath and walked as smoothly as she could, heel toe, the way she had trained in karate. Long, deep breaths, knees bent, trying to keep her body from bobbing at all. She was almost to the parking lot. Only a few more yards to go. Why did she have to park at the end? But of course she knew why: because she was running late again, and all the other spots were taking.

"Hey, Tory!"

Tory spun around without thinking, and that did it. With a long, almost wet tearing sound, her backpack tore open. The heaviness on her shoulders was gone, and in a series of bumps that really went on too long, all her books hit the sidewalk, bouncing off her ankles and even landing in the grass.

"Fuck!" Tory screamed, at no one in particular. And, of course, it was LaRusso standing there with her arms crossed over her binder held to her chest, because the universe had decided to put a blue-eyed cherry on top of the shit sundae it plonked down in front of her.

"Yikes," said Sam, shifting from one foot to the other.

Tory just stood there for a second, internally cursing out the universe for doing dirty once again like it always did, before she turned to stalk the rest of her way to the car without a word. She plopped the books in her arms on top of the trunk and then yanked open one of the rear passenger doors to chuck them onto the back seat, scattering food wrappers. A couple landed on her gym bag, which she had shoved in behind the front passenger seat.

"You're loving this, aren't you?" she said, starting to turn back to go fetch the rest of her books, when she found herself brought up short, almost nose to nose with Sam.

Sam stood there, holding some of Tory's books on top of her own.

"Yeah, I've got nowhere better to be than picking up your books," Sam shot back.

Tory snatched them away from her and chucked them onto the backseat. "Nobody asked you to help." She stalked by Sam to go pick up the rest.

Sam joined her, crouching down like she just couldn't take a hint. "I just wanted to ask where I should meet you to get the costume and stuff."

"At the store. It's not rocket science." Tory reached for the last book.

Her hand met Sam's as she also reached for it. Tory could feel Sam's calluses from karate. They both tugged. The book didn't move. They glared at each other.

Sam finally let go. "Fine. I guess I'll meet you there." She shouldered past Tory and set the books down on her backseat. As Tory stood impatiently behind her, Sam stacked some of the books up, leaning them against the seatback.

"Oh, you don't want a ride?" Tory snapped. There was something about seeing LaRusso touching her books, her upper body leaning into her car, that made her very uncomfortable. That car was her space. Sure, it wasn't the Ferrari Sensei Silver had loaned to Robby, but it was hers.

"Don't do me any favors," Sam shot back, tilting her head to the side with a sour expression. "After all, it's me doing you a favor going to this thing." She narrowed her eyes. "I could still change my mind."

"Suit yourself," Tory said. She loaded the books into the car. Now that Sam was watching, she set them down beside the others, leaning them back the way Sam had done. When she turned back, Sam was still standing there, her arms folded. "Forget something?" Tory said.

Sam snorted. "You know, it wouldn't kill you to say thank you."

"Thanks." Tory could just see Sam following it up with 'now say it like you mean it.' Before Sam could respond, Tory got into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut. She wished the engine didn't rattle and cough when it started up, but she had no illusions about how LaRusso saw her. Sam's family owned the valley's most successful car dealership. Tory's family... well, they had her, and she had a job to get to.

When she got to the mall, she parked and got out her phone to place an order for delivery, since she'd be getting home at night. At least tomorrow was Saturday, and she didn't have to worry about classes any more. It would give her time to look for more jobs.

Tory didn't even notice Sam pull into the parking lot until she got out of her own car and saw Sam walking past. Tory hesitated, taking out her phone. She could send Robby a text, and by the time she was done Sam would be at the door....

"You don't have to pretend we don't know each other," Sam called. She'd stopped and was looking at her.

Tory kept her head down, finishing her text. "Any big plans tomorrow?" She kept watching the phone, hoping for an answer. "I was thinking we could hit the beach, get there before the weirdos." She drew her lips off to one side. Come on, Robby, she thought. That one's an easy one: it's your turn to say something like 'That's impossible! The weirdos are there 24/7.'

LaRusso had been quiet for a while. Tory looked up. Sam was still standing there, still looking at her, her expression even more annoyed, if that could be a thing. Tory put her phone in her bag and started walking towards the mall.

Sam had to walk faster to keep up with her. "What's it with you, anyway? Why do you work so hard at being a bitch?"

Tory smiled. "Maybe it just comes naturally."

Sam gave her a dubious look. "Nobody's naturally that much of a bitch. Except maybe Mrs. Kowalski." That was their PE teacher, who only had one volume setting. "Her only joy in life is seeing kids cry. Or puke. Or bleed. Any bodily fluid, really."

Tory cracked a smile despite herself. "I'm pretty sure in the baseball incident Demetri did all three."

Sam stifled a smile. "I think he also peed himself," she said. Her eyes glittered.

Tory looked at her sideways. "You can't find that funny." Sam LaRusso, finding humor in something like that?

Sam shrugged. "I felt bad for him, but you have to admit, it was kind of hilarious. Once I knew he was okay."

The event wouldn't start until four, so they had plenty of time to get changed. Unfortunately, that didn't mean there wasn't already a line of kids and parents lining up. It stretched all the way to the cell phone case kiosk. The toy store's windows were plastered with ads for the new toy line, and there was a rope stretched across the door like it was a private club or something.

When Tory stepped up to the rope, a little girl near the front of the line piped up, her chin tilted down and the fury of a white dwarf sun blazing from her eyes. "You try to cut in front of me, I cut you." It looked like she was ready to make good on her threat.

Tory looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "If you come for me, you'd better bring a gun."

"What's the matter with you?" the kid's mother said, putting a protective arm around her daughter.

Tory shrugged. "She started it."

"She's six!"

"We're here to help with the toy launch," said Sam quickly, tugging Tory away by the elbow.

"Keep her away from my daughter!" one of the parents said in a strained voice.

"Hey, girls. Come on in," said Tory's boss. He actually strolled up to the rope and unhooked it for them like some sort of sleazy bouncer. He made no secret of looking Sam up and down.

Sam gave him a smile that had lots of teeth. Did it look so forced only to Tory? "Hi, I'm–"

"You'll make a good Heather," he told her. "Grab a wig from the back." He then turned to Tory. "Terri, you'd be a good Samantha."

Tory felt her whole body get hot when she heard that name. "My name's Tory! And can't I be…" She tried to remember the material they'd had her read on the entirely-too-pastel website. "Misty?"

"We already got a Misty."

"And Samantha's a blonde."

Her boss jerked his finger over his shoulder at the plastic bins in the back of the store. "That's why they invented wigs."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's why," Tory said as walked by him.

Her boss turned, his voice rising. "Hey! Remember what we said about your attitude."

Tory had to take a deep breath through her clenched teeth not to say something about how much 'we' there had been in any agreement between the two of them.

Tory didn't make eye contact with Sam as she headed to the back. There were a couple of other girls there already in costume, adjusting their makeup with their phones or compacts as they chatted. "Hey," Tory said.

They made little noises of greeting. They did about the same for Sam, saying their names without breaking their own conversations.

Tory picked up the bin that had Samantha written on it, wrinkling her nose at the yellow and pink dress and crinkly blonde wig. When she started heading towards the front of the store, her boss stepped in front of her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To the bathroom." Then, when he just stood there looking at her, "To change."

He snapped his fingers at her. "Out the back door. We're not ruining the illusion."

Tory tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. "You're kidding." She only realized then what a Sam move that was.

He folded his arms. "Yeah. I'm a funny guy."

"Whatever." Tory pushed open the backdoor with her hip, careful not to drop the bin, to find herself in a concrete hallway that ran along the backs of the stores. It was lit by fluorescent lights that hummed loudly above her.

She heard Sam's voice behind her. "Today, in the top ten places to get your kidney stolen…."

Tory snorted. "What are you complaining about? You've got two."

Sam pressed her lips together to suppress a smile. "You know, maybe it's just Heather talking, but you're kind of funny. When you're not being a total asshole."

"So, never, then? Which way do you think the closest bathroom is?" Tory looked up and down the hallway and picked a direction.

Sam followed behind. When they came to a door, they opened it and peered out. "Come on. It's this way," Sam said, leading the way. Tory followed. As the door shut behind them, it clicked loudly.

With a sudden rising panic, Tory turned and pushed on the door. It was locked. "Great."

Sam was already fifteen feet away. Tory sighed and followed.

When Tory got to the bathroom, Sam was standing by the stalls.

Tory shook her head. "What's the matter? Couldn't find one with a carpet and a mirror?"

Sam bounced on her toes a little and avoided eye contact, her lips pressed together in annoyance. "They're all occupied."

Tory stalked up to one of the doors and knocked. "Hey! You gonna be a minute? There's people waiting."

"A little privacy?" Tory recognized the voice of Ciara, one of the girls.

Tory knocked again. "Are you even doing anything or are you just texting?"

There was a pause, and then Ciara's voice rose in annoyance. "I'm just checking on my boyfriend."

"Your boyfriend?" Tory asked. "You mean your ex?"

"We're back together, but he's not answering my texts. I'll bet he's texting her again."

Tory banged hard on the door, feeling it shake under her hand. "You know you can text him from out here, too!"

"I'm having a relationship crisis right now!" she shouted back.

Tory knocked on the other door. "What about you?" She waited. "Are you okay?"

A tiny voice said, "Please. Not now. Not so soon." Tory took a step back and looked at Sam for lack of anyone else to exchange a look with. She found Sam actually looking at her, and they made eye contact before both looking away.

When Tory took up a position beside the last stall and started taking her top off, Sam's eyes went wide. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

Tory shot her a look. "Who's gonna see us? It's like a locker room. I'm already on thin ice with this guy."

"We're not going to be any later than Relationship Crisis." Sam shook her head towards the stall.

As though on cue, Ciara's voice rose an octave with indignation. "I knew it! That skank! I am not okay with this!"

Tory snorted. "He actually likes her. A kid threw up on her and she cleaned it up." She started undoing her belt and raised her eyebrows at Sam. "You could look away or something."

Sam shook her head. "Oh. Sorry. Right." Was she blushing? She turned her back and started getting changed, too.

Tory started shrugging into the dress. It was like swimming into a lake of polyester and tulle. Once she had the dress in place, she kicked out of her shoes and got started putting on the ones the costume came with, trying not to lean against the wall or the stall or let anything touch the floor. The shoes had a lot of plastic and it was hard to get them on and off. She didn't hear much crinkling from LaRusso's direction, so she glanced over.

Sam had the dress over head. She'd managed to get it mostly on and was trying to squirm in the rest of the way, her arms over her head. Peeking through the forest of fake lace, Sam blushed bright pink again, but her eyes flashed. "There's a lot of bits to it! It's not like yours."

"Let me see." When Tory took a step forward, Sam tensed. "Relax, LaRusso."

Sam's eyes were still narrow with distrust. "Isn't that what Cobra Kai is all about? Wait until you have an unfair advantage and pounce?

"Don't get me wrong, it would be hilarious if you traumatized a bunch of little kids with your Headless Princess look...." Tory grabbed at the dress. Sam yanked back. Tory didn't let go.

"Let... go!" Sam muttered. She gave a hard tug. The dress slipped in her hands and Tory staggered back.

Tory stood holding the dress, blinking dumbfoundedly. She realized she was staring. Wow. Sam kept it tight. They must be working harder at Miyagi-Do than Tory had given them credit for.

Sam turned around quickly, breathing quickly, flushed all the way down her neck and.... "Go ahead, laugh it up. Maybe you can even get a picture." Her voice was more venomous than the Cobra Kai mascot.

Tory rolled her eyes hard. "Shut up, LaRusso, and hold your arms up."

"When has letting you close to me ever turned out okay?" Sam's eyes narrowed to slits.

Tory thought back to that day on the stairs at school, the sight of Sam's eyes wide and shocked, the blood on her arm…

There must have been something in Tory's face, because Sam's expression slowly changed. She shook her head slowly and pursed her mouth out, but she didn't have much choice and she clearly knew it. She turned around, slowly, turning her head to look back at Tory with her eyes narrowed suspiciously, and held her arms up. Tory could see the distrust fighting against–what? A sense of obligation to her parents?

Tory held the dress up and felt her hand brush against Sam's. She couldn't remember if they'd ever touched each other without one of them trying to hurt the other. She stopped for a moment, taking a sharp breath, and she started sliding it down over Sam's arms and head. Sam had been right about it being tough. Who made cheap costumes so complicated? It took more tugging and adjusting than she had thought, and it was only when Sam squirmed away that she realized how much skin on skin contact there was.

"What?" Tory snapped.

"You pinched me."

Tory felt how hot her face was. "You think I did it on purpose?" She hoped Sam didn't notice how her hands were shaking.

When Sam's head finally popped out, she glared hard at Tory. "You're loving this, aren't you? You're all going to be laughing about it."

Tory took a step back. "Yeah, because you're all we talk about. Get over yourself."

Sam tipped her head at her. "You're one to talk." She bent down to put her shoes on.

Tory looked away, hoping she wasn't blushing as visibly as Sam was. Whatever, they were both mad at each other. She yanked the hated wig onto her head and ran her fingers through it in the mirror before tossing the last of her clothes into the bin. LaRusso didn't even have to wear a wig, because her hair was perfect. Tory started towards the door.

One of the stall doors opened and Ciara stepped out. "Wow, and I thought I had issues." She shook her head as she walked towards the door. All Tory could do was scoff at her.

Tory hated to give Sam the last word, but her mind had gone completely blank, so she had to be satisfied with shooting another glare at Sam and stalking out.

"What took you so long?" her boss snapped as Tory walked up. "And didn't I say use the back door?"

"How?" Tory said. "The door locked behind us."

"Everyone else figured it out," he said, like she was some kind of idiot.

Tory bit back the retort he richly had coming. She needed this job, at least until she could find something else. It wasn't so much the fear in her mom's eyes when she heard she'd lost the job at the restaurant as the compassion. She couldn't stand to see her mom, with all she was going through, feeling sorry for her. "Sorry," she muttered, and walked back to put the bin by the back wall.

Sam pushed open the door and stood looking at her. Tory had to admit she wore the costume well: the garish colors, the sparkly accessories, the heels, it all really accented her fair skin and brightened her eyes. "You didn't find another door?"

Tory shrugged. "It was faster." But she could feel even her ears burning. There were only a few minutes left before the event. At least their boss wouldn't be hovering over them when the kids came in, though Tory knew he'd be leering at them from the back, though with the store staff around he couldn't make comments too openly. Tory got her phone out of the bin and checked the messages.

There were a few from Robby, ending with, "Have you and Sam killed each other yet?"

Tory shook her head and wrote back, "No, I'm still trying to decide whether to strangle her with my wig or beat her to death with a plastic shoe."

He wrote back in a minute. "Cool! Send pics."

"Hey! Samantha!"

It took Tory a second to remember that she was supposed to be answering to 'Samantha.' She sighed.

Her boss pointed at her and then at the front of the store like he was telling a dog to go fetch. "Get up there! They're about to let them in, so go make a good impression."

The sight of Sam sweating with the other girls, all made up and leaning from foot to foot, brought a smile to Tory's face. "Ready to pretend like you're a brainless, plastic toy? Oh, right, you've been one all your life."

Sam crossed her arms. "You're right. I've got way better things to do on a Friday night. Maybe I should go do them?"

Tory's smile quickly changed to a frown. Sam had a point; she could walk off any time she wanted. Tory had already ordered out for her family; if she lost the fifty bucks she got for finding Sam, she'd barely be making money for the whole ordeal. "Fine. Just stay away from me."

Sam narrowed her eyes and leaned closer, her smile almost gleeful in her enjoyment of Tory's discomfort. "No problem."

And then the store's manager announced that the event was starting. He lifted the rope and a tide of kids and their parents rushed in. It was all Tory could do to paste a big smile over her face and brace herself.

The first one asked, "What are you wearing?" Something Polyester with velcro in the back, not that she could say that. "This is my dress to the debutante ball!" "I thought that dress was green?" "Umm... that was for last year's ball!"

"Where's Peaches?" That's right; Samantha has a dog. "I left him at home!" "Didn't he want to come and meet us?" Tory tried to put on her very best sympathetic face, screwing up her eyebrows and pouting. "Oh, yeah, very much, but ... he's got a tummy ache." "Oh no!" As soon as she saw the girl's face, Tory knew she had made a mistake. "Peaches is sick?" The kid's voice shot up, and she could see other kids look over, their smiles wavering into worried lip wobbles. "No, no!" Tory said, and this time her expression was earnest, halfway between terrified and sympathetic. "He's great! Peaches is great. He just... ate a lot. Of... treats." She did her best to laugh while dying inside.

"Aww, Peaches!" The little girl giggled. Tory had to admit, it would be kind of cute, if there weren't a hundred more waiting to come yank on her dress and get their pictures taken with her.

It did help that Samantha—the real Samantha—was having even more trouble. She really had positioned herself at the other end of the store, just about in the corner, but that also meant she had nowhere to retreat to when kids rushed over. At least Tory knew roughly what to expect. Sam was struggling, crouching down to talk to kids while their parents yanked on their hands, trying to answer the questions of two or three kids at a time and then not having anything to do a minute later, and generally not being sure whether she should be trying to sell toys or just stand there smiling or actually go up to kids and talk to them. She was blushing, and watching LaRusso gave Tory a feeling that made the whole thing worthwhile.

"Why aren't you with Samantha?" A little girl with her hair in tight buns was looking up at Sam with her head cocked like a detective. She was wearing a dress that was almost identical to Tory's.

Tory saw Sam glance at her and then back at the kid. "We're just doing our own—"

Before she could finish, the kid cut her off. "But Heather and Samantha are supposed to be best friends!"

Tory's eyes went wide. She saw a similar look come into Sam's face. At least the feeling was mutual. "You know, sometimes even very good friends—"

"BEST friends!"

Sam winced. Watching from across the store, Tory would have loved it, but she was afraid of where this might be going, and the knot in her stomach just hoped LaRusso could think fast. "Best friends can take a little break from each other."

"What? No! That's what BFF stands for." The girl held up a box and pointed to the plastic locket inside for the kid to wear to match the doll. And then, like Sam wouldn't know, she explained, "Best. Friends. Forever. Forever!"

This had attracted the attention of several other kids, who rushed over to Sam. "Did you two have a fight?" One child asked. "What are you fighting about?" another piped up. "Was it a boy?"

"We're not fighting," Sam said, a note of panic in her voice as she tried to calm them down.

"I saw her kick you!" another kid said to Tory, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Now that had every parent staring, coming over with looks of confusion and annoyance. Tory could hear them muttering to each other, voices sharp with outrage. "Is that the kind of people they hire for these things?" Sam looked at Tory, and the look of pure terror on her face had even Tory frowning and drawing her lips off to one side. She noticed she was gripping handfuls of the dress without even realizing it, and as she forced herself to let go she found herself looking down into a set of very honest brown eyes.

"When my best friend and I fight, we talk about our feelings," the kid who had apparently been at the tournament said to Tory.

"That's a good idea. We'll do that later," Tory said, but she wasn't sure the kid even heard half of it, because several of the other kids had heard and were joining in.

Then other kids took up the idea. Suddenly, Tory had a whole gaggle of little kids around her, looking up at her with serious faces. "Yeah, you should talk it out!" "Share your feelings honestly." "Remember to use 'I' statements, Samantha." Tory realized that, as far as the little kids were concerned, they were playing with Heather and Samantha, and they were all deeply invested in these characters making up.

"I can talk to Heather whenever I want to. Right now, I'm here to meet all of you!" Tory was in panic mode, not even sure what she was saying. All of her mental energy seemed to be devoted to trying to smile while internally screaming. The last thing she wanted was to be pretend-friends with Samantha LaRusso for a bunch of little kids hyped up on the thought of getting even more toys they clearly didn't need.

But the kids were having none of it. A tiny, sticky hand grabbed Tory's hand, and in less than two seconds several other hands were grabbing her other hand and dress. She could feel the laserlike gaze of the parents, waiting to see what kind of example 'Heather' and 'Samantha' set for their kids. The store staff ranged somewhere between pitying and kind of delighted, like they thought this would all be part of the show.

As Tory got dragged over, she got a full dose of Sam's look. She actually looked more panicked than angry. Something about that face took Tory right back to the tournament and Sam looking up at her with shock and hurt from the mat.

"Tell her how you feel, Samantha!" Tory had at least caught up to being Samantha, though she wasn't exactly getting used to it.

Tory looked into Sam's eyes. At least she had practice with playing along with what little kids wanted. "When people say things that—"

"Use 'I' statements!" a little voice shrilled.

Tory took a breath. "I feel hurt when people say things about me that aren't true, like that I'm stealing."

Sam looked around. She was trapped in the corner, and everyone in the store was watching them now. Even people at the front of the line seemed to have stopped asking impatiently when their turn would come and were craning their necks to see, like they thought it was some kind of interactive skit Tory and Sam were putting on. "And I feel hurt—"

"No, Heather!" The shout from another kid actually made Tory and Sam jump. "You're supposed to tell Samantha that you understand how she feels and that you're sorry." The little girl was dressed as Misty, one of the other dolls.

"I'm sorry," Sam said, and her voice came out flat. She looked off to the side, her jaw clenching. "I can see how it would be hurtful to be accused of stealing."

"Now tell her how you feel!"

Sam took a long breath, her cheeks puffing out as she exhaled. Her eyes flicked to Tory's for a second, and then she looked away, looking more like a bunny than ever. "I feel bad when I get called names and when... I get hurt by people... on the school steps."

The kids didn't have to say anything this time. All eyes turned towards Tory. Tory could feel her face hardening and her eyes burning. She had to bring that up here, with like a million little kids watching? She didn't even want to look around to see if anyone had their phones out. The last thing she needed was videos of 'Heather and Samantha making up!' going viral. "I get... how that can hurt," she said through clenched teeth. "And I'm sorry."

A little kid pumped her skirt up and down and yelled up at her from a foot away, "Say it like you mean it, Samantha!"

Tory took a long, shaking breath and weighed just how much she wanted this job. Sam had turned to look at her now, and there was something in her eyes that surprised Tory, like that hurt had come back to the surface, and she was actually listening now. She thought back to what Amanda LaRusso had said to her in the hall during the tournament, that she hoped Tory and Sam could put all the bullshit behind them. "I'm really sorry. I hurt you, and that was wrong, and I'm sorry." She braced herself for what was coming next. She had a feeling—

"NOW HUG!"

Before Sam or Tory even had a chance to move, the kids were chanting "Hug it out! Hug it out! Hug it out!" The volume set Tory's teeth on edge, and she and Sam both winced.

Sam took a half step forward, and Tory did, too. Avoiding looking at each other made it even more awkward to try to get their arms around each other, and then they were hugging. Sam smelled like baby powder and cotton candy, although maybe that was the dress, and her body was warm against Tory's. She felt a shiver go through Sam as they touched. Tory was feeling so many things it was almost like she was watching herself from the outside, and in that moment the only coherent thought she had was that it was actually kind of nice to hold someone who wasn't afraid of her. The hug went on for longer than either of them probably intended, because Tory certainly didn't know what was going to happen when she let go. When they finally did, they both stepped back, and Sam was looking at her with the kind of look a small, furry animal gives a much bigger animal with teeth that hasn't bitten it yet.

"Now you should braid her hair, Samantha."

"What?" Tory and Sam said at the same time. Even after everything, that still caught them off guard.

The child explained with the kind of exaggerated patience that little kids reserve for older people who can't read their minds. "Every time my BFF and I fight, we braid each other's hair."

Sam shook her head and visibly winced. "What if I braid... Samantha's hair?" At least Tory was wearing a wig.

That got a decisive headshake. "No. She hurt you, so she braids your hair!"

Tory looked around, trying to groan only on the inside. How much longer was this going to go on? Why didn't the manager say something like 'Okay, everybody make your purchases, there are people waiting?' But nobody was saying anything. The manager looked about as invested as any of the kids. Tory took a deep breath and sighed. What do you expect, from the kind of person who not only throws a release party for dolls but hires people to come play the actual characters?

Tory sucked in a breath through her mouth and let it out in a puff. "Okay, Heather." Her voice was clipped and her smile so tight she couldn't even feel her blush. "Turn around so I can braid your pretty brown hair," she said, hoping the kids wouldn't pick up on her sarcasm.

"Okay, Samantha." Was that sarcasm? Dread? Maybe resignation? Tory couldn't tell. Sam turned around, and as Tory gathered her hair in her hands she caught Sam looking at her in the mirrored reflection of the store window. They both looked away. It only figured that Sam's hair was soft and silky as it ran through Tory's hands, and it smelled of strawberry shampoo. She thought about tugging on it, feeling LaRusso squirm, watching her fight not to break character by complaining. It would have been a very Tory thing to do. But something in her thought of Sam's face when she mentioned the fight on the stairs, and then her face after the hug, that look like she was just waiting for Tory to hurt her again. It just didn't seem as much fun. Tory gathered Sam's hair into three bunches and started passing one over the other, but all the pairs of eyes focused on them weren't about to let that slide.

"No! Do a French braid!"

"A Dutch braid!"

"Fishtail! Do a fishtail!"

Tory undid the braid and started again, this time with a French braid. She waited for Sam to say something, for her to tell her to just hurry up or to stop or anything, but she didn't. Tory could feel the tension in her shoulders, and she took her time, knowing that any mistake would only prolong the tiny Inquisition.

Tory's hands moved mechanically in Sam's hair. She hadn't had much experience with braiding hair other than her own. Whatever relationship Heather and Samantha had, Tory could only imagine it: sleepovers, singing along to songs at the tops of their lungs, giggling together until they were gasping and breathless. Sam's hair was easy to braid; it was so light in her hands and free of tangles that the only trouble she had with it was getting it to hold instead of slipping free. Tory risked another glance at Sam's face in the window and started, her mouth falling open: Sam was looking right back at her, and she had the most beautiful smile on her face. Tory's hands slipped, and she had to stop to regather the hair in her fingers. Tory blinked and shook her head, looking again at where her fingers crossed and recrossed the silky brown hair. Sam was a better actress than she had given her credit for. "Thanks, Samantha. It's really pretty," she said, with wide eyes. If Tory hadn't been listening for it, she wouldn't have heard the sarcasm. The kids probably believed they did like each other.

Before Tory even got to the end of the braid, she had a half dozen ties pushed up at her by little hands. She smirked and picked the glitteriest, fattest one she saw and secured Sam's hair firmly with it. With a deafening cheer from the kids, the show was over, and a small stampede and babble of kids retelling the story of how they had saved the friendship of Heather and Samantha.

Tory backed up from Sam before Sam could say anything. She felt dazed and her fingers tingled like she'd just come through a grueling practice. She mumbled something, not even knowing what she was saying, and went back to the spot she'd had earlier.

"That was really cute," said one of the staff. Her name badge said Ashley.

"Thanks," Tory said, not knowing what else to say. She didn't know what to do with her hands.

"I think we've got an opening. The kids really like you."

Tory furrowed her brow and gave her a disbelieving look. "Right."

"No, really! You're great with them. They love the way you talk to them."

"I don't know," Tory said, shaking her head. Mostly she just said whatever she could think of to get them to leave her alone without screaming or telling their parents she'd said something awful.

"They're just kids." Ashley shrugged and smiled. "All they really want is someone to give them permission to be happy."

Tory felt her expression slide off her face and puddle somewhere by her feet. She didn't have the energy to fake a smile. She could feel how fast her heart was still beating.Fortunately, the scene with Sam had put the parents who had been waiting in line into assembly line mode, and they were dragging their kids through grabbing the toys they had preordered, so the most she had to do with each kid was pause for a smile. She barely had the energy to fake a smile for a couple of seconds at a time.

"I think you're really brave," said a kid, and Tory wondered just how many kids had been watching. Just please don't let it be on socials, she thought.

"Thanks. You're very brave, too," Tory said. She cringed inwardly as soon as she said it. How would she know? But it felt like the kind of thing Samantha should say.

"Thanks!" At least the kid didn't seem to mind.

As the longest four hours of Tory's life dragged on, she found herself glancing at Sam. She didn't know whether to take strength from the fact that she seemed to be struggling as much as she was or to envy her her ability to put on a big smile for every new kid that came up to her regardless. Sam was always polite, never rude, and she didn't seem to mind the attention.

Tory did her best to keep a smile plastered on her face for the next little while, but her thoughts were racing. Maybe working here wouldn't be such a bad thing. It certainly beat doing parties. She'd barely even have to talk to kids, just shove a toy at them.

"Sam, is that you?" Tory's head snapped over to see a couple she remembered seeing around the pool the first time she'd met Sam.

Sam put on a smile and said, "No, that's Samantha. I'm Heather." She clearly enjoyed the first part, being sure to point Tory out. Tory watched, telling herself she was hoping to see Sam squirm, realizing people who knew her had seen her dressed up as Heather the Doll in a toy shop.

The couple assured Sam that she looked pretty—it was true, her makeup somehow went well with the dress, and surrounded by toys and posters with similar clothes Sam didn't even look all that ridiculous—and asked to get a picture together with her and their kid. "Come take a picture," one of the parents called to Tory, waving her over.

Shit. They must have thought Sam pointing her out meant they were friends. "Come on! Just one picture, please!" Didn't they remember her as the girl Sam made a scene with? Tory thought as she walked over after hesitating way too long for it to come off as natural. She took a deep breath and took the phone being offered to her.

"Everybody say cheese!" Tory said lamely in her best cheerful voice.

They all did. When Tory looked down to take the picture, she saw Sam smiling brightly at her, her eyes shining and her nose crinkled. It took her several heartbeats to remind herself that Sam wasn't smiling at her; it was a smile for when the family remembered this moment, a smile for the little kid now gleefully clutching her own Heather doll.

"Thanks so much! That looks great!" they said after huddling around the phone. "Thanks, Samantha," added the little kid, giving her a big smile that showed all her missing baby teeth.

"Her name's actually Tory," Sam said to the parents.

"It's nice to meet you, Tory."

"Umm, yeah." Tory shook her head, flustered, looking between the faces. "Nice to meet you, too." They really didn't remember her. They didn't know her as Stole the Vodka Girl or Got Yelled at for Stealing a Wallet (She Didn't Actually Steal) Girl. They only knew her as Sam's Friend. It felt like a lie, but when she looked at her, Sam's eyebrows tilted up and she gave her a helpless smile.

"We'll let you get back to work."

Trying not to look over, Tory went back to her spot, feeling dazed. She didn't know what to think. Fortunately, she'd developed a pretty good rhythm. "Hi, I'm Heather. What's your name? How nice to meet you! Who's your favorite? Would you like a picture? Who are you buying? Have a great day!" She even gave up wincing at herself, or rolling her eyes at the idea that she actually was saying "How nice to meet you!" like some sort of duchess. It was exhausting to do anything but smile and chat and let the kids bounce off to the next person, display, or register.

When the day was over, Tory could hardly believe it. She had never thought the day would end. When she grabbed the bin with her clothes, she didn't even check her phone. She just wanted to get changed and get home.

When she was coming out of the bathroom stall, finally wearing something that didn't make her feel like a birthday cake, she almost ran into Sam, who was glaring at her with her eyes shimmering and spots of color in her cheeks. She was still wearing the costume. "How could you!" Tory thought for a second she was going to hit her. Was this about the hair braiding? Chatting with her family's friends? "You know I only did this as a favor to you! Was this all some kind of sick prank?"

Tory glared back, snappy and defensive. "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything!"

Sam held up her phone. "Yeah? 'Cause this looks like something!"

Everything in Tory's torso felt like it turned to slush and hit the ground. It was a video of Tory and Sam on Tory's story, showing Tory braiding Sam's hair with the caption "Samantha and Heather, BFFs for Life!" surrounded by all the cheesiest emojis she could imagine.

Sam's brow creased and her lips turned down. The hurt was peeking out from under the anger. "I was starting to think you were actually, not nice, but at least not a complete atomic bitch. I guess I'm just that big of an idiot, huh?"

Tory was getting madder. "I didn't post that! You know we weren't allowed to have our phones out!"

"Yeah, whatever. Someone hacked your phone, right? If you're gonna post it where everyone can see it, at least don't insult me by lying about it." Sam stalked off. One of the other girls coming in flattened against the wall when she saw her coming. She gave Tory a look asking what that was all about, but Tory could only stand there dazed.

Of course, her phone had been right there in the bin, and anyone could walk to the back of the store and grab it. With people taking pictures of her all day, Tory wouldn't have even noticed someone pointing her phone at her to use the Face Unlock. On top of feeling betrayed, she felt like an idiot for just leaving her phone out like that. She shut her eyes and wanted to scream. She must have made some sort of noise, because the other girls in the bathroom gave her looks like they didn't know whether she needed help or was going to kick something. Tory stormed out, all but throwing the bin with the costume down with the others before stomping away.

"Hey, Samantha!" Tory wasn't answering to that any more. She was two stores down when the yell came again. "Samantha!" She turned to see her boss standing there with a roll of bills in his hand. "If you want to work for free, I'm not stopping you."

Tory walked back, her whole face feeling like cracking stone, and snatched the money.

As she stuffed it into her purse, he said, "What did I tell you about that attitude?"

"Bite me," she said as she turned away.

Was he going to fire her? Did it even matter? Tory let her head hit the steering wheel at a red light on the way home. She groaned. And on top of everything Samantha LaRusso hated her even more than ever. She was sure Robby's secret Miyagi-Do thread would be blowing up. It shouldn't have hurt so much to imagine Sam telling them all that Tory had somehow set this up and the other Miyagi-Dos jumping in to bash her, but it did. She had been an idiot to think she could make it through an event with Sam without it turning into a disaster. She'd only glanced at her phone as she deleted the video, but it was enough to see it was flooded with notifications. She'd deal with that… eventually.

At home, Tory got some of the leftovers out of the fridge, dumped them onto a plate, and stuck them in the microwave.

"How did it go?" Brandon stood in the doorway, blinking at her. He'd had a long week, too, and she had a feeling finishing that book report had taken almost as much out of him as it had her.

Tory just groaned as she turned her eyes to the ceiling.

"Figured," Brandon deadpanned, and he wandered off.

As she waited for it, she let out a long breath and looked at her phone. She should at least see if there was anything important. There were messages from the other Cobra Kais, and she saw there was a whole string of them from Robby, across several platforms.

"Hey I saw the video you posted. Wtf?" "So you freak out at ME but you're braiding each other's hair?" "Why do you both look so happy?" "Is this why we couldn't hang out tonight??" "Everyone's talking about this." "Where are you?" "Talk to me, Tory!"

Tory put her hand to her forehead. The microwave beeped. She really, really wanted to just deal with this later. Truth be told, she wanted to deal with this never. "I didn't post that. You know I only did it for the job."

Robby wrote back, "Then who did?"

"How would I know? It's not like they told me"

"Well, maybe you should have locked your phone."

Tory sighed in frustration. How stupid did he think she was? "I did." The microwave beeped at her again. "Okay already!" She yanked it open and checked the food's temperature. It had gone cold. She stirred it before putting it back in for another minute.

Robby's next message came in: "Where are you?"

"At home."

"Can I come over?"

"No!" Tory said out loud. "My mom's probably already sleeping, and I just want to eat and fall into bed."

"I could have come by the event. You look like you were having fun without me."

"Whatever!" she typed, saying it under her breath. She'd already told him, she HAD to smile. It's not like she was enjoying braiding Samantha LaRusso's hair. She added out loud, but didn't write, "You're the one who lived in the same house as her and ended up dating her." She felt like there was a hollow between her shoulders where all her tiredness and stress was flowing like dark water. It must have been nice to be given a job, taken under the LaRussos' wings, getting to eat breakfast with Sam in her pajamas.... She was reminded of the hurt and furious look on Sam's face in the bathroom. It wasn't just that Sam was right back to hating her—if she'd ever stopped—it was that it was so easy for her to believe Tory would do something like that. They were right back to Sam accusing her of stealing her mom's wallet the first time they met. She dropped the phone onto the table, got her food, and sat down to eat, refusing to look at it as it buzzed and dinged at her.

When she was done eating, Tory glanced at her phone, but even looking at it just gave her a sick feeling in her stomach. Just last week, she'd been on top of the world, if only for a few minutes: she'd not only won the All Valley, she was the reason Cobra Kai was the top-ranked dojo in the valley. But before she had even left the building she had heard Sensei Silver speaking to the judge, revealing that she only won because he cheated. In one awful gut punch, she learned that Samantha LaRusso should have been the one being cheered by the whole stadium, the one who got all the high fives and hugs, the one whose sensei—her rich, successful, gentle dad—was giving the speech. No, she decided. Daniel LaRusso wouldn't have grabbed the mike like that. He would have smiled and told her how proud he was of her. And that wasn't all. Silver hadn't believed in her. You don't bribe a judge if you think your athlete is going to win. He thought she was a loser, just like everyone else. And the worst part was, if he wouldn't have given that handful of cash to the official, she really would have lost. He would have been right. She needed him cheating for her to win.

Tory got up to do the dishes, leaving her phone on the table. She didn't even realize how hard she was scowling until she felt how much her face hurt. Fuck, she thought, massaging her face and forehead. If I keep going like this, I'm going to end up with the upgraded version of Resting Bitch Face: Permanent Bitch Face. She left the dishes to dry and grabbed her phone. It wasn't even late, not even nine, but she felt like she could just drop into bed and sleep in her clothes. She paused in the doorway of the living room. Her mom and brother were on the couch together, watching TV. Tory took a deep breath and forced a smile onto her face. They looked up at her and made room for her to come sit. She didn't even care what they were watching. For just that minute, it felt nice to sit with her family and turn her brain off, forget about Silver and LaRusso and the tournament….

When Tory woke up, the room was dark and someone had put a blanket over her. She had a crick in her neck from sleeping on the sofa, but at least her body felt less tense. She wanted to think it was her mom, that she could still manage that little token of love.

Chapter Text

It was nine when Tory got up. She hurried downstairs but found that she was the first up; at least she could make a hot breakfast instead of Brandon getting himself cereal. He deserved that much on a Saturday. As she left some ham and eggs frying on the stove, she headed back to the living room to grab her phone. The battery had run down, so she headed back to her room to grab her charger, pausing long enough to flip everything in the pan. She plugged her phone in beside the toaster, served up breakfast on the table, and went to get Brandon up.

"Hey. Time for breakfast."

He rolled over in bed and pulled the blanket over himself.

"It's warm now. I know you don't like cold eggs."

He made some unintelligible sounds.

"All right, well, if you don't come now, you're the one putting it in the microwave."

She walked into her mom's room and sat down on the side of the bed. Her mom was awake, propped up on her pillows and reading something on her ebook reader.

"How are you feeling?" Tory asked.

"How was your event yesterday?" Her mom's smile was as thin and fragile as she was. She set the device down on the bed beside her.

Tory tried not to frown. It was never a good sign when her mom changed the subject like that. The deep hollows under her eyes were puffy and dark. Had she slept at all?

Her mom read her expression and guessed at the cause of it. "How are things between you and that Sam girl?"

"Fine," Tory said automatically, though she knew that was a lie. The monster inside Tory growled its approval. "We're fine. We've been hanging out since the tournament." Adding a second lie which was closer to the truth felt like she was at least putting a funny hat on that monster, which made Tory feel a tiny bit better.

"Really?" Her mom leaned forward eagerly, putting her hand on Tory's arm. "That's great!" But there was hesitation in her voice, and Tory could feel her searching for something in her face.

Tory closed her eyes. "Her mom talked to me at the tournament. She told me she hoped we could get past everything that's happened."

Her mom gave her arm a squeeze. "And have you?"

Tory opened her eyes again but couldn't meet her mom's gaze. She glanced down and fidgeted in her lap.

"Not quite yet," her mom finished for her.

Tory pressed her lips together, and her mom read everything from her expression.

"Oh dear," her mom murmured. "This isn't going to be easy."

Tory made a face. "There's... a lot of history."

Her mom tilted her head to the side with a scoff. She moved her hand to cup Tory's cheek. "You're sixteen. How much history could there be?" Tory's face was turned away from her, but she still chided, "Don't you roll your eyes at me."

Tory shrugged. "Sometimes I just think some things can't be fixed. Like if you try, you... you only make it worse."

Her mom's hand dropped and she sank back onto her pillows. Even sitting up by herself was hard on her sometimes. "I suppose you're right."

Tory gave her mom a look out of the corner of her eyes, surprised.

"I know you think I'm always trying to fix things, but I also know that there are some situations that aren't meant to be fixed. Some people just aren't good for each other, no matter how hard you try."

Tory nodded, breathing out through her nose sharply. "Like people who get drunk and kiss your boyfriend when they're dating someone else?"

Her mom raised her eyebrows. "I could fill a book with the mistakes you've made, Tory Nichols. I guess what it comes down to is whether you and this girl want to get over it or not. It will never work unless you both want it to. It doesn't matter what one of you does, so long as the other won't budge, whichever one of you it is."

Tory stared at her mother for a moment. There had been times when she wished her mom would stop talking about hard things, because all it did was wear out her mom and frustrate Tory. But then there were moments like this one, when she saw how worried her mom was. She brushed some of the hair out of her mom's face. Her skin felt warm and brittle, like paper that's been in your pocket too long, and it was damp with sweat. They sat like that for a minute. "So, how's your book?" Tory said at last.

Her mom smiled and did her best to shrug. "It's not bad, but I like it better when you don't see the end coming."

Tory laughed, although there was a note of a sob in it. "Me too."

***

It was Saturday, not to mention the first day of Summer Break, which meant apart from shopping she had the whole day to kill. Normally, she would have knocked out the shopping first thing, but she found herself putting it off. The time after the shopping trip opened ahead of her like a chasm, and she didn't want to face it just yet. So she lay down on the couch, put the TV on, and stared at the ceiling.

She thought about what her mom had said, which made her think about what had happened with Sam. The expression on Sam's face in the reflection of the store window had been almost... well, not happy, but content. She'd seemed like she'd gotten something she'd wanted for a long time. Tory snorted and rolled over onto her side. It's not like she could actually read someone's expression in a window reflection. Not to mention it was easy to remember it differently than how it had been. But did that mean that this was how she wanted to remember it, with Sam's silky hair slipping through her fingers, meeting those blue eyes in the glass?

Tory ground her teeth and rolled over all the way, burying her face in a pillow. What the hell was wrong with her? She hadn't done anything wrong! She'd actually tried to get along like Amanda had asked her, but nothing between them had changed. Even if Sam thought just for a second that maybe Tory wasn't the bitchiest bitch ever, all she had to do was look down at her arm to see the scars she'd have for the rest of her life and be reminded of all the things Tory had done to her. And maybe it was stupid, but it felt good to stand up for herself.

She heard Brandon's voice over her shoulder. "We're out of juice."

"So go to the store and get some," Tory mumbled into the pillow.

"I'm eight."

"You'll figure it out. Don't you play racing games?"

"I can't even see over the steering wheel."

Tory lifted her head up just enough to let it smack down into the pillow again. It smushed her nose. It was kind of the mood for the day. "So sit on a pillow. Do I have to figure everything out for you?"

When he didn't reply, she raised her head. He was looking at her with his lip stuck out just a bit, like he was trying to figure out whether he was supposed to have his feelings hurt or to take her seriously or some combination of the two. She groaned and pushed herself up from the sweet embrace of the couch and her friend the pillow. "Oh, fine. What kind of juice do you want?"

"Pineapple."

Tory smirked. "What kind of juice do you actually want?"

"Apple. And orange. And grape."

She touched his shoulder as she headed to the door. She couldn't avoid her responsibilities forever... or even for fifteen minutes, it seemed. "I'll see what I can do."

When she checked her phone in the car, there were a few messages from Robby from last night, spaced several minutes apart: "What are you trying to say?" "I don't get what's going on with you." "You there?" "Now you won't even talk to me?" She leaned her head on the headrest and let out a long breath. She couldn't just leave him on read, but what could she say? She scrolled through the messages. There were a bunch of posts on social media about a beach party that night to celebrate the end of the year. Perfect. She texted Robby, "Let's talk at the party, okay?" She waited a minute to see if he'd write back, but it didn't even show that he'd read it. Maybe he just saw the notification and ignored it, but she had more to do than worrying about her... what was Robby, anyway? Her fling? Her hookup? What was she to him, the rebound chick or the girl who would get left behind when he went back to his ex-girlfriend? With Miguel out of the picture on his trip, it wasn't like there was anything stopping them, especially since Sam wasn't known for her impulse control. Or her ability to keep her hands off Tory's partners. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense: what other reason would he have for staying in the Miyagi-Do group chat than because he wanted to keep one foot in that world?

Robby had been so close to leaving Cobra Kai. She remembered finding him ready to leave the dojo, saying he'd only been crashing with them. Maybe she should have read the signs then. How could she be so stupid? If there was one thing she learned from Kreese and Silver, it was that everything was a fight, and she'd let her guard down.

But still there was that voice in the back of her head saying she was jumping to conclusions. Miguel had done it to her, so why not Robby? She took a deep breath. She had to give him a chance. Maybe he was telling the truth: maybe he just figured it would be weird to leave a chat when everyone would get the notification, and besides, it's how they'd all learned about Kreese getting arrested. But then why hadn't he just shown her his phone? She snorted. What would she have done in his place? Tory wasn't sure, but she'd also never have stayed in the chat of the enemy. Would she have handed her phone over? She didn't hold anything back, but she also didn't like people getting in her business.

Before the party, Tory drove down to the dojo. She had been feeling a building tension inside her like her muscles just refused to unknot. She'd told herself it was just the exams at school, but now those were over and that feeling was still there. She knew there were plenty of possible reasons, with her mom's health and her job situation, but those were nothing new. Maybe kicking and punching things would help shake it loose, whatever it was.

She had gotten used to Kreese or Silver being there pretty much all the time and keeping it open for people to come use the equipment or spar. When she got there, the door was unlocked, so she headed to the back to warm up. She took a deep breath: the smell of deodorant, sweat, leather, and rubber, so familiar, was better than any calming candle. She loved this space, with the motes of dust dancing in the light of the glass storefront.

As soon as she stepped into the back, she knew something was off. The mats were clean, but Kreese's gear and weapons were gone from the racks. The punching bags hanging from the ceiling looked new and all bore the Cobra Kai logo. Tory frowned. Those hadn't even been a year old.

She was running on the treadmill when Silver's familiar voice drawled from behind her, "What do you think?"

Tory turned off the machine and stepped off. "Fancy," she said, looking around with the corners of her mouth turned down. "What's the big occasion?"

"We're opening our new location next Saturday," Silver said. He stood with his hands behind his back, his head leaning forward the way it always did. Tory supposed it was because of his age, but it always made him look like he was getting ready to plunge his beak into her. "I wanted to be sure the branding was consistent across locations."

"Okay. Sure." Tory tried to play it casual as she shook her head towards the door to the dojo. "What about Kreese's stuff? Do you know when he's coming back?"

Silver sucked on his teeth. "Parents don't want to see that sort of thing in a place where they're sending their children. We want to send the message that Cobra Kai builds young people up."

Tory made a face and folded her arms. "Isn't that what Cobra Kai is all about? Fighting to get your due? Besides, we use that stuff for skills demonstrations, not stabbing each other."

Silver nodded like he was considering what she was saying. "It's about the optics." Tory could see in his eyes that he had already made up his mind, and he was just humoring her, trying to make her feel like her opinion mattered.

She shrugged one shoulder. "So, who's going to be teaching at the new location?"

"That reminds me. There's something else I've been meaning to talk to you about." Silver drew his hands out from behind his back. He was holding a set of keys dangling from a keychain. A Cobra Kai keychain. He was serious about branding. "Since I'll be dividing my time between locations, I thought we could have some more people open up. I like for this to be a place young people can come after school. Do you think you could look after our people while I'm not here? Just when you'd be here anyway, of course."

Tory tried not to stare at the keys. She wanted to keep playing it cool, even though warm pride spread through her chest like an electric blanket. "Yes! I mean, yeah, I could totally do that." She stepped forward and reached for the keys.

Silver snatched them back, his smile growing into a grin. "You might have to lead a training or two, but you can do that for me, can't you, Nichols?"

Tory furrowed her brow and tilted her head, shrugging like it was no big deal. "Yeah, of course." She'd gotten used to running drills, and there were plenty of techniques they could all use more practice with that didn't need a sensei's guidance.

"I knew it. That's what I like best about you, Nichols. You're loyal." And as he handed her the keys, Silver fixed her with an unblinking stare.

Tory found her expression wavering. Did he suspect she knew about his bribe? She fought to keep her face neutral. "Thank you, Sensei."

He didn't say anything, only grinned more widely, and then turned away. Instead of leaving the room, though, he went to one of the training dummies and started hitting it. There was something about him doing that while they were the only two people in the room that set Tory's teeth on edge. She took a deep breath and went to one of the punching bags, trying to tune out Silver's kiais and the sound of the impacts of his strikes against wood. She punched until her knuckles ached. It helped calm her nerves. She hit again and again, trying to focus on her form instead of the fact that she was alone in a room with Silver. Kreese intimidated her, but Silver downright scared her.

She paused after a combination, slowing her breathing by breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth the way she had learned. As her breathing slowed, she realized how quiet it was. She turned to see Silver standing five feet away over her shoulder, watching her. How long had he been standing there?

"So..." Her mind raced, trying to think of something to say. "Have you heard from Sensei Kreese?"

Silver took a long breath, rubbing his chin. "John Kreese has a lot of demons, I'm afraid. I think it might be a while before we see him again." He shook his head, but Tory had dealt with too many assholes in her life not to miss the look of a man who was lying to someone he thought would believe him just because.

Tory shrugged and tossed hair out of her face, trying to look unconcerned as she turned to throw a punch at the bag. "Does that mean you're running Cobra Kai now?"

Silver nodded slowly like it had only just occurred to him. "I've injected a lot of money into Cobra Kai, so my name is on all the paperwork. I guess you could say I'm in charge. You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

Tory shook her head and frowned, raising her eyebrows. "Not at all. I just want to do what's best for Cobra Kai."

Silver's smile crept over his face like something legless slithering through tall grass, and she could tell that he wasn't buying it. "Very good. Now, there are some things I'd like you to take care of for me, if you wouldn't mind." Silver leaned forward and lowered his voice. Tory fought the urge to step back. "I'd appreciate it if you kept a low profile around here—you know, stay in the background unless absolutely necessary."

"Huh?" A minute ago, he'd been telling her to lead classes.

"Cobra Kai is a team. You wouldn't want anyone to get the sense you think you're better than them." That smile never wavered, like it was carved onto his face.

Tory's brow knit. Her face felt alternately hot and cold. She couldn't shake the feeling he was sending her a message talking about being a team right after talking about Kreese being gone. Suddenly, she just wanted to get out of there. "Yeah. Totally." She took a step towards where she'd left her gym bag by the wall. "I should probably get going. I have some things to take care of before the party."

His eyebrows crawled up and he nodded slowly, like he'd expected as much. She hadn't even been there an hour. "Of course."

***

Tory was practically crawling out of her skin by the time the party got started. She was one of the first people there, grabbing the bottle of Bacardi she'd swiped from a convenience store and a ratty blanket she kept in her car for exactly this sort of thing. She could feel her steps getting lighter, her mood rising. She had every intention of getting wasted and blowing off every bit of steam that had been gathering inside her. As she walked down to the spot on the beach some of the others were setting up their blankets and some Bluetooth speakers, she spotted Stingray.

"Oh, shit," she said, smiling uncomfortably when she saw his face. She'd heard something had happened to him, but that had been a week ago, and he still looked like hamburger that got dropped on the floor.

"It's no big deal," he said, trying to snort casually, but winced from what looked like a broken nose that was still healing. Tory couldn't help but think he looked smaller, like he was always half-cringing.

Tory winced as she got a closer look at him. "What did you do? Pick a fight with a jackhammer?"

Stingray waved a hand dismissively. "You should see the other guy!"

Tory raised her eyebrows, her face somewhere between horrified and disbelieving, turning away. "What, is he in a morgue?"

Stingray put his hands in his pockets and bobbed on his heels. "I don't know, maybe," he said, pushing his chest out. "I messed him up pre-tty good."

"You're an animal." Tory didn't quite manage to keep the scoff out of her voice. Still, the way he looked made her feel almost sorry for him. Something had definitely happened to him, and you didn't get those kinds of injuries from falling down the stairs to your mom's basement.

"Yeah, did I say 'him'? I meant 'them.' But there was one guy in particular, I ..." As Stingray got carried away with his story, his gestures became a pantomime. He went through the whole fight, throwing in phrases like "... and then two of them came at me from the same time..." and "one guy tries to grab me from behind, but I...."

Tory spotted Robby coming towards them, and she saw him pause when he saw her. She gave him a small smile and a wave, and he smiled back. There was genuine warmth in that wide smile, and Tory felt something inside her loosen, too. Maybe Robby was okay, and maybe he was worth giving another chance. "Hey, Robby. What's up?" she said, playing it cool as she strolled up to him.

Robby's smile widened into a grin. "Nothing much. Just checking up on my girl here."

"Oh? Where is she?" Tory put her hands on her hips. "Do I have to kick her ass?"

Robby threaded his arms under hers and drew her close for a kiss. "I don't think you could," he said with a sympathetic wince. "She's a karate champion."

"Sounds like a badass," Tory said after another kiss.

He raised his eyebrows, that grin only widening. "Totally."

"Get a room, you two!" Stingray called from behind them. There were other Cobra Kais arriving, and Tory and Robby disentangled to help set up the volleyball net someone had brought. After Tory helped get the pole on her side stood up and staked down, she glanced across to watch Robby and the rest putting up the other one. He glanced at her, and when he met her eye he smiled. She smiled back. This was good. And yet that tightness didn't go away completely; it was a little easier to ignore. She tried to shrug it off. She'd had worse hangovers. Robby sauntered up to her, volleyball held against his hip. "Wanna be on my team?"

"I kind of want to see your face when I spike the ball off it," Tory said, suppressing the grin that threatened to blossom on her face. "But I guess this time I'll say yes, since you're my boyfriend and everything."

As soon as the words left Tory's mouth, she regretted saying them. A confused look came over Robby's face: his brow contracted and his mouth opened like he was going to say something, but then he just stepped back and said. "Okay. Let's play." The teams were four on four, and as they got into position, Tory looked at Robby. He wasn't looking at her, and as she watched his face in profile, the tightness in his jaw. After what had happened in the car she had just assumed, and he had just called her his girl. She shook her head. Maybe it was something else. Maybe he was just really focused on the game. She served the ball, and the game began.

Tory put her energy into the game, running and diving, talking trash at the other team and encouraging her own. She patted Robby on the back after a good play, and he gave her a tight-lipped smile before turning away. Tory shook her head at herself and got her head back into the game. Her team was definitely more athletic, but the other team was more consistent, and she found herself hesitating, not wanting to go after balls Robby might get, so more than once the ball hit the sand on their side when no one moved. At least she could do this, be athletic and competitive and aggressive. And while it would've been better if Robby wasn't acting weird, she would've been surprised if he'd cheered her on for every play. He was supportive, but he had never been the most vocal, especially around other people. She found herself wondering how he'd been around the Miyagi-Do people. Around Sam. She realized Sam knew a Robby that Tory had probably never even met.

Tory wished she could loosen up more. It was a friendly game, and they were supposed to be having fun together. Someone who was watching passed around a bottle between points, and Tory took a drink, and then another. As the sun went down, she could feel the drink warming her, and she started to get even more aggressive. She charged at the net, jumping for spikes, and sometimes she was sure she'd score but slammed the ball so hard it landed out of bounds.

Kyler grinned at her from the other side of the net. "It's our point if you go over the line this time, Tory."

"Bite me, Kyler," she snapped back. She knew it was harsher than Kyler deserved; she'd returned friendly ribbing with a snarl, and she could feel confused looks and whispers behind her. She was used to it. "Come on and serve already!"

The more they drank, the more aggressive the game got. Tory half expected someone to get tired of it and wander off, but people were really laying it on, and Tory was determined not to lose. She didn't even notice she had started going for balls that were heading towards the others until she and Robby collided, both landing sprawled on the sand.

"Hey, take it easy," Robby said, pushing himself up. He looked more concerned than angry, which nettled Tory. She wasn't some marshmallow doll to be fawned over and taken care of.

"You don't win by taking it easy," Tory said, ignoring the hand she was offered and pushing herself up.

"It's just for fun. There's no prize for winning," said one of the younger kids on their team.

Tory tossed her bangs out of her face and brushed sand off her elbows. "That's loser talk."

The next time the ball came in, Robby set it high into the air, and Tory jumped high, putting her whole upper body into a hard strike that sent the ball shooting over the net. On the other side, Kenny went for it, a determined look on his face. The ball hit him square in the stomach as it slipped past his forearms, doubling him over with a groan of pain. He crumpled down to the sand like a balloon with the air let out of it.

"What are you doing?" Robby turned on her with anger and confusion in her face, his eyes flashing.

That look and the tone in his voice made Tory's stomach clench. Did he honestly think she did it on purpose? "What? He went for it! It's not like I was trying to hit him!"

Robby's gaze shifted sideways and he shook his head before meeting Tory's eyes again. He wasn't accusing her outright, but he still seemed angry. "Maybe we should call it here."

Tory's eyebrows arched and she pointed across the net. "What are you talking about? The game isn't over! He's fine. He just got the wind knocked out of him."

"Yeah, this time."

Tory took a step closer to Robby, her voice dropping dangerously. "What are you trying to say?" Inside, she was a little girl again, squaring up for a fight with a boy who wouldn't stop pulling her hair and talking about her mom. "Did I hit him too hard? Was I supposed to give him CPR?"

Robby gave her a look like she wasn't getting it. "We're just having fun."

"I was having fun," Tory said. She turned to stalk off, snatching a half-empty bottle of tequila out of someone's hand.

She heard Robby shout after her. "Come on, don't leave!"

"Where are you going?" a few of the others called. Tory didn't care. There were hot, angry tears in her eyes. The sand at the edge of the waves was soft and damp under her feet, and she walked closer to the waves, letting them wash over her ankles and carry some of the boiling heat out of her guts back out to sea. She swallowed a mouthful of tequila to chase the creeping cool away. She wanted to be cool but she wanted to be hot. She was being torn apart, and all she wanted to do was laugh and scream and cry at the same time, like any of it mattered or could fix any part of what was going so wrong. She sat down by herself on the shoreline, letting the waves wash up her legs and around her, tugging on her like they wanted to pull her out into the inky rolling darkness of the ocean. The ocean water smelled of salt and brine and fish and everything else that lived in it, and she felt sick.

Tory took a long drink of the bottle and wiped her mouth on the back of the hand holding it. Her mother would have told her to keep trying. The thought was like a cold finger down her spine. She coughed and hiccupped and realized she was crying, hot fat angry tears that scalded their way down her face. It didn't matter how many times she won, it never lasted. She was going to lose everything that was important. She took another drink. She'd go back eventually. Whether the tide was coming in or going out, she wouldn't be sitting in the shallows for long. She hoped that by the time the cold water forced her to choose a direction, she would be drunk enough not to care.

That was pretty much the last coherent moment Tory remembered later.

***

Tory found herself beside her bed. It wasn't so much that she had woken up as that enough consciousness had entered the picture to make her aware that she was, in fact, on the floor beside her bed. A few other facts sat around poking her with sticks to see if she would pay attention to them. One of them was that she was still mostly in her clothes from the night before, though she was wearing one sock and, while she had her shirt on, she wasn't wearing her bra. Another, possibly related fact was that she could smell herself and she smelled absolutely terrible. A tertiary fact, which wasn't so much poking her as standing an awkward middle distance away like an awkward kid hoping to get asked to join a conversation was the fact that Brandon was standing in the doorway staring at her with his mouth hanging open.

Tory double-checked that her shorts were on and zipped up. They were. The fact that Brandon had seen her first conscious action be to check to make sure her fly was up wasn't the worst possible scenario. Gingerly, she sent a part of her consciousness to go check on her stomach, and it returned the good news that she didn't feel like throwing up, though along the way it had encountered a headache that she should probably acknowledge at some point. It felt like good news for a second, but then she started wondering whether she had already thrown up and just didn't remember, which didn't seem so good.

"You're viral," Brandon said, and for at least five seconds Tory's soupy brain wondered if he meant she was sick rather than hungover, or perhaps that he thought he'd mistaken hungover for sick. Like lazy soldiers lining up for inspection, one by one some facts fell into place. First, her eight-year-old brother probably wouldn't say "you're viral" to mean she was sick. Nobody talked like that, least of all elementary school kids. Second, he almost definitely meant something she had done was at least being distributed widely enough to wind up shared with an eight-year-old. Third, she vaguely remembered yelling at her phone the night before, though she couldn't even remember if it had been her holding it or someone else. Tory groaned. She hoped that she at least had all her clothes on properly, didn't throw up, and didn't drink anything on camera. Oh, and preferably didn't make out with anyone.

Tory started looking for her phone, but when she couldn't find it within arm's reach up on the bed or on the carpet around her, she gave up. She was mentally preparing herself for actually getting up when Brandon handed her his phone and she took it, pushing herself up on her elbows on the floor. That kicked the ball down the field on a few physical necessities, and Tory accepted the assist. On the screen, she definitely looked trashed, with her hair plastered to her face and her cheeks bright red. Her first thought was what if her mom saw it. Her second thought was what if Sam saw it. Somewhere farther down the line was what if her boss saw it. He seemed like the kind to creep on teenagers' social media.

When she pushed play on the video, the Tory from last night immediately launched into a rant that was as impassioned as it was slurred: "This is for whichever bitch who recorded me the other day when I was at my job. If you had even an ounce of balls you'd say who you were so I could break your fucking teeth, you fucking pussy bitch, and then you'd be sorry. I hope you never have a day of happiness in your life without a little voice in your head telling you what a piece of shit you are. I hope no matter what you accomplish you'll know deep down you're a back-biting snake." She looked up. Brandon looked down at her nervously, like he expected to be in trouble, but he had seen it already, plus it wasn't like it was his fault. Tory just felt guilty. "You know you shouldn't say those things, right?" she said, turning down the volume with one finger so her digital self trailed off on "you know who you are, and I hope every time you look in the mirror...."

"Yeah," Brandon said, in a small voice.

Tory shut her eyes and rolled onto her back. When she reopened them, he was still there. She did still have his phone. She handed it back to him. "Could you do me a favor before you go?"

Brandon was fishing among her tangled sheets before she was even done talking. He handed her her phone. "Here you go."

"You're a good kid, you know that?"

He gave her a look and walked out with a scoff, looking very much like an old man thinking, "Now I've heard it all."

Tory's phone still had some battery life even though she hadn't charged it. She took it as a sign the universe only mostly hated her. As she flicked through the inevitable storm of notifications, she saw some new messages in the conversation thread Sam LaRusso had started about the doll launch event. Tory tried to roll her eyes but it sent a wave of nausea and pain bouncing back and forth in her skull. "Ugh," she managed, and opened the messages.

"You really were telling the truth."

"I don't think anyone can be that angry and that drunk at the same time and be faking it."

"Sorry." Tory could all but hear the grinding of perfect LaRusso teeth.

"Np store," Tory's phone gave her as she swiped back a reply. She took a long breath, letting the phone drop onto her face for a second. She was still lying spread out on her back on the floor. It took an effort to lift the phone off her face and type back, letter by letter, "No shit."

"How are you feeling?"

Tory snorted. "What do you care?" she said out loud. Then she typed, "I'm fine." Then, completely without prompting from her brain, her fingers typed, "You want a rematch?"

"You mean today?"

Tory would have rolled her eyes if she didn't think they might fall out of her head and roll across the floor. "No, not today, LaRusso," she told what looked like a professional headshot that Sam used as her profile pic. "Lets go the the committee get a rematch." Close enough. Send.

Tory's arms dropped to the floor, and she waited for the room to stop moving. It was only right for her to wait for it to come to a complete stop before trying to get off, like the merry-go-rounds at the fair her mom used to take her to when she was little, when her dad was still around, with Brandon trying to climb up after her but her mom was saying he was too small. Because it wasn't safe for him to try to follow his sister. Tory felt a pang in her gut that wasn't just cheap tequila trying to find a way out. The more things changed.... Except now the world wasn't stopping. There was no safe way to get off, which meant she had to stay on the ride.

She put a hand on the bed and heaved herself upright. By the time she'd managed to scrape together enough more or less matching clothes for an outfit, she had a message from Sam. Judging by the timestamp, it had been a good three minutes. "You can't be serious" and then, immediately after, "Are you still drunk?"

A flare of anger went off behind Tory's eyes. "Anytime you're ready," she typed back. "I'll show you I don't need to cheat to beat you," she said out loud.

"Brint it on." Tory snorted. Even LaRusso could mistype. A follow-up came a second later: "Bring* phone" That got a genuine laugh. Only Sam would correct her typing on a text that was meant to sound tough.

It took Tory a while to finish breakfast, texting back and forth with Sam every few seconds, but by the time she was done with dishes they'd worked it out. They would both go to the All Valley Committee and ask for a rematch. They wouldn't say anything about the judge–Silver would only deny it anyway–but would say that they both felt that some of the calls had been wrong.

"What if they ask why we didn't object at the tournament?" Sam asked.

Tory wiped her soapy hands on her pants before writing back, "Sometimes these things just take a while." She shook her head as she sent it, scoffing lightly, but still she couldn't fight the smile creeping into the corners of her mouth. She told herself she was smiling at the thought of proving once and for all that she didn't need Silver or anyone else tipping the odds in her favor to win. It certainly wasn't the thought of seeing Sam again, or of maybe, just maybe, no longer being quite such a monster in her eyes….

Chapter Text

Tory was scrubbing the bathtub–more like fighting a losing battle against the yellow gunk that stubbornly acted like it had always been part of the tub–when she got the response from the All Valley Committee to her request for a rematch. As soon as she saw it, her heart sank so fast it just about went down the drain. She cleaned her hands of the stinging solution and opened her mail app.

"Dear Miss Nichols and Miss LaRusso,

The All Valley Committee commends your sportsmanship. We understand that stepping forward to challenge the results of a match is never an easy decision. To do so reflects well on you and your coaches."

That had made Tory snort. Like Kreese or Silver had anything to do with it.

"We take pride in providing the highest levels of accuracy and fairness in our tournaments. Our initial deliberation has agreed that there may be grounds for a rematch, given the judgments you mentioned in your email. According to the charter of the All-Valley Under 18 Tournament, in order for a tournament result to be reviewed, there must be an official in-person hearing involving the athletes, their senseis, and a quorum of committee members. Please choose one of the following times…."

Tory groaned into the fumes of the tub cleaner and put her phone down. Sensei Silver would never agree to a meeting like that. More than likely, he'd throw her out of Cobra Kai when he found out about it. She could already imagine what he would say: "No mercy, Nichols! It sounds like you're not Cobra Kai material." She shook her head. She could hear the sneer in his voice as he said it. Ever since she won, it was like he had been trying to break her down, like she had just been just a cog in his plan, on the same level as the handful of cash he had put in the hand of that judge. No, even worse than that: it had been the money that had won the tournament. She had just been the figurehead, and now he wanted to make sure she'd be just as silent. Tory had been proud when he offered her the keys to the dojo. Now, the thought of them sent ice down her spine, despite the heat of the California summer and the lack of air conditioning in the bathroom.

When she was close to done, Tory picked her phone back up and thought about what to tell Sam. The whole thing would look pretty bad if she didn't have a chance to explain; Sam would think she'd sobered up and changed her mind, that she was using Silver as an excuse. She stared at her phone, with Sam's profile pic staring back at her, their last conversation still on the phone, with Tory's hungover mistypings and all. Tory set her phone on the edge of the sink and rinsed the tub. The fumes stung her eyes and she found herself blinking, her eyes watering. She resisted the temptation to wipe her face. When she was done cleaning and washing her hands, she caught a look of her face in the mirror: her cheeks were red and puffy and there were tear tracks running down her face. It was only then that she realized she had been quietly crying. At least she'd have an excuse for it if Brandon saw her.

***

She was early to practice, so she sat in her car for a minute and waited for others to show up before she got out to go inside. She didn't want to face Silver's glittering predator eyes alone. But as she headed across the mat towards the back to go to the locker room, she heard him call her name.

"Nichols, in my office."

Tory took a breath and walked to the door of the office, her gym bag over her shoulder. She noticed there was a blank spot on the wall where the photograph of Kreese in Vietnam had hung. "Yes, Sensei?" she said.

Silver gave her a smile that tightened all the skin of his face like it was being stretched over his skull. "I hear you want a rematch with LaRusso. Something about not agreeing with some of the calls." He didn't invite her deeper into the office, like he knew she wasn't going to be coming in anyway.

Tory's stomach dropped into her feet and kept going straight through the floor. She felt hot and cold all at once. "Yes, Sensei," she said stupidly, not knowing what else to say. Her eyes had gone wide and she struggled to control her face. Of course he'd have a source on the All Valley Committee. If he was paying off a judge, what else had his money gotten him?

His smile grew, his lips like a garotte. "I think it's a great idea."

Just when Tory thought she couldn't be more shocked. "What?"

"We wouldn't want our champion to think she might have won unfairly," he said. She couldn't get a read on his voice at all. Was he proud of her? Mocking her? It was like trying to read a face through a sheet of ice. "I've already given the committee my approval. You'll understand if I don't attend the hearing in person, because of the opening of the new location."

"But they haven't even set—" Tory started to say, but the way he raised his eyebrows yanked the breath out of her. Of course he knew. "Of course, Sensei," she corrected herself.

"Thank you, Nichols."

Tory felt the dismissal crawl up and down her spine as she turned away and headed to the back to get changed. His words, the curt way he seemed to dismiss her whole existence, crawled over her skin like cold hands. When she first held that trophy, she had felt like a champion. Her job, her school performance, even—she felt it in her chest like she had swallowed a stone—her mom. She was too used to having things taken away from her. With the trophy, she had let herself believe it was okay to want something, to believe she could be something. She remembered the first time she had held the trophy, her head turning and turning like everything she set her eyes on was new, like she could hardly believe this moment was happening and she wanted to remember every little thing so she could come back to this moment forever. He had taken that away from her.

The rest of karate practice passed slowly. Tory had once looked forward to having karate over the summer. It would give her a regular chance to see her friends, to get out of the house, to have time for herself when she wasn't working or taking care of her mom and brother. But Sensei Silver was hardly even looking at her, making her go through the drills and exercises like everyone else. He had said she might even lead the practice. Had something changed?

***

An hour into the session, Silver made them all line up. "I have to go take care of some paperwork for the new dojo." He smirked and gave them a moment to express their enthusiasm; there was a smattering of excited comments. "Keene is in charge for the rest of practice. Make sure you lock up when you're leaving."

Tory was livid, and she knew her face showed it all: eyes round, mouth open, the heat splashing up her neck and cheeks. He was putting Robby in charge? And Robby already had the keys but hadn't told her? Tory saw herself in the mirrored wall: her hands were clenched, her jaw thrust out, her whole body tense. A muscle twitched along her cheekbone. She hated feeling helpless, angry, powerless. The thought of being part of Silver's plan had chilled her, but having it ripped out of her hands was just as bad. It didn't matter how hard she worked or what she did; every time she slipped and actually allowed herself to want something, she lost it. Why couldn't someone else step up and fix everything, just once? How come nobody ever really cared about her except her family?

When they sparred, she didn't go easy on him. She saw the surprise in Robby's face the first time she swept his legs out from under him and dropped over him with an elbow to the sternum. As she got back up, turning her back on him, she heard him say, "We're just practicing."

"Yeah, I know!" she shouted back angrily. Then, as he pushed himself up to stand, she punched him hard between his shoulders, knocking him flat onto his belly.

She took a step back, panting, feeling all eyes on her. She knew even without the mirror what they were seeing: her eyes narrowed, her nostrils flared, her stance as taut as a rope about to burst.

Robby rolled onto his back and looked up at her, his face a mix of anger and confusion. "What the hell, Tory?"

She wanted to wait, to fight it out with him after practice, but the words came up out of her like there was a geyser in her belly and she'd explode if she didn't let it out. "Why didn't you tell me Silver asked you to lead the practice?"

Anger was quickly winning out, his brow as low and dark as a storm cloud as he climbed to his feet. "I was going to, but I'm lucky if you answer my texts the day I send them! What's the matter with you? I thought you'd be happy for me!" He brushed himself off, getting back into a fighting position.

"He told me he was going to give it to me!" Tory shouted the last word, coming in with a series of kicks.

He blocked them and counterattacked, knocking her back with a hard punch to the chest. "How was I supposed to know? You never told me! You never tell me anything!"

For one second, she remembered how much she loved this sport, all these people gathered together, ready to kick ass. They took care of her, gave her a place to belong, a place she didn't have to take care of anyone because they were all warriors. She felt it with the sudden pain of the fear that she might lose it all. It rushed in from all around her, threatening to close over her head, and her face felt hot and cold all at once. She had tears in her eyes and she didn't know why. "I wanted it to be a surprise." It came out harder than she meant, like an accusation.

"That doesn't mean you can keep secrets!" He threw punches again, each one faster than the next. Tory barely blocked them, cradling her head.

Her fists hurt, her arms ached; she found herself backing up, defending more than attacking. She wanted to just storm off, to go somewhere she could cry and scream and hit things with nobody looking at her, but she wasn't about to back down. "What about you and Miyagi-Do?"

"Will you just drop it? There's nothing with me and Miyagi-Do! I left their stupid group chat, okay? I don't want to fight." Robby dropped his hands and looked at her with a long sigh, like he was disappointed. Like he was sick of her.

"That's too bad. Because I do." Her kick caught him in the gut. The blow knocked him backward. Before he recovered, she transitioned and brought her foot up fast, catching him square in the side of his head. He fell heavily onto the mats, groaning softly. She looked around, her eyes blazing, face clenched like a fist. She wanted to make sure they all saw it. She had beaten him. She was better than him. She didn't need anyone to hold her hand or do her favors. When she saw the look in Kenny's eyes, her stomach turned over. His whole face was lit up, like he was watching something glorious, and she suddenly hated what that meant he saw her as.

After practice, she was glad Robby had to lock up, because it meant she could skip the shower, throw her street clothes on, and slip out the door while he was putting things away. She didn't say goodbye. When she looked at her phone, she saw that Silver had been telling the truth about talking to the All Valley Committee: the meeting was scheduled for the next day. "Fine," she said to nobody as she put the car in gear. "At least we'll get it over with."

***

The arena didn't feel like the same building where the tournament had taken place. It was too empty, too quiet. It seemed darker inside, somehow, even though the lights were on. Tory got there right as it was starting because she didn't want to wait outside with Sam and Daniel LaRusso. Sure enough, a quick look showed that there they already were, Sam wearing designer jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt that probably cost fifty dollars. It was easy to dress nice when your family had that kind of money. And Daniel, leaning against his chair, staring intently ahead. Neither of them looked at her as she walked up. Their faces flashed before her mind's eye, memories of the night of the tournament: the way he hugged her before their fight, the way he coached her between points, him being the first one there to lead her off the mat and take care of her.

Terry Silver saying, "Trust me. This ref will never end the match on a technicality."

Tory snorted. Of course not. Because he had paid him not to. It had been staring her in the face the whole time.

A woman with a clipboard opened the door. "LaRusso? Nichols? Come on in."

They sat down in a row across from the committee, with an empty chair between Tory and Daniel where Tory's sensei should have been sitting. It felt like all those school meetings with teachers all over again, with Tory having to explain that her mom wasn't well enough to come in, and her dad—well, he just didn't come into it, period.

They didn't stand on ceremony. One of the members of the committee launched right in, reading the facts of the situation for the minutes: "There have been certain concerns raised about the calls made on the night of the tournament. Although normally—" the way she drew the word out made Tory think there had been some bickering over it behind the scenes "—the call of the official at the tournament is final, the points in question changed the course of the final match of the tournament. Therefore, this hearing was recommended, to determine whether a rematch to decide the girls' champion should be held." Her voice became softer, and she made eye contact with Tory. "I understand it was Miss Nichols who made the request?" There was a question in her voice, a hesitation. Was it that they didn't think the victor would challenge the ruling or that they didn't think a Cobra Kai would? Just like everyone else, they had made up their minds about her before they even knew her. Tory glanced at Sam. She was used to that.

Tory nodded. "Yes. I'm... I'm pretty sure that I wasn't out of bounds when Sam hit me after the third point. It should have been two-two, and she should have won on the next point."

Another committee member leaned forward in his chair, which creaked under him. "Pretty sure or sure?"

Tory glanced at Sam again and then quickly looked away when she caught her looking at her. Her mouth suddenly felt dry. "All the way sure. Her strike pushed me back, and that's why I stepped out of bounds. I couldn't have been over the line when she hit me."

That led to whispers and murmuring all up and down the conference table. Tory heard Daniel say, "I knew it," and just for a second she regretted the whole thing. Of course he'd say that: his precious little Samantha couldn't possibly lose fairly to the evil Tory Nichols, could she?

That made her think about whether she wanted to say the other thing. She dropped her voice and looked away, her eyes seeking out the committee member who had spoken first. "And we all know I should have lost a point for the elbow to the face." It was like Sam's face was a magnet and drew Tory's gaze; she couldn't help it, and she found herself looking at her and then looking furiously away, the spell broken as soon as she saw the look in those blue eyes. "Even though it really was an accident," she added, more loudly.

"Do you agree, Miss LaRusso?"

"Maybe it was. Accidents happen. I don't know." Sam sounded genuinely unsure, which at least was better than if she completely blamed her for it.

"I think she means about the points," Daniel said, loud enough for Tory to hear.

"Oh. Well." Sam hesitated, and Tory felt the tug of that magnet again. She kept her eyes trained on the table with an effort.

When the silence dragged on, someone else on the committee who hadn't spoken yet said, "You can tell us what you really think, Sam." The use of her first name caught Tory by surprise, but it made sense: the LaRussos were like karate royalty in the Valley, of course some of the committee members would have known her growing up. "We know you're not making excuses so you can get a rematch. Just tell us what you really think."

Tory tried to stifle the instinctive snort that threatened to bubble up out of her. She must still have made a noise, because she saw Sam's head turn sharply towards her out of the corner of her eye. And that's when the magnet all but clicked, and Tory found herself looking at her again. Tory didn't get it. Why was Sam hesitating now? If it had been her, she would have been out there swinging for the fences, clawing for the chance to win what had been stolen from her. "What do you think?" Tory said, and for once it came out right: like she actually cared.

That seemed to catch both Sam and her dad off guard. Daniel looked at Sam, who looked up at him with her brow all wrinkled. Then she said, "She's right. That's what happened, both times. She wasn't over the line, and the elbow to the face should have been a point deduction."

There was a general releasing of breath and settling back in chairs, and more than a few whispers, but this time the ringing in Tory's ears kept her from hearing anything they said. This was it. There was no going back. A voice inside her, the voice that said to wrap the spiked bracelet around her knuckles and to break Demetri's arm, was screaming at her: she could still say something. If she walked back on what she'd said now, she would still be the champion.

No, Tory told that voice, staring at the table like it had a face, her face locked in a determined frown. She was going to be champion either way. She was going to beat Samantha LaRusso, and this time she was going to do it right.

"Competitors, please wait outside with your senseis—sensei. The committee will discuss the next steps and advise you of our decision."

After the door shut behind them, Tory fought down the desire to pace. She pretended to be interested in a trophy case filled with faded photographs of smiling kids her own age. She wondered how old they were and whether a karate tournament when they were teenagers was still the biggest moment of their lives.

"Hey." At the sound of Sam's voice, Tory turned and found her standing closer than she'd expected. Tory took an instinctive step back. "Sorry." Sam tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "I just wanted to say I really appreciate you doing this."

That made Tory tense up like she'd been bumped in the school hallway. How dare she thank her for it? Her ears got hot. "I'm not doing it for you, LaRusso. You don't have to thank me."

Her words weren't harsh, exactly, but Sam flinched anyway. For half a minute neither spoke. They stared at each other. It was a weird feeling, a funny crawling feeling under her ribcage, but Tory didn't feel the need to look away. It was like she and Sam had stared each other down so many times there was nothing to fear in eye contact. Finally, Sam cleared her throat. "Right," she muttered.

"Right," Tory echoed, and kicked herself for it, feeling silly.

"Thanks all the same." Sam stuck her hand out.

Tory surprised herself; she didn't even hesitate to take it. Sam's palm was soft, but she had calluses from karate, ones that mirrored Tory's. Pressed against each other, their hands were both opposites of each other and the same. Tory looked into Sam's face, searching for what she was feeling as she looked at her. Appreciation? Respect? Maybe even friendship?

Daniel's voice broke the moment. "They're calling us back in."

Tory and Sam both realized at the same time that they were still holding hands, and both sweaty hands dropped at the same time. "Right," Tory said, and then they both laughed awkwardly, because it was the third time they had said it. They sneaked glances at each other as they filed back inside, and Tory felt the same nervous energy coming off of Sam that she felt. It was dumb; they both knew the committee was going to agree to the rematch, and yet Tory felt like she had no idea what was going to happen next.

The woman who had spoken first, who Tory was now assuming was some sort of chair, stood up, and Tory, Sam, and Daniel remained standing, too. "The committee has come to the decision that there will be a rematch." She paused briefly, making sure everyone listened closely. "I will ask that all of you sign the paperwork agreeing to abide by the results of the rematch." She glanced around at the others with what looked like a bit of annoyance playing on her face. "And that means that, hopefully, this will be the final time the final match will be held until next year."

Sam and Tory exchanged a look and nodded. They might have felt a little bad about making all these people go to all this trouble, but Tory didn't regret it, and it looked like Sam didn't, either. "How about Saturday?" Tory said.

"I can do Saturday," Sam said, simple and firm.

The committee members looked at each other and muttered, but the chair said, "I think Saturday should work."

Daniel smiled and pulled the documents closer. "Well then, it's settled." He signed it and passed it to Sam. When she was done signing, she pushed it past her dad to Tory, and they made eye contact again as she took it. This time, Tory looked away quickly. She felt like everyone was watching. But as she quickly signed her name to the document, she wondered why it mattered to her. What did she think they saw? They had looked at each other so many times before. It was one of the first things Tory noticed about Sam: the way she looked you straight in the eye, whether she was angry at you or trying to play nice. After she signed, Tory noticed that Silver's name had already been on the document, signed in big, scratchy letters even before the rest of the form was filled in.

On their way out, Daniel called Tory's name, and she turned at the door of the arena. "Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say I think this is a really good thing you're doing. Things have been…" His face got that pained but kind of patient look on it that she had always envied; it was the kind of look her dad had never had when things were rough between them, the kind of look that means things are rough but we'll get through it. It was a look Sam probably got all the time.

Tory felt flustered. The more people told her what a good thing she was doing, the more it crawled under her skin. What kind of a piece of shit did they think she was that they acted this surprised that she was doing one crummy decent thing? "Whatever," she said, looking away, and hurried to her car.

***

When Tory got home, she saw that she had a bunch of new messages. She didn't know who had said something, but it looked like everyone knew. Even Devon Lee had sent her a message: "What's wrong with you? If I win something, I hold on to it."

"good for you" Tory sent back, and blocked her. She really didn't need that right now. She sighed as she started on dinner, and she was just putting the lasagna in the oven when Brandon wandered in to grab a snack.

"Dinner's almost ready," Tory said, automatically.

"Are you gonna win this time?" Brandon asked, pulling the package open.

Tory took a breath. Its unsteadiness surprised her. "Yeah. This time, I'm going to win."

Saturday morning, Tory went into her mom's room. "Come sit down with me," her mom said, gesturing her closer.

Tory crossed the room and sat down. When her mom first got sick, she had felt weird about being close to her, like if she touched her she would just crumble and blow away. Now, this felt like the closest thing to normal they had had in a long time. The blinds were shut, and the darkness smoothed away the lines of pain and dark spots on her mom's face. Her mom held her hand and smiled at her. "There won't be a crowd there this time," she told Tory.

"That's all right," Tory said. "I'm not doing it for them."

"If one of your friends records it, can you show me?" Her mom reached up to tuck one of Tory's bangs behind her ear.

A frown creased Tory's face. "Even if I lose?"

Tory's mom sighed. She was so tired and weak, even early in the morning. Her hand was like a leaf in the fall. "That's not what matters. Besides, in twenty years, who's going to remember who won or lost?"

"Daniel LaRusso built his whole career on it," Tory snorted, raising her eyebrows.

Her mom's laugh was as small and fragile as a bird. "Yeah, but you don't want to be like him, do you?"

Tory grinned lopsidedly. "I don't know, he's pretty rich...."

Her mom fumbled for a moment, her hand seeking, until Tory took her hand in hers. Her mom gave it a squeeze. "You've already won."

Tory felt the smile drop away from her face, replaced with a familiar frown of determination. "Not yet. But I will."

She thought she saw some pity in her mom's smile, but she didn't say anything else. Tory knew she knew her daughter too well; if she insisted, Tory would think she didn't believe she'd win. Instead, they sat like that in silence in the dark for a while, and then Tory got up to make breakfast. When she was ready, she brought her mom her tray and helped her sit up, and they sat together, Tory holding her plate in her lap as they ate in silence.

Tory was surprised to see Robby standing in her driveway when she came out of the house, his car parked beside the curb. "Hey," she said. She shook her head a bit, a line appearing between her eyebrows. "What are you doing here?"

"I just... wanted to come by and talk," he said.

She tried to laugh, like this was something nice, but that wasn't the kind of face he was making. He looked like he was about to tell her he'd run over her dog. "About what?" she asked, the words finding their way up past a knot in her stomach, like she didn't really want to know the answer.

Robby rocked on his heels and looked around. He didn't know what to do with his hands; he put them in his pockets and took them out again. "I never really wanted to try karate. It was kind of my dad's thing. But when Mr. LaRusso started teaching me...." He trailed off, like he expected her to snap something at him about having been with Miyagi-Do, but she didn't, and he wasn't sure where to go next. "I've burned a lot of bridges."

"We both have." Tory scoffed and tried to smirk, but her lips felt numb, and her face only wanted to frown.

Robby shut his eyes, his expression pained and frustrated—at himself, Tory realized, for not being able to get the words out. "I just... I know I could have been...." He closed his eyes.

Tory thought of Sam, always moving forward no matter how many people doubted her. She stepped towards him, feeling like a little girl just wanting reassurance, and said, "Why can't you see how important this is to me?" It came out hurt and bitter, ready for a fight.

Robby shook his head and stepped away from her, like there was something coming off of her like electricity, something that was dangerous to be too close to. Like he didn't want to feel about her the way he did. "I know. That's why I'm here instead of at the opening for the new dojo."

Tory's eyes went wide and she showed all her teeth as "What?" burst out of her. But of course Silver did. Because why would he let her have literally anything?

Robby's face hardened then; this was what he had been readying himself to say. His jaw bulged as he looked at her for the first time, his eyes hot and his mouth small and tight. "Sensei says when you win, you don't throw away that victory, no matter what anyone says."

"He schedules the opening for today and you take his side?" Tory's eyes narrowed and she could hear herself getting louder, indignation running through her like molten fire. "I'm not throwing anything! I need to prove to myself and to everyone that I can do this the right way."

"He's probably had it scheduled for weeks!" Robby's voice rose, too. "Have you thought about anyone other than yourself? Cobra Kai means everything to us! What's going to happen to Kenny if this is wearing his training ends?"

Tory's face softened, and she gasped when he mentioned how much Cobra Kai meant to them; it was the same with her. "Robby…" she started to say.

But then Robby just had to keep talking and ruin it all. "And what about Sensei? What will happen to him if he has to shut down Cobra Kai?"

The mention of Silver made her frown again, anger and resentment coming right back up. "You mean the guy with the Ferrari? I'm pretty sure he'll be okay."

Robby wouldn't look her in the eye. "I'm saying if there's no more Cobra Kai I'm not going to do Miyagi-Do, and things with my dad...."

And just like that, Tory felt like the earth had suddenly gone sideways like a Santa Monica earthquake. "You think I'm going to lose?"

Robby looked at her, just for a second, and his glance seared her. "I shouldn't have come," he said, his voice thick and fast, like he had to push the words out before his throat closed. He turned away and hurried to his car, his head bent, and Tory couldn't tell if he was mad or sad or both.

Part of her wanted to run after him, to tell him—but tell him what? That she wouldn't go through with the fight? She wasn't about to back out now. It was more than that it would be embarrassing, that too many people knew about it and were setting it up: she wanted this, she really *wanted* this. For years she had been setting aside what she wanted so that she could put other people first.

This time, for just a little while, she was going to set that aside and finally find out who she really was. This was it: either Cobra Kai taught her to win or it taught her the wrong way of thinking. The thought hit her that the two couldn't exist side by side; it wasn't victory if she couldn't respect herself afterwards. How could she call it a win if she lost more than she won? "I have to do this, Robby," she said. He was already getting into the car.

He looked back at her, his face icing over. "Not because of me?"

Tory shook her head. "No. For me."

"Hey! Is that Robby?" Brandon looked up from his phone as he came out of the house.

"Yes, and he's leaving," Tory said. There was no bite in her words, just a sigh. She turned to Brandon and shook her head at the car. "Doors are open."

***

There were just a few cars outside the arena this time; Cobra Kais and the students from Miyagi-Do, as well as probably some other kids from Eagle Fang or other places around the valley. Brandon had insisted on coming along, and when he got out with her, Tory heard Kyler call out, "Hey! Who's your new boyfriend? Isn't she kind of old for you, Little Man?"

"She's my sister, you idiot," Brandon shot back with all the fury of an elementary school kid who knows something you don't.

Tory laughed and headed for the arena's entrance, her gym bag over her shoulder. She was already in her gi, but she'd brought her street clothes for changing into afterwards. Without the full bracket to get through, she figured they'd be out in less than an hour. "Why don't you go sit with the LaRussos?" she said to Brandon as they walked into the building.

"Have you even heard of stranger danger?" Brandon asked, with similar energy he'd had for Kyler.

Tory rolled her eyes. "You know Sam. She's the girl from that video you've been watching like a hundred times a day."

Brandon snorted and explained, "No, you're Sam. She's Heather."

Tory crouched and widened her eyes at him, which he knew was one step before she got really snappy. "Okay, great," she said, with her best frigid sarcasm. "Why don't you go sit with Heather's family?"

Brandon didn't budge. "And how am I supposed to know who her family is?"

Tory gritted her teeth and blew her cheeks out in annoyance. "Her dad's the guy on the dumb karate car commercials!"

"You could have just said that!" Brandon stalked off, shaking his head like there were some people who will just never be reasonable.

To Tory's surprise, Devon Lee was standing in the lobby, looking at the trophy case. She looked like she was getting inspiration.

"What are you doing here?" Tory asked, furrowing her brow as she shifted the bag's weight.

Devon gave her an unimpressed look, her arms folded. "I just thought I'd come by and look at shitty mom photographs from the 80s on my summer break. It's the only thing that makes me feel alive." Her delivery was a perfect deadpan.

Tory scowled. "I mean, you're not a Cobra Kai or a Miyagi-Do, so what do you care? Eagle Fang isn't winning either way."

Devon cocked her head. "Yeah, and you think I'm going down with that sinking ship if it gets disbanded? No way. Any team left standing will be lucky to have me."

Tory snorted and put her free hand on her hip. "Yeah, you'd fit right in at Cobra Kai."

Devon stepped forward, squaring her shoulders. "What's that supposed to mean? You think I can't hang with you? It's the other way around. You've made it clear you've got no killer instinct. We wouldn't be here if you knew how to win."

Tory narrowed her eyes. "You think you know me?" She shook her head. "You've just proved you don't know the first thing about me."

Devon raised her eyebrows. "I know some people are afraid of winning. I've seen people like you dozens of times on the debate stage. You've got yourself convinced you're a loser. Now that you're champion, you don't know what to do with yourself. That's why we're here. I'm not like that. I know I'm the queen. I walk out there and take what's mine. If it was me, they'd have to cut that trophy out of my cold, dead hands. You're giving it back."

Tory leaned in closer to Devon, her nose wrinkled and lip curled. "Good for you. If you go to the right burger place, they'll even give you a crown." She turned away from Devon and stalked off, knowing she was walking with an extra strut in her step, showing her she didn't care, even though they both knew that the effort Tory put into it meant she did.

***

As Tory made her way through the halls, all the more empty and echoing for the harsh lighting, she imagined the mats and the stands and the circling judge. The lights in her face. That tightness in her muscles as she and Sam moved towards each other, striking, blocking, their bodies engaging and disengaging. She let out a breath. She'd been trying to push this thought away for the last few days, but here in the arena it was a hundred times harder. What if she did lose? What if she came all that way, got her hand on the prize, and threw it away?

No, she told herself. She had a trophy she didn't earn, which meant she didn't have shit. Even if she lost, she'd have one thing she didn't have yesterday: a fair call at the tournament. And her self-respect. Okay, maybe that was two things, but that second thing was a big ask anyway.

When Tory got into the locker room to put her gym bag away, she heard a familiar voice behind her. "Hey."

Who else would it have been? It wasn't like anyone else was fighting that day. Tory turned. "Hey."

Sam's blue eyes were as earnest as a sunrise, but underneath that, Tory could see the worry. Tory looked away as Sam said, "This is the last fight, right?"

"Until next year, assuming we don't kick each other's ass until then."

Sam tried a smile, but it didn't quite take. "That's a pretty big assumption."

Tory shut her locker. She turned to really look at Sam for the first time. A second passed, and then another, and neither of them had any words. Tory stood just looking into that sweet face, trying to figure out why she felt like she'd heard someone whisper her name in an empty room. She knew she must have looked weird, standing there with this shocked look on her face, eyes wide and mouth open. What was it that suddenly made anything she might say seem unbelievably dumb? Sam's eyes were looking right into her, and that same weird electric ice shot through Tory that she'd felt when her eyes met Sam's in the reflection on the window at the toy store. Tory realized her mouth was open, too, but she wasn't saying anything, she was just standing there with her hand stupidly on the locker like she'd forgotten what to do with her body.

Sam's lip trembled. "I... I guess I'd better get changed," she said.

"Uh-huh," Tory mumbled.

Sam shifted her weight from foot to foot. The moment went on forever. Sam started to say something, stopped herself, and then Tory tried, but nothing came out. They looked at each other like something was supposed to happen but neither of them dared to imagine what shape that would come in if it did. Sam was blushing, Tory realized, a flush that spread across her cheeks and forehead in patches. It was so dumb, so helplessly human, that it was all Tory could do to keep from... but she could find no end to that thought, so she stood there, bracing herself against the locker like it was the only thing keeping her from sliding off the face of the planet or at least the arena locker room.

Sam's mouth quirked off to one side. "And to do that, I think I'm going to have to take my clothes off. So you should probably...."

But Tory was already moving aside, shaking her head, her own blush feeling like it went from her hair all the way down into her gi. "I'll... see you out there, LaRusso."

As she walked away, Tory didn't turn around. She didn't have a clear sense of what would happen if she turned around. Maybe she would turn to stone. Maybe Sam would get trapped in the underworld forever. Maybe Tory had crammed too much for the Mythology section in class, but as she pushed open the door blindly and stepped out into the air of the hallway that was both cooled by a clanking air conditioning system and empty of Sam LaRusso, both of those things seemed within the realm of possibility. And in a few minutes, either way things went, something would be different between them forever. Maybe it already was, it just hadn't hatched, though the cracks were spreading into every corner of their lives. Tory couldn't glimpse what was behind that fragile eggshell, but she knew she wasn't afraid of it.

***

Tory knew the steps to the tournament. She had done this before. Check in, go where she was told, do a lot of waiting. Except this time there were no senseis to consult for last-minute advice and encouragement, no team to pump her up and let out pent-up tension with, no other matches to sit through. No music, no flair, just an official explaining that both competitors had asked for a rematch, the committee approved it on review, and that match would begin immediately with the following rules. Before she knew it, Tory was out on the mat, watching Sam get some last piece of advice from Daniel LaRusso before coming to face her across that short distance.

Tory took a deep breath. It felt like the first deep breath she had taken in a while. The huge room went from feeling like a dream to feeling hyper-real and back again. She remembered that wild feeling of drinking in every detail when she first got the trophy, of staring all around her with wide eyes like she was committing every little thing to memory, knowing that would be her moment forever.

Except it hadn't been. It hadn't even lasted an hour.

She remembered how the feeling had gotten to her. She saw herself getting angry, and she realized she didn't want that any more. She didn't want that anymore, because it made her a victim, and she wasn't the victim of anyone or anything. Not the judge, not Sensei Silver, and not even her own shitty life. Today, she would play by her own rules. As she bowed to Sam, Tory wanted to think it didn't matter who won, but it did. Because this wasn't about Sam as much as it was about Tory.

Tory had to beat Sam to make her own story mean something. She wasn't just beating Sam. She was winning. The person she had to defeat just happened to be Sam.

She heard the crowd cheering, but it wasn't for her. It was for Sam or it was for Cobra Kai. She looked for Robby in the audience: he was watching with a kind of nervous interest, like one stray cat watching another approach in an alley, not sure whether to fight or purr.

Tory set her jaw and turned back towards Sam as the judge called the match. She stared into Sam's face, as steely and determined as the cobra on her gi, and saw the same look radiating back from Sam's face, eyes like ice. No mercy didn't mean kicking your opponent when she was down. It meant going full force, no matter who you were fighting, and not letting anything get in the way of the win.

Sam moved towards her and Tory closed the distance, ready to throw the first strike. But Sam stopped and dropped into a crouch, and Tory realized that she wasn't just going for a defensive position, she was also taking the fight to Tory, because she knew Tory would come in fists swinging, and Sam was ready for her.

But Tory didn't know how to back down. She took her chance and rushed forward, driving the heel of her hand towards Sam's neck, but Sam blocked her and kicked out, knocking Tory's leg to the side. It was just a glancing blow, but it was enough to knock Tory off balance. She lost her footing, stumbled backwards and tripped over the edge of the mat, falling flat on her back.

"Out of bounds!" the referee called.

Tory did a kip-up, just to show Sam she wasn't intimidated. If Sam wanted to trip her out of bounds instead of going for a point, she'd take it. They circled each other for a moment, and then they were on their feet again, and this time Sam came at her hard, throwing everything she had into a series of attacks that made it impossible for Tory to defend. She backed up, ducked low, and tried to stay out of range, but Sam kept coming, and she landed a punch to Tory's midsection before she could block it.

"Point! LaRusso one, Nichols zero!"

Tory returned to her position. She smiled at Sam and nodded. She liked this. The underdog position was where she was most comfortable. She wouldn't have had it any other way.

"Ready?" As Tory nodded, she felt the familiar surge of energy and determination. She was ready to go again. "Fight!"

In the ring, Sam came at her with the same relentless ferocity that she had used in their first match, and Tory fought back, but now that she knew she could handle her blows, she also knew how to avoid them. Sam threw kicks and punches, but none of them hit home. Every time Sam swung, Tory dodged. Sam got in close and tried to grab her, but Tory twisted out of her grasp and landed a hard punch to Sam's undefended side.

Tory grinned through gritted teeth as she made her way back to her starting place. "One all!" Sam was being aggressive and Tory loved it. She realized some part of her had been afraid Sam would hold back after—whatever it was that had happened between them. Was happening? Tory pushed that thought right aside like Brandon with asparagus. Sam was showing her that she was going to respect Tory and meet her full force no matter what, and Tory cracked her neck as she settled into her fighting stance. This was just the sort of fight she lived every day of her life.

"Ready?" Tory didn't even nod or take her eyes off Sam. Anyone could see how ready she was. This was what she came for. "And fight!"

This time, Tory came out of the gate just as hard. She was relentless, teeth clenched, lips rolled back, eyes wild with fury. A flurry of punches put Sam on her back foot, utilizing every ounce of Miyagi-Do defense to deflect the strikes. Tory kicked once, spun on her heel, and lashed out again with her foot. She felt a satisfying impact in Sam's midsection, but Sam only stumbled back, not falling. When her eyes met Tory's again, they were narrowed, and she turned away with a snap of her hair as she stalked back to her position.

Tory hesitated. She never wanted Sam to give her that look again. It was the look she had given her on the stairs in the school, the look she had given her in the laser tag arena. It was just about the first look she had seen on her face, all that time ago when they first met at the beach. Was it worth it? If she won and Sam never talked to her again, what then? Was she only proving that she was who Sam thought she was: a cold-hearted, heartless bitch?

"Nichols two, LaRusso one! Ready? And fight!"

Tory's hands flew at Sam's arms and torso, but Sam was quick to block each attack. They exchanged several blows before Sam got past her guard. They were so close Tory could see the blue starburst patterns in her eyes. Sam was looking straight into Tory's, dots of sweat beading her forehead, loose hair already clinging to her skin. She slammed her elbow into Tory's shoulder, knocking her to the ground.

Tory was already getting back up, but the ref called, "Point!"

Tory rounded on the judge, leaning closer. Outrage boiled up her esophagus like bile and steam, coming out as a shout loud enough for the whole arena to hear. "Come on! Are you blind? That was a takedown, not a strike!"

The ref whirled on her and pointed a finger in her face, not backing down. "It was an elbow strike, Nichols. This is your warning: another outburst like that and I'm deducting a point. Two all! Next point wins!"

A shiver ran through Tory as she walked back to her place, and she rubbed her arm. It wasn't cold in here, but she felt goosebumps on her arm. Goosebumps and a weirdly light feeling. And only as she squared up with Sam and let a long breath out through her tightly pursed lips did Tory realize why. She knew she had pushed the ref; some subconscious part of her had needed to cross that line to know what would happen. This time, she had to prove to herself that this ref was going to call it fair.

Tory took another long, slow breath. The ref hadn't initiated the last bout yet. Maybe he was letting the crowd's emotions rise as the moment swelled. But Tory didn't see them, didn't even hear them, even though she knew there were people cheering. Maybe some of the Cobra Kais were even cheering her name. It didn't matter. This was it. If she lost here, 'Tory Nichols' would get taken off the list of champions. Sam might have gotten a second shot, but Tory never would. Her whole life, she'd never been given a second chance. Not by anyone. One fight in school and "You're expelled!" A single outburst in a restaurant and it was "Get out of here, Nichols, and don't bother coming back!"

Except she did get a second chance. Amanda had agreed to let her back to school. And it had been Sam who made the final call. Sam had given her that chance.

"Ready? Fight!"

Tory's mouth dried as she faced Sam again. Her hands and legs trembled from pent up emotions she couldn't have named, but there was enough anger and frustration in that mix to keep her upright and coming. She took two quick steps and jumped, aiming a kick at Sam, but Sam caught her leg and pushed her off.

Tory stumbled back, but she was still standing. And then Sam was coming at her again, but this time she was faster and more accurate, moving in with a combined series of strikes that kept Tory backing up. Sam was spinning, lashing out with every limb, and it was all Tory could do to put distance between them. Tory caught a flash of Sam's face, her hair flying: blue eyes wide, lips parted, white teeth flashing.

Tory didn't have Miyagi-Do defense. She remembered one of the first lessons Johnny Lawrence had taught her: the best defense is more offense. But how was she supposed to turn things around like this, when if she stopped focusing entirely on protecting herself it would all be over?

"No point!"

Tory didn't say anything. She only stood staring at Sam. She hadn't felt an impact. She looked down at herself, trying to imagine where the blow might have landed. Maybe they had touched, but it hadn't counted. "Out of bounds!"

Tory let out the breath she realized she had been holding. It came out shaky. In her mind, it was over. She'd lost the championship. The worst thing that could possibly happen to her had come true. It was like the knot that had been inside her chest since she saw Silver give that money to the other judge had burst up out of her and she could see it for the first time and start tugging on the ends to see where the strands would lead her.

But then Sam said something, and Tory's attention snapped back. "Come on." At first, Tory's ears registered annoyance in there, even anger, but then she took another look at Sam's face. There was no aggression there—okay, maybe impatience, but Tory was okay with that.

The judge's voice was tight. "Nichols, return to your position."

Tory bounced on the balls of her feet and breathed in and out several times. This was it. Win or lose. If she won, she would prove to herself that she deserved it, that she really was All Valley champion, just like Daniel LaRusso and his dumb car commercials. If she lost, she'd have no choice but to win next year. It would be her last shot. She wasn't about to end up like Johnny Lawrence. Not a chance. She wiped her nose on the back of her fist and raised her hands.

She didn't even hear the judge say 'fight.' She just saw Sam coming in, and then their eyes locked, and Tory knew neither of them was going to look away until it was over one way or the other. Tory led with a feint and a low leg strike. Sam was surprised, but it didn't matter; her feet knew what to do, and she caught it on her shin. Tory had known all along that this was how it was going to be. She had known that when she first saw Sam.

"No point! Keep fighting."

The crowd exploded with noise, and for a split second, Tory saw a look come into Sam's face: it was shock. Disbelief. And then she moved like lightning, throwing kicks and punches that left Tory dodging and covering up, blocking some and backing away from others she knew she couldn't stop. But Tory had seen these before; she had fought both Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang enough to recognize these combinations. She just had to get one one good block and a counter, something to turn the tide, something to get the momentum on her side for once.

And then Sam broke that eye contact Tory had been sure they would have until the end, coming in for a back fist. Tory shot in with her hand open, catching Sam's wrist. They were too close to miss, and as soon as their hands connected, Tory threw all her weight against Sam's hip, yanking Sam forward, slamming her back against the mat and pinning her there.

She held her there a second with her weight, both just straining against each other, knowing the first to break that grip would be vulnerable to the strike that would end it all. They were both panting hard, dripping, hair slick with sweat.

"No point. Keep fighting!" The ref's voice cut through the chaos of the crowd.

Tory was suddenly aware of the air conditioner in the arena, how cool it felt on her sweaty skin. She was aware of Sam's hand clutching Tory's gi, the other on her side, not executing any maneuver but just holding her off, trying to keep her from getting a hit on her again. Tory could have just held her; she saw at once that the choice was hers. If this went on another second or two, the judge would separate them and get them on their feet again. She would have another shot.

But she was right here, and Sam was right there, and all she needed was one more hit. And Tory went for it: she let go of Sam's wrist and brought her elbow down. And as she did, Sam's hand, already clenched into a fist, came up hard under Tory's ribs, knocking the wind out of her with a rush.

Sam's eyes flew wide open and she lay there stunned.

Tory let go of her. "You got me," she whispered with the last of the air in her burning lungs. Painfully, she rolled over onto her back, wincing, ears ringing, her forearm pressed against the bottom of her ribs, trying to force air back into herself as she gasped. She'd gotten the wind knocked out of her before, so on some level she knew it would come back in a second, but that level wasn't talking to the part of her made up of sheer panic at the feeling that she was straining at something that she needed in order to survive that just wouldn't come.

From miles away, a voice shouted, "Point. Winner: Nichols."

Her ears were still ringing. Tory smiled grimly, teeth clenched, despite the pain she was in, her feet tucked up against her with her legs bent, toes curled down against the cool mat like she could force air back into herself if only she had a good enough anchor point. Whatever, she thought, as she looked up into the rafters of the arena's high ceiling, half blinded by the harsh lights. Her ears would clear and she'd hear the real result soon enough. She could let herself live in that fantasy just for a little while. Reality would come back as it always did, but it would be nice while it lasted. She remembered Sam correcting her typo when she was trying to be mean, the feel of Sam's hair sliding through her fingers at the toy store, the way Sam had looked leaning into her car, touching her books, almost like she was about to get in, like they might be going to Tory's house to study....

A soft, warm hand with calluses from training closed around hers, and Tory felt herself lifted up bodily, because it took her a second to help out and yank herself up. "Are you okay?" Sam's face was really close to hers. Like, really close. Her lips were pursed and her eyebrows were folded up high with worry they could probably see in the back seats—not that there were enough people there that time to see it.

Tory winced and shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment against the pain, but then they flew open again, because she knew that if she shut them too tight and too long she might wake up. But Sam was still there. "Here, let me do this thing my dad showed me." Tory didn't fight as Sam led her away, and even though there was a knot of people following them, nobody stopped them as Sam shouldered past the curtain and out the double doors into the hallway.

They were alone. Tory tried to let out a groan but the breath still wasn't there. And then Sam's hand was against her skin, so warm, and was it inside her gi, and maybe it was the thing she was doing against Tory's sternum and maybe it was something else but with a long gasp the likes of which Tory had only heard people whose hearts stopped in movies make Tory had air again and she was leaning on Sam, gasping, trying to convince her body to breathe out, too, now that it was getting air again, and then it all started right back up and she took several deep lungfuls of air.

When Tory raised her head, pulling wet hair out of her face with a shaking hand, Sam gave her a shaky smile, her eyes still wide. "Better?"

"Yeah." Tory coughed and wheezed another breath into herself. "What did you do?" She remembered Sam's hand making some sort of circle motion, and the warm of her forearm pressing against her, and—

"I think Mr. Miyagi taught it to my dad," Sam said. She was blushing. They were both flushed from the fight, but that wasn't the reason either of them was blushing quite that hard. "If you're going to live, we'd better go get you that trophy before they send a search party."

"What?" Tory gasped. "But—you won. You hit me."

Sam shook her head, her brow furrowing. "No. You got me first."

"But... But... you...." Tory sputtered, but she couldn't get anything out for a good few seconds. Sam must have known Tory was convinced she won. She knew, but she didn't even hesitate. A sudden flash of cold panic shot through her, heaving out from her chest straight to her fingertips and toes. Tory searched Sam's face: was she letting her win? No. She breathed again. There was nothing but earnestness in her eyes. Sam was still looking at her, her mouth open like she'd forgotten it that way, looking at her like she was still afraid Tory would collapse if she moved so much as an inch away. In that moment, Tory believed she might. And Sam was so close....

Daniel LaRusso pushed through the doors with a bang. "Tory! Are you all right? I looked like you got the breath knocked out of you!"

"I'm fine, Mr. LaRusso," Tory gasped, though her voice didn't sound fine. She sounded like she smoked two packs a day.

"Are you sure?" He hesitated, cocking his head, and his eyebrows creased up the same way Sam's did.

"I think she's fine, Dad," Sam said. It was probably still that ringing in her ears, because Tory thought she heard some annoyance in her voice, like she thought he had interrupted something.

Daniel held up both hands and backed away, chuckling theatrically. "All right, all right. I'll go keep the trophy warm."

When the door shut behind him, Sam looked at Tory, and Tory tried for a more convincing smile, with mixed results. "My dad has the best timing," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

Tory frowned at her, her face puckering up as she looked long at Sam, searching her face.

"We'd better go get you your trophy, huh?" Sam said, with an audible smile and a nervous flash of her eyes over her shoulder. Like it was a question. Like there was a second option.

Before Tory even let herself think about what that second option might have been—her imagination was all too ready with some possibilities—she nodded weakly. The way her bruises were already starting to ache and with her breath still wheezing, it was probably best not to drag it out. She could go collapse onto the backseat of her car among the protein bar wrappers and old quizzes when it was over.

"Yeah, I don't want to know what my dad meant by keeping it warm, either." Sam forced a laugh.

As they came back through the double doors, Tory straightened out with a long breath to push her lungs back out against her ribs where they belonged. It hurt, but it was a good hurt. They walked together to the ring, and the judge announced the winner.

And it was her. Tory Nichols was All Valley Under Eighteen Champion.

Sam gave her a proper grin and nudged her with her elbow. "Next year, right?"

Tory whimpered at the nudge to her sore ribs, but she couldn't stop herself smiling. "Next year."

When the official held out the trophy and announced, "Winner of the All Valley Under Eighteen Tournament and your reigning champion, Tory Nichols of Cobra Kai!" Tory stepped forward, but didn't reach for the trophy.

"You got that wrong," she said.

Her voice was still wavering, because he stepped closer and bent in. "What was that?"

Tory coughed. "I said you got that wrong," she said, louder, her voice clear and firm. "Not of Cobra Kai. Just Tory Nichols."

The announcer stammered into the microphone a moment, but went with it. "Uh, your winner, Tory Nichols!"

Tory wasn't looking into the stands to see Robby's reaction. Or even Sam's. She was going breath by breath, holding the trophy in both hands, looking around herself at the arena with her eyes wide, like she was drinking in the moment to remember forever.

***

Terry Silver stood with his back to Robby in the newly opened Cobra Kai dojo. "I know. That's why I signed off on the fight."

Robby's voice was tight; he wanted to believe, to trust, but it was coming hard. "What do you mean, you knew?"

Silver's smile grew even wider, curling up at the corners like smoke from a fire that was almost out of control. "Nichols isn't Cobra Kai material. I okayed the fight because, whether she won or lost, I was always going to throw her out of the dojo. She just saved me the hassle."

Robby's brow furrowed and he shook his head like he was trying to convince Silver something that should have been obvious. "But she won," he said, though he sounded unsure, like it should have mattered but it might not. Not if Silver said it didn't. "That means there's no more Cobra Kai."

Silver's eyebrows crept up his forehead, and until they reached their peak that was all the answer he gave. Then, he said, unhurried, "You can read, right, Robby?"

Robby's confusion only deepened on his face. "Yes, Sensei."

Without needing to look, Silver pointed at the wall. "What does that say right there?"

Robby's voice hardened as he spoke. "Cobra Kai never dies." He was starting to understand.

Silver's smile grew wider still, like he could unhinge his jaw. "That's right." His voice was that smoke now, and there was a flash of the flame in his usually cold eyes. "Cobra Kai never dies."

Chapter Text

Tory took her phone out of her pocket just enough to look at the notifications. Nothing. For weeks, she felt like she'd been putting off answering Robby. This was even worse. He hadn't sent her a thing since the tournament. The only thing she'd gotten in the group chat was a link to a Steel Panther music video from Stingray. She imagined someone having to text him to let him know there was a new group chat without Tory in it—and without Stingray in it, up to that point. It had happened. Stingray had more friends than she did. She let the phone fall back into her pocket and took a step forward.

Tory knew that if she stopped to think she would talk herself out of it. She looked at the sliding door. She didn't know if she was supposed to knock or yell or what. There wasn't a doorbell she could see after looking around for a bit. Finally, feeling unbelievably stupid, she called out in a hesitant voice, "Hello?"

She was just getting tired of nothing happening when she heard soft footsteps behind the door. Of course it had to be Sam who slid the door open.

Tory found herself suddenly very interested in her shoes. "Hey. Is your dad around?"
Sam rubbed her arm and glanced off to the side. "Oh. You're looking for my dad?"

Tory's head snapped up. "No! I mean... yeah. I mean hi. How are you?"

"Fine." Sam looked like she was trying to decide what she should be looking at, like she was wondering what this would look like to someone else.

Tory cleared her throat. "Well, anyway, I wanted to ask him about something..."

Sam's eyebrows shot up. "What is it?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Tory said, but Sam wasn't going for it. She was looking at Tory like she was actually interested, and Tory was still having to get used to that. "Or, I mean, I was just thinking... I left Cobra Kai..."

When Tory trailed off and didn't say anything else, Sam nodded, sounding just slightly impatient. "I know. I was there." She tucked some hair behind her ear.

The quicker she got it out the less time she would be suffering, so Tory got it out quickly. "I don't have a place to practice. My mom doesn't want me doing it around the house because she thinks Brandon's going to copy me and end up breaking something or hurting himself or both, and she's probably right, considering he keeps trying to ambush spin kick me since I let him come to the tournament."

Sam cracked a smile at that. Tory felt something loosen in her belly and let out a feeling like hot coffee on a cold day. Normally, she would have cringed at that, telling herself that she'd be thinking about rainbows or fairies next, but right then she didn't feel like it. She kind of wanted to make Sam smile again. Maybe she could even get a laugh out of her. "The only reason my entire left side isn't covered in bruises is because he's got such a bad sense of balance and keeps falling over when he tries." Tory let herself smile at that, except now Sam was frowning, and Tory held out her hands. "No, he's fine, he's a little kid, they're made out of rubber. Plus I've been teaching him how to fall. So it's okay."

"Okay...." Sam said, but she still sounded skeptical. "But he didn't hurt you?"

Tory was suddenly speechless. Since when was Sam worrying about her? She ran a hand through her hair and shifted her weight. They were still standing where they'd been when Sam opened the door. "But I don't have anywhere to train. I was thinking about coming here, maybe working out when there's no one else here, or whatever. It's fine, I'm not asking for any favors, I just thought maybe if your dad was here I'd ask him about it." She wiped her hands on her hips. She should have just asked Sam for her dad's number on socials.

"It's fine." Sam looked down at the floor and took a step back. "I'm the only one here right now. Do you want to come in? I was just practicing some routines...." She trailed off.

Tory stepped inside. "Like the skills from the tournament?" The door to the back was open, and she made her way through the building towards the deck.

Sam rubbed her arm. "Not so much that as some of the things that slipped by me during the fights."

Tory stopped in the doorway and looked back at Sam. She was standing with her shoulders slumped and not looking at her. "You know, it's not like you lost twice. You should have won the first fight."

"If I'd won the first time, I'd have the trophy." Sam didn't sound angry, just sad and disappointed. Tory knew that voice. She heard it in her head every day.

Tory folded her arms. "That's bullshit. We both know what happened wasn't fair or right. What, do you expect to be so much better than everyone else that you win even when the odds are stacked against you? Sometimes, you have to accept that you never had a chance!" She shut her mouth with a snap. Of course she had to go and raise her voice not five minutes after seeing Sam again, and right after Sam let her into the dojo.

Sam sighed and stepped closer. "You're right." Her eyes flashed up and Tory realized that, since Sam had started looking away, Tory had been looking right at her. Suddenly she wasn't able to look away. Sam kept going. "I have a feeling we're going to be up against each other in the finals next year, too."

"That's assuming Devon doesn't have us assassinated," Tory said. This time, Sam did smile.

Tory walked out onto the deck and Sam followed her. It felt a bit like Sam was showing her her house. "Do you think your dad would show me some of his techniques? You know, show me how to 'kick the competition?'" She imitated the front kick Daniel did in his commercials.

Sam laughed this time. "You know about that?"

"I think everyone in the valley with a TV knows about it."

Sam circled around Tory. "You know, if you want to learn some Miyagi-Do, you don't have to ask my dad."

Tory felt something in her stomach give a little twitch. It wasn't a flutter, but it made sense that any butterflies in her belly would be the kind that were pinned to a corkboard, and even that much movement qualified as a scientific miracle. "What do you mean?"

Sam raised her eyebrows and quirked her mouth off to one side. "I mean," she said, visibly humoring Tory by spelling it out, "you could get some lessons from his number one pupil." She pulled her hair back with a tie and got low into a fighting stance.

Tory folded her arms and lifted her chin. "Oh? Is Hawk around?" And, as usual, Tory said exactly the wrong thing. As it turned out, she was terrible at teasing, and she didn't even want to qualify that as having been an attempt at flirting.

Sam pressed her lips together and straightened. "No, he's not, and his name is Eli."

Tory sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "I meant, if you've got something you wanted to show me, that might be..." She trailed off. Anything she said would sound dumb now. "...fun."

Sam stared at her for a moment, and Tory wondered if she was going to make some snarky comment or just laugh at her, but then Sam's face softened into a smile. "All right. Now, my dad would probably have you wax a car or paint a fence, but this Sensei LaRusso says we can start with—"

Tory couldn't help laughing. "Wait, hold up. Sensei LaRusso?"

Sam pursed her lips and folded her arms, cocking her hip out. "Sensei means teacher. I'm teaching you, aren't I?"

"Okay, okay, Sensei LaRusso," Tory said, holding up her hands placatingly. "Teach me that crane kick. I think I can still feel your foot in my sinuses."

Sam rolled her eyes and visibly hid a smile. "I was thinking we would start with some basics."

"Okay, okay," Tory said. She was still smiling, but now she felt more like she was grinning. "So, how do I stand?" She was looking directly into Sam's eyes. When it came to karate, she was on solid ground, and that made her feel a little less like she was in enemy territory.

"Like this." Sam stepped closer and put her hand on Tory's shoulder. "You have to be in the proper stance before you can do anything else. My dad says get as low as you think you can, and then go a little lower."

"Okay," Tory said, trying not to let her voice waver. The warmth of Sam's hand on her shoulder was making it hard to concentrate. "So what's that look like? Are we doing the limbo?"

"No. Like this." Sam stepped back and got into a low stance, feet shoulder-width apart, one foot in front of the other.

Tory copied her. It felt a bit strange, but not uncomfortable, lower than she was used to with her feet farther apart. "Okay, now what?"

"Now we practice." Sam shifted her weight and turned to the side. "See if you can mirror my movements. Watch my eyes, and whatever you do, don't break eye contact."

Tory knew exactly what Sam's eyes looked like. They swam up from her imagination as she brushed her teeth or made dinner or just zoned out at work, their bright blue gleam looking back at her from her bathroom mirror or the stained kitchen tile or the windows of a stranger's house. Looking into them in person now as Sam turned and shifted her weight again, it was like she'd been working a long day imagining what it would be like to get home, and she'd just pulled up to her house. It was almost effortless to follow Sam's movements, but it was hard to keep looking at her. Every time she looked away to follow Sam's hands or feet and then looked back into her eyes, Tory felt a jolt in her stomach. She tried to focus on following Sam's movements, but it was difficult with her body so aware of Sam's.

Sam moved with deliberate slowness, shifting her weight from foot to foot, flowing through motions that spread up through her legs and hips and translated into the unending movement of her arms and hands. Tory knew what she was experiencing because she experienced it a moment later; their bodies were in sync, even their breathing matching. Sam did a slow spin, and Tory matched her, even though they had to break eye contact to do it. And as Tory came around, rising up out of a low crouch balancing on her hind foot, her eyes sought Sam's, and Sam's met hers, having done the same. It was all Tory could do not to smile. Sam's face was serene, though Tory thought she caught the flicker of a smile in the corner of her lips. And then they were both stepping closer, circling, their eyes locked as their hands swirled by each other, and Tory could feel the wind of Sam's movements on the hairs on her arms.

After a few minutes, Sam straightened and stepped back. "Okay, that's enough for now."

Tory let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "What's next?"

Sam broke into a small smile. "I think we'd better call it a day," she said. "But I'll see you tomorrow, and we'll work on something else."

It was only when Tory turned on her car that she noticed the time. It had been almost an hour since she and Sam had started... it didn't feel right calling it training. They hadn't even made contact. And yet Tory felt it in her whole body, and when she thought back to it, a warm flush crept from her belly to every bit of her.

The next day, Tory showed up at the dojo bright and early, both of which was completely unlike her. She had woken up early, unable to sleep, and had lain in bed for a while before getting up and getting dressed. She was wearing a loose t-shirt and sweatpants, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. For a moment as she stood at the door, she kicked herself for being an idiot: they hadn't even talked about a time to meet. What made her think Sam wanted to be there at eight in the morning?

But then the door slid aside, and Sam was standing there, already in her gi, her hair also in a ponytail. "I thought you might be here," Sam said with a smile that showed her teeth and crinkled the corners of her eyes. "Come on in."

Tory stepped inside, feeling a little shy. It was still strange to think of this place as friendly territory. "So what are we doing today?"

"Today we're going to work on some more basics," Sam said as she sat down on the mat in the middle of the room. "I want to show you a breathing and meditation exercise Mr. Miyagi taught me when I was really little."

Tory hesitated. She knew what Mr. Miyagi meant to the LaRussos. She wanted to ask if this was something all Miyagi-Do karatekas learned, but she didn't know which answer she wanted. Hesitating, she slid off her shoes and moved to sit in front of Sam.

When Sam saw where Tory sat, she scooted closer, then stretched her shoulders and rolled her neck. "Okay, first, I want you to take a deep breath in through your nose." Tory closed her eyes and did as she was told. "And now let it out through your mouth." Tory let the breath out slowly. "Good. Now, I want you to close your eyes and clear your mind."

Tory took another deep breath and tried not to think about the implication that Sam had been watching her breathing. Clearing her mind was harder than it sounded. She tried to focus on her breathing, but her mind kept wandering. She thought about the tournament and her fight with Sam. She thought about her mom and Brandon and the dojo. She thought about Sam, sitting across from her with her eyes closed, looking so peaceful. Sam probably wasn't thinking about her or their fight or that moment in the store with Tory braiding her hair. She was probably thinking about nothing at all, completely unbothered that the other one was sitting almost close enough to touch, close enough to smell her shampoo and maybe even her breath when she was exhaling. And then she reminded herself that was what she was supposed to be thinking about: nothing. She took another deep breath and let it out slowly, and this time when she opened her eyes, Sam was watching her with what was a surprisingly impish smirk on her face.

"Good," Sam said softly, the expression quickly vanishing into warm serenity again. "Now, I want you to imagine a place that makes you feel happy and safe. It can be anywhere you want. It doesn't have to be real."

Tory closed her eyes again. For a moment, she wondered if she would end up thinking about Sam and moments at school or the toy store or the arena, but the thought that filled her mind when she let it was the ocean. Her family used to go down to the public beach sometimes before her mom got sick. It hadn't been often, since her mom had always been working after her dad left, but the memories stayed with her long after the sensations faded. Tory loved the smell of salt in the air and the sound of waves crashing against the shore. She tilted her face back and imagined the way the sun felt on her skin, and she felt the cold of the water around her ankles, lifting her up as she plunged inside. Tory felt herself smiling.

"Good," Sam said again. "Now, I want you to stay there for a while and just relax. Let your mind wander. Don't try to think about anything in particular. Just let your thoughts come and go as they please."

Tory did as she was told, and soon enough she felt her body start to relax. She could feel the tension leaving her muscles, and she let her head fall forward until her chin was resting on her chest. She could feel herself starting to drift, and she let herself go, letting her mind wander where it would. Tory knew why it wasn't Sam she thought about for her safe place: the beach felt uncomplicated and simple and safe. Things with Sam were anything but. There was that nice, weird, buzzy feeling in her head when she thought about her, but there was so much else. She thought about the tournament again and what Sam had said about them meeting in the finals next year. She wondered if she would be able to beat Sam then. She didn't get that familiar tightness in her chest when she thought about it. Maybe it was the meditation or maybe it was just having finally proven herself to everyone, including herself, at the tournament, but Tory felt actually excited for the next match and the chance to go up against Sam again in the next tournament. It gave her something to work towards, not to mention she was genuinely curious what the result the next time would be.

But Tory's mind didn't stay on karate for long. She felt too relaxed, too at peace. Karate, like life, had always been filed under 'fighting' in her mind: in both, one person always came out on top, and Tory had done everything she could to be that person. She thought about what it would be like to kiss Sam, and she felt a warmth spreading through her body that had nothing to do with the memory of sun on her skin at the beach. She let her mind linger there for a while before she forced herself to try to think about nothing again. She tried to focus on just her breathing, the way her chest expanded as she filled her lungs, the way her back and shoulders tingled with release as she breathed out through her mouth. She let her mind drift. Her whole body slowly, almost reluctantly unclenched. For once, all that was expected of her was to sit and breathe.

Tory woke up with a start, not knowing how long she'd been out. She must have dozed off. Sam was still sitting across from her, her eyes closed, looking just as serene as she had when Tory had first sat down. Tory felt disoriented and a little embarrassed. She must have looked like an idiot, falling asleep while they were meditating. She hoped Sam hadn't noticed, but something about the curve of Sam's lips made Tory think she was trying not to laugh. She wondered if she'd breathed differently. With a jolt, she hoped she didn't snore.

Sam opened her eyes. "Good. I think you got pretty relaxed, there."

"I don't see what this has to do with karate," Tory said, feeling self-conscious.

"Well, it doesn't have to," Sam said with a shrug. "But it can help. A lot of karate is about being in the moment and being aware of your surroundings and your own body. If you can learn to be mindful of your thoughts and focus your mind, it'll help you in karate and in life."

Tory thought about what Sam said for a moment. Normally, the idea of someone telling her she needed help in life would have had her lashing out, but the way Sam said it made it sound like 'you' wasn't just Tory. Tory wondered how meditation had helped Sam. In order for Tory to come back to school, she'd needed Sam's permission. Tory wondered if meditation had helped Sam through her fear. Her fear of Tory. Tory's eyes moved involuntarily towards Sam's forearm, which was covered by the gi.

Before Tory snapped her eyes away, Sam noticed. She stiffened and touched her arm self-consciously. A blush crept up her cheeks. "Maybe we should get started on some kata," she said, standing up and moving to the other side of the room.

Tory followed, flustered and not making eye contact. She wasn't sure what had just happened, but she knew it meant something.

They started with some basic kata, and then Sam showed her a few more breathing exercises. Tory was surprised at how quickly the time passed. She felt more relaxed than she had in months, maybe even years. When they were done, Sam walked her to the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Sam said with a smile.

"Yeah," Tory said, smiling back. "See you tomorrow."

The next day, as they were stretching in the backyard, Tory asked, "Have you told your dad you're practicing with me?"

"No, he thinks I'm just working late at the office," Sam said. Tory felt her face redden, and Sam blushed, too, and laughed awkwardly. "Of course I told him. He said he knew it must be something if I was getting up before 10 in the summer. He told me he'd narrowed it down to karate or drugs."

"Right. You and drugs," said Tory. She smiled, though she also felt a wince in her forehead that made her whole body tense for a moment. Of course in the LaRusso household that would be a punchline, something so impossible to imagine they'd joke around with it. Tory's mom never joked about something like that; she'd just get a worried look and tell her—sadly, and pretty much without hope—that she could tell her anything.

"I'm not such a nice girl," said Sam, wiggling her shoulders and lifting her eyebrows. "I drink."

"Oh, right, my bad," said Tory, lifting her chin and widening her eyes at Sam. "I guess that puts you on even footing with an edgy twelve-year-old."

Sam gave her a look. "Today, we're going to start with one of my dad's favorite exercises: running."

Tory raised her eyebrows. "Running?"

Sam moved to the door and slid it open. "Stamina, cardio, breathing, and you can do it anywhere."

"Anywhere, huh?" asked Tory, glancing down the street at the end of the driveway. This street didn't look all that safe to Tory; she recognized too many of the same elements from around her home: graffiti, broken windows, dead lawns, check cashing shops, military recruiters, and liquor stores. "Does that mean whoever gets kidnapped first wins by default?"

"It's not that bad of a neighborhood. And it's not about winning," Sam said, shaking her head with a laugh. "It's just about rhythm and flow. That means you can't stop in any one place for too long." She started off, and Tory joined her. They started slow, Tory running just behind and to the side of Sam, watching her ponytail swish back and forth with every step. After the first block Sam picked up the pace, and Tory matched her, keeping her breathing even and her stride long. They ran for a while in silence.

The only sound was their breathing and the soft thud of their sneakers on the pavement. There were boarded-up storefronts and litter on the sidewalks, but it was also quiet and there were trees lining the streets. The houses they passed were small and close together, but they all had gardens in the front, and some of them even had flowers blooming. Tory found herself feeling strangely at peace.

Sam turned down a side street, and Tory followed. They ran for a few more minutes before Sam called out, "Okay, we're going to do a sprint."

Tory groaned. "A sprint?"

"Yes," said Sam with a grin. "You can do it."

She took off, and Tory followed, pushing herself to keep up. They ran for a block before Sam called out again, "Okay, slow down."

Tory slowed to a jog, then a walk, and finally came to a stop, bent over with her hands on her knees. She tried to force herself to consciously breathe slowly, standing up and putting her hands on her head as she arched her back and walked to stretch her legs.

Sam turned around, running in place. "You gotta keep moving. If you stop, your muscles are going to start seizing up. Also, kidnapping. Ready to run again?"

"Anything you can do, I can do," Tory said, though she didn't sound so sure.

"Great," said Sam. "Let's go."

They ran for a while longer, and Tory was surprised at how good she felt. She wasn't used to running, but it was invigorating, and she felt like she could keep going all day. They finally made their way back to Sam's house, and Tory was panting and sweating by the time they got there. Sam's dad was in the driveway, washing his car.

"Hey, girls," Daniel said, smiling widely. "You thirsty?" He pointed the water hose at them.

"Don't you dare," giggled Sam, holding up her hands as though she could ward off the threatened water stream.

Tory grinned at Sam's reaction. She was used to Sam looking on top of things, and it was refreshing to see her squirm for a change.

"I'm going to take a shower," Sam said, walking past her dad with quick steps like she wanted to put herself between him and the house to ward off any squirting attempts. "I'll see you later."

"See you," Tory said, waving as Sam went into the house. And then she realized Sam had left her outside with her dad. For a wild moment, Tory wondered if she could also use the excuse of going in to shower—the Miyagi-Dos all practiced here, so they must have had more than one shower head, right? Or did they just go home sweaty and shower there?

Too late. "So, Tory," Daniel said, putting down the water hose and splashing a sponge in a bucket of water, "how's the practice going?"

"It's good," Tory said, feeling a little awkward. She wasn't used to talking to parents, especially not the parent of someone she was training with. "I'm learning a lot."

"Good," Daniel said with a smile. "I'm glad to hear it." He paused. "I was sorry about what happened between you and Sam, and I'm glad you're getting along better."

"Yeah," Tory said, looking down at her feet. Were they getting along? They were seeing each other every day, spending hours together, getting sweaty, making jokes, locking eyes.... She found herself suddenly feeling even more awkward that she was talking to Sam's dad. She shifted from foot to foot. "You don't mind Sam spending time with... someone like me?"

"What does that mean, 'like you?' What do you think people see when they look at you?" Daniel stopped scrubbing the hood of the car in perfect circles and tossed the sponge back into the bucket before he turned to Tory, his face earnest. "Someone who's been dealt a difficult hand in life, but who's fighting through it? That's what I see. I see a girl who's smart and determined and has a lot of potential. I see a girl who's going to be great one day and maybe even start her own dojo, if that's the path she chooses."

Tory swallowed hard. No one had ever talked to her like that before. It wasn't like the praise Sensei Kreese or Silver gave her, praise that sounded more like a performance evaluation. She wasn't sure she even knew the person Daniel was talking about. "Thank you," she said, looking down at her feet again.

"You're welcome," Daniel said. He paused. "I see a lot of myself in you, Tory."

Tory looked up at him, surprised. "You do?"

Daniel nodded. "I was a lot like you when I was your age," he said. "I had a tough upbringing, too. My mom raised me by herself, and she did her best but things weren't always easy. I didn't have a lot of friends."

"I have friends!" Tory shot back. She felt hot needles stinging her cheeks and hands. What if the other Cobra Kais never talked to her again? Suddenly she wished senior year would never come and the summer would go on forever. The thought of walking back through those doors into their glares and perhaps even ambushes made her stomach do flips.

Daniel smiled and spread his hands. "I didn't have much, but I had Mr. Miyagi, and I had karate. It gave me something to focus on, something to strive for. It helped me stay out of trouble. I think it can do the same for you."

"I'm not some troubled kid who needs some sort of after-school program to keep her off the streets," Tory said. She didn't know why she was getting defensive, but she couldn't help it.

"I didn't say that," Daniel said calmly. "I just think karate can help you, that's all. It helped me."

Tory didn't get it. Karate had helped her; it had given her self-confidence. Nobody messed with her. "I don't need help," she said. She could feel her face getting red, and she kicked herself for it.

"Everyone needs help sometimes," Daniel said. "Not even Mr. Miyagi could take on the whole world. You know, I think he needed me almost as much as I needed him. That's something I only saw after he was gone."

Tory looked away, not knowing what to say.

"Look, I'm not trying to tell you what to do," Daniel said. "I just want you to know that you're always welcome here."

Tory looked at the bucket and then back at him. "You're not going to make me clean your car, are you?"

"Why? Do you want to?" Daniel laughed when he saw her reaction. "No, no, I think Sam and you are doing just fine." Daniel bent down to pick up the sponge again, squeezing it out and shaking it as he reflected, "You know, when I first started teaching, I thought everyone would respond to the same way Mr. Miyagi taught me. Boy, was I wrong. You should have seen Demitri when I asked him to paint the fence—or Anthony when I asked him to wash bird shit off the cars. I don't think he's ever done a chore that didn't involve tapping on a screen, at least not without me standing there making sure he did it. You'd better believe I thought I'd made the biggest mistake ever opening up the dojo again, and Amanda thought so, too."

Tory laughed. Sam's dad was funny, in a dorky sort of way.

As Daniel started washing off the car's windshield, he explained, "But I came to realize that Mr. Miyagi didn't teach me the way he did because that was the way he taught, he did it because that was the way I learned."

When he didn't go on, Tory realized she was supposed to say something. "You have to meet people where they are," she said, feeling like she was trying to guess at what a teacher in school wanted her to say about a Romantic poem.

"Maybe," said Daniel. He didn't sound like he was evaluating her answer; he sounded like he was considering it. "I was also thinking that, even after all these years, there are still things I have to learn. That was probably the biggest thing I realized about teaching: that every day I'm learning as much about it as the kids are learning about karate."

Tory held back a groan as she watched Daniel wipe down the side of the car with the same practiced movements. Somehow, Daniel could say even the cheesiest things and sound like he meant every word.

"But there's more to it than that," Daniel continued. "The more you learn about karate, the more you realize there's so much more out there." He turned to look at her. "I'll bet you didn't know Johnny Lawrence taught me some of his moves."

Tory found herself chuckling at that. "No, I didn't," she admitted.

Daniel shook his head with that self-deprecating smile. "It's true. When I won my first All-Valley, I remember he came up to me and said, 'You're all right, LaRusso.' It took us more than twenty years to get back to that point. It just shows you and Sam are smarter than we were."

Tory shifted uncomfortably. Daniel had been going on for a while, and she got the feeling she was supposed to be getting a message that she just wasn't getting. Just as she thought that, her eyes went wide. Was he giving her this kind of talk because he thought she was dating his daughter? "Thanks, Mr. LaRusso, Daniel, but I think I'd better... I mean, I should go home and shower...."

A confused look creased his face, and he frowned and nodded. "Uh, okay. I'll let Sam know you headed home. Should I tell her.... no, I know you live in each other's phones, you'll probably talk to her before I do." Daniel laughed, flustered, and Tory found herself smiling, half in pity and half at what a dork he was. He might have been a successful businessman with a great family and everything, but she could totally see that skinny kid who got bullied all those years ago by Cobra Kai.

It wasn't until she got in the car that the other shoe fell. As she put the keys in the ignition, she shivered and looked back at the house. All these years later, she'd been the Cobra Kai bullying the LaRusso. And Sam had opened herself up to her even after all of that, and Daniel was telling her he was okay with it. No, he was more than okay with it: he wanted to encourage it.

Tory let out a long breath and leaned forward, forehead on her arms folded on the steering wheel. She didn't get that. After everything she'd done to them, they were still opening themselves up to her. Maybe it was something that came with the supportive mom and dad, the knowledge that if she got in trouble someone would be there to talk to the principal or the judge, the big house that would be there with its doors open no matter what. It was harder to be vulnerable when one crack meant everything would come crashing down on top of her. She felt that vulnerable now; she could almost hear that deafening roar that would leave her broken and buried forever.

There was a knock on the window. Tory raised her head. Sam was bent to the window, her nose wrinkled in surprise. "Hey. Are you leaving?" she asked through the window. Her hair was still damp and she was wearing a new t-shirt.

It took Tory a minute to find her voice. Fortunately, her window made a screeching noise as she lowered it that filled the silence. "I figured I'd shower at home," she said. "I got pretty sweaty. I guess I'm not used to cardio."

Tory was starting to get better at reading LaRusso expressions. Was this one disappointment? Did Sam hope their training would go on longer? "Oh, okay. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, totally."

Over the next week, Tory and Sam went over the basics of Miyagi-Do karate, and they talked about school and life and anything else that came to mind. Sam mentioned that Miguel texted now and then, but they were growing more distant, even though he said he'd be back for the start of school. Whenever Sam mentioned him, Tory tried to put on a smile and to be happy for her to have someone like that. Part of her, the part you could dress up and put in front of little kids at a party, was genuinely happy he had the chance to reconnect with his dad and could even be glad that Sam had a decent guy like Miguel in her life. But there was also the part of her that just wanted to drag Sam off to some place where she could have her all to herself. Tory wasn't proud of that part of herself, but that didn't make it shut up.

On Tuesday morning Sam was quieter than usual. There were some clouds in the usually sunny California sky, so they were taking the opportunity to run longer. Tory could tell that Sam was pushing herself harder than normal, but when she tried to ask about it, Sam only ran faster, feet slapping the cement, leaving Tory puffing to keep up. They ran up a hill and back down it, Sam's feet barely seeming to touch the ground, letting gravity accelerate her faster and faster like she didn't care if she wiped out. Tory wanted to call out, but Sam only flew farther and farther away from her, head held high, slowing down only as she reached the bottom. Tory sprinted after her, throwing caution to the wind. If Sam was going too fast, Tory had to go even faster. When Tory reached Sam, she reached out to put an arm across her to keep her from running into the traffic of the cross street. They skidded to a stop, stumbling over gravel and broken sidewalk.

Tory looked at Sam with a confused and searching expression in her wide eyes, panting, but Sam pushed her arm back and stepped away.

"Let's not stop. We've got a good momentum going," Sam said, and she set off again at a quick jog. The road curved around a bend, and Tory looked up at the houses lining the opposite side of the street as they passed them. At least two dozen homes stood in neat lines like soldiers waiting for inspection, but none of them showed any sign of life. Between the familiar haze of Valley pollution and the clouds, it felt like the world had a gray filter on it, and as far as Tory could tell, nothing moved except the leaves on some trees twitched by puffs of lethargic breeze.

Sam sped up again as soon as they were past the last house. "Maybe we should just get back to the dojo," she said, but her tone was uncertain and Tory knew something must have happened.

Tory waited for Sam to say something about it, but she stayed quiet as they jogged back. Sam ran stiffly, her chin high, and her face was flushed from pushing herself so hard. When they entered the dojo, Sam sat down on the floor and breathed heavily for a few moments before she finally said, "I don't really feel like talking about it."

Tory sighed. She took a seat opposite Sam the way Sam had shown her, a comfortable version of the lotus position. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly through her mouth, though she kept her eyes open, watching Sam. Sam was leaning back on her hands, breathing heavily, her face shining with sweat.

"What are you doing?" Sam said. She didn't sound annoyed, though. She sounded tired and sad, like she wanted to join Tory in meditations but she didn't have the strength. Tory knew that feeling: like she was watching herself through glass and yelling at herself, but she couldn't make herself do the things she really wanted to do. "Miguel said he's going to stay with his dad until school starts. They've got a lot to catch up on. He said… he said we should take a break." Sam wouldn't meet Tory's eyes. "Maybe you and me should take," she realized the juxtaposition and reddened. "Take the rest of the day off," she finished quickly. "I don't think I can really focus right now."

Tory's brow furrowed. She had a script in her mind: she would repeat back to Sam the same sort of thing Sam had said to her over the last week, about just being in the moment and breathing through it, but as she looked at Sam's pinched face the thought seemed so small and helpless next to the dam of Sam's features fighting visibly to hold back a flood. Tory wondered if she should offer to help Sam talk through it or maybe massage her shoulders, but before she could ask, Sam rolled onto her stomach and pushed up to her knees. As she started to get up, she looked at Tory, who was still sitting, too stunned to move. Sam got to her feet and looked down at Tory. Her shoulders dropped as she sighed. "Sorry. I just don't know if we should keep doing this."

The words were clear, but something about them just refused to settle into Tory's mind. It was like what had been solid ground had become an ocean in a storm and twenty foot waves were crashing over her. "What? Why?" She scrambled to her feet and looked at Sam like she could find the answers her mouth wasn't giving in her eyes.

"It's just..." Sam put her hands to the sides of her head like she wanted to cover her eyes or pull out her hair or both. "It's just too much, okay? Robby, Miguel, you... I feel like I'm spinning and spinning and I'm going to fall."

"I'll catch you," Tory said. She blurted it out before she even knew what she was saying, before what Sam had said even fully registered. Why was she putting Tory on that list?
Surprise washed away the other emotions on Sam's face and she stood shaking, half turned away, like something vulnerable and small caught between running away and staying. She didn't say anything, but her lips trembled and her eyes were damp.

"It's all right. I'm not trying to push. I can just practice on my own." Tory wished she could keep the bitterness out of her voice as she said it, but that wouldn't have been honest. The truth was, seeing Sam every morning was the only thing that had kept her getting out of bed every day after school was over, especially now that she was being given the collective cold shoulder by the entire Cobra Kai squad. She'd just been getting used to the idea that she'd finally found someone who didn't see her as someone you could just cut out of your life. "Or, if you're all okay with it, I could come practice with the team." Tory hated that idea. She wanted to be special to Sam, not just one of the kids in the formation, but suddenly even her pride was second to the idea of not seeing Sam any more.

"No," said Sam, shaking her head and holding out her hands like she was pushing something away. Her face twisted, her eyebrows tilting up, and she turned her face to the side, "I mean, yes, you can come practice with us, but I also want to... I mean, I've really enjoyed... but that's the problem, you know?" She stood looking imploringly at Tory with her mouth open, like she was still waiting for the words that wouldn't come.

Tory took a step forward impulsively and put her hands on Sam's elbows, lowering her arms gently. "I know. It's all right."

Sam pulled her arms back defensively and crossed them against her chest. "Why is it always me that has to say everything?" she asked, turning away, her shoulders dropping.

"It's okay." Tory's hands dropped slowly on their own, giving way to gravity. "You don't have to say anything at all." She stood, watching the sliver of Sam's face she could see from behind, partly covered by stray hair. One of Tory's hands briefly fought that gravity long enough to half-lift, wanting to tuck that hair out of her face, but then the gravity grabbed it again and dragged it back down.

Sam's face scrunched up and got red as the words came bubbling out of her with the tears that traced thin paths down her cheeks. "You keep saying it's okay, but it's not okay. It's not okay! There was a time I hated you and was afraid of you but now every morning I wake up afraid I won't see you and I get so scared you'll get scared or bored or just busy and you won't show up so I'm sitting there thinking what if today you change your mind and then when I hear your car pull up I get so happy, happier than I should be, too happy, and…."

Something in her wanted to step forward and wrap her arms around Sam and just hold her until they both felt safe, and another part wanted her to turn around and walk out the door, to let the self-pity and cynicism close over her, cold and familiar, and wash her out of Sam's life forever—or at least until the next school year started. Both forces yanked so hard at her she was left standing and staring stupidly, with no words coming, her face hot and whole body feeling weirdly light and tingling, like she didn't know how the universe could even go on past this point.

Sam turned around and saw Tory still standing there. She blinked back tears with big, shining eyes that looked like she'd expected to find Tory gone. She opened her mouth again to try to say something more, but nothing came out, and then suddenly big, fat tears, full-on soul-shaking tears, welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.

Tory's heart thumped in her chest and she rushed forward to hug Sam tightly. It felt like something inside Tory had just seen Sam's scrunched-up, red crying face and reacted automatically, and she heard nothing over the thunder of her own heart as she crushed Sam against herself and held her. Both of them shook with loud, hiccupping tears. She smelled sweat and dirt, but they were Sam's smells, which made it okay because somehow it was all right to cry on someone who, after and on top of everything she had been, had become a friend, and for the life of her Tory couldn't remember the last friend she'd had.

She realized she was kissing Sam's cheek, tasting the salt in Sam's tears, and stopped quickly. Sam was crying harder now, and as they parted slightly to look at each other, Tory held her breath to control her sobs, so she could hear the sniffles and snotty sounds of Sam trying to get herself together. Neither of them was doing a very good job at that.

Tory reached out again, but this time Sam grabbed her hand and yanked her closer with the force and fierceness of a karate throw. They pressed their damp cheeks together and let themselves be carried by the force of their feelings until they were just holding one another as tight as possible without hurting.

There was suddenly a tender softness against Tory's mouth that spread into every part of her, and before she even realized Sam was kissing her and kissed her back, that warmth was gone and Sam was whispering in her ear, "Give me time." A frisson that felt like a promise shot through Tory and every last wall she had left came tumbling down.

Tory hugged Sam like she could hold her together by force. The hug went on and on, and they breathed against each other, both crying again. Some part of Tory knew that eventually she would have to let Sam go. She knew there would be mess and drama and the inevitable escalation with Cobra Kai, but that was just a small part of her. Right now, she had Sam in her arms, and they were both grabbing on to each other like they could squeeze themselves into each other and be part of each other forever.