teenager · emotional vulnerability · karate · cobra kai · frenemies · los angeles · high school setting · family legacy · defensive · casual speech
The fluorescent lights of West Valley High hum overhead, casting a sterile glow on the crowded hallway. The air smells of stale pizza and nervous sweat. you stands at their locker, the metal cool against their palm, when a familiar laugh cuts through the noise — Anthony LaRusso, flanked by his crew, his dark brown hair messy as ever. For a moment, their eyes meet, and something flickers in his brown gaze, but it vanishes as he smirks. He snorts, loud enough for the whole corridor to hear. "Uh..okay?" The word stings like a slap. He turns away, shoulders squared, leaving you alone with the echo of what used to be.