CHAPTER 12

15 days. 15 days since Robby had turned himself in and had been sentenced to 2 months in juvie and it was already starting to feel like an eternity. Everyday was exactly the same in juvie. Same meaningless chores, same miniscule cell, same being bullied by the other inmates. Robby swore that the repetitiveness of each day was all part of the government's way to subdue their inmates and make them forget about their old lives. Days all rolled into one miserable, monotonous blur.

With every day he spent behind bars, he was understanding more and more why so many of the people in that juvie were reoffenders, or would be in the future. The guards and staff members in the jail didn't treat them like humans. They treated them like animals, ignoring all of their needs, not caring at all if they got beat-up, forcing the inmates to solve all of their problems with their fists. So when the kids got released and sent back out into the real world with little to no money or support, they assumed that the only way to solve problems was the same as what it was in juvie: with their fists. If Robby hadn't been training with Miyagi-Do for almost the whole year last year, he knew he would have been sucked into that mentality too. But he hadn't been. He was ganged up on, bullied, robbed and treated like dirt at the bottom of the other inmates' shoes, but he hadn't thrown a single punch back.

Every night, Robby would close his eyes and lay on the floor to sleep - some of the bullies had stolen his mattress and the guards hadn't cared to do anything about it at all - and run through all of his Miyagi-Do kata in his head. It was the only thing still anchoring him to proper society, and not causing him to tumble down the same path as all of the other inmates. He just hoped that when he finally got out, he would be allowed to rejoin Miyagi-Do. What he had done to Miguel… it was unforgivable, and it went against everything Mr. Larusso had taught him. He let his anger get the better of him, and had thrown a cheap shot. He didn't know that Miguel would go sailing over the balcony like that - he wasn't a murderer - but he still had the intention to hurt the boy, not solely defend himself like Miyagi-Do dictated. And he was paying the price for that now. Because he had only just been thrown in juvie a few weeks ago, he was only allowed family visitation so Daniel or Sam couldn't see him, even if they wanted to. And Johnny hadn't come to see him once. Robby wasn't surprised though, to be honest. Johnny had always put Miguel over him, and the fact that he had done it this time again and left him out in the cold wasn't too shocking to him.

From the first day he had arrived, it had been literal hell. Almost as soon as he had turned himself in to the police, that very night, he had been whisked away without even giving him a chance to say goodbye to anyone. He had then been hand-cuffed, strip-searched, and forced to wear the infamous orange jumpsuits as he was just another hardened criminal in their eyes. Juvie school was a waste of time, with the teachers not wanting to be there any more than the students did. They were all given tattered, ancient textbooks that were only ever used by the inmates to clobber and beat each other with.

That morning, Robby walked into the cafeteria and was ladled a small bowl of a foul-smelling, inedible sludge that was supposedly entitled "porridge", when a more accurate term for it would be "horse-shit". It was the same breakfast they were given every day - it looked and smelled horrible, but he was forced to eat it every day. Another way the guards tortured the inmates into not wanting to come back to juvie, he supposed. Well, that or they were just too lazy or cheap to make better food.

Robby took his tray and walked to the corner of the room, sitting alone as always. He hadn't made any friends there, nor had he joined a gang, so his best hope for not being beaten up was just staying out of sight. Soon enough, his 2 months would be over and he would be able to get out of this place. And go where? He didn't know yet. All he knew is that he was getting as far away from here as possible.

Robby was roughly dragged out of his thoughts when suddenly, he felt a freezing cold liquid dumped on his head. He had to bite back a scream of shock as he felt the substance splash onto his head and drip down his neck and back, sending shivers down his back. Robby's head shot up and he spun around to see one of the top bullies in juvie, an 18 year old giant named Shawn, and his gang leering at him, their glasses of milk all overturned as they had been flipped onto Robby's head, neck and back.

Anger boiled up inside Robby. The frustration, misery, fury and helplessness he was feeling about his situation all rose up inside him and before he knew it, he was on his feet, squaring up to Shawn. As Robby forced a tough look on his face when in reality, he was starting to regret his decision. Shawn had 2 of his lackeys standing next to him, and Shawn was a LOT bigger than Robby. Shawn chuckled and grinned at him.

"What you gonna do, whitey? You gonna slap me? Kick me? Use some of those Kung Fu Panda skills we were hearing so much about?" Shawn smirked at him.

"It's called Miyagi-Do. And I'm not going to hit you first. My karate's about defense." Robby growled. Shawn chuckled.

"Yeah, figures. Bitch like you don't have the balls to fight like a man." Shawn remarked. Drawing back his fist, Shawn was about to deck Robby across the face, and Robby was about to defend himself, when suddenly, he heard a shout from the other side of the cafeteria.

"Keene! Get your fucking ass over here!" A guard called. Robby turned towards him, and then turned back to Shawn, who grinned at him mockingly.

"Go. We can finish this later. We have nothing but time." Shawn stated. Robby scowled at him for several moments, before breaking eye contact and walking across the hall to the guard, who chuckled at the sight of him, milk still dripping down his body.

"What's up?" Robby asked the guard when he made it over to him.

"You got a visitor." The guard replied. Robby's eyes widened. No way. No way Johnny had come to see him. It was probably his mom, who had found a way out of rehab early. Yeah, that was probably it.

"I… I do?" Robby stammered. "I have a visitor?"

"Yeah. What are you, a retard or something? I just said that, dumbass." The guard snapped. "Now get the fuck of here and stop wasting my time."

Robby nodded and started to walk away, but the guard called him back moments later.

"Hey, Keene!" The guard bellowed. Robby slowly turned back towards him.

"Yeah?" Robby asked.

"Go clean yourself up first. You're dripping milk all over the prison and you look like shit." The guard snapped. Robby sighed and nodded, walking out of the cafeteria, running a hand through his hair and feeling it sopping wet with milk. Life officially sucked.

Fifteen minutes later, Robby was cleaned up and he headed to the visiting hall of the juvie, where to his great surprise, Johnny was sitting at a table before him. Robby's jaw dropped. Never did he expect to see the blonde man visiting him after what he had done to Miguel, but despite his MANY issues with the man, he was slightly glad that Johnny was here. After all, Johnny was still his father, and they had actually been making progress the morning of the school fight. Robby eventually gathered himself from his shock and sat down opposite Johnny, who smiled faintly at him.

"Dad… you're here." Robby murmured in shock.

"Hey, Robby…"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"So…" Robby murmured.

"So…" Johnny mumbled. Neither of them really knew what to say to each other as they sat opposite each other and looked at each other, Robby scowling at him and Johnny just looking apologetic.

"I guess I should ask… what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Miguel right now?" Robby remarked, bitterness clearly evident in his voice. Robby had no doubt that in the 2 weeks Johnny hadn't visited him, his father had been with the teenager who had stolen everything from him: his freedom, his father, his girlfriend. Miguel was like an ongoing curse on Robby's life and no matter what Robby did, he couldn't shake him off.

Johnny sighed.

"Look, I know I should have come to see you earlier. These past couple of weeks… they haven't been easy on me." Johnny stated. Robby raised an eyebrow.

"And they've been easy on me?" Robby asked, chuckling in disbelief. Johnny shook his head.

"That's not what I mean, Robby. Come on, you know that." Johnny stammered. "What happened at the school… it rocked me to my very core. It wasn't that I was with Miguel these past few weeks. I wasn't with anyone. I was still trying to process how badly I had screwed up with both of you. But now I'm here, and…"

"And like always, you're too little too late." Robby spat. "You're here to tell me what? That you're in my corner? That you've got my back? Because let's be honest, that means jack shit. I'm the attempted murderer, remember? Look where I am now."

"Come on, Robby. You know you don't deserve to be here." Johnny said. "What happened at the school was an accident. And the fight wasn't your fault. You know that. I know that. Even Miguel probably knows that. But life's unfair sometimes. You can't keep beating yourself up for things that happened in the past. For one thing, you look like you've been beaten up enough as it is."

Johnny pointed at the black eye on Robby's face, and Robby glared at him.

"Is there a point to this?" Robby snapped.

"Look, can I offer you some advice?" Johnny asked.

"Please. Nothing I like more than getting advice from the man who fails at everything he does. Being a student. Being a sensei. Being a father."

A flash of anger etched onto Johnny's face, but it passed quickly.

"Look, Robby, I see what you're doing. You're trying to push me away, and honestly, I don't blame you." Johnny murmured. "I fucked up so many times in my life that I've actually lost count. But I swear to you, one mistake I regret more than anything and will NEVER let happen again is my relationship with you. I'm not running away again. I'm getting help with my alcohol addiction. After I'm through rehab, I'm coming right back here and am visiting every day you're in here if I have to. However long it takes for you to trust me."

Robby was taken aback. There was a ring of sincerity in Johnny's voice that led Robby to believe that he was actually telling the truth.

"Look, Robby, trust me, don't trust me, I can't control that. But one thing I do know one or two things about is how not to be left with that black eye you've got right there." Johnny said. "So can I give you some advice, both as your dad and as an experienced karate sensei?"

"What?" Robby murmured.

"All of that Miyagi-Do, strike never, show mercy crap is just that… crap. It's never going to hold up in real life."

"Watch it, dad…" Robby growled. Johnny raised his hands up in surrender.

"But Kreese's Cobra Kai methods are no better." Johnny continued. "The true Cobra Kai, the one that I tried to push through to my students this past year is that while you shouldn't go looking for a fight, some fights are inevitable, and sometimes, lunging first can generate the element of surprise and give you the upper hand you need."

Neither Robby nor Johnny said anything for a long while, before Johnny eventually got up.

"Okay, I'm going to go." Johnny said. "I love you, son."

Robby stared at him for several moments, before scowling at him.

"It's like I said, Johnny. Too little, too late…"

With that, Robby stood up too, and walked out of the visiting centre, leaving Johnny standing there alone. Reluctantly, Johnny was told to leave himself moments later, and he then finally made his way to the rehab facility. As the juvenile hall slowly disappeared from view in his taxi window, Johnny took a deep breath. He wasn't going to give up this time. This time, he would find a way to get Robby and Miguel to trust him, if it was the last thing he did.