CHAPTER 16

First day of senior year. Marcos' first day of high school in America. He had been through a lot of shit in his life, had seen serious crimes committed in his old neighborhood right under his nose. He had gotten into so many fights in the past, many of which had ended with him being knocked out cold or harboring a broken nose. So over the years, after going through all of that, Marcos had become a pretty fearless guy in the face of physical danger. However, now, walking into such a unique environment like high school, Marcos was nervous. Partly because he had no idea at all what to expect. Partly because he had so many secrets about himself that he knew he couldn't allow to get out, at risk of humiliation.

He woke up that morning, before the sun had even risen, and he was unable to get back to sleep. His mind was frazzled with nerves, so there was no chance of him even managing to close his eyes, let alone fall back asleep, before he left for school. Even though the clock read 4:30 am, Marcos dragged himself out of bed and decided to get started on his day. Him and his father had only arrived in L.A a few days ago at this point, so their stuff was still mostly packed in boxes. Marcos was grateful for that, as it gave him something to do for the next two hours. He tirelessly unpacked box after box, their extremely small apartment starting to look more and more like home.

It was only close to 7 am when Marcos heard his dad emerge from his bedroom, and sure enough, a few moments later, the man walked into their small living room.

"Morning." Marcos said to him in Portuguese. Marcos' dad didn't reply, and the only indication that he gave that he even heard him was a grunt of acknowledgement as he walked into the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee. It was only after he had downed the entire mug that his father had woken up enough to speak to him.

"You nervous?"

Marcos shrugged.

"A little." Marcos replied, honestly.

"Don't be." His dad said. "Nerves are for little bitches. Oliviera men don't feel nervous."

Marcos sighed and nodded. Marcos' relationship with his dad was a unique one. For most of his childhood, they hadn't been that close. His father had been working all-day, every day in Brazil, and even in the few minutes that he got off from work, he often didn't choose to spend it with Marcos, so the two hadn't exactly bonded much. Marcos was a lot closer with his mom. At least, that was until his mom had passed away, at which point Marcos and his father's relationship changed completely. His father had always been a tough man - you had to be in Marcos' neighborhood if you wanted to survive. He didn't believe in weakness. He didn't believe in softness. He believed in selfishness and ruthlessness to get what you wanted, a stance that had gotten ever tougher after his wife's death, and as a single parent, he had instilled these lessons on his son, Marcos. Being raised in an environment with all of this tough love reminded Marcos a lot of Cobra Kai, which might have been part of what caused his instant loyalty to them in the first place.

Marcos and his father's relationship definitely wasn't normal for a father and son, but that didn't mean that they weren't close. Because they were. They were close, but just not in a normal father-son way. Marcos knew his dad loved him, knew his dad would do anything for him. But at the same time, his dad was extremely tough on him and only ever accepted the best from him. Straight A's in school, an undefeated fighting record… he demanded Marcos do it all. He wasn't afraid to call Marcos out and insult him for his mistakes, and they rarely ever celebrated his achievements. But Marcos was fine with that. It worked for him. If anything, it made him strive to be even better. He was a pretty tough guy himself, so was definitely able to handle his father's toughness. He knew his father was proud of him. He just didn't want Marcos to rest on his laurels and get lazy, as he figured would be the case if he complimented Marcos too much.

Anyways, Marcos nodded at his father, and his dad left to work shortly after. After pacing through their apartment a couple more times, making sure he hadn't forgotten anything for school, Marcos left the house for school…

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"First day of school. How are you guys feeling?" Johnny spoke to Miguel and Robby as he drove them to school that morning. Miguel's family had signed a form to allow Robby back into school, so the pair of them were both on their way to West Valley High. However, neither Miguel nor Robby was really in the mood to talk. They were still internally dealing with the hellish day they had had yesterday. It was senior year, the beginning of their final year to live without worries and have fun, and yet it was barely day 1 and they had already found themselves locked in yet another battle in this karate war. And this time, it was clearly an uphill battle they were fighting, as for the first time ever, they weren't fighting an opponent who they believed to be of equal level or slightly worse than them. This person was considerably better, so it meant that they would be forced to put in even more time into training to try and reach his level, which meant that this karate war would be consuming them more than ever.

Although both Miguel and Robby were frustrated about the situation, and they had made those feelings known to each other, they knew that this was the best situation they could possibly be in right now, given the circumstances. Although an official moratorium on fighting before the tournament hadn't been agreed upon, they knew that if Cobra Kai's attention was on training for the Taikai, it would mean that their targets weren't set on them so there would be less fighting between their sides.

"Okay." Johnny murmured. "Neither of you are in talkative moods."

"Sorry, dad. It's just neither of us are really happy to be back here." Robby told him. "Feels like everything is repeating itself all over again. And it's not like it ended so well the first time. Or the second time."

Johnny nodded understandingly as he continued to drive.

"I get that." He sympathized. "But I mean, it doesn't have to be like all of the other times."

"What do you mean?" Miguel asked.

"Well the biggest problem with this whole war in the past is that the students are having to suffer for their senseis' decisions, right? Students are infected with the hatred that their senseis carry, and it causes everything to get so much worse. I know it from the 80s. Both of you have been in Cobra Kai, so I'm sure you know it too."

"What's your point, dad?" Robby questioned further.

"My point is that this time around, it can be different. In our dojo, we have so many leaders. You two. Hawk. Larusso. Nichols. Even that mouthy dork you all hang around with."

"Demetri?" Miguel corrected him. Johnny shrugged.

"Whatever." Johnny muttered. "You guys have all of these people on your side, and you've all been through this before, so you don't have to just blindly fight for your dojo, as all that's going to do is cause history to repeat, and the same carnage to repeat this time. You guys are smarter than any of us back in the day, and you're smarter than you were 2 years ago. So maybe you can get ahead of this thing."

"What do you mean?" Robby asked.

"That new Cobra Kai kid, the one who smacked around Diaz like he was still paralyzed…"

"Hey!" Miguel snapped indignantly, though he knew Johnny had a point. That loss very much stung. Miguel hadn't lost that convincingly, and that painful, since his days of being bullied by Kyler before he started Karate, so having that feeling of helplessness and powerlessness return was the last thing Miguel wanted.

"That guy… given that he's fighting in the Taikai for them, he's probably your age, right?" Johnny remarked.

"Probably, yeah." Robby agreed. Johnny nodded.

"Good. And so if he's your age, then chances are he'll be going to West Valley with you." Johnny continued. "Maybe you could try talking to him."

"Thanks for the idea, dad, but somehow I don't think that guy is really looking for us to be his friends right now." Robby responded. Johnny rolled his eyes.

"You don't have to be friends with the dick. But talk to him. Tell him all about Cobra Kai from your perspectives. And if he still doesn't want to leave, then maybe be the ones to take the first step in building some kind of truce between the dojos before the tournament. If you two told our students not to fight Cobra Kai before the tournament, they'd listen to you guys. I'm sure the same goes for this kid with Cobra Kai. If you don't want to see your friends bullied and beat up this year, you're going to have to get this kid on board."

At that moment, Johnny pulled up to the school.

"Alright. We're here. Try not to start another brawl on the first day." Johnny joked as he parked the car in front of the main building. Neither Robby nor Miguel laughed at the joke, but Johnny couldn't help but chuckle as the two opened the door and stepped out of the car. "Come on! What? Too soon?!"

"Bye, sensei." Miguel said, torn between laughing at the joke or scowling, Robby clearly looking the same way.

"Bye dad." Robby added, and Johnny then drove away, leaving the two boys standing outside the school. Now that Johnny had brought it up, neither could forget about their last 'first day of school', and how absolutely horrifically things had gone then. They prayed something like this didn't happen again today, but the worst part was that now that the karate war was back in full-force, they didn't know for sure that it wasn't going to. That was the nature of how fast things escalated in the war.

"You ready?" Miguel asked Robby. Robby laughed and shook his head.

"No. You?" Robby responded.

"Not at all." Miguel replied. The two boys looked at one another and sighed. They knew exactly what the other was feeling. One day into the bet between them and Cobra Kai, and the two of them were already feeling the pressure. Though it hadn't explicitly been said yet, the pair were well aware that the fate of this bet rested on the two of them, not for the first time. They didn't know who Cobra Kai had fighting in the women's division, nor did they know for sure who they had fighting for them in the senseis' division, but at this point, they knew exactly who was fighting in the boys' division. The pressure was very much on the two of them to rise to the occasion and challenge Marcos, pressure that neither one of them was thrilled to have resting on their shoulders already.

Robby nodded at Miguel, and the two walked inside the school, ready to face whatever was to come next…