QUINN GRAY'S POV:

For the amount of worrying I'd done about my first day at West Valley High, I felt surprisingly calm the morning of. I'd come to peace with the fact that I would be starting out the year with at least one friend, Ali, and if I had to choose between who I'd want to rub elbows with, she was at the top of the list. I wasn't set to be a social outcast either, even without her. I was a Cobra Kai — even if you weren't popular, the dojo worked it all out for you.

Dean had left for work early that day; I was content to have the house to myself as I got ready. I pretended I didn't care about my outfit, but it was oddly reminiscent of something Ali would wear — blue jeans, a white sweater I'd borrowed from Dean, white Chucks. I chalked that up to the chokehold California was threatening onto me, not wanting to admit to myself just yet that maybe I was trying too hard.

Seven-thirty.

The clock on the kitchen wall ticked ominously. I swallowed the last bit of my orange juice and walked out the door, locking it behind me. The inside of my car felt oddly more like home than home did, and I took a second to breathe in the comforting smell of hot leather. No matter what, at the end of the day, I would be back in this car and that gave me the solace I needed to start my drive to school.

It was a quick drive.

West Valley High was a small campus, with only half of the main building having a second story. It paled in the shadow of my old high school back in Salem. It was nestled right in the middle of California suburbia; across the street from the central entrance, a woman crouched in her front yard trimmed away at some weeds, unbothered by the mass of students buzzing into the parking lot.

I didn't have time to think about what would happen when I arrived — I focused solely on getting the directions right and memorising my way there — so when I drove into the front lot, I was taken aback by the sight of the five Cobra Kai leaning around their motorbikes, laughing without a care in the world. It was jarring to see them out of their typical get-up; they'd switched their leather jackets for preppy sweaters just like Ali's — just like mine.

I decided what surprised me most was the fact that numerous students greeted them as they walked past, some even stopping to make conversation. It wasn't what I had anticipated; I had painted them as akin to bullies in a coming-of-age movie, where everyone was afraid of them and gave them a wide berth. But it wasn't like that at all; they were seemingly completely normal in every social aspect, their brutish nature confined to outside school hours. They had friends, a rep, the whole thing. People wanted to be around them, myself included, though I hated admitting that last part.

The spot beside their motorbikes was empty, so I beelined for it. I pulled into it seamlessly, looking like I'd done it a thousand times, thanking every god on standby that I hadn't embarrassed myself in front of the Cobra Kai.

"Look at Miss California over here," Tommy snickered as I turned off the engine and got out of the car. "Where's that sad puppy of yours? Did he get lost on the way home last night?"

He was obviously referring to Daniel, but I brushed it off. "Good morning to you, too," I said.

Bobby was the only one who looked slightly guilty at the mention of last night's incident. Truthfully, it had eaten at me, too, but I wasn't going to chase after Daniel and make sure he was okay. I wasn't his mother and I was sure he didn't want to be reminded of what happened. He, too, probably wanted nothing more than a clean slate.

Johnny seemed vexed, though he tended to always look annoyed around me. "Let's go to class, guys," he said to his friends. It was as if I wasn't there. I took a good look at his face; his nose and under-eyes were slightly bruised purple, though the extent of his hits yesterday weren't as visible as I'd have liked them to be. His blue eyes shot daggers into mine, icing me out of the picture. It was clear he didn't want anything to do with me, and it kind of stung.

I walked begrudgingly to the office, eager for the day to be over.

Lunch brought around a new set of challenges that I hadn't even thought about that morning, namely was I going to eat in my car like a loser or was I going to take part in some semblance of a social circle. I took my time putting away my books in my locker, feeling my pulse quicken at my lack of choices.

I'd had two of my classes that morning with some of the Cobra Kai, and even one with Daniel — though he hadn't made eye contact with me — and luckily, I'd managed to secure a seat beside Ali in French, so I was set for the semester, but no one had offered their table up at lunch for me to sit at. I had felt almost everyone's eyes on me in the hallways; though I wasn't the only new kid by a longshot, I was definitely one of the more notable ones. By now, news that I was a Cobra Kai had spread like wildfire.

As I was about to close my locker, I spied Daniel rushing into a classroom. My eyes darted around, trying to find the cause of his stress. It came at no surprise — Johnny and his gang wandered into sight, loud and brash as if everyone's eyes should only be on them. I swallowed back the bitterness in my mouth and slammed my locker door shut.

"Quinn!"

Ali popped up beside me, seemingly out of nowhere. I let out the breath I'd been holding, giving her a smile.

"What's up?"

"Got any lunch plans?" she asked. I shook my head. "Great! Wanna sit with me and the girls?"

There went that worry. Surprisingly, I felt less relief than I thought I'd feel. Wasn't high school supposed to be hard? I had wanted to blame Dean for so long for everything that had gone wrong in the past few months — to make him see that I was not adjusting well at all to my new life in California — but the only hiccups so far were minor. I made friends, I joined a sport, I had the seedlings of roots put down already. That was more than could be said for a lot of kids in my position.

"No, but I guess I could sit with you," I sighed emphatically. Ali snickered, looping her arm around mine, and we made our way to the cafeteria.

The cafeteria, like the hallways — like almost everything else in the school — was outdoors. It was semi-covered by a gazebo roof supported by large round columns, with tables packed tightly beside each other. After we grabbed our lunch — I opted for a ham sandwich, as Ali told me not to eat the "mystery meat" of the day — Ali ushered us through the crowd of students to a table in the middle where Susan, Barbara, and a few more girls were already sitting. The girls were already deep into a conversation about an upcoming mall trip. Something about a houseparty coming up next weekend?

"How was your first day so far?" Ali asked, turning her attention away from her friends and onto me.

I shrugged. "Nothing special."

She feigned offence. "And here I thought we were giving you a royal welcome."

"Try a little harder," I teased. My voice dropped to a slight whisper. "So what's this about a party?"

"Oh, Eddie Kamen is throwing his yearly homecoming party," Ali said. "It's always fun, everyone usually goes."

"Everyone?"

"Yeah, for the most part."

She didn't have to clarify, I understood plenty. Everyone in Encino.

"Sounds like a drag."

Ali laughed. "Guessing parties aren't your thing?"

At this, Susan perked up. "What is your thing, Quinn?"

The way she asked her question felt so accusatory. My first instinct was to be defensive — who cared about what party some senior with a Porsche threw — but instead, I stretched a tight smile across my face.

"I prefer going out," I replied. "You have a fake ID, right?"

Truthfully, I sure didn't. But by the way Susan took too long to answer, she didn't either.

Ali giggled. "They do things differently in Oregon, huh?"

I hated thinking about Oregon. I hated thinking about home. I had a tight circle of friends back in Salem, small and compact, enough to give me a sense of family when family wasn't enough. But after my parents — I couldn't recall the last time I'd talked to them. The last time I felt like I belonged somewhere.

"You got a boyfriend back home?" Barbara asked.

I hated her question, partly because she had already decided that home for me didn't mean here, but also because I didn't know what to say. There had been a boy, though I didn't know if boyfriend would be the term to use.

Still, he paled in comparison to the Cobra Kai, though I instantly regretted using that example when Johnny's azure irises met mine from across the cafeteria. I pulled my gaze away in a heartbeat.

"That's why I left," I laughed. "Broke too many hearts to stay."

Ali offered a comforting look; at least she could tell I didn't want to be prodded any further. She asked Susan something about her new perm and the conversation moved on.

My mind was still hung up on Barbara's question. I hated how my grief had washed away the little joys of being a teenager. I had been seeing someone in Oregon, and it wasn't anything serious but it could have been. A boy — Terry — had asked me to the homecoming dance in my junior year, and we'd slowly started spending more time together in the weeks following. But the spark that was there died as quickly as it'd come alive when I got the call from the local precinct saying, "We're so sorry, Miss, we really are — there's been an accident — your parents —"

Everything died that night.

Dean came to stay with me until I finished the school year. He hadn't wanted me to start somewhere new in the middle of the semester, which was the only thing I was eternally grateful for, despite the overall resentment I may have held. The sadness eventually faded to a dull ache that I managed to suppress skillfully enough on most days; there were still times, though, when I wanted nothing more than to be rocked to sleep while I cried, but by who? They seldom tell you that mourning is the loneliest thing.

A few more conversations later, everyone headed back to class. Ali offered to walk me to Physics since her Chemistry class was just across from mine, and I appreciated the time alone. It felt easy to be around her. I didn't have to pretend.

"Sorry about the girls," she offered. "They just want to know more about you."

Not really, I thought, but that's okay.

"It's cool," I assured her.

"Actually," she continued, "there was another reason why I wanted to talk to you. We have tryouts today and we'd really like it if you came."

"Tryouts?"

"Cheerleading."

I couldn't help but laugh. Ali raised a confused eyebrow. "Really? You think I'm cheerleader material?" I asked.

"You're athletic," she said. "You're a Cobra Kai — is cheerleading really harder than that?"

"Ali, it's so — so — clique-y," I protested.

She shook her head. "I promise you it's not. We're not elitist. We take everyone. And I'm captain this year — do you really see me excluding anyone who wants to be there?"

I could see then why Johnny had fallen for Ali so hard. She was so unbelievably nice. Aside from the drop-dead looks and the money and everything else, she was a sweetheart. No wonder she was popular. She didn't rule the school with fear, but with kindness. A cheerleading team who took anyone who tried out? Where else would you ever see that in Cali?

I mulled it over. There were worse things to be than a cheerleader. Besides — it would surely get people's attention. And Johnny—

No, forget him. Do this for yourself.

"Fine, you drive a hard bargain," I conceded.

Ali beamed. "Great! I'll come get you after last period." She scanned my schedule — I ended the day with P.E., which was kind of perfect — and sent me off to class.

I was mildly early for Physics, so I had a varied choice of seating. There were two chairs per table, so I opted for a desk by the window on the left. I had a good view of the front parking lot, and could see my car perfectly; it shined in the sun, freshly waxed and perfect. Thank you, Dean.

The chair beside me scraped against the floor as someone sat down. When I turned my head, I saw Bobby put down his binder and take out a pen.

"Hi," he said politely.

"Hi."

The air was tense. I could still feel his arms around me the night before, pulling me away from Johnny and Daniel, holding me back from stepping in. Pink dusted my cheeks slightly.

"Look, can we talk?"

I furrowed my brow. "About what?"

"Yesterday."

More students had begun to pile in. Tommy walked through the door and froze when he saw Bobby sitting with me.

"Looks like your friend's here too," I said, scathingly. "Don't you want to sit with him?"

"No," Bobby replied. "I want us to talk."

"There's nothing to say," I shrugged.

"Yes, there is! Johnny, he—"

Tommy sat just a few desks away, so Bobby leaned in and lowered his voice to a hushed whisper.

"Quinn, I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

I fought hard against tearing up.

"Why are you so nice to me?" I asked. "You confuse me, Bobby. One day you're my friend and I tell you about my past, and the next you're telling it to all your friends—"

"What the hell? No!" he protested. "Where did you even get that?"

I couldn't tell him that I'd been watching him, them, all of them so intensely, so I settled on, "I don't know, you just seem like the type."

He winced. I could tell that hurt him. "Quinn, I am your friend. I mean, I want to be."

"I don't want friends that beat on other people for no reason," I shot back. "How come you guys aren't picking on me like you're picking on Daniel? We're both new, so what is it that makes him so different?"

"I don't know what you want to hear, Quinn. Johnny doesn't like him."

"Oh, and he likes me? Fucking bullshit."

The conversation was put on pause when the teacher walked in. The reprieve was brief, however, as she asked us to introduce ourselves to our deskmate. Bobby didn't hesitate to continue.

"You're… different," he said. "It's been a rough year for him, okay?"

This irritated me. "And what — you think it's been a cakewalk for me? But unlike the five of you, I would never do what you guys did to Daniel just because I'm hurting inside."

Bobby stayed quiet for a moment. Then, he sighed. "I'm not proud of the person I am, Quinn," he said. "But I do want to be friends."

I winced. "And what happens when Johnny turns his sights on me? What happens when he decides he wants to come after me? Are you gonna turn around and pretend you don't know me, and just go along with whatever he does?"

"That would never happen," Bobby argued, "because you're a Cobra Kai. You're one of us."

I knew then that this had been discussed among the five of them before. The certainty with which Bobby had spoken was a dead giveaway. I was one of them, whether I wanted to be or not. And it made sense; the way everyone looked at me in the hallways or in class, the way people hushed their voices around us even now to try and catch a fragment of our conversation.

"Look, there's a party next weekend—"

"Eddie Kamen's, yeah, I know."

Bobby sighed. "Just come. We started off on the wrong foot, and I want to show you that we're not all bad."

I couldn't help but stare in disbelief. "Are you asking me to the party?"

Bobby paused. He swallowed thickly. "Would putting a label on it make you feel better?" he asked. When I took too long to answer, he continued. "Yeah, I'm asking."

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Tommy's eyes widen. He'd heard. And because he'd heard, I spoke before I could stop myself, maybe out of spite, maybe out of curiosity, maybe for a split-second it seemed like a good idea.

"Fine."

Soccer tryouts happened to be going on at the same time as cheerleading tryouts, and of course, the Cobra Kai were all there. The sport of choice back home was basketball, with South Salem High having one of the best programs in the state; but of course Cali would specialize in outdoors sports, what with the nice weather all year round and all.

The gym uniform was a green t-shirt and grey cotton shorts, which didn't do much for coverage as we stretched in our warm-ups. Ali and I started on some side splits, and it surprised me a little to see her flexibility easily match mine. Then again, she was captain. I shouldn't have expected any less.

Her eyes darted into the distance several times, and finally I turned my head to see what she was looking at. A smirk spread across my lips.

"Somebody has a cru-ush," I sang teasingly.

Of course it was Daniel she couldn't keep her eyes off of. Ali blushed and lowered her head, standing up and brushing herself off.

"Look at his eye," she said. "I feel so guilty about what happened yesterday."

"Wasn't your fault," I reassured her as she pulled me up. "That was all Johnny and his goons."

"Yeah, but it was over me. It's so stupid and childish," she said. "I just — I wish I could tell him how sorry I am."

"What's stopping you?" I asked.

Ali thought about it and then nodded. "Yeah, you're right. What is stopping me?" She grabbed a stray soccer ball and walked over to Daniel.

'Atta girl, I thought.

Out of instinct, I glanced over at the Cobra Kai. They were doing drills, taking turns scoring into the net. I didn't play soccer; I had no idea what their tryouts consisted of or what even made a player good. But the more I stared, the more they seemed to feel it; Bobby was the first to turn his head, and he flashed me a smile that I pretended to have trouble returning. Johnny glanced back too, and his eyes seemed to linger for just a second longer this time, before focusing on the ball again.

"Cheerleaders, over here!" our coach called out.

Ali jogged back and joined me, all pink in the face and giggling. "Thank you," she whispered. I instinctively wrapped an arm around her in a half-hug, and it was only when we'd pulled apart to start our routine that I realized how easily that gesture of affection had come to me.

I watched Daniel continue to bounce his soccer ball on his leg, all alone and separated from the rest of the soccer team. By then, most of the guys were taking a break, though from the way Barbara and Susan were whispering and laughing amongst themselves, I could tell it was to watch us. Ali kept me in the front as we started the simple routine we'd practiced — "Go Vikings! West Valley Vikings!" — with both of us finishing off with a back handspring. I quietly thanked the countless years of gymnastics my parents had pushed me through, though if it got more complex than that, I didn't know if I could do it without severe practice.

It was fun. The energy was infectious; every girl on the team was really supportive and nice, cheering not just for the sake of tryouts but for each other. Ali had been right to push me to join. I'd searched for a sense of belonging for the past year, and didn't find it yet in the Cobra Kai, despite Bobby's claims, so maybe this was my calling.

Ali and I were caught up in clapping and going through our cheer routine again, when our attention was caught simultaneously by the mini soccer game taking place. It happened in the blink of an eye — Bobby threw himself sideways, hooking Daniel's legs with his, bringing him tumbling down hard. Bobby got up effortlessly, laughing and jeering — until Daniel lunged at him and tackled him down again. For a second, it looked like Daniel had the upper hand, clocking Bobby right in the face, before their coach grabbed him and swung him off the Cobra Kai.

"Nobody hits me! I'm gonna kill you!" Bobby threatened. Two boys held him back as he scrambled up towards Daniel, fully armed with the intent to maim and injure.

And that was the end of Daniel's tryouts. By all accounts, he had thrown the first punch, so the coach booted him out. He stormed off the field, angry and swearing every which way — all the while Johnny was mocking him with his friends. Ali watched after him, clearly distraught. I, on the other hand, stared right at Bobby.

After all the high and mighty talk during Physics class, Bobby was really no better than Johnny. And everything he'd said was just complete and total bullshit. There was nothing good about him or his friends, nothing redeemable or excusable about his behaviour. And the worst part was believing him. Listening to me grieve, giving me a ride home, going easy on me in our sparring — it was all meaningless. When his anger flared, he fell back into Kreese's typical ideal, and it was disgusting.

"I gotta go," I told Ali. "Let me know how the tryouts end, okay?"

She began to protest but I looked at her pleadingly. "Okay," she conceded.

I grabbed my bag and hightailed it off the field.

I was still in my gym uniform when I made it to my car; I had taken a detour around the school, trying to find Daniel on the off-chance that he was hiding somewhere to try and compose himself, but he'd probably gone home already. By the time I unlocked the door to my Charger, I heard laughter and snickering coming from down the entrance corridor. No sooner did I look up that the five Cobras strolled into view, changed back into their stupid preppy jeans and sweaters, heading straight for their bikes.

I threw my bag in the backseat, bracing myself against the door. Bobby's laughter quieted first. He inhaled sharply, clearly cooled off from the earlier confrontation.

"Quinn, I—"

"You know, all that stuff you said?" I began. "All that shit like, I'm so sorry, and I'm not proud of the person I am — what a load of fucking bullshit."

I realized that perhaps I should have kept those comments to myself, judging by the other four's reactions — raised eyebrows, bewildered looks, and even plain disgust — but I didn't care. The guilt on Bobby's face wasn't enough; I wanted him to hurt.

"I believed you, Bobby. When you said you wanted to be friends, I believed you."

Tommy scoffed. "Friends? Yeah, right, that's definitely not what he's after."

"Our boy was just trying to score," Dutch added, snickering.

I glanced at Johnny. His face remained cold and stoic. I knew then that Tommy and Dutch were just helping Bobby save face; that hadn't been his intention at all.

"Let's go, guys," Johnny dismissed. They walked past my car to their bikes, slipping into their leather jackets, though Bobby was slower to get on.

I expected him to say something — anything — even if it was just to defend himself. But he stayed quiet, head down and unresponsive. I watched him ride away with his friends, who were hooting and showing off, and wondered how difficult tomorrow would be after all this.