Chapter Fifty Three
Primadonna

SYDNEY STARED AT herself in the large mirror at the dance studio.  Her eyes watched the way her foot glided on the ground and the way her arms moved.  She paid attention to the way her body twisted.  She had been thinking about what Johnny said about her using ballet in karate.  At first,  she thought it was ridiculous but after a while of thinking,  she realized the two weren't that different in styles.  She had spent all her time at the studio comparing her dance moves to the karate moves she learned.

"You okay there, Brit?" Sailor asked when she walked into the room.

Sydney beckoned her over. "Sailor, come stand in front of me."

Sailor looked at her weirdly but did it anyway.  Sydney grabbed her shoulders and positioned her to where she wanted her to stand.  "Okay,  I'm going to try something,"

"You're not going to kiss me are you?"  Sailor asked and smirked.  "If Miguel's okay with it then so am I."

She rolled her eyes.  "No,  I'm not going to kiss you.  Just stay there."

"Alright alright."  Sailor muttered and held her hands up.

Before she could blink,  Sydney spun around and kicked her leg up,  almost hitting sailor in the face.  She jumped back quickly.  "What the hell,  Sydney?"

"If you wouldn't have moved do you think I would have hit you?"

Sailor looked at her like she was crazy.  "Uh,  yeah,  that's why I moved."

Sydney smiled.  "Perfect!"

Sailor's eye twitched.  "Syd,  what are you doing?"

"I'm figuring out ways to make my dojo better.  Johnny said something about using ballet in the fighting,"  Sydney informed.

"That's. . ."  Sailor trailed.  "Actually pretty smart."

She smiled again.  "You think so?"

"Yeah,  it make sense.  You would be like the first karate dancer,"  she said and grinned.  "Sounds like fun,  actually,"

"Wanna come?"

"Can't,"  she shrugged.  "My mom wants me to keep the 'perfect daughter' image and kicking people's ass in karate doesn't exactly fit that image."

Sydney frowned.  "Well,  if you ever want to come and check it out,  let me know."

"Thanks,  Brit,"  Sailor smiled.  "Now,  show me what else you got."

"You're telling you'd leave me for Matt Smith?"

Sydney rolled her eyes with a sigh. "I wouldn't leave you for him. I would just. . ." 

Miguel raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I totally would."

He gasped. "Sydney!"

"Oh, like you wouldn't leave me for Emma Watson," she scoffed.

The two of them walked hand in hand into the Larusso's backyard.  "I wouldn't," he responded with a red face.

She raised an eyebrow. "Hou're telling me if Little Women Emma Watson walked into the backyard right now, you wouldn't immediately leave my side?"

Miguel went silent and blinked rapidly. "Would you?"

"Oh, I definitely would. It's Emma Watson." She said like it was obvious.

"Why are you guys talking about Emma Watson?" Demetri asked.

"Cause it's Emma Watson, dude," Chris stated when he joined the conversation.

"Sydney's making me watch that new House Of The Dragon show and now she's obsessed with Matt Smith and said she would leave me for him," Miguel explained.

Sydney scoffed. "First of all, I've been obsessed with Matt Smith since The Crown. Second of all, you said you'd leave me for Emma Watson so we're even."

"You started House Of The Dragon?" Demetri asked in excitement.

Sydney gasped. "Yes! It's amazing!"

"Hy,  no turing Sydney into a nerd!  She's the only normal one here!"  Johnny shouted when he and daniel entered the backyard.

"But she already is,"  Demetri responded.  Sydney glared at him.  "I mean that as a compliment."

Soon,  the sensei's had them all stand in rows.  "Sensei Lawrence and I have the same goal of preparing you for the tournament,"  Daniel announced.

"But we have different way of getting you there,"  Johnny added,  more sternly.

"We realized that teaching you opposing viewpoints at the same time can be a little confusing,"

"You don't say." The British girl muttered.

"So we've discussed it and come up a solution," Johnny continued. "We're gonna divide and conquer. Eagle Fang trains out front."

"And I'll be back here with the Miyagi-Dos," said Daniel.

Sydney immediately looked over at Sam and they gave each other confusing looks. Everyone else did the same.

"I thought we were stronger working together." Miguel mentioned.

"We're still working together,"

"Just separately. . . on opposite ends of the dojo."

"That makes no sense," Sydney said out loud.

"It will, just trust us. Eagle Fangs, follow me!" Johnny ordered.

"Miyagi-Dos, come on over here."

Sydney put her hand on Sam's shoulder. "Do you know what's going on?"

Sam shook her head. "I have no idea."

Miguel put a hand on Sydney back. "C'mon, Syd."

Sydney gave the girl a sideways smile and followed Miguel, not giving Charlie a glance when he went over to stand by Sam.

"Fall in!" Johnny ordered when they made their way out front.

Sydney leaned on her hip and crossed her arms in waiting.

"Hawk, since you're new to Eagle Fang, come on up."  Johnny said to Eli.

She eyed Eli as he walked to the middle of the circle.  Instantly,  Johnny bent down and leg sweeped him,  making Eli fall to the ground with a loud thud.  "What the heck?"  He groaned.

"Today,  we're gonna practice our front sweeps.  On Hawk."  Johnny informed the students.

Sydney smirked.

Eli got up from the ground.  "All right.  I know I was a dick,  but I'm sorry,"

"Talk is cheap,"  Johnny denied the apology.  "Who's next?  Penis breath,  you're up!"

Mitch stepped forward spun around,  front sweeping Eli and he stumbled onto the ground again.

"Stop whinin like a little bitch.  Get up."  Johnny demanded.

Groaning in pain,  Eli got up from the ground and slumped over,  breathing heavily. 

"Who's next?"  Johnny asked.  He looked at all of them before landing on Sydney.  "Frenchy,  let's go."

Sydney uncrossed her arms and slowly stepped forward,  giving Eli a sickly sweet smile.  "Hi Eli."

"Hey Sydney,"  he responded dreadfully.

In a flash,  she spun around and kicked him in the gut.  Eli groaned loudly and she bent down and leg sweeped him.  He moaned in pain.  "Feel better yet?"

"We're getting there."  She shrugged and walked back to her spot.

The torture continued and Sydney tried her hardest to not feel bad for the boy.  He deserved it.  What he did and caused was terrible and he didn't deserve to be let off with a clean slate.

"You punched him in the balls?  What the hell is wrong with you?"  Johnny shouted.

Sydney cringed.  "I know that hurt."

"Sensei Lawrence,"  Daniel announced and walked out of the dojo.

"Yes sir!"  Johnny replied.

"May I have a word with you?"

"All right,  guys, take five. Walk it off. Looking good, looking good!" Johnny praised and walked off with Daniel.

They scattered around and Miguel stood in front of Sydney with a sigh. "Don't you think sensei's being too hard on Eli?"

"Babe, he literally tortured all of us. He broke Demetri's arm. He deserves worst," Sydney said truthfully.

"I know, but he's still my friend," Miguel said with a frown.

Sydney pursed her lips and grabbed his hands. "I know he is, but I can't forgive him yet. He put us through a lot and expects us to forgive him just like that. I know you're friends with him but that doesn't mean I have to be."

Miguel frowned again. "Does that mean you're still mad at Charlie?"

Since what happened at sam's house, Sydney was finding it hard to even look at Charlie. She felt completely betrayed by him and Tory. Even after the conversation she and him had about what happened at the school, he still chose to betray them. "I'm going to be mad Charlie for a while, love."

Again, Miguel frowned, but he nodded in understanding. "Yeah."

She reached her hand up and caressed her thumb along his cheek. "That doesn't mean I'm going to be mad that you want to be his friend. That's not my place,"

Miguel gave her a small smile.  "For the record,  I wouldn't leave you for Emma Watson."

"Aww,  love,"  she smiled and cupped his face with her hands.  "I would but that's so sweet."

He chuckled and she leaned up on her toes to kiss him.

The two of them saw Eli walk past them and out the backyard.  "What happened?"  Miguel asked in confusion.

"I don't know?"

"What the hell did you do?"  Johnny asked Daniel angrily.

"What did I do?  I'm not the one who's been kicking his ass all day."  Daniel snapped.

"We're training for The All Valley,  Not some yoga competition!"

"Hey,  don't disrespect my dojo in front of your students!"  Daniel pointed at him.

"Don't tell me how to run my class."

"I'll do whatever I want."

"I swear dogs are more behaved than these two."  Sydney muttered to herself in annoyance.

The two sensei's walk off,  still arguing,  leaving the rest of the students to stand outside.  Sydney sighed.  "Well,  that backfired."

Charlie didn't know how he was supposed to feel.  His life was all over the place.  When Miguel was in the hospital,  he had a moment where he completely blamed what happened on himself and it sent him into a deep depression.  He cried nearly every night out of guilt.  He stopped talking to everyone completely.  He isolated himself from the world.

Tory was the last person he expected to see him.  He was alone at home when she knocked on his door.  It was awkward.  Of course it was.  He cheated on her.  He fully expected her to trash his house and attack him out of anger but instead,  they talked.  They sat on his couch and talked.

Charlie loved Tory.  He knew her almost better than anyone.  She was a troubled kid because she had to sacrifice so much.  She had to work to keep her family alive,  so they could eat and have a place to sleep at night.  She knew soon that she would have to fight for custody over her little brother.  Charlie knew all these things and it made him see her in a different light.  She wasn't this evil person that everybody portrayed her as.  Yeah,  she did terrible things and she pay the price for them but she was still a kid.

That's why he felt the need to be by her side.  He just didn't expect to fall back into the trap of being with Cobra Kai.  He regretted ever following them that night to Sam's house.  He regretted betraying his friends and breaking their trust.  The validation from Miguel was enough to make him want to change.

Charlie leaned against the hood of his car with his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He watched the waves from the water crash on the beach. The sun was starting to go down, making the sky turn into a orangish pink.

"I thought I might find you here."

He closed his eyes from a brief minute. "How did you figure?"

Tory shrugged. "You come to the beach to think. That's what you told me."

"Right." He mumbled.

Tory stood beside him and leaned against his car. "What are you thinking about?"

Charlie shook his head. "A lot of things,"

She stifled a chuckle. "Okay, name one."

"I'm thinking about how you tricked me into coming back to your dojo so you could attack sam," he said bluntly, more than he meant to.

Tory stopped laughing and glared. "I didn't trick you, Charlie."

"Yeah, you did," he said and stood up straight. He looked down at her. "You came to my house to make me feel bad for you so I would come back. You took advantage of my feelings so you could get your revenge."

She frowned at his words. "well, I. . ."

She hesitated. Charlie continued to look at her, waiting for her to carry on.

Her eyes turned sad. "I'm sorry, Charlie,"

He sighed and shook his head. "No,  you're not,"

Charlie leaned back on his car again and continued to look at the water.

Tory stood up straight this time and stared at him. "I wasn't lying about what I said. Maybe I was trying to get you to come back but I wasn't lying. I do miss you, Charlie,"

Charlie bit the inside of his cheek and slowly looked at her. For a minute, he saw the girl that he fell in love with. Her pretty eyes were glossed over and her face was full of regret. He wanted to hold her close to him and tell her it was okay,L and that he forgave her, but he couldn't. He wouldn't. "I love you, Tory,"

Tory was on the verge of tears.

"But I don't like the person you've become," he whispered. "Attacking Sam at school was one thing, but breaking into her house is another. I—I don't want to keep getting caught up in your revenge plan. It's not healthy and I can't keep hurting the people that I care about,"

"So what are you saying?" She asked with a crack in her voice. Her eyes were like glass.

Charlie sighed shakily. "I'm saying I'm done."

"I'm sorry." She cried.

He stood up straight again and put his hand on her shoulder. He kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry, too."

He got in his car and left. He drove home with tears running down his face.

There's so many layers to this chapter that I cannot discuss because I would be talking for hours so just tell me what you think