IT HAD BEEN TWO days since the party. Two days since she had seen Robby, and two days since she had gotten that silent voicemail.

She had tried to call the number back at first but it turned out to be an unknown number. She knows she's not supposed to call back people she didn't know but something about it made her feel like she was missing out on something.

Maybe it was Robby?

But why hasn't he called her back? Was he in even more trouble or was he just in hiding right now?

As the days went by she became more and more worried. It had become obvious that Robby was avoiding her. Her only question was why.

۪۪۫۫

"—where what can only be described as an all-out karate riot—" was heard as the news played in the background of Charlie's home while she tried to focus on her homework. She had blocked most of the news reports out but tuned in when she heard Moon.

When the TV suddenly turned off, it surprised her, and she turned to see her mom was the one who did it.

"Hey! I was watching that," no she wasn't.

"No, you weren't," her mom said as she crossed her arms and added, "Besides watching this will only bring you more headaches."

"Just—just put it back on."

"Okay," her mom turned the TV back on, then raised her hands as she backed out of the room, "It's not my fault if you see something you don't like."

Charlie rolled her eyes and sat on the sofa, "Police are still looking for RobbyKeene, who ran away after kicking fellow student Miguel Diaz off a second-floor bal—"

She should have listened to her mother.

۪۪۫۫

Walking up the school steps feels like an eternity. The staff tries to make students keep an organized line as the students entering the school are being checked by security. When it becomes her turn she hears Macy calling out to her from the right side of the hall.

Charlie looks up from the security guard who was going through her feminine care bag, she accidentally makes eye contact with the boy standing next to Hawk, he was making a weird face/smirk towards her and the girls behind her.

She walked the opposite way of the girls behind but still heard half of what Hawk told them. She hid her laughter after hearing what one of the girls responded with.

"So," Macy drawled out as she hooked her arm with Charlie's, "How was your weekend? I mean, besides the days we didn't spend together."

"It was fine." Charlie didn't want to burden the other girl. For the past five days, Charlie had been trying to find clues to what happened to Robby. Every corner, every idea came up a dead end.

  "—matter, we all know you are not doing so great." See that's the thing Charlie really liked about Macy, she kept talking even when Charlie would space out, and when she came out of her bubble, Charlie would still know what Macy was talking about.

  "I'm sorry, it's just that Robby was my only friend growing up and to hear everyone talk shit about him when they don't know anything, is kinda driving me insane."

  Just like this morning, as she was walking towards school, she had accidentally eavesdropped on a group of older teens talking about how Robby planned the whole 'kicking Miguel down' from the very beginning. She was trying not to give him too much of an excuse, but she had seen his face after he had done that it had been an accident, but no one believed her, except for Macy, Theo, and Carter.

  Sam wanted to believe her but when Robby had ran away two weeks ago, her hope had started to fade. The longer he stayed away, the more absurd the rumors got.

  One rumor was that he was on drugs when he fought Miguel. Another was that he was paid to do it, and the worst of all was that he did it to kill Miguel.

  It was horrible. Honestly, if she was Robby she wouldn't want to come back either, especially if instead her father was looking after another boy, instead of looking for him.

Man, does she have some words for Johnny AND Daniel.

  One man wanted to become better for his son and the other was a father figure to the boy. They had both turned their backs on him in the end.

  Macy kept talking, knowing that she was half listening and half inside her head. They had made it to a table where Theo and Carter were waiting for them.

  "Dude! I was so lucky that the security guard who was checking me was distracted so he couldn't find any of my, you know, stuff," Carter had been speaking a little loudly so Macy smacked his head and threatened him.

  "Speak any louder and I'll tell the security guard! It's like, you wanna get caught or something!" Macy sat down next to a sleepy Theo.

  Just like the second time she met him, when Carter was on the floor and looking defeated, she patted his head because he looked like a sad golden retriever. This time he looked up, smiling, and nudged Charlie as she sat next to him as a thanks.

"So any luck finding your friend?" Carter asked her as she lightly copied Theo's math homework.

She signed at the question, "No, but we have to find him first before the police find him because."

"Yeah, it's better if he turns himself in before because if he's a dropout with the record it'll be worse in court if they get him on the run," Macy adds, supporting Charlie's words.

"Wait, we?" Carter looked at Charlie with a raised eyebrow.

"Not we, I mean we as i—" Charlie was cut off as she felt a hand cover hers. She looked up at Macy who nodded.

"Yes, we. You're our friend now and any friend of yours is our friend too," Macy continues to hold her hand as the other two boys agree.

"—thank you." Charlie's lip trembles as her eyes begin to sting, "We've only known each other for about a month and you guys are some of the best people I've met."

"Awe look at what you did Macy! You're making our youngest cry, and if she cries, I'll start to cry!" Carter's eyes begin to also water up as Theo sniffs, as to keep himself from also tearing up.

"You guys are such wimps, geez!" Macy turns her head away from them and tries to be discreet in wiping a lone tear away.

۪۪۫۫

  The last time she had seen Johnny Lawrence was the first and only time he had picked up Robby from school years ago. She had been waiting with her mom and Robby as they waited for Robby's mom, but she was unusually late.

  Her being late resulted in Charlie's mom, calling her and she confirmed that she wasn't picking him up. Robby's father was.

  Charlie had met him once before and she didn't really like him. He always failed to come to Robby's soccer matches. He forgot a lot of important dates and he was a drunk.

  Luckily, she liked Robby enough to play nice with his father, but in secret, she would always pretend to trip just to pull his pants down in public as if to catch herself from fully falling.

  Little Robby would always pretend that he didn't notice, but he'd always thank her by patting her head. Her mother told her that's where she got her head-patting habits from.

  The day he had picked him up, he had shown up with bruises on his face and smelling of alcohol.

  This brings her to today, standing in front of the man sitting in front of a corner market, just staring into space. He had two bottles of beer next to him and a half-empty one in his hand. She only had one word in her mind when she saw him and she wasn't scared to say it out loud.

  "Pathetic." Was said as she passed him to enter the store to buy snacks.

  "What did you say?" He lifted his head up and squinted his eyes at her, like he was trying to recognize her. She had stopped and turned towards him.

  "I said, pathetic, who pulls kids into an adult fight?"  She crossed her arms and looked up towards him as he stood up.

  He stuttered a bit surprised that this girl was seemingly coming after him, "What do you know about me?"

" I know you're a shitty dad." Charlie gasped before covering her mouth with her hand.

  Why am I getting so brave?

  Suddenly Johnny was taken back to several years ago, when his son's little friend said the exact same thing to him, and in almost the same exact place.

۪۪۫۫

  "Hey, you're that little brat who used to pants me!" Johnny shouted as he pointed to her, remembering the times he was talking to several women, and a little brat would come out of nowhere and embarrass him.

[a/n]
heyyyy it's been a while.
i had a very bad writers block
but i had a burst of inspiration and
i am re-watching cobra kai
so i wanna get back into writing.
i don't know if you know this
but i am still active on tiktok.
im still posting edits. that's one
thing im constant at but
hopefully and i mean hopefully
i get back to writing one chapter
a week or something. so see you
next week or in a couple of days
when i finish the next chapter.
don't be afraid to point out
mistakes i made because i
know it's been a while and i
haven't been riding so please correct me!

luv, t