CHAPTER THREE
catching the delinquent

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"are you sure you're ready?" diane asked. sam nodded in return. the two walked through the school doors side by side.

it had been a week now since diane joined debate. it was going smoothly. now that it has been 2 weeks since the school fight, sam was officially back.

"hand me the bags," a security guard ordered at the two girls. they've been at the school doors since the school fight, ensuring no weapons. it was so unnecessary.

diane threw her dark green bag onto the table, the guard rummaging through it. she took it back afterwards and waited for sam's backpack to be finished looking through.

a couple of girls started whispering as sam passed by. everyone the two girls passed stared, whispered, and giggled.

"i'm gonna go to class," sam mumbled.

"don't care about them," diane said. sam gave her a small smile, heading towards the staircase. leaving her alone, diane spotted demetri also standing alone.

"hey 'meat!" diane nudges his elbow when she walked up to him.

"i thought i told you i didn't want to be nicknamed a form of flesh," he whined. "hey, doesn't sam come back today?"

"yeah. she went to class—" diane pointed to the staircase. her eyes squint. "huh. she's just standing there."

"let's go." demetri starts to walk up to sam, diane following closely behind. he puts his hand on sam's shoulder, seemingly cutting her out of her trance. she whips her head back, clearly tense.

"woah. easy there, captain marvel. same team, remember?" demetri said, raising an eyebrow. sam's breathing was heavy and quick.

"i have to go." she spun around and ran away, completely opposite of where she was originally heading to.

"did something happen?" demetri turned and asked diane, completely clueless.

"just give her some time," diane replied. "a psycho literally slashed her arm."

"okay, okay, okay. sorry for being a little insensitive." demetri put his hands up as if he was guilty. diane scrunched her eyes at him. he was so odd.

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"robby stole a car?" diane repeated daniel's words in utter shock. he nodded slowly. she sat across from him at the larusso dinner table.

"we have a lead on finding him," daniel added. "enough about robby. how was debate today?"

"the teacher didn't really make us do anything. he just told us about what debate is... is robby still in california?" she tried to talk about school but really her brother was the only thing on her mind.

"yeah. we tracked the car and it's still here," daniel continued. "i might need amanda to come help me find him."

"if you need someone's help, i'm always free,"
diane beamed. she would take any opportunity to skip out on school, and especially to find her brother.

"nope, sorry diane." daniel shook his head. "i need an adult."

"what about robby's dad, johnny?"

daniel once again shakes his head. "no. i can't. i can't work with him."

"have you tried?"

he's quiet for a moment, really thinking about it. he shakes his head again. "it's too much trouble. we have history. you know all about it."

"c'mon. it would be good for both of them. you know, after you broke into johnny's apartment and took sam away, he and robby were actually talking," diane said. "and robby wasn't irritated the whole time. this could be good for them!"

daniel's face softens. for a moment, it seems like he'll agree. he shakes his head, signaling no.

"please? why are you so against him?"

"you know him well enough, diane."

"oh come on! that stuff happened what, thirty years ago? why are you still hung up about it?"

"he's not someone i can work with, diane." daniel's voice is stern, his face stiff.

"he's also fifty-something. he could've changed."

"that's what i thought before he reopened cobra kai. did i ever tell you about how kreese tried to kill him?"

"what?"

"and he welcomed kreese right back to the dojo like nothing changed."

"that same day, he told us that he'd kick kreese out."

"oh really? and how'd that go?"

diane paused. "can you do this one thing for me? for robby?"

daniel stopped to think again, this time he looks a little more angry. "i'll go to cobra kai and ask him." he finally said, getting up and grabbing his keys. "if anyone asks where i am, tell them i'm looking for robby."

diane eagerly nods, watching him leave. her phone dings and she picks it up. a text from an unknown number. she reads it. hi, it's devon!

she had given devon her number earlier today. she quickly typed up a message to send back, a conversation sparking through their phones.

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"okay, miyagi-do's shut down so what should we do after school now?" demetri put his hands on the lunch table. most of miyagi-do sat together, excluding sam. she sat with moon and yasmine, her two best friends, at a different table.

"we could make a band. call it the miyagi-dos. diane's on guitar, i'm on drums," chris suggested.

"hey, i can play recorder!" little red added.

"the least cool instrument," diane teased, leaning back in her chair.

"yeah and i'll sing about how great defense is." nate sarcastically said as he rolled his eyes, taking a bite of his school lunch hamburger.

"well, actually i can't really do stuff after school. i'm in the debate club," diane said. the whole crew stared at her. she furrowed her eyebrows. "what?"

"something i never would've guessed." demetri plopped his spork into his salad. "anyway, I don't think a band is a good idea. can any of us actually sing?"

it went silent.

"okay..." demetri trailed off awkwardly, no one responding to his question.

"we could practice karate in secret. maybe somewhere else we could meet up?" little red suggested.

"i could ask sam about it," diane added. she looked over at sam, sitting with her friends. moon was pointing to her phone as sam watched along with yasmine.

"excuse me? are you diane keene?" a school staff member tapped diane's shoulder. she looked up confused.

"uh, yeah, why?" she answered reluctantly. she glanced at the other miyagi-dos, hoping she wasn't guilty for any type of trouble.

"head to the office, you're getting picked up."

"oh, okay." diane quickly grabbed her backpack. who could've come to pick her up? sam was still sitting with her friends, and daniel already denied her coming along, so it couldn't be a larusso.

turns out, shannon, her mom's rehab life coach picked diane up. it was definitely a surprise to her as she never met anyone from the rehab center, let alone even see her mom since she decided to get rehabilitated. it was good though. her family could really benefit from that.

diane walked through the rehab center, following the life coach that picked her up. people did yoga everywhere and calming music played throughout the building.

she felt so out of place. diane made it to the backyard part of the place. a garden and a fountain were placed inside the fenced off area with plants cover the black bars.

she spotted her mom sitting with another person. As diane walked closer, she recognized who it was.

"robby?" diane blurted, running up to the small circle table.

"hey." he quietly mumbled, taking a bite out of a sandwich. shannon pulled out a chair and gave it to diane.

"called you over here so my kids can reunite." shannon smiled softly. "talk a little, i have to make a phone call." she got up and walked out of the small corridor.

"so...?" diane trailed off, speechless. just a couple hours ago she had millions of questions she could ask robby but her mind went blank. "you finally cut your hair?"

robby looked up, his eyes clearly teary. He nodded and continued eating.

it went quiet. the same awkward feeling. he was only missing for two weeks and a couple days, how could it be this different to talk to him?

"hm. you hungry?" robby asked.

diane shook her head. "already ate school lunch." robby still pushed the small platter of fruit towards her.

"how long have you been in here?" diane managed to ask. her heart was pounding so fast.

"just got here."

"oh." everything was different. the atmosphere was different. the space between them separated the siblings farther from each other, they were so disconnected.

"i'm sorry," robby finally blurted out.

"what?"

"I just... i just ran away. i thought i texted you but i didn't connection. i left you alone. i said i'd protect you but—"

"robby. it's okay."

"i didn't mean to kick him." it seemed like all his thoughts were spuying out at this moment.

"hey, you two good?" shannon walked back in and sat down with her kids. the whole family was back together. "I know this is hard. you two have always been so close, i knew, diane, you would be the first i'd call."

"thanks mom."

"i'm gonna... leave soon. i'm only gonna be here for a little longer. i need to go." robby brushed his hand through his hair.

"i just wanted... i just wanted to tell you and mom before i left. i'm heading up, maybe," robby choked on his words.

"what? how far will you go?" diane asked, her lip quivering.

"just— i don't know, —just far enough from here."

"and for how long? you can't just hide forever," diane cried.

"it's gonna be okay, robby. we're gonna figure this all out." shannon mumbled, listening to her kids' conversation.

diane looked up, hearing footsteps behind her. daniel stood in the gateway. the call her mom made was for him.

"we'll be right back, okay?" shannon grabbed her daughter's hand to pull her up. "just, just keep eating."

diane followed her mom, up to daniel. "is he okay?" daniel asked immediately. diane looked back at robby worriedly. his back faced the three.

"he's not right, daniel." shannon said. diane nodded in agreement. "he keeps talking like he's gonna leave town or something. please, you have to help him," she begged.

"i will. but you gotta trust me here, all right? we'll fix this." daniel walked up to robby as diane and shannon walked out to give the two privacy.

diane immediately hugged her mom once he left. "i missed you so much."

"me too, me too," shannon wrapped her arms around her daughter. "when i get out of this place i'm getting a job and i'll be able to be your mom again."

"when're you coming back?"

"around robby's birthday. i don't have an exact date yet."

diane turned around, hearing a radio buzz on. two cops entered the gated area.

"mom?" diane separated from the hug. she followed the cops in with her mother.

"what did you do?!" robby shouted angrily. he stood facing daniel, his chair on the ground.

"told them you'd turn yourself in. trust me the sentence will be much lighter."

"no— no. no, i can't!" robby panicked. His voice shaky and furious.

"you can. you have to!"

"you kept me talking so i wouldn't leave!"

"no, i was trying to help you." each of the men's voice's got louder and angrier by the second. the white cop charged into robby.

diane almost shrieked, cupping her hand on her face with her mom. shannon wrapped her arm around diane, partly to make sure she wouldn't charge at the cops to stop them.

she watched her brother get arrested, helpless.

the police man was basically wrestling robby down, putting handcuffs on him. when robby was fully taken control of, the officers walked him to the police car.

"it's gonna be okay, i promise." shannon wailed. it was like she was not only reassuring her kids, but also herself.

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a/n

fun fact i wrote & finished this chapter before chapter 2
i try to get each chapter past 2k words or at least near that point

diane defending johnny ?????? ok sorry i'm not giving enough insight on her character but i was thinking of making a prologue book bc i really wanna write season 1 & 2 but i didn't for this because devon wasn't included so AHH!! i'm conflicted