❝ that's one way to strike first. ❞

―

DASH AND EMERY WERE AT THE PARK.

Dash sat on the ground in front of the bench where Miguel, Demetri, and Aisha sat. He was playing with a piece of grass as Emery and Hawk were sparring with Bert. Miguel was telling the group about what happened when he had shown up at Sam's house. He had seen Sam and her family eating dinner with another boy. Miguel had instantly assumed that there was something going on. He assumed the worst, especially after talking to her at school about it when she avoided the topic of Miguel meeting her parents.

Aisha was staring down at her phone, scrolling through social media, and not paying attention to anything that Miguel was saying. It was obvious that the girl was tired of hearing him mope about Sam. If Dash was being honest, he was kind of tired of hearing him talking about Sam too. He had nothing against her, and she had always been nothing nice to him; he just didn't feel like constantly hearing about her and nothing else. There were plenty of other things that they could talk about, but Sam always seemed to be the topic of choice.

Dash looked up from the piece of grass in his hands and glanced at Demetri.

"Come on, eat something," Demetri told Miguel, trying to get him to eat a sandwich. "It'll make you feel better."

Miguel held the sandwich in his hands and stared down at it, playing with the plastic bag. "I told you I'm not hungry, man."

Demetri sighed. "I still think you're overreacting."

"I'm not overreacting, dude," Miguel insisted. "I know what I saw."

"All right, so you saw her eating dinner with some chode," Hawk responded, kicking Bert in the face.

Bert yelped as he fell to the grass. Emery held her hand out in front of the small boy, pulling him upright. Bert gave her a quick thanks as he adjusted his glasses.

"What the hell is a chode?" Emery asked, but she didn't get an answer.

"It's probably her brother or something," Hawk told Miguel as he and Emery started walking over to the bench.

"No, dude," Miguel said, shaking his head. "Brothers don't look at their sisters like that."

"Depends on what part of the country you're in," Demetri responded.

Dash turned to look at him with a disgusted look, hitting him on the leg. Demetri gave him an offended look, and Dash told him not to be an idiot.

"Look, I just don't want what happened to Sensei to happen to me," Miguel admitted.

"All right, so you go over to this kid and beat his ass so he doesn't have the chance," Hawk responded.

"Don't listen to Eli," Demetri said as Miguel shook his head.

Hawk glared at Demetri. "It's 'Hawk,'" he corrected him.

"Yeah, whatever," Demetri replied before turning the focus back on toward Miguel. "The fact is, Sam's given you no reason not to trust her."

Emery nodded her head in agreement. "Exactly. You shouldn't just jump to conclusions."

Miguel shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you guys are right."

"Oh!" Aisha exclaimed out of nowhere. "That little bitch."

They all turned their heads to look at her, confusion on their faces.

"What?" Miguel asked.

"You know that video I posted of me breaking that board?" Aisha asked.

Miguel nodded. "Yeah."

"Look what Yasmine commented."

She turned her phone to Miguel. Emery looked over his shoulders, reading Yasmine's comment. Emery groaned and rolled her eyes. Aisha turned the phone to Dash so that he could see. Dash leaned closer, shielding his eyes from the sun to read the words on the screen.

"Oh shit," Miguel responded.

Aisha looked down at her phone again. "I gotta do something."

"How about we kidnap her and have my boy Rico tattoo 'bitch' on her face?" Hawk asked.

Emery punched him in the shoulder and shook her head at him. "How about we try something not illegal?"

"Calm down, Hawk," Demetri said.

Hawk glared at him. "All right, I hear how you're saying it, and I don't like it."

"Wait, wait, wait," Aisha said, waving her hand around. "I've got a better idea. Look."

Aisha turned her phone toward the others, showing them that Yasmine was throwing a party later at the canyon. Apparently, it was VIP only, and they knew that meant only the people considered popular were allowed to attend. Dash just rolled his eyes. He didn't care about Yasmine or her stupid party.

"Yasmine's throwing a birthday party at the Canyon later?" Miguel asked.

"Not if we strike first," Aisha said.

"Hell yeah," Hawk responded.

Dash raised an eyebrow. "Am I supposed to know what that means?"

"It means we're crashing," Emery explained.

Two hours later, Dash and Emery stood in the minimart next to Cobra Kai. Dash stood in the candy aisle next to Demetri as Aisha piled snacks into Bert's arms. Emery leaned up against one of the shelves.

"All right, be sure to stock up good," Aisha announced. "I'm inviting everyone. VIP only, my ass."

Demetri leaned over the shelf slightly. "I still don't understand how we're gonna buy alcohol."

"Oh, please," Hawk scoffed as he walked over to the freezers in the back. "Never underestimate the power... of the Hawk."

Dash and Demetri exchanged a quick glance with each other as he grabbed a case of beer. Dash rolled his eyes before he walked away and stood next to the rack of magazines. Bert handed the snacks in his arms to Emery and followed Dash to the corner of the store. Emery followed Hawk up to the checkout.

She placed the snacks in her arms on the counter as Hawk placed the case of beer down.

Dash thought there was no way this was going to work. He wasn't even sure why Hawk was trying. There was no way this guy was even going to believe for a second that Hawk or Emery were old enough to buy beer.

"Sup?" Hawk asked the man at the counter.

The man remained silent, staring at the two teenagers.

Hawk pointed at the man's Los Angeles Dodgers shirt. "Oh, did you catch the game last night? See Puig with the walk-off?"

Emery furrowed her eyebrows, having no idea what that meant. But the man seemed to, nodding his head.

"Nah, man," he replied. "But I heard he flipped the bat to the moon."

"Yeah, I was at the bar last night with my buddies from work," Hawk told him. "Whole place went wild."

"I wanted to go, but my girlfriend dragged me to some lame-ass play," the man responded.

Hawk nodded his head. "Bitches will be bitches."

Emery glared at him and scoffed, but Hawk didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah," the man agreed.

"So, uh, how much is it gonna cost?" Hawk questioned.

"Gotta check your ID first."

Hawk chuckled. "I'm flattered.

The man just stared at him blankly without saying anything. Emery glanced up at Hawk, nudging him in the arm to say something.

"Do you really think I'm underage?" Hawk asked before he pointed to Emery. "I mean, this is my frickin' wife right here." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

Emery smiled at him. "Three years. Going strong."

Hawk nodded his head, pointing behind them to Bert. "And that's my frickin' kid."

The man looked at Bert and then glanced between Hawk and Emery.

"From a previous marriage," Emery lied quickly. "He might be my stepson, but I love him as if he were my own."

The man just stared at them. "Yeah, I still need to see it. It's required by law." He turned to Emery. "You too."

Emery panicked for a second before she remembered that she had gotten a fake ID the same time that Hawk did. She had just forgotten about it, thinking that she would never have any reason to use it.

"Oh, yeah, for sure," Hawk responded as he pulled out his wallet. "Just upholding the law. It's all good."

Emery reached for her wallet from her back pocket and opened it, retrieving the fake ID. The man grabbed Hawk's ID first and looked down at it. He kept looking down at the card and then back up at Hawk.

"Whatever," the man said as he tossed Hawk's ID on the counter.

"Do you still need to see mine?" Emery questioned.

The man shook his head. "Nah, you're all good, Mrs. Hawkman."

Emery smiled, trying to keep herself from laughing. She forgot that according to his fake ID, Hawk's name was Walter Hawkman.

The man ducked down. Hawk turned around and stuck his tongue out at the others. He gave Emery a silent high five. Dash couldn't believe that they had actually managed to pull it off.

"Uh...and how about eight bottles of that vodka right there?" Hawk asked, pointing behind the counter.

────────────

Dash and Emery stood on the beach at the canyon. It was overflowing with people. Better yet, it was flowing with people that Yasmine would have never invited in a million years. They were waiting for Yasmine and her friends to show up. Emery could just picture the look on Yasmine's face when she realized that they had gotten there first and crashed her party. She was going to freak, and Emery couldn't wait.

Dash still didn't want to be there. He didn't think it was that great of an idea, and parties had never really been his thing. He would have preferred to stay at home and watch movies all night with Emery like they used to do, but she had insisted on coming to the party. Like Dash, Emery had never been a fan of parties, but ever since she had joined Cobra Kai, it was suddenly like her whole perspective had changed. All she could talk about was wanting to be the girl who got invited to all the parties.

Emery was about to say something to Hawk, but then she realized that he wasn't paying attention to her. He was too busy looking at Moon. Emery rolled her eyes so far back into her head that the whites of her eyes were showing. Emery walked over to a cooler and grabbed another beer.

"You should probably slow down," Dash warned her. "That's what; your second already?"

"It's fine, mom," Emery joked. "Don't worry about me."

Dash sighed. "Okay. I'm choosing to believe you. Don't make me regret it."

"Don't you have someone else to bother?" Emery asked, taking a sip of her drink. "Like, I don't know, maybe Demetri? Have you told him how you feel yet?"

Dash shook his head. "Nope. What about you? Have you told Eli?"

"I keep getting interrupted, and it's like all he can think about is Moon," Emery responded. "It's always Moon this and Moon that."

"Then why don't you employ that strike first, Cobra Kai mentality that you love so much?" Dash asked her.

Emery furrowed her eyebrows at him. "What?"

"I mean, it's not just for karate, right? That's what Miguel said at least," Dash explained. "Why don't you just strike first?"

Emery turned her head to where Hawk stood, talking to a group of people. She looked back at Dash, nodding her head.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're right," Emery told him. "But first, I think I'm going to need a little bit more liquid courage."

Emery took a large swig of her drink.

"Good luck with that," Dash replied. "I'm going to go find Demetri. Please take it easy."

"I will," Emery nodded. "And hey, maybe you should listen to your own advice."

Dash scoffed. "Yeah, right."

He turned on his heels and walked away, scanning the beach for Demetri. Night had officially fallen when he found him standing next to a cooler with Miguel. Dash walked up to them, right as Miguel started to walk away.

"Is he okay?" Dash questioned.

Demetri shook his head. "I don't think so. He's still bummed about Sam. She's gone pretty much AWOL on him."

"I'm sure there's a good reason for that," Dash reasoned.

"Perhaps," Demetri responded. "So, uh, are you having fun?"

Dash shrugged. "Not really. I hate parties."

"I know you do," Demetri replied. "Even your own birthday parties."

Dash sighed. "Yeah. They're really not my thing."

Emery walked up to them. She didn't say a word as she took another long swig of her drink and tossed it to the ground.

Emery didn't wait for them to respond. She had spent the entire night watching as Hawk and Moon flirted shamelessly with each other. Emery wasn't going to let it go any further than that. There was no way in hell she was about to let Moon swoop in and steal Hawk right out from underneath her.

When Moon left because someone called her name, Emery walked right up to Hawk, grabbed his shirt, and planted her lips onto his.

Dash and Demetri stood to the side, watching the entire thing take place. Dash's eyes went wide, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He couldn't believe that she actually had enough courage to do that. The old Emery never would have just walked right up to him and kissed him like that. She would have stayed back the entire night, pouted the entire time, and then complained about it when they got home later that night.

Dash didn't actually think that she would do it when he told her to strike first. Had Cobra Kai really given her that much of a confidence boost that she was able to just up and kiss him out of nowhere?

That wasn't what Dash was really worried about, though. He knew that now that Emery had in a way confessed her feelings for Hawk, he had to do the same with Demetri. He just had no idea how he was going to do it. There was no way he was just going to kiss him out of the blue, and writing him a letter had been a complete bust. He knew that he couldn't find the right words no matter how hard he tried, but a deal was a deal. It just seemed like no matter how hard Dash tried, he couldn't bring himself to have enough confidence to tell Demetri the truth.

"That's one way to strike first," Demetri commented.

"Yeah," Dash responded. "Hey, look about striking first...I wanted to tell you that I really li—"

"Hold that thought," Demetri said, interrupting him as he walked over to Hawk and Emery, who were now just talking.

Dash sighed and then followed him. Emery stood up from her seat and gave him a look—a look that just screamed, 'I confessed; now you have to do it too.' Dash turned away from her as Demetri took a seat next to Hawk on the log. Dash could feel Emery's eyes on him as they listened to Hawk and Demetri's conversation.

"I don't get it," Demetri said to Hawk. "You shave half your hair, get a tattoo, and just like that, everything changes?"

"All right, let me let you in on a little secret," Hawk responded. "It's not just a haircut or the back tattoo. It's a way of life, man. You just gotta feel the energy and just live in the moment, you know?"

Hawk patted him on the back before walking over to Emery. He grabbed her hand and started pulling her with him.

"That is the most McConaughey thing I've ever heard," Demetri remarked.

Emery gave Dash a smile and a thumbs up as she walked off. Dash sighed and then walked over to Demetri. You can do this, Dash. Do what Hawk said and live in the moment.

Dash took a deep breath. "Dem, I really need to tell you something."

But Demetri wasn't paying attention to him. He was too busy looking at Yasmine.

Demetri didn't even listen to him as he said, "Live the moment."

Dash watched as he took a drink from his cup and then stood up. walking over to Yasmine.

Dash tried not to show that he was disappointed as he watched him try and talk to Yasmine. It was clear that she wasn't interested, which made Dash feel a little bit better. When Yasmine walked away from him, Dash tried to hide the fact that he was smiling by taking a drink from his cup.

While Dash tried not to act like he was happy that Demetri's attempt to talk to Yasmine had been unsuccessful, Emery was standing next to Hawk and Aisha. Yasmine came marching up to them. Dash followed her, knowing that this was not going to be good.

"Hey!" Yasmine shouted at Aisha. "You think it's funny crashing my party?"

"It's not really your party, 'cause we're here first," Aisha responded.

"Yeah, well, I know you and your little karate gang think you're cool, but we all remember who you really are," Yasmine retorted. "You're just a fugly bitch, and your friends are all freaks."

Yasmine turned to look at Moon, who had surprisingly been okay with the fact that Emery had kissed Hawk. She wasn't bothered by it at all. She had actually even apologized to Emery for how badly she and Yasmine had treated her in the past.

"Come on, Moon," Yasmine said. "Let's go."

Moon shook her head. "No, I'm staying. I apologized to Aisha and Emery for what we've done, and you should too."

"Whatever," Yasmine said. "You deserve them, Moon."

Yasmine tried to walk away, but Aisha stopped her. "Hey, Yasmine!"

Yasmine turned around and started to walk toward Aisha. "Huh? What?"

"Let me help you to your car," Aisha said as she grabbed Yasmine's underwear and pulled them up, causing Yasmine to scream. "No mercy, bitch!"

Emery tried not to laugh as Yasmine's feet dangled off the ground, but when Aisha let go and Yasmine fell to the ground, she just couldn't help it. Everyone else around her started laughing too.

Well, everyone except for Dash. He knew that Yasmine had been terrible to all of them, but he didn't think that giving her a front wedgie was necessary. What was the point in embarrassing her the same way she did them? Dash walked up to Yasmine and tried to help her up, but she pushed him away.

"Get away from me, freak!" Yasmine yelled at him as she stood up and started running away.

Dash watched her run away as everyone continued laughing. He never thought he would say this, but he actually kind of felt bad for Yasmine. That wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was that Emery—who was against bullying no matter who was getting bullied—was laughing harder than Dash had ever seen her laugh before.

— EMILIA'S NOTES

chapter 9 rewrite!! added about 2,000 words to this chapter and a lot more conversation. it flows a whole lot better too.

i'm going to be binge editing/rewriting this fic soon so that i can get more chapters out and then continue writing new chapters.