Chapter Ninety Nine
Primadonna

SYDNEY NEEDED TO get her priorities straight. She couldn't let whatever she was feeling about Tory cloud her judgement and dedication to winning the Sekai Taikai. It didn't matter what she felt, what mattered was being present with her team. So she locked away everything she was feeling inside of her and focused on her excitement about being in Barcelona.

While Johnny and Daniel were at the cocktail party, all of the karate kids took a trip to the aquarium. Sydney had a hold of Miguel's hand as she eyed all of the different teams around her, kids that spoke different languages and kids whose karate skills were probably 10x better than hers. She was intimidated obviously, but she wouldn't allow it to be shown on the outside. Confide was everything in this tournament and if Sydney was one thing, she was confident.

"You sure you're okay?" Miguel asked her for the fifth time since they left the hotel. He knew her well enduro know the battles that were happening inside her head, and Miguel was worried it was all too much for her.

"Miguel, I'm fine," she answered, emphasizing at the end, "I keep telling you that."

"Yeah, but I know what fine means in your language."

Sydney rolled her eyes. "Oh, c'est vrai?" She asked sarcastically. Is that right?

Miguel smirked. "Oui." yes

She couldn't help but smile. "I'm just happy to be here with you," she said and let go of his hand to wrap her arms around his torso, "it's so beautiful here."

"Gorgeous," he agreed, "maybe when we get free time we can go to the beach, have a long walk, maybe dinner. . ."

Sydney smiled warmly and tightened her grip on him. "Sounds perfect."

Charlie and Sam walked behind them hand-in-hand. "I'm so excited for this," he expressed with a normal giddy smile, "did I ever tell you about the time my parents took to the aquarium and I fell in the stingray tank?"

Sam looked startled by the information. "Oh my gosh, what happened?"

"Nothing bad. They're really friendly so they just swam past me," he replied and motioned his hand like a swimming fish. "I mean, we got kicked out, but, I didn't die or anything."

"Thank god for that," she said with a slight laugh. Sam swung their hands back and forth. "I'm so happy we're here together. Can you believe we're two of the captains?"

Charlie grew a wide smile. "It's so sick. If only Miguel was a captain. We'd be Syd and Miguel 2.0."

"That would be really cool but Robby'll be a great captain."

"Let's hope cause he seems a little distracted with the whole girlfriend betraying him situation," Charlie said bluntly. Sam used her free hand to hit his arm. "What? We're all thinking it."

She gave him a look. "Instead of judging him, try to help him." She lectured.

"I know, I know, don't worry." Charlie assured and wrapped his arm that was still attached to her hand around her shoulder. "Don't worry, Miss Larusso. Me and the boys got it handled.

Sam sarcastically rolled her eyes. "Oh yay."

Once they were all gathered in the aquarium, a photographer called for all of the team captains to join together for a photo. "Oh, you gotta be joking," Sydney mumbled. She crossed her arms.

Robby came and stood beside her. He watched Tory and her teammates step into the growing group of captains. "This is gonna be harder than I thought," he mumbled.

Sydney wanted to say something sarcastic but she understood how Robby felt. They both felt betrayed by Tory and they were both hurt. The only difference was Sydney was angry and Robby was confused and heartbroken. But they were on the same team and he was like her family. "Come on," she muttered and grabbed his arm, bringing him along with her.

She avoided eye contact with any of the Cobra Kai's. Sydney stood by Sam as Charlie stood behind her and Robby. The group of captains grew until they were all squished together. Sydney caught Miguel's eye from where he stood behind the photographer and she gave him an annoyed look. He just smiled at her.

"Now, everybody smile and say, 'Barcelona'." The photograph ordered. "One, two, three,"

"Barcelona," Sam and most of the captains repeated and smiled at the camera. She turned her head and saw Sydney standing there with a blank stare on her face. Her smile fell. "Syd,"

"Louder. Barcelona!" The photographer said again. He pointed at Sydney. "You there, pretty smile. Pretty smile."

It only made the scowl on her face deepen.

Charlie leaned his head close to her ear. "Pretty smile," he repeated and laughed when she pushed his face back.

Sydney sighed, giving in, and she smiled at the camera. "Barcelona," she said along with everyone else.

"Smile. More."

"If I smile any bigger, my jaw's going to fall off," she muttered while still forcing a smile.

"It's almost over. Hang in there," Sam muttered back, doing the same thing.

"And one more. You there in the back, smile. Miss in the front, smile bigger, por favor," the photographer instructed her and someone from the back of the group.

"She looks like she's ready to tear his head off," Demetri commented as he watched.

"If he keeps going, I'm sure she will." Miguel agreed.

"Okay, let's get one more—" Tory walked after getting annoyed. "Okay, never mind. We're done."

Charlie watched Robby go aged her and he put his chin on top of Sam's head. "Told ya."

Sydney walked back to her friends. "Never thought I would be so glad to have a camera out of my face," she said and tossed her hair off her shoulder.

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Syd?" Hawk joked, making them laugh.

She half rolled her eyes. "Funny. Funny." She grabbed Miguel's hand. "Shall we explore, my love?"

He internally melted at the my love. "Whatever you say," Miguel answered they walked away from their friends.

Charlie thought about the time he was in Cobra Kai more than he liked to. It was a dark time in his life when he went back and it got even darker after he and Cobra Kai trashed Sam's house. Cobra Kai sucks you in, it turns you into the worst version of yourself, and Charlie fell for their trap. Kreese manipulated him and now he was continuing to manipulate Tory. No matter what happened between them, Tory was his friend and he cared about her.

She stood alone under the aquarium dome with her head down. Charlie took slow steps toward her. "Tory,"

Tory lifted her head and he saw how emotional she was. She sighed. "You shouldn't be talking to me," she said and looked away from him.

"Why not?" He asked, really wanting to hear her explanation.

She scoffed a laugh. "Cause I'm a traitor, don't you know?"

"Probably so." Tory quickly looked at him again. Charlie shrugged. "But so was I, remember? I let Kreese sink his fangs into me, too."

Tory shifted her jaw uncomfortably and looked back at the fish swimming by her in the tank.

"I had a really hard time after what happened to Miguel at school, and I didn't know how to go about it. I let Kreese and all of you convince me that Cobra Kai was all I needed." He continued and sat down close to her. "I cannot begin to imagine how you're feeling, especially after your mom dying—"

Tory's eyes filled with tears. She continued not to look at him but she crossed her arms as a way to comfort herself.

"—and I'm so sorry. But I do know that we would have never made you feel alone during that time. We were a team, Tory. We love you." Charlie stood up again, hovering above her. "You're my friend, Tory. I still care about you. Please don't ever think that I don't."

"Charlie."

He looked up and saw Sam standing there. Her eyes flickered to Tory and her jaw shifted. "Let's go," she said.

Charlie glanced at Tory for a split second before walking around her. Him and Sam were about to leave when Tory said her name, "Sam."

She froze, clearly not wanting to speak to her. Charlie put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm gonna go find the guys," he said and left so they could talk.

Sydney left the gift shop with two bags of gifts in her hands. She flinched when Devon came around a corner and stood in front of her. "Syd!"

"Jesus, Devon."

"You might want to come see this," the young girl said with worried eyes.

Sydney's face fell and she followed Devon. "What's going on?" She questioned but didn't receive an answer. She heard loud voices the closer she got to where Devon was going on then she turned a corner, seeing a bunch of the international teams together in a room and saw Eli and Kwan in each other's faces. She walked up behind Demetri and tapped him on the arm. "D, what's going on?"

"The usual." Demetri answered simply.

"USA! USA! USA!" The international teams chanted.

Sydney watched Eli rub chalk on the white part of his shoe. She then looked up and saw a dolphin board with chalk marks on it at different levels.

"This isn't a good idea," Miguel voice his skepticism.

"E, are you sure you know what you're doing?" She whispered.

"I don't have a choice right, Syd." He answered and finishing chalking his shoe. He looked at Miguel. "Besides, toughest guy in prison, right? You said that."

Sydney narrowed her eyes. What?

"No. No, I didn't say that. I don't agree with that idea at all."

"You know what? This is dumb," Devon said and walked off from them.

"Where're you going?" Charlie called out.

"Anywhere but here!"

"I said that," Demetri said to Hawk.

"Whatever."

"Yo," one of the boys from Cobra Kai, the other male captain, said and they turned their heads. "Are you really the best your dojo has to offer?" He asked Eli.

"I'm tough enough to kick your punk ass." Eli snapped, looking him up and down and stepping closer to him.

"Please, you are not even captain," Kwan chimed in. Seeing Sydney, he smirked and uncrossed his arms. "There's one," he said and walked closer to them, "do you got what it takes?"

Sydney stared back at him, unimpressed. "I don't need to prove that I'm better than any of you. I know I'm better than you." She stated, causing a round of oohs from across the room.

Kwan just laughed mockingly. "You should put your money where your mouth is."

Miguel stepped in front of him, blocking his view from her. "Hey, we're not doing this," he said in a warning tone.

Sydney put her hand on his arm, about to tell her that she could handle it, when Robby showed up. "Come on guys, we're leaving."

Kwan stopped them as they were about to leave. "You always walk away from challenge?"

Charlie groaned. "Oh my gosh, this guy. . ."

"Or is it because girlfriend is on our team."

Sydney knew that struck at nerve. She leaned closer to Robby. "Don't let him get inside your head. He's just shit talking for fun." She whispered.

But Robby ignored her and turned back around, almost glaring at Kwan.

"Robby. Hey, you got this," Eli told him, standing on his opposite side. He held up the piece of chalk. "Show em what's up."

Sydney casted him a quick glare. It wasn't the time or place to start anything that could potentially lead to a fight. The only fighting that needed to happen was on the mat.

Robby glanced down at the chalk and then looked at her. "Sorry, Syd," he said and took the chalk from Hawk.

Sydney rolled her eyes and backed up. She stood by Miguel and leaned into him. "This is gonna end badly," she voiced.

He wrapped his arm around her waist. "Yeah, tell me about it." He muttered back, clearly annoyed.

"You got this, Rob." Charlie encouraged and clapped for him.

"What, I gotta kick above that line?" Robby questioned, keeping his voice calm.

Kwan laughed. "What, too easy for you?" He said condescendingly. "Okay, let's make a bet, then."

Sydney groaned to herself and titled her head back against Miguel's shoulder.

"You kick, then I kick. You win, you get my room. I win, I get your room."

She quickly lifted her head back up. "What?" She said out loud.

"You're on," Robby agreed and they shook hands.

"Robby," Miguel scoffed but it was already set in stone.

He turned back to them and Charlie scoffed as well. "Dude, what the hell?"

"Dude, you're gambling our rooms away?" Demetri said in disbelief. "Isn't that, like, a team decision?"

"I'm not gambling. I'm getting us an extra room," Robby replied confidently.

"That's gambling. He's gambling."

"Looks like I'm sleeping in the hallway." Charlie commented with a sigh.

Sydney looked up at him. "Hey, have some confidence in him, would you?" She said and watched the scene in front of her.

When Robby finished rubbing the chalk on his shoe, he came back to his team and they huddled together. "Okay, just give it a good running start," Demetri advised.

"Yeah, that Russian guy that went before you jumped way too early. The physics behind—"

"Hey!" He cut Hawk off. "I'm telling him. I know the physics. I'm going to a school world-renowned for it. Maybe you've heard of it."

Sydney groaned and closed her eyes.

"Oh, sure. 'I'm going to MIT'. I get it. We get it." Eli mocked in, the topic old and getting on his nerves.

"Okay!" Charlie interrupted them, their constant arguing giving him a headache. "You two are not helping him what so ever."

Sydney rolled her eyes and put her hand on Robby's shoulder. "You got this, okay? Think about what's at stake. You'll have to share a bed with one of these wankers. You sure you want that?"

The other boys looked offended. Robby cracked a smile. He turned away from them and focused in on the wall he had to kick.

"I'm not a wanker," Miguel whispered with a pout.

Sydney cupped his face. "Oh, I know, love. I was just trying to a point." She assured and kissed his lips really quick.

Eli narrowed his eyes. "So we're wankers?" He asked, pointing between him, Charlie, and Demetri.

"Yes, absolutely." She answered a little too quickly, causing Miguel to chuckle and them to object.

Everyone focused on Robby. Sydney held her breath. After a minute or two, Robby ran forward and jumped high off the ground. He skimmed his foot across the board and it made a scuff mark above the line underneath his.

The crowd gasped. Sydney smiled though she wasn't sure how high Kwan could kick. Robby could lose all together, or he could win, she really didn't know. She wouldn't form an opinion just yet.

Robby walked back over to them, casting Kwan a smug glare. The Cobra Kai captain smirked and took his spot. Kwan casted him a cocky smirk and jumped off the ground, spinning multiple times, and skimming his foot across the board, marking a line right above Robby's.

Sydney closed her eyes and sighed. She rubbed her face.

Charlie sighed disappointedly. "Yep, sleeping in the hallway." He mumbled.

It was silent as Kwan slowly walked up to Robby. He held out his hand expectingly and Robby took out his key card, reluctantly putting it in his hand. Demetri gave him his keycard as well. "Don't worry. I leave your bags in the hall."

There was a round of laughter as the USA team stood there in disappointment.

"Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai! Cobra Kai!" Kwan got the took to start chanting.

Sydney heavily rolled her eyes. "So much for making new friends," she commented and walked away, exiting the room.

"Yep. Just enemies." Charlie agreed, glaring at Kwan and his team.