Chapter Seventy Four
Primadonna

SYDNEY'S COMPETITIVE NATURE and Eli's revenge state of mind is what made them a great duo. When you put the differences they have aside and forget that they completely hated each other — she hated him more than he hated her — at one point of time, they really weren't that different. There was a point in time where Eli forgot who he was because he wanted to be someone else. Sydney always tried hiding her true feelings because she was afraid of what people might say if they understood who she truly was. They were two sides of the same coin.

But in the end,  they were able to come together.  Eli,  alongside Demetri,  were her best friends.  They were supposed to be in each other's lives because they made her better.  She found the people in her life who she would protect forever;  kill for.  Sydney spent the intense time at the water park giving Eli pep talks,  helping him keep up his confidence.  "Okay.  Now,  just remember,  if all else fails — you can always drown her."

Eli's eyes slowly looked her way.  "Drown her?  That's a bit excessive,  Syd."  He said.

She threw him a look.  "They corner you in a tattoo shop and held you down to shave your head.  You're saying I'm excessive?"

He opened his mouth to argue then paused.  "Uh. . ."  He tried to say.  "Yeah,  you're right.  I got nothing."

She flashed a satisfied smile and squeezed his shoulder.  "Go get 'em,  tiger."  She encouraged.

Eli and Tory went to retrieve their tubes from Kenny.  Sydney stood back and sat her hands on her hips,  sucking in a quick breath.  She felt a presence come and stand beside her.  "I guess we're all lucky it's not you up there instead of him."

A small smirk crept on her lips.  "Please.  We all know I'd win."  She insisted on it.

Miguel chuckled slightly.  "Sometimes your competitiveness scares me,"  he told her.  "It's like you've got three different personalities."

She looked his way.  "What are the other two?"

"Sydney Benoist:  the well known primadonna who's not afraid to literally drag someone if they even look at her the wrong way,"  he began to explain.  She laughed.  "Sydney Benoist:  competitive ballerina who's not afraid to kick you in the face with a flawlessly flexed foot."

She shook her head and continued with her laughter.  Miguel hadn't heard her laugh like that in a while.  It was his favorite sound.  "You're so ridiculous."  Her British accent was music to his ears.  "What about the third?"

The brown eyed boy didn't respond.  His eyes stared ahead of him but a smile visibly threatened to appear on his lips.  He tightened his mouth so that it wouldn't grow.  "I'll tell you another time."  Was all he said.

Sydney narrowed her eyes slightly at him but she didn't say anything.  She only looked away. 

Soon,  everyone gathered by the Double Dragon to watch the race between Eli and Tory. Sydney stood anxiously and clapped along with everybody else. "Let's go, Eli!" She shouted over all of their yells.

"Hawk! Hawk! Hawk! Hawk!"

"Tory! Tory! Tory! Tory!"

Her eyes searched the fast moving slides for any sight of the boy but all she could see was Tory zooming until she finally came out the end into the water. Half a second later, Eli exited. She let out a defeated huff.

"What the hell? You guys cheated. There's a hole in my tube!" Eli shouted in anger while holding his deflated yellow tube.

The cheers for Tory died down and Sydney's eyes blazed with anger. "Why am I not surprised?" She threw her hands up.

"Cheaters! Cheaters! Cheaters!" A string of loud boos replaced the cheers and Tory's face fell.

Eli came storming out of the water and he stood in front of Kenny. "Hey, dispshit. I know this was you." He blazed.

As soon as Kenny went in for a swing, Miguel quickly left her side and ran to them. Sydney sighed dramatically. "I am so sick of this shit." She hissed to herself.

When they were finally kicked out of the water park, Sydney's day was completely ruined. It was like the universe didn't want her to relax. It constantly wanted her to be stressed and angry. "I just don't understand why everything has to lead to a fight.  Why can't we just have one normal day?"  She rambled on in the passenger seat of Sam's car. Yasmine and Anthony sat in the backseat on their phones. Moon had went home with Eli. "Like, who the fuck decided that a water park was the perfect place for a war zone? A water park."

"This is exactly why I'm not doing karate again." Sam agreed with her, her eyes on the road.

"Right? All it's ever done is screw everything up." The Brit scoffed. She rested her elbow on the car door and rubbed the side of her face, releasing a stressful sigh.  "I'm going to get stress pimples.  And I used to think dance was exhausting."

Sam grinned.  She glanced at her briefly before looking back at the road. "How are things? Y'know, between you and Miguel?" She asked with caution.

Sydney looked at her from the corner of her eyes. "Uhh. . ." She started. "I guess we're friends? Like, I not how we used to be, but, I can still talk to him. It's just kind of hard."

The girl nodded. "No, yeah. I get it. Trust me. When all that stuff happened with Charlie, I didn't think there was a possibility that we would be okay."

"And look at you guys now," she said with a smile. "I'm really happy for you, Sammy."

Sam smiled widely in return. "I think you guys will be okay. The best thing for you right now is to focus on yourself."

"You're right." Sydney nodded. She looked out the window. "I don't want to lose myself again."

"You're telling me there was almost another karate break out at the water park?"  Charlie asked disbelievingly,  his eyes wide.

Sydney sat with the boy and Sam in the mall food court.  Her manicured nails twirled the white straw in her sweet tea,  her food barely touched.  They were currently filling him in on all of the events that took place.  "Yep.  All because Cobra Kai are cheaters."

"And now mom's taking Anthony and I to go stay with her sister because Kreese is terrorizing my dad and it's breaking them apart."  Sam added in with a miserable frown. 

Charlie blinked.  "Jesus,  I go out of town for one day and I miss so much." He shoveled a hand full of fire into his mouth.

"I thought Tory was the worst of them. Kenny's the worst," Sam huffed, her arms crossed over her chest.

"You would think after almost getting his teeth kicked out of his head would knock him down a peg, but he just seems to have gotten worse." Sydney said with a bitter voice. "Not to mention Tory."

"Still a snake?"

"The Queen Cobra." She finally drank her sweet tea.

"I don't know what you ever saw in her."  Sam said to the boy,  scoffing slightly.

Charlie didn't respond.  He only slowly chewed on the fries he was eating. In all honesty, he had not thought about his relationship with Tory since everything that went down at Sam's house. The break in, the fight, the manipulation, it was the last straw for him. He was happier with his life. He was happy with Sam. He was happy with his friends.

But it didn't mean he didn't think of how lonely the girl from Cobra Kai probably was. Lonely and panic stricken. He had seen what it was like behind the walls of the Cobra Kai dojo. It was changing her for the worst because Charlie thought he knew Tory. He knew her home life and all the shit she had to endure in the short years she had been alive. He had hope in his heart that she would realize that she didn't belong with the cobras.

But he was wrong and although they were over, he still cared about her.

sydney and eli bestie duo <3