Chapter Sixty One
Primadonna

THE SECONDHAND EMBARRASSMENT that Sydney was feeling only grew worse the longer she had to watch Johnny try and influence the girls to join the dojo. At this point she wanted to crawl into a hole and die from being seen with him.  "I don't get it. I thought girls today were supposed to be tough," Johnny commented in disappointment. "Why can't we find anyone for our team?"

sydney scoffed. "We are tough but when a middle aged man walks up to us and says things like you have to be 18, it's just a tiny bit suspicious."

Miguel nodded.  "She's right,  sensei.  Maybe not everyone needs karate.  Especially girls who are already on sports teams."

"Hey Sydie,  hey Miguel,"  Moon greeted them when she walked up to them,  holding her pom poms. 

"Hey,  Moon,"  Sydney greeted back with a smile.

"Hey Moon,  what's up?"

"Apparently,  some perv was creeping on the track team so we're gonna practice inside,"  Moon explained.

Sydney slowly gave Johnny the side,  glaring at him to say I told you so.

"Please be careful,  Sydney.  You're tough but it's a scary world,"  Moon quickly said and Sydney gave her a soft smile.

"Don't worry Moon,  my boyfriend with the big muscles will protect me,"  Sydney responded bitterly and gave Miguel a faint glare.

"I said I was sorry!"  He mumbled.

Moon chuckled.  "What are you guys doing here?"

"We're just recruiting for our new dojo,"  Miguel answered. 

"Eagle Fang Karate,"  Johnny added,  trying to make it sound cool.

Miguel's eyes widened.  "Yeah.  You know,  you should join,  actually."

Sydney gasped.  "OMG please,  you don't know how hard it is being the only girl with a group of nerds!"

Miguel looked at her,  offended.

"Really?  Okay,"  Moon said with an innocent smile.  "Yeah,  that sounds like fun."  Her face fell,  "Wait.  Do. . . Do I have to hit anyone?"

Sydney closed her eyes,  knowing it was coming.

"Hell yeah,  you do,"  Johnny responded.

"Oh,  no,  then I-I'm out.  I-I can't do that whole physical aggression thing,"  Moon backed out.  "I could barely handle the time Sydney beat up that girl in seventh grade for pushing her during gym class,"

Sydney smiled proudly at the memory.

"You guys should ask my ex,"  Mon added. 

"Hawk?  Yeah—"

Moon shook her head.  "No,  my. . . my other ex.  She's the best athlete in school and she's not afraid to get into a fight,"

"She's not wrong,"  Sydney agreed,  "She gave me a black eye one year because I was asked some girl she had a crush on for a pen,"

"Jesus,  how many fights have you been in?"  Johnny questioned.

"Too many."  Moon responded.

"Well,  sounds like the badass babe we've been looking for,"  the man said,  his spirits lifting. 

"Yeah,  you might want to take a different approach with her.  Want some pointers?"

"Please."

"Absolutely."  The couple answered,  simultaneously.

metri 🎮
i'm trying to convince him
but he won't budge

syd
just keep trying
you're very persistent
he'll cave eventually

metri 🎮
maybe you should try
talking to him

syd
maybe
i'll try and call him later
if he doesn't answer
i'll break into his house

Demetri had told Sydney earlier that he was going to go to Eli's house to try and convince him to join Miyagi-Do again. Sydney had very little hope that he would go back but she tried to be encouraging.

She stood with Johnny and Miguel in the gym, watching the girl's gymnastics team practice. Piper did a round off back double back hand spring which seemed to impress the guys.

"I mean she's fast, she's strong. . ." Miguel started.

"Girl's a natural Eagle. Might even be better than you, Frenchy," said Johnny.

Sydney scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like that'll ever happen."

"Oh, which one is yours?" One of the dads asked Johnny.

"Well, that one looks good to me. Haven't talked to her yet though. I'm still working on my approach. Got any advice?"

Sydney snorted and quickly looked away to hide her laugh. Miguel shushed her quickly but hid his face in her shoulder to hide his smile.

The dad walked off, looking very distraught, and Sydney's face turned bright red from having to hold in her laughter.

"Okay, remember what Moon told you?" Miguel asked him.

Johnny nodded. "Yes, I will be awake."

Sydney snorted again and Miguel's eyes widened,  "Uh,  no.  No,  no,  no.  Be woke!"

Sydney dragged out a laugh as she and Miguel quickly caught up with him.  "Hey,  Piper,  I wanted to introduce you.  This is—"

"Sensei John Lawrence of Eagle Fang Karate,"  Johnny interrupted and introduced himself formally.

Sydney's eyes widened in shock.

"Let me tell you why my dojo is perfect for a modern young woman like yourself,"

"Modern young woman?"  Sydney whispered to her boyfriend.

"Just roll with it,"  he whispered back.

Piper raised her brows at him.

"We live in a world where you gotta be an alpha to survive.  You're either a killer or you're dead meat.  You gotta be a man.  At Eagle Fang,  we confront that problematic phrase and make it empowering for all,"

Sydney narrowed her eyes and felt one of them twitch as she stared at the man in disbelief.

"We reach anyone who identifies as female to embrace their queenly strength and tear down the neo-masculine hierarchy to control internalized sexism.  Take Sydney for example.  Nobody would ever thing a young woman such as herself would think to join something as physically demanding and male centered.  Now look at her.  she's one of our best students,"

Sydney wrapped her arms around Miguel's neck loosely and laid her head against the side of his.  "Am I dreaming right now or did he just say queenly strength and masculine hierarchy in the same sentence?"

Miguel wrapped one of his arms around her waist.  "Let's hold onto it while it lasts."

Piper nodded at Johnny's statement and smiled.  "Sounds inclusive.  But what about non binary and gender fluid?"

"Yes,  fluid is crucial.  If you don't hydrate,  it affects performance."  Johnny answered.

The British girl sighed.  "Ahh,  there he is."

Miguel laughed along with Piper.  "And he's funny,"

"Well,  actually,  I have been meaning to join a dojo.  I don't wanna be the last person in the valley who doesn't know karate,"  Piper explained. 

"Then today is your lucky day,"  Johnny declared.  He handed Piper one of the flyers.

"Hey,  Piper,  come check this out!"  One of the girls ont the team shouted.

"Okay,  cool,  I'll be there."  Piper said and she went back to her team.

Sydney's eyes widened at the man. "What in the word was that?"

"I can't believe you pulled that off!  Did you know what any of those terms meant?"  Miguel asked him.

"Do I look like I pee sitting down?  No offense,  Syd."

"Non taken but did you just say that I'm your best student?"  She brushed off and asked with a smirk.

"And it's the last time you'll here me say it."  He answered and walked off.

Miguel's face lit up and he looked at his girlfriend with open arms.  "Can you believe it?"

"Not really,  no,"  she shook her head and wrapped her arm around his waist.  "But now I won't be the only girl so I can't complain."

Sydney had her back leaned against one of the crates on the warehouse.  She was scrolling on her phone while her and the team waited for Piper to show up. 

"All right,  so she's a little late.  No big deal.  Just a few minutes,"  Johnny started,  trying to remain calm.

"Uh,  20 minutes,  actually,"  Mitch corrected.

"Yeah,  and I think I just saw a rat run by so I'm really not trying to stay here any longer than I have to,"  Sydney said in disgust.

Johnny gave the two of them a look.

"Okay,  uh,  look,  I-I'll dm her.  See where is she,"  Miguel spoke and took out his phone.

The sensei raised his eyebrows and looked over at the girl sitting on the floor.  "You let him dm other girls?"

Sydney shrugged.  "He's allowed to do whatever he wants if he's okay with losing a testicle,"

All of the guys' eyes widened and Miguel stared at her in fear.  He quickly looked at johnny.  "I'm loyal!"

"That's what they all say."

"I don't think Miguel is stupid enough to cheat on Syd,  sensei,"  Bert mentioned.

Sydney smiled at the younger boy.  "Aww,  thanks.  See,  he gets it."

Miguel was about to retaliate when he saw Piper's Instagram story.  "Oh no."

"What?"  Johnny asked.

"Uh. . ."

Sydney quickly pushed herself off the floor and walked around to stand on the other side of Miguel.  He started the live video.  It was of the gymnastics team pulling Cobra Kai merchandise and gear out of a bag. 

"Nothing but the best for the best.  Can't wait to kick ass with team Cobra Kai!"  Piper said to the phone.

Sydney gasped.  "Oh,  that little tramp."

"She joined Cobra Kai?"  Johnny voiced loudly in disbelief.

"Uh,  looks like they made designer gear for all the new students,"  Miguel informed.  "They for a bunch of new recruits."

"Yeah,  great.  So that what's just a big waste of time.  I even learned feminism."

"I'm going to knock her teeth out," Sydney seethed.

Miguel slowly patted her back and looked at Johnny. "Look, we can't give up. We have Sydney and there's no way she can lose the girl's division,"

"She'll have to compete more than once," Johnny informed and shook her head. "She'll be too tired."

Sydney scoffed. "I've been dancing since I was a kid. I don't get winded easily,"

"So you're tying to tell me you're okay with competing against how ever many girls that'll be at the tournament?" The man asked, his voice turning stern.

Sydney's gaze darkened. "If that's what it takes."

The pair stared at each other seriously. If there was one thing Johnny learned about the girl since the first day he met her, it was that she never backed down from a fight. She was a natural born fighter and leader. But she also wasn't just a student. She was someone he knew personally. He had to make a decision to be a sensei of a parental figure.

Johnny sighed. "You'll have to train twice as hard. No distractions. You're the one we're courting on."

It was a lot of pressure but Sydney was used to it. She loved the pressure. It made her work harder. She gave a firm nod. "I can do this."

Whenever I write Sydney and Johnny's dialogue, I was think of that Tik Tok sound that goes "what the fuck?" 😭

There will never be a scene as iconic as Johnny's feminist speech. It's top tier.

I'M SO SORRY FOR THE LONG AWAITED UPDATE. I kind of lost the motivation for this fic along with all my old ones because so many new shows are out and I have so many new ideas that I kind of forgot about my older ones. But I promise that I will be updating a lot more of my older fics!!!

Please tell me i'm not the only one who things Kill Bill by SZA is Sydney's song????