"Ready, bow!" Johnny announced when they all arrived the next day.

"Sensei Lawrence and I have the same goal of preparing you for the tournament." Daniel said soon after. Sadie kept rubbing her eyes, clearly beyond tired but was trying to keep herself awake.

"But we have different ways of getting you there." Johnny spoke awkwardly, but it was clear he'd wanted to make it seem like a good plan.

"We realize that teaching you opposing viewpoints at the same time can be a little confusing." the LaRusso man nodded sympathetically. Sam nudged Sadie with a questionable look at the way she kept rubbing at her eyes and trying to stay awake.

"So we've discussed it and came up with a solution. We're gonna divide and conquer." the blonde man nodded, making Sadie look toward Miguel in questioning. "Eagle Fang trains out front."

"And i'll be back here with the Miyagi-Dos." Daniel waved his hands around as he spoke.

"I thought we were stronger working together." Miguel spoke up with an odd look.

"We're still working together." Daniel reassured him.

"Doesn't feel like it." Sadie mumbled.

"Just reparably." Johnny added in. "On opposite ends of the dojo. All right, Eagles, follow me."

"I'll see you when we're done?" Sam looked to Sadie as they all began to spread out. "I was excited for us to train together."

"Me too." Sadie gave a tiny smile. "It'll probably just take a little bit, though. We should do something after this."

"Like what?" Sam gave a questionable look. "Like, take a nap? You look really tired."

"My mom and I were up late watching the nature channel." Sadie spoke through a yawn, her eyes watered from doing so. "We could go look at the stars?"

"Okay, I'll find you after." Sam gave a smile, leaning over as they peaked lips. Sadie was the last to follow after the dojo, shutting the gate door behind her.

"Fall in!" Johnny yelled at them, Miguel moving over so Sadie could stand by his side. Johnny scanned their faces over. "Hawk, since you're new to Eagle Fang, come on up."

He took a step forward and bowed. "Yes, Sensei."

Sadie's eyes widened when Sensei kicked his legs out from under him, wincing slightly when his back hit the ground. She nudged Miguel as they shared a similar look, taken off guard. Hawk laughed as he looked up at him. "What the heck?"

"Today we're gonna practice our front sweeps. On Hawk." the blonde nodded at the ones left standing. Sadie rose an eyebrow, shrugging her shoulders, not finding the idea half bad.

"All right. I know I was a dick, but i'm sorry." Hawk rose to his feet as Johnny looked over at him.

"Talk is cheap. Who's next?" the older man looked at the group, giving Sadie a small smile. "Fangs? You wanna show us how it's done?"

"Oh my god." Hawk mumbled under his breath, cracking his back to prepare.

Sadie smiled as she bowed. "Yes, Sensei."

Hawk took a breath as she stood infront of him. "I left you a voicemail."

Sadie smiled. "I blocked you."

With a quick swing of her legs, she didn't go anywhere near the legs, instead her foot hitting him in the balls instead. Hawk winced, nearly falling down. Sadie nodded with a small smile. "How was that?"

"You kicked him in the balls? What the hell is wrong with you?" Sensei Lawrence looked at her in disbelief, clearly taking sympathy upon the boy. Sadie rose her hands in defense, backing off. "Punch him in the face, don't be a pussy."

"I'm not a pussy." Sadie defended herself with a harsh glare. Gus, a new boy, pushed Sadie out of the way and sweep Hawks legs out from under his feet. Sadie gave a small glare, but caught herself. Maybe she didn't like anyone hurting him unless it was her.

"Boom! Nice shot, Gus!" Johnny smiled at him.

Miguel gave Sadie an apologetic look. "I don't think you're a pussy."

She took a breath. "Maybe I am."

"Sensei Lawrence." Daniel walked out of the Dojo, looking his way. Sadie looked over, seeing Demetri and Sam looking out the door before it was shut. "May I have a word with you?"

"Walk it off. Take a five." Johnny nodded to Hawk and the rest of the students. Sadie clearly was taking the comment way too close to heart, because her face looked offended and like it was balling up in her chest.

Sam opened the dojo as they walked in. "What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" Sadie asked with an odd look, taking the water Sam gave to her.

"You look like someone just told you that leather and florals don't go together." Sam said, making Sadie look over with wide eyes. "I like them together!"

"Sensei Lawrence called me a pussy." Sadie mumbled, like a child would when demanded to say what they did, looking down.

"Doesn't he call everyone that?" Sam frowned her eyebrows, taking the water back with a small sip.

"Yeah, but still." Sadie sighed with a shake of her head. "I don't know why it made me feel so weird. I look up to him a lot."

Sam blinked. "You-You look up to him?"

"He made me cool, I was just walking around and talking shit until I joined the dojo." Sadie shrugged with a minor sigh. "What I did was a pussy move. I should have just swept the leg, i'm so dumb."

"Sadie, what's going on with you? It's okay." Sam grabbed her arm in worry with an odd look. "I think you should take a nap after this, lack of sleep is probably messing with you."

"I just-" Sadie began, giving a minor huff as she grabbed Sams hand tightly. "My anger is getting the best of me again and I don't want it to."

"It's not." Sam grabbed her arms tightly. "Come on, Moon told you you're a fire sign, you're a little hot headed."

"No, I know." Sadie nodded her head with a minor swallow. "But I just don't want to be as mean as I was back then, when I joined Cobra Kai. I feel like that's still inside of me and i'm getting so mad and I don't want anyone thinking i'm that way again."

Sam nodded understandable. "I have an idea on what to do after class. Do you trust me?"

Sadie gave a single laugh. "Absolutely not."

"Good." Sam grinned, rocking on her heels some. Hawk was storming out of the small room, pulling the dojo doors open. Sadie faced the room, seeing Demetri, Bert, and Chris walking out. Sam sighed when Sadie walked over. "Sadie."

"What did you say to him?" she looked at the three. "Demetri?"

"It wasn't me." Demetri shook his head.

"Just reminding him what all he did with his bullshit apology." Chris said back with a eye roll.

"He apologized to you guys?" Sadie asked, blinking, clearly taken back.

"Doesn't matter. He shouldn't be here." Bert rolled his eyes, Sadie looked at him. "You believe that more then the rest of us."

Sadie shook her head. "He does belong here. I know he did shitty things, and you can be angry all you want to, but at least accept that he's trying."

Demetri and Sam both rose they're eyebrows, both holding back from telling her to take her own advice.

"You've been kicking his ass since he'dagotten here. What, you're the only one allowed to say anything to him?" Chris looked in disbelief, eyeing her in judgement. "You're that big of a hypocrite?"

Sadie glared, stepping forward. "What did you just call me?"

She gave him a shove, his back hitting the wall. Sam shook her head. "Woah, woah, woah, back up."

"What's going on?" Daniel walked inside with an alarming look, Sadie looked over and saw a red Mohawk storming off, leaving completely.

"She's going crazy again." Bert pointed to Sadie. "Next thing you know she's gonna do what she did at the last All Valley tournament."

"I shoved him, don't get your panties in a twist." Sadie glared at Bert knowingly.

"Okay, there shouldn't be any shoving." Daniel announced, Sadie looking over in his direction. "If this is gonna work, you can't act out and hurt people every time you get mad. You want to resolve something? Talk about it and figure it out. The answer definitely isn't showing up to kick the crap out of someone in her own backyard and then leave a bite scar on her."

"Dad!" Sam yelled when he got a little too personal.

Sadie looked over at Sam, because she never knew she bit her enough to scar her. "There's a scar?"

Daniel immediately felt guilty by the girls voice, soft and weak. "Look, Sadie, let's just work on it together. I shouldn't have-"

"I'm sorry." Sadie stared at Sam, storming out of the Dojo quickly.

"Fangs, hey, come back." Johnny tried to stop her from leaving. He looked back at Sam. "What the hells going on with her?"

"I don't know. She really off today." Sam gave a worried look, feeling uneasy and like Sadie wasn't telling them everything that was going on.

She didn't like to open her window anymore. Hawk kept his open unless he was sleeping, and they lived so close, talking through their windows countless of times. When she got home, throwing her bag on the ground, she checked her text messages.

Mom: I know i've been gone this whole week, work is getting really packed, a lot of kids need me. I promise i'll be home by the end of the week. I love you.

Sadie threw her phone, running a hand through her hair and holding it there a second. She hit her forehead with a long inhale, walking toward the kitchen quickly. Her dad wasn't allowed to drink with his condition, but when he went away, Sadie's mom had put a few bottles of alcohol in the fridge for mixed drinks.

Sadie grabbed the thing of tequila, taking a sip as it burnt her. She hated it and loved it all at once, shutting the fridge and sitting on the couch. The house was so quiet, so lonely, so perfect for her thoughts to scream at her. She took another long sip, coughing this time. There was a knock. Her head snapped toward the door. "Hang on!"

She shoved the tequila in the couch, throwing a blanket over it to keep it hidden. She pulled gum from her back pocket, putting in her mouth as she walked to the door. With a twist of the door knob, she opened it. Amanda LaRusso stood on the other side. "Hi."

Sadie looked in disbelief. "Um, hey. Is- is something wrong?"

"Sam mention you stormed off today, she wanted to come check on you but I figured you could use a different face." Amanda said as Sadie blinked. "Can I come in? Is your mom home?"

"She ran to the store to pick up some stuff for dinner." Sadie nodded, clearly not wanting Amanda to come in. "You can tell Sam i'm fine, and i'm sorry for today. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night so i'm just a little lousy."

"I will." Amanda nodded, studying her. Her cheek was breaking out a little bit, her makeup done sloppy, lips a bit chapped. "Do you want to join us for dinner tonight? Your mom could come too."

Sadie gave a minor smile. "I think i'm gonna take a nap, actually."

"All evening?" Amanda cracked a small grin, but Sadie didn't think it was funny.

"Maybe sometime next week?" she offered with a nod. "Thanks for the invite."

Before Amanda could say any else, the door shut.

•

kylie speaks

happy new years, you guys.
this year, let's all be sure to
check in on our friends and
know the signs that they might
be going through a hard time.
i really hope apart of sadie's
storyline this season can help
you guys know and understand
what and how to know the signs
someone might be struggling
with their mental health or
are going through a lot. ily all,
and you can reach out any time.