Hawk looked forward as Kyler and Brucks walked in. Cora slipped in from behind them, clearly just showing up at the same time. Panic spread across his face at the sight of the two, not even being able to focus of the fact that Cora had actually showed up.

"Welcome new students." Kreese walked from his office at the group of seven standing near the door. Cora mer Hawks eye, giving a shy smile as he gave one back, ducking his head down.

"I'm gonna call you guys...Chodenose and Taintbreath." Mitch walked forward as he looked at Brucks and Kyler.

"What the hell did you just say?" Kyler stepped forward as his words.

"Oh, uh, nothing. It's just this thing we do around here sometimes." he laughed slightly, looking around the dojo. Kyler jumped his way slightly, Mitch jumped back. Cora watched Hawk walk toward Kreese, she felt out of place here. Ryan, Dough, and Mikey didn't dare look her way, but that didnt stop everyone else from doing so.

"Everyone fall in." Kreese spoke up, Hawk stood infront of him as he gave a little bow, walking off with his head down. Cora stood in the back, wanting to stay as concealed for today as she could. "Joining Cobra Kai is a privilege. It's not a gift. Which is why our recruits must earn their position in this dojo. Prepare yourselves for combat. Only the strong will survive."

Cora's eyes widened, because she didn't think she was gonna have to do anything like this on the first day. She really regretted coming now. Cora couldn't even do a presentation without feeling anxious and insecure about herself, let alone fight someone infront of the rest of Cobra Kai.

Hawk walked over to her. "Hey, Cora."

"Why didn't you tell me we had to fight on the first day?" she whispered in a small panic, her eyes wide. "I'm gonna loose."

"We worked on your punch all yesterday." he nodded to her, looking over his shoulder toward Kyler.

Cora sensed the mood change he had. "Is everything okay with you?"

"What?" he met her eye again.

"Are you okay?" she repeated.

He held his head up a little higher. "I'm fine."

Kreese was shouting orders for others to line up, Cora looking over in a minor panic. As if one of them having anxiety wasn't bad enough, they were both flooding with it. Cora passed Hawk to stand with the new recruits again, her eyes going to one of the girls.

"Holy shit! You remember? Look, it's the kid with the lip!" Kylers voice had her looked over, seeing him and Brucks standing infront of Hawk. Her eyebrows frowned together as she listened to them gawk. "Yo, I thought he moved."

"Oh, shit. You're right! Right." Brucks laughed, Cora glared slightly as she saw a sudden flash of insecurities and sadness across Hawks face. "The hair kinda distracts you from it."

His index finger and thumb came up to cover it slightly, turning his head. The two continued to laugh before Kreese cut in. "All right, class. Let the games begin. Miss McQueen."

Cora looked his way in panic, her eyes wide and fearful. Kreese nodded at her. "Why don't you start us off?"

Cora swallowed, Hawk found her eye with an encouraging nod. Kreese pointed to the only other girl in the group, encouraging her to walk forward. She was taller then Cora was, with a much more intimidating look to her. They stood across from each other. Kreese looked back and forth. "Ready? Ai!"

The girl charged at Cora, she ducked under her arm and was on her other side. Hawk hoped he'd taught her enough last night to just get her through this little match. The girl grabbed her, yanking her on the mat. Hawk winced when it happened, regretting it suddenly when Cora kneed the girl in the ribs, punch her in the face, with the right hand, one more hit, and rolling her off of her. Kreese gave a small nod. "Finish her."

Cora blinked, glancing in Hawks direction again, getting a little nod. Cora looked down at the girl, leaning down to grasp her shirt and lay one final punch into her face.

"Get out of here." Kreese said as the other girl got to her feet, a bloody nose. Hawk nodded for Cora to take his side, their arms pressed together. He pointed at Kyler. "You."

Brucks cheered him on as Kyler walked forward. Kreese pointed at Mitch. "You."

He smiled, walking to the middle of the mat as they took their positions. "Ready? Ais!"

With ease, Mitch kicked him in the face and had him stumbling backwards to clutch his nose. Kyler shook his head. "Now you're dead."

Mitch swung at him again, Kyler backing up, ducking under his leg, swing half of Mitch's body over his shoulder so he hit the ground, arms tightening around his neck. Cora watched, looking at Kreese, thinking he'd tell him it was enough. Mitch tapped the ground, the flag raising to score the point. Kreese looked straight to Hawk after. Kyler stood up with a wave of his arms down to the boy on the mat. Kreese smirked. "Finish him."

Kyler hit Mitch in the nose, a pained noise leaving his mouth as he hit the mat again. Kyler joined Brucks again. "Yo, lights out, baby."

Mitch stood up as Kreese interfered. "Where are you doing?"

"To my spot." he said back innocently.

"You lost to an untrained fighter. He's going to take your spot on this team." Kreese corrected him with a knowing look.

"All right!" Brucks announced. Cora looked to Hawk, feeling rather bad for Mitch. She knew that the boy next to her was similar to Kreese, she knew how mean he could be. But from what she'd seen in the past few days, a little part of her kinda expected him to at least agree with her emotions.

And he did.

"Sensei, Assface has been loyal to the dojo." Hawk stepped forward, leaving Cora in their spot.

Kreese stared a second. "I'm afraid he's not...Cobra Kai material. I told you, only the strong will survive."

Assface left, Hawk joined Cora again. Kyler reached to tap her arm. "Didn't know you could throw down like that."

Cora looked in confusion. "The punch?"

"Yeah, thought you could only go down." he laughed, thinking it was cleaver. Brucks did the same, Cora's heart was in her gut as her face went red. She looked in Kreeses direction, he shrugged her way, to show it was her play.

Cora send her fist into the side of Kylers face, making him stumble and grasp it suddenly. The blonde glared with a point of her finger. "Don't you say anything like that to me again."

Hawk met her eye with a half smirk her way, Cora nodded, grinning at his good it felt to do that.

"You. Big boy." Kreese spoke up to Brucks as Kyler recovered from the unexpected hit.

"Oh, yeah! All right, who's going down next?" Brucks jumped around the mat, hyped up and grinning widely. "Come on."

"He's mine." Hawks tone changed, a angry, vicious glare across his face as he walked forward.

"Get him, Lip." Kylers eyebrows shot up, comically.

"Okay, all right. Let's see if I can fix that lips of yours then." Brucks mocked, Hawks back was to his, yanking his gi off to reveal the large back tattoo. Cora looked to see Kreese waved the boy with the flags off, making him let it down. Her innocent eyes went back to the mat, not understanding exactly what had been going on, like Kreese seemed to.

Hawk twisted around on his legs, kicking Brucks right in the face, following it with a punch to the jaw and another to the stomach. Cora winced slightly, watching it play out. Brucks tried to fight back, but Hawk had hit him three more times in the nose, kneeing him in the ribs twice.

"Wait. Stop." Brucks begged when Hawk let him go. He grasped hold of his body, swinging them around to hit the mat, Hawk ontop of him.

"Finish him!" Kreese called out.

Hawk gave violent grunts as he laid his fist into Brucks face over and over again, Cora lost count. She watched with wide eyes, blinking every few seconds. The school fight was about all she'd ever seen of him, and that was nothing like what was happening right now. Brucks' blood coated his knuckles, Kreese chuckled slightly.

Hawk stood up after a second, the boy not moving on the mat as he was spit on to finish it off. Cora tried to whip the shocked look off across her face as he passed her and Kyler, going toward the back immediately after giving the Park boy a good stare down.

"All right, class. I think we can call it a day." Kreese spoke up, shaking his head at Brucks. "Someone pick him up."

Cora walked over to him slowly when everyone started to flood around the dojo for their bags. "Sensei Kreese?"

"Good work today, McQueen. You're gonna be a strong fighter." Kreese nodded at her.

"Oh, thank you." Cora gave a small smile, looking toward the back room that Hawk disappeared to. "Would it be okay if I went back there to talk to Hawk? I won't be long."

"This is your dojo now." Kreese rose his hands to motion around the place. "You don't have to ask to go anywhere."

Cora's heart thumped slightly, a smile went across her face at the welcoming feeling she had here. The way she was clearly good at this, the way he was making it a point to make her feel welcomed. Cora gave a small smile, bowing like she'd seen the rest of them do. She walked toward the back, glad no one had followed her.

There was one door, Cora opened it slowly to peak her head in. She heard the sink, seeing the back of Hawk as he was clearly washing the blood off his hands. His eyes flickered up to her in the mirror slightly, looking back down. Cora walked into the room more, making her way over to him. His body frozen when her arms wrapped around his waist, her head leaning as his shoulder so he could look after her in the mirror. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." he said back immediately, looking back down and winced slightly when rubbing his knuckles, realizing the blood wasn't just Brucks. Cora realized it too, pulling her bag off and pulling the disinfectant whips out. "You just carry those with you?"

"Only when i'm going to a karate dojo." Cora smiled, waiting for him to out reach his hand to her. "Definitely keep cleaning these incase any of his blood mixed with the open wounds."

Hawk watched her gently, keeping still as she gently held his hand to clean each of his busted knuckles. "Did you know that guy?"

Hawk didn't answer her, Cora looked up and realized he probably just didn't want to tell her. "You don't have to talk about it. It's not any of my business."

"Another time." he promised, voice low now that they'd been alone. Cora used her pinkie to put the ointment along each knuckle, reaching for a wrap. "You came prepared."

"Just thought of the worst." the blonde cracked a small smile, Hawk did the same. "Does it hurt?"

"No." he lied, and the way she looked as him clearly showed she knew he was lying. "Just a little bit."

Cora nodded her head, finishing off the wrap as his hand fell to his side, zipping her bag up. He looked down as her, he wondered if he freaked her out again, but didn't want to ask. She leaned over, pressing her forehead onto his neck slightly. Hawk nudged her with his chin, a little grin on his face, placing his newly wrapped hand on her back slightly. Cora pulled back, meeting his eye with a little smile.

"Do you feel better? After hitting Kyler when he said that to you?" Hawk asked, staring into her eyes to await her answer.

"I feel a lot better." her head nodded, her fingers poking at his back from how she still had a arm around his waist. "Do you feel better after...that?"

"Yeah." he nodded, inhaling. "I think you're gonna like it here."

Cora smiled. "Me too."

She leaned forward first, pressing her lips to his gently as he stilled a second, kissing her back, the same way she had him, but wouldn't touch her with his hands like she had him.

•

kylie speaks

once again... SWEET BABIES