12

                                        

                                              
TW: abuse
-🥋-
chapter twelve



AXEL




About an hour after Maddie left to go train with her team, I packed up and walked back to the hotel alone. 
My fist clenches together as I continue to imagine the feeling of her hand in mine. This girl had a hold on me that nobody else managed to have. It scared me how much she made me feel after so many years of feeling nothing. But I liked the fear. 
Her words stick with me. I think you'd be a great boyfriend, engraved in my brain in black ink, constantly coming back to me. I'd be a good boyfriend to her? Maddie was so bright and shiny, I was dull and unfeeling. Honestly, I have no clue what she saw in me when she first decided to start spending time with me, but I'm glad she saw it. 
The keys to my room dangle as I slot them into the keyhole of my room. I know sensei was in here earlier scanning through paperwork as his room was being cleaned. It's scattered all across the table. I place my training bag down on the spare bed, moving towards the paperwork. I know it's wrong to look at, but something tugs me towards it. 
The first paper on the table in in his scrawny handwriting. Possible Recruitments is written in big red handwriting across the top of the page. I glance down at the page, the first name immediately jumping out at me. 
1. Madison Stone
My gut twists in a way I feel whenever someone has bad intentions with her. I felt it when the Cobra Kai's taunted her, and when her scrawny team mate shamed her in front of everyone. Now, it's at the thought of Maddie joining this dojo, and being hit until she becomes a robot. Either that happens, or she turns into Zara. A stuck up snob who thinks she's better than everyone on the mats because she didn't get the discipline I did. The thought of either happening, send a shock running through me. Maddie is a light, and all this dojo would do is dim it. 
I wished I knew that before I joined. 
Her name on the page explains why sensei was googling her the other day, so he could get information on whether she would be a good addition to the team. He was googling her because she is a fighter nobody's been able to land a hit on, and who is as skilled as Zara. 
I dart away from the papers as the door opens, sensei walking in with a coffee in hand. He looks up at me, standing in my room like a doll. "Why aren't you training?"
"I was on the beach," I reply, placing my hands into my pockets. "Training."
"I meant with Zara," sensei snaps, rolling his eyes. "She's at the gym, so join her soon."
I nod, moving out of the way as he walks towards the stack of papers. He pulls out his phone, staring at the screen for a moment, body ridged. He looks up at me. "Have you been staying away from your opponents?"
My fists tighten in the pockets of my pants. I could say no, I haven't. I could tell him about a girl that made my heart beat faster than anything, or how her perfume was the scent that permanently wafted around the room. 
Instead, I nod, knowing that if I say no he will lose it. "I have."
"I was looking at Madison Stone's Instagram earlier to see if her technique would be useful for our team. She's got quite a few photos of her fighting up there," he begins. In a moment, he's turned the phone screen so I can see her Instagram. "And was just posted today. Ten minutes ago."
My face drops as I look at the photo. It's a selfie of me looking to the side at the beach. She's standing beside me, her arm linked with mine and glossed lips on my cheek. Its the one photo she took that she felt she looked good in, though every single one looked good with her in it. I watched her post it, tagging my plain account. The one with three photos up and a boring profile photo. 
This right now is entirely my fault. I said she could post the photo if she wanted to, forgetting the fact my sensei's been looking into her lately. Sensei looks at me, gritted teeth and fists clenched. "What happened to not speaking to our opponents? That was the one rule I set out here, and you not only talk to the girl I told you to stay away from, you kiss her and get attached to her."
My jaw clenches as he speaks. 
"The one thing I asked of you, you disobey. You've been messing up in your fights and I think it's because this girl is distracting you."
I shake my head. "It's not her fault," I mutter under my breath. 
"What was that?" Sensei asks, looking up at me with a seething expression. His fist flashes upwards, connecting with the side of my head. I grunt as I stumble back from the force. "You're risking everything we've worked for, for a girl who doesn't even live in the same continent as you."
I cover my head with my hands as the blows continue to come, all while I'm getting yelled at. Sensei glares up at me, even though I'm taller than him, he makes me feel so small. "I guarantee, whatever she's offering to you and however she is doing it, isn't meaningful."
In a moment, my head's snapped up, my posture straightening up. Hearing him speak about her in that way, sends violent jolts of rage through me. My hands shoot forward, shoving him away from me and into the table. 
"Don't talk about her like that," I snap, watching as sensei laughs in my face. 
I can't prepare myself for the fists that slashes across my cheek. The rings he's wearing catch on my skin, scratching along my jawline and sending bursts of pain through me. "Trust me, as soon as that girl gets on a plane, you're forgotten. Like you always are."
Sensei steps back, straightening out his shirt. "If I see you speaking to her again..."
He doesn't need to finish his sentence. I watch as he rubs his mouth with his palm. As he snatches up the stack of papers on the table, he stalks out of the room, slamming the door behind him. 
As soon as he leaves, I slump down on my bed, running my hands through my hair in frustration and anger. If I don't listen to my sensei this time, it could impact her too. I need to be cruel to her to keep her away from him. Safe and away from this dojo. This was the way it worked. I was the protector, not the protected.
As soon as the universe seems to give me something good, it takes it away. It gave me karate, but took the joy away by giving me a sensei who doesn't care about anything but winning. 
The universe gave me hope and light, but is slowly taking her away because she's to bright. 

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27.11.2024

Protector not protected is gonna hit hard next chapter...


Anyways, if any of you talented people want to edit my fav couple on tiktok go ahead and tag it #heyangelwp because I've gotten some questionss. 
Also, how would we like the possibility of a new cobra kai book? Thoughts?