Chapter Text
Devon Lee made her way down the hallway of the school, proudly sporting her Eagle Fang tee with her hair tied back in a neat ponytail. Even if the Eagle Fang dojo had lost at the All-Valley Under-18 Tournament, Devon was still proud to represent the dojo even if the future of it was uncertain. She had such a fun time training and at the tournament, so wearing the shirt was a message saying that she loved being a part of Eagle Fang Karate, and she didn’t care if people had something to say to her about it.
Of course, it was all fine and dandy so far as Devon focused on heading to her locker, until she gasped and stopped walking when she felt something cold splash against her shirt—the contents of a blue slushie thrown on her from none other than the infamous school bully and one of the students of the Cobra Kai dojo, Kyler Park. He and the rest of his friends laughed at her as the other students around them gasped in amusement or began pulling out their phones to take pictures. “Nice shirt, bird girl. But I think it looks a little better with a bit of blue, don’t you?” He smirked and tossed the empty cup at her before beginning to walk past her with his friends as they high-fived each other.
Devon turned around and wanted to strike so badly, it was completely in her nature to lose her cool and go ballistic on anyone who crossed her—but she didn’t want to start a school fight and risk getting in trouble. She also remembered that her Sensei, Johnny Lawrence, taught her to be aggressive yet know when it’s the right time to fight.
I can still fight, just not physically, she thought to herself. “Hey, Kyler!” She called out to him, who stopped and turned around with a curious yet somewhat amused look on his face.
Devon smirked. “I see you’re getting some pent-up aggression out of you after not scoring a single point at the tournament,” she said smugly as the students around them let out a long ‘oooh.’ Kyler rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Whatever. Cobra Kai still won the whole thing, now your little pansy bird dojo is out of business.”
Devon shook her head. “You should watch what you say. Don’t forget that eagles are dangerous predators of the cobra,” she said coyly. “And I know if you and I went head-to-head, I’d absolutely devour you whole.”
The students around began to root for Devon as she just shrugged with a coy smile on her face as Kyler seemed somewhat speechless. “Tch… W-Whatever, bird girl. You and the rest of your weird bird friends got nothing on the cobras,” he said before turning back around and walking away, trying to hide his embarrassment.
“You’re not a cobra, you’re a garter snake!” Devon called out at him as he walked away, but he didn’t seem to hear or acknowledge her words. Devon sighed as she turned back around and quickly headed to the girl’s bathroom to try and wash out the stains on her shirt.
She pulled out some paper towels out of the dispenser before running it under some water in the sink, then tried to rub out the blue stains that soaked into her red shirt. Stupid Kyler Park, I knew he was an insufferable troublemaker and a major jerk, but I can’t believe he just targeted me out of nowhere just for being a part of Eagle Fang karate. Ugh, people like him are freakin’ miserable sons of bitches!
The sound of a toilet flushing was heard before someone exited one of the bathroom stalls and went over to one of the vacant sinks to wash their hands. Devon continued to try and rub away on her shirt to get the blue dye out, and thankfully it was actually working.
“Hey,” Devon heard a light female voice say, and she looked up and beside her to see Samantha LaRusso, who awkwardly smiled at her as she dried her hands with a paper towel.
“Oh hi, Sam,” Devon greeted with a little nod before continuing to wash out the stains.
“What happened to your shirt?” Sam asked in concern as she looked at Devon trying to wash it. Devon exhaled deeply in frustration. “Kyler Park is what happened. The asshole purposely threw his slushie on me!”
Sam sighed and shook her head as she threw out her paper towel in the garbage and pulled up the strap of her backpack. “I’m so sorry. Kyler is a total jerk. Believe me, I know. I’ve dated him before,” she said with a bit of regret in her voice, as if that time was something she didn’t particularly like to remember.
Devon looked at her with wide eyes. “Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. I can’t believe you could stand even just being in the same room as someone as insufferable as Kyler.”
Sam giggled softly before clearing her throat. “I know, I know. He had me fooled that he was someone he wasn’t,” she said simply before there was a moment of silence between the two girls.
“Um, I have an extra shirt in my locker if you want to borrow it,” Sam said to Devon, breaking the silence. “I know you probably wouldn’t want to spend the rest of the school day in a stained and wet shirt.”
Devon smiled at her. “That’s really nice of you, Sam. But it’s fine, I’ll just dry it for now and throw it in the washer when I get home. Thanks,” she said before she turned off the tap and went to dry her shirt under the hand dryer.
Sam nodded. “I also wanted to tell you that I thought you did really well at the tournament,” she said. “I think it’s really great that Johnny has such a strong female fighter like you.”
Devon smiled at Sam. “Thanks, that means a lot. You did amazing at the tournament, too. If the ref actually played fair and counted that hit you landed on Tory Nichols, I know you would’ve won. The odds were about ninety percent in your favour.”
Sam just slowly nodded, as if it was still a sore subject. She just sighed and changed the subject. “Well, it was nice seeing you. I hope maybe we’ll be able to train together sometime,” Sam said with a little smile. “I don’t know what the future of Miyagi-do and Eagle Fang karate will be, but I’d still love to hang out and get to know some of the new Eagle Fang members.”
Devon nodded. “Yeah, I think it would be fun to spar with another girl,” she said as she continued drying her shirt. Sam then walked by her, but Devon stopped her before she left the bathroom. “Hey, Sam?”
Sam stopped at the door and turned her head to look at the other girl, raising her brows. “Yes?”
“Do you think I could beat Kyler Park in a one-on-one?” Devon asked her curiously. Sam giggled with a smile. “Definitely. I’ve seen you fight at the tournament, he’d be in trouble if he had to fight you.”
Devon smiled and looked away in thought. “Thanks,” she said before Sam nodded and left the bathroom.
As Devon continued to dry out her shirt, she looked at the slight tint of blue that was stained on the eagle on her shirt with a sigh. Kyler Park and his cobra friends got nothing on us. We’re the Eagles! We would crush those snakes any day of the week.
“Come on, hurry up,” Kyler said to his friends as they snuck into the school’s auditorium and sat down in the seats close to the back. It was a free period for Kyler and his gang, so Kyler thought it was the perfect opportunity to mess with some Eagle Fang students. One of Kyler’s friends groaned in frustration. “Why are we even here anyway? Debate club is nerd shit.”
“Shut up. It is nerd shit,” Kyler said. “Bird girl’s on the debate team, it’s the perfect time to ruin her little show.”
Kyler’s friend shook his head. “Dude, you’re obsessed. You have the hots for her or something?”
Kyler just gave him an annoyed look. “I said ‘shut up!’ Oh, I think she’s coming up now,” he said as he turned his attention to the stage as Devon walked to her podium, her dark hair loose down her back as she was dressed in a classy-looking jacket.
“Jack Fowler, representing pro-life,” the red-haired student with freckles spoke into the microphone from the opposite podium.
“Devon Lee, representing pro-choice,” Devon proudly said into the mic. “Ayo, you suck, bird girl!” Kyler shouted from the already fairly empty audience, making Devon turn her head and glare at him from up on stage.
The teacher on the panel began to write down something for a minute before looking up. “Alright, let’s begin. I’d like to hear from Miss Lee first.”
“Thank you,” Devon said with a somewhat condescending tone and smile. “So, pro-choice versus pro-life. A controversial topic worldwide, but one of the biggest topics in America as a whole. The rights to a safe and legal abortion for those with wombs carried out by certified medical professionals should be mandatory in a developed country such as the United States,” Devon said with clear and confident diction as the teacher took notes as she spoke.
“They killin’ babies, though!” Kyler yelled out from his seat, making Devon shoot daggers from her eyes at him. “Actually, Mister Park, a cluster of cells formed after conception is not considered ‘a baby,’” Devon said into the microphone with a somewhat aggressive yet still reserved tone. “A person who is able to be pregnant should have the right to decide what they want to do with their body, not the government.”
“It’s still a baby, though!” Kyler called out again as him and his friends laughed. Kyler didn’t actually care about the topic, but he just wanted to annoy Devon as much as possible and throw her off her game to embarrass her. Devon just continued to give him a dirty look. “You seem very passionate about this topic, Mister Park. Perhaps it hits a little close to home, I know your own mother probably wants to go back in time and get an abortion herself seeing the kind of man her son has grown up to be.”
The audience laughed, even receiving a slight snicker from her opponent on the other podium. “Alright, enough!” The teacher said into the mic before turning to look at Kyler. “Mister Park, you cannot disrupt the debate like this. Either you stay and be quiet or leave.”
Kyler softly chuckled in disbelief. “Alright, whatever. I’ll be quiet. Go on, bird girl,” he called out to Devon as she just shook her head and tried to ignore him as she went back to her speech. “As I was saying, I believe anyone who has a womb should be the ones making the decision for themselves as to what they want to do with their body. Think about how many pregnancies come from non-consensual sex and how many young girls who are my age are forced to drop out of school to take care of a baby she didn’t even want in the first place. They’re not emotionally or financially ready for that, these mothers are children who should be in school and having fun, not taking care of another child.”
Kyler actually raised his eyebrows hearing Devon’s point. Damn, I never actually thought about that. Okay, maybe this pro-choice shit actually kinda makes sense, he thought to himself, but he would never have said that out loud.
“Criminalizing abortions in the United States doesn’t stop abortions from happening. It just makes people who want an abortion go through an unsafe route and either attempt an abortion on themselves or seek out illegal abortions, which are generally unsafe and harmful. This is a procedure that needs to be done professionally and safely,” Devon continued. “Forcing those who are pregnant to carry their pregnancy to full term and have a baby don’t actually care what happens to the baby after it’s born. This is shown in the high rates of mortality in children and the rates of children who end up either in orphanages or foster care.”
“Yo, Kyler,” Kyler’s friend nudged him. “Let’s get outta here, this shit’s boring as hell. You really wanna stick around for this?”
The truth was that Kyler was actually starting to become interested in what Devon had to say, but he couldn’t let his buddies know that. “Uh… No way, man. Who actually cares about this nerd shit? Screw bird girl, let’s jump,” he said to his friends as they stood up and headed out of the auditorium. But as they left, Kyler couldn’t help but look back at Devon.
Bird girl’s not that bad looking, he thought to himself. She’s not hot, but I still wouldn’t mind hitting that. Her attitude kinda pisses me off, but I kinda like it.
“Kyler, come on!” His friend urged him as Kyler snapped out of his little daze and nodded at him. “Y-yeah,” he said back to him before heading out of the auditorium.
Devon continued to talk into the mic, but her eyes watched Kyler and his friends leave. Mark my words, Kyler Park. You’re going down.