always you || eli moskowitz

13

"Yeah, but you can't quit." Miguel says to Demetri. Demetri wants to quit Cobra Kai becuase of what happened yesterday.

"I got yelled at, got my ass kicked, and then gave him my money. You know who lives like that? Hookers." Demetri points at all the reasons why he thinks it's a good idea to quit.

"Yeah, but he's not that bad of a guy. You gotta give him a chance." Miguel still tried. to convince Demetri, but he's not budging.

"Honestly, it's fine if you quit. You tried it and realized you didn't like it, what's wrong with that?" I say to them.

"Thank you Cassie." He says to me.

"Besides, I don't need karate when I have you guys." Demetri says to us. Then he looks over at Kyler, causing us to look too. Kyler starts to walk over to us, but then stops and turns around and walks away.

"See, no ones gonna mess with you." Demetri says, proving his point.

~~~

"Ok everybody, fall in." Dad says, walking out of his office. "Where is everyone?" Half of the people that were here yesterday, are gone today.

"Crater face? Nose ring? Slingshot?" He lists off names of people that aren't here.

"They quit Sensei." Miguel informs him in a low voice.

"Are you serious?" He asks in a disappointed tone. "I mean, good. That was a test. I wanted to see who the quitters are, not you guys. You're in it to win it. You could be at home playing your iComputers, playing your video games, eating candy. Instead you're here, doing push-ups, learning how to fight. Lip. Look, even Lip's tougher than those guys." He says, pointing to Eli during his last sentence, causing everyone to look at him. "He's no quitter."

"Jesus christ." I whisper under my breath, fed up with Eli's nickname being lip.

"Could you please not call me that?" Eli asks him.

"Excuse me, what?"

"I said, could you please not call me that." Eli repeats himself, louder this time.

"Um, we'll warm 'em up Sensei." Miguel says to him.

"No no, Lip has something he wants to say." He says, walking closer to him. "Sorry, speak up Lip. Or is your tongue messed up too? Are you one of those challenged kids?" He asks, now right in front of Eli.

"The doctor said I could be on the spectrum." He replies.

"I don't know what that is, but get off it pronto. All right?" Dad says, making me raise my eyebrow. "If you don't want me to call you Lip, then don't have a weird lip. Cant you get surgery for that?" He asks Eli.

"I was born with a cleft lip. This is the scar from the surgery." Eli tells him.

"You mean it was worse before that? Or did the doctor just screw up? Cause if this is the after photo, that sucks man. You should sue." Dad says to him. I look over at Miguel and see that he is shaking his head.

"Can we just please change the topic?" Eli asks him.

"You don't think I want to? It's tough when it's right in front of me. If you wanna be something other than a nerd with a scar on his lip, you gotta flip the script. Ok? Like get a face tattoo, or gouge your eye out. We'll call you Patch. No, don't do that one, you'll still look like a freak." Dad says to him, making Eli walk away. I glare at my dad, he has got to stop being such an asshole, he's stuck in the 80's.

"Oh great, really? Another quitter?"

~~~

After lessons when I finished getting changed out of my gi, I walk out back into the main room and see Miguel walking out of Dad's office. So, I go in.

"Hey." Dad says to me, sipping a beer.

"Why are you being such an ass to them?" I ask him, getting straight to the point.

"Who? Lip?" He asks me with a confused look on his face.

"Yes. Eli. I don't get why you're being such an asshole. You do realize he's my friend, right?" I ask him, annoyed.

"No, also, it's not my fault the kid has a weird lip." He says to me, making me roll my eyes.

"No, but that doesn't mean you have to bring it up every day. Can you please just chill, I don't have many friends and I don't want him to hate me just because you're an ass. Got it?" I ask him.

"Jeez, yeah, got it." He says, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Thanks." I say, walking out.

~~~

"Three more absences Sensei." Miguel says to Dad.
One of those absences is Eli, and I feel bad because I have a feeling karate would've been his thing.

"Bunch of pussies." Aisha says.

"No, it's my fault." Dad says, walking back and forth in front of everyone. "Since you joined Cobra Kai, I have been hard on you. I've called you names. I've humiliated you. Some of you I've hit. And for that, I don't apologize. Cobra Kai is about strength. If you're not strong on the inside, you can't be strong on the outside. And right now, you're all weak. And I know that, because I was you. I used to have no friends. I used to be the weirdo kid. Well, not that weird. I hooke led up with babes and all but, the point is, I wasn't always the badass sensei I am today. Just like a cobra I had to shed my loser skin, to find my true power, and you guys will too." He says his speech, but he stops talking when the bell rings, signaling someone walked in.

"Welcome to Cobra Kai." My dad says to the person.

I turn to see someone with a mohawk walk in, but when I look closer I realize who it is.

"Holy shit." I say with wide eyes. "Eli?" I ask, earning a smirk from him.

"Eli, what happened?" Miguel asks him, clearly as shocked as me.

"I'm flipping the script." He says, making eye contact with me.

"Wait are you the kid with the lip?" My dad asks him, obviously as surprised as the rest of us. "Nice cut, bro. You see that?" He says, pointing at him. "Doesn't matter if you're a loser, or a nerd, or a freak. All that matters is that you become badass." He looks at Eli once again. "Hawk, fall in." Eli does as he as told and conveniently, there is a spot open in the front next to me. When he stands there I stare at him in shock for a second before looking away with a small smile on my lips.

"Fear does not exist in this dojo, does it?" Dad asks Eli.

"No Sensei." He replies.

"Pain does not exist in this dojo, does it?" Dad asks me.

"No Sensei." I reply.

"Defeat does not exist in this dojo, does it?" He asks Miguel.

"No Sensei."

"Class, are you ready to learn the way of the fist?" Dad asks everyone.

"Yes, Sensei!"