Cochlear | A Cobra Kai Fanfiction

9

"So now you're in karate?" Jesse raised an eyebrow at her lanky friend in disbelief. "When did this happen?"

Demetri groaned at the question. "You know? I don't really know. I-I just didn't like being treated the way I was so..." the teen didn't bother to mention his fear of something happening to him especially while Jesse was around.

One part of him constantly reminded him that Eli would never hurt his best friend. But there was a deeper, darker part that whispered that it was Hawk now.

Currently the teens were at his house once again, this time going over Star Wars. They were already on their second movie and Jesse still didn't quite understand why they had to watch four, five, and six first. In between five and six, Demetri blurted out that he was going to join a different karate studio.

"Well, I think that'll be fun!" Jesse replied with a smile. "I'll come to your competitions and be your biggest fan."

Demetri snorted as he swapped out the DVDs on the TV. "I expect pom poms."

"Now that's a little much I think." Jesse joked. "I'm mot a cheerleader."

"You look like a cheerleader."

"What does that mean?"

Demetri felt a blush creep up his neck as he rubbed his neck. "W-well your very pretty a-and small so I just think you could be a cheerleader."

"Huh." And Jesse left it at that. If she hadn't lost her hearing, would she have been a cheerleader? Would she have sat at the popular table on game nights with a jocks arm around her and giggled at nerds being bullied? Or would she be the one actively putting others down with verbal abuse?

Would she have bullied Demetri?

Her stomach felt sick at the idea as she struggled with the train of thought that two years ago she was a very different person. Jesse had an urge to say something about her past to the teen but found herself unable to get the words out.

The girl felt a tap on her shoulder and jumped to see a concerned looking Demetri. Jesse asked him to repeat himself and the teen did.

"You said you're from here, right?"

"Oh, yeah. All my life, why?"

Demetri sat back in his chair and grabbed the bowl of popcorn. "What middle school did you go to?" He wondered if maybe they knew each other or passed by previously.

"C.T Martin Middle School." Jesse replied while cracking her neck. She had been sitting for a little longer than what she was used to. "My brother and I both went there."

"No way, so did me and Eli!" Demetri's eyes squinted as he tried to remember the girl in front of him. There was that small hint of familiarity, but as far as he could remember the only nerdy girl was Rebakah Clinesmith and she was a lot weirder than Jesse. "I don't remember you at all."

"I was a different person back then." Jesse smiled nervously. Her hands started to fidget with her hair trying not to be to obviously uncomfortable. "I don't remember either of you too."

Demetri swung his chair over to his computer and started typing. "Maybe if I show you a photo of Eli before his identity crisis, you'll remember."

"I guess it's worth a shot." Jesse shrugged as she scooted her chair to the teen's desk to better view the laptop. "We're you always a giant?"

She was ignored and Demetri pressed okay on a video that featured two familiar boys, only younger.

It felt like a chest unlocked in her head with memories flying by as the two smiling boys sung robotically "binary brothers" and laughed.

But Jesse was focused on Eli's face, a familiar one not because she had seen it was pointed hair but because of the torment she had put them through.

This was one of her and Kyler's main victims.

With wide eyes, Jesse frozen as she watched the screen play. When the video was over, she went on autopilot and nodded to whatever Demetri said. He sounded too distant to truly understand and a memory went through her mind.

"Eli Moskowitz." Jesse stated with a snicker as she sat next to the fellow eighth grader. Eli flinched next to the girl. "What? I'm not the one who assigned us as partners."

Eli refused eye contact, instead his eyes maintained view of the library table in front of him. Maybe if he was quiet and did the work the Park sister would leave him alone.

"Wow, does the scar make you mute too?" Jesse poked the boy on the cheek, chucking at his flinch. "Or are you just deaf?"

"I-I can h-hear you..." Eli whispered quietly, praying to just go home.

"T-then why can't I hear you? Are you autistic? Dumb?"

"Well, m-maybe b-but-"

Jesse let out a loud groan and leaned back in her chair. "Just fucking talk." the girl's eyes narrowed at the timid boy and she leaned her chair back forward. "This is why no one likes you, Eli."

The boy flinched again and felt his heart sting at the words. There was nothing else to say or do besides listen to the harsh words in the back of the library where no adults were.

"Besides the fact that you have a glaring... thing on your face? You're slow. Weak. Pitiful." Jesse continue to eat away at whatever confidence Eli had left at this point with shark like eyes. "In fact, it's good you're like this. Shy, timid, weak. No one wants to be around someone who looks like you."

Properly humiliated, Eli could only sit frozen in his chair. Jesse sat back with a smirk, enjoying the power she had and thirsty for more. The kid was an easy target. "So, here's what's gonna happen. You're going to do the math and I'll watch. When you're done, I'll leave you alone." Jesse's fake smile dropped into one of serious. "Since you don't speak, nod that you understand, freak."

By taking what little verbal communication he gave away, Jesse successfully made the kid almost a shell.

And she enjoyed it.

Jesse jumped at the hand on her shoulder, eyes wide and afraid. Afraid of what? She couldn't decide. To her right was a deeply concerned Demetri staring her way with a frown. He tapped his index finger's knuckles together then opened his palms to the ceiling and rolled them over.

"No, m-my batteries aren't dead."

Demetri sighed in relief. "Then why didn't you answer me?"

Jesse didn't know how to get the hard to swallow words out of her mouth and every time she tried, it felt like cotton was being stuffed down her throat. She cleared her throat.

"Just... bad memories."