GOOD HEART, BAD TEMPER - keene, robby

seven

"Why did I let you talk me into this?" Demetri turns to Eli. "This goes against everything I stand for. It's like extra gym class for no reason."

"Let's just— Give it a chance." Eli says.

"It's really fun, guys." Rory smiles, more towards Eli as they share eye contact. "I promise."

Demetri's eyebrows stitch together as he watches the two hold eye contact and smile at each other. "Did I miss something?"

They quickly turn towards the guy. "What?" Rory questioned.

"You guys just—"

"Quiet!" a strong voice yells. "Face front. Rory, get over to the others."

The girl nods before rushing over to Miguel and Aisha. She watched as Johnny walked in between the group of teens, quietly judging them.

"Nice shirt." he tells Demetri.

"Thanks." the dark haired boy smiled.

"I'm joking. It sucks." Johnny says as he continues to walk around. "Word of advice. If you got shit for teeth, don't smile. God makes me feel like a virgin, just looking at you. When I look around this dojo, I don't see Cobra Kai material. I see losers, I see nerds. I see a fat kid with a funny hat with his tits popping out."

Rory immediately turned around to see the kid before turning back to Miguel. He had a disappointed look on his face and Rory was biting her lip to stop from laughing.

She was never one to body shame, or laugh at kids with a bigger figure than most. But the fact the boy was wearing a shirt he knew was too small for him, making his stomach poke out from the bottom, made it hard to keep a straight face.

"But in my short time as a sensei, I've also seen some miracles." Johnny looks over at his 3 official students. "So, maybe there's some hope for you yet. But first I need to see where you're at. So everybody, fall in!"

Nobody moved. They just looked around and spoke quietly to each other, unsure of what "fall in" meant.

"That means line up." Johnny informs the inexperienced teens.

They all say a quiet "ok" before lining up behind Miguel, Aisha, and Rory.

"No, not... not line up in a line." Johnny says. "Lines! Get in lines."

"You mean like "rows"?" Demetri questions.

Johnny groans as he lets his face fall into his hands.

|

"Fighting positions." Johnny yells out. "Jab punch. Nope, wait till I say go. Hiyah!"

Every does a jab punch at his command, and waits until he tells them to do it again. He finally stops and stands in the front.

"Hey, Lip." he calls out, making Rory turn to see who he's talking to. "Yeah, you. The one with the freaky lip. Who do you think I'm talking to?"

"Excuse me, uh, Mr. Lawrence." Demetri says.

"Sensei Lawrence!" Aisha corrects him.

"Ok." he awkwardly laughs. "You really shouldn't make fun of someone's physical appearance."

"Oh, is that so?" Johnny asks. "So, I'm not supposed to mention his lip at all?"

"Well, yeah." Demetri nods.

"Yeah, maybe that's what they teach you in school, but in the real world, you can't expect people to do what they're supposed to do." Johnny tells everyone. "You hear that, Lip? If you can't handle someone making fun of you, then how are you gonna handle an elbow to the teeth?"