VII.                                           Heartbreak Weather

      Miguel's friendship with Odessa grew more every day. He liked her friend group. He liked that they actually listened to him about karate. He felt like he belonged at West Valley. She made him feel like he belonged. Odessa came walking into Biology and he smirked at her. "I saw that little moment you had earlier."

Odessa sat at her table, which was in front of him and Demetri, and she turned around with narrow eyes.

"What moment?" Asked Demetri, obvious.

"There was no moment—"

"Our dear Odessa was standing very close to a certain boy holding hands. It was quite beautiful actually." Said Miguel and he pretended to wipe tears away.

Odessa gave him a weird look. "You've been spending too much time around Oliver."

"You mean Eli? It's not like they're holding hands every three seconds they're around each other." Demetri mentioned with sarcasm.

Miguel laughed out loud.  "Ha,  such a simp."

"We do not!"

"Yes, you do." Both of them said in unison.

"Is this gang up on Odessa day?"

"Oliver says that's every day." Said Demetri, Miguel agreeing.

Odessa rolled her eyes. "Remind me to kick him in the shin next time I see him."

Samantha entered the classroom and the chatty died down and turned into laughter. She sat at an empty table and avoided their eyes until she saw a red sucker stuck to the back of her jacket. Odessa felt really bad for her. Sam grabbed the sucker from her jacket. "Thanks for the blow pop guys. Really, never gets old," she said sarcastically.

"It's because she gives blow jobs," Demetri said to his friends. "Get it? Blow pop. . . blow job."

Odessa held up her pink pen. "I will stab this pen into your eye."

His eyes widened. "Oh, right. Sorry, Dess. . ."

"Yeah,  I get it." Said Miguel, giving him a blank stare.

Their teacher walk in the class instructing them that they would be dissecting pigs and to get with their groups.  Odessa groaning when she realized her partner wasn't there today. "Work with us today?"  Miguel suggested.

She smiled, thankfully, and gathered her things to sit with them.

"Who wants to take Samantha in?"

Odessa lifted her head and saw that Sam didn't have a partner, either. Nobody made an effort to take Sam into their group, which made the brunette frown from embarrassment. She went raise her hand but Miguel beat her to it. "We'll take her!"

She lowered her hand and gave him the side eye. "And you call me a simp." She muttered.

He kicked her ankle.

Sam sat by Miguel and smiled his way. "Thanks."

Odessa figured out quickly that the pair wanted to work together so she took the liberty of working with Demetri. She watched as his poked at the dead animal in front of them. "That's repulsive,"  Odessa gagged.

"Did I see you eat a whole tray of bacon early?" He said to her.

"At least I didn't have to see the pig being mangled."

"What are you thinking for sex?"

At Sam's words, Demetri and Miguel immediately looked at her, their eyes wide. (Boys.) Odessa scoffed. "She means the pig, you pervs."

Samantha smiled at her.

Miguel blushed red.  "Oh,  um,  well—"

"Because in the male,  this tract opens near the umbilical cord.  So I think ours is female."

"Yeah,  uh,  I concur." He stammered.

They continued with their assignment and Odesa glanced at them again, seeing the sweet smiles they were giving each other. She would definitely be making fun of him later.

Odessa was happy that Eli decided to come back to the dojo. There was a lot less students than before, courtesy of Johnny Lawrence's teaching skills, but she was able to convince her friends to come back (Hailey was a struggle). "You had to dissect a pig?" Eli questioned as he listened to her talk about what happened in Biology.

Odessa quickly nodded. "I did. With Demetri."

He cringed. "Oh, wow, I'm sorry."

Johnny stepped out of his office. "Fall in!"  He shouted and noticed how little students were there. "Where is everyone? Crater face? Nose ring? Sling shot?"

"They quit,  sensei." Miguel answered.

"Are you serious?"  He asked in disbelief. He quickly cleared his throat.  "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,  right?  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—" Oliver gave him a weird look. Johnny spotted a quiet Eli. "Lip! Look, even Lip's tougher then those guys!"

Odessa sighed. "Oh, God. Not again."

"Could you please not call me that?"  Eli spoke up, shocking them all.

Oliver nodded, feeling proud. "Alright,  Eli."

Johnny blinked. "Excuse me?" 

"Could you please not call me that?"  Eli repeated himself a little louder.

"Um,  i'll warm 'em up,  sensei."  Miguel tried to jump in to avoid another yesterday from happening.

"No,  Lip has something he wants to say,"  Johnny stated. "Sorry,  speak up,  Lip.  Or is your tongue messed up too?  Are you one of those challenges kids?" He taunted the teenager to get a rise out of him.

"Um,  the doctor said I could be on the spectrum,"  Eli tried explaining himself, his words becoming shaky.

"I don't know what that is but get off it pronto.  All right?" He demanded. "If you don't want me to call you Lip,  don't have a weird lip.  Cant you get surgery?"

"He was born that way. He can't help it,"  Odessa said with a scoff.

Johnny threw his hands up.  "Again with the girlfriend speaking for you. I'm surprised she doesn't have her hand up your ass."

"I was born with a cleft lip.  This is the scar from the
surgery,"  Eli explained calmly,  giving the girl by his side a look that said it was okay and that he could handle it. 

"You mean it was worse before that?  Or did the doctor just screw up? Because if this is the after photo,  that sucks, man.  You should sue."

"This is what we're paying you for?  To bully people?"  Grayson spoke up, not believing what he was hearing.

"Can we please change the subject?"  Eli quickly said.

"You don't think I want to?  It's tough when it's right in
front of me,"  said Johnny with wide eyes.  "If you wanna be something other then a nerd with a scar on his lip,  then you gotta flip the script.  Get a face tattoo or gouge your eye out.  We'll call you patch,  all right?"

Miguel and Odessa looked at each other at the same time and he mouthed a small I'm sorry to her.

"No, don't do that. You'd still look like a freak."

That was the last straw for Eli as his eyes filled with tears and he walked off into the back hall where the bathroom were.

"Oh, great. Another quitter?"

Odessa glared at the man and she followed Eli to the back room. The door was closed but his cries were clear. "Eli?" She spoke softly and put her hand on the door. "Eli, please open the door."

"I can't do it, Dess. I thought I could but I can't." The poor boy cried and she felt her heart break even more.

"Let me in,  Eli?  Please?"

She heard the lock on the door turn and she twisted the handle to open it,  seeing Eli on the floor with his knees pulled to his chest. She crouched in front of him. "Eli?"

Eli's face was in his hands. "I don't know why I thought I could be different. I'll always be the freaky kid with a weird lip. I'll always be a loser." He cried.

Odessa put her hands on the sides of his head. "I don't think that. I'll never think that. You're so much more than what everybody tells you." Eli slowly lowered his hands from his face, revealing his teary eyes. "Since I met you, I didn't care about your scar. It's apart of you. It doesn't define you. You're kind, Eli. You're smart. You can be anyone you want to be but you're amazing just like you are. You don't have to change for them."

There was a warmth in him as she talked to him. Her hands were hot against his temples and they moved down to his cheeks. He stared straight into her eyes and shook his head. "Why are you doing this? You can have anyone in the world. Why are you here with me?" He spoke barely above a whisper. He wanted to cry again.

Odessa swallowed the lump in her throat. "There's nobody else."

He believed her. She moved and sat beside him on the floor. She wrapped her arms around him and Eli leaned into her, his face hiding in her hair as he cried. There was nobody else. Just them. Odessa let me cry to her and she didn't judge him. She just held him close.

When she got home that night, she found her mother sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of wine and a book in her hand. Her hair was up and messy and her face was makeup free. She smiled at her daughter. "Hey, babe, how was karate?"

"Same as yesterday, I guess." Odessa responded and sat on the island chair. "Sensei Lawrence is. . . tough."

Thalia hummed and sipped her wine. "You mean loud, judgement, thinks he's funny but he's really just hurting other people?" She named off.

Her daughter looked shocked. "You know him?"

"Of course I know him." Her mom laughed. "I haven't seen him years, not since your father and I had you, but I've known him since high school."

"So he's always been like this?"

"It was worse when we were in school," she informed. "He was a popular kid."

Odessa scoffed. "That explains it."

The woman grinned. "He was your dad's best friend."

Her eyes widened. "Wait, really?"

Thalia nodded. "They did everything together. I was always the third wheel in that friendship, but, Johnny's a good man. He's just had a rough life."

Odessa nodded as she listened and twiddled with her fingers. "Hey, mom?"

Thalia hummed.

"How did you know you had feelings for dad?"

She quickly looked up and paused her reading. She sat down the book and wine glass. "Why do you ask? Is there another boy?"

Odessa cringed at the word another. "Um, yeah, we go to school together. He's extremely sweet, like, the sweetest boy i've ever met,"  she said with a growing smile.

Thalia gave her daughter a look. "Is it one of the boys that spread rumors about you?"

"No! No, no, no, definitely not. He's different."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive, mom." Odessa promised.

Thalia sighed in relief. "Okay. So, tell me about him."

Her smile returned. "His name's Eli. He's so great, mom. He really is—"

Her mom listened to her talk about the boy and she smiled softly. "Does he know you like him?"

Odessa shrugged. "I don't know. We haven't really discussed it."

"Well, why not?"

She looked down at her nails and picked at the cuticles. "I guess i'm scared he'll turn out to be like the others."

Thalia frowned and got up from her chair. She stood in front of her daughter. "You're beautiful, you know that?" She tucked her blonde hair behind her ears

Odessa lifted her head and grinned.

"You're a beautiful person, Odessa. You're so kind hearted. You're smart. You've overcame things in your life that not a lot of young kids do. Any little boy that can't see that or doesn't appreciate that doesn't deserve you."