❝ demetri, shut up. ❞

―

DASH AND EMERY STOOD IN THE COBRA KAI DOJO.

As they waited for their new sensei, who had introduced himself as Sensei Lawrence, they chatted with Demetri and Eli. Everyone around them were either watching the video of the Miguel's fight with Kyler on their phones or talking about the fight.

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

"Sweetie, you could use the extra gym class," Emery pat him on the back.

Dash glared at her. "Don't be rude."

"Let's just give it a chance," Eli turned to him. "You saw the fight. Miguel kicked ass."

Demetri sighed in response.

"Okay. Today we begin..."

Dash and Emery both turned their heads at the voice, seeing Sensei Lawrence standing at the front of the dojo. No one was listening to him. They all just continued to talk amongst themselves. It appeared as if Dash and Emery were the only ones who had even noticed that he had entered the room.

"Quiet!"

Dash and Emery jumped, and the talking came to an abrupt halt. Everyone in the room's head turned around quickly to look at him.

"Face front," he instructed them.

Sensei Lawrence began walking around and looking at everyone as if he were examining them. Dash and Emery stood completely still, afraid to make any sudden movements or noise. They weren't sure what to expect. They had only been there for less than ten minutes, and they already felt intimidated.

"Nice shirt," Sensei Lawrence said to Demetri.

"Thanks," Demetri replied proudly.

"I'm joking it sucks," Sensei Lawrence responded back quickly.

Demetri looked down at his shirt and Dash's eyebrows furrowed together. He was the one who had bought Demetri that shirt for his birthday last year. Dash wanted to say something, but he kept his mouth shut. The last thing he wanted was to cause a scene and have the attention be pushed onto him. He just watched Sensei Lawrence closely as he continued to walk, stopping in front of Emery.

He looked down at her, that same look of confusion he had on his face when they had first bumped into him. Emery looked straight ahead as her heart beat rapidly in her chest. She gulped, afraid of what he would say to her. But he said nothing.

He walked away, continuing to walk down the rows of potential new students. Emery turned to face Dash, giving him a look asking what that was about. Dash shrugged his shoulders in response. They turned to face forward, their eyes following Sensei Lawrence.

"Word of advice. If you got shit for teeth, don't smile," he said to another student.

Dash and Emery exchanged a look of disbelief with each other. Was this guy serious? Who did he think he was going around and insulting everybody? Surely this couldn't be allowed, right? He didn't seem to care though and only continued to express his lack of a filter.

"When I look around this dojo, I don't see Cobra Kai material," Sensei Lawrence announced. "I see losers, I see nerds. I see a fat kid with a funny hat with his tits popping out, but in my short time as a sensei, I've also seen some miracles. So, maybe there's some hope for you yet. But first, I need to see where you're at. So everybody fall in!"

The group of four exchanged looks with each other. They had no idea what he was talking about and from the confused chatter and whispering that filled the dojo, nobody else did either. Dash and Emery felt a little better knowing they weren't the only ones confused, but they were still questioning his teaching methods.

"That means line up," Sensei Lawrence explained.

Everyone began to line up in rows behind Miguel and Aisha. Once one person had done it, everyone else just followed suit. It didn't seem right to Emery, but out of fear of being the odd one out, she just followed the crowd even though she knew that wasn't what he had meant.

"No, not...not line up in a line," Sensei Lawrence said. "Lines! Get in lines."

"You mean like rows?" Demetri asked.

Sensei Lawrence groaned as the lines they had formed reorganized themselves into rows.

The first practice had gone as expected. Sensei Lawrence taught them basic forms and showed them what not to do. For Emery, it had been simple and easy to pick up on. If Dash was being honest, he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing.

The next day at practice, Sensei Lawrence had asked them to get into the fighting positions and asked them to show their jab punches. Dash was a little confused about what exactly a jab punch was. He followed what everyone else did, hoping for the best. He was slightly slower at it than everyone else, and he hoped that it didn't get noticed Sensei Lawrence began going around and correcting their forms. He didn't want to know what Sensei Lawrence would have to say about him.

"Hey, Lip," Sensei Lawrence said all of a sudden. "Yeah, you. The one with the freaky lip. Who do you think I'm talking to?"

Dash and Emery turned to look at Eli. Emery placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. They had only made it to two practices, and he was already bringing up Eli's lip. Why couldn't people just see past that? He was so much more than his lip deformity. Emery opened her mouth to say something, but Demetri spoke up before she had the chance.

"Excuse me, uh, Mr. Lawrence-"

"Sensei Lawrence," Aisha corrected him.

"Okay," Demetri said to her before directing his attention back to Sensei Lawrence. "You really shouldn't make fun of someone's physical appearance."

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

"Well, yeah," Demetri said as if it were obvious.

"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," Sensei Lawrence answered. "You hear that, Lip? If you can't handle someone making fun of you, how are you gonna handle an elbow to the teeth?"

"By calling the police...?" Demetri said.

"Dude," Miguel said, trying to get him to stop. "Knock it off."

Dash nudged him in the side. It was times like this that he just wished Demetri would stop talking. Sometimes, he just got so carried away and never knew when to stop. While constantly talking was a good thing because he knew how to carry a conversation even if he was defending his friend, this was not one of those times.

"What?" Demetri asked. "He does realize the Nazis lost the war, right? Why should I be scared of him? Because he's got a snake on his wall?"

Dash gave him a look warning him to stop talking, but Demetri didn't seem to notice. He just kept talking, making Sensei Lawrence get even madder. All Dash wanted to do was just scream at him and tell him to shut his mouth before things went south.

"It's not like he's a teacher who can give us a bad grade," Demetri continued. "We're paying him. He works for us. It's not like he can actually hurt us."

Sensei Lawrence began walking towards him-a stoic expression on his face. Dash, Emery, and Eli stepped out of the way. Whatever it was he was about to do, there was no way they wanted to be standing next to Demetri when it happened. The rest of the people around him began moving to the side too as he now stood in front of Demetri.

"Are you done?" he asked him.

"What?" Demetri asked, confused.

"Hit me," Sensei Lawrence said. "Go ahead, hit me. Strike me right here."

Demetri put his hands up into a fighting position as everyone else looked onward. Demetri tried to hit him, but Sensei Lawrence smacked his hand away.

"Harder," he said.

Demetri attempted to hit him again, but this time Sensei hit his hand ever harder than he had before.

"Is that all you got, princess?" Sensei Lawrence asked.

Demetri tried for the third time, but this time he had flipped him over and his back hit the mat with a loud thud. Dash winced and closed his eyes as everyone else gasped around them. Demetri was breathing heavily as he tried to get up off the ground.

"Let that be a lesson to all of you," Sensei Lawrence said.

Dash and Emery made a mental note to never, ever do anything that would make Sensei Lawrence mad.

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The next day at school, Demetri was talking nonstop about quitting. Dash had been thinking about quitting as well. He only joined Cobra Kai for Demetri, and if he was quitting, then Dash saw no reason to stay. Emery would beg him to stay if she found out, but he didn't think Sensei Lawrence's teaching was exactly ethical.

When the two guys had told Miguel that they planned on quitting, he was determined to convince them to stay.

"You can't quit," Miguel said as the three of them walked down the hallway to class.

"I got yelled at, got my ass kicked, and then gave him my money," Demetri told him. "You know who lives like that? Hookers."

Miguel still wasn't having it. "Yeah, but he's not that bad of a guy. You gotta give him a chance. You don't know him like I do."

Dash and Demetri scoffed in sync.

"That's hooker talk," Demetri said. "Besides, Dash and I don't need to learn karate when we have you."

Dash lightly hit Demetri on the shoulder and pointed to Kyler who was standing across from them. Demetri tapped Miguel and the three of them all stopped walking to look at him.

Ever since the fight in the cafeteria, Kyler had been trying his hardest to avoid Miguel ever since. Today was no different. The second he made eye contact with Miguel, he turned around and walked away.

"See?" Demetri asked. "No one's gonna mess with you."

Miguel sighed and continued walking. Dash and Demetri stayed back a little before catching up to him. They had to hurry up and get to their biology class before they were late.

Dash wasn't really looking forward to it. They were going to be dissecting pigs and just the thought of it made him feel squeamish. Demetri was his lab partner though and that made him feel a little bit better. If he started to freak out, then Demetri would be there to calm him down.

They walked into class and took their seats. Dash sat next to Demetri while Miguel claimed his seat at the table behind them.

Dash turned his head to see Samantha LaRusso walking in the room. People immediately started laughing at her and then he noticed the lollipop stuck to her shirt. He rolled his eyes. People could be so immature.

"Thanks for the Blow Pop guys," Sam looked around the room. "Really never gets old."

"It's 'cause she gives blow jobs," Demetri pointed out, glancing between Dash and Miguel. "Get it? 'Blow pop.' Blow...job."

Dash rolled his eyes. "No shit, sherlock."

"Yeah, we get it," Miguel said. "It's just a rumor."

Mr. Palmer started class, telling his students to get into their groups. Because they were a group of three, Miguel pulled his chair up to Dash and Demetri's table.

"Who wants to take Samantha in?" Mr. Palmer asked. "This little piggy needs a group."

Dash, Demetri, and Miguel looked at each other. They were already a three-person group because there was an uneven amount of students in the class. Dash glanced around the room, seeing if anyone would volunteer up and let Sam be in their group. Nobody did.

"Don't all volunteer at once," Mr. Palmer spoke.

"We'll take her," Miguel volunteered the group.

Dash followed Sam with his eyes as she grabbed her bag and walked over to the table. He couldn't help but cringe and give Demetri a disgusted look when he watched Demetri sniff his shirt as Sam brushed past him.

When they started dissecting the pigs, Dash didn't feel as squeamish as he thought he would. Demetri did most of the dissecting while Dash filled out the worksheet with Sam and Miguel.

"What were you thinking for sex?" Sam asked all of a sudden.

The three boys turned their heads to look at her-eyes wide. Dash knew that wasn't what she meant, but the fact that she had asked so nonchalantly and out of the blue was a little odd.

"Uh...Uh...I mean, I've, I've..." Miguel stammered.

"Because in the male, this tract opens up near the umbilical cord," Sam said, causing Miguel to sigh in relief. "So, I think ours is female."

Miguel breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, um...yeah, I concur."

Dash tried to stifle his laugh as he continued filling out the worksheet. Demetri and Dash continued working as Sam and Miguel started talking. Dash hadn't meant to eavesdrop as Sam started giving Miguel karate tips.

"Do you guys want a banana?" Sam asked, pulling bananas out of her bag. "People keep sneaking them in my bag."

The three boys looked up as Sam held them out in front of her. "It's because of that stupid rumor that I'm sure you guys have heard about me."

"Oh, no," Miguel shook his head.

"Yes," Demetri responded, causing Dash and Miguel to look at him. "Stupid, stupid rumors. Hurtful lies. People are monsters."

"Demetri, shut up," Dash said, hitting his arm.

"Yeah, you shouldn't worry about it," Miguel said. "Those guys are assholes to us too. I mean, they call me 'Rhea so..."

"Not anymore," Sam said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Miguel responded. "Not anymore."

Dash couldn't be too sure, but he was almost positive that Miguel liked Sam and that she was starting to like him too.

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After school, Dash and Demetri had decided that despite Miguel's efforts, they weren't going to go back to Cobra Kai. Emery, however, wasn't going to give up. She was determined to prove that just because she was a girl and might be on the smaller side, that she was just as capable of kicking ass and learning karate

She wasn't going to let what Sensei Lawrence said bring her down. Emery stood next to Eli on the mat, smiling at him softly. He shyly smiled back at her as Sensei Lawrence walked into the room and asked them to fall in. He looked around the room. There were a lot less people present than there was the first two days of practice.

"Where is everyone?" Sensei Lawrence asked. "Crater face? Nose ring? Slingshot?"

"They quit, Sensei," Miguel told him.

"Are you serious?" he asked. "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?"

Emery glanced at Miguel. He shrugged his shoulders in response.

"You could be home playing your iComputers, playing your video games, eating candy. Instead you're here, doing pushups, learning how to fight," Sensei Lawrence said. "Lip. Look. Even Lip's tougher than those guys. He's no quitter."

"Could you please not call me that?" Eli asked.

"Excuse me, what?" Sensei Lawrence asked.

Emery sighed. Oh, no, she thought, not again. Emery had a feeling that this was going to end badly.

"I said could you please not call me that," Eli repeated.

"Um, I'll warm them up, Sensei," Miguel said, trying to ease the situation and stop anything bad from happening again.

"No, Lip has something he wants to say," Sensei Lawrence said. "Sorry, speak up, Lip. Or is your tongue messed up too? Are you one of those challenged kids?"

"Um, the doctor said I could be on the spectrum," Eli responded.

"I don't know what that is but get off it pronto. All right?" Sensei Lawrence said.

Emery looked at him with a confused expression on her face. That didn't make any sense, but she chose not to say anything and just ignored it.

"If you don't want me to call you 'Lip' then don't have a weird lip," Sensei Lawrence said. "Can't you get surgery?"

"He was born with a cleft lip," Emery pitched in, noticing that Eli was too intimidated to answer and struggling to form words.

Sensei Lawrence turned to look at her. "I wasn't asking you. I was asking him."

Emery looked down at the ground. "Okay..."

"This is the scar from the surgery," Eli responded.

"You mean it was worse before that? Or did the doctor just screw it up?" Sensei Lawrence asked as he turned his attention back to Eli. "Because if this is the after photo, that sucks, man. You should sue."

Emery sighed. She was really starting to question why she ever decided it was a good idea to continue taking karate lessons from this man. Surely there were other dojos in the valley she could join if she was serious about continuing, but she didn't want to be one of those losers who quit. She wanted to stick with it and show that she wasn't some nerd who chickened out at the first sign of trouble or confrontation.

"Can we just please change the topic?" Eli asked.

"You don't think I want to?" Sensei Lawrence said. "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, then you gotta flip the script. Okay? Get a face tattoo of gouge your eye out. We'll call you Patch, all right? No...don't do that one. You'll still look like a freak."

Emery could see the tears starting to form in Eli's eyes. Only a few seconds later, he stormed off the mat and walked to the back room. Emery glared at Sensei Lawrence and huffed before she walked off after him. Sensei Lawrence had really drawn the line.

"Oh, great, really? More quitters?" Emery heard him say as she was leaving.

For the rest of the day, Eli refused to talk to her. She stopped by his house, but his mother told her that he didn't want to talk to anyone. She texted him, but all her texts were left on read. She even tried to call him multiple times, but every single time it was either declined or went straight to voicemail.

Emery was starting to get worried and hated the fact that he was shutting her out. Eli never ignored her and always talked to her when he was feeling down. All she wanted was for him to just text her back or pick up one of her calls to know that he was okay. Emery had even tried to text Demetri to see if he could get ahold of him for her, but his texts and calls were ignored too.

It wasn't until the next day that at karate practice that Emery saw him again. She hadn't wanted to go back after everything that Sensei Lawrence had said about Eli, but she did.

She stood on the mat, listening to Sensei Lawrence's speech. "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."

Emery couldn't help but be confused. She found it hard to believe that he was once a nerd just like they were.

"I used to have no friends," Sensei Lawrence continued. "Used to be the weirdo kid. Not that weird. I still hooked 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."

The bell above the door jingled as and door opened.

"Welcome to Cobra Kai," Sensei Lawrence said, greeting who walked in.

It was Eli. Emery turned her head to the door, and she could have sworn her heart skipped a beat. Her jaw dropped to the floor. Emery couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her best friend had a blue mohawk.

"Eli, what happened?" Miguel asked.

"I'm flipping the script," he responded.

"Wait, are you the kid with the lip?" Sensei Lawrence asked, turning to the other students. "Nice cut, bro. You see that? Doesn't matter if you're a loser or a nerd or a freak. All that matters is that you become badass."

Sensei Lawrence turned to Eli. "Hawk. Fall in."

Emery couldn't keep her eyes off of him as he walked onto the mat, claiming a spot next to him. As she looked up at him, staring at the bright blue mohawk, Emery began to think to herself. If Eli could flip the script and reinvent himself, then maybe she could too.

- EMILIA'S NOTES

not too many changes in this chapter. just rewording and adding more details.

next chapter the campbell family's dinner with johnny.