╔ ——————————————— ╗
CHAPTER EIGHT
"jewish black widow"
╚ ——————————————— ╝
(quiver)

"HEY, DIAZ-" Jules took a swing at the boy, but he blocked her fist before it could do any damage. She grinned, brushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "How does it feel do be the Valley's very own celebrity?" 

 "It feels like I'm not actually a celebrity." The boy shot back, rolling his eyes in amusement as Jules wiggled her eyebrows at him. "Kyler deserved it. It's just what was right." 

 "Oh, so you're like, patriotic now." Jules drawled in a teasing tone, dodging Miguel's fists. "Like Captain America. You're basically latino Steve Rogers." 

 Miguel laughed crossing his arms as students milled around them, occasionally stopping to whisper amongst themselves, sharing the rumors about just who Juliana Monroe and Miguel Diaz were. "Who does that make you?" 

 "Obviously I'm Jewish Black Widow," she shrugged, glaring at someone when they bumped into her, before turning back to Miguel. "I thought that one was obvious." 

 "It is obvious," A new voice cut in, and Jules turned around, her expression lightening when she saw Demetri and Eli standing behind her, both looking incredibly uncomfortable in their environment. It was Demetri who spoke, his arms crossed tightly across his stomach. "You were born to play the role of Jewish Black Widow." 

 "'Metri!" She grinned, walking over to the boys and slinging an arm around either of their shoulders. "I wasn't really expecting to see you nerds here." 

 "You just made a completely unprompted Marvel references, you're the nerd here." He retorted, Jules smirking. However, before she could think of a good enough comeback, the loud voice of Johnny Lawrence echoing around the dojo and silencing the relentless chattering of teenagers. 

 "Quiet!" 

 Jules let go of her friends, crossing her arms and leaning her weight onto one hip as she made contact with Johnny, shooting him her best sarcastic smile that he responded to with an eye-roll. He began to walk around the room, scrutinizing those poor kids as if he were thinking of all the ways he could destroy them. He passed Demetri, glancing at him with an unimpressed look. "Nice shirt." 

 "Thanks." 

 "I was joking, it sucks." 

 Jules stifled her laugh into her palm, turning to glance at Miguel, who smiled coyly back at her as they listened to Johnny insult so many of their nameless classmates. He eventually made his way back to the front of the dojo, shooting Jules a look. "And you. Why are you wearing so many earrings?" 

 Jules scoffed, "because I'm badass." 

 "You look like the drummer in a punk band." He swiftly turned away from the group as Jules opened her mouth to retort. "When I look around this dojo, I don't see Cobra Kai material. I see losers, I see nerds-" he pointed to the middle of the room, "I see a fat kid with a funny hat and his tits popping out." 

 "Hey, Sensei-" Jules raised her hands, successfully capturing the attention of the man in front of her. "You want to know what I see when I look at you?" 

 "No, because I know it's going to be stupid." He glared at her as Jules smiled to herself, turning back to address the dojo. "But in my short time as a Sensei, I have also seen some miracles." 

 Jules nudged Miguel's arm, grinning. 

 "So maybe there's still hope you. But first, I need to see where you're at. Everybody, fall in!"

 There was a long nout of confused silence, students muttering back and forth as Jules rolled her eyes so aggressively that it gave her a headache. "Get in a line, dipshits!"

 There was a flurry of movement as they rushed to comply, swarming to the side of the room to make three clean lines behind Aisha, Miguel and Jules. The girl turned to look at Johnny, raising her eyebrows and hoping that he would give her permission to yell at them. 

 "No, like-" the man gestured vaguely with his arms. "Lines!" 

 Jules didn't have to turn around to recognize Demetri's tentative voice. "You mean like... rows?" 

 Jules groaned to herself, resting her head in her hands. Being in the dojo with people other than Miguel was off putting, and now she was forced to stay in a room with a bunch of idiots all day? 

 Yeah, she had her work cut out for her. 

 ***

"HEY, LIP!" 

It only took a second for Jules to subconsciously be on guard, her eyes drifting over to where Johnny was standing. He was walking down one of the lines, his eyes glued to Eli, who's face fell at his words. "Yeah, you, the kid with the freaky lip! Who did you think I was talking to?" 

 "Um, excuse me? Mister Lawrence?" Demetri began, but was cut off by a harsh look from Aisha. 

 "Sensei Lawrence." She corrected, Jules letting her fists fall to her sides as she turned around to watch the scene play out. Demetri - god bless him - just chuckled at her look and continued speaking. 

 "You really shouldn't make fun of someones physical appearance." 

 Johnny actually chuckled at that, and Jules gritted her teeth together. She could see Miguel staring at her from her perepherial vision, knowing that when it comes to her friends, Jules pretty much as no filter in defending them. "So I'm not supposed to mention his lip at all?" 

 Demetri looked like he wasn't sure what to say to that. "Well... yeah." 

 "Maybe that's what they teach you in school, but in the real world, you can't expect people to do exactly what they're told to." Johnny drawled, turning to Eli with a snide look. "You hear that, Lip? If you can't handle someone making fun of you, how are you gonna handle an elbow to the teeth?" 

 Demetri shrugged, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. "By calling the police?" 

 Jules couldn't help the snicker that slipped past her lips at that, ducking her head and biting her lip as Miguel shot the raven-haired boy an unimpressed look. "Dude. Cut it out." 

 "What?" Jules turned to look at Miguel, raising her eyebrows. "He was just defending his friend, Diaz." 

 "Yeah!" Demetri crossed his arms, pointing to Johnny. "He does realize that the Nazis lost the war, right? Why should I be scared of him, because he has a snake on his wall?" 

 Jules winced, cursing under her breath as Demetri continued to ramble. If there was one thing that was Demetri's fatal flaw, it was definitely that he didn't know when to shut up. Jules walked forward, gesturing for Demetri to shut the hell up by raking a finger across her throat. He didn't get the message, ending his spiel with; "It's not like he can actually hurt us." 

 Jules knew for a fact that wasn't true. One of the first encounters she had with the man was him throwing her into the deep end of a pool. He didn't really care about the obscured line between 'teaching' and 'assault'. 

Miguel reached forward, grabbing Jules's hand to keep her from walking any further as Johnny slowly approached Demetri, studets backing away from him as if they didn't want to be caught in the crossfires. She turned back to look at him, recieveing a barely noticeable shake of the head in response. 

 "Hit me." 

 Jules did a double take at his words, praying that she misheard Johnny's words. "Sensei-" 

 He held up his hand towards her, and she clamped her lips shut, mentally willing Demetri to admit he was wrong and walk away. 

 Instead, he threw a weak punch in the general direction of their Sensei, which was easly batted away. "Come on, harder." 

 He tried again, with the same results. "Come on, princess! You can do better than that."

 Jules brought her hand to her face, not really wanting to see what happened next, as Miguel winced deeply when Johnny caught Demetri's fist, using the momentum to flip him onto his back. 

 A chorus of surprised gasps echoed throughout the room as Demetri groaned, rolling onto his side. Jules shared a knowing look with Miguel as the older man turned around to face the crowd. "Let this be a lesson to all of you!" He shouted, his tone holding a threatening edge that made Jules roll her eyes. 

 Everyone froze, apparently thinking that if they moved, they would be the next victim of Johnny's rampage. Jules broke that atmosphere, stalking forward and standing over Demetri. 

He eyed her hand from a moment, before clasping it and allowing her to pull him back to his feet. 

 ***

"DON'T LET SENSEI get to you." 

 Eli glanced over at Jules as she scribbled something down in her notebook, struggling to write and walk at the same time. The two were on their way to English class, and Jules figured that it was now or never to keep Eli from being permanently scarred from karate. "He's a dick, but he's actually not a bad Sensei." 

 The boy shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "I know, it didn't bother me." 

"Really?" Jules raised a skepical eyebrow, tucking her pencil behind her ear and holding her book between her arms. "Because I know that Johnny has no social filter, and he makes fun of everyone regardless. When we first met, he told me that I looked like Marilyn Manson." 

 Eli frowned, his face scrunching up in confusion, "How?" 

 "I think I was in that 'black lipstick' phase." 

"Oh," Eli smiled softly as Jules lightly punched his arm. "Demetri thinks that we should quit. he said you were crazy for enjoying something so violent." 

 "Well, Demetri's not like me in that way," she shrugged, "And that's okay. Some people would rather stay on the safe side, you know?" 

 Eli nodded soundly. "I know. Trust me." 

"Oh I trust you." Jules laughed, the hair that had fallen out of her braid framing her face. "Demetri has made it very clear how much he dislikes my new hobby. I only really started it because Miguel kept pestering me." 

"You must really like him, then." Eli glanced over at Jules as she adjusted the straps of her backpack. "Since you like karate so much." 

 "Huh?" Jules pursed her lips, shrugging. "Yeah, I like him. He's cool." 

 "And he stuck up for you and Sam when Kyler was being an ass." A grin spready across Eli's face, a longing look glinting in his eye. "That was so cool. You kicked Brucks in the face!" 

 Jules laughed, ruffling her friends hair as they turned a corner, dodging around a crowd of girls in matching denim jackets. "I should have done that two years ago. He was lucky I didn't kick him harder."

 Eli's eyed widened, looking over at Jules with a starstruck expression painted across his face. "You can kick harder than that?" 

"I dunno-" she let her voice trail off, speaking in a sing-song tone as she shot her friend a playful look. "You'll have to come back to the dojo and figure it out."

Eli chuckled, bowing his head for a moment, before looking up at Jules and holding out his hand. "Deal. I come to karate, and you teach me how to kick." 

Amusement glittered in Jules's eyes as she swung her arm forward, shaking Eli's hand with a grin. 

 "Deal." 

 ***

"ANA!" 

Jules had only just entered the dojo when Miguel called her name, and she turned around, her hair loose and messy around her shoulders, as she didn't have time to do it before arriving. She grinned at the boy, "hey, what's up?" 

 "A lot of people didn't come back." He muttered, leaning closer to her and lowering his voice. Jules glanced over, seeing that - indeed - over half of the kids who were here previously had failed to show up. "Sensei's gonna be pissed." 

 "Yikes." She bit her lip, "maybe we can say that there's like, a flu going around or something." 

 Miguel's eyebrows furrowed. "A flu that lasts forever?" 

 "Yeah," Jules shrugged, "like, the plague came back or something. He never leaves his house, he wouldn't know." 

 "Where is everybody?" 

 Jules and Miguel turned around in almost perfect unison, their voices speaking at the same time, although the words were starkly different. 

"They quit, Sensei." 

 "There was a plague." 

 They shared a look, before trying again, reversing roles. 

 "There was a plague." 

 "They quit." 

 "For the love of-" Johnny rolled his eyes, rubbing his hand over his face as Jules leaned her elbow on Miguel's shoulder. "Monroe. Spit it out, where are they?" 

 Jules grimaced, brushing a piece of hair from her eyes, "They quit." 

 "What?" He demanded, his tone loud and aghast. It took him a moment, but he glanced at the small number of remaining students and struggled to change his expression. "I mean... good. That was a test. I wanted to see who the quitters are, not you guys?" 

 "He should really take an acting glass," Jules whispered to Miguel, who's face reddened at their close proximity but managed a nod. 

"If only he was as good at getting kids to like him as he was kicking them," the boy muttered back, Jules barking a laugh, slapping her hand over her mouth when Johnny glared at the duo. 

 He raised his finger,  pointing to Eli, who had his arms in his pockets. "See! Even Lip is here. He's no quitter." 

 Eli's response was so soft that Jules almost didn't even here it, smiling as Miguel slung an arm over her shoulders. "Could you please not call me that?" 

Johnny looked taken aback. "What?" 

 "I said can you please not call me that." Eli repeated, his tone holding slightly more confidence as he glanced over at Jules, who flashed him a thumbs-up. 

 "He's gonna get mad," Miguel muttered under his breath, raising his voice so that Johnny could hear him. "I'll warm him up, Sensei." 

 "No, Lip has something he wants to say." He approached the boy, his words harsh, "Speak up, or is your tongue messed up to?" 

 "That's it-" Jules stepped away from Miguel, stalking over to Johnny and stepping in between him and Eli, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes into slits. "Lay off of him for three seconds! All he did was ask you to not call him a stupid, offensive nickname. How would you like it if I called you 'beer breath' all day?" 

 "Back off, Princess." He sneered, Miguel grimacing as Jules deepened her glare. "Let Lip speak for himself." He took a half-step around Jules, speaking over her shoulders at Eli. "If you don't want me to call you Lip, don't have a weird lip. Isn't a surgery you can get for that or something?" 

 Eli, noting how Jules' hands curled into fists, wisely spoke up. "I was born with a cleft lip. This is the scar from the surgery." 

 "You mean it was worse before that? Or did the doctors screw it up?" 

"Hey, did you mother ever teach you how to shut the fuck up?" Jules asked, trying to change the subject as Eli's face turned red. "Or was that something you learned at alcoholics anonymous?" 

 Johnny ignored her. "If that's the after picture, you should totally sue, man."

Jules was growing increasingly frusterated, turning to look over at Miguel, who shrugged helplessly. She was running out of insults to throw at her Sensei, and she didn't want him to continue throwing jabs at Eli. 

 "If you wanna be something other than a nerd with a scar on his lip, you gotta flip the script, okay? Get a face tatoo, or gouge your eye out and we can call you 'patch'." 

 "No! Don't do that!" Jules exclaimed, turning to look at Eli, but before she could say anything else, Johnny nodded his head. 

 "She's right. Don't do that - you'll still look like a freak." 

"Jonathan!" Jules shouted, her tone reprimanding as Eli turned to run out of the dojo, his absence sending a harsh sting through Jules's chest. She turned to Johnny, jabbing a finger into his chest. "Line crossed!" 

 She turned to run after Eli, shouting his name as she threw her shoulder against the heavy door, stumbling over the edge of the door as the sunlight invaded her gaze, making her wince and shield her eyes. "Eli?" 

 "Here," he responded, and the girl jumped when she realized he was right next to her, slumped against the wall with his knees pulled up to his chest. His face was stoic, but Jules could see the slick track of tears on his face, and her expression softened. She walked over, sitting down next to him and taking a deep breath. "Do you want to talk about it?" 

 "No." 

 "Okay." She nodded, leaning her head back onto the hard stone and staring up at the blue sky, blinking when the light got to be overpowering, making her eyes water. 

 It was only a minute before Eli spoke up. "He's right, you know." he drawled, bitterly kicking a rock on the ground and scowling at nothing. "I'm the kid with the weird lip. That's it." 

 "You want to know my honest opinion on that, Eli?" The girl asked, her tone uncharacteristically soft for long enough to get her friend to look over at her, only for it's usual sharp tint to return. "I think that that's the stupidest shit I've ever heard." 

 "You're just saying that because you know it's true." Eli turned away from Jules so he could wipe his eyes, shaking his head ever-so slightly. He could feel the silence weighing down on his shoulders like water from an ocean, pushing him deeper and deeper into the endless darkness below, slowly running out of air to keep him going.

 Jules was still staring ahead when she responded. "Okay." 

 Eli glanced at her, his hair partially falling over his forehead as he did. "What?" 

 "I said okay. You do have a weird lip. But you're the only one letting that become the main source of your insecurity. Having a scar on your lip doesn't mean that your any less of a person, Eli." She rose to her feet, brushing off her pants as she looked at her friend, trying for a smile. "I'm friends with you, aren't I? And I'm not friends with losers. You're awesome, Moskowitz, you have so much more going for you than just a little scar. You just have to find something that makes you not think of it." She held out her hand, and shrugged when he didn't accept it. "Suit yourself. That floor is gross, though, I once saw a homeless person throw up there." 

 She turned around, walking back inside the dojo with a knot in her gut, mentally praying that she didn't say something wrong and ruin her friends life forever.  

 ***

"I WAS PARTNERS with Miguel in biology the other day, he was really nice." 

 Jules switched her phone to her other ear as she hurried across the busy street, flipping off someone who honked at her, and focused her attention back to Sam's voice. "Really?" She repeated, her tone holding a surprised edge. "That's cool, you guys got along?" 

 Jules didn't need to see Sam's face to picture her nodding. "Definitely. Moon was usually my partner, but she got sick after smoking some random plant, so he invited me to his group. He really doesn't believe those rumors, does he?" 

 "Nah," Jules chuckled, "Diaz only believes things he sees. He's not an asshole like everyone else at that damn school." 

 "Yeah," Sam sighed, a rustling sound coming through the phone as she sat down on her bed. "I think he likes me, he's kind of awkward." 

 Jules laughed, before realizing that Sam was being serious. "Wait, actually?" 

 "Yeah, he always blushes whenever we talk, and I'm pretty sure he said I was pretty in Spanish." 

 "Oh." Jules frowned, honestly not knowing what to say in response to that. She could feel her heart thumping hard against her ribs, and a slightly sick feeling began to inch down her throat, although she wasn't entirely sure why. "That's great." 

 "Do you think he'd ask me out?" 

 "He's kind of a dork, so it might take him a while, but yeah." Jules caught a glimpse of herself in the reflective glass windows of the dojo, smoothing out her features when she realized that she had been scowling. "If he likes you, he will."  She swallowed, "Hey, I'm actually at the dojo, so I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow?" 

 "Yeah, totally! Bye, Lia!" 

 "Bye, Sammy." 

 She pressed the end call button on her phone, not even allowing herself to think as she pushed open the doors to Cobra Kai, the cold rush of the air conditioner making her shiver as she shrugged off her jacket. "Hey, sorry I'm late, I was-" 

 Her voice trailed off when she found herself standing next to a boy that - at first glance - she didn't even recognize. Her eyes were immediately drawn to his hair, spiked up in a bright blue mohawk. It took her a few seconds of confused staring to realize that this boy was, indeed, Eli Moskowitz.

 Jules blinked once. "Well, shit." 

And then she walked over to stand next to Aisha. 

A/N:

yay! i finally updated! i hope you guys didn't forget about this story lmao-

jules is becoming self-aware, and yes, miguel and sam WILL sort of happen in this, since i live for drama and i think it adds a lot of flavor. jules is jealous and she is super pissed off about it, what an icon. 

jules and eli > jules and hawk

thank you for reading! lots of love!