( warning — suicidal thoughts  )

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?" Johnny Lawrence blinked, feeling blinded by the bright colours of Daisy McMaster's outfit as she skipped into his office. "What are you wearing? This is karate, not a fashion show."

"So you're saying this outfit is good enough to be in a fashion show?" She gasped out, looking down at her white dress that was covered in little red hearts with a proud smile. "Johnny, thank you! But, I don't know if you're the best person to give fashion advice— I don't know if that stain is coffee or puke. Let's say it's coffee." She nodded at his ghee.

  Johnny just stared at her, unamused.

  "Right, sorry. I have a change of clothes in my bag, I just had a question."

"Shoot."

"I was wondering if you needed any help? Like around the dojo? Because I need community service hours." Daisy smiled hopefully, giving the older man her best puppy eyes.

"Why? What'd you do?" Johnny stared at her in shock.

"...What do you mean?"

"You don't seem like the criminal type, Pinky."

"Oh!" Daisy snorted, "No. Um, it's for school. I need them to graduate— oh, so does Jules. We tried picking up trash in the park, but then there was a tornado warning and a dirty condom somehow blew in her face. So, yeah, we're never doing that again."

"Right." Johnny nodded, leaning back in his seat as he thought the girls words over. "Do I have to pay you?"

"No. Just have to sign the form."

"You should have started with that. I thought child labour was illegal?"

"Um... it's not child labour, Sensei. It's volunteer work! Giving back to the community, you know?"

"You're giving back to the community by cleaning up your own blood, sweat, and tears off the mats?" The blond man looked at her confused. "Shouldn't you be chucking pennies at homeless people."

Daisy stared at the man in a mix of confusion, uncomfortableness, and shock. "Um, thank you! I'm gonna go get ready for class. Full dojo! So exciting! Bye!"

━━

"WHY DID I LET YOU TALK ME INTO THIS?" Demetri asked Eli as he nervously looked around the full dojo. "This goes against everything I stand for. It's like extra gym class for no reason."

"It is really painful," Daisy huffed, wincing as her knees cracked as she sunk into a squat. "Damn I'm out of shape."

"I mean your cardio's good." Juliet shrugged, laughing slightly as she remembers the amount of times her friend has sprinted away from Miguel during practice. "Miguel hasn't been able to catch you yet."

"Let's just give it a chance. You saw the fight. Miguel kicked ass." Eli said quietly, trying his best to calm his nerves.

"Quiet!" Johnny's voice pierced through the air, causing all conversations to come to a halt. "Pinky, Blondie, up front."

"I thought the front was only for people with ghee's." Juliet scoffed, giving a Miguel and Aisha the side eye as she walked up to stand next to the girl.

"And I told you that you will get them once all these people pay. Now stop with ya attitude!" He shouted the last part, making  almost everyone to jump except for the blond who just rolled her eyes.

"Do they come in pink?" Daisy asked, her head tilted as she studied the white ghee's on Miguel and Aisha with a grimace as she settled next to Juliet. "White stains really easily, you know?"

Johnny stared at her, his eye twitching in annoyance, "Quiet! Face front!" Everyone does as he says, standing straight as he starts to make his way around the dojo. "Nice shirt," Johnny said to Demetri sarcastically, scoffing when the boy thought he was being serious. "I'm joking, it sucks. Word of advice, if you got shit for teeth, don't smile. God, it makes me feel like a virgin just looking at you."

Daisy and Juliet shared a wide eyed look as the blond man continues around the dojo, insulting everyone.

"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 and his tits popping out." Johnny says, looking at the boy who stood behind Daisy.

With a roll of her eyes, Daisy turns around to face the boy, sending him a shy smile. "I like your hat. It's cute." She whispers, sending him a wink, giggling to herself as his face lights up in a blush.

"Pinky!" Johnny snaps his fingers in front her face, causing her to jump in surprise. "Lying is rude. So is giving guys false hope."

Miguel looks around the dojo, blinking at all the love sick looks that were being thrown Daisy's way by almost every guy in the dojo. He shares a look with Juliet before they both look towards Daisy, who now looks around at everyone in slight fear.

"When they find out she's gay some people are definitely gonna cry," Aisha whispered, chuckling to herself.

"I feel like I've made a mistake of some kind," Daisy breathed out.

"Quiet!" Johnny shouted once again, snapping everyone's attention back to him. "However, in my short amount of time as a Sensei, I've also seen some miracles." He looks towards Juliet, Aisha and Miguel with a proud smile.

  Daisy's jaw drops, offended that she was excluded. With an innocent smile, she leans her head into the mans line of sight, sending the blond a wave. Johnny shakes his head at the girls antics, trying to act annoyed, but a smile tries to fight its way onto his face.

  "So maybe there is some hope for you yet. But first I need to see where you're at. So, everybody fall in!" Silence. "That means line up." Johnny watches with a grimace as everyone except for his four original students move to stand in lines behind them. "No, not... Not line up in a line. Lines! Get in lines."

  Demetri raises his hand, "You mean like rows?"

  Juliet can't seem to hold in her laugh any more falls over into Miguel as Johnny face palms. "I can't!"

━━

"FIGHTING POSITIONS!" JOHNNY ORDERS AS HE WALKS THROUGH THE ROWS OF STUDENTS. "Jab punch. Nope, wait till I say go. Hiyah!" Daisy sneezes. "Pinky, you're really testing my patience! Hiyah!" Everyone punches. "Hiyah! Hiyah! You sure you're right handed?" He moves up to the front and stops at the boy beside Daisy, "Come on, tits, you can do better than that. You got weight, use it. Ready? Hiyah! Hiyah! Hey, Lip."

Daisy quickly turns around to her friend, who looked at her with wide scared eyes at the angry blond man approached. Eli gulped, looking around in hopes he was somehow talking to someone other than him.

"Yeah, you. The one with the freaky lip. Who do you think I'm talking to?"

"Excuse me, uh, Mr. Lawrence?" Demetri  asked hesitantly.

"Sensei Lawrence!" Aisha corrected aggressively.

The nerdy boy gave her a weird look, "Okay? You really shouldn't make fun of someone's physical appearance."

"Or their hats."

"Pinky!" Johnny sent her a pointed look before turning his attention back to Demetri. "Is that so? So I'm not supposed to mention his lip at all?"

"Well... 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." The blond man nodded at Eli, "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 interjected before Eli could, "By calling the police."

"Dude, knock it off." Miguel whispered harshly. Knowing that this isn't going to end good if he continues.

Eli moved closer to Daisy out of instinct. He appreciates Demetri sticking up for him, he really does. But it somehow makes things even more embarrassing. Juliet used to stick up for him, but she took notice on how it just makes the boy feel worse, so she stopped. Always sending him an encouraging smile instead, hoping he'll stand up for himself.

  Daisy always tries her best to give the boy pep talks. Always supporting him even when they're picking on her. She's always on his side, ready to step in and help if needed. Even if she would lose the fight, she'd try.

  Demetri, however, can't seem to except  that fact that he wants to try and fight his own battles.

Eli wants to stand up and protect Daisy the most— he knows Juliet can hold her own. The sexual and degrading comments sent the girls way almost daily makes his blood boil in ways he can't even begin to explain. One day he will be able to, he just has to learn how to stand up for himself first. Yet, he can't do that if people keeping trying to fight his battles for him.

  "What?" Demetri scoffed. "He does realize that the Nazi's lost the war right? Why should I be scared of him? Because he's got a snake on his wall? It's not like he's a teacher who can give us a bad grade. We're paying him. He works for us. It's not like he can actually hurt us."

Daisy swallowed nervously, "Demi is gonna die. Isn't he?"

Juliet shrugged, "It's very possible."

"Damn it." Miguel sighs as Johnny moves closer to Demetri and everyone else backs ups to give them room.

"You done?" The blond man raises a mocking eyebrow. "Hit me. Go ahead, hit me. Strike me right here," He gestures to his face.

  Demetri throws a punch at Johnny, only for it to be blocked. Daisy covers her eyes, not wanting to see her friend die.

  "Harder." Juliet snorts out a laugh at their Sensei's words, but quickly covered it with a cough at the scolding look Miguel sent her way. Demetri tries to hit it again, but Johnny hits his arm away roughly. "Is that all you got princess." He goes to hit him one more time, only to be flipped and thrown on the mat with a loud thump. "Let that be a lesson to all of you."

  "Is it over?" Daisy asked quietly.

  "Yeah," Eli mumbled, looking at the ground as the Sensei walked past them and into his office.

  "We're having fun... right?"

  Demetri whimpered, "My spleen."

━━

"I'M SO TIRED." DAISY MUMBLED, LEANING HER BODY BACK INTO SAM, who's arms wrapped around her waist and head rested on her shoulder. They stood with Juliet at Eli's locker during lunch, not feeling like spending it in the lunch room since people are still talking about the rumour Kyler spread. People have now started sticking blow pops to the girls clothes when they aren't paying attention, putting bananas in their bags/lockers all day.

"Maybe if we didn't stay up till four am watching the 100 then we all wouldn't be dead." Eli huffed, placing his books in his backpack before shutting his locker. "I can barely keep my eyes open." Sam apologized to the boy after the big fight happened since she was hanging around a lot more. So he's not as shy around her anymore— also she's always too busy staring at Daisy to look at his lip, so that's a positive.

"We had to cheer Demetri up, and if staring at Octavia Blake for twelve hours straight does it than so be it." Juliet shrugged as the group started to walk down the hallway.

"He has good taste I'll give him that." Daisy hummed, linking her hand with Sam's. "Have you watched the one hundred?"

"I have not," Sam said. "Why, should I?"

"Yes, it's gay."

"But not till season three," The Moskowitz boy said with a shrug. "It's always season three when they finally add gay people. Why is it always season three?"

Juliet sent her friend a pointed look, "Are you sure you watch the one hundred for the gayness? Or is it for a certain John Murphy?"

"He's hot!" Daisy exclaimed. "I may be a lesbian but I'm not blind. Would I sleep with him? No. But I considered it, and that's pretty good. I've never considered sleeping with a dude before so there we go."

"Can I see him?" Sam asked, making Daisy light up.

"Yes!" The black haired girl squealed, pulling her phone out of her pocket and pulling up a picture of him.

"Lesbians seem to like John Murphy. And Tom Hardy." Eli said thoughtfully.

"And Robin Williams," Juliet added. "Oh! As well as Loki, Klaus, and Min Yoongi."

As the four were talking, a group of boys walked by them. One of the boys took a lollipop out of his mouth and went to place it in Daisy's hair, but Eli caught his wrist before he could. Everyone looked at the usually quiet and timid boy in shock— hell, he shocked himself. Snapping out of it, still feeling confident, Eli snatched the lollipop and chucked it in the trash can that was near them. The boys didn't say anything, instead just scoffed and walked away as the bell rang.

  "Damn Eli!" Juliet gasped, jumping up and tackling the boy into a hug. "You go bestie!"

  "Thank you. I would have had to cut that out!" Daisy said gratefully, wrapping her arms around Eli's waist as Juliet pulls away.
"I—" Before she could continue, someone threw a banana, hitting her in the shoulder, shocking her, "Ouch."

  "Screw you!" Sam shouted down the hall, but the person was out of sight. "What is wrong with people? Now they're just wasting food." She huffed, moving Daisy's hand and rubbing the girls shoulder.

  "We should go to class," Juliet said with a pout as the late bell rings. "Or—"

  "You're not skipping and leaving me in biology alone."

  "But—"

  "Nope!" The LaRusso girl smiled at the blond. She pecked Daisy on the cheek before walking down the hallway with a defeated Juliet slumping behind her.

  "I hate high school," Eli glares at the banana on the ground.

  "Tell me about it," Daisy shrugged. "Let's go— fuck no!" She shouted, ducking and pulling the boy down with her as another banana flew past her head. "I wish they were throwing a fruit I like at me. Like a mango."

  "Mango's are good."

━━

  "IT'S NOT PINK," DAISY POUTED AS SHE LOOKED AT HERSELF IN THE DOJO MIRROR— her and Juliet have finally been given their ghee's. It was a few days after the flipping Demetri incident, so it's not surprising that the boy did not make an appearance. But he wasn't the only one to not show up. The class is now half the size as it was last time. Eli, however, has showed  up once again to give it another shot.

  "Okay, everybody, fall in." Johnny announces as he enters the room. Though his face falls at the lack of students. "Where's everybody? Crater face? Nose Ring? Slingshot?"

  Miguel sighed, "They quit Sensei."

  "Are you serious?" Johnny looked upset for a moment, but quickly hid it. "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. Lip." He points at the boy, "Look. Even Lip's tougher than those guys. He's not a quitter."

  Eli looked over at Daisy, who sent him an encouraging smile before turning to face the blond man. "Can you please not call me that?"

  "Excuse me, what?"

  "Can you please not call me that?" Eli repeated, sounding a bit less confident the second time then he did the first.

  "Um, I'll warm them up Sensei." Miguel cut in, trying to stop this situation before it can get worse.

  "No," Johnny held his hand up to silence the boy. "Lip has something he wants to say. Sorry, speak up Lip." He moves closer, "Or is your tongue messed up too? Are you one of those challenged kids?"

  Juliet threw her head back in annoyance— this man just can't go one day without insulting someone can he?

  Eli gulped, looking over at Daisy who looked at him with wide hopeful eyes. She believes that Eli can get through this. He can speak up, he's already proved it. Now he just has to shake Johnny. Which is easier said than done.

Looking at her calmed him down, but he was snapped out of it by Johnny standing in front of her. "Don't look at her, look at me. Now answer the question."

"Um, the doctor said I could be on the spectrum." Eli whispered out, cringing at his lack of confidence.

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

"I was born with a cleft lip. This is the scar from the surgery."

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

"Oh, I feel sick." Daisy's eyes watered slightly at the words being spoken to Eli— he didn't deserve it. The boy gets picked on enough at school. And now when he tries to do something to gain more confidence, he just gets picked on again. It's not fair.

"Can we just changed the topic?" Eli asked quietly, trying to hold in tears.

Johnny scoffed, "You don't think I want to? It's tough when it's right in front of me. If you wanna be seen as something other than a nerd with a scar on his lip, you gotta flip the script. Okay? Get a face tattoo or gouge your eye out. We'll call you Patch, alright?" He went to walk away, but stopped. "No, don't do that one. You'll still look like a freak."

  "What the fuck," Juliet breaths out with a shocked laugh.

  Daisy shakes her head sadly, closing her eyes as Eli storms out.

  "Oh great, really? Another quitter." Johnny shakes his head, annoyed. He looks up, raising an eyebrow at the glares he was now receiving from Miguel, Daisy, and Juliet. "What?"

━━

  DAISY MCMASTER SAT ON HER BED, STARING BLANKLY AT THE WALL with a single tear slowly making its way down her face. She was having a breakdown— for some reason hers are silent. She's rarely sobs, it's more so on the outside she's still, but her brain is going crazy. Not even the Tarzan soundtrack could calm her down.

  She so badly wants to call Sam or one of her friends to help distract her, but she can't. Last night at three in the morning, she had another breakdown, however this one caused her to delete all her contacts, as well as all forms of social media. Everything just felt like too much. Sometimes she wonders why she's even here. Is life really worth the stress and anxiety she feels all day every day?

  Daisy worries about the most random shit that no one would ever even give a second thought to. She's tired. Her mom always says she should go to a therapist, and every time she does she can't bring herself to say anything. She thinks she's just being too dramatic, and that it's really not a big deal and she's just wasting everyone's time.

  She was knocked out of her dark thoughts by the sound of a rock hitting her window. Daisy felt relief fill her as she got up quickly and ran towards the window. Opening it, she couldn't help but grin at the sight of Samantha LaRusso waving her down.

  "Want to do something?"

  "Yes! Thank fuck! You're an angel, LaRusso! An absolute angel!"

━━

"THREE MORE ABSENCES, SENSEI." MIGUEL INFORMED THE MAN AS HE ENTERED THE MAIN DOJO. Daisy finally got all her contacts back, so she could finally text Eli— but she received no response. No one has seen or heard from the boy since he stormed out of karate three days ago. She called his mom though, and the woman said that Eli is fine, so at least they know he's not dead.

"Bunch of pussies!"

"Welp, we lost Aisha to the dark side." Juliet sighed at the girls use of the word 'pussies'. Daisy just hummed in response, her eyes focused on the door, hoping that Eli will enter.

"No. It's my fault." Johnny stated, taking his spot in front of his students. "Since you've joined Cobra Kai l, 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." Daisy tilted her head, listening closely to his words. "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. I use to have no friends. Used to to be the weird kid—" He nods towards a younger boy named Bert as he says this. "Not that weird. I hooked up with babes and all but... The point is I wasn't always the badass Sensei I am today. I had to shred my loser skin to find my true power. And you guys will too."

The sound of the door opening catches everyone's attention. An unfamiliar boy with a blue mohawk enters. Though once he looks up, Daisy freezes. That's Eli Moskowitz.

"Welcome to Cobra Kai," Johnny greets. Not recognizing him either.

Miguel's jaw dropped, "Eli, what happened?"

"I'm flipping the script," Eli said confidently, sending Daisy a flirtatious nod. She just blinked at him, still in a state of shock.

"Wait. Are you the kid with the lip? Nice cut bro. You see that?" The Sensei points at Eli, "Doesn't matter if you're a loser or a nerd or a freak. All that matters is that you become badass. Hawk, fall in."

Eli— now Hawk, takes off his shoes before walking onto the mat and standing beside Daisy. He looked down at her, sending her a smirk, before looking back up. She has no idea how to react to this person in front of her. It's so sudden.

"Fear does not exist in this dojo does it?" Johnny asks Hawk.

"No Sensei!"

"Pain does not exist in this dojo does it?"

Daisy snapped out of her trance, "No, Sensei!"

"Defeat does not exist in this dojo does it?"

Miguel shook his head, "No Sensei."

It's at this moment that Daisy remembers why she joined Cobra Kai in the first place. To stand up for herself. And she's been apart of this dojo for a whole month, and is still letting assholes at school push her around. That ends today. She's not gonna be a pushover anymore. She's gonna be a badass— and of course, make sure she makes Kyler cry at least once.

"Class are you ready to learn the way of the fist?"

"Yes Sensei!"

authors note
— I love Sam but I can't wait for Tory to come in 🤚 We need some drama.