❝ you seriously think that you weird science'd me? ❞

―

JULIANA GLANCED BACK AT FORTH BETWEEN DEMETRI AND HAWK.

She folded her arms against her chest as she waited for one of them to answer her question. Neither one of them knew how to explain. They just stared at her like two deer caught in headlights. Demetri had tried to explain, but he had turned into a stuttering mess. Juliana raised an eyebrow at the two boys.

"One of you better start explaining," Juliana said as she began tapping her foot in the ground. "I'll ask one more time... what is this and why does it describe me?"

Demetri inhaled a small breath before he started to ramble. "Okay, so, basically, Eli and I watched Weird Science, and we thought it would be cool to create our own dream girl just like Gary and Wyatt did. And well, we—we sort of made you?"

"Sort of?" Juliana questioned. "Demetri, this perfect girl of yours has my exact name! And how is it possible that I like everything that your dream girl does?"

"We don't know, okay!" Demetri responded. "That's why we were so surprised that you were real when you moved into the neighborhood."

"That's why you were surprised that I was real when we met?" Juliana asked. "Because you created me using some computer program?"

Demetri nodded his head. "Actually, yes. I mean, can you blame us?"

"Yeah," Hawk agreed, nodding his head. "What were we supposed to think? We make our perfect girl, and then all of a sudden you just show up?"

Juliana couldn't help but laugh. "Wow..."

Demetri and Hawk exchanged a look with each other, confusion written across their faces.

"She's laughing..." Hawk spoke to Demetri and then turned to Juliana. "You're laughing..."

"Of course I'm laughing!" Juliana replied as she continued to laugh at them. "Do you know how crazy you both sound right now? You seriously think that you weird science'd me?"

"Do you have any other explanation?" Demetri asked. "Because I've been trying to come up with a logical explanation for months now, and so far, I've got nothing!"

Juliana shook her head. "Unless you two are total stalkers, then I've got nothing. And how am I supposed to know that you didn't make that after you met me?"

Hawk shook his head. "We didn't. There's a date. You can check and see that we made it the day before you moved in."

Juliana turned around and wiggled the computer mouse. She found the file saved to Demetri's computer and looked at the date it was created. Sure enough, Hawk was right. Juliana turned to face them, trying to process everything. None of this made any sense.

"I don't understand..." Juliana trailed off, trying to find the right words. "How is this possible? How did you manage to make me your perfect girl? I've never even met either of you until last summer."

Demetri sighed. "That's what we've been trying to figure out. It makes no sense, Juli."

"I don't know how this is possible, but I can assure you that I am one hundred percent real," Juliana told the two boys. "Unless you managed to create my parents too, which wouldn't make sense at all considering my dad's history with Cobra Kai. Unless you managed to magically—or in this case scientifically—code us into existence and, in the process, create an entire backstory for my entire family."

Demetri and Hawk exchanged a wide-eyed look with each other.

Juliana rolled her eyes. "Seriously? Come on! My family and I are real. I'm not a computer program or some sort of robot."

"You're not mad at us, right?" Hawk questioned, looking down at the ground.

Juliana smiled. The shy puppy dog look in his eyes as he glanced up at her, and the softness of her voice made her think of his pre-Hawk days. Despite the bright blue mohawk, he looked like Eli again. She liked Hawk, but she missed Eli.

Juliana shook her head. "Am I mad that for months you thought that I was some Lisa from Weird Science copycat that you coded into existence?"

Demetri and Hawk nodded their heads.

Juliana chuckled, shaking her head. "No, I'm not mad. Deeply confused by this entire thing, but mad? No."

Demetri breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, because you might be the best thing that's ever happened to the both of us, and if we didn't have you to stand up for us..."

Hawk shot him a glare, but then quickly turned to look at Juliana. "Yeah. We'd be so lost without you."

"You guys are sweet." Juliana smiled at him. "But I hope you're aware that you're both still idiots."

Demetri and Hawk nodded their heads. They couldn't argue with that.

"I guess now we've got another mystery to solve," Juliana told them. "What are our parents hiding? And how the heck did you two manage to create a perfect girl with my exact name?"

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The next day, Juliana stood on the beach with Hawk, Demetri, Moon, and Bert. They were divided into two teams. Juliana, Hawk, and Bert were on one side, and Demetri and Moon were on the other. It was Demetri's turn to serve. Juliana kept her eyes on him as he held the ball out in front of him, rolling his neck as he prepared to serve the ball. Juliana got into position, preparing herself to hit the ball as it flew over the net.

Demetri swung his arm up and hit the ball. It collided with the net and fell to the sand. Juliana chuckled as she shook her head at him.

"Uh...mulligan, send it back," Demetri called out as he watched the ball roll on the sand.

"There's no mulligans in volleyball," Hawk told him.

Demetri scoffed. "Says you."

Juliana couldn't help but giggle. "Come on, let him have another try."

Demetri turned on his feet and started to walk away. "Water break."

Demetri picked up a Cobra Kai towel and pulled it up to his face. Juliana lifted up the net and walked underneath it to talk to Moon.

Two girls walked past Demetri and stopped in front of him. Juliana and Moon turned their heads to watch the interaction, curious as to how it would go.

"Cobra Kai?" the brunette girl asked. "You guys won that karate tournament, right?"

"The All Valley? The Rumble in Reseda?" Demetri asked as he flung the towel over his shoulder and leaned on the wooden post of the net. "Yes, uh...We uh...We certainly did."

The brunette smiled at him. "Cool. We're gonna go for a swim, but maybe play with you later?"

"Pfft...Mos def," Demetri replied. "That means most definitely."

Juliana and Moon turned back to each other, giggling as they walked past Demetri.

"Look at you, player," Moon said to him.

Juliana patted Demetri on the shoulder. "Nice to see that my towel made you a total stud to the ladies."

"It'd be nice if you actually earned the Cobra Kai cred you're so happy to take," Hawk said to Demetri. "When are you ever gonna sign up?"

"I don't know," Demetri replied with a shrug. "I'm kind of enjoying the gain without the pain."

Juliana shook her head. "Come on, Hawk. Lighten up. If Demetri doesn't want to come back to Cobra Kai, then he doesn't have to."

Demetri nodded. "Yeah. See? Juliana has my back."

"Hawk," Miguel's voice called out.

As Hawk approached Miguel, Juliana turned to Demetri. She smiled at him. "You know, you don't really strike me as the Cobra Kai type."

"Neither do you," Demetri responded. "You're too sweet for Cobra Kai. Cobra Kai seems rough, and... I don't know. It just doesn't seem like your kind of... thing."

Juliana furrowed her eyebrows. "My thing?"

Demetri nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I can't imagine you kicking people or punching someone. Or learning that "way of the fist" mumbo-jumbo."

Juliana laughed at him. "It's not mumbo-jumbo. Maybe a little bit, but it's fun, and I enjoy doing karate."

"And you're good at it," Demetri responded. "Why do I need to learn karate when I have you?"

Juliana shrugged. "I don't know. To defend yourself?"

"I could do that..." Demetri shrugged his shoulders. "Or I could just never leave your side and hope that's you'll always protect me."

Juliana chuckled at him. "You're something else, you know that?"

Demetri nodded his head. "So I've been told."

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Juliana sat on the mat in Cobra Kai next to Miguel and Hawk. She has her legs out in front of her and reached for her toes with her arms.

"So, I did a deep dive online, and you were right," Hawk announced. "Sensei's definitely Keene's father."

Miguel sighed. "I just don't understand why he wouldn't tell us."

"I'm sure he has a good reason for keeping it a secret," Juliana said, sitting up straight.

"I don't know," Hawk responded. "But it explains why he's giving us shit for kicking Keene's ass at the tournament. Show no mercy, unless it's his son, then we gotta be pussies."

"Makes sense," Juliana nodded. "But Robby didn't seem to care much about him. You think that they have some kind of strained relationship?"

Miguel shrugged. "Maybe."

"You guys, have you seen the commercial?" Aisha asked as she approached the three friends, standing over there.

Juliana exchanged a confused look with Hawk and Miguel.

"What commercial?" Juliana questioned.

"Sam's dad started his own dojo, and he disses Cobra Kai," Aisha explained.

Aisha handed her phone to Miguel. He held it out so that Juliana and Hawk could see it.

"Inner peace...focus...balance," Daniel LaRusso's voice spoke. "These are just some of the skills that you will master when you join Miyagi-Do Karate. I'm Daniel LaRusso, and before I was the number one auto dealer in the Valley...I was two-time All Valley Under-18 champion."

Juliana and Hawk exchanged a look before they turned their eyes back to the small screen.

"Now you can learn the secrets of Okinawan karate, true karate, by joining the Miyagi-Do team," Daniel continued. "Don't be a snake in the grass. Be a champion. Tweet us at #TeamMiyagiDo. And all lessons are free. That's right, free. Because at Miyagi-Do, it's not about the money. It's about the karate."

"Yikes," Juliana cringed as the commercial ended.

"Wait, why are we paying for karate if this other guy's giving it away for free?" a boy asked from behind the group.

Juliana turned her head around at the boy's voice. "Because, genius, before now there were no free karate lessons."

The boy furrowed his eyebrows at her and then turned back to his friend, speaking in a hushed whisper.

"Do you think Sensei has seen it?" Juliana asked.

Miguel shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, but I have a feeling it won't be pretty when he does."

Juliana nodded her head in agreement. "Definitely not."

Sensei Lawrence came out of his office, announcing that Cobra Kai would be making a commercial of their own. He asked everyone to fall in while Aisha filmed him for the commercial.

He handed Juliana a bonsai tree. She stared down at it, with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Just stand over there and hold it," Johnny instructed her as he pointed at a spot in front of the mat.

Juliana did what she was told and stood off to the side, holding a small pot containing the bonsai tree. Sensei Lawrence gave Aisha a thumbs up and told her to start filming as he walked in the frame.

"There's a lot of talk going around the Valley about free karate," Johnny said into the camera. "But everyone knows that in life, you get what you pay for. You wanna really kick the competition?"

Johnny stepped in front of Juliana and kicked the bonsai tree in her hands. Juliana leaned back and turned her head to the side as dirt flew in her face. She dropped the small piece of the pot that she still had in her hands to the floor and then turned to look at her sensei.

"Then you need to get your ass over to Cobra Kai. Screw that lame meditation bullshit," Johnny continued to say. "What you need is bone-crunching, face-smashing, good old American karate. Enough about self-defense. Learn self-offense. Don't be a pussy. Join Cobra Kai and let me teach you the way of the fist."

"And cut," Aisha said.

"All right, we get it?" Johnny asked.

"I think so," Aisha responded.

"All right, great," Johnny said. "Just make sure the Cobra Kai snake comes in at the end, all right? I want in to really pop. Make it chrome and throw 'Thunderstruck' under it."

"I'm pretty sure the rights for that song will cost too much," Aisha said as Johnny walked away.

"No, I already own it," he responded. "Cassette's in the car. Oh, and put one of those hash browns at the end. You know, like, 'Hash brown, Team Cobra Kai' or something, and then send it to the Internet!"

Hawk approached Juliana, who was spitting dirt out of her mouth. He placed his hand on her shoulder and dusted some of the dirt off.

"You okay?" Hawk asked.

Juliana nodded her head. "Besides the dirt flying at my face and in my mouth, the glass at my feet, and the fact that I'm covered in dirt? I'm good."

Hawk chuckled.

"I'm glad you find this funny," Juliana said, dusting dirt off her gi.

Miguel walked up to Hawk and tapped him on the arm. Miguel told him that he was going to talk to Sensei and asked if Hawk wanted to come with. Hawk nodded, and the two boys walked into the back storage room.

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Juliana was happy to go home and take a shower. She hated the feeling of being covered in dirt. As she went back into her room and got dressed, her phone buzzed on her bed. She grabbed it and tapped the screen, seeing a message from Aisha saying that Miyagi-Do was doing a demonstration at Valley Fest.

Not even seconds later, Miguel replied back, saying that Sensei Lawrence wanted to do a demonstration to take the thunder away from Miyagi-Do. He called for a last-minute practice before Valley Fest began.

Juliana got a ride to Valley Fest from Hawk, and when they arrived in their Cobra Kai gi's, they waited for the Miyagi-Do demo to begin. When it reached time for Miyagi-Do's big finale, Cobra Kai finally made their entrance. The lights at the stage were cut off, and the speakers shrilled.

"Cobra Kai!" Miguel shouted as they ran up the path as they chanted their dojo's name.

Rick music started blaring through the speakers as they stepped onto the stage. A banner with the Cobra Kai logo swooped down behind them. The crowd in front of Miyagi-Do had migrated to the Cobra Kai stage.

They began to show off their moves as sparks shot up in front of them. Juliana stood between Hawk and Miguel.

"Cobras, show them what real karate looks like," Johnny shouted from the wing.

Juliana and Aisha started fighting with each other, dodging each other's punches. When Aisha fell to the ground, Juliana turned and started fighting with Hawk, who was kicking another student to the ground. The fight continued until only Miguel and Juliana remained. Since Miguel was the champion and Sensei wanted to play off of that, Juliana let Miguel beat her.

The cheers started to grow even louder. Juliana showcased her board-breaking skills. She grabbed Demetri's hand and pulled him onto the stage. She handed him a board and then kicked it, causing it to break in half. Demetri stared at her, wide-eyed. When Demetri got off the stage, it was time for Sensei Lawrence to do the big finale.

As he smashed his hand through cement blocks that were blazing with fire, the crowd cheered louder. Juliana turned her head to look at Hawk. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into a side hug.

The goal of stealing Miyagi-Do's thunder had been a success. Even though she was happy about it, there was a small voice in the back of Juliana's mind telling her how wrong it was. Juliana couldn't help but feel bad for Miyagi-Do.

— EMILIA'S NOTES

sorry i left y'all hanging for a while but i hope you enjoyed this chapter.

slowly unveiling the mysteries of juliana and her family.

i ask this all the time, but it's been a hot minute sooo: demetri & juliana or hawk & juliana?