❝ that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. ❞

―

JULIANA STOOD BESIDE HAWK IN THE TATTOO STUDIO.

She held his hand as Rico, his tattoo artist, used the tattoo gun to ink a new piece of artwork onto Hawk's chest just right below his collarbone. This tattoo held a sentimental value for Juliana, and while she appreciated it, she thought he was out of his mind to get a permanent tattoo on his body dedicated solely to her. Even if it was just something as simple as a sun shaped like a heart instead of a circle with little rays of light beaming around it.

Despite the fact that she thought he was out of his mind, Juliana couldn't help but smile as she watched the process. She had to admit that the small tattoo inked in black was beautiful. Juliana never would have thought that someone would ever get a tattoo for her. To finish the tattoo off, her name was inked into the center of the heart-shaped sun.

When it was finished, Hawk flipped onto his stomach so that Rico could change the mohawk on the hawk tattoo on his back from blue to red to match Hawk's newly dyed red hair. Juliana had helped him dye it before they arrived at the tattoo shop.

Juliana took a seat on one of the nearby couches while she waited. She played a game on her phone and sent a few texts to Demetri about the new Dungeon Lord comic that was coming out. The touch-up didn't last long, and Juliana was back on her feet when she saw Hawk getting up from the chair. She tucked her phone into her back pocket and walked over to him, smiling when she saw the tattoo on Hawk's tattoo again.

"So, you never told me what you think," Hawk spoke, a smirk on his face.

Juliana looked up at him, smiling. "It's beautiful. But you're still crazy for getting it."

Hawk shrugged. "I'm only crazy for you."

Juliana rolled her eyes, trying not to smile as she lightly hit him in the chest. Hawk just smiled at her and softly chucked. He put his arm around Juliana's shoulders before he turned to look at Mitch and Chris, who had been so quiet that Juliana had forgotten that they were still there.

"Hey, asshole twins," Hawk said to them. "Grab my bag. We're out."

Juliana walked out of the tattoo shop beside Hawk, with Mitch and Chris trailing behind them.

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After karate practice, Juliana sat with Tory, Aisha, and Moon at a table in Applebee's. Juliana sat with Aisha at one side of the table while Tory and Moon sat at the other. They had just finished eating their appetizers and were waiting for their main courses.

Moon was scrolling through her phone, letting out a small giggle. "Oh my God, Yasmine has the same bikini as me."

"Tell her she can stay in France," Aisha responded dryly, rolling her eyes.

Juliana nodded her head in agreement. "Seriously. It's been so quiet without her buzzing around and bullying everyone every chance she gets."

Juliana took a sip of her drink, watching as Tory dipped her hand in her own drink and grabbed a piece of ice. Juliana watched as she threw the ice, sending it soaring over her shoulder. She turned her head as it landed on the table where Miguel sat with his computer in front of him. Miguel sighed, but he didn't look mad.

"Hey..." he said to Tory.

"Oops," Tory shrugged. "Must've slipped out of my hand. What are you even doing over there?"

"Going all in," Miguel mumbled in response.

Juliana and Tory exchanged a look with each other. Juliana shrugged her shoulders. Juliana leaned back in her chair as Hawk started to approach the table. He looked down at her and smiled as he walked past the table. Juliana stood up and followed him towards the table where Mitch and Chris sat.

"Hey," Juliana said as she approached them.

Hawk smiled at her and leaned forward to give her a quick kiss. "Hey, Juli."

"I was just thinking about heading to the mall to get the new Dungeon Lord comic that came out today," Juliana told him. "Do you want to come with?"

Hawk shook his head. "You know I'm not into that kind of stuff anymore."

Juliana crossed her arms and furrowed her brows. "You
mean the nerd stuff?"

Hawk stared at her with his mouth slightly agape, as if he were trying to figure out what to say. Juliana could pretty much see and hear the gears turning in his head.

"There's something you should see," Mitch said, holding up his phone toward Hawk.

Juliana turned her head, glaring at Mitch for interrupting the conversation. She sighed and then turned back to Hawk as he grabbed Mitch's phone. She stood on her tiptoes to read the words on the screen. It was a Yelp review for Cobra Kai. Juliana scanned the screen, her eyebrows scrunching together as she read the review.

"Very unprofessional sensei. Does not take into account safety or personal boundaries," Hawk read aloud. "Facility in need of a major facelift."

"I almost expected to see cockroaches running past the entrance," Juliana continued to read. "It may look badass on the outside, but this dojo leaves so much to be desired."

Juliana had to admit, the writer of the review did make some very solid points. Cobra Kai was not entirely in the best of conditions, and both Sensei Lawrence and Sensei Kreese had difficulties when it came to safety and personal boundaries. Take the incident with the cement truck, for example, or the junkyard. Neither one of those was exactly safe. Kreese had also punched Demetri, and Sensei Lawrence had challenged him that day when everyone had flocked to Cobra Kai after seeing Miguel fighting Kyler. And wait...

"Who the hell does this guy think he is?" Hawk asked.

Juliana knew exactly who it was. There was only one person that it could be. Only one person would leave a review like that. Demetri.

Hawk scrolled up and clicked on the username, and sure enough, Juliana's suspicions were confirmed to be correct. The person who wrote the bad review was Demetri. Juliana tilted her head to look up at Hawk. Her entire body tensed up when she saw Hawk's jaw clench tightly. His grip tightened around the phone in his hand before he handed it back to Mitch.

"Hawk..." Juliana spoke softly, placing her hand on his arm. "Please don't do anything stupid."

"He completely trashed Miyagi-Do," Hawk replied. "Don't tell me that you just want to sit back and do nothing. We have to make him take it down."

"Make him?" Juliana asked, raising her eyebrows. "What are you saying?"

"You said the new issue of Dungeon Lord came out today?" Hawk questioned, looking down at Juliana. "Then I know exactly where that little nerd will be."

Juliana shook her head, unable to believe what she was hearing. "Do you even hear yourself right now? Demetri is your friend. Are you seriously going after him after a Yelp review?"

Hawk directed his attention toward Mitch and Chris. "Finish eating. We're going to the mall."

Juliana scoffed. She uncrossed her arms and turned on her heels. She walked back to the table that she had been sitting at with the girls and grabbed her bag that was draped over the chair. She started to walk away from the table, ignoring Moon and Aisha as they called out her name. Juliana left the restaurant and got into her car. She started the engine and drove out of the parking lot, making her way to the mall and calling Demetri on the way.

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Juliana rushed into the comic book store, hoping that Demetri was already there. She needed to warn him about Hawk, and with the new issue coming out, if he wasn't at home, this is the place she knew he would be. She knew for a fact that he wasn't at home because when Demetri didn't pick up the phone, Juliana called his mother. She confirmed that Demetri was indeed at the mall.

Juliana looked around the comic book store for Demetri. She found him in the very back of the shop, the newest Dungeon Lord issue in his hands. He stared down at it, his eyes scanning the pages. He was so engrossed in the comic that he wasn't even aware that Juliana was standing next to him until she cleared her throat. Demetri looked up from the comic book and turned his attention to the sound. A smile instantly appeared on his face when he saw Juliana standing beside him.

"Hey, Juli," Demetri greeted her, a beaming smile on his face. "Are you here to buy the new issue of Dungeon Lord?"

"That was my original plan," Juliana told him. "But we have a problem. I have to warn you about something."

Demetri's eyebrows furrowed together. "What do you mean?"

Juliana inhaled a deep breath through her nose and then exhaled. "Hawk saw your Yelp review, and he wasn't happy. He's on his way here to get you to take it down."

Demetri scoffed. "And what's he going to do? Beat me up? Over a Yelp review?"

"He might," Juliana replied. "Look, Demetri, you have to take it down. I'm scared of what Hawk might do if you don't."

"I can't just take it down," Demetri responded, shaking her head. "Do you know what that would do to my journalistic integrity?"

Juliana rolled her eyes. "I don't care about your journalistic integrity. What I care about is you not getting the shit beaten out of you over something as stupid as a bad review."

"Still can't wait to read that new issue, huh?"

Juliana turned her heads to see Hawk, Mitch, and Chris approaching. Juliana's heart started racing in her chest. She started to look back and forth between Hawk and Demetri, wondering what to do.

"Nice hair," Demetri commented, pointing at Hawk's red mohawk. "What is this, your Red Hulk phase?"

Hawk stepped closer to him, causing Juliana to step slightly out of the way. "I saw your Yelp review. Take it down."

"And ruin my journalistic integrity?" Demetri asked, followed by a scoff. "Look, I'm sorry, but someone had to say something."

Julianna rolled her eyes. She folded her arms across her chest and shook her head. She hated how stubborn Demetri could be. Sometimes it made her want to punch him in the face, and then other times it made her feel sick to her stomach.

"And besides, taking it down could hurt my Yelp Elite status," Demetri continued.

All of a sudden, Hawk reached out his arms and shoved Demetri, causing him to fall backwards into a comic book rack. The rack fell to the ground, making a loud clattering noise.

Juliana gasped and turned to Hawk with a furious look on her face. "What is wrong with you?"

"I said take it down," Hawk repeated.

"You think I'm afraid of you?" Demetri stood up against Hawk, staring him in the face. "I know who you really are...Eli."

Juliana's breath hitched as she watched Hawk's face fall but then quickly shift into something more sinister. Demetri's act of standing up for himself and his refusal to take the review down, mixed with the mention of who he used to be, was only making Hawk angrier. Juliana did not like the expression on Hawk's face one bit. It made her stomach churn.

"So, why don't you, Rocksteady and Bebop, just leave me alone, okay?" Demetri asked.

Demetri turned to leave, but two more guys from Cobra Kai approached him. Juliana only knew the name of one of them, Doug Rickenberger. He had been trying to get Juliana to talk to him for weeks, but she always ignored him. The other guy was relatively new to Cobra Kai, and Juliana had yet to learn his name.

"Great," Demetri turned to look at Hawk. "So, this is what it's come to. Gang assault."

"Take it down or we take you down," Hawk replied.

"You'd actually hurt me?" Demetri asked, genuine hurt on his face and concern in his voice.

Juliana shook her head, stepping between the Demetri and Hawk. "No. You're not going to do anything. Hawk, he's your friend. Are you seriously going to beat him up over a Yelp review? That's insane."

"It's not just some Yelp review," Hawk said defensively. "He trashed Cobra Kai."

Juliana rolled her eyes. "So what? It's one bad review. Every single company, restaurant, hotel, and store in the world has bad reviews."

Demetri grabbed Juliana's arm and pulled her to the side. "Don't worry, Juli. He's not the only one that knows karate."

Juliana furrowed her eyebrows as she watched Demetri get into a fighting stance. "What are you talking about?"

Demetri straightened his posture, staring Hawk in the eyes. "I just joined Miyagi-Do."

Hawk scoffed. "All right. Let's see what you got."

Juliana started shaking her head again as Hawk got into his fighting position. This wasn't going to be good. She had that nauseous feeling in her stomach again. Her heart was pounding against her chest as her fear for Demetri's safety grew stronger by the second. She wanted to believe in him, but she had seen how strong of a fighter Hawk had grown into, and she still couldn't get the images of what he had done to Robby at the tournament out of her head.

Hawk raised his leg and kicked Demetri in the abdomen. Demetri grunted in pain and grabbed his stomach before hunching over. Hawk kneeled down to the ground and swept Demetri's legs out from under him, causing him to fall to the floor. Juliana tried to catch him, but he fell too fast and slipped right out of her arms.

Juliana looked up at Hawk and stared at him with wide eyes. "What is wrong with you?"

The commotion alerted the shop owner, who called out from the front of the store, "Hey! What's going on back there?"

Juliana turned her head to look in his direction along with everyone else. With the momentary distraction, Demetri stood up and reached for Juliana's hand. She was still looking in the opposite direction when he bolted and started to pull her out of the store. Juliana looked over her shoulder to see Hawk and the other Cobra Kai guys chasing after them.

Demetri kept pulling her, running as fast as he could through the mall. Juliana kept calling out his name, asking him to let go of her as they bumped into several people. Finally, he released her arm, causing them both to bump into a rack of sunglasses. Juliana quickly apologized to the kiosk owner and started to run after Demetri.

"Where are we running to?" Juliana called out as she caught up to him.

"The food court," Demetri told her. "That's where Sam and Robby are."

Juliana nodded her head as she kept running, starting to get out of breath. Demetri stopped in front of an empty table in the middle of the food court. Juliana stood next to him, scanning the cafeteria for any sign of Sam and Robby.

Demetri sighed. "Of course they left."

Demetri circled around the table. Juliana continued to look around the cafeteria, still not seeing them. Instead, she saw Hawk slowly approaching them. Juliana rolled her eyes as she backed away, standing beside Demetri. She turned her head, seeing Mitch and Chris coming up to them from the left. Rickenberger and the other boy appeared from behind Hawk. They started circling them, surrounding them from all sides.

"It didn't have to be this way," Hawk said to Demetri, stepping closer and closer. "You could have joined Cobra Kai if you weren't such a pussy."

"As least I'm not an asshole," Demetri shot back, his voice shaky.

Mitch grabbed ahold of Demetri from behind. Demetri tried to wiggle free of his grasp.

"You're dead meat," Hawk said.

Chris reached forward and tried to grab Juliana's arms, but she swung around and punched him in the jaw before he had the chance. Chris stumbled backwards. Juliana watched as Sam came behind him and grabbed him by the shoulders. She swung her body over him and kicked Mitch, allowing Demetri to get free from his grip.

Juliana pulled Demetri back. "Get back."

"You guys need to back off," Sam warned them.

"I don't wanna have to hit a girl," Hawk responded.

"You wouldn't stand a chance," Robby said, walking towards them.

Hawk scoffed. "Five against three? More like two and a half."

Juliana rolled her eyes. Hawk looked at her as if he were waiting for her to walk over to his side and fight with him. Juliana stayed put, getting into a fighting position. Hawk's face fell. He stared at her for a brief moment before he clenched his jaw and turned to look at Robby. The fight began without a moment's notice.

Chris grabbed Robby from behind, and Robby started swinging punches at Hawk, but he kept dodging them. Juliana stood in front of Doug Rickenberger. He chuckled and smirked down at her.

"I've always wanted to fight with you," Doug said, his smirk growing. "Looks like I get my wish."

Juliana rolled her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to wipe that smirk right off his face. She smiled back at him as sweetly as she could before raising her leg in the air and kicking him in the chest. Doug stumbled and then stared at her in shock. Juliana didn't give him the chance to recuperate before she was hitting him again. She hit him with one punch after the other. He managed to get a few punches in, but between Juliana's ability to dodge due to being shorter than him and her agility, he didn't stand a chance. Sensei Lawrence had always told her to use it to her advantage, and that's exactly what she was doing.

Juliana turned her head, seeing that Demetri was in trouble. The boy she didn't know the name of had a fistful of Demetri's shirt, about to punch him. Juliana swung her leg around, kicking Doug into one of the nearby tables. She turned toward the other boy and pulled him by his shirt. He let go of Demetri, and Robby pulled Demetri back as he continued to fight. Juliana punched him in the jaw before she kicked him in the abdomen. He fell to the tile floor next to Doug.

Juliana turned her head, watching as Hawk started to run toward Robby. As Hawk jumped in the air, Robby raised his leg and landed a kick midair. Hawk fell to the floor. The crowd that had formed around them reacted, and Juliana looked around at them before she turned her head to look at Demetri.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" Juliana questioned.

Demetri shook his head. "I—I'm fine."

Sam held a white to-go box out in front of Demetri as they all stared down at Hawk. "We saved your chicken."

Demetri grabbed the box. "Thanks."

────────────

Juliana sat with Demetri in his bedroom. He had just gotten back from the LaRusso's house and had asked her to come over. Juliana had agreed, and now she sat in his desk chair while Demetri sat on his bed, his eyes fixated on her as she turned back and forth in the chair. There was something so strangely and strikingly mesmerizing to him about the way her hair moved from side to side.

It was also quite peculiar that even though she was sad—a melancholy feeling lingering in the air after the fight and her conflicting feelings over Hawk—she still managed to have a smile on her face. She was still putting others above herself. She was thinking of Demetri and continuously asking him how she felt, avoiding the topic of talking about Hawk. Demetri thought that it was rather odd. But he didn't press the matter. He didn't want to upset her. He never wanted to do anything that would upset her.

Juliana was the perfect girl—his and Eli's perfect girl—and Eli had made her sad. Demetri could tell, despite how much she insisted that she was fine. Demetri could not understand what it was that she saw in Hawk. Eli, sure. Eli was great. But Hawk? He just didn't get it. He didn't get what any of the girls at school saw in him. Especially Juliana.

Demetri hated the thought of them together. He hated seeing them together. He hated the thought of them kissing, and he hated it when he had to listen to them talk all lovey-dovey for lack of better words to each other. He hated the way she looked at him—like he was the only boy in the world.

Demetri understood that he wasn't necessarily no prize either. He spent far too long looking in the mirror, picking out all of his flaws and wondering what it was that Juliana didn't see in him. He wondered why she chose Hawk and not him.

Demetri just wanted Juliana to see him. He wanted her to truly see him. He wanted her to love him the way that she loved Hawk. But Juliana only saw Demetri as a friend, and Demetri knew that. He just couldn't help himself from loving her—from wanting to be more than just her friend.

"What'cha thinking about so hard over there?" Juliana asked, breaking Demetri out of his thoughts. "You have that little crinkle between your eyebrows that you always get when you're thinking super hard about something."

Demetri shook his head. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Come on, you can tell me," Juliana replied.

She smiled at him, and Demetri could have folded right then and there and blurted that he loved her. But he didn't. He couldn't.

Demetri sighed. "Just...the whole thing with our parents and what they're hiding from us. Plus, there's the whole you might not be real thing."

Juliana could tell that he was lying, but she didn't say anything. She didn't want to pressure Demetri into talking about something he didn't want to talk about. He would bring it up when he was ready.

Instead, Juliana laughed and playfully rolled her eyes. "I've told you, genius, I'm real. There's a perfectly logical explanation for all of this, and we'll figure it out."

Demetri nodded his head. "Speaking of which, I was thinking that we need to further investigate by doing a bit of snooping."

Juliana raised an eyebrow. "Elaborate."

"We need to search our houses for anything that might give us any clues or information as to what they're hiding," Demetri explained. "Or anything that might help explain how the hell Eli and I manifested your existence."

Juliana sighed. "There's just one problem with that..."

Demetri nodded his head in understanding. "Things with Eli are rather...complicated."

"That's one word for it," Juliana responded. "And it's about to get a lot more complicated."

Demetri furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

────────────

Juliana had texted Hawk, telling him that they needed to talk. He asked to meet up at Cobra Kai, and so she stood outside of Cobra Kai. Hawk stood in front of her, staring down at her with an angry expression on his face. He was still furious at her for helping Demetri during the fight and for being on his side when it came to the Yelp review.

"I'm not going to apologize for defending my friend," Juliana said, crossing her arms. "Demetri is your friend too, in case you've forgotten!"

Hawk shook his head. "Not anymore. He joined Miyagi-Do."

Juliana scoffed. "Not anymore? Over some stupid Yelp review? I'll admit, he shouldn't have written it, but my God, ending a friendship over it? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. And so what if he joined Miyagi-Do?"

"He's a fucking nerd!" Hawk shouted. "And he'll always be a nerd."

Juliana couldn't help but laugh in disbelief. "So what? He's a nerd, and so am I. So were you until a few months ago."

Hawk was silent.

"And then fighting him in the mall? Becoming a bully? Have you lost all sense of self-control and respect?" Juliana asked.

Hawk's breath hitched as he looked down at her, unsure of what to say.

Juliana inhaled a sharp breath. "If you think for a second that I'm going to stand around and watch while you throw away the best and most important friendship you've ever had for such a stupid reason, then you're mistaken. I'm not sure I like who you've become. We're done."

Juliana turned on her heels and started walking to her car. She opened the car door and turned when she heard Hawk call out her name.

"Juli, where are you going?" Hawk questioned.

"I said we're done," Juliana repeated.

Hawk slipped his shirt over his head, pointing to the tattoo he got for her. "No, we're not. This means forever."

"Not anymore!" Juliana replied, tears starting to form in her eyes.

She got in the car and started the car. Tears started to fall down her cheeks. She turned the music up on the radio and screamed her lungs out to the lyrics as she drove home.

— EMILIA'S NOTES

omg i'm so sorry that i left y'all hanging for so long. this chapter took me forever to finish. i just kept getting distracted or falling asleep but finally it's here!!

juliana absolutely CLOCKED hawk during the breakup scene. i'm sorry that i had to break them up. it's all for the sake of plot.

also the little peak inside of demetri's head as well as the chapter title take inspiration from the song "jessie's girl"

hope y'all enjoyed <3