Like A Phoenix ➳ Cobra Kai

Oh, Eli's Dead. It's Hawk Now (4)

For the rest of the school day, Kat ditched. Instead, she sat on a bench in a nearby park, pondering her life choices. Curiously, she googled the dojo name Miguel mentioned earlier, finding the address; it was, in fact, located in a strip of businesses.

As she walked in the direction of the dojo, she could see a few familiar faces, notably Miguel, who seemed panicked, and a large poster with Cobra Kai in all caps. Awkwardly, she approached her group of friends, watching as Demetri was in between scared and astonished and Eli roaming around, walking back and forth with his arms crossed.

Miguel didn't say anything as he pulled Kat into a hug.

"What was that for? Nobody died, right?" her lips twitched into a subtle smirk.

Clearing his throat, he admitted, "No, I was just worried. I saw everything go down."

Eli, watching from the sidelines, glared at the duo with jealousy.

Demetri timidly glanced between his friends, "Why don't we go inside? You know, it's the entire point of being here." The group nodded, walking inside to an older man with his loose locks of dirty blond hair pulled back by a black headband. "Well, this isn't as impressive as you described, Miguel."

"Shut up, Demetri, don't say anything, not even mildly offensive," Eli murmured.

Johnny, whose serious expression hadn't yet faltered with the group of kids, stood in the front of the room. A few others joined them inside, and since this was their first day of sessions, everyone wore their regular attire. He observed the recruitments Miguel brought along, but his eyes stopped at Kat, she was eerily familiar, but he didn't know from where. With more recruitments gathering around, many began chatting amongst themselves; Johnny felt insulted by their chit-chat. His voice bellowed throughout the somewhat small space, "SILENCE, this is a place of fighting, less of this," while making a hand motion where his fingers were moving, "And more of this," aggressively closing his hand.

He began to acknowledge the power he had over his students, being the most influential person in the room filled with losers, as he considered them. "Now, I am disappointed by this crowd, but I see potential."

Johnny turned in Eli's direction, noting the conspicuous scar on his lip, "Look, even lip is here." He acknowledged, turning in his direction, "Can I call you lip?"

"No, please don't-"

Sensei Johnny ignored him, he asked mockingly, not seriously. Scoffing, he walked around the class, "and lip here," he added, pointing at Eli, "Is still better than the little shits that quit earlier."

Eli stood still, trying his best to hold his head high while avoiding eye contact. "Can you please not call me that," he retorted in a shaky, hoarse voice.

Miguel, trying to get Sensei Johnny's attention, gestured with his hand stretching across his neck, a not-so-subtle way of expressing his disapproval of the man's teaching methods. Still, he continued. Standing his ground, he pleaded with his superior, "Sensei-" and Johnny cut him off before finishing.

"No, lip has something he wants to say," stepping closer to Eli, "Say it, lip, or is your tongue messed up too?"

He stumbled with his words upon the intimidation shown by their sensei, "The, uh, the doctor said I could be on the spectrum."

In a near sarcastic tone, Johnny, almost as if he spoke directly to him, "I don't know what that is, but get off it pronto," he stared more intensely, "If you don't want me to call you lip, then don't have a weird lip. Can't you get surgery for that?"

Eli tensed, "I was born with a cleft lip; it's a scar from the surgery."

"You mean it was worse before that, or did the doctor fuck up? Is this the after photo because that sucks, man? You should sue," he playfully pointed at the kid's lip.

"Can we just please change the topic?" With each second that passed, he looked more uncomfortable, like he was ready to scream.

"You don't think I want to? I mean, it's tough when it's right in front of me." Everyone in the room stood still, the air was tense, and it would've grown out of control. "If you want to be something other than a nerd with a scar on his lip, then you gotta flip the script, alright. Get a face tattoo or gouge your eye out; I'll call you patch; wait, no, don't do that actually, you'll still look like a freak."

At this moment, Eli was reminded of the thing he thought-controlled him; what he believed was a part of his image. Storming out of the dojo, he left the remaining students baffled, yet nobody left. Much to Miguel's dismay, although he knew his sensei was ignorant or not socially aware, he was right. If Eli couldn't fix his situation, he needed to become the solution.

Kat wondered whether she would stay; it felt like he needed time to relax, maybe time to himself, so she remained with Miguel while Eli went home.

Johnny raised his hand, almost as if he were raising a white flag, "Hey, it was his choice, now, if you don't want the truth, to find the badass in you, then you can leave too."

Nobody left, and the session began.

The Next Day;

Eli was nowhere to be found. Naturally, this worried Kat; from yesterday's events, she was scared something might have happened to him, he could've hurt himself, or worse, dropped out of West Valley High. She didn't hesitate to ask around throughout the day, seeing if anyone knew where he could be. Unfortunately, as expected, most of whom she wondered her oblivious to who Eli Moskowitz was, let alone where would have been.

Miguel assured her that he was okay; they talked earlier on the phone, and according to Eli himself, he wasn't feeling well.

They showed up at the dojo, the same place where Eli stormed out; Kat felt terrible, she wanted to hug him and tell him everything would be okay, but like water, she froze. Seconds before the session began, Eli strolled in, he looked like him, but it took her and everyone by surprise. Her mouth gaped like a fish; what the hell happened to Eli? It wasn't just a hairstyle change, but he seemed full of confidence.

Walking in, he had a blue mohawk, which was once regular, lopsided hair; the scar on his lip was now overshadowed by how badass he looked. She must've caught his gaze as he winked at her, something she could never imagine coming from Eli.

The sensei acknowledged his return, impressed by him taking his advice, "Lip, glad you're back."

Eli laughed, the confidence exuded through his dry laugh, "No, sensei, it's Hawk now," he then removed the top of his martial arts uniform, turning his back to everyone. They stared in awe; it was a giant Hawk stretching across his back.

As cool as it was, the dramatic change caught her off guard. In some way, she liked this Eli better, but it was bittersweet.

The class was over relatively quickly, with everyone leaving, and Hawk, as he now calls himself, confidently strides towards Kat, someone he's fancied for the last few days. "Kat, you're looking hot, as usual. I've been thinking, how about you and I go to the West Valley mall? I know you're new here, and I'd make a good tour guide, don't you think?"

She was at a loss for words, nodding before answering, "Uh, yeah, sounds nice, when?"

He deeply thought, "Well, I was thinking right now."

Kat agreed, and with that, the two rushed off to the mall; he was excited for her sudden interest in him, but unbeknownst to him, she fancied him even before his transformation.