Me and You // Eli Moskowitz / Hawk x Reader

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 102: 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛

"I decided just to apply to some of the colleges in the area... you know, just in case," I told them. "Even though I still don't know what I want to do..."

I raised my arms up and leaned side to side, stretching out my back. Miguel, Sam, Demetri, Eli, and I all formed a circle as we stretched, preparing for the day of training ahead.

"You still have time to figure it out," Sam replied with a smile. "I heard Aisha got into UC Santa Cruz."

I grinned. "I'm so proud of her," I said.

Sam agreed, before continuing. She looked towards Miguel. "You heard anything from Stanford?" she asked him.

"No." Miguel shook his head softly. "I've been checking my emails, like, every day, but nothing." He looked down as he stretched.

"Hey, don't stress," Eli encouraged. "It'll come. I mean, Demetri hasn't heard from MIT yet, so..."

"Yeah, I did."

We all whipped our gaze towards Demetri, surprised by his response.

"I got in," he added dully.

"What?" we all said in unison.

"Well, yeah. Why are you all so surprised? I worked my ass off and earned that spot," he told us. "That would be like LeBron James getting turned down by the Lakers." He pretended to shoot a hoop in Eli's direction.

Eli looked downwards, obviously still affected by his decision not to apply to MIT and Demetri's reaction to the news.

"Congratulations, Demetri! It's a really hard school to get into," Sam said kindly.

"Yeah, it certainly is," Demetri replied. "Especially when you don't apply." He looked over to Eli. "Right, Eli?"

Eli looked back at him, unamused and clearly annoyed. "Real subtle."

Demetri shrugged his shoulders, trying to act innocent. "Hey, man, I'm just saying you miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

Eli raised his eyebrows sarcastically, looking away from Demetri.

Just then, Mr. LaRusso and Sensei came out from the teal house at the dojo. "All right, circle up!"

All of the students walked over there. While Sam, Miguel, and Demetri started walking, I grabbed Eli's arm softly. He paused, looking at me.

"It's okay, Eli," I told him. "Don't listen to him."

Eli listened to my words, then nodded lightly. His hand raised to my mine that held his arm and grabbed it, intertwining his fingers with mine and pulling me gently towards the group.

When everyone was there, Mr. LaRusso started speaking.

"The Sekai Taikai needs our final roster in three days. And now that we know who's going, it's time for us to name our male and female captains," said Mr. LaRusso. "The captains are not just the leaders of the team. They're the ones that will be fighting in the finals, if we can make it that far."

"Plus, they get to fight on live TV. Who knows what comes after that?" Sensei added. "Wheaties boxes, chop-socky flicks, ZZ Top videos. Sky's the limit."

Sensei's words just reminded me of how much more I wanted—and needed—this captains spot. This will determine my future.

"You'll all get the glory of we win," Mr. LaRusso clarified. "But, yes, the captains will be in the spotlight. They need to represent the best that Miyagi-Do has to offer. And Sensei Lawrence and I want to assure you that the decision will be completely unbiased."