FIVE.
( her beautiful blue hair off. )

"Why did I let you talk me into this?" Demetri had been complaining since the moment they had gotten there. "This goes against everything I stand for. It's like extra gym class for no reason."

"Let's just give it a chance," Eli encouraged. "You saw the fight. Miguel kicked ass. And this way we can hang out with Em, too. I mean, you know how long she's been wanting to learn karate."

"I do, but that doesn't mean I have to join too. Emmy can kick ass on her own just fine," Demetri scoffed.

"Oh, don't be such a baby, Demetri," Emmy stepped next to him, draping her arm on his shoulders. "This might be the best decision on your life. And you need to leave your house more often. Your parents will be happy that their son is actually doing anything other than video games for once."

He just grumbled back, looking back down at his phone.

"I'm happy to be here, Em," Eli spoke up.

She smiled warmly at him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks, Eli."

"Does your dad even know about this, Em?" Demetri squinted his eyes at her.

She squinted back at him, before shoving his face away with her hand. "No. And he will never find out. I'm not risking getting kicked out because daddy can't handle me learning karate elsewhere."

"Quiet!"

Eli and Demetri jumped while Emmy remained neutral. She had heard him say that more times than she could count.

"Face front."

They all shifted their bodies to face the direction of his office. It almost made Emmy laugh at how serious and tense everyone in the room got. As Johnny walked down the line between the students, she gave him a smile, which he gave a sarcastic one back.

"Nice shirt," he commented on Demetr's pi shirt.

"Thanks."

"I'm joking. It sucks."

Emmy smiled widely, looking back. "Don't you love him?"

"I understand your dad now," he retorted back.

She waved him off, quietly snickering to herself.

"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 with his tits popping out. But in my short time as a sensei, I've also seen some miracles," Johnny glanced over at Emmy, Miguel, and Aisha, a proud smirk on his face. "So, maybe there's some hope for you yet. But first, I need to see where you're at. So everybody, fall in!"

Emmy moved to her spot next to Aisha, but if felt awkward as she was the only one moving.

"That means line up," Johnny explained, and everyone began to move. "No, not ⎯ not line up in a line. Lines! Get in lines!"

"You mean like rows?" Emmy heard Demetri ask and she shut her eyes in embarrassment.

✸

"Your sensei is a dick."

Emmy rolled her eyes as she placed a second ice pack onto Demetri's back, the boy groaning. He laid stomach down on her bed, eyes squeezed shut from the cold ice packs touching his skin.

"Close your mouth," she bent down in front of him, becoming face level. He pressed his lips together, putting them in a pout. "Oh, don't get all pouty with me. You provoked a man who's literal job is to teach kids to punch and kick. I thought you were smarter than this, Dem."

Her bedroom door opened, and Eli walked in with another bag filled with ice. "I got more."

"Oh, thank god," Demetri sighed in relief. "My back is on fire."

Eli furrowed his eyebrows, shutting the door behind him. "Should you see a doctor?"

"He'll pull through," Emmy waved it off, grabbing the bag of ice. That was when her door opened again.

"Emmy, your mom wants to know what you want for din ⎯ oh," Daniel stopped himself upon seeing the two boys in her room.

The trio froze, the ice pack dangling in Emmy's hand. Demetri's shirt was rolled up to expose his back, and his face turned red.

"Um, what's going on here?" her dad asked, looking at them oddly.

"Emmy's sens ⎯ umph!"

She shoved the bag of ice into Demetri's mouth, muffling his words. "He fell. He's fragile."

Daniel slowly nodded. "Okay..."

Emmy cleared her throat, crossing her arms over her chest. "What were you gonna ask me?"

"Right, what do you want for dinner?"

She knew that what she said wouldn't even be discussed and she gave a nonchalant shrug. "Whatever Sam wants."

He gave a tight lipped smile. "All right then." Daniel then backed away, shutting the door after him.

"Are you trying to get me kicked out?" Emmy immediately scolded Demetri, snatching the ice pack from his mouth and threw it onto his back. He let out a yelp of pain.

"Sorry! I forgot," he glared at her before moving the ice pack to its correct place. "And it's not like you spend many nights here anyway."

Eli watched nervously as Emmy narrowed her eyes at their best friend, before taking the ice pack and shoved it into his mouth again.

✸

"Okay, everybody. Fall in," Emmy shifted nervously on her feet as Johnny walked out from his office. There were tons of absences since the previous day. "Where is everyone? Crater face? Nose ring? Slingshot? Pinky's freaky little friend?"

She winced, her and Miguel sharing a glance. "They quit, Sensei."

"Are you serious?" Johnny sounded genuine, before looking around at the remaining students and captured back his persona. "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."

He paused, noticing Eli in front of him. "Lip. Look, even Lip's tougher than those guys. He's no quitter."

"Could you please not call me that?" Eli asked, and Emmy felt her heart beat a little bit faster.

"Excuse me, what?" Johnny took a step towards him.

"I said, could you please not call me that?" Eli asked louder.

"Oh, my god," Emmy whispered under her breath, feeling the same tension rise in the air. She rubbed her hand over her mouth, eyes focused on the two males.

She turned over to Miguel, eyes pleading with him to do something since Johnny was more likely to listen to him. He gave his best reassuring look and took a step forward. "I'll warm 'em up, Sensei."

But they should've known that Johnny Lawrence never left anything halfway done. "No, Lip has something he wants to say. Sorry, speak up, Lip. Or, is your tongue messed up too? Are you one of those challenged kids?"

This had to be one of the hardest things Emmy had to watch, as she turned away. Her mind was puzzled with disbelief. Had he really just asked that?

"Um, the doctor said I could be on the spectrum," Eli answered truthfully.

"I don't know what that is, but get off 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."

The deal people had with Eli's scar was something Emmy never got. Eli was an attractive guy who was sweet and smart. Was a scar really worth fussing over?

Miguel grabbed onto Emmy's wrist, pulling her forward so they both could try and intervene. They could both tell the other was starting to feel uneasy.

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

"Sensei," Emmy cut in. "I think we are, um, losing some precious training time, so how about we drop the topic, yeah?"

"You don't think I want to?" he turned to her before turning back to Eli. "It's tough when it's right in front of me. If you wanna be something other than a nerd with a scar on his lip, you gotta flip the script. Ok? Get a face tattoo or gouge your eye out. We'll call you "Patch," all right? No, don't do that one. You'll still look like a freak."

She opened her mouth to talk again, but she stopped when Eli stormed off the mat. She reached out to grab his arm, but he only stepped away.

Without thinking, she rushed to follow him.

"LaRusso!" she heard Johnny shout.

She turned back around, and gave a sheepish look. "I'm sorry. See you tomorrow!"

✸

"That was so humiliating," Eli sniffled as he and Emmy took place on his bed. His head was laid on her lap while she looked at him in sympathy. "Why do you put up with that?"

"Well," she looked up in thought, eyes squinting. "Now that I think about it, he's never really said anything mean to me. Which is surprising since he knows who my dad is."

"It's this thing," Eli pointed up at his lip scar. "No matter what I do, everyone is just gonna laugh at it."

Emmy sighed, reaching over to his bedside table and grabbed a tissue. She helped wipe the tears off of his face, and placed it onto the pillow beside her. "Eli, do not take what Sensei Lawrence says to heart. For all we know, he's just projecting his own high school experience onto you."

Eli took a brief pause. "Are you saying I'm like him?"

"No," Emmy shook her head. "I'm saying you're better."

It caught him off guard, and his face turned red.

"Aww, you're blushing," Emmy gushed, poking his warm cheek.

"Shut up," he grumbled, rolling off of her and propped himself up on his elbows. "You're supposed to be making me feel better."

"I am," she playfully pouted. "I'm saying you're better than the only other older male figure in my life. It's a deep compliment."

"Not like that," he muttered, feeling his face heat up again. "I still wanna do karate. But I don't want him to keep making of my lip."

"Well," Emmy huffed out a breath. "Then we just have to give him something else to look at."

He tilted his head curiously. "What do you mean?"

A smirk formed on her face. "Have you ever dyed your hair?"

He shook his head.

"Have you ever had a bold hairstyle?"

He shook his head again.

"Then we'll do just that," she hopped off the bed, and held out her hand for him. "Come on, we're giving you a makeover. Not that you need it, but, change isn't a bad thing."

He looked at her hand hesitantly. "You have hair dye? Like, you just bring hair dye with you whenever you come over?"

"No, silly," seeing as he wasn't grabbing her hand, Emmy grabbed his and started to drag him off. He quickly scrambled to his feet, following her into his bathroom. "Since I'm over so much, I just keep hair dye at your house. And Dem's. You know, just in case I have another breakdown and decide to dye my hair like everyone else does."

He watched her crouch down to the cabinet under the sink, eyes filled with concern. "You are not okay."

She stood up, holding a large plastic bag in her hand. "Maybe. But, that just means I will do an excellent job." She opened up the bag, showing him the multiple boxes of hair dye. There were so many colors. "Here. Pick one you think would suit you."

His mouth scrunched off to the side and he looked at her. "I don't know. Can you pick for me?"

Emmy raised her eyebrows. "Seriously? You want me to choose?"

"I trust you," Eli shrugged, but his words were sincere.

She couldn't contain her smile, and grabbed onto a box with no hesitation. Eli looked on the box, and saw a woman with blue hair. He looked back at his best friend with wide eyes. "Blue?"

"You trust me, right?"

He thickly swallowed and nodded.

Emmy let out a breath, placing the bag onto the tile floor. "All right then. Time to play hair salon."

Eli's eyes widened even more.

✸

"Where the hell is LaRusso? She said she was gonna be here."

"I don't know," Miguel shrugged. "I texted her this morning but she didn't answer. And we need her because we have three more absences."

"Bunch of pussies," Aisha shook her head.

"LaRusso's no pussy," Johnny waved off the idea. "But it's my fault. Since you joined Cobra Kai, 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."

Miguel immediately thought of the look on Emmy's face if she heard that.

"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 used to have no friends. Used to be the weirdo kid. Not that weird. I hooked up with babes and all, but...That point is, I wasn't always the badass sensei I am today. Just like a cobra, I had to shed my loser skin to find my true power. And you guys will too."

The sound of the door bell caught Johnny's attention, and his face visibly flooded with relief. "LaRusso! Wanna explain yourself?"

"Uh, no, not really," she leaned her palm against the wall to support herself as she took off her shoes, and Miguel noticed something.

"Why's your hair blue?"

Her head snapped up, and her face grew a smile as she grabbed the small section of hair she had dyed blue. "I wanted to match."

"Match with who?"

Emmy's smile became cheeky, and the door rang again.

"Welcome to Cobra Kai," Johnny obliviously said.

Everyone turned to the door, and Miguel did a double take. "Eli, what happened?"

"I'm flipping the script," the boy responded, a new found cocky tone in his voice.

Johnny stood up straighter in disbelief, and moved towards him. "Wait. Are you the kid with the lip? Nice cut, bro. You see that? Doesn't matter if you're a loser or a nerd or a freak. All that matters if that you become badass."

Emmy stepped next to her best friend, not being able to contain her smug smirk. Blue was certainly the right choice for him. She felt him drape his arm on her shoulder.

"Hawk, LaRusso. Fall in."

The girl waited for Hawk to take off his shoes before they both stepped onto the mat, side by side. "Fear does not exist in this dojo, does it?"

Emmy and Hawk glanced at each other before looking at the blonde man with fiery eyes. "No, Sensei!"

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

"No, Sensei."

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

"No, Sensei."

Johnny turned and faced the mirrors. "Class, are you ready to learn the way of the fist?"

"Yes, Sensei!"

✸ AUTHOR'S NOTE ! rip eli but hello to a flirty friendship!

also yes i am posting this at 5:40 in the morning sue me