chapter seven,
boyshit

It was the next day, and Mackenzie was somehow back in the same place she was yesterday. The place she promised herself she wouldn't go to in the first place.

As she entered the doors to the dojo, there were barely any people inside. Demetri had quit after the last occurrence which was expected.

But for some reason, she saw a familiar face.

"Eli?" She furrows her brows as she walks onto the mats. "Hey Kenz." He softly smiles.

"I didn't think you'd come back?" She exclaims. "Thought that same with you." He looks at her shyly.

Johnny enters and stands before the students, "Ok, everybody. Fall in— Where is everyone?" He asks looking around.

"Crater face? Nose ring? Slingshot?" He asks naming everyone.

"As I said, people aren't going to come back here if you keep calling them names." Mackenzie says with a sarcastic smirk.

"Well Little Miss Sunshine. Glad to see you back, you got what it takes." Johnny slyly smiles. "But where is everybody?"

"They quit, Sensei." Miguel sighs.

"Are you serious?" The Sensei asks, he pauses taking a moment to reflect upon the situation. "Well, good. That was a test. I wanted to see who the quitters are. Not you guys. You're in it to win it, right?"

Mackenzie and Eli give each other a look of confusion as the man tries to encourage them.

"You could be at home playing your iComputers, playing your video games, eating candy. Instead you're here. Doing pushups, learning how to fight."

"Lip." Sensei Lawrence points to Eli, "Look, even Lip's tougher than those guys. He's no quitter."

Mackenzie wanted to yell at the man or kick his ass again, but she held back. As she was lost in her own thoughts, she heard Eli's voice.

"Could you please not call me that?" Eli talks back, defending himself for once.

"Excuse me, what?" The man replied. "I said could you please not call me that."

    "Uh, I'll warm the up Sensei." Miguel tries to interject. "No, no, no. Lip has something to say."

    Johnny begins to walk towards Eli and the student back away, "Sorry, speak up, Lip. Or is your tongue messed up too? Are you one of those challenged kids?"

    "Um, the doctor said I could be on the spectrum." Eli admits, and Kenzie nudges him to shut up.

    "I don't know what that is, but get off it pronto, okay?" The man commanded, "And if you don't want me to call you Lip, then 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."

"You mean it was worse before that? Or did the doctor screw up? Because if this the after photo, that suck. Man, you should sue."

Mackenzie's blood began to boil as the Sensei continued to make comments about Eli. The more he opened his mouth, the worse it got.

    "Can we please just change the topic." Eli sighed.

"You don't think I want to? It's tough when it's right in front of me. You wanna be something other than a nerd with a scar on his lip, then you gotta flip the script."

"Get a face tattoo of gouge your eye out. We'll call you Patch, alright? Actually no, don't do that one. You'll still look like a freak."

Eli lowers his head and storms out of the dojo, "Oh, great, really? Another quitter?"

"Eli!" Mackenzie yells following after him. "Fuck you." She says as she turns around to face the man, flipping him off.

"Eli, wait. Please." She begs catching up to him in the street. "What?" Eli raises his voice.

"He didn't mean any of that. You know that. He's just a loser who had a horrible life and has to take it out on us." Mackenzie says.

"He's right, I am a freak." Eli doesn't stop walking away from the girl. Mackenzie's heart breaks as she listens to Eli's words. She can practically feel the pain in his voice, the hurt in his eyes.

    "Eli, you're not a freak," she says, jogging to catch up with him. "Don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

    Eli keeps walking, his pace quickening. "But it's true, isn't it? Look at me. This is not exactly normal, is it?" he says, gesturing to his lip.

    Mackenzie swallows hard, feeling a lump form in her throat. "Eli, please." She grabs his arm, forcing him to stop and look at her.

"You know what Kenzie, just leave me alone." Eli tells her tugging his arm away from her, before leaving her alone in the street.

🥋 ⋆⭒˚｡⋆

    Mackenzie knocks on the door of the man's so called office inside the dojo. "Go away. No more lessons." He complained cracking open a beer.

"Oh god, no you again. Can I help you?" Johnny groans at the sight of the girl.

    "Look, I've got what you're looking for." She says with a straight face.

    "I'm sorry, what?" He frowns with confusion as the man sits at his desk.

    "You're looking for someone who isn't going to quit on you, who isn't afraid to throw a punch and someone who won't show no mercy as you call it. I'm all that."

    "And I am willing to join your team, but you gotta knock it off." Mackenzie tells the man.

    "Knock what off?" He asks again.

    "The bullying. You are a bully. And bullies don't get far in life, and if you go get on bullying these kids — they are not going to become stronger. No, they are gonna be stuck with your meaningless words for years."

    "And why should I be listening to a little girl like you." Johnny speaks up.

    "Because you're going to lose the All Valley Tournament without me."

"And you are especially going to apologise to Eli, because he did not deserve the shit you just put him through." Kenzie says coming closer to the man who reeked of beer and sweat.

Johnny raised an eyebrow at her, a hint of surprise in his eyes. He took a long gulp of his beer and set the bottle down on the desk. "What makes you think I need a girl like you on my team?" He asked, leaning back in his chair.

Mackenzie clenched her jaw, determination flashing in her eyes. "I can kick your ass once, I can kick it again."

Johnny chuckled, seeming amused more than intimidated. "You think you got what it takes, huh?"

"I know I do," Mackenzie retorted. "You've seen what I'm capable of. But if I do join, you need to stop the bullying."

Johnny took another swig of his beer, eyeing Mackenzie up and down. "Okay."

"Good. Oh and I'm not going to put up with your boyshit." She leans on his desk. Johnny cocked an eyebrow at her. "Boyshit? Who are you, some kind of feminist or something?"

"Exactly." Mackenzie smirks exiting the building, successfully winning.

🥋 ⋆⭒˚｡⋆

    It was the next day after the whole bullying incident and Mackenzie was once again back in the soon standing next to Miguel.

    Last night, she has called Eli so many times that she was surprised he didn't block her. And yet, he never picked up.

    "Have you seen Eli?" Mackenzie leans over to Miguel who shakes his head no.

    Johnny enters the dojo and slowly walks past the few students who were left. "Three more absences, Sensei." Miguel sighs.

    "Bunch of pussies." Aisha spits, trying to act tough. "Oh shut up." Mackenzie scrunches her face up with disgust at the girl who she still didn't forgive.

    "No, it's my fault." Sensei Lawrence admits, glancing over to Kenzie for approval. "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 apologise."

    As Johnny finishes his words Mackenzie rolls her eyes, realising that he wouldn't keep his words.

    "Cobra Kai is about strength." He stops walking in front of the girl, "If you're not strong  on the inside, you can't be strong on the outside. And right now you're all weak."

    Mackenzie rolls her eyes and goes to walk off but Johnny stops her with his words, "And I know that because I was you."

Suddenly, Kenzie's demeanour changed. "I used to have no friends. Used to be that weirdo kid." He walks over to a younger boy with glasses.

"Not that weird. I hooked up with babes and all— The point is, I wasn't always the badass sensei I am today." He stands back at the front facing the students.

"And just like a cobra, I had to shed my loser skin, to find my true power. And you guys will too."

As Sensei Lawrence finishes his speech, the bells on the doors jingle, and someone with a blue mohawk confidently walks in.

"Welcome to Cobra Kai." Johnny says.

As the other students turn to him, Mackenzie takes a look slowly to reveal it being a familiar face.

"Oh my god." Mackenzie blurted out loud as she realises who the strange boy was. It was Eli.

— leila's notes !

love footage of Kenzie burning johnny's apartment down after he literally bullied the love of her life ;)