─────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───────
──EPISODE FOUR

"I'M SO SORRY MS DIAZ," Élodie choked on a sob as she watched the horror on the face of the woman before her. Miguel was battered, and she couldn't help but feel guilty for not getting there sooner.

"Oh no, Élodie sweetie don't apologise," Carmen frowned, "You helped him... Thank you so much for helping my boy."

"You should've seen her, mama," Miguel spoke now, still excited by her big rescue despite the immense pain he was in, "She was like... well, actual wonder woman."

"Here, hold this ice on your ribs." Élodie interjected, pushing back Miguel's hair out of his face with her other hand. He winced, and she smiled sympathetically.

"That's great, Miggy, but why don't you tell me who did this? I'll call the school. They can protect you. I'm glad you've got Élodie but... This can't happen again." It broke Élodie's heart to see Carmen so frantically worried for her son.

"It'll only make things worse, Mama." he shook his head.

"Worse than this?"

"Yes!"

"Élodie... who was it, please?" Carmen pleaded with the girl before her, and Élodie swallowed thickly as she contemplated how to respond.

"Don't get her involved, mama, please, she's just helping me," Miguel reasoned, half-smiling at the girl taking care of him before looking back at his concerned mother, "If I just had more lessons, then maybe..."

"No."

"It's not Sensei Lawrence's fault. I just... I just wasn't ready." he pleaded, eyes desperate as his mother grew sterner, "No. No more karate."

"Élodie does karate and... and look how she helped me! I just need practice, mama."

Carmen sighed deeply, glancing over at his son's savior as she pondered what he'd said for a moment, "It doesn't matter, Miggy. You can tell your Sensei you're done, okay?"

———

"So that's it? No more karate?" Demetri asked, tapping his pen against his notepad as he leaned over it to talk to his friends.

"I guess so." Miguel shrugged, and Élodie couldn't help but frown at the clear disappointment on his face as she glanced up from Eli's work, which (as had become normal) she was copying due to her inability to focus herself in the classroom.

"It's probably for the best," Demetri shrugged, "It was starting to boost your confidence."

Élodie snorted, "He's not wrong, Miggy. But how're you going to impress Sam now?"

"Isn't that a good thing? And she's not interested, El, you know that." he looked down at the table, shy for a moment as Demetri let out a small laugh, "No. What has confidence ever gotten anybody except for a black eye and their backpack thrown in the trash?"

"Well, I thought it was kind of cool how you stood up to Kyler," Eli's voice was still quiet until he looked over at Élodie and a smile spread on his face, "And, well, look how badass Élodie has been, protecting us and-and stuff."

"Are you insane? Élodie kicked ass but let me ask you... What is the best superpower anyone could have?" Demetri asked, as though his friends were being completely ridiculous.

"Super strength."

"Wrong. Invisibility...A distant second would be super speed to run away fast." Demetri deadpanned in reply as soon as Miguel spoke.

"Run away from who?" Kyler asked with a smirk, placing his hands on Eli's shoulders and, as ever, showcasing his ability to boil Élodie's blood even by existing in the same room as her.

"Whom," Brucks interjected, earning a glare from Kyler, "It's the object of a preposition. Remember English class..."

The boys scrambled to their feet, whilst Élodie rose to hers quickly, but fuelled by her anger, "Get your disgusting hands off him." she snapped as Kyler grabbed Eli by the face, "Oh, look at this freak. What kind of girl would ever kiss this shit?"

He looked over at Élodie, who was visibly furious now, "Oh wait, apparently Stormy over here would. Isn't that right, whore? Here to protect your little freak boyfriend again?"

She slapped his hand from Eli's face, before grabbing it and twisting it behind his back, "What part of leaving us the fuck alone did you not understand, asshole?"

She released his arm with a jolt and, followed by the boys, she stormed out of the room, watching Kyler grab his arm in pain and mumble some incoherent curses under his breath before shouting, "Losers!"

As the group left, the boys all thanked her as ever, and Élodie simply smiled, "Hey, if there was one thing I was known for here it was my temper. I'm not gonna let them hurt you guys, ever. I care about you all too much."

As they dispersed, she tapped Eli's shoulder, hoping to get him alone for a moment as she hadn't been able to much. "Eli... Please don't listen to what those pricks say about you."

"It's-It's okay, El," he shrugged sadly, "You don't have to say all this. Thank you for protecting me but at the end of the day they're right. Look at me... Well... No, uh, don't," he reached up to cover his face again and Élodie grabbed his hand just as she had done before, pulling it back.

"I'm not just saying it to make you feel better, Eli," she sighed, pressing a kiss to the back of the hand she'd just taken in hers.

She'd become so attached to the group in the short time she'd become close with them, but something made her feel even more attached to Eli. Maybe it was their previous close bond, she pondered, but what ever it was seemed almost magnetic.

Of course, she hated seeing anyone bullied, but when she struggled so much to see why they bullied him, it only intensified her desire to protect him.

Besides, she meant it when she said she didn't think he should be insecure — she thought he was gorgeous.

"Really," she reassured, and for a moment their heads were close enough together that she could feel his warm, unsteady breath fan across her face, "And they can tease me about it all they like because yeah, I would kiss you. Happily."

"You— You would?"

"Of course," she shrugged, contemplating her next move for a moment before leaning just that tiny bit closer and gently kissing the corner of his mouth, more on his cheek than his lips as she didn't want to push her luck, "I'd be silly not to want to. And little Élodie never had a problem with it." she winked.

Eli was stunned, "But what about Miguel? You're always at his house and-and-," but Élodie shook her head, "We're friends, Eli. He lives right by my grams, we're just friends."

"Uh, oh— okay," Eli looked up, eyes meeting Miguel's suddenly, "Are you sure?"

"I guess I had a tiny crush, if you could call it that, on him for like... a day when we first met, but not now," she giggled, "He's my best friend now, I'd say. Besides, I was reacquainted with someone else important who changed that," she raised her brows at him now, "Plus he's like, in love with Sam. And a massive dork."

"And I'm not?"

"Shut up," she joked, nudging him with her elbow and stepping back, watching Miguel climb into his mother's car and sending him a smile and a wave as he eyed her with an expression she couldn't decipher, "Bye Miggy," she mouthed, a teasing smile adorning her face.

"Listen, Eli," Élodie drew in a sharp breath, suddenly nervous, "I've got work, kinda, but are you busy later? I need some algebra help and... Well, I trust you with it most."

Eli smiled, and Élodie felt her heart rate increase. Her crush on him was deepening fast, and she found it increasingly hard to comprehend that she felt this way after being reacquainted with him for so little time.

"Oh—uh, yeah, of course," he nodded, a little too enthusiastically at first which made the brunette girl giggle, "I'd be happy to help you, El."

She grinned, pulling out her phone and opening her contacts, "Put your number in, I'll text when I finish if that's alright? We can get some food or something first."

Eli nodded, punching his number into her phone and adding himself to her contacts. Just as he went to hand back her phone, a text from 'Miggy' came through, reading 'Moms asked if you'll come over for food again tonight, are you free?'.

"Oh sorry I—I didn't mean to look at that," Eli apologised, blushing as Élodie shook her head with a smile, having not read the message yet, "It's okay... Oh,"

"It's fine we don't have to--"

"No, I've got work anyway," Élodie bit her lip, aware of the brief flash of disappointment on the face of the boy in front of her, "I'll tell him I can do another night. It's probably only because I'm normally around there anyway... Uh...Y'know, visiting grams. And she's just worried about him after all the Kyler shit."

"Oh yeah," Eli nodded, but he wasn't entirely convinced.

Miguel and Élodie seemed to have so much in common and seemed so close. Miguel was gaining confidence, and their shared interest in karate seemed to be tying their bond together only closer. Not to mention, she has already somehow earned the favour of his mother.

Eli envied their bond, no matter how Élodie seemed to treat him as though she cared most about him.

Would she grow bored of him just as quickly as she'd grown to care about him again as she grew closer to Miguel?

———

"Thanks for tonight, really," Élodie smiled, taking a bite out of a fry she'd been holding for ages as they'd talked, "It's been nice. And I think I get this now," she looked down at the paper in front of her, finally making a little more sense of the jumble of letters and numbers on the page.

Eli shrugged, "It's been nice for me too, it's no problem. Although you're not even that bad at algebra, El."

"Well I-I panicked. I needed an excuse to get you to agree to meet me, I guess," she was embarrassed, her cheeks washing with a crimson blush as she admitted that she'd just wanted to spend time with him, "Schoolwork seemed the best excuse. Plus I am kinda useless at it..."

She glanced down at her phone as the smile on Eli's face widened, the buzzing of a text message irritating her, "Oh, it's Miguel... I forgot to text him back!"

Eli looked blankly at her for a moment, his smile a little dimmer now, and then picked up a fry and took a bite, swallowing hard before replying, "He's desperate for you to come over, then," he laughed a little dryly, and Élodie just shook her head, biting back a smile at the butterflies she was getting from his clear jealousy, "No, apparently Carmen—his mom— is letting him do karate again."

"Oh that's cool," Eli nodded, and Élodie put her phone back down for a moment to give him her full attention as he looked over at her curiously, "Are you gonna join? Since y-you do karate too?"

She shook her head, "I might go and watch them train maybe, Aisha told me she saw the website Miguel made and was thinking of joining, so I may drop by tomorrow to see what Johnny's like as a sensei."

"Do you know him well, then? The Sensei?"

She shrugged.

She'd spent so much time in the apartment complex before she had moved away that she had seen him a lot. She practiced karate out front often, and there'd been many occasions where Johnny had been leaving his apartment and stopped to grumble a criticism of her technique, to the point where they'd sparred once or twice as he tried to help her improve.

But this hadn't happened that often... Most of their communication had just come from brief conversations when she was dropping meals to him, which had become a routine purely because her grandmother would scold him for not taking care of himself whenever she saw him.

"Not really, but he's amazing at karate... was All-Valley champ," she explained, biting her lip, "But I'm just curious to see another dojo, I did all my training at the LaRusso's as a child. Now that Sam and I aren't really... friends... that's changed."

"I forgot you and Sam used to be friends," Eli said, still crunching on his food as he enjoyed listening to Élodie open up to him, "W-well not that I really knew I just... saw you together. What happened?"

Again Élodie shrugged, "She got popular, my dad got more ill and I got angry, I guess. Her dad still thinks we're close because they used to look after me a lot, and I was helping them out at LaRusso Auto, but I hardly spoke to her while I was gone. I do miss her."

"Oh," Eli didn't really know what to say, knowing he didn't want to push her any further, "Uh, El, do you think I should join Cobra Kai?"

She looked at him now, really looked at him, and pondered his question deeply, "You have to do what's best for you, Eli. You don't need to change, you're perfect as you are, but if you think it'd help your confidence..."

"I might but... I'm a little scared." he pouted in reply.

Élodie stretched out her leg, nudging his shin with her foot, "Hey, I can teach you a little first if you want? Call it another excuse to spend time with you..."

He chuckled, and Élodie could've sworn her heart melted at the sight of that specific smile of his, but he shook his head, "It's okay. I'd—uh, I'd like to spend time together without excuses. If that's— uh, if that's okay?"

"Yeah, I'd like that too."

─────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───────
AUTHOR'S NOTE !
thanks for reading, i love this chapter because
i love writing élodie & eli scenes, i hope u liked
this chapter — please let me know what you
thought of it! there's some tiny points about
her personal life too, but they're only subtle.

thanks again for reading, i can't wait to keep
updates coming, do you lot ship her with eli
or do you like the idea of her with anyone else?