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𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬

chapter four
manic panic

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ALYSSA SOMEHOW FOUND herself dragged back into the Cobra Kai dojo. Just as she had expected, Demetri had completely quit karate after what Sensei Lawrence did. Understandable, but still. Alyssa, on the other hand, had succumbed to the pleading gaze of Eli, who still wanted to go.

It wasn't that she didn't like karate. She was actually enjoying it. However, she couldn't really move past the STRIKE FIRST, STRIKE HARD, NO MERCY on the wall and how Sensei Lawrence kept insulting them. Just like she had said, she'd rather be a lover than a fighter. Fighting would only be the last possible option, but this dojo was preaching that she should start the fight.

That wasn't really who she wanted to be. However, Eli seemed really dead-set on staying with Cobra Kai, and he didn't seem like he wanted to go alone. So, Alyssa concurred, and she agreed tag along.

She stood next to Eli on the mats. The dojo had significantly less students than the first couple of days — shocking. Alyssa was in the middle of putting her hair into a side braid so it wouldn't be too in her face.

"Thanks for coming with me," Eli said quietly.

Alyssa gave him a small smile, tying off the end of her braid. "No problem. But I'm warning you, if he says another degrading thing about you or me, I'm leaving."

"Okay, everybody, fall in," Sensei Lawrence announced. He then looked around. "Where is everyone? Crater Face? Nose Ring? Slingshot?"

"They quit, Sensei," Miguel answered.

"Are you serious?" He seemed disappointed for a moment before raising his voice again. "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 on your iComputers, playing your video games, eating candy. Instead, you're here, doing push-ups, learning how to fight." He then pointed straight at Eli. "Lip. Look. Even Lip's tougher than those guys. He's no quitter."

Alyssa felt rage fill her insides. Nope. She was done. Alyssa glanced worryingly over at her best friend. She hated that Sensei Lawrence was picking on his biggest insecurity.

"Could you please not call me that?" Eli asked quietly.

"Excuse me, what?" Sensei Lawrence replied.

"I said, could you please not call me that?" Eli repeated, a little louder this time.

"Um, I'll warm them up, Sensei," Miguel interjected, trying to stop the whole conversation.

"No, no, no, Lip has something he wants to say," Sensei Lawrence stated. "Sorry, speak up, Lip. Or is your tongue messed up too? Are you one of those challenged kids?"

Alyssa's jaw practically dropped. Oh, there was no way he just said that. She let out a quiet scoff and looked over at Miguel, who seemed just as shocked as she was.

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

"I don't know what that is, but get off it pronto, all right?" Sensei Lawrence ordered. "If you don't want me to call you Lip, then don't have a weird lip. Can't you get surgery?"

"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 just screw up? Because if this is the after photo, that sucks, man. You should sue."

"What the hell?" Alyssa demanded, her hands shaking with rage. "Don't talk to him like that."

"Ally," Miguel quietly protested.

Sensei Lawrence looked over at her. "You got something to say, Purple?"

"I have many things I want to say," Alyssa responded, crossing her arms across her chest as her eyes narrowed at him.

"Can we just please change the topic?" Eli questioned.

"You don't think I want to?" Sensei Lawrence countered. "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, okay? 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."

Eli said nothing else. All he did was grab onto Alyssa's hand and pull her with him to where their stuff was. They put on their shoes and grabbed their bags, leaving the Cobra Kai dojo completely. For Alyssa, to never come back. But for Eli . . .

The two never realized how after leaving that day, Cobra Kai would become a huge part of their lives. And maybe not in a good way.

Alyssa only let go of his hand to get her car keys out of her backpack. She unlocked her car, and Eli instantly got into the passenger seat, looking down at his lap. Alyssa let out a quiet sigh and got in the drivers seat, her heart shattering like it always did when she heard the quiet sniffles.

"Hey," Alyssa began quietly. "C'mere."

She reached against the center console, and although it might've been a little uncomfortable, neither of them cared. Eli rested his head against her chest, and she wrapped her arms around him, running a hand up and down his back comfortingly.

"If it means anything, I'm proud of you," Alyssa said. "For speaking up for yourself."

"I hate this stupid scar," Eli mumbled.

Alyssa frowned. "I know you do. But you don't have to let it dictate your life. You just showed everyone that back there in the stupid dojo."

Eli sniffled again and pulled back from her, wiping his hands against his face to get rid of the tears. "He's right."

She shook her head. "You're not a freak, Eli. I don't know how many times I have to tell you that for you to actually believe that."

"No, not that." Eli seemed to straighten up a little. "I have to flip the script."

"You don't have to listen to him, you know," Alyssa said.

"I know, but I want to do this," Eli insisted. He then cleared his throat. "Lys . . . where can we buy hair dye?"

"Ulta," Alyssa answered. "Why?"

The car was silent for a moment, just the two of them staring at each other. Alyssa's eyes suddenly widened in realization.

"You? You want to dye your hair?"

"Yeah," Eli replied with a small shrug.

"I didn't know this was the equivalent of going through a breakup. Or is this your quarter-life crisis?"

"Lys," Eli cut in. "Please."

Alyssa's eyes trailed across his face. There was a sense of determination on his features, which told her that there was absolutely no hesitation about this. And who was she to tell him no when all he wanted was to become more confident in himself?

(Future Alyssa would like to interrupt and say this proved to be one of her regrets.)

"Okay," she agreed. "I'm with you."

Eli's eyes lit up. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Alyssa put her key into the ignition and started her car. "Let's go get some hair dye."

Alyssa drove the two of them to the nearest Ulta that she was quite familiar with because she got all her makeup there. She pulled into one of the parking spots and got out, locking her car behind her. Alyssa walked into the store, Eli trailing behind her. He glanced around for a moment, sort of stunned by all the displays of makeup around the store.

She led them to the hair product section of the store and turned into one of the aisles that had hair dye. Eli blinked for a moment. There were way too many options. Alyssa glanced over at him and let out a small laugh upon noticing him just standing there. Eli snapped out of his shocked stance at the sound, his cheeks flushing a light shade of red.

"Okay, you'll probably want Manic Panic," Alyssa voiced. "I've heard that one's good."

"How?" Eli inquired.

"Sometimes, when I find myself in literally any minor inconvenience, I tend to think that dying my hair will make everything better, so I start researching hair dye. However, my hair is way too dark to dye it any other color without bleaching it, and I really don't trust myself enough to do that." She looked up at his hair. "I think yours is light enough so we don't have to bleach it, though."

Eli looked at the bottles of Manic Panic. "What color should I do?"

"That's up to you, dude," Alyssa responded. "It's your hair, not mine. I could be biased and say purple because that's my favorite color, but it's up to you."

"I like blue," Eli admitted.

She gave him a small smile. "You know, I should've seen that coming. Blue will definitely suit you." She then noticed there were five shades of blue. "Let's be a little more specific. Dark blue or light blue?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Dark."

Alyssa reached forwards and took two bottles of the darker blue shades. "After Midnight or Blue Moon?"

Eli pointed to the darker blue. "After Midnight."

She put Blue Moon back. "Okay, I think we're all set." She glanced around the aisle before grabbing a pair of gloves. "Ready to go?"

He nodded. They went up to the register, where Eli paid for his things before they went outside and got back in Alyssa's car.

"My house or yours?" Alyssa asked.

"We can go to mine," Eli responded. "I think my parents are out."

Alyssa turned her car on and reversed out of the spot. She drove on the familiar path to Eli's house from Ulta, soft music playing from her radio. Alyssa parked outside of his house when she got there. They got out of the car, and Eli unlocked his house with his key.

The two headed to Eli's bathroom. Eli sat down on top of his counter as Alyssa opened the glove package and pull them on. She then picked up the bottle of hair dye, starting to read the directions. Eli watched as she did so, feeling his face get warm. Even under the fluorescent lights, she still managed to glow. Her dark hair curtained her face as she read the instructions, and he felt his heart beat against his chest as she moved some over her shoulder.

Maybe flipping the script included her, too.

(Future Alyssa would like to interrupt again and say newsflash — flipping the script did not include her.)

"I know you already said yes, but I just want to make sure you're one-hundred-percent sure you want to do this," Alyssa announced, making Eli blink and get out whatever trance he was in.

Eli rolled his eyes a little. "Yes, Lys."

"Don't roll your eyes at me."

She pushed his head to the side for a moment, making him laugh. Alyssa grinned a little at the sound before turning her attention back to the bottle.

"Okay, it seems simple enough," Alyssa revealed. "Apply it and leave for thirty minutes before rinsing with cool water." She popped open the top and put some hair dye in her gloved hand, letting out a deep breath. "Here we go."

She started to apply the dark blue dye on his hair. Eli slightly shuddered — he couldn't tell if it was from the sudden liquid or from Alyssa touching his hair. Alyssa's eyes narrowed in concentration as she put the dark blue dye all over his hair. Once it started to get frothy, like the instructions said, and all of his hair was covered, she pulled off the dye-covered gloves and put them in the trash.

"Now, thirty minutes," Alyssa said, setting a timer on her phone. "What do you want to do?"

Eli shrugged. "We could just watch TV."

"I'm good with that."

They went into the living room. Alyssa sat down on the couch, pulling her knees into her chest. Eli sat down next to her, careful not get any hair dye on the furniture. He turned the TV on and pulled up Netflix, turning on Stranger Things, which was one of Alyssa's favorite shows. Neither of them talked until they reached the scene of Will disappearing from his shed.

"Are you really not gonna come back to the dojo?" Eli questioned. "Because I'm going back.

Alyssa let out a small sigh. "I don't know. Not sure if I like the whole no mercy aspect of it." She shrugged. "Maybe I'll let things cool off for a bit and see if I want to rejoin."

"It would be a lot cooler if you were there."

"Obviously, because I'm the coolest person alive." She giggled a little at herself before shaking her head. "I'll think about it."

They turned back to their TV show, watching for a little longer until Alyssa's timer went off on her phone. Eli went into the bathroom to rinse his hair out in the shower, bringing a new pair of clothes with him. Alyssa waited outside, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed across her chest.

"Lys," Eli's voice called after a couple of minutes. "You can come in."

Alyssa straightened up in excitement and opened the door. She instantly grinned, gasping a little. His hair was very dark shade of blue. It almost looked a little black, but when it reflected in the light, the blue most definitely poked out.

She placed his hands on his shoulders and leaned her chin on his left one, looking at the two of them in the mirror. "Cool."

"Yeah," Eli responded, staring up at his hair in a sort of dazed shock. "Cool."

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"I CANNOT BELIEVE you're doing this," Alyssa admitted, giving Eli a small smile of thanks as he held the door of the tattoo shop open for her. She wandered inside, looking around at the inside of the place. "I never thought you'd ever get a tattoo."

So, Eli had been . . . changing. It wasn't necessarily in a bad way, but he was taking Sensei Lawrence's advice and seriously flipping the script. Alyssa could see his confidence developing more and more each day.

The hair that Alyssa had died was now gelled up into a mohawk, which honestly suited him a lot, in Alyssa's opinion. He had even adopted a new nickname — Hawk. It was one Sensei Lawrence gave him based off of his new hairstyle when he went back to the dojo. As much as Alyssa loved how much he was evolving, she was finding it a little hard to call him anything but Eli. Eli didn't seem bothered by her not calling him Hawk, though.

And he had started smirking more. In all of their years of friendship, Alyssa had never seen him smirk, well, ever. Everything was just really new. It seemed like he had just changed overnight, and she was just trying her best to keep up.

Now, he was getting a tattoo without his parents knowing. He had asked Alyssa to come with him. Even under this new tough boy act he was putting on, somewhere still underneath was the nervous boy that Alyssa knew so well. She agreed to go — one, to support him in this new transition that he was doing, and two, tattoos were cool.

They had gone in quite early. Apparently, for the tattoo that Eli wanted, it would take a really long time. And by really long time, that apparently meant the entire day.

Eli shrugged. "Well, I'm flipping the script, aren't I?"

They walked up to one of the tattoo stations in the shop, and Eli and the guy — Rico — talked for a brief moment before Eli lifted his shirt over his head and laid on his stomach on the chair, resting his head on his hands. Meanwhile, Rico lifted up the stencil and lined it up on the top portion of Eli's back.

Alyssa's eyes widened at the stencil. It was huge. Of course, the tattoo of was a hawk — she shouldn't have expected anything less. She just didn't realize how big of a tattoo it was going to be. The hawk had immense detail on the feathers and was completed with a mohawk. Alyssa gripped onto the strap of her backpack that she had brought as she heard the buzzing of the tattoo gun begin.

She winced when the needle hit his skin. "Does it hurt?"

"It's not bad," Eli replied. "Why? Do you want to get one?"

Alyssa shrugged. "Maybe one day. Just not now."

"You should get one with me. Right now."

Her eyes narrowed playfully at him. "You know, I don't think I've ever said these words to you, but you're being a bad influence."

Eli smirked — once again, new. "Good."

Alyssa shook her head at his antics. "Whatever. I'm going to go sit over there and get some homework done."

He raised his eyebrows. "You brought your homework?"

"Yeah, it's called being responsible. And what are you being?"

Eli sighed. "Irresponsible."

"That's what I thought," Alyssa stated. "Call me when you're hungry, I've got snacks and I can get some food for us later."

She walked over to the waiting portion of the room and sat down in one of the chairs. Alyssa pulled out one of her binders and a pencil, flipping to her homework page. She glanced back up to look at Eli for a quick moment, grinning to herself. This different side of him was strange yet intriguing.

Many hours passed by. They had gotten to the shop at about eight in the morning, and it was almost midnight (don't worry, they came up with a lie about doing multiple activities in one day to tell their parents). With the amount of detail in the tattoo, Rico had said it would take fourteen hours. They had taken multiple breaks, including one that was Alyssa getting them lunch from a place nearby.

It was completely dark outside. Alyssa had her knees tucked into her chest as she sat in the same chair she originally sat in all those hours ago. It was completely dark outside, and the air outside along with the air inside the shop had gotten colder. She had pulled on a zip-up hoodie of Eli's that she had taken from him ages ago. Alyssa had long since finished her homework and was now reading a book — The Sun Is Also a Star.

She was so immersed that she didn't even hear the buzzing of the tattoo gun that she had gotten so used to stop. Alyssa turned her page, her tired eyes going across the words. Suddenly, a shadow loomed over her, making the light that was illuminating her book go away.

Alyssa looked up, and upon seeing it was Eli, she smiled. "Hey. You all done?"

"Yeah," Eli said. "Check it out."

He turned around to show her the finished project. Instantly. Alyssa's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. The tattoo was incredible. All of the shading on the feathers and the hawk's body made it look extremely realistic. And, to top it off, the hawk's mohawk was shaded blue, just like Eli's hair.

"Woah," Alyssa breathed out. "Cool."

Eli turned back around with a smirk, pulling his shirt back over his head. "I know, right?" His eyes then softened a little upon noticing the hoodie she was wearing. "You tired?"

"Yeah." Alyssa put her book back in her bag and stood up. "Let's go home."

(Future Alyssa would like to interrupt for the final time to say that the hoodie was now buried in the very back of her closet because it hurt too much to look at now.)

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okayyyyy we love filler chapters <3

yeah ik it's not realistic that a tattoo like hawk's would be done in one day but for the sake of my story I'M MAKING IT REALISTIC SUE ME