𝐂𝐎𝐁𝐑𝐀 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍▬▬𝒉𝒂𝒘𝒌

𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟔

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Miguel was working on his punches. Johnny had told Caspia that he was going to start teaching her kicks or at least help her get better at her kicks. She showed him the kicks she already knew and he told her she was a little unbalanced. So, Caspia was standing on a yoga ball and a wooden board. She had gone surfing in Tahiti, so she was doing pretty well. Johnny then came in with late bills in his hands, but Miguel and Caspia didn't know about them.

"Hey, you guys don't happen to have any friends who wanna learn karate, do you?" He looked at Miguel and Caspia. "Oh, what am I saying? You don't have any friends."

Miguel the spoke up. "Hey, sensei, when am I gonna learn to do some kicking? I saw Caspia break a board the other day and it looks badass."

Caspia hopped off the yoga ball. "No shit, kicking is badass."

Johnny pointed at Caspia as if to say, 'she's right'. "But you're not ready. Besides, if I don't get more students in here, I'm not gonna be able to teach you anything."

"You've thought about advertising, right?" Caspia questioned. "Yeah, duh. 'Course."

For the rest of the karate lesson, Miguel worked on his punches and Caspia was working on her balance. They both had actually gotten pretty good at what they were doing.

At the end of the day, Caspia had borrowed notes from Eli to study for a test they had and she was going to go over to his house to give them back to him. When she got there, his mom answered the door. "Hello. Can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm friends with Eli. I just wanted to give his notes back to him. Maybe hang out after or something." Caspia answered.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Now's not a good time." Caspia heard sniffling from inside the house. "Wait, is he crying?"

"I can give him the notes-" Eli's mother reassured.

"Wait, is he okay?" His mom sighed. "He's just upset about some things some kids were saying online."

"Could I talk to him? I could probably make him feel better."  His mom was a little hesitant. He never really talked to anyone about how he felt about his facial deformity. "Alright."

She stood off to the side so Caspia could walk in. "His room's just down the hall."

Caspia walked down the hall and his room was right on the end. She knocked on the door. "Eli? It's me, Caspia. Are you okay?"

His voice was a little shakey. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"Eli, I know you're not. Can you please just talk to me? You know I'll listen." Eli stayed quiet. She didn't want to just barge in his room, so she was going to wait outside his door until he opened it. Caspia just wanted to make sure he knew someone was there for him. "Alright. If you aren't gonna let me in, I'll stay out here all day."

Eli didn't realize she cared that much. He opened the door and Caspia saw his tear stained face. Her heart melted. Caspia didn't want her friend to be crying about his facial deformity when his facial deformity was beautiful.

"Oh, Eli." Caspia pulled him into a hug and he hugged back. Eli hid his face in her shoulder.

"I know karate. I can beat the shit out of the people who made you cry if you want." Eli laughed a bit and she was happy she could at least make him smile. They pulled away from the hug and they sat down on Eli's bed. "What did they say?"

Eli handed her his phone. Caspia looked at the anonymous texts he was getting from people and they were all saying awful things about his lip. "I think they're jealous."

Eli was a little confused. "What?"

"Well, I mean, I'm jealous of it. You look so badass with your scar and I mean, the coolest people on the planet have facial scars. The Joker, Edward Scissorhands, Scar, Inigo Montoya, Tony Montana, Anakin Skywalker, I could go on." Eli smiled at her. Caspia opened her arms for him to hug her again and he did. "If they make fun of you again, you tell me so I can kick their asses."

"I will." Eli responded with a small laugh.

"And if you need to talk, I'm here." Eli nodded. Caspia put the notes on his desk and got up to leave, until Eli stopped her. "Wait."

She turned around. "Could you stay a little longer?"

"Sure." She sat back down on his bed and she hugged her again. She hugged him back. She knew he just needed someone to be there for him and Caspia didn't mind being that person. This moment they were having was the moment that brought them closer together.

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