Chapter six
"A bunch of losers."
Having changed their clothes, Jackson, Miguel and Aisha were all in their gi's, the dojo was louder then usual as everyone in the room was talking, Aisha and Miguel were sparing with each other, while Jackson was standing with his arms behind his back as he looked to his dad who seemed a bit nervous as he stood in his office looking over them all, as he then walked out and looked over them once more, until he started talking "okay, today we begin.." he was saying, but nobody was paying attention "quiet!" Jackson's dad then yelled, which caught everyone's attention.
"Face front." he told them, as everyone did so, Jackson already was, as his dad walked off to his left, he began heading through all of them, no doubt getting a closer look at each and every one of them "nice shirt." his dad said "thanks." Demetri told him "I'm joking. It sucks." Jackson's dad told him, as he then continued walking around "word of advice, if you've got shit for teeth don't smile." Jackson's dad told someone, as he continued through the crowd "god, it just makes me feel like a virgin just looking at you." he then said to someone, as he began to head to the front "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 with his tits popping out." he shared, as he now stood in front of them all.
"But in my short time as a sensei, I've also seen some miracles." he shared, looking at Jackson Miguel and Aisha, as he looked back to everyone else "so, maybe there's some hope for you yet. But first, I need to see where you're at. So everybody, fall in!" he voiced, but nobody moved "that means line up." he told them, and when he did, everyone then began moving to stand behind Jackson, Miguel or Aisha "no, not..not line up in a line. Lines! Get in lines." Jackson's dad shared "you mean like rows?" Demetri asked, as Jackson's dad huffed and put his hands over his face.
The next day, they were practicing their punches as they all stood in line like Jackson's dad wanted "fighting positions." Jackson's dad told them all, as he stood in the back, Jackson and everyone else got into their stance "jab punch. Nope, wait till I say go. Hiyah!" his dad told them all, as they threw their punch "hiyah!" he said as they did it again "hiyah!" he voiced, and again they threw a punch "hiyah!" he voiced as they threw another punch "hiyah!" and they did it again, as he stood by a kid fixing his stance "come on. Stand straight. Plant your feet in there. Hiyah!" he said, as they all punched again "are you sure you're right handed? Hiyah!" he said, as they all punched again as he began to come back to the front.
"Come on, tits, you can do better then that. You got weight, use it. Ready? Hiyah!" his dad said to a kid, as they all punched again "hiyah!" he voiced as he began walking away from him, they all threw another punch "hiyah!" he voiced, now standing in front looking at them all as they threw another punch "hey, Lip." his dad then said and when he did, Jackson knew who he was talking about without even looking behind him and so did probably everyone else in the room "yeah, you. The one with the freaky lip. Who do you think I'm talking to?" his dad asked "excuse me, uh, Mr Lawerence." Demetri spoke up.
And when he did, Jackson took a deep breath as he continued facing forward, wanting to make his dad proud, while Aisha and Miguel looked at Demetri "Sensei Lawerence!" Aisha voiced "ok." Demetri said, chuckling a bit as he did "you shouldn't really make fun of someone's physical appearance." he then told Jackson's dad "oh, is that so? So, I'm not supposed to mention his lip at all?" Jackson's dad then asked him "well, yeah." Demetri told him "well, maybe that's what they teach you in school , but in the real world you can't expect people to do what they're supposed to do. Alright, you hear that, Lip? If you can't handle someone making fun of you, how are you gonna handle and elbow to the teeth?" Jackson's dad asked him.
"By calling the police." Demetri told him and as he did, Jackson then turned to him "dude, shut up!" he voiced "what? Your dad realizes the nazis lost the war, right? Why should I be scared of him or you? Because's he's got a snake on his wall." Demetri said, holding his arm out to it "or because you fought a bunch of kid's in school?" he asked, raising his brows "it's not like he's a teacher who can give us a bad grade. We're paying him. He works for us, just like how you do with your little, side business." he shared, putting side business in air quotes "it's not like you or him could actually hurt us." he added on.
And when he did, Jackson turned to his dad and when he did, Jackson's dad nodded, as Jackson turned around walking toward's Demetri "oh shit." Miguel said under his breath, and as Jackson walked over to Demetri, Eli and everyone else stepped away from him, in which Jackson was now standing in front of him and looking right at Demetri, but he wouldn't even look him in the eye "what? Now that I'm standing in front of you, you have nothing left to say to me?" he asked "what.." Demetri went to tell him, but Jackson interrupted him saying "hit me. Come on. You think your so tough? Punch me, come on." he told him, motioning toward's himself.
Demetri then got into his stance and threw a punch and when he did, Jackson easily smacked it away "well, if your gonna wanna actually hit me, your gonna have to hit me harder then that." he shared, as Demetri took a deep breath, he got back into his stance and went to punch him, but just like before Jackson smacked his hand away "seriously? You're gonna disrespect me and my dad and then when I'm actually standing in front of you, you can't hit me? But I thought you..you were a paying customer, right? The customers always right, so come on, show me what you can do." he shared, but Demetri wasn't doing anything.
"Come on, hit me! I know you want to!" Jackson voiced, and when he did, Demetri threw a punch but as he did, Jackson grabbed his arm and flipped him over onto the mat "ohh!" everyone voiced, while Miguel grimaced, Jackson was crouched down to Demetri like he was gonna hit him to earn a point in a match, but didn't as he then stood up "let that be a lesson to all of you." Jackson's dad told everyone, as Demetri pushed himself up on his elbows.
At school, Jackson was at his locker grabbing his stuff, as Eli stood next to him "I'm sorry about all that stuff that Demetri said about you and your dad. I asked him to come because I didn't want to be there by myself you know?" he asked him, as Jackson sighed "dude, it's fine." he told him, as he shut his locker "Demetri didn't wanna do it in the first place, remember?" he asked him, as the two of them began walking down the hallway "and I know my dad pointed you out in front of everybody, but what he said is like what I've been telling you, you can't keep caring about what all these people think you look like." Jackson shared.
And as he did, he and Eli stoped walking as standing not to far from them was Kyler, as him and Jackson stared each other down, Eli turned looking at Jackson then back to Kyler, who for once turned around and walked away, in which a smile came on Jackson's face as he turned looking at Eli "your still coming thought, right? Cause I don't know about you but I feel a change coming on for us." he shared, putting his arm around him, and laughed as the two of them headed down the hallway.
Later on, Jackson and Demetri were in science class together, as the two walked in, Jackson was ahead of Demetri "Demetri you've been apologizing since you found me in the hallway." Jackson informed him "yes, but seeing as I am stuck with you for half of our classes and don't exactly know where we stand, because if someone talked about me, the way that I talked about you, I like always would've wanted you in my corner. So even though it ended up with my butt on the floor, I enjoyed watching you assert your male alpha dominance in front of all those people, including your dad knowing you must've gotten some major points for that." Demetri shared.
As the two walked up to their table, Jackson sighed "still always find a way to make it scientific don't you." he said, as he put his bag down "I know, it's a problem." Demetri told him, putting his bag down, the two sat down in their chairs, just as the final bell for class rang, and when it did, the entire classroom started laughing, which at first, Jackson and Demetri looked at each other, but then they realized for once they weren't laughing at them, Jackson looked past Demetri and noticed it was Sam as she had a lollipop stuck to her shoulder, as she took it off "thanks for the blowpipe, guys. Really never gets old." Sam shared.
As Demetri turned looking at Jackson "it's cause she gives blow jobs. Get it? Blow pop, blow job." he deciphered it for him, as Jackson furrowed his brows "no! Really?" he sarcastically asked him, as Demetri furrowed his brows "yes, what you.." he was saying, as Jackson rolled his eyes and looked at the paper on the table "you were being sarcastic." Demetri realized as he looked away from him "hey, everybody. Who let the pigs out? I did, because I ordered the fetal pigs." Mr Palmer shared, as someone ironically chuckled "but seriously, get in your groups." Mr Palmer told them.
And when he did, Jackson sighed "remind me why I decided to take this lame ass course?" he asked, as Demetri furrowed his brows "because it would look good on college transcripts." he told him "I doubt that in the direction my life is going." Jackson told him "uh..who wants to take Samantha in? This little piggy need's a group." Mr Palmer told them all, and as Jackson was looking over the directions, all he heard was this little piggy needs a group "we'll take em." he said, and when he did, Demetri turned to him with wide eyes "do you even know what you just did?" he asked him.
"What the hell's the difference between cutting diagonally and horizontally? Why can't I just cut it down the middle?" Jackson questioned, looking at the directions, as Sam walked behind him and Demetri and put her bag down next to him "thank you." she said "yeah, no problem." Jackson said as he was still looking over the directions "I'm gonna go grab a chair." Sam told them, as she turned walking off, Demetri then ripped the directions out of his hands "dude, what the hell?" he asked.
As Demetri was pointing behind him, Jackson furrowed his brows "what? Are we playing musical chairs?" he asked "look behind you!" Demetri said through his teeth "behind me?" Jackson asked, furrowing his brows, the sound of a chair being put down behind him caught his attention, as Jackson turned around, his eyes went wide as he saw Sam LaRusso sitting next to him, as Demetri patted him on the shoulder "yep." he told him, as he sighed, looking back at the directions.
Not long after that, the three were working on their pig, as they had gloves on along with aprons, Jackson was the one who cut it open seeing as neither Demetri or Samantha wanted to do it as he was looking at all of it's body parts "what were you thinking for sex?" Sam asked, as Jackson and Demetri looked to her "well, I was thinking female since in the male this tract is supposed to open up by.." Jackson was saying, as Sam interrupted him "the umbilical cord, yeah, that's what I was thinking as well." she mentioned "cool." Jackson told her, as him and Demetri wrote it down on their papers.
Although Sam was still looking at Jackson "thanks for, um..helping me out, by the way." she told him, as Jackson waved her off "ehh, I've been the one to not be picked, someone would've forced down their pride and invited you over sooner or later." he mentioned "I meant about the fight." Sam told him, and when she did, Jackson's eyes went wide, having not expected that "oh.." he trailed off, turning to look at her "well, I've been fighting Kyler since like elementary school so doing it in front of the entire cafeteria was just like my sold out show." he shared, and when he did, Sam chuckled, as Jackson then turned looking back at the paper, thinking the conversation would be over.
But Sam was still looking at him "I also I owe you an apology." she told him, and when she did, Jackson scoffed "why would you owe me an apology?" he asked "because you're the guy in the scream costume from the halloween dance who seemed to be the only person telling me the truth and instead of listening I slapped you." Sam shared, and as she did, Jackson shook his head "nah, you don't need to apologize, plenty people have wanted to hit me." he told her, as Sam chuckled, realizing he wasn't gonna take her apology, as she turned opening up her book bag, she then rolled her eyes as she pulled out a thing of bananas.
"Do you guys want a banana?" she asked, as Jackson and Demetri turned from their papers to look at her "people keep sneaking them In my bag. It's because of that stupid rumor that I'm sure you have heard about me." Sam shared "well.." Jackson said, at the same time as Demetri said "yes." in which Jackson and Sam looked to him "stupid, stupid rumors. Hurtful lies. People our monsters." Demetri said, as he looked back at his paper.
Jackson turned looking at Sam "what I was going to say was that bananas and blow pops are definitely and upgrade, I mean would literally throw trash at me because I'm the kid from the wrong side of the tracks and then I was actually driving home one day and this went out of his way to drive me off the road which is how I got.." he was telling her, as he lifted up his hair, showing her the scar on his forehead "this scar." he told her, as he then brought his hair back down "and I'm telling you this because sooner or later, your thing we'll blow over and they'll be back to being assholes to us again in no time." he shared, looking back at his paper "I wouldn't count on that." Sam told him, and as she did, Jackson chuckled.
The next day, they were at the dojo, although there was less people here than this morning, as Jackson's dad came walking out of his office "okay, everybody. Fall in." he told them, but then he noticed the empty spaces "where is everyone?" he asked, holding out his arms "crater face? Nose ring? Slingshot?" he asked "they quit, sensei." Miguel and Jackson told him "are you serious?" Jackson's dad asked, dropping his arms as he looked around, seeing everyone's faces.
"I mean, good. That was a test. I wanted to see who the quitters were. Not you guys. You're in it to win it, right? You could be at home playing your eye computers, playing your video games, eating candy. Instead, you're here doing pushups, learning how to fight." he shared, as he held his arm out pointing at someone "Lip. Look. Even Lips tougher than those guys. He's no quitter." he shared "could you please not call me that?" Eli asked him "excuse me what?" Jackson's dad asked him "I said could you please not call me that." Eli told him "um, me and Jackson will warm em up, sensei." Miguel told him.
"No, no, Lip has something he wants to say." Jackson's dad told him, as Eli looked to Jackson, Jackson had his brows raised, knowing Eli never spoke this much before and he was kind of proud of him "sorry, speak up, Lip. Or is your tongue messed up to?" Jackson's dad asked Eli as he walked toward's him and was now standing right in front of him, as Eli turned back to him "are you one of those challenged kids?" Jackson's dad asked "well, the doctor said I could be on the spectrum." Eli told him "I don't know what that is, but get off it pronto, alright? If you don't want me to call you Lip then don't have a weird lip. Can't you get surgery for that?" Jackson's dad asked him.
"I was born with a cleft lip. This is the scar from the surgery." Eli shared "you mean it was worse before that? Or did the doctor just screw up? Cause if this is the after photo, that sucks, man. You should sue." Jackson's dad shared "can we just please change the topic?" Eli asked him "you don't think I want to? It's tough when it's right in front of me. If you wanna be something other then a nerd with a scar on his lip. Then you gotta flip the script. Ok? Like get a face tattoo or glue your eyelet. We'll call you patch, all right? No, don't do that one. You'll still look like a freak." Jackson's dad shared, turning away from him.
And when he did, Jackson watched all of Eli's confidence vanish, as he walked away and down the hallway to the locker room "oh, great, really? Another quitter?" Jackson's dad asked and when he did, Jackson huffed as he put his hands over his face.
Where when class ended and Jackson knew everybody had gone home, he had changed his clothes as he walked into his dad's office, not even knocking on the door, he swiped his hand across the desk and knocked all of his dad's stuff on the ground "Jax, what the hell?" his dad asked him, holding a beer in his hand "help me! Help me understand what your teaching method is! Because I don't!" Jackson voiced, holding his arms out "oh, come on, Jax. They're a bunch of losers." his dad told him, drinking his beer.
"Well Lip? The guy you want to flip the script? He's my friend! And I've fighting tooth and nail with him since kindergarten to try and get him to talk let alone be afraid of what people think he looks like and you in the matter of seconds destroyed all of that! And then the other one Demetri? Yeah, he's a little mouthy and at total nerd but he's also my friend and I've always had his back too." Jackson shared "yeah, that tracks." his dad told him as he sat down "and all of these kids are coming to you to learn karate, to learn how defend themselves against people like the one's who drove me off the road that one day where you got the phone call telling you I was in the hospital and I told you I sped out on my bike but I didn't! I just didn't want you to think I was a loser!" Jackson voiced.
"Are you kidding me? Are you gonna cry now to?" his dad asked him and when he did, Jackson laughed 'oh, of course! Of course you find a way to make this into a joke! Because you don't know what it's like to be me or like anyone else that has decided to fill up your dojo, because you've always been Mr perfect! You had your mom! The rich dad you didn't like! All the chicks in the world wanting you! You had all these friends who had cool nicknames and you beat on Daniel LaRusso cause he came in and stole your girl so you fought to get her back!" he voiced, throwing his arms out.
"I mean you gave me this whole speech the other day about being better and being there for me! And yet I still don't see it, and how could you?" he asked, chuckling "you won't even be there for people who are paying you to help them." he shared, scoffing "whatever. You're always gonna be that guy." he added on, as he turned walking out out of his office and all the way out of the dojo.
Where that night, Jackson had drove all the way from Roseda, all the way to the richer side of the valley, as he arrived at Eli's house, he tool the helmet off his head, as he got off his bike and began walking up the driveway and down the walkway up the front door, he rang the doorbell and he stood there waiting, and as he did, he sighed, knowing Eli probably wouldn't answer the door and he would have to explain to his mother why he was here or she like always would just tell him that he was downstairs and let him in, as he looked down at the doormat.
The door opened, as Jackson cleared his throat and looked up "hey.." he was saying, as his eyes went wide, seeing Eli standing across from him, with a blue mohawk "whoa." he said, as Eli nodded his head at him "sup." he told him, as Jackson shook his head "yeah, sup." he told him, holding his hand out and as he did, Eli connected his hand with his as the two dabbed each other up, Eli stepped back as Jackson stepped inside "dude, what's going on?" he asked him, as Eli shut the door behind him "did what your dad told me, flipped the script. What you doing here?" he asked, as he turned walking further into the house.
Jackson followed after him "I came to check on you, but clearly you are better then just okay." he shared, as Eli chuckled "yeah, come check it out." he told him, heading down the stairs into the basement, Jackson followed after him, and as he did, there were a bunch of shopping bags on the floor, Eli opened one and pulled out a hoodie "I bought some new clothes!" he voiced, tossing it toward's Jackson, Jackson caught it "that's good, man. As long as you're okay with the switch that's all that matters." he told him, tossing the hoodie onto the couch, he then turned to him "oh my god." he said "what?" Eli asked him.
As Jackson clapped his hands together and stepped toward's him "Hawk!" he voiced, clapping his hands together "what's hawk?" Eli asked him, as Jackson chuckled, motioning to him "you are! With the the hair! The clothes! It's you!" he voiced, and as he did, Hawk laughed "yeah!" he voiced, walking up to Jackson, the two dabbed each other up.
Where the next day, having stayed over with Hawk, the two headed to the dojo together as they were outside of it laughing and pushing each other around as they walked inside, class had already started "sorry, were late." Jackson told them, as everyone was looking at them "Eli, what happened?" Miguel asked, as Eli smirked and put his arm around Jackson "it's Hawk now. I'm flipping the script." he shared, as Jackson's dad walked over to them "wait, are you the kid with the lip? Nice cut, bro!" he voiced, as he pointed at them "you see that? Doesn't matter if you're a loser or a nerd or a freak." he said, as he turned walking back toward's everyone else "all that matters is that you become badass." he shared, stopping in front of them all.
He then looked to Jackson and Hawk "Jax and Hawk. Fall in." he told them, as the two took off their shoes, Miguel and Aisha moved down, as Jax and Hawk walked up standing right next to them in front "fear does not exist in this dojo, does it?" Jackson's dad asked Hawk and Jackson "no, sensei." the two told him as Jackson's dad stepped in front of Aisha "pain does not exist in this dojo, does it?" he asked her "no, sensei." Aisha told him, as he then stepped in front of Miguel "defeat does not exist in this dojo, does it?" he asked him"no, sensei." Miguel told him.
As Jackson's dad then stepped in front fo them all, as they all faced the glass "class, are you ready to learn the way of the fist?" he asked them "yes, Sensei!" they all voiced, as Jackson's dad smirked.