"I think I might have hurt Miguel's feelings." In the back row of their Computer Science class, Eli glanced up to see Demetri sit in the chair beside him. His friend was shaking his head while he turned on the monitor, before reaching into his backpack to pull out the USB drive with his school project on it. "Told him I'm quitting karate," Demetri clarified, slouching in his seat. "He took it pretty hard. You'd think I'd told him I bludgeoned his puppy or something; if he had a dog, that is."

"You're really quitting?" asked Eli. He could not say the news surprised him. He'd been more shocked when Demetri had finally agreed they could give it a shot in the first place, after seeing for themselves what Miguel had become capable of since joining Cobra Kai; their friend had come a long way since getting thrashed at the Halloween dance.

Demetri's mouth twisted; he looked at Eli like he was nuts to ask such a question. "Uh, yeah. You were there, weren't you? You saw his crazy teacher assault me." Redness spread over his cheeks, a sign of either humiliation or vexation; perhaps both. Eli knew it had to have been embarrassing, getting thrown to the mats in front of everyone.

But Eli didn't remark on that. "Sensei," he corrected instead, his voice a murmur, recalling Aisha's insistence on the precise terminology the day before.

Rolling his eyes, Demetri said, "Okay, you saw his crazy Sensei assault me. I told Miguel, I'm not about that hooker life; although I doubt even real hookers would defend their pimps with as much gusto as Miguel does that guy. My life might not be that much more glamorous, but at least I have enough self-respect to not want to be tossed around like that, much less pay somebody to do it."

Eli let out a soft sigh and slumped his shoulders, but he made no comment. He simply watched as Demetri inserted his USB drive into his computer and opened his coding documents on the monitor, while more and more students walked into the classroom, filling the other seats. Picking at his thumbnail, a thought flickered through Eli's mind, and he wondered if perhaps he could talk Demetri out of his decision.

But, as though his friend had read his mind and cut him off to the chase, Demetri shrugged with finality and concluded, "Well, now nobody can say we didn't give it a shot, right?"

Eli blinked up at him. "We?"

"Yeah, I know Miguel was pushing real hard for us to become part of his karate cult and all," said Demetri, "but you know what they say about running Windows on a Mac. I mean, I'm glad he's found a hobby he's good at, but I think I'll stick to finding other extracurricular activities to add to my college resume. Ones that don't involve full-contact sports. Besides, like I told Miguel, with him around, we don't even need to take karate classes."

The meaning behind his words was clear. Demetri assumed Eli was quitting right along with him. They hadn't ever talked about that.

"Actually," said Eli, glancing down at his keyboard, "I was thinking maybe about going back to the dojo today."

Demetri's expression went sour, like he just sucked hard on a lemon. "Why?" he inquired, dark eyebrows raising on his forehead. "I just told you, we don't have to get involved with this fighting business; I, personally, don't ever plan on getting in a fight again outside of an MMORPG. And you don't have to worry about Kyler, he's not gonna bother us anymore so long as Miguel's hanging with us. Think of him as our personal bodyguard. He gets to kick people's asses, and meanwhile we don't have to get our asses kicked. It's a win-win for everybody."

His friend may have had a point, but Eli couldn't get Miguel's beatdown of Kyler and his crew out of his mind. He must have watched that uploaded video on YouTube over fifty times. Miguel made it look so effortless, the way he knocked those other boys around in the cafeteria, thoroughly owning them in a way nobody else previously ever could. Eli had never seen anything like it. And he couldn't help but wonder if maybe, one day, he could do something amazing like that.

So, against his better inclination, he spoke up and argued with Demetri over it. "But what about when Miguel's not around?" They couldn't realistically expect Miguel to always be there to protect them, could they?

"Then we do what we've always done: run away," answered Demetri, his tone carrying its usual cynical tenor. "Can't go wrong with a tried-and-true method like that."

Did Demetri always have to be so defeatist? Wasn't he tired of running yet? And what about when running away didn't work? Should they persist in taking their licks without putting up any resistance at all? Demetri's method had always been one of either avoidance or just letting their bullies have their way and getting it over with, but could they really keep doing that forever? If Miguel could fight back, couldn't they?

"I think maybe we should give Sensei Lawrence another chance," Eli suggested under his breath. He understood why Demetri would be upset about Sensei Lawrence tossing him around, but it was a dojo, right? People got thrown around in dojos. Wasn't it part of the process of making them tough? "Maybe we should hear some more of what he has to say first, before quitting."

"Eli, Mr. Lawrence is an asshole!" emphasized Demetri, typing on his keyboard a little too loud. He sounded betrayed, judging by the edge to his voice. "Don't listen to him. You don't have to put up with him making fun of you or take an elbow to the teeth. Can't believe I have to say this, but you ever think maybe you shouldn't be taking the advice of a Gen-Xer who enjoys picking on kids?"

"But maybe he wasn't entirely wrong…."

"Oh yeah, that guy sure is spouting some real wisdom, he's a regular Obi-Wan Kenobi," said Demetri, sarcasm dripping from every word. "Did you like his witty nickname? Don't you get enough of that abuse here? Do you really want to pay a douchebag to dish it out after school, too?"

Eli bowed his head, and his shoulders hunched even more. He ought to have known it would be a mistake to argue. He should've just bent to Demetri's opinion, like he always did.

But then Eli thought again about the cafeteria fight, about how Miguel had changed so much over the past few months. Miguel's confidence had skyrocketed. He was making new friends. He had respect from theirs peers. He even had the self-assurance necessary to try and get a girlfriend. Eli wanted all of that that, too. Sensei Lawrence must have been a good influence if he could make Miguel that strong. Maybe he wasn't that bad, once someone got used to him. Maybe he would stop with the nicknaming if Eli just asked. Miguel had nothing but glowing things to say about the man, after all.

Looking beside him, Demetri's brow softened some, and a small smile curled at the corners of his mouth. "C'mon, let's just put this whole thing behind us. Wanna head out to the mall after school, maybe hit up the comic book store?"

If he listened to Demetri, he'd never achieve what Miguel had, would he? Didn't Demetri want to be strong, too? Didn't he want the bullying to stop? Miguel had given them the solution. All they had to do was take it. They'd tried everything else. What more did they possibly have to lose?

So Eli shook his head to the invitation, which made his friend sigh. Demetri must have known what that meant. He narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips in a tight frown, giving Eli a look that suggested he was about to make a huge mistake. But he said nothing more as the final bell rang and the teacher began her lesson.