Eli.

His parents had been traditional enough to pick his name straight out the Tanakh. Eli, the High Priest of Shiloh, one of the last Judges. The one HaShem had cursed. The one who cost his people the Ark of the Covenant. That was the extent of his importance. Maybe Eli had the same curse put on him when his parents named him that. The universe loved shitting on him so much, there may have been some truth to it. That tracked.

Hawk.

The name his Sensei had given him. The one he'd earned. Hawk, like the badass bird. Hawks were fierce, with their broad wings and razor-sharp talons. Those raptors owned the skies, flying high on the warm thermals above everyone's insignificant problems. Most important, they were at the top of the food chain; rarely, if ever, were they the prey.

Eli.

A name that had in his sixteen years come to mean weak, awkward, weird, fit only to be ridiculed.

Hawk.

Strong, intense, aggressive. A name worthy of a winner.

He tested out his new name once with his parents, hoping they might understand why he'd had to adopt it. It was nothing personal, after all. But they didn't understand. His mother and father gave one another an amused glance, like he'd told them a mildly funny joke, and kept right on calling him Eli, as if he'd never brought it up at all.

Not wanting to push his luck with them, Hawk humored his parents, at least.

But he would not humor anybody else.

He made it a priority to get everyone else on board with his name. He had no more problems from his Sensei. His moniker even managed to get him the attention of Moon. And all his friends called him what he wanted without hassle.

All except Demetri, that was. Demetri had to be a hater, right from the start.

"Don't listen to Eli."

"It's Hawk."

"Yeah, whatever."

After the All-Valley Tournament, Demetri had asked him why he didn't register under his legal name. Wasn't he embarrassed by how the announcer had called out his new name instead, while everyone else was normal about it? Did Hawk like standing out now? Didn't he think this was a bit much?

Hawk just rolled his eyes with a contemptuous snort, giving Demetri a patronizing pat on the shoulder. He just didn't get it, did he?

No, he didn't. As the summer passed, it became clear that not only did Demetri not get it, he made it a point to never even try to understand.

"You think I'm afraid of you? I know who you really are, Eli."

Of course he wasn't afraid of Eli. Even a nerd like Demetri could feel superior when compared to what he used to be. No wonder Demetri kept trying to pull him back, no wonder he flung his old name out of his mouth whenever given the chance. He must have missed the shred of dominance he felt whenever Eli had been by his side; after all, even Demetri hadn't cried when a fucking hand-puppet had been killed off in a kid's movie.

Because that was what the name Eli meant to him: passive, pushover, a total softie. Above all, non-threatening.

Hawk meant none of those things. Demetri would have to learn that the hard way.

"I'd like to make a toast: to Eli Moskowitz! Oh, I'm sorry, some of you might know him as Hawk."

Demetri acted like he missed the old Eli, yet he threw his name back in his face like it was some sort of punishment, like it was something to be ashamed of. And Hawk knew that was true because, deep down, everyone knew he should be ashamed of ever having been Eli the loser, Eli the nerd, Eli the freak.

Yet whenever Demetri did call him by his preferred name, it came packing with as much venom to the bite as if Demetri had actually been a Cobra all along. Hawk the jerk, Hawk the asshole, Hawk the real zero.

Whatever. Demetri could say the word "Hawk" with as much contempt as he wanted. It didn't make a difference. Because in his inability to understand why names mattered, in his refusal to get with the program, helping sour things between them, Demetri had made his name one of the ugliest sounds to his own ears.

Eli.

"Who's that?" the other kids at the party had asked.

Names that went unspoken no longer carried meaning. Names that went unspoken could no longer hurt you.

Only Hawk would remain.

So, in the end, the joke was on Demetri. Wasn't it?

"Sorry, Eli."