Chapter Seventeen!
Heartbreak Weather

      Eli was practically drooling. He stared at his girlfriend lounging out on the beach towel and he complained forgot he was in a game of volleyball. Until he felt one hit his head. "Ow!" He shouted.

"That's what you get. Now snap out of it." Said Oliver, who was on the other side of the net.

Odessa lifted her head and lowered her sunglasses. She smiled at her blushing boyfriend. She got up from the sand, leaving Hailey to tan alone, and she walked up to Eli. She grabbed his face and kissed him.

"Are you going to play or just stand there making out the whole time?" Grayson shouted beside Demetri, both their arms crossed.

"Don't act like I don't have literally pull you off of Hailey ever ten minutes we're all together!" She shouted back.

Eli laughed. "Wanna play, babe?"

She nodded. "Sure, why not? Hailey, get your ass up and come play!"

Hailey didn't move. "I'm trying to work on my tan!" She shouted back.

"You're half Latina. You're dark as hell. What more do you need?" Said Oliver.

"As long as I don't look like your pale ass."

She finally gave in and joined them in the volleyball game. Demetri threw the ball and it collided with the net, bouncing itself back towards him. He looked embarrassed. "Uh. . . mulligan. Send it back."

Eli sighed. "There's no mulligans in volleyball,"

Demetri scoffed. "Says you."

He pulled a face and looked at his girlfriend. She just held her hands up.

"Water break!" They all scattered about and Odessa and Eli went back to kissing.

Two girls walking by stopped when they saw Demetri holding up a Cobra Kai towel. "Cobra Kai? You guys won that tournament, right?" One of them asked with a flirtatious smile.

Eli pulled away from the kiss when he heard.

Demetri froze and his eyes widened in a panic. "The All Valley? The rumble in Reseda? Yes, uh. . . We—We certainly did." He stuttered and managed to laugh.

Odessa tightened her arms around Eli before he could say anything. "Shh, let him have his moment." She told him and watched the interaction with a smile.

The girl smiled big at him. "Cool. We're gonna go for a swim but maybe play with you later?"

"Pff, most def," Demetri responded nervously. "That means most definitely."

Watching the interaction, Oliver rolled his eyes. "No, really?"

The two girls just laughed and walked away. Grayson patted Demetri hard on the back as he passed. "Atta boy. Oliver and I are teaching you well." He smirked.

Eli wasn't as impressed. "It'd be nice if you earned the Cobra Kai credit since you're so happy to take it." He said to Demetri. "When are you ever gonna sign up?"

The boy shrugged. "I don't know. I'm kind of enjoying the gain without the pain."

Odessa glanced at her boyfriend and patted his bare chest. "Cheer up, good looking. He's not hurting anyone."

"He's hurting our reputation." Eli replied bitterly.

She gave him a look and titled her head. "What reputation? Our reputation as cheaters?" She repeated Johnny's words. "Trust me, Demetri using Cobra Kai to get girls is the farthest thing that'll ruin our reputation."

Miguel finally made himself present at the beach. Asher trailed behind him with his hands in his swim trunk pockets. "Hawk. Dess."

Oliver instantly smiled. "There's my man." He exclaimed and quickly ran to where his boyfriend was.

"Hey, there's the man." Eli greeted his friend and they did their handshake.

Odessa noticed the glum look on his face. She groaned. "No more of this! It's a beautiful day filled with plenty of beautiful girls."

Eli pointed to her. "Yeah, so no more sulking about Sam." He scolded.

"I'm not sulking about Sam. It's about Sensei." Miguel corrected them.

Odessa narrowed her eyes. "What about him?"

"Is this about his rap sheet?" Asked Eli. "My parents found it online. I-I think it makes him more badass."

Miguel shook his head. "It's about him and Robby Keene." He stated.

The couple shared a look. They listened as he went in to detail explained how he thought Robby was Johnny's son. It sent Odessa into a fury, knowing now why the man wanted her to check on Robby that day at the tournament. It wasn't for her. It was for his son.

Odessa was really upset. Not the kind where she was going to cry but the kind where she was angry. Bitter. Annoyed. Somewhere in that line. She was angry at Johnny for degrading her win when he knew damn well she deserved to win the All Valley. She worked hard. She was determined. She never slacked off. And he tried to take that from her.

"So, I did a deep-dive online and you were right. Sensei is definitely Keene's father." Eli explained to Odessa and Miguel.

She leaned on the back of her hands and an irritated sigh left her lips. Miguel looked sad. "I just don't understand why he wouldn't tell us."

"I don't know but he better apologize for giving me about it."

Eli shook his head. "I don't know either. But it also explains why he's giving us shit for kicking Keene's ass at the tournament. Show no mercy, unless it's his son. Then we gotta be pussies." He spoke bitterly.

"Guys! Have you seen the commercial?" Aisha announced.

"What commercial?" Asked Hailey.

"Sam's dad started his own dojo and disses Cobra Kai."

She handed Miguel her phone. Odessa scooted closer to him and leaned over to watch. Everyone gathered around. "Because at Miyagi-Do, it's not about the money. It's about the karate." Mr. Larusso spoke on screen.

"Oh, that's fucked up." Oliver spoke out loud.

"Everyone fall in!" Johnny shouted, making them all flinch. Him and Kreese walked out of the office and Johnny ordered Aisha to star recording him. "There's a lot of talk going around the Valley about free karate. But everyone knows that in life, you get what you pay for. You wanna really kick the competition? Then you need to get your ass over to Cobra Kai. Screw that lane meditation bullshit. What you need is bone-crunching, face-smashing, good ol' American karate." Johnny punched one of the dummies. "Enough about self-defense. learn self-offense!" He pointed at the camera. "Don't be a pussy. Join Cobra Kai and let me teach you the way of the fist."

"Am I the only one who thinks this is going to end very badly?" Grayson whispered to his friends.

"Nope." Odessa responded.

"And cut." Aisha said and she stopped recording.

"Just make sure the Cobra Kai snake comes in at the end, all right? I want it to really pop. Make it chrome. And throw Thunderstruck under it." Johnny instructed and he started walking to the back room.

"I'm pretty sure the rights for that song will cost too much."

"No, I already own it. Cassette's in the car."

Odessa gave him a strange look.

"Oh, and put one of those hash browns at the end. Y'know, like 'hash brown team Cobra Kai' or something." He pointed a finger in the air. "And then send it to the internet!"

"Did he just say hash brown?" Hailey questioned.

Oliver shrugged. "If all else fails, he could totally be a videographer."

Eli turned to his girlfriend. "Miguel and I are gonna go talk to him, okay?"

Odessa titled her head. "Go easy on him, will ya? I don't feel like doing fifty push ups again."

He smiled and kissed the side of her head. Him and Miguel walked to the back room. Sensei, can we talk to you about something?" He asked their Sensei.

"If it's about the infomercial, I know." Said Johnny.

"It's not about the commercial. It's about Robby Keene," Eli roughly stated, getting to the point.

The man looked between them. "What about him?"

"I saw him picture on your refrigerator," Miguel admitted and sounded almost guilty. "I wasn't snooping but. . . we know he's your son."

"That's why you got mad at us after the tournament, right? And Odessa?" Eli continued with an attitude.

Johnny almost glared at them. "Is that what you think?" He questioned.

The two boys shared a look, not knowing what to say.

"Yeah, Robby's my son. But that has nothing to do with how I run my dojo. It's also none of your damn business, you understand?" He snapped at them.

Miguel stared at him for a moment before nodding. "Yes, Sensei." He said quietly.

"And as for Odessa?" Johnny continued. His eyes trailing behind the two boys to the girl who was working on her punches with Hailey in the main dojo. "Want to know the reason I got mad with her? Because she did go soft on him. Know why? Because she's nice. She's too nice. Do you know what the world does to nice girls?" He questioned them. He was mainly talking to Eli, who looked at him with a challenging stare. "They chew them up and spit them out. "She needs to learn her kindness can only take her so far. I was best friends with her father and he was the same way till Kreese started teaching us and he changed. He got stronger. That's what I want for her."

Maybe he pushed it too far. Maybe he got angry at her for no reason. But Johnny knew Odessa's potential. She was Christian made over. He didn't want to mess up with her.

Eli blinked and shook his head. "But. . . But Sensei—"

"But, but, nothing," he snapped. "Get out! You two clean mats for the rest of the week."

Odessa saw Eli and Miguel come out of the back room in worse moods than they were already in. She put her hand on Eli's shoulder. "Everything go okay?"

Eli studied to kind expression on her face. She had kind eyes, that was his favorite thing about her. Since the day he met her, she was never anything but nice to everyone. It now scared him because Sensei was right she was nice. Too nice. But he loved that about her. He knew that no matter what happened that she would always have a kind heart. "Not exactly, but, it'll be okay." He responded with a small, sad smile.

Odessa brought her hand to his cheek and kissed it softly. She leaned her head on his shoulder.