XXXVIII.                                   Heartbreak Weather

      Demetri took the lead on composing a contract to combine the dojos. Oliver was proud that he was taking a stand and actually speaking. His influence was definitely rubbing off on him. They were all gathered at the kitchen table. "We're all in agreement that our new combined dojo should train at Miyagi-Do?" Demetri questioned while holding the contact. Before anyone could say anything, he continued, "But deadlocked on a new name, gi design, post-training snacks, and Sensei dispute resolution protocol."

Everyone just looked at each other. "It's a start." Oliver reminded.

Grayson put up a hand. "Im still putting in my vote for Slytherin gis." He spoke.

"Gray, baby, not everyone gets Harry Potter." Hailey told him.

"I do!" Odessa and Bert said at the same time. She smiled at him.

They heard a cat meowing from outside. They turned to their attention to the back door. "Aw, I think your cat wants to come in," Bert said with a smile and went to walk outside. "Here, kitty, kitty." He called out to the animal.

Miguel looked at Sam. "I didn't know you had a cat."

"We don't."

Bert was suddenly thrown threw the kitchen window and onto the floor. Glass shattering everywhere. "Bert!" Odessa exclaimed and pushed out her chair.

Everyone quickly surrounded him. "Bert, what happened?" Miguel urged.

"No cat." The small boy answered in pain. Odessa frowned and helped him up. She brushed all the glass off of his clothes.

Hawk came walking through the door into the kitchen with Kyler and the Cobra Kai's following behind him. Odessa paused what she was doing and stared at them. She looked at Miguel, who had a nervous expression on his face. "It's payback time, Rhea." Kyler taunted.

They all backed away. It was about to get bad and she was preparing herself for it. The front door swung opened and Tory walked in with two other guys. She was wearing Miguel's skeleton jacket. She found herself reaching for Sam's hand and she squeezed it.

"Heard you were throwing a party. Hope you don't mind if we crash." She announced with an evil look on her face.

"Tory, you don't have to do this." Miguel practically begged. 

"It's too late. This ends tonight!" As soon as Tory shouted the words no mercy, all hell broke loose. 

Odessa felt someone pull her hair and drag her backward. She yelped in pain and was spun around. A hard hand came in contact with her face. She glared at the Cobra Kai and kicked him in the stomach, making him fly into the plant that was standing in the corner of the room. She spun around to see another boy coming at her but she did a spin kick and her foot collided with his face. He hit his head on the table.

Oliver and Kyler stood face to face. "Round two, bitch." He said and let out a battle cry. He charged at Kyler and they went at it.

Chaos wasn't enough to describe it. It was a disaster.  Sam's beautiful home was being terrorized by a karate war. Kids that were once friends were now turned against each other. Their minds were being poisoned.  Glass was shattered everywhere, people were getting kicked in the face, and it was terrible. Odessa wished she could say it didn't have to come to this but she would be lying.

One of the guys in Cobra Kai had Hailey by the hair and he hit her head against the wall. Quickly, Odessa ran up behind him and kicked him in the back. When he was distracted, Hailey took him by the hair and she slammed his head onto the floor before kicking him in the face. "Doesn't feel good huh, bitch?" She hissed.

The two girls high fived each other, completely out of breath.

It was like a war zone. Odessa was in the middle of a fight with a boy much bigger than her when he grabbed her wrist and held her in place. He punched her in the face. The force was so strong that it caused her she fall backwards and she hit her head on the floor. She felt blood run down her chin. She felt a hard blow to her stomach. Odessa grabbed his ankle and pulled it out from under him, making him fall and a large thud collided with the floor. When she stood up,  she felt someone grab her hair and yank her backwards again. Her back hitting against wall and the boy that grabbed her threw his fist into her cheek. She felt blood come from her mouth. Odessa didn't have time to throw any punches before he reached his knee up and kicked her in the stomach. He gripped her shoulders and slung her across the floor into a pile of glass. She was hurting. Her stomach was in knots and her face was a bloody mess. She felt glass embed into her skin and she groaned in pain.

Hawk found himself pausing. He looked around and watched as everyone fought each other. He was seeing his friends getting beat to death and he knew it was his fault. He caused all of this. Now, he was paying the price for it. The only thing he felt was guilt. Eli looked around for a certain girl but all he saw was two Cobra Kais pulling Demetri's arm behind his back, getting ready to break it.

"Hey yo, Hawk. Free shot!" The boy holding his arm called out.

Demetri and him locked eyes. An angry look appeared on his face and he started running toward them. Demetri shut his eyes and prepared himself for the worst. But it didn't come. Instead, Eli jumped up and kicked the two guys in the face, making them let go of Demetri. He threw them into the glass table. He looked at him and took a step forward but he backed away in fear. "Look man, i'm sorry. For all of it. Do you want to help me win this thing?" Eli asked him.

After a minute or two of thinking, Demetri cracked a smile. The two boys high fived and began fighting together.

Meanwhile, Hailey found a bloody and battered Odessa on the floor, passed out. "Odessa!" She exclaimed and dropped to her knees, not caring about the glass. She cupped the girl's face. "Dess? Can you hear me?"

She groaned. "Ugh, ow. . ."

Hailey breathed out a laugh. "First Gray and now you?"

"I reckon i'm still better looking."

She smiled and laughed. She helped her stand up and Odessa stumped. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, i'm pretty sure I have a concussion but i'm fine." She answered and waved her hand. "Let's go get these assholes."

And they did. Together, the best friends helped each other fight off the group of Cobra Kais. Odessa saw Kyler pinning Miguel against the wall and he was punching him repeatedly in the side. "Get off of him, asshole!" She shouted and kicked him off of Miguel.

Before Kyler could do anything, Miguel and tackled him to the floor. When he stood up, Odessa watched anxiously as Kyler began running toward him. Miguel did a spin kick and kicked the boy in the stomach, making him stumble back. He then flipped him on the ground and punched him in the face. He knocked him out cold with one punch. "Thanks for the motivation?" He breathed out.

Odessa stood there with wide eyes. "You did it!" She examined.

"I did it! Now hug me, sista!"

She jumped in his arms happily and he spun them around. "Whoa, are you okay?" He asked once he sat her down and saw her face all bloody and bruised.

"Totally. Might have a concussion but at least I can stand." she replied and held her thumb up. She stumbled slightly, her eyes squinting. "Have you always had a twin?"

Miguel's eyes widened slightly and he took her arm, carefully leading her to help him find Sam.

They found Sam and Tory in the dojo. Sam wasn't afraid anymore. She was for a long time but she tried her hardest to find her inner strength. She wasn't king to let Tory destroy her anymore. When they all entered the dojo, Tory dropped her fist. "Traitors." She spat. She looked Eli in the eyes. "You better watch your back." She threatened.

As she began to walk out, Demetri's stopped her. "He won't have to. He's got friends watching it for him."

Hailey patted him on the shoulder, giving him a look of approval.

When Tory walked out, Eli immediately noticed Odessa leaning against Oliver, seeing as she was struggling to stand up. "Odessa, are you okay?" He asked and quickly stood in front of her.

Odessa lifted her head. "I don't know. I'm kind of seeing three of you right now." She slurred.

"We need to get her home. Thalia's going to flip her shit." Oliver said with his arm wrapped around her.

They began to lead her out of the dojo but all Eli could do was stare at her. She could hardly keep her eyes own and she forsure had a concussion. Her knuckles were bruised along with her face and blood dripped from her chin. He caused this. He kept getting her hurt. He wanted to change. He was determined to change his ways and be better. Not just for her, but for everyone else around him who he had hurt.

Odessa didn't have a concussion, thank God, just a really bad migraine — which might as well had been a concussion. She took a shit ton of tylenol to be able to go to sleep. Her stomach and ribs was sore and her knuckles were bruised but not broken. She had cleaned the blood off of her and was able to get the glass out of her skin. Her cheek was littered in bruises and her lip was busted. She looked like hell, but it over. The fight was over and she was okay.

There was a knock on her door. Her mom came in. "Someone's here for you, baby." She spoke gently.

Eli stepped out from behind her. His hands were in the pockets of his jacket. Odessa froze. Thalia eyed one for a second before leaving but she kept the door open. Neither of them knew what to say. "H-How are you feeling?" He stupidly asked.

"Well, I don't have a concussion but my head hurts like hell. Feels like someone ran me over with a truck. But I'm alive." She said and did jazz hands at the end. When he didn't laugh, she dropped her hands. "It's okay, Eli—"

"No, no, it's not," he interrupted her and shook his head. "It happened again. You got hurt because of me."

"It wasn't because—"

"It was, Odessa. I took them there. I knew exactly what was going to happen." He shook his head again. "I've been the worst person in the world. The worst boyfriend and worst friend. I wanted so badly to be tough and a leader that I destroyed what really matters most to me." His voice started shaking. "I'm so sorry,  Odessa. For all of it. For hurting you, betraying you and everyone else, and for making you feel like shit. I didn't mean anything I said that day in the woods. You're the most amazing person in the world. You don't deserve to be treated this way. I'm an asshole for making you feel like that,"

She walked closer to him.

His eyes were watery. "I love you so much. You're my best friend and I fucked everything up. I don't deserve you but God, I want to do everything to make it up to you."

She watched as a sob left his mouth. For a moment, she saw that scared boy she first met in the cafeteria a year ago. The boy who smiled at her and had the courage to start a conversation with her. She didn't see Hawk, she saw Eli. But things were different. So much had happened in that one year. She was a different person. She wasn't that's shy, timid girl that let everyone talk about her. She was the former All Valley champion. She was Odessa Beaumont and she owned that.

Odessa stepped forward again cupped his face. Her eyes scanned his face softly. "I'm glad you came to your senses," she teased, making him breath out a chuckle. "You know i'm a forgiving person. It's my best and worst trait. I want so badly to tell you to get the hell out of my house right now. But that's not who I am. I love you, Eli Moskowitz. I forgive you but I can't forget. Not yet, at least." She shook her head. "I've had to deal with so much. I'm still getting over everything. But I'm getting better."

Eli felt his heart crushing in his chest.

"You're right, you'll be spending lot of time making it up to me. And everyone else." she said with a smile. She dropped her hands.

He stood there with a broken heart and watery eyes but he made no effort to argue. Eli loved her completely. He would wait for her. There was nobody else for him.

Odessa was oblivious to her phone buzzing on the bed, Robby's name highlighting the screen.

They gathered in the Larusso's backyard. The Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang dojos were now combined. They weren't divided or each other's enemy. They were one.  Odessa and Eli walked side by side along with Oliver and Demetri, their hands locked together. They were happy. So were Hailey and Grayson, and Miguel and Sam, and Mitch and Chris, and Bert and Nathan.  Everyone was happy and content with each other.

Johnny walked into the backyard and his eyes met with Daniel. They nodded to one another. Would it work? They didn't know. All they could do was try.  The two Sensei's stood by each other and faced the students. They bowed,  making them all bow as well.  "You ready?" Daniel asked the students.

"Yes, sensei!" They shouted.

"Let's begin!"