IRIS

chapter twenty

"Hey." Miguel greeted the girl softly as she exited her apartment. Iris offered him a small smile in return, not knowing if she was ready to talk about the previous nights events.

The two walked in silence to the dojo, Miguel reaching out to grab her hand to offer her as much comfort as he could. When they finally reached the dojo doors Miguel looked back at the girl with a comforting smile.

"Ready?" Iris nodded, bracing herself for not what but who she was going to see. She expected to see Hawk, what she did not expect was his makeover.

Miguel and Iris stopped in the doorway as Hawk stood warming up with Assface, his mohawk bright red.

"Iris, hey." Iris tore her eyes away from her ex-boyfriend who just then looked her way. Iris smiled over to Tory who called her over, Hawk watching her feeling nothing but longing for the girl. Iris didn't know about the update to his hawk tattoo and she didn't know about the new tattoo that was on his heart.

"Hey, girly. How you feeling?" Aisha pulled the girl into a side hug, Iris leaning her head on the girl's shoulder. Iris lips tugged into a sad smile as she tried to keep the tears at bay.

"Hey, no no no. No tears." Tory grabbed the girl's face in her hands, pulling her head off of Aisha's shoulder. "You can't let him know you're upset. It makes you vulnerable and he's looking for that. Don't give him that. You're a badass bitch Iris Montague. Now I don't know you all that well or really at all, but I do know he doesn't deserve someone that's half of you."

"Thanks Tory, with a 'Y'." The three girls laughed as Iris made a real smile for the first time in 16 hours.

"Alright, guys. We're gonna start today's lesson a little different." Sensei Lawrence called the attention of the whole class, instructing them to sit next to each other in a circle around the mat. The two girls quickly pulled Iris towards the mat, both of them sitting on either side of the girl.

Sensei Lawrence and Sensei Kreese stood in the middle and began to spar, pausing to ask the students questions on how to get out of a difficult situation. For this one, Sensei Kreese had Sensei Lawrence in a choke hold.

"Okay, pay attention. He's got my neck, I've got his elbow. If I try to break out..." Sensei Lawrence let go of Sensei Kreese's elbow and the man immediately brought it up to his other hand.

"I dig in and I put him to sleep."

"If I go for his ribs..." Sensei Lawrence bends down and stops in the position he would be in if he were to do that move.

"He completely exposes his chest." Sensei Kreese then lifts his knee to show what would happen if you made that move.

"Two difficult choices. What do you do?" Sensei Lawrence looked around at his students, when none of them knew the answer he reached his foot back and collapsed Sensei Kreese's leg, throwing them both onto the ground. "You damn the consequences and you power forward."

"You may get hurt, but nobody wins by doing nothing."

"You make a choice. You make a move. You go...all in." Miguel and Hawk were watching the two men, both nodding along with the men knowing what they had to do.

When class was over Hawk managed to corner Iris in the back room. The girl was pulling her bag from her locker when she heard the door shut. She felt her heartbeat quicken when she locked eyes on the red haired boy.

"What, Hawk." The boy flinched at the sound of the girl using his nickname, this being the first time she used it and not his actual name.

"I wanted to show you something." Iris huffed, her arms crossing over her chest as she looked at the boy. She nodded towards him to get along with it. He turned his back towards the girl and shrugged off his gi, showing off his red haired hawk to the girl.