Hot For Sensei

Chapter Fourteen

Ivy tried to talk to Eli at school, but he wouldn't say anything. This was usually normal for him, but she knew this time he was purposely ignoring her, and that hurt. Finally, at the end of History, she got a sentence out of him. He was still coming to the Dojo, and that was good enough for her. Dimitri, however, wasn't going to be attending anymore. Instead he told the group that he would just be using Miguel as his bodyguard. Ivy didn't agree with this arrangement, but what was she going to say?

When school let out, Ivy walked to her locker to grab her things. When she closed its door, she saw that Miguel had been standing behind it. For how long, she didn't know, but he wore that familiar bursting-at-the-seams smile, so she knew something good had happened.

"I'm listening!" she sang, opening Miguel's flood gate.

"Oh my god, Ivy, you won't believe it! Sam was put in our science group and she talked to me! She likes karate too and she thanked me for standing up for her. She talked to me, Ivy!" he rushed out.

"Christ, take a breath!" Ivy laughed, "But that's really cool, you finally did it. I'm happy for you. Did she seem interested?"

"I don't know." He was still talking fast, "She smiled a lot, gave me some compliments and some pointers in karate..."

"She's interested." Ivy grinned.

"You think?" Miguel's eyes were hopeful.

"Oh yeah." Ivy smirked, "Why else would she deal with you?"

"Hey, that's not nice." Miguel laughed.

"No mercy." She winked, "Speaking of which, we better get going. I don't want to be late."

"Oh yeah, right." Miguel nodded, coming down from his cloud.

Ivy gave him an encouraging look, and they linked their arms comically before leaving the school.

The Dojo was not as full as it had been the day before when they arrived. The missing kids must have followed suit and quit like Dimitri had. Johnny was just as surprised.

"Alright everyone, fall in- where is everyone?" he asked as he came out from his office, "Crater face? Nose ring? Slingshot?"

"They quit, Sensei." Miguel mumbled, ashamed.

"Are you serious?" Johnny snapped in disbelief as he looked around the room, "I mean, good! That was a test! I wanted to see who the quitters were, and now you guys, you're in it to win it. You could be at home playing your IComputers, playing your video games, eating candy. Instead you're here, doing pushups and learning how to fight."

Johnny paused to compose himself as the students shuffled around, unconvinced that yesterday's incident was actually a test. Ivy knew it wasn't, she could see the struggle on Johnny's face.

"Lip! Look!" Johnny pointed at Eli, "Even lip's tougher than those guys! He's no quitter!"

Eli looked at him wide eyed, unsure of what to do, but then he surprised everyone by speaking.

"P-please don't call me that." He mumbled timidly.

"Excuse me, what?" Johnny rose his eyebrow.

"I-I said, could you please not call me that?" Eli said louder.

"Uh, I..." Miguel jumped in, "I'll warm him up, Sensei."

"No! He's got something he wants to say." Johnny said without taking his eyes off of Eli, "It's alright, speak up, lip, or is your tongue messed up too?"