Mercy||Miguel Diaz

12

"What did you get for number eight?" Miguel asked. "Uh," I then flipped back to the second page, "I got 'D'." I answered. His lips slowly curled into a smile, then he rolled his lips in to stop himself from laughing; though some sounds of laughter were heard. I then shook my head, "You little nasty! Get your head out of the gutter!" We both just started laughing. Then a student walked in and said something to the teacher, whom next said, "Miguel and Lola?" "Yes?" Miguel and I said in unison. "You're needed at the attendance office." Miguel and I then looked at each other and rose to our feet. "Here's your passes." She stated, as she held the pink slips up without taking her eyes from her computer. "Thanks." I then grabbed my slip, as Miguel got his.

We exited the room and began walking towards the attendance office. "Do you think we're going there because of Friday?" He asked. I shrugged, "It's a possibility. Did your mom mention if the school called about you missing classes?" "No," He answered, "Did your aunt or uncle mention anything to you?" I shook my head, "No, nothing." "Hm, then I have no idea what this could be about." "Me either." I shrugged.

We finally made our way to the attendance office. "Hello," The lady at the computer greeted, "How can I help you?" "We were called up here, and we don't know why." Miguel answered. "Okay," She started typing, "Let me get your guy's names and we can figure it out no problem." As we both were going to hand over our passes, a man's voice was heard. "I called them up here, Cecelia." He cooed. I then turned my head and seen the same man that had approached us in the cafeteria on Friday. "My office." He instructed, not in a scary way or like we were in trouble. It was an oddly calm and welcoming tone. Miguel then took his hand in mine as we followed the man to his office.

"Sit down." He instructed, as he closed the door behind us. "Are we in trouble?" I questioned. "Just sit." "Hey, she only asked a question." Miguel retorted. "I didn't mean any disrespect," He put his hands up, "I just wanted to clear up what happened on Friday." Miguel's demeanor changed, as my heart dropped. "W-what're you talking about?" Miguel questioned. We both then slowly sat down in the two seats in front of his desk. I looked down at the name tag on his desk, Mr.White, it read. "I know you two ditched." He stated. "No we didn't!" "We were in class!" He lightly chuckled, "Look, you guys aren't in trouble. I seen the whole 'friends just being friends' incident. So, I covered for you two."

Miguel and I immediately had a confused mien, "What?! Why?" "Because," He leaned forward, "I figured if I scratch your guy's back, you'll scratch mine?" "What're you getting at?" Miguel questioned. "Look, I'm in charge of attendance so I marked you two present for the classes you missed. In exchange, I want you guys to promise me you'll do everything you can to end Cobra Kai for good." He explained. I looked over to Miguel, who was still equally as confused as me, "Why would we do that? What do you get out of it?" "Well," He sighed, "Let's just say I know someone who's currently caught in the toxicity of Cobra Kai and I'm not a fan of it. And," He turned some paperwork towards me, "From what I see you have someone else caught in that cycle, don't you, miss Moskowitz?"

I glanced over the paperwork that clearly indicated that Eli is my cousin, and his parents are my guardians. I let out a deep sigh, "Yes, I do." "So do you understand where I'm coming from?" "We do," Miguel answered, "But I'm still failing to understand why you'd cover for us anyways. Like, can't you get fired?" "I'm the new guy," He smiled, "If I were to get questioned I could lie and say I had difficulty with the technology. And even then, once it's marked in the system for twenty-four hours, there's no changing it. It's permanent. So you two are more than on the safe side by now." "Uh t-thank you, Mr.White. We'll do everything can to ensure the extinction of Cobra Kai." I assured him. "Wonderful, I'm glad to hear that. Now let's just keep this between the three of us, shall we?" "Of course!" "Couldn't agree more." Miguel nodded his head.