New Boy | Miguel Diaz

Back To School

Never did I ever think that I'd return back to school. If anything, I'm surprised they hadn't officially kicked me out.

But I guess lying about being on vacation for almost two months pays off.

But now, I step into school after being checked by security, and I wait for Tory.

Without Tory, I wouldn't have ever came back. But because she was let back in, she wanted me to come with her. Something about afraid of being alone.

When she grabbed her bag, we stood next to each other watching as people sent her dirty looks.

As we walked, in front of us was Sam.

Tory was first to speak up. "I heard you let me back in, LaRusso. So I guess I should—"

"I don't know what game you two are playing, but I'm not scared of you. You're not in control here— I am." Sam cut Tory off, speaking to the both of us. But then looking at only Tory.

"My parents might fall for your bullshit, but if you so much as look at me funny, I will kick your ass for another time. And you. Don't think getting revenge on me by trying to get Miguel back will work. You'll only embarrass yourself.

"I'll come for you, bitch."

Okay, that last part was definitely towards me. As Sam dramatically walked off, I grabbed Tory's hand and led her towards the halls.

"The last thing we're gonna do here, is let Sam think she has control over us."

After we agreed to meet later after classes, I left Tory's side, considering my locker was opposite direction of hers.

When I opened my locker, some of my school books were still inside, along with pictures and stickers.

The pictures were a reminder of how it's gonna be a bitch facing my friends. And speaking of, Miguel had came by, and stood next to my locker, only looking at me.

"I didn't know you were back."

"And I didn't know we were talking to each other."

His hands were in his pockets and he shook his head. "I wanted to come back." He admitted, a look of regret on his face.

"Ava, I told you that I was still in love with you. There was no way me walking out was that easy. I couldn't even move when I closed that door. I guess a part of me had hoped that you would've opened it."

I closed my locker again, and crossed my arms. "And what about Sam? You gonna cheat on her the way you cheated on me?"

Miguel rolled his eyes, clearly not in the mood to argue.

"Miguel, I just want what's best for us. I want us to be together when we're both in the right place and not dating someone else.

"I can't act like I don't love you. I do. But we both know whatever this is, is still wrong. And I can't do that to Sam. Whether we're friends or not. So when you're ready, just please— be ready for only me."

Miguel looked as if he wanted to plead for my forgiveness; my love. We both knew we wanted each other. But we both knew it was the wrong choice.

Miguel's phone then rings, and the contact that viewed on the screen was from my dad.

He turns his phone off, and shoves it back into his pocket.

I glance at Miguel one more time before asking the question I've been meaning to ask since I last saw my dad at the grill.

"How is he?"

"Sensei Lawrence? He's doing good. At least I hope he is. I don't know, it's been rough the past few days at the dojo between working with
Mr. LaRusso, more trouble with Cobra Kai... he's working hard though.

"He talks about you. And he asks how you're doing sometimes."

"You didn't tell him about—"

"Your mom? No, I didn't. That's for you to tell. That is, of course, if you ever come clean."

"There's nothing to come clean about. I'm just living with my mom for the time being. Like a regular child of split parents."

"Whose parents were never actually together and only hooked up once."

Miguel joked, cracking a smile from me. He, too, did smile at my smile.

"Hey, I'm sure whatever's going on between you and Sensei Lawrence will be figured out soon. You know him... he doesn't give up for the things he loves."

I appreciated everything Miguel was saying to me, and it honestly gave me hope. Hope for whatever's happening will be cleared up soon.

"How is training with two sensei's been anyway?"

Miguel lets out an exhausted sigh and begins to walk away from the lockers. I take that as a sign to follow him.

"It's literally arguing back and forth. Like what's the point of training a whole dojo together, if they can't even work on a single lesson to teach without arguing against one another.

"But, hey— what's going on with that new guy who was with Kreese— Terry Silver?"

"Right, so apparently Terry Silver was the
co-founder of Cobra Kai and now that he's back, he's teamed up with Sensei Kreese as a way of making us stronger and better."

"Well, if he's worse than Kreese, then I don't know what's scarier."

I chuckle, and think about his words. "Sensei Silver isn't that bad, honestly."

And I was right. I trust that man with my entire life.

"Okay... if you're disagreeing with me, I sense there's a story behind it." Miguel squints his eyes at me.

We walk out the hall, into another and continue walking.

"Remember before we had first been taught by my dad, and I had mentioned how I did karate before?"

Miguel nods his head, "Vaguely, yeah."

"Well, Terry Silver was the man who first taught me how to throw a proper punch. We had reconnected after years of not seeing each other. I hadn't realized that it was actually him, until he was standing right in front of me, teaching besides Sensei Kreese."

"Holy shit." Miguel was in complete shock. "That's— that's amazing, right? I mean reuniting with an old friend, especially the one who first taught you karate. Does Johnny know?"

I realize I never explained my whole story of learning karate from the man who created the man now who's nothing other than a monster to my dad.

I'm part of Cobra Kai, the tournament is coming up, he'll find out eventually.

The bell rings and that's when Miguel and I fully look at each other.

"I have to go." We say at the same time, suddenly smiling.

"I'll see you around school?"

"Definitely." I nod at Miguel watching as he steps away from me. He smiles one more time before turning around and heads to his first class.

It's been awhile since we've had an actual conversation without arguing. This time we laughed, and we smiled.