cruel summer

SILVER-HAIRED KING

Bert knocked on Stingray's door. The ginger opened the door. The other guys inside his apartment walked out, who were completely over Stingray's D&D campaign. "Those noobs were entering the light and exiting the night—"

Sam, Miguel, Eli, and Hawk appeared behind Bert. "Miyagi-Fangs? Oh, this is a trap. Oh, you Admiral Ackbar-Ed me." Stingray realized. "Et Tu, Bert-tay?"

"Knock it off. We know Kreese never hurt you" said Eli. "According to my testimony in the court of law, he did" stingray looked away. "So...read the transcript" Stingray dismissed as he closed his door. Sam put out her hand stopping him. "You lied to the court and you lied to my dad. But you're not going to lie to us." Sam claimed before walking into Stingray's place.

"You're just gonna let her?" Stingray looked at Bert before he and the rest walked in "Now you're all walking in" Stingray gulped and closed his door. They sat and stood around Stingray's table and tried to get him to talk. Stingray would begin to talk about different things to Bert.

"Okay, okay. Alright. Let's try this one more time, okay?" Eli asked. "What happened that night? Who hurt you?" Eli asked. "Hey, Bert. How does it feel—" The heavier male looked at the younger one. "Look at me. Look at me" Demetri tried to get his attention. "—to stab a grown man in the back between his shoulder blades and stare at the blood as it trickles down his back?" Stingray asked.

"God, enough!" Exclaimed Eli. "No more games," Eli said. "My dad went through a lot of pain because of you and Silver. Now a lot of people will too if you just sit back and do nothing." Sam said. "But if I tell you what really happened, you know...h-he'll find out. I can't. It's not that easy you guys" Stingray whispered.

"Actually—there...um, wait," Stingray said suddenly "okay, so I've been working on this new D&D campaign—" Stingray began "I don't think we have time for this" Miguel sighed "wait a minute." Eli stopped catching onto what Stingray was doing "what happens in the campaign, stingray?" Eli asked

Stingray exhaled "Okay, so, once upon a time, there was a Dwarven monk, and he was a member of the most badass guild in all the land. Uh, he was banished for a time. You know, typical PC crap. But, um, once he paid his penance, he returned. Only by then, the guild was under new leadership. And the monk was denied reentry into the guild. And quite unceremoniously, might I add." Stingray explained

"What did the monk do? The monk, he made a pact with a silver-haired king who would usurp the leader. And it was early one morning, before any of the warriors had arrived, that the king struck the monk down. Again, and again, and again. It was then that they framed the leader for the assault, and the leader was put in chains, and the silver-haired king took over the guild." Stingray concluded.

"And you were...The Dwarven monk" Demetri corrected himself with a slight chuckle "was let back into the guild?" He asked. Eli looked around "Yeah. With benefits." "Aye. With benefits, yeah." Stingray looked down "So why can't he just tell everyone what really happened?" Miguel asked.

"Because he doesn't wanna lose his benefits." Samantha remarked "no! No." Stingray protested "I would...The-The monk would give it all back if he could, but the-the silver-haired king, you know, he...He almost killed the monk." Stingray chuckled nervously "He could have killed him. And why? To get power."

"So, yeah, the monk fears what that king would do to keep that power. I think the monk just...The monk just wanted reentry into the guild" Stingray said honestly "because he thought that he could be like a...Like a proud and noble warrior. Just like you, Hawk, Samantha, all you guys. But he's neither proud nor noble. Definitely not a warrior. He just sits around playing with them all day."

"The monks just scared. I just can't. I'm sorry." Stingray apologized "That's great. Thanks for nothing." Sam got up and left. Stingray rubbed his eyes. Miguel followed after Sam.

"Look, Sam..." the tan boy called out. Sam stopped and turned around to face Miguel. Miguel sighed "I know that it sucks, not getting the answers we want-" Miguel said "A lot sucks right now, Miguel." Sam replied, "I'm s-sorry about last night." Miguel apologized. "I...I just met that girl, and-" he stammered. "You don't have to apologize. We broke up. You're allowed to do whatever you want." Sam responded.

"You just seemed upset, so...Um, I guess I'm just trying to understand, Sam. You know, first, you said that you wanted to quit karate and be friends, and that's fine, but now you're joining a world karate tournament and, apparently, you're not happy seeing me with someone else." Miguel said.

"This summer, I just...wanted everything to go back to normal." Sam admitted "But...everything was based on a lie. If I knew the tournament was rigged, then maybe my dad wouldn't have had to shut down Miyagi-Do, maybe I wouldn't have thought about quitting, and maybe I would've...We wouldn't have..." Sam trailed off.

"Yeah." Miguel pursed his lips. "This is all their fault," Sam said referring to Tory and Y/n. "Look, Sam, I know you hate Tory and Y/n. You have plenty of reasons to. But... you have no idea what it's like to be in Cobra Kai. I do. And it must have been so hard for Y/n to admit what she knew." Miguel said.

"Should she have said it sooner? Yeah, probably-Definitely. But the fact of the matter is that she did admit it. And now... Now it's up to you to decide what to do about it." Miguel finished.

Miguel walked back to the rest while Sam stood in the hall thinking over everything he just said. She walked to her car and got in. She pondered for a while.

"Thanks, stingray" Miguel said walking back up to the table "let's go, guys," Miguel said. The three boys nodded. Demetri stood back up and looked at Stingray one last time. Poor dude.

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|| short chapter. I'll try to update soon! Sorry for any typos or mistakes.

bye-bye