Fight or Flight

Chapter 8: Quiver

Camille had agreed to drop them off at the dojo right after school. First, though, she had wanted to hear the whole story of why Josie had such a huge smile on her face.

Josie was hesitant to tell her mother that she had gotten into a fight at school. However, once Camille knew that she hadn't gotten in trouble, she pulled her daughter into a hug.

"I'm so proud of you for standing up to those bullies." She said.

"Thanks, maman."

Once they got to the dojo, they went straight to Johnny's office.

"We took out the bullies!" Josie exclaimed excitedly, right away.

Johnny was skeptical. "All four of them? Even that big dumb one?"

They nodded. Miguel said, "It all happened so fast. Everything just came together. We were blocking, we anticipated, we slithered."

Johnny nodded, then said, "Your moms are gonna kill all three of us."

"Well, she would if she knew." Miguel said. "When my school called, my Yaya answered. I've never seen her so proud." He shook his head. "She won't talk."

"And my mom was totally cool with it." Josie added. "But I didn't get a call home, so."

"All right, so let me get this straight." Johnny said. "You guys took all the lessons I taught you, and you used them..." he walked up to them. "To straight up beat the shit out of those punks."

"Well, yeah." They both said.

"Follow me." Johnny led them out of his office and to his car, where he popped the trunk. Inside was two neatly folded karate gis.

They both looked identical. Johnny picked up the one on the left and said, " I wore this when I was training for my first karate tournament back in '81." He handed it to Miguel. "I want you to have it."

"Are you sure?" Miguel asked.

"Hell, yeah." Johnny replied, then picked up the other gi and turned to Josie. "I wore this one during my first karate tournament, and I want you to have it." He handed it to Josie.

She was very touched. This was probably the nicest thing Johnny had ever done for either of them. "Wow..." she said. "Thank you, Sensei."

Johnny nodded. "You guys earned it."

Josie couldn't help it, she pulled Johnny into a hug. He hugged her back. She stepped away, and Miguel hugged him too.

Josie noticed a guy standing at the corner of the strip mall, watching them, before he disappeared a second later.

"Do you guys need a drive home?" Johnny asked. "It's a bit earlier than usual, but you guys deserve the night off."

"Yeah, sure." They said.

Carmen was supposed to pick them up later, so Miguel texted her to tell her she didn't need to.

They went back to Reseda Heights, where Miguel's Yaya was waiting to congratulate Josie on the cafeteria fight.

Josie went to bed with her stomach full of Rosa's famous spicy chili, but not before she saw how many views the videos of their fight were getting on social media.

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The next day at school, everyone was staring at Josie and Miguel in the hallways, not even in a bad way. People kept asking them where they learned those moves, and every time they answered, "Johnny Lawrence. Our karate Sensei at Cobra Kai."