wildflower . miguel diaz

eleven

"YOU'VE TRAINED HARD. YOU'VE GOTTEN STRONGER, TOUGHER, FASTER. YOU'VE DONE YOUR BEST. YOU'RE READY FOR THIS TOURNAMENT, AM I RIGHT?" the group of students looked at their sensei. "yes, sensei!"

"wrong!" he throw a beer can on the ground splashing them with a bit of beer that was leftover in the can. "your best ain't shit! if you wanna win the all valley under-18 karate tournament, you gotta give me better than your best. "which is why from now on, you're gonna get my worst. do you understand?"

"yes, sensei!" they cheered. johnny paced around on top of a van, "are you losers?" he questioned.

"no, sensei!"

"are you nerds?" johnny kept going with the questions, "no, sensei!"

"are you sure?"

"no, sensei!" johnny placed his hands on his face in frustration. johnny then proceeded to get the group in training, they first started with tire runs.

"move those feet. go!" everyone went after each other with eden being right behind aisha. "your enemies are all around you. destroy them!" everyone in the group got some kind of rod and began destroying car windows and anything they could find.

once again johnny had them doing tire runs, eden was getting a bit tired. she put her hair up in a ponytail waiting for her turn. "come on, princess. let's go. move that ass." miguel walked ontop of a trash bin trying not to fall inside of it.

"there's nothing to fear except for fear itself. that, and falling in sharp metal and broken glass, so dont do that!" eli slipped his leg off the beam.

"you wanna win? you gotta be hungry. you guys hungry?" johnny passed around beef jerky around to everyone. the girl stared at it confused meanwhile eli took a bite out of his. "yes, sensei!"

"good. 'cause so are they." he blew a high pitch whistle inwhich a group of dogs started barking their way. everyone startedd screaming when the dogs came running towards them, "holy shit!"

eden walked through the front door, she placed down her gym bag. her parents, celeste and Brian were in the kitchen preparing dinner. "hey mom, dad," eden greeted as she sat down in a chair looking at them. "i've got something i want to ask you."

brian looked up from the pot that was currently boiling some pasta. "sure, sweetie. what's up?"

eden took a deep breath, "well, ive been seeing this guy, miguel, and i'd really love for you to meet him. how about having him over for dinner tonight?"

celeste who was closing the fridge after getting some heavy cream for the pasta looked at her husband. "that sounds like a great idea. when were you thinking?" eden's face lit up immediately. "is tonight okay? i know its short notice, but i thought it would be fun and causal."

Brian nodded enthusiastically. "tonight works for us, it'll be nice to meet him." as she got the green light she pulled out her phone and sent miguel a text letting him know that he could come over, she sent him the address along with it.

as the clock ticked towards dinner time, the doorbell rang. eden rushed over to anwser it, opening the door to reveal Miguel standing there. he looked slightly nervous but still put on a smile for her. "hey, come on in." eden said, ushering him inside.

"hey, eden." miguel replied, his gaze shifted over to her parents who had made their way to the fron door. "hi, mr. and mrs. lawrence. its nice to meet you."

Brian extended his hand for a handshake, both of her parents expression were friendly. "nice to meet you too, miguel. ive heard a lot of good things about you." his wife bumped his shoulder, eden looked a bit embarrassed.

"we're glad you could join us for dinner." celeste said. they all made their way over to the dinner table that was nicely decorated. atticus had just came downstairs, he greeted miguel with a hand shake. "hey, dude. didnt know we had guest over today."

celeste served the mean, meanwhile Brian and atticus engaged Miguel in conversation about his interests. "so, Miguel, tell us a bit about yourself."

miguel cleared his throat, "well, i just moved here from riverside. and so far i enjoy karate. me and eden go to the same karate class." he said shaking his head.

eden watched in relief how her parents were reponding to miguel's stories. she could see that they were genuinely interested and impressed by him. "i mean, you must've been a prodigy at karate like your brother sensei lawrence."

her parents stopped for a second confused, "im sorry, sensei Lawrence?" brian asked. miguel confidently nodded. "yeah, your brother. he told me all these amazing stories about you and how you were amazing in karate."

eden's dad looked at her dispointed that she didnt tell him. "well, we have our fair share of stories. you must be good at what you do since my brother is teaching."

as dinner wrapped up, Brian stood and gestured towards the door. "well, Miguel, thank you for joining us tonight. it was a pleasure getting to know you."

"thank you for having me," miguel responded. getting on his feet, "i really enjoyed talking to you, mr.lawrence."

when miguel left it was a bit quite, eden helped her mother clean up the dishes, atticus helped cleaning, and her dad took out the trash. when her dad came back inside he stopped her from going upstairs.

"he seems like a really nice young man. we're glad we got to meet him." celeste nodded in agreement. "but i just want to know why you didnt tell me about Johnny."

eden looked a bit nervous. "oh, yeah. about that..i started taking classes along with Miguel a couple of weeks ago. i didnt want to tell you because you'd freak out and stop letting me go to class."

brian's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he processed the information. "i honestly didn't know johnny would ever be involved in teaching karate after what he went through. i'll have a word with him, but next time just let me know." eden nodded.

she understood where her father was coming from. "i'm sorry again, for not telling you. i know uncle johnny is enjoying teaching but if you want to talk to him, thats ok with me."

after the conversation with her dad, eden went up to her room. she closed the door behind her and took a deep breath. but one thing was that she couldnt help but reflect how dinner had gone and how miguel had fit in so perfectly with her family.

before she got ready for bed she got a message from miguel telling her goodnight. she reponded back and placed her phone on the charger so that she could began her routine.

-not edited.