Always Been You- Eli Moskowitz

Chapter 12- Stuck

"Right now,
I'm stuck somewhere between what if,
what might,
what could have,
and what never will and all i want to know is what actually is."

-Christina Hart

~~*~~

Michelle made her way out of the Diaz apartment followed by a very energetic Miguel. As she turned around to lock the front door behind him, she saw Miguel pull out a pair of sunglasses. She watched as Miguel and Johnny, who had coincidentally walked out of his apartment at the same time as the twins, put on their pair of sunnies in unison and walked to the car.

She squinted her eyes and shook her head. What the fuck is going on? She proceeded to make her way to Johnny's newly upgraded muscle car on her own since they left her behind. She was almost at the car when Johnny honked the horn loudly in an attempt to rush her. Rush her for what? She had no clue. She only gave him the finger and rolled her eyes.

See, Michelle was still rather upset with Johnny over the tournament situation. She had been the only one punished for participating in something that her teammates were also doing. It was complete bullshit if you asked her. Since when had Johnny's motto been 'Strike First. Strike Hard. Sometimes Show Mercy' anyway?

Other than that, the last few days had been good for the Diaz sister. Miguel was back to his cheerful self, Eli had stopped bothering her about being together, and Michelle and James were officially a couple. The only bad thing that she could think up was the fact that James went to East Valley High and not West Valley like the rest of them. But, they called and texted each other constantly and planned to hang out together on the weekends.

Once they had arrived at the dojo, Michelle went straight to the restrooms to get changed into her gi. When she came out, she was met with Miguel who was nervously holding Aisha's phone up to his ear and talking quietly. Michelle chuckled to herself as she found a spot on the mat to stretch while she waited for Aisha to get out of the restrooms.

As the dojo filled up with new students, Michelle found herself laughing while Aisha and Eli intimidated several of them. After a few minutes, she made her way to the office to see Johnny on the phone.

"No. No. We accept boys and girls... Gender what?.. Hey is this a prank call?" Johnny said into the phone. He then slammed the phone down and stood up from his chair. Michelle knocked softly on the doorframe to make her presence known.

"Michelada, what's going on? Why aren't you stretching?" He asked.

"I already did. I just wanted to talk to you about something," She replied.

Johnny leaned back against the filing cabinet behind him and crossed his arms. He nodded his head to her, signaling for her to start talking.

"I just don't think i understand the sudden change in your motto? You established this dojo with the premise that we were supposed to be badass and show no mercy, but yet you punish us for doing just that. I guess i just don't understand the game plan," She said.

"Look, Michelle. There's no honor in being merciless. That's something I've had to realize for myself while teaching you guys. I screwed up by allowing that mindset to run my dojo," Johnny replied to her. He was now standing right in front of her.

"But why were me, Miguel and Hawk the only ones getting punished for doing what you taught us?" she asked.

"The three of you are my strongest fighters. You hold a lot of influence around here. If the others see you doing something, they'll follow. That's why i have to be harder on you even when i don't want to. Did that clear things up?"