patience is key | the karate kid

xii. king karate

xii. king karate

   LET'S FAST forward to the following Monday.

It's around lunch time and Daniel hasn't seen Kat at all morning. Not when he left for school, not when he got to school, not in the halls or anywhere else. He had started to worry.

    But instead of looking around for her, he finds himself in the lunch line. He sits his empty tray down on the rack and sighs. Whenever he closes his eyes, he sees see Kat smiling up at Johnny, seeing how happy she is when she's with him.

    Daniel snaps out of his thoughts and sadness when he feels someone run up next to him.

    "Hi." The girl says, smiling up at him greatly. Daniel looks over and saw Ali. The corner of his lips immediately curve upwards.

    "Oh, Ali with an I," he chuckles, then turns back around to grab some of the nasty food to put on his tray. "How you doin'?"

    "Good." Ali cheeses.

    "Not too hungry today, huh?" He watches as Ali shakes her frizzled hair and bites her lip.

    Daniel picks up a plate of small, blueberry pie and puts it on her tray. "Here, have some pie, I made it myself."

     "Oh really?" Ali asks, laughing loudly.

Daniel chuckles uncomfortably and continues moving down the line. He quickly peeks over his shoulder to look around the full cafeteria to see if he can spot Kat.

    If she is in here, I hope she sees me with Ali, he thinks to himself. Wait no, then she'll get the wrong idea. But then again she is with Johnny. Oh—

    "Shit!" He yells a little bit too loud.

The cafeteria becomes quiet and like a magnet, every pair of eyes looks directly at him. He scratches the back of his neck and clears his throat.

    Soon, things were normal again.

    "Daniel, is everything alright?" Ali asks, grasping his arm lightly. Now Daniel feels really uncomfortable.

    "Yeah, Ali, I'm fine." He gives her a reassuring smile while running his hand up and down his arm to get Ali to let go. She eventually does let go and quickly frowns.

    "Yeah.. listen. I'm sorry about soccer tryouts." She apologizes and looks down at her feet. Daniel shrugs carelessly and moves towards the checkout lady.

    "Don't worry about it."

    "Well," Ali keeps going, "you know that guy who had trouble with on the beach?" Daniel freezes.

    Oh god, is she dating him? What if she is?? And he's cheating on her with Kat? And Kat doesn't know? Shit.

    "Oh, yeah," Daniel says causally, trying to play off his thoughts. "King Karate?"

    "Yeah," Ali chuckles, "well—"

    "Please don't tell me that you're dating him." Daniel blurts out. After realizing what he said, he throws a hand over his mouth and his eyes grow big.