Fly Like A Hawk

Chapter 48 - The Comeback Kid

I was standing with Eli at school the day that Miguel reappeared, we had been discussing our timetables when a round of cheering filled the halls. I turned to see Miguel making his grand entrance and back on his feet after receiving a diagnosing of possible paralysis. I laughed and shook my head in amazement, it was strange to see someone so happy to be back in school. "El Serpiente!" Hawk called, heading over to shake his hand.

"What's up?" Miguel cried, smiling wildly as we approached.

"Glad your back, man." Eli nodded and I slid in beside him.

"Me too."

"Feels good to be back." Miguel replied, beaming brightly as he looked between us.

"They give you bionic legs or some shit like that?" Eli asked, letting his nerdy side show a little bit more.

"No, same old boring human legs." Miguel looked thrilled, ecstatic to be back at last.

"Oh, yeah? Can you throw down? Gotta defend that title." Eli jabbed him lightly a couple of times and Miguel shrugged him off. "Gotta get through me first." He joked, holding up his fists playfully, "Cobra Kai is crushing it man."

"I, uhh," I saw the visible drop in Miguel's mood, "I've actually been meaning to talk to you about that." I was about to say something when the bell went, "I'll talk to you about it at lunch." Miguel tapped Eli's arm lightly and Eli nodded as Miguel pushed past us.

"See you in a bit." I smiled, kissing him gently as he ascended onto the first step.

"Later alligator." He called back to me as he jogged up the stairs and I joined the crowd of people heading to their lessons.

Soon enough I'd caught up with Miguel, apparently heading to a lesson near his.

"Hey. You got English?" I asked and he nodded, we rounded the corner and found Demetri with his head in his locker. As we approached he finished up putting books into his bag and slammed it shut, noticing us and lighting up at our appearance.

"Hey, the comeback kid! Welcome back!" He smiled warmly at Miguel as we came to a stop, "I hope to make a similar triumphant return to the land of the mobile appendage mass."

"What's up with the cast?" Miguel asked, pointing at Demetri's arm.

"Proximal radius fracture."

"It smells." Yasmin stepped into the conversation, looking Demetri up and down as she did.

"I put a lemon rind down there to mitigate that. The invitation for you to sign it still stands." He drew a red sharpie out of his pocket and extended it towards her.

"Hard pass." She pushed it back at him with the very tip of her finger, "At least when you used to be a thorn in my tits you were getting me A's in science. Now you can't even do that because your defective." She pushed between Demetri and Miguel and stalked off and I stifled a laugh at Demetri's misfortune of a science partner.

"So, uh...how'd you break your arm?" I looked down at the floor, hoping that Demetri would just change the subject. Demetri looked at me then back at Miguel. He looked just as uncomfortable as I did.

"We've got a lot to catch up on." With that we headed for our lessons. Miguel and Demetri continuing on down the corridor and me waving goodbye and ducking into my English classroom.