The Strike

3

"Wake up Mija" A soft voice said

I roll over and open my eyes to find Carmen standing there looking at me

"What time is it?" Miguel asked

"Time for school, get up and get dressed quickly" Carmen says before walking out

Miguel rolls over and pulls the blanket up over his head. I get up and grab my outfit and head to the bathroom to shower. As I'm taking my shower Miguel comes in and does his hair and brushes his teeth.

"Yaya said to hurry up or your food will get cold" He mumbles as he brushes his teeth

I quickly turn the water off and wrap a towel around me and push Miguel out so I can get dressed. I quickly dry off and throw on my jeans, crop top and one of Miguel's flannels before brushing through my hair and putting on my make up. I open the door just as Miguel's about to pound on it.

"Are you done now?" He asks

I walk past him and take a burrito from yaya. And eat it in seconds, Yaya looks at me amazed

"Come más cariño" She says. (eat more sweetie)

"Uno, no mas" I say smiling. (one, no more)

She hands me another burrito and I grab the keys and wait for Miguel to come out of the bathroom. He walks out with his hair spiked up and ready to go. I lead him out to my car and he stops dead in his tracks

 "Did you steal this or something?" He asks

"It's sad that you think that low of me" I say getting in and starting the car. "Well get in"

Miguel stands there for a second taking it all before he gets in and rolls down the window. I drive us towards the school but stop at the drive thru for coffee.

"You want anything?" I ask him

"Strawberry-Banana smoothie please" he answers

I order for the both of us and they guy gives me the drinks along with his phone number. As I looked at him I noticed something familiar about him. And then it clicked.

"Robby Keene?" I ask in disbelief

"Hey Issy" He responds smiling

He gets called back by his boss and I tell him I'll call him later before I drive towards the school.

"Who was that?" Miguel asks clearly jealous

"Robby Keene. He and I used to hang around together, before I met you He was the only friend I had. We got into some serious trouble and my Dad made me stay away from him" I answer as we pull into the school parking lot

Miguel and I walk into the school hand in hand, terrified of what they had to offer. I led us towards the office and the lady gave us our schedules before pointing us towards our homeroom. I decided not to let go of Miguel's hand, even as we sat down at our table.

"Miggy, what are you staring at?" I whisper as I notice him staring straight ahead

He shakes his head and looks at me nervously. I wait for him to answer me but he doesn't so I go back to writing down whatever the teacher put on the board. Miguel sees me writing and slides his paper towards me, I roll my eyes and copy the notes down for him too.

The bell for first period rings and we get up still hand in hand. As we walk into class I feel people staring at me from behind but I choose to ignore it. When we sit down I see Eli and Demetri sitting in front of us.

"Eli, Metri, this is Miguel. Miggy this is Eli and Demetri, OUR friends" I say

"Sup" Miguel says

The other two boys smile and the three of them start talking while the teacher sets up class. I see her start writing down stuff about the american revolution. Miguel can't seem to focus so I took down more notes for him. Eventually the bell for lunch rings and we go, I find Eli and Demetri sitting at a table near the trash can

"Wow they really do have the cliques. I hate this place already" I say as we sit down.

"Oh yeah, they said high school would be fun. Bunch of crap" Demetri says

I see Eli staring at me so I smile and he blushes before turning back to his food. I see he mumble something to himself and I clear my throat before looking at Demetri.

"So are you guys going to the dance?" I ask nervously

"Yeah, you guys?" Demetri asks

"Yep, not sure what we're going as though" Miguel says

I smile as we all talk and eat our lunch. After school Miguel and I head back to the apartment, as we get out we see Johnny coming out of his apartment with a box of stuff.

"Hey you two, come here" Johnny yells to us

I look at Miguel and he nods before we both walk over. Johnny sets the box down at his feet and looks at us seriously.

"Do you really want to learn karate?" Johnny asks

"Yes" I answer

"Meet me outside the old stripmall and wear something flexible" Johnny says before getting in his car and driving off 

I look at Miguel before running inside and changing into a pair of leggings and Miguel's flannel, with the same shirt as before.

"Yaya, Miguel and I are leaving, we'll be back later" I tell her as I walk towards the door with Miguel behind me.

As we drive I see Johnny standing outside of the empty space waiting for us. I slowly approached and smiled at the logo on the door

"Korba Kai, I like it," I said as we all walked in.