Living in Reseda

Chapter 18: Lip

Hazel's POV

Mr. Larusso and I practised in the backroom at the dealership near his bonsai trees. He told me we would be learning with them soon but he had a feeling someone else would be joining us for that lesson.

"Next lesson will be at my house I promise. I am cleaning out the old room! It's almost done. I think you're going to love it," He reassured, pushing his sweaty hairs away from his forehead. The back room got hot quickly and both of us were sweating by the time we had finished the first exercise.

"It's not a problem Mr. Larusso. I'm happy to train wherever," I said smiling as my phone chimed in my pocket.

"It's Daniel. And you should check that in case it's your mom," Daniel said. I nodded and opened my phone only to see it wasn't my mom it was Miguel.

Miguel 🥋💕

Class is starting soon! Sensei will be mad if you're late!

Hazel🦋💙

I'm sorry I'll be there soon!

"Mr. Larusso, I'm really sorry but I have to go," I said while I grabbed my backpack.

"It's alright. My house sometime next week ok? And you have to come over soon. Amanda misses you," He said, smiling. I nodded and assured him I'd stop by soon before dashing out of the dealership.

"Hey, Lopez!" I heard as I walked through the Larusso Auto parking lot. I turned to see Robby waving. He ran towards me and snatched my phone out of my hands before typing a few things and giving it back. "I'll text you!" He yelled, smirking as he walked backwards (so he could face me) to the car he was cleaning. I looked down at my phone and there was a new contact:

Robby 😍🥵

I rolled my eyes playfully at the emojis he added and laughed. He winked at me and then jogged off into the dealership, his hair moving slightly in the wind. I turned around and headed to the dojo, thinking about Robby and what a dork he was.

When I got to the dojo Miguel was sitting on the bench looking at his phone. When he saw me instead of the usual hello, he just looked back down. I approached him and immediately sensed something was off.

"You were almost late," He mumbled, not looking up from his phone.

"Yeah, I know. I'm really sorry. I... my mom had a thing," I said remembering my lie from earlier.

"Ok. I hope everything's ok," He said sweetly.

"Oh, yeah. Everything is fine. She just needed someone to watch Marley, " I said, my heart breaking as the lie slipped from my lips.

"If you ever need, I'm happy to watch her. I could also do it with you, it might be fun!" He offered. I smiled.

"Ok everybody, fall in," Johnny instructed, walking into the room. His eyes scanned the group and landed on me. He looked at me for a while before continuing to scan the group. "Where is everyone? Crater face? Nose ring? Slingshot?" Sensei asked looking around for the missing students.

"Uh, they quit Sensei," Miguel said, shuffling his feet.

"Are you serious?" Johnny asked, somewhat upset. "I mean, good. That was a test. I wanted to see who the quitters are. Not you guys. You're in it to win it, right? You could be at home playing your iComputers, playing your video games, eating candy. Instead, you're here, doing pushups, learning to fight." Johnny looked over at Eli and pointed at him. "Lip. Look. Even Lip's tougher than those guys. He's no quitter," Johnny said.

"Could you please not call me that?" Eli asked, embarrassed.

"Excuse me what?" Johnny questioned. I sucked in a breath.

"I said could you please not call me that?" Eli repeated shyly.

"Uh, I can warm them up Sensei," Miguel cut in, sensing some tension building up.

"No, Lip has something he wants to say," Johnny said, putting his hand up to silence Miguel. "Sorry, speak up Lip. Or is your tongue messed up too? Are you one of these challenged kids?"

"Um, my doctor said I could be on the spectrum," Eli practically whispered.

"I don't know what that is, but get off it pronto, all right? If you don't want me to call you Lip, don't have a weird lip. Can't you get surgery for that?"

"I was born with a cleft lip. This is the scar from the surgery."

"You mean it was worse before that? Or did the doctor just screw up? Because if this is the after photo, that sucks, man. You should sue."

"Can we change the topic?" Eli asked softly.

"You don't think I want to? It's tough when it's right in front of me. If you wanna be something other than a nerd with a scar on his lip, you gotta flip the script. Ok? Get a face tattoo or purge your eye out. We'll call you Patch, all right? No, don't do that one. You'll still look like a freak."

Eli looked around in embarrassment, his eyes glassy. He stormed off the mat and out the back. I bit my lip feeling bad. Johnny was really harsh on these kids. And he was really mean too. I mean sure, to Johnny he was helping them, but to them, he was being an ass.

"Oh great, really? Another quitter?" Johnny scoffed. I looked at Miguel but he just had an uneasy look on his face and he was focused on glaring at Sensei.

Once class was over, and all the kids left, I walked over to Johnny's office. Miguel followed behind me and we knocked on the door. "Go away. No more lessons today," Johnny said opening up a beer.

"Did you have to be so hard on them?" I asked, ignoring him and walking into the room. I crossed my arms over my chest and Johnny looked up at me.

"Oh come on, they're a bunch of losers," Johnny replied, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah well some of those losers are our friends," Miguel stated, coming to stand next to me.

"Yeah, that tracks," Johnny said, clearly not taking things seriously.

"And they're your students. You wanted a full dojo. You got one," I added, glaring at Johnny.

"Not full like that," Johnny said, leaning back and taking a sip of beer.

"Yeah, we get it, all right? They're losers. Maybe I'm a loser too," Miguel said as his shoulders slumped.

Third Person POV

Johnny noticed Miguel didn't say anything about Hazel being a loser but he pushed the thought out of his head and tried to listen to the upset kids.

Hazel's POV

"Are you kidding me? Are you guys gonna cry now too?" Johnny mocked. I rolled my eyes.

"No, it... nevermind. It's just... you don't know what it's like to be us. I'll see you tomorrow," Miguel sighed before leaving the dojo quickly.

"Johnny... you have relax with them... just give them a break. Or that full dojo you wanted won't be full anymore," I said before walking out of the dojo and grabbing my bag. I was about to leave when my phone buzzed and I pulled it out of my pocket.

Robby 😍🥵

Told you I'd text you ;)

I rolled my eyes. Chuckling I went to respond but as I did his profile picture popped up. I studied his face for a minute before it hit me. The glint in his eye, the way he carried himself, it was all very similar to someone I knew. My mouth opened wide in shock as the truth hit me. I looked back at the picture and then I looked over at the office where Robby's father was inside.

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Author's Note!

Hey! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading! I can't believe I have 550+ reads and 30+ votes! Thank you so much! If you enjoyed this chapter please consider voting/commenting!