A young black belt has had a scarred past. She's been traumatized out of karate by her old sensei and even pushed out of her home. Moving to California with her aunt was not easy, but a unlikely character gets her back into karate and on the way, sh...
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❝ oh, what am i saying? you don't have any friends. ❞
MIGUEL AND CASPIA HAD been listening to a lot of eighties music like Johnny told them too. They found amazing bands like Guns n' Roses, Def Leopard, Aerosmith, AC/DC and so many others. Miguel had been training as much as he could to get better and Caspia started working out a lot more. Caspia was going over to Miguel's house for dinner. When she got there, Miguel was still in his room practicing his punches. She sat down at the dinner table and Miguel's grandma went to get him. She knocked on the door. "Miguel?"
"I'll be right there. Almost finished." Miguel spoke through the door.
"Masturbandos." Caspia laughed a little. Miguel had been teaching her Spanish and she had been teaching him Italian. Miguel came out of his room and sat down next to Caspia. Caspia knew he was practicing punching, but it was still funny to her. She was trying to hide her smile. "It's nothing. It's nothing."
Miguel's grandma put their food on the table and Miguel's mom came in. "Hice pollo en pipain."
"Ay, gracias, mama. Hi Caspia." Caspia smiled and continued eating her food. "I'm sorry I'm late again. Things are crazy at the hospital."
Miguel shrugged his shoulders. "It's okay, you're short staffed. But we saved you some food."
"So, did you guys decide what you're going as for the Halloween dance?" Carmen asked.
"I'm going as a criminal." Caspia answered.
"Ooh. I like it. Miguel?" Miguel was a little on edge about his costume. "Well, I was thinking Deadpool, but the costume's a little pricey."
"Well, how much is it?" Carmen asked.
"Oh, it doesn't have to be Deadpool." Miguel reassured.
"You want a Deadpool costume? We'll make you a Deadpool costume." Miguel's grandma rolled her eyes. "Esto no es una maquiladora."This isn't a sweatshop.
Miguel and Caspia stifled a laugh. Miguel's mom noticed the bruises on Miguel's hand. "Oh Miggy! What happened to your hand?"
Miguel's grandma answered for him. "No quieres saber."You don't wanna know.
Caspia covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing and Miguel looked at his grandma with confusion. "What?"
⸺◦⭒☼⭒◦⸺
Miguel was working on his punches. Johnny had told Caspia that he was going to start teaching her kicks or at least help her get better at her kicks. She showed him the kicks she already knew and he told her she was a little unbalanced. So, she was standing on a yoga ball and a wooden board on top. She had gone surfing in Tahiti, so she was doing pretty well. Johnny then came in with late bills in his hands, but Miguel and Caspia didn't know about them.
"Hey, you guys don't happen to have any friends who wanna learn karate, do you?" He looked at Miguel and Caspia. "Oh, what am I saying? You don't have any friends."
Miguel then spoke up. "Hey sensei, when am I gonna learn to do some kicking? I was watching this YouTube video of this guy breaking boards and it looked badass."
Caspia hopped off the yoga ball. "No shit, kicking is badass."
Johnny pointed at Caspia as if to say, 'she's right'. "But you're not ready. Besides, if I don't get more students in here, I'm not gonna be able to teach you anything."
"You've thought about advertising, right?" Caspia questioned.
"Yeah, duh. 'Course." Johnny lied.
For the rest of the karate lesson, Miguel worked on his punches and Caspia was working on her balance. They both had actually gotten pretty good at what they were doing. At the end of the day, Caspia had borrowed notes from Eli to study for a test they had and she was going to go over to his house to give it back to him. When she got there, his mom answered the door. "Hello. Can I help you?"
"Hi, I'm friends with Eli. I just wanted to give his notes back to him. Maybe hang out after or something." Caspia answered.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Now's not a good time." She heard sniffling from inside the house. "Wait, is he crying?"
"I can give him the notes-" Eli's mother reassured.
"Wait, is he okay?" His mom sighed. "He's just upset about things some kids were saying online."
"Could I talk to him? I could probably make him feel better." His mom was a little hesitant. He never really talked to anyone about how he felt about his facial deformity. "Alright."
She stood off to the side so Caspia could walk in. "His room's just down the hall."
Caspia walked down the hall and his room was right on the end. She knocked on the door. "Eli? It's me, Caspia. Are you okay?"
His voice was a little shakey. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
"Eli, I know you're not. Can you please just talk to me? You know I'll listen." Eli stayed quiet. She didn't want to just barge in his room, so she was going to wait outside his door until he opened it. She just wanted to make sure he knew someone was there for him. "Alright. If you aren't gonna let me in, I'll stay out here all day."
Eli didn't realize she cared that much. He opened the door and she saw his tear stained face. Her heart melted. She didn't want her friend to be crying about his facial deformity. His deformity was beautiful.
"Oh, Eli." She pulled him into a hug and he hugged back. He hid his face in her shoulder.
"I know karate. I can beat the shit out of the people who made you cry if you want." Eli laughed a bit and she was happy she could at least make him smile. They pulled away from the hug and they sat down on Eli's bed. "What did they say?"
He handed her his phone. She looked at anonymous texts he was getting from people and they were all saying awful things about his lip. "I think they're jealous."
Eli was a little confused. "What?"
"Well, I mean, I'm jealous of it. You look so badass with your scar and I mean, the coolest people on the planet have face scars. The Joker, Edward Scissorhands, Scar, Inigo Montoya, Tony Montana, Anakin Skywalker, I could go on." Eli smiled at her. She opened her arms for him to hug her again and he did. "If they make fun of you again, you tell me so I can kick their asses."
"I will." Eli responded with a small laugh.
"And if you need to talk, I'm here." Eli nodded. Caspia put the notes on his desk and got up to leave, until Eli stopped her. "Wait."
She turned around. "Could you stay a little longer?"
"Sure." She sat back down on his bed and he hugged her again. She hugged him back. She knew he just needed someone to be there for him and she didn't mind being that person. This moment they were having, was the moment that brought them closer together.
