Drowning

Different Books, Same Page

After the fight in the cafeteria the other day at school, things were beginning to change. Miguel had texted her excited after practice the day after the fight saying there were a ton of new students wanting to join the dojo. Of course he had once again asked her to join, and she had once again shot him down.

Last night Miguel had texted her to wait for them outside school in the morning. So she was currently sitting on the short wall lining the sidewalk to the entrance of the school, waiting for whatever surprise the boys had in store for her. A text came through on her phone from Miguel and she opened it to see a picture of her... sitting on the wall. She looked up and saw the boys walking towards her, Miguel with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah that's not creepy at all Diaz." She wiggled her phone in her hand, emphasizing her point.

"Thought you'd like knowing your friendly neighborhood Spiderman was watching over you."

Finley rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the smile that crossed over her lips. "Alright so what's the big news?"

"Well it turns out I have two friends who really care about me and are joining karate."

Finley's eyes widened as she looked between Demetri and Eli. "You guys are doing karate?"

Eli looked up from the pavement and Finley could tell he was about to say something when Demetri interjected.

"Well I'm quitting."

"After one session?" Finley quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Well Mr. Lawrence was making fun of Eli so I stood up to him."

Demetri continued as they began walking into the school, but Finley stopped listening, her eyes locked on Eli. She tried getting a gauge on the situation, but with him studying the floor beneath his feet, it was difficult to do so. If she had to guess, the Sensei had probably made fun of his lip. It was always about his lip, and it was extremely frustrating to her that people couldn't just ignore it. Whatever sensei had actually said, it didn't seem like Eli wanted to talk about it, and she didn't want to pressure him.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the beanpole of a boy in front of her scoff. "That... that's hooker talk. Besides I don't need to learn karate when I have you."

Demetri jabbed his chin in a pointing manner over towards the stairs where Kyler had just walked down. The bully's face had a sizable cut running perpendicular to the end of his left eyebrow and a bruise swelling the right of his jaw. The fight he had instigated against Miguel had not ended well for him. He had been walking in their direction, but upon seeing Miguel he turned and walked the other direction. Finley nudged Eli gently with her elbow and he looked up at her with those wide eyes she had come to expect.

"So what about you?" She spoke quietly, letting Miguel and Demetri have their own conversation. "You still wanna do karate?"

It was an intentional choice on her part to not bring up Johnny making fun of the boy. There wasn't anything productive in doing so as far as she was concerned. The boy shrugged his shoulders as his eyes darted around the hallway.

"I'm not sure." Pause. "I think so." Another pause. "Just the way Miguel stood up to Kyler... I- I wish I could do that."

She smiled softly at him and was about to speak but she noticed the way his eyebrows were lowered on his face and how his jaw kept clenching. He was disagreeing with something, but she wasn't sure what at the moment. So she just waited in silence until finally he spoke.

"I keep thinking about the library the other day. And how I could have stepped in to stop Kyler from..." He looked up at her, regret swimming in his eyes. "I should have stepped in to help you. I'm sorry."