Mercy||Miguel Diaz

1

"Please! You have no idea how desperate I am! He's grown so astray of who he really is and I have no idea how to bring him back. I know of all people in this world, you; Lola can knock sense into him and bring him back to all of us."

The annoying sound of the alarm clock my aunt bought me intruded on my thoughts. 6 am the clock read. I didn't get much sleep, I was laying in the bed of the guest room getting spun around in the web of my thoughts. One week ago exactly, was when I had been awoken by a phone call from my aunt begging me to move in with her. One week ago exactly, I heard my aunt cry for the first time. And I mean really cry. One week ago exactly, I said goodbye to my friends, family, and everything I knew to move here. One week ago exactly, is when my life got flipped upside down.

Knock, knock. I heard, followed with the voice of my aunt. "Good morning, Lola. Are you up?" "Yeah, just woke up, actually. I'm going to start getting ready." "Wonderful! Today's the day we finish up the paperwork to get you officially signed up at West Valley!" I could practically hear her smiling through her words. "Yes, ma'am. Sounds good!" "Okay! I'll go make us some breakfast!" The sound of footsteps disappeared almost as quickly as they started. I sat up to grab my phone, with it containing zero notifications, aside from reminders as usual. I flopped back on the bed as a deep sigh escaped my mouth.

After getting ready, I made my way to the kitchen. "Oh, Lola, you look beautiful!" "Thank you." I awkwardly smiled at my aunt. "Can you do me a favor, hun? Can you wake up your cousin?" "Yeah, sure." "Thank you! I'll fix your guy's plates then." She smiled gratefully. I returned the gesture and made my way towards his room. I let out a slight sigh as I begin to knock on his door.

"Hey, Eli. Your mom wants you up now." I announced. Nothing. I began to knock again. "Eli, come on, dude. There's no reason to be late to school." I shook my head. Immediately the door flung open. "Wow." Escaped my lips as I seen my cousin standing in the doorway. Since the move a couple days ago, I hadn't seen Eli the whole time. He was always out somewhere getting himself into trouble. The last time I'd seen him, he was tense. Always looked like a deer in headlights, awkwardly dressed, and was always trying to hide his lip. Now? Now he's dressing in trendy clothing, with angry eyes, and not to mention an insanely large red and black Mohawk!

"Okay, I heard you the first time!" He then took a step towards me, "And by the way, it's Hawk now. So you better start getting it right," Another step closer to me, "The sooner the better." "Are you threatening me?" "Take it as you will." He scanned me up and down, then pushed next to me. I stood there speechless. Honestly, I thought my aunt was overreacting when she told me Eli had completely lost himself, but now I see she wasn't reacting enough!

"Wow, this school is so much nicer than mine!" I exclaimed as my aunt and I entered. "Just because it looks pretty on the outside, doesn't mean pretty things are happening within." She mumbled in utter disgust. I just looked at her, and seen all the rage, pain, and sadness that filled her. So I chose silence as my response. We entered the front office, and I helped myself to a seat while my aunt talked to the front desk lady. I looked around, taking in the decor. They sure loved their 80's graduates, they're hanging all over the place! One photo caught my eye in particular. He had short dark hair, his shirt was tucked into his jeans, and he had a black eye that looked like it was healing. "Daniel LaRusso." I whispered to myself, as I read the name written below it. My eyebrows raised as I looked at his picture once more, he was insanely attractive! "Gosh, I really wish I lived in the 80's." I thought aloud amongst myself.

"Lola, hunny. The counselor is waiting to see us now." My aunt called. I admired the photo a few milliseconds longer until I made my way towards the counselor's office. I was greeted by a woman in a pantsuit, with a haircut just above her shoulders, and almost librarian glasses. "Hello," She greeted, "I'm counselor Blatt, who also happens to be the vice principal! Nice to meet you. I'm so pleased to hear that you'll be joining our school!" "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, ma'am." I smiled. A shocked expression took over her face, "Wow! I am definitely adoring the respect!" "Well I was taught from a young age that respect and manners gets you very far in life." "Yes," She smiled, "It definitely does." We then got to talking about my transcript, my schedule, my interests in school activities, and more typical things you hear when registering for a new school.

"I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow for your first day!" "As am I with you, counselor Blatt." I returned her smile. My aunt and I exited the front office, and I just so happened to have seen my cousin roaming the hallways. As I was just about to greet him, he looked at me and turned around almost immediately. Well okay then.

"Tomorrow is Lola's first day of her new school! How exciting!" "Yeah, real exciting." Eli said in clear annoyance. "Eli-" "It's Hawk, mom! We already discussed this." She let out a breath, "Hawk," She corrected, "You don't have to be so rude to her! And I hope you'll really have your cousin's back on her first day." She shot up her eyebrow as she then excused herself from the table and walked away. "Hey." Eli called to me. "Yeah?" "Just because you're new to school, doesn't mean you'll get any sympathy, protection, guidance, or anything from me! Don't even let anyone know you're my cousin, actually. No one needs to know I'm related to a nerdy loser, especially my friends." With that, he left as well. I was the only one at the table. Well tomorrow already seems like it's going to be so much fun for me!