Psychotic Kids '-' Eli Moskowitz

Duck!

With the money we got from Sid we were able to buy and repair the old Cobra Kai dojo. Miguel helped us, and it was a nice project to work on for a few weeks. Of course my dad still went home and drank every night, and some days it was only me and Miguel. But it was a nice project, to set my dad on a somewhat better path.

Of course, now we had another issue, school. Needless to say that dad was a little... out of touch with his teaching methods. He was trying but, he didn't nail it very well. So school was a good excuse to take a break. 

"What? Dad, what are you talking about? Code- you mean a health code? Well yeah the building needs to be up to code if it's going to be a public place. You're an adult, don't you know these things?" I sighed, walking into school alongside Miguel "Yes insurance is also a thing- yes it costs money, how do you not know this? Okay- okay dad I gotta go. I have class- yes I'm at school. Okay- okay bye, goodbye"

Miguel laughed as we walked into school. I nudged him, shaking my head.

"You sure you're not the parent here?" he smirked

"Honestly I couldn't tell you" I sighed

Miguel smiled as we left for class. Miguel was nice, we made school a lot easier. I only had two other friends... ever, and they were away together for the first few days, but I couldn't wait for them to get back. They'd love Miguel, I'm sure everyone would get along.

~~

Later on in the week, Miguel and I were washing mats and cleaning up all over the dojo. I was working on some free hanging wires, I'd zapped myself about six times by now.

"Lookin good" my dad announced his presence "Make sure you get both sides. And after you're done with that you can take care of the exposed wires" my dad told us, walking straight into his office

"Wha-" I tried to talk to him but he was gone. 

Miguel looked over at me, as I pointed to the exposed wires I was nearly done fixing. Miguel chuckled, and I threw a towel at him with a chuckle.

"What does any of this have to do with karate Sensei?" Miguel asked

"Do not question my methods" Dad tutted "Just be thankful you're not a sumo wrestler. Those guys have to wipe their sensei's asses"

"Gross dad" I groaned

I yelped, getting zapped by another wire. Miguel looked over at me laughing a bit. I rolled my eyes with a playful frown.

"Oh please, would you like to come do it?"

Miguel held his hands up in surrender, walking over to some boxes to look at some trophy's dad had brought with him.

"So I uh- see you were a karate champion Sensei" Miguel nodded

"You don't have to call me Sensei every time" dad mumbled 

"I'm sorry Sensei" Miguel grinned "Im- I'm sorry"

"Yeah I won a couple All Valley tournaments. Didn't lose a single point in my junior year" Dad smiled

"Alright" Miguel smiled "What happened in your senior year-"

"Ah- no don't-"

"This isn't 20 questions. Get back to scrubbing" Dad ordered

Miguel nodded and did as he was told. Miguel's phone went off, and Dad complained about his ringtone before he answered it.

"Hey... Yeah uh- debate's running a little late" he spoke into the phone "Uh... okay.... Love you too" he hung up

"Girlfriend?" I smirked

"That was my mom actually" Miguel smiled "Um... I told her I joined the debate team cause she doesn't approve of violence"

"Yeah, what about your dad? Is he okay with you getting your ass kicked up and down Reseda Boulevard?" 

Miguel's face changed. I saw him stipend up. Oh shit, more daddy issues.

"Oh I never... uh- really knew my dad so..." he shrugged off, playing it cool

"Alright well- stop standing there, get back to training" Dad changed the subject

"Okay yeah- sorry- okay" Miguel nodded, back to scrubbing the matts.

"And change that ringtone, get some Guns N Roses or something" Dad waved off

"What's Guns N Roses?" Miguel asked

Dad turned back, looking almost offended.

"You age is showing old man" I smirked

"I'm gonna pretend, neither of you said anything" dad sighed, going into his office.

I smiled, covering up the now fixed wires. I went over to a light switch, and flocked on a few lights, smiling proudly at myself.

"Viola!"

"Aye nice Harley!" Miguel congratulated

"Yeah well... can't feel the ends of my fingers but... worth it" I nodded. I looked over at Miguel, he looked so bored scrubbing those mats "Lemme show ya something. Stand up"

Miguel listened right away, eager to do anything other than cleaning. I stood in a beginning fight position. Miguel clumsily tried to copy me, making me chuckle.

"Kay... When I tell you to duck, duck okay?"

"Okay- yeah sure" Miguel nodded

I nodded, getting into position. I could see the anxiety in his eyes, part of me felt bad for him, but he needed to start somewhere.

"Duck!" I shouted, making a high kick for his head.

But he didn't move in time and I clocked him accidentally. Miguel fell to the floor, holding his head, whining loudly.

"Ow! Harley what the hell!"

I cringed, slowly helping him up to his feet.

"Sorry, but you gotta learn to react quickly" I sighed. I held his face checking it for any signs of a concussion, luckily he seemed okay "But okay, now you've been hit. You wanna feel that again?"

"Of course not!"

"Then do whatever you have to do, to not feel it again" I nodded, getting back in my position "Try again" Miguel nodded, half posing, half getting ready for impact "Duck!" I screamed, kicking again, this time he ducked down as he was told.

"Hey I did it!" he smiled

"Hell yeah ya did" I smiled, high fiving him.

Miguel smiled victoriously, and I got back into position, he looked at me confused.

"Wait- aren't we-"

"Duck!" I shouted, making another kick which he dodged, but this time I didn't stop "Duck!" I spun around, making the same kick, he dodged it again, popping back up after "Duck!" Once again, he dodged me. But I changed direction, using the momentum to make a harder kick "Duck!" thankfully he dodged that one too

"Okay! Okay- whoa- Harley I get the idea-" Miguel kept ducking out of the way, every time I shouted.

I started getting faster, each time shouting for him to duck and he did so. I did a few really fast fancy kicks, just barely missing him each time.

"Duck! Duck! Duck!" three fast ones, all missed

When I started to get a little tired, and Miguel looked tired, I knew it was time to finish the move. After shouting once more, I did three kicks without shouting, Miguel dodged them all.

When I stopped, setting both feet on the ground, I grinned proudly. Miguel stared in shock.

"I- I did that! I did that without you saying!" He cheered "I actually did that!"

"There ya go man" I smiled "Now you can dodge a kick"

"Thanks Harley" Miguel lunged forwards.

I flinched, but he just pulled me into a hug. I was thankful he didn't notice, because I was not ready to get into that part of my tragic backstory. I slowly let my arms wrap around him, it had been a long time since I'd actually hugged someone.

-'|'-'|'-'|'-