Mercy||Miguel Diaz

5

As I walked through the halls, I kept thinking about Eli's threat last night. Better look over your shoulder tomorrow at school. Kept repeating over and over in my head. I couldn't hear anything else, besides the echo of his voice ringing throughout my head. Better look over your shoulder tomorrow at school. Better look over your shoulder tomorrow at school. Better look over your shoulder. "Hey!" I jumped at the sudden voice, interrupting my thoughts. "I didn't mean fo scare you, I'm sorry." Miguel giggled. "No, it's okay. I thought you were-..." My voice trailed off, I knew I couldn't tell him who it was that I had been expecting and fearing all morning, "Never mind." "You sure?" He asked. "Yeah, let's drop it." "Okay.." He had obvious worry in his expression.

I stayed silent, taking my lip between my teeth in nervousness. "So, last night was fun." He smiled, clearly trying to ease the tension. "Yeah, it was." "I really think it'd be funny to see your embarrassing pictures as a kid though." He laughed. "I was an awkward kid." I gave a breathy chuckle, that almost sounded like a cough. "And I was cringe!" "I'm sure everyone was at some point." We both laughed. We then arrived to our classes, "Too bad we didn't have every class together." "Yeah, that'd be fun if we did." I giggled. "You'd probably get tired of me though." "What? Never that." I playfully nudged him with my shoulder. "I hope not, I really enjoy hanging with you." He smiled, starring into my eyes. "I enjoy our moments too, very much." I returned the gesture.

"Brielle?" "Yes?" "Would you-" But before he could finish, he was cut off by me getting ran into by Eli. I didn't fall, thank goodness, but the folder from my hand fell out and some papers scattered. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you." He devilishly smirked. I just looked at him and rolled my eyes, all of his douche friends were laughing so hard. "Eli!" Miguel scolded. "What, jefe?" "Leave her alone, man. She didn't even do anything to you!" I dropped to the floor, to start picking my stuff up. "Hey, I said it was an accident, didn't I?" Miguel's mouth opened, but before he could say anything he was cut off by an "oops!" coming from one of the guy's mouth, followed by him kicking my papers. "It was an accident, really." He fake pouted, then started laughing soon after.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys?!" Miguel yelled. "There's nothing wrong, just accidents, brother." Eli smiled, then wrapped his arm around Miguel. Miguel then shook him off, "Don't!" "Why?" "Because you and your friends are acting like total dicks for no reason!" "Relax! Didn't we already establish that they were accidents?" "You guys seem to be having allot of 'accidents' when it comes to her." Miguel's nostrils were flared, and his fist were clenched. "Excuse me?" Eli pressed. "You heard me, Eli. Or should I say, Hawk!" He was clearly mocking his stupid nickname.

"You're really going to treat me like shit, for her? After everything I did for when you were in the hospital?!" "I appreciate everything you did for me! But you seem to forget how you acted after it all happened too." Miguel took a step forward. "Oh, I see. So we were just supposed to sit back and let your precious sensai's kid get away with almost killing and paralyzing you?!" "Don't even-" "What?" I chimed in disbelief, rising to my feet. Miguel looked at me, and all his anger had melted. "Brielle, we'll talk about this later, okay?" "Oh, you haven't told her?" Eli stepped closer to Miguel, "Guess you're not just a shitty friend to me." He then turned on his heels and eyeballed me as he walked away. "I'm a shitty friend? I'm not the one who fought my own best friend over some bullshit pride!" Miguel retorted.

Eli didn't hesitate to march his way back in Miguel's face, "You want to say that again?" "Don't start a fight you know you can't win, I mean even Demetri kicked your ass." Miguel smirked, clearly antagonizing him. "You son of a-" "Boys!" A teacher yelled as she marched up to them, "What an earth is going on here?" "Nothing to worry about, it was just an accident, right Eli?" Eli clenched his jaw, he obviously couldn't tell the teacher he was actually picking on me and picking a fight with Miguel! "Yup," He fake smiled, "All a freak accident." He then walked away, and his friends trailed behind him. "Are you guys sure everything's okay?" She asked. "Peachy." I fake smiled. She then scanned the scene, but didn't say another word. She just nodded her head and walked away.

"I'm so sorry about what just happened." Miguel dropped to the floor, picking up my papers. I then joined him on the floor, "It wasn't your fault." "I know, I just hate the way Eli acts. He especially shouldn't be doing anything to you when he doesn't even know you!" I paused for a few seconds, just studying him. "Thank you, for sticking up for me." "Of course, I couldn't let them get away with hurting you." "You really have no idea how much that means to me." We both reached for the same paper, his hand accidentally grabbing mine. But he didn't let go, instead our eyes met. It was just like a scene from a movie! I found myself swimming in his brown eyes. Mesmerized by the shiny glimpse beneath the dark pupils. Everything felt at peace, the room around us grew black, it was only me and him. Him and I. I was at peace. Ring! Just for a moment, at least.

"Well," He cleared his throat letting go of my hand, "I'll see you at lunch." "Yeah, um sounds good." I managed to utter, though my nerves had escaped my control. We exchanged a few more awkward mumbles and stutters, until we finally parted. I sat straight up in my seat as I inhaled a deep breath; attempting to calm my nerves. It was just the heat of the moment, that's all. Miguel and I are just friends, that's it.

I was walking towards the cafeteria, when Miguel pulled me aside. Informing me that since we were going to discuss what had happened to him with Robby, we couldn't do it in the cafeteria. He didn't want to risk someone interrupting or Eli and his posse attempting to ignite the flame from earlier again. We ended up in the library, and to my surprise, it was empty. We then took a seat at a table, he looked hesitant at first. Almost scared to talk about it. But after a few moments, he explained everything to me.

He described the fight, how it started, and how it ended. He told me about his almost paralyzation and how his sensai helped him be mobile again, he told me how Eli and his friends all acted after everything. I also got informed on how a man named Kreese took over the dojo and that's when everything really went down hill.

"Wow." Simply fell from my mouth. "Yeah, it's allot." He rubbed the back of his neck. "If it was hard for me just to hear, I can only imagine how hard it was for you to go through all of that," I placed my hand on his and started gliding my thumb across it, "I'm so sorry you went through all of that. But I'm also so proud of you, that you were strong enough to overcome it. You're stronger than you think, Miguel, and I think that experience was to prove it to you." I offered him a soft smile.

"I never thought of it that way. I always thought it happened just to expose the true evil behind the karate rivalry," He then looked into my eyes, "Thank you for giving me that perspective." "Miguel, not everything is about karate. I'm not trying to invalidate your passion and love for it, I'm just trying to say that life lessons are still going to be there. With or without karate."

He smiled, "You're right. Thank you for listening." "Of course, I'll always be here to listen to anything you have to say." "So will I." We were both just smiling at one another. Though everything felt great right now, I know once I leave my worrying would be back. I'm tired of fearing my own cousin! I came out here to get Eli in check, and I can't do it when I have no advantages. I have to do it. "Miguel?" "Yeah?" "I want to do it." "Do what?" He asked. "Karate." I replied. He smiled cheek-to-cheek, "Really?" "Yes, I want to learn karate. You'll still be able to teach me, right, Miguel?" Still smiling, "It's sensai to you." "Yes! Thank you, thank you!" I crossed over to him and gave him a hug. He wrapped his arms around me, "No, thank you." His hug was so warm and welcoming, I could stay in his arms all day. Wait! I snapped out of my own thoughts. Just friends, Lola! I pulled away, "So when do we start?"