𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴 • Moon & Tory

FOUR

AFTER convincing Lucas to let Lucia take his car, Lucia went on her way to the dojo Miguel gave her to adress to.

She parked just outside of the dojo in the parking lot. It was in a strip mall in Reseda and Luica lived just outside of Reseda.

She put her keys in her bag and entered the dojo, an older blonde man with a large nose in the middle of his face.

"That was a test. I wanted to see who the quitters are. Not you guys. You guys are in it to win it."

"Ahem." Lucia coughed, trying to get his attention.

"Alright!" He called. "We have a new student. Out with the old, in with the new, right?"

The whole class turned around, including Eli and Miguel, who both smiled at the blonde.

"Shoes off and hop on the mat. Nice shirt, by the way." The man complimented.

"Thank you." She smiled, taking her shoes off.

She stepped on the mat and pushed her way through the students, taking a spot next to Eli.

The blonde man, Johnny, squinted at the girl. He liked how she didn't just allow herself to stand in the back, she pushed past all of the people and stood where she wanted.

Now, Lucia wasn't one to do that, but there was something different about this place. Something that made her actually want to try and do things.

"Now where was I? Oh, right, You could be at home, playing your iComputers, playing your video games, eating candy. Instead you're here, doing push-ups, learning how to fight." Johnny went on.

He then rose his arm and pointed to Eli. "Lip. Look, even Lip's tougher than those guys. He's no quitter."

Lucia furrowed her eyebrows. Lip? Did he not know Eli's name or was he just plain rude?

"Could you please not call me that?" Eli mumbled.

"Excuse me, what?"

"I said could you please not call me that." Eli spoke up.

"Um, I'll warn 'em up, Sensei." Miguel offered.

"No, no, no, Lip has something he wants to say. Speak up, Lip. Or is your tongue messed up too? Are you one of those challenged kids?" Johnny questioned.

Lucia looked over with her hands on her hips, squinting at the man.

"Um, the doctor said I could be on the spectrum." Eli answered.

"Eli, you know don't have to answer him." Lucia whispered.

"Quiet, blondie!" Johnny yelled.

"As if you're not blonde too." Lucia rolled her eyes.

"If you don't want me to call you 'Lip,' then don't have a weird lip. Can't you get surgery for that?" Johnny asked.

"I was born with a cleft lip, this is the scar from the surgery." Eli replied.

"You mean it was worse before that? Or did the doctor just screw it up? Because if this is the after photo, that sucks man, you should sue."

"Can we just please change the topic?"

"You don't think I want to? it's right in front of me. You wanna be something other than a nerd with a scar on his lip, then you gotta flip the script, okay? Get a face tattoo or gouge your eye out. We'll call you patch, all right?" Johnny encouraged.

Lucia didn't thank a face tattoo would be horrible, but she knew that Johnny shouldn't be encouraging things like that.

"No, don't do that one, you'd still look like a freak."