Drowning

Some Friends Work-Out, Others Don't

By the time the weekend rolled around, Finley once again found herself ready to see Miguel. It was weird not seeing him at school everyday, and she was hopeful that he'd be back soon, regardless of if he was in a wheelchair or on his feet. She just wanted her friend back.

Her knuckles rapped against the metal apartment door and Miguel yelled from inside. "It's open!"

She walked inside and saw Miguel in his wheelchair, working on homework at their kitchen table. "Wow, a guy spends a few weeks in the hospital and suddenly he loses all his manners and hospitality."

He smiled at her, rolling his eyes. "It's good to see you Finley."

She ignored him, walking over to the table and sitting in the seat next to him. "I mean seriously, I had to open that door all by myself. What kind of boy did your mother raise?"

"One that won't slap you upside the head no matter how much I want to right now." A smile finally made its way onto Finley's face in an all out grin, and Miguel finally asked the question that had been on his mind since he'd seen her. "What happened to your face?"

The smile fell off Finley's face and she offered an overly casual shrug. "Soccer. Thought I was supposed to use my face instead of my feet."

"So Cobra Kai." Miguel sent her a look, eyebrows slightly raised, with eyes that said 'why can't you just tell me the truth?'

"Cobra Kai." Finley nodded in confirmation, before changing topic. "So how's the homework coming?"

"Gives me something to do." Miguel's voice had gained a slightly depressed tone, accentuated by his hopeless shrug, as he let her move on from talking about Cobra Kai.

"Well in that case why don't I just give you my homework to do too." Miguel sent her a look as Finley sighed. "Dude you're in a wheelchair, you're not dead."

"Might as well be." Miguel muttered.

Finley saw the slouch in the boy's posture and the dejected look on his face. He was looking at his homework, but he clearly wasn't seeing it. She needed to do something to take his mind off of his paralysis. Not only that, she wanted him to see how much he was still capable of. So she got to her feet and walked behind him, grabbing the handles of his wheelchair.

"What are you doing?" He craned his neck back to look up at her.

She wheeled him to the front door and opened it so that she could push him out. "Scheming."

"Oh good." Miguel said sarcastically. "And here I thought you were going to do something CRAZY!"

Finley ignored him and parked his wheelchair in the middle of the courtyard. She walked around so that she was standing in front of him. He looked at her with an annoyed expression, his hands folded in front of him, a clear expression that he was over whatever she hadn't even started yet.

"Look, you seem to think that you are useless just because you're in a wheelchair."

"Well I can't-"

"Zzz zz zz." Finley interrupted him and Miguel raised his eyebrows, slightly taken aback. "You, zip it. Now you have your mom babying you, and your physical therapy, and your Sensei setting you on fire, which is all well and good-"

"Setting me on fire is good?" Miguel sent her an amused smile.

"You know what I mean." Finley groaned, before shaking her head and refocusing. "Point is, no one seems to be telling you the upside of this."

"The upside of being paralyzed?" Miguel crossed his arms, the humor leaving his eyes. "Please enlighten me."

"Upper body strength." Finley smiled at him, seeing the slight tilt of his head as curiosity peaked his interest. "You're in a wheelchair, you're using your arms all the time. All of your movement is now reliant on your arms. Which means that while you're working on getting your legs back in working order, you can improve your upper body strength and pack a serious punch when you're back in karate."