CHAPTER 7

"Kyler…" Miguel murmured, not even having the energy to look the boy in the eye. He really wasn't in the mood for this. "What are you doing here?"

"'Rhea… 'Rhea… 'Rhea… why so serious?" Kyler chuckled and grinned at him. "Golf N Stuff is a public place! I'm here on a date actually."

"Good for you." Miguel grunted, reaching for paper towels to dry his hands, hoping that would be the end of the conversation. It wasn't.

"When I heard you left the country, I was just devastated!" Kyler exclaimed. "Devastated! Like I actually nearly cried, you know? My precious 'Rhea suddenly disappeared and…"

"Miguel." Miguel suddenly spoke up, looking up and staring Kyler dead in the eye, a stormy look on his face.

"Huh?" Kyler grunted.

"My name… is Miguel. Not 'Rhea. Miguel." He continued, taking half a step towards Kyler. For a moment, fear flashed in Kyler's eyes, but it quickly vanished. He was a Miyagi-Do, right? He wasn't going to pick a fight. No chance.

"Eh. I like to call you 'Rhea." Kyler responded. "Think of it as a term of endearment. I love you, 'Rhea; that's why I call you by a nickname. I love you like my bitch."

Miguel scorned him, not interested in the attempts of trash talk. He wasn't an idiot. He knew exactly what Kyler was trying to do. He was trying to goad and egg Miguel on, knowing that Miguel didn't want to start a fight. He had run from the fight in the drive-in, he had run from the All-Valley semi final, so Kyler figured he'd do the same thing again.

And he was right. Miguel didn't want to fight, if he could avoid it. He started to walk towards the door, but that didn't quiet Kyler down. The boy continued to talk even when Miguel turned away from him. Again, it wasn't exactly secret what Kyler was doing. The boy was trying to find Miguel's achilles heel, the verbal blow that truly dug under his skin. He tried to insult Miguel's family, tried to insult Johnny, tried to insult his karate skills, but none of it really seemed to piss Miguel off so much as make him roll his eyes. Until Kyler finally found his sore spot…

"How's Sam doing by the way?" Kyler called after Miguel. Miguel, who's hand was reaching for the doorknob of the bathroom door, squeezed it so tightly he nearly broke it off, before slowly turning back to the asian bully.

"Careful." Miguel murmured. Kyler's smile widened. Bingo!

"Ooh, did I touch a nerve?" Kyler remarked.

"That's enough." Miguel spat, slightly more menace in his voice now.

"Funny. That's not what she said in the cinema on our date." Kyler completely ignored him and continued, not realizing how Miguel's face was getting redder and redder. He knew he had found Miguel's sore spot, so foolishly, the boy decided to dig further and further in. "Imma be honest… I'm surprised you're even dating her. I mean going from me, to you, to Robby, to you… not even a prostitute trying to make rent goes through guys that quickly! "

That was it. Miguel finally saw red. He had kept very calm throughout the entire encounter, but now the situation had finally reached its boiling point.

According to psychologists all over the world, when faced with a stressful situation, humans are coded with 2 basic instincts: Fight or Flight. Miguel remembered reading this in a textbook at school what felt like an eternity ago. Fight or flight, two such similar words with polar opposite meanings. And the past few years, Miguel had bounced around between the which of the two reflexes he had adhered to. Back when he first moved to the Valley, when it came down to it, Miguel automatically relied on flight. He wasn't strong enough, wasn't confident enough and wasn't skilled enough to stand up for himself, so he had no other choice. However, one of the very first things Johnny did when he became his sensei was quite literally beat the flight out of him, forcing him to stand up and fight.

Back in Cobra Kai, he had relished that fight instinct when faced with conflict. It was easy, so instinctual he didn't have to even think about it. He's in a conflict, he fights. Simple as that. But then came everything that had happened over the past few months, starting with joining Miyagi-Do, where the very opposite was encouraged. They were told to run from conflict whenever possible. And this, in its own right, Miguel relished too. That was until things started going to shit. He had backed away from the fight at the drive-in, and it had ended with Hawk getting scalped. He had backed away from the All-Valley, and it had ended with Cobra Kai winning. And then, with what just happened in Mexico a couple of days ago… he had chosen flight rather than fight and it had cost him the ultimate sacrifice. So maybe flight wasn't the way anymore. Fight was…

Miguel slowly began to pace towards Kyler, who immediately began to scuttle back in fear. He could tell he had crossed the line, and he had caused any restraint inside Miguel to snap.

"You went too far, Kyler." Miguel slowly growled, taking a few more steps towards him. Kyler forced the fear off his face and put on a brave face.

"Oh yeah?" Kyler replied, the slight tremor in his voice exposing him for the fraud he was. "Bring it…"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It actually was Kyler who threw the first strike of the encounter, figuring that if he came out fast and strong out the gate, he might be able to catch Miguel off guard and force the other boy to retreat. That wasn't quite what happened though. Miguel wasn't fazed one bit by the ferocious roundhouse that was being thrown his way. All he needed to do was duck under it, and all of a sudden Kyler was completely defenseless, his leg still coming down and his arms doing their best to protect his head and torso.

Miguel didn't waste another second to make his lunge, grabbing Kyler around his waist and tackling him into the line of sinks. The asian bully smacked the back of his head against the mirror in front, smashing it to pieces, before crumbling to the floor in a heap.

He was out, but Miguel wasn't quite done yet. As he stood over Kyler's semi-conscious body, all of the horrible things Kyler and his gang had done to him came rushing back. Those feelings of helplessness as him and his friends were verbally and physically assaulted. The disrespect Kyler treated Sam with, starting the awful rumor about her after she refused to have sex in the movie theater and Kyler had tried to date rape her anyway. All of those beatdowns where Miguel came away, his entire body screaming in pain. The fact that Kyler had tried to attack him when he could barely walk, let alone fight!

Before he knew it, Miguel was leaning over Kyler and grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt, pulling him up slightly with his left hand, and beginning to relentlessly beat every inch of the boy's face with his right.

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

"Oh, it's for your grandma? Here, take that shit! Bitch."

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

"Better watch out 'Rhea. That bum's not there to save you this time."

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

"You haven't had enough, 'Rhea? Huh?"

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

"Hey guys… you know the billboard with the big-ass dick on it?! I guess Sam takes after her dad!"

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

"It's payback time, 'Rhea."

Miguel continued to whale on him, whale on him, whale on him. Blow after blow he rained down on his bully, letting out all of his pent up emotion, not only towards his bully but at life in general. All of the anger, all of the sorrow, all of the heartbreak he was feeling from what had happened in Mexico all came pouring out and unleashed on the unfortunate teenager's face. Before long, Miguel's knuckles were crimson, stained with not his own blood but Kyler's, that was leaking out of the bully's nose like a faucet.

Miguel completely shut his mind off, shut himself off from anything in the world except trying to beat Kyler to a bloody pulp. He was so intent in what he was doing that he didn't notice the door to the bathroom swing open once again.

"Hey, Miguel? You in here?" Hawk called as he walked inside.

Turning the corner and facing the rest of the bathroom, he stumbled backwards in shock, taking in the scene in front of him. Miguel hadn't even noticed Hawk walk in, so Hawk watched his friend continue to pound the living daylights out of their old enemy. Although deep down, seeing the boy who had bullied them for so long being taken down a peg gave him a certain amount of satisfaction, Hawk raced over to drag Miguel off of him. The moment Hawk and Miguel made contact was the first time Miguel even noticed Hawk's presence, and as he felt someone pull him off of Kyler, he automatically raised his hands, prepared to fight them. He quickly lowered them though when he saw who it was.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Hawk shouted. Miguel scowled at him, then at Kyler, then back to him, his heart still pounding with the adrenaline

"I'm finally giving Kyler the payback he deserves." Miguel snapped. "He put us all through hell at the beginning of sophomore year. A year and a half later, it's about time he finally felt some responsibility for his actions!"

Miguel tried to push past Hawk, who was standing between him and lifeless Kyler, as he wasn't done. Not yet. Not until Kyler was no longer breathing. Hawk grabbed Miguel just in time though, and it took all of his strength to hold his friend back. He was absolutely stunned right now. He had never seen Miguel like this before. He was definitely not himself, that's for sure. Miguel looked almost like a caged animal, his eyes wide as saucers and darting around the room frantically, his nostrils flaring.

"Move." Miguel snarled, the single word uttered quietly, and yet with such malice that it caused shivers to run up and down Hawk's spine. It took everything for Hawk to hold his nerve and remain standing between them, especially given that Miguel looked like he was about to attack him too to get past.

"Miguel, come on. You know I hate this moron as much as you do. He bullied you for a few months? Well he bullied me and Demetri for years! If it were up to me, he'd be lying face down in a ditch somewhere no one will ever find them."

"Well, I guess today's your lucky day then." Miguel replied, trying to lunge past Hawk and over to Kyler, who was starting to struggle to his feet. Again, Hawk managed to catch him just in time.

"But… beating the fucking shit out of him isn't what you truly want." Hawk told him. Miguel raised an eyebrow and laughed mirthlessly.

"I don't know about that. Kinda feels like it's what I want." Miguel remarked.

"Look, it's only going to do you more harm than him in the long run. If you beat him half to death, you really think the first call he'll make once he wakes up won't be to the cops? What'll be next for you then? Juvie? On the run? You've made your point, Miguel. You've sent your message. Now let him go."

Miguel and Hawk locked eyes and stared down at one another for a few achingly long moments, before Miguel finally sighed and took a step back, the adrenaline that had been coursing through his veins finally beginning to wind down. Meanwhile, Hawk grabbed Kyler by his collar and hauled him to his feet, holding him up so the two of them were mere inches apart and were face to face.

"You listen up, Kyler. You tell no one about this, okay? Not Cobra Kai. Not your parents. No one. Because if you get Miguel in trouble, you'll have to deal with me and trust me… if you think this is bad, you really don't want to deal with me. You understand?"

Trembling, Kyler nodded slowly and scampered out of the bathroom, leaving just Hawk and Miguel there. Immediately, Hawk turned back to his friend, genuine shock written all over his face.

"Miguel… what just happened? Beating someone up like that… that isn't you."

Miguel shook his head vehemently.

"You don't get it, man! You don't understand! None of you understand!" Miguel yelled. Hawk sighed in sympathy, seeing unconcealable pain exuding off of him like an aura. Something had happened to Miguel out there in Mexico. He knew that for certain. This wasn't the same Miguel anymore.

"So help me understand, man! What's going on?"