CHAPTER 2

"NICHOLS! Get in here!"

Tory slowly trudged into her manager's office that morning, blinking sleep out of her eyes as she prepared to begin another long day of work at the McDonald's where she was working. After the school fight, Tory had been expelled from West Valley and her mom had only gotten sicker, forcing Tory to get a third job to pay for medical bills, rent, and her family's livelihood. Tory had always had it rough, and she hated feeling sorry for herself, but she had hit a new low. She was barely making ends meet in terms of rent, and she made enough for just enough food to scrape by. But that's not all. The worst part was that Tory's life was over: now that she was out of school, there was a little to 0 chance that she would get an education, a proper job, and be able to provide an actual life for her family. As messed up as Sam was after the fight, Tory's life was so, so much worse.

"Hey, Mr. Brown. Is everything okay?" Tory asked as she entered the room, stifling a yawn and rubbing her eyes. It was 7 in the morning and Tory had barely slept the night before. Hell, she hadn't had a proper night's sleep since the school fight. During the about 3 hours she had to rest every night, her mind was too preoccupied with Miguel. Miguel was another massive question mark in her life. On one hand, he cheated on her, betrayed her, and Tory wanted nothing to do with him even when he woke up. But on the other, Miguel had gotten her to open up in a way she had never opened up to anyone, ever. Other than the cheating incident, he had been nothing but kind, sweet, respectful and Tory still cared about him deeply. Needless to say, the indecision in her mind, paired with the uncertainty that he would even wake up, had basically thrown any thought of sleep out the window.

"No, everything's NOT okay!" Her boss snapped. "I've been told that you've been slacking on the job! Showing up late! Burning patties! Being short with customers! You know, I ought to fire you right now!"

"I'm… I'm really sorry, Mr. Brown." Tory stammered. "Please don't fire me. I've just had a lot going on at home, with my mom and my brother and…"

"Look, Nichols, did I ask for a sob story? NO! I really don't give a flying fuck about your personal life!" Mr. Brown spat, rudely, as he sat back in his desk, his feet kicked up on his desk and his hands behind his head. He was a typical jackass boss - selfish, rude, obnoxious, but he was also the one paying her salary so Tory was forced to bite her tongue. "But you know what I do care about? MONEY! MAKING MONEY! And I can't do that with you fucking everything up!"

Tory blushed furiously and looked down. As rude as her boss was being, he was kind of right. She had been very distracted lately, and it had been starting to affect her work.

"Look, please don't fire me, Mr. Brown. Please give me one more chance." Tory begged. That's right, she begged. The old Tory Nichols would NEVER beg anyone for anything. She was too proud. But now, she was desperate to keep her job as if she didn't, she wouldn't be able to provide for her family, and she would be risking her brother being taken out of her care by the government, and she herself might be sent to juvie.

Mr. Brown looked at her for several moments, before sighing.

"You know what? Fine! You can have one more chance, purely because I have to sit in this damn restaurant for 8 hours every day and supervise you dumbasses, and looking at someone as hot as you makes the day a little bit easier." Mr. Brown commented, looking her up and down hungrily and licking his lips. Tory had to force back a gag as she felt her boss's invasive eyes rake up and down her body, lingering on her chest.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Brown! You won't regret this!" Tory managed to bring herself to say. Brown smirked.

"I know I won't. Now, get out of here and get to work!" Brown demanded. Tory nodded and started to head for the door, when Brown's voice stopped her. "Hey, Nichols!"

Tory slowly turned back around and faced her boss.

"Yes, Mr. Brown?" She asked, putting all of her energy into keeping her tone polite, despite being able to tell from her manager's expression that whatever he had to say, it wasn't pleasant. Sure enough, she was right.

"Hike that skirt up another inch or two, sweetheart! You know, give the people what they want!" Brown remarked. As Tory left the room, she put her head in her hands. She wanted to scream. She wanted to curl up into a ball in the corner of her bedroom and cry. But she couldn't do that. Instead, she had to force on a smile and step into the restaurant, serving all of the customers that wandered in that day. Her life officially sucked…

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"Mami, I've got to go to work now! Will you be okay to look after yourself today!" Carmen called in Spanish as she walked towards the front door, preparing for another LONG, 12 hour shift at work. With every day her Miguelito was in the hospital, Carmen was forced to put in more and more hours at work to pay for his medical bills.

Miguel's yaya, Rosa, chuckled.

"Mija, you treat me like I am some old lady who cannot take care of herself!" Rosa laughed. Carmen blushed.

"I'm sorry, mami. So, what do you have planned for today?" Carmen asked.

"Well, I'm probably going to take the bus to the hospital in a couple of hours and spend the day with Miggy." Rosa replied. Carmen nodded.

"That sounds great. I'm sure Miggy would love to hear you. You remember the one rule though, right?"

Rosa rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Yes. Don't let Johnny see Miguel." Rosa said. She sighed. After the school fight, Carmen wanted Johnny as far away from Miguel and the family as possible, but Rosa knew better. She knew that Miguel needed Johnny, and Johnny needed Miguel. Which is why, as soon as Carmen left the house and drove away to work, Rosa packed up a tupperware of her world-class beef empanadas, and she then left her apartment and walked across the hall, knocking on the door.

No answer.

Rosa knocked again, and this time, she was greeted by a very faint grumble. She smiled faintly. Johnny was home. Probably either drunk or hungover, but home. She slowly opened the door and stepped into the pitch-black apartment…

As Rosa flicked on the light switch and illuminated the apartment, she heard a much louder groan of pain as she saw Johnny slowly rise from the couch. Stumbling to his feet, Rosa instantly realised that Johnny was indeed very hungover, and was in a very bad shape. His apartment smelled absolutely awful, and his clothes looked like they hadn't been washed in weeks. Johnny then slowly walked towards her, his eyes widening when he realised who it was.

"What do you want? I did what you guys asked! I stayed away from Miguel! Now get out of my apartment!" He snapped, gruffly. Rosa, unfazed, held up the tupperware.

"I… bring you food." Rosa said, in very broken English. Although Miguel had been teaching her the language, she was still not very good at it. Johnny's face softened a bit when he looked at Rosa. Rosa had always had his back, even when Carmen hadn't. She was always on his side.

"Thanks." Johnny grunted, accepting the food. He had to admit, after living off of spray cheese and triscuits for the past 2 weeks, the food smelled absolutely divine. It helped that Rosa was an amazing cook.

As Johnny wolfed down empanada after empanada, there was a peaceful silence between them. However, after a while, Rosa eventually spoke again.

"I take you hospital… see Miguel." Rosa broke the silence by saying. Johnny's jaw dropped and an empanada slipped out of his hand in shock.

"W… what?" Johnny stammered.

"I take you see Miguel." Rosa repeated. Johnny slowly shook his head, defeated.

"Look, I really want to, but um… you know what Carmen said. She doesn't want me anywhere near Miguel. The least I can do after everything is respect her request."

It was Rosa's turn to shake her head, but she did so vehemently.

"No! Miguel… he needs you!" She exclaimed, placing a hand on Johnny's chest. "Carmen work all day. She no see you! Please come to hospital with me now!"

Johnny took a deep breath and slowly got to his feet. He nodded, his face filled with a determination it had not seen since the school fight.

"Yes. Let's go see Miguel…"

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Concrete. That's what went through Miguel's mind. When he hit the water from such a great height, it felt like he had fallen on a brick wall. It completely winded him, and the icy shock of it blasted the remaining air from his lungs. Before he knew it, he was spinning helplessly into the frigid deep until he was sure he had hit the ocean floor, thousands of meters under the sea. Then, somehow, just as suddenly, he was shooting up again, flailing, spitting seawater, gasping for breath. Almost as soon as Miguel had crash landed in the water, the low tide had amplified by an impossible amount, and semi-conscious, winded Miguel was quickly being ragdolled by the unforgiving waves, choking and spluttering on the incessant stream of seawater that seemed to be forcing its way into his throat. Miguel fought desperately to stay afloat but with every passing moment, he could feel his strength rapidly fading away. It was incredibly exhausting treading water and staying above the furious tide. Whenever he fell beneath the waves, he expected to come back up, and he did. But each chance to breathe became further and further apart, each breath less than the last. Before he went under that final time, Miguel knew he had been kissed by the sun for the last time. The current took him down and he strained for the light that dimmed above…

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Rosa and Johnny entered the hospital a bit later that morning, and as Rosa was very familiar to the I.C.U staff, they made it to Miguel's room extremely quickly. As Johnny made his way in and saw Miguel, he nearly passed out right there. He had not known what to expect - he knew it wouldn't be pretty, but seeing Miguel with wires and cables covering every inch of his body was almost too much for Johnny to take. ALMOST. Johnny forced himself into the room, and forced himself to look his student in the eye. Well, Miguel's eyes were closed, as he looked to be in an extremely peaceful sleep. Johnny turned to Rosa.

"Can he hear me?" Johnny asked quietly. Rosa nodded.

"Talk to him." She murmured, before slowly slinking out of the room and giving Johnny some privacy. Once she was gone, Johnny sat on a stool in the corner of the room and took a deep breath.

"Hey, buddy. Sorry I haven't been here." Johnny began. "Your mom hasn't wanted me around. Can't blame her."

Tears welled up in Johnny's eyes as he looked at Miguel, the young boy's chest softly rising and falling. Such a promising young life that Johnny had completely ruined. Even if Miguel was still alive, chances were he would probably never have full physical and cognitive action again.

"I thought I was helping you." Johnny murmured. "You were learning so fast, getting so strong. But I failed you."

This was a lot harder than Johnny could have ever imagined it could be. He wished that he could be back in his sinkhole of an apartment, avoiding everyone and everything, his old comfort being the bottle of booze in his right hand. But he knew, deep down, that he needed to do this. He owed it to Miguel to continue.

"I'm so sorry." Johnny whispered, tears now rolling freely down his cheeks. "I don't know if you can hear me, kid. But you got it in you to pull through. You just gotta keep fighting. Never give up. You can do this. I know you can…"

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"You can do this. I know you can…"

Those words echoed through Miguel's head as he sunk further and further into the ocean. He couldn't exactly tell who was speaking them - the water was making the voice sound too distorted - but the tone sounded a lot like Johnny, and it gave him the re-energising jolt he desperately needed. It made him think and realise to himself… this was not it. He didn't want to die. He wanted to wake up. And God help him this wouldn't be the end.

But it was easier said than done. Miguel could feel his air reserve quickly diminishing with every passing second. His arms felt like they were made of lead. His whole body was lacking energy as it was using a lot of its remaining energy to try and shiver and heat himself up in the freezing water. Miguel clenched his jaw. He had been in fights where he was the underdog before, and he never let it get to him. That's what this was. Just another battle that he needed to win, and when he did so, he would awaken. Miguel summoned every ounce of strength he had left and began to kick for the surface…

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BE-BEEP! BEEP! BE-BE-BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP-BE-BEE!

Johnny leapt back as suddenly, Miguel started convulsing and seizing before him, his heart rate going from slow and steady to rapid and erratic. Thanks to his karate reflexes, Johnny was not speechless or motionless in shock. He immediately sprinted for the door, swinging it open and shouting at the top of his lungs.

"NURSE! NURSE! SOMEONE HELP!" He bellowed. Moments later, a doctor and a couple of nurses burst into the room, rushing over to Miguel and trying to stop his seizing…

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Kick. Kick. Kick. Miguel incessantly kicked his feet, moving inch by inch towards the surface of the ocean, but he was already exhausted and he was less than halfway through. He wasn't going to make it. He could feel his air running really low but he forced himself to keep going. He had to make it to the surface, or die trying at least! As Miguel quickly ran down the amount of air in his lungs, he slowly made it higher and higher and soon, he was only a couple of yards away from the top. However, he was completely out of air now. He felt like he was about to pass out. Black spots danced above his eyes. He didn't have long - maybe 10 seconds before he passed out and died.

"You can do this. I know you can…"

Johnny's words continued to ring through Miguel's ears, and he forced himself higher and higher, kicking with every fiber of his strength. Up, up, up he went and just as he was about to pass out, his head broke the surface, gasping and spluttering…

When he looked around, he realised that all of the water was gone. He was in a hospital room, but he couldn't see anyone other than the 4 nurses and doctors standing over him. Miguel let out a massive sigh of relief. He was alive. He was awake. However, almost as soon as his eyes opened, they drooped back shut and he immediately passed out again, peaceful sleep not death overtaking him…

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Johnny and Rosa paced around the small waiting room, eyeing Miguel's I.C.U ward and awaiting the nurse who would inevitably walk out and inform them of Miguel's fate, good or bad. They had been roughly shoved out of the room as soon as Miguel started seizing, so they had no idea if Miguel was awake, or if he had passed away.

An eternity and a half later, a nurse finally walked out into the waiting area. Johnny and Rosa raced over to him, and after several moments, the nurse broke out into a massive grin, before informing them of Miguel's condition.

"He's awake…"