CHAPTER 20

"El Serpiente! I can't believe you're back! This is aaaaawesome! El Serpiente and the Hawk, together again!" Hawk shouted gleefully. Miguel chuckled and rolled his eyes. Cobra Kai training had just ended and Miguel, Hawk and George (who had won his initiation fight) were sitting in the dojo, packing up their bags and preparing to leave.

"It's good to be back, man." Miguel smiled back at his friend.

"Yeah, speaking of which, where the hell even were you? One day you're in the hospital paralysed, the next you vanish until mid October and you come back just fine!"

"I was in San Francisco." Miguel grunted in reply.

"San Francisco? What the hell were you doing there?!" Hawk asked, curiously.

"On vacation." Miguel remarked sarcastically. "I was in recovery, genius. Kreese paid for me to go to some hospital there. Really good doctors. Really good living environment. I met this dumbass there." Miguel replied, pointing to George, who promptly flipped Miguel the finger playfully. Hawk raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, what? Kreese paid for your recovery?" Hawk asked, surprised. Miguel nodded and Hawk whistled.

"Damn, that was nice of him." Hawk said, in an unreadable tone. If anything, he was slightly annoyed. For the whole time Sensei Lawrence had been the leader of Cobra Kai, he had clearly favoured Miguel over everyone else. But now with Kreese's arrival and Miguel's injury recovery, Hawk had hoped to have been able to step up and become the new leader and best student of Cobra Kai. But even before Miguel had been in Kreese's Cobra Kai for a single class, Kreese had already picked him as favourite and was already showing an unfair bias towards him, and that angered Hawk greatly.

Miguel sensed the slightly awkward environment at that moment, so he quickly cleared his throat.

"Well… now that I'm back, you ready to take on Robby and Miyagi-Do again?" Miguel asked. Hawk forced a smile onto his face and nodded.

"Yup. Sure am. They stand no chance this time!" Hawk declared. "All right, I'm going to get going. See you guys tomorrow."

With that, Hawk walked out of the dojo, the jealousy of Kreese's already favoritism towards Miguel etched on his face but luckily, his back was to Miguel and George so they couldn't see it.

Miguel nodded and looked up. At this point, him and George were the only ones left in the mostly empty dojo - everyone had gone home. Well, almost everyone. They could hear one person still working out in the backroom of the dojo and Miguel didn't have to look to know who it was. Even back when Miguel was in Cobra Kai, she was the only person who consistently put in more hours at the dojo than anyone else.

Miguel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew he needed to talk to her. He owed her an apology, if nothing else. Even though he wasn't trying to get back together with her (he wasn't trying to date anyone at that moment to be honest as Karate was his top priority), he was terrified about the conversation. There was no telling how pissed she would be, given before today, the last time they saw each other wasn't under the best circumstances.

"You haven't spoken to her yet, have you?" George asked, reading Miguel's mind. Miguel slowly opened his eyes and turned to his friend, shaking his head.

"Nah. Not since the day before the school fight when I… you know." Miguel's voice trailed off.

"When you cheated on her with your ex, ironically the girl she hates most in the world?" George said bluntly. Miguel glared at him.

"Yeah, that's what I meant by you know." Miguel snapped, annoyed. George shrugged.

"Hey, you're going to have to own up to it when you talk to her. Might as well start now." George remarked. Miguel sighed and nodded, putting his head in his hands. He knew his friend was right.

A couple of moments later, Miguel slowly got up and turned to George.

"Alright, man. I'm gonna do it. I'll see you later." He said. George nodded and also stood up, but he grabbed his duffel bag and prepared to head for the door.

"Yeah, see you." George said, before walking out the dojo too, and leaving just Miguel in the main dojo and his ex-girlfriend in the backroom. Taking a deep breath and silently praying that Tory didn't literally kill him, Miguel headed towards the door to the back dojo and stepped inside…

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Miguel walked into the backroom dojo and immediately saw Tory training furiously in the corner of the room, dealing vicious blows to a stationary punching mannequin. As he walked into the room, Tory turned her head towards him and when she saw him standing there, a massive scowl immediately filled her face.

Miguel walked over to her and for the first time since everything that had happened, he got to have a good look at her face. Tory was a good looking girl (there was no doubting that), but she often used her looks to hide her facial expressions and emotions so it took extra effort to be able to read her. As he stood opposite her, however, he did, and he saw her face etched with a combination of stress, anger and worry.

"Hey, can we talk?" Miguel asked. Tory didn't respond, and merely scowled and turned away from him and began punching and kicking the target again, this time even harder. Miguel didn't leave though. Instead, he walked over to the side of the room and picked up two sparring hand pads, before walking back over to her.

"Fine. Wanna spar then?" Miguel asked. Tory reluctantly sighed and nodded, and Miguel smiled internally. This was progress. At least she hadn't kicked him out. Because he wasn't going to leave until he had gotten an apology off his chest.

So the two of them sparred in silence for several minutes, Miguel holding up the pads as Tory beat the living crap out of them. They continued doing this until Tory had to stop to catch her breath, and she leaned down panting for several moments. Miguel took a deep breath. This was his chance to apologise.

"Look, Tory… I… um… I'm really sorry for what I did two months ago." Miguel murmured. Tory's head shot up at the sound of his voice, and she closed her eyes in pain. Ever since she had met him, when she looked at him, she felt a love towards him that she had never felt towards anyone before. Until that night. Now, as she looked into the eyes of her apologetic boyfriend, all she felt was a piercing pain in her side, stronger and more crippling than any kick she could have been inflicted with. That was why she never let herself care about anyone before, and she probably never would again. It just hurt too much when they inevitably screwed her over.

"Yeah, fine, whatever." Tory interrupted and snapped, really not interested in his apology.

"No, not whatever. I fucked up. I cheated on you and it's one of the worst mistakes I've made in my life. But as much as I might want to, I can't change what happened. All I can do is apologise and apologise and hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. And look, I'm not asking to get back together. I'm not asking for any of that. All I'm asking for is that we could have a fresh start?" Miguel asked, tentatively.

"A fresh start?" Tory murmured, quietly.

"Yeah, 'cause I… um… I really miss you, Tory, even as a friend." Miguel admitted. "And I…"

"A fresh start?!" Tory exclaimed, much louder this time. "Are you fucking crazy?! You betrayed me, Miguel. I opened more of myself to you than I ever had to anyone before, and you just stabbed me right in the back."

"I know, and I'm really sorry. But…"

"Do you have any idea how much my life has gone to shit since the school fight?! No, of course not. Because while you left town after the school fight, I was stuck here, working not one, not two, THREE jobs to support my family. On top of that, I was expelled from West Valley so I have to study to try and get my GED if I want any chance of having a future. AND, on top of all that, I have to somehow manage to do 100 hours of community service while I'm on probation."

"Tory, I…" Miguel whispered, tears threatening to crawl up to his eyes. He had no idea how much harder Tory's already difficult life had gotten since the school fight, and he felt a massive ball of guilt buried like lead in the pit of his stomach just thinking about it.

"So, no, Miguel, we cannot have a 'fresh start'!" Tory shouted, tears threatening to spill over her own lashes. "Look… just get the fuck out of here."

This time, Miguel did as she said and walked out of the dojo, his head in his hands. He couldn't believe how fucked up the Valley had gotten since the school fight and it was his fault. He kissed Sam, causing the chain of events that led to the ruins that the Valley were in now. The school fight, breaking his back, Tory getting expelled and her life unravelling. It was all his fault…