CHAPTER 40

Then came Christmas day. As Miguel's eyes fluttered open, he couldn't help but smile to himself. It was Christmas, a day 4 months ago he never thought he would be able to celebrate normally. He thought he would be rolling around in a wheelchair, everyone still drooling their pity for him. But now, he was able to celebrate it normally with his mom and Johnny. They were even having George and his mom and dad over for Christmas dinner that evening because George and his family had gotten EXTREMELY close in the past 4 months. At this point, Miguel and George spent like half of their nights at each others' places. They had become the brothers neither of them had ever had, and therefore their parents had no choice than to become close too. Helped by the fact that the parents had hit it off like a house on fire of course.

Miguel checked his alarm clock and saw the time reading 10 am. He slowly then rolled out of bed and stumbled into the living room, still in his pajamas, only to see that Johnny and Carmen were already there, both of them sipping eggnog and chatting quietly. As they heard Miguel enter the room, they spun around and smiled widely at him.

"Merry Christmas, Miggy!" His mom exclaimed, kissing him on the forehead.

"Merry Christmas, mom." Miguel replied, groaning slightly as he felt his mom practically force a massive santa hat upon his head. His family had always LOVED Christmas and despite everything that had happened with his yaya last month, this year was no exception.

"Okay, I know we have George coming over this afternoon but I thought we could have breakfast beforehand and open gifts."

"Sure, that sounds great." Miguel said. So for the next hour, Johnny, Carmen and Miguel worked together to cook a massive breakfast feast. They made a combination of all of the best food: pancakes, waffles, crispy, juice strips of bacon, and vats and vats of dulce de leche. It was an absolutely divine meal, and the day only went uphill from there. After breakfast, Johnny and Carmen first opened their presents from Miguel, before giving Miguel their presents to him.

Carmen was first to give Miguel her present to him. Miguel held the small wrapped box in his hands and shook his head gently.

"Now, how did you get a remote control fire truck inside of here?" He joked.

"Stop!" Carmen laughed.

"A train set?" He joked.

"No. Open it!" She exclaimed.

"Hmm. BB Gun?" Miguel joked again.

"No. Better." She said. Miguel nodded and started to unwrap it.

"Okay. I don't know what's better than a BB Gun though." He remarked. He finally unwrapped the gift and opened the box. He gasped when he saw the gift staring back at him. It was an incredible, handsome watch.

This wasn't a boy's watch; it was a man's watch. It was black and silver, with a stainless steel strap and a large black face. Miguel looked at his mom, in shock. A gift like that couldn't have been cheap, and Miguel knew better than anyone about his family's financial troubles.

"Wow, um… mom… this is amazing!" Miguel exclaimed.

"It was your abuelo's watch." Carmen explained to him in Spanish. "Your yaya wanted you to have it."

Well that made more sense. It was his grandfather's watch, and it had been passed down to him. Miguel absolutely loved it. He put it around his wrist and hugged his mother tightly.

"Thank you so much." Miguel said, as he gazed at the gift on his wrist.

"Ok, my turn." Johnny said. Miguel looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"You got me a gift?" Miguel asked. "You didn't have to do that."

"Of course I did." Johnny rolled his eyes. "So I got you one big gift and one small gift."

"Jesus, that's a lot, Sensei." Miguel remarked. "You don't need to get me a gift. You do enough for me as it is."

"Too late." Johnny stated, before handing Miguel a soft wrapped package that Miguel instantly gauged was clothes of some kind. He unwrapped the gift to stare at a black hoodie that was printed with Conor McGregor branding. Miguel had started watching the UFC shortly after starting karate (it was the other thing other than Iron Eagle that Johnny straight-up forced Miguel to watch) and to Johnny's surprise, Miguel had really gotten into it. He had become a massive McGregor fan, not just because Conor was so entertaining during interviews and press conference before and after fights, but also because McGregor's fighting style was exactly what Miguel aspired to replicate himself. McGregor's speed, timing, ability to control distance, and his power with both hands were something Miguel dreamed of having himself. Needless to say, Miguel was a huge fan.

"Thank you so much, sensei!" Miguel exclaimed, giving his Sensei a hug.

"It was no problem, kid." Johnny replied. "And hey, that wasn't even your big gift from me!"

"It wasn't?" Miguel asked, confused. Obviously, Miguel had grown up in poverty so he wasn't used to such extravagant birthday presents, or birthday presents at all actually.

"Of course not! Your big gift's outside!" Johnny exclaimed. Miguel, perplexed, stood up and followed his Sensei outside. When he stepped outside, he looked at his sensei, confused. Everything looked pretty normal. Sure there was an unfamiliar pickup truck in one of the parking spaces, but Miguel didn't bat an eye about it. Unfamiliar cars came around all the time.

"Um… Sensei… what am I looking at?" Miguel asked, confused. Johnny suddenly pressed something into his hand and Miguel looked down to see that it was the car keys.

See that car over there? It's yours." Johnny replied simply. Miguel's jaw dropped. His mind was whirring at hundreds of miles an hour.

"Um… what?" Miguel stammered. "You're giving me a car?"

"Yup." Johnny responded. "You're about to graduate. You deserve to have your own set of wheels. And I remember you saying that you wanted a pickup, so… here you go."

Miguel was speechless. In fact, tears sprung to his eyes as he was comprehending what Johnny was telling him.

"Wow, um… Sensei… I… I don't… I don't know what to say." Miguel stammered, still unable to string words together. Johnny looked at him and noticed the tears in Miguel's eyes. He groaned.

"Damn it, Diaz, don't get all emotional on me!" Johnny remarked. Miguel didn't respond. He just threw his arms around his sensei, and Johnny's tough exterior immediately melted. He eventually put his arms around his student and returned the hug.

"Thank you so much, Sensei. Thank you." Miguel murmured as they broke apart.

"No problem, kid. Merry Christmas." Johnny said. Miguel smiled and turned to his family.

"Thank you so much, you guys. This is all so amazing." Miguel said, hugging all of his family members, still slightly in disbelief. He then raced back into the apartment to quickly change out of his pajamas, ready to drive his new car. Little did he know that his day was only going to get better…

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

A few hours later…

"Dude! Dude! Dude! Dude! Dude!"

Miguel looked up to see George bursting into his house, dressed in a goofy Christmas sweater and an ecstatic expression on his face.

"Um… hi." Miguel said, confused by his friend's hasty entrance into the house and the fact that George's parents weren't with him. "Merry Christmas man. Where are your parents? Wait… it's like 2:30 right now. You're supposed to be coming at like 4. Why are you so early?"

"They're coming a bit later. I needed to talk to you beforehand." George said, his smile unable to disappear from his face.

"Yeah, sure, what's up man?" Miguel asked curiously.

"Yo, so you know how my 18th birthday is also tomorrow on Boxing day?" George said. Miguel nodded.

"Yeah, what, did your parents give you an extra sick gift or something?" Miguel asked.

"Something like that." George grinned. "So my parents wanted to get me something extra nice as like a Christmas/birthday/graduation present."

"Ooh, I wonder what the richest people in America bought their only son for a triple celebration. Should I be looking in the driveway for a lamborghini or something?"

George glared at him.

"Just shut up for a second, would you! Trust me, you're going to want to hear this cause it's going to affect you too! So the gift is my parents got me an all expenses paid trip to New York City, leaving tomorrow, for one week. Hotel, flights, etc are all paid. Oh, and added bonus, they also managed to snag tickets for the Khabib McGregor rematch at Madison Square Garden on the last night."

Miguel's jaw dropped. That fight was far and away the most hyped up fight in UFC history. The bad blood between the UFC fighters had only increased after Khabib had won their last fight, so the pressure was now on McGregor to equalise. The two had traded countless insults in the leadup to the fight next week, so it was expected to be an absolutely bloody all-out brawl between the two. Tickets had sold out months ago so the fact that Miguel's best friend was going to it… Miguel couldn't help but gasp slightly in disbelief.

"Wow, um… that's awesome. That sounds amazing. I'm really happy for you man. But um… I don't get it. How does this affect me?"

George's smile, if possible, got even wider.

"Well, my younger, significantly shorter friend…"

"Only younger. Not shorter." Miguel corrected him. George chuckled and ignored him.

"This trip my parents bought me… it's a trip for two. They say I can take anyone I want. So buckle up man. We're flying to New York tomorrow!"